← The Bossticks
The Bossticks
Hormonal Health Uncovered Ft. Brianna Bitton & Dr. Jennifer Shepherd On Acne, PMS, PCOS, & Reproductive Wellness
00:54:09
#790: Join us as we sit down with Brianna Bitton & Dr. Jessica Shepherd – the co-founder & founding founding medical advisor of O Positiv. Supported by a team of board-certified doctors, O Positiv Health is dedicated to empowering women...
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- [00:00]
Michael Bostick
The following podcast is a Dear Media Production.
- [00:05]
Lauren Everts
She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire.
- [00:08]
Michael Bostick
Fantastic.
- [00:09]
Lauren Everts
And he's a serial entrepreneur, a very smart cookie. And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostick.
- [00:15]
Michael Bostick
Are bringing you along for the ride.
- [00:16]
Briana Bitton
Get ready for some major realness.
- [00:18]
Lauren Everts
Welcome to the Skinny Confidential. Him and her.
- [00:25]
Michael Bostick
A lot of the western diet and just what we're exposed to from like pesticides and how we prepare our food foods really has wreaked havoc on our body internally and inflammation. But all our insulin and glucose and that's kind of the. The halt of pcos. PCOS is not an ovarian disease. PCOS is really at the core insulin, glucose issue and a metabolic issue.
- [00:49]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
We're finally talking about it. I think that maybe it has been going on forever, right? And women's health has just been so historically overlooked that we're finally getting to a place where we're comfortable to talk about these things.
- [01:02]
Briana Bitton
We have a duo on the show today, Brianna Bitton. She's the co founder of O Positive Health and she is joined by Dr. Jessica shepherd, who is a founding member of O Positive Health and she's also a board certified OB gyn. This episode is really honest and it's breaking taboos when it comes to the vagina. You're going to learn everything you need to know about the vagina in this episode. I think Michael's eyeballs were popping out of his head. There's a lot to learn and I feel like women's sexual health is being talked about more and more. And this is a great conversation because we get the doctor perspective and then we also get the founder of O Positive Health who has a personal experience and she'll tell you her story, which is really great. I hope you all love this very candid and open conversation. Dr. Jessica and Briana, welcome to the show.
- [01:58]
Lauren Everts
This is the Skinny Confidential. Him and her.
- [02:02]
Briana Bitton
One of my favorite things about this show is I get to indirectly manipulate my husband and have him learn about all the things that he would never listen to me on.
- [02:11]
Michael Bostick
And you're stuck in here too.
- [02:14]
Lauren Everts
I. I feel like this is, surprisingly enough, not going to be the craziest conversation I've had on this podcast. We'll see though.
- [02:22]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Give us the verdict at the end. Yeah, and we'll see.
- [02:25]
Michael Bostick
We'll check the barometer, see what you leave with.
- [02:27]
Briana Bitton
Let's introduce you guys to the audience so we can get some context. Why don't start with you?
- [02:32]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
So my name is Briana Bitten. I'm the co founder of O Positive and we're a women's health company. We specialize in vitamins and supplements for women through their first period, all the way through menopause and beyond. Yeah. Founded this company with my brother about six years ago and we're so happy to be here.
- [02:51]
Michael Bostick
Hi, I'm Dr. Jessica Shepherd. I'm a board certified gynecologist and here with the O Positive team as the medical on the medical advisory board. And one of the things that I think O Positive really brings to light is the stories, the stories of women and how to use that as the momentum to have the formulations and coming up with a wide array of different products that meet women at every stage of their life.
- [03:16]
Briana Bitton
Why did you decide to be a gynecologist?
- [03:18]
Michael Bostick
That is such an interesting question. The reason I actually decided to be an ob GYN was because of babies. It was, they're so cute. But then I loved gynecology. So obstetrics is the practice that we do during pregnancy, but gynecology is like anything outside of pregnancy. And I think I loved being able to talk to women from adolescence and puberty all the way up to older age and like really capturing all of their experiences.
- [03:43]
Briana Bitton
Was there a lot of men in your class or was it all women?
- [03:46]
Michael Bostick
There were actually more women than men. But now I remember when I was in residency, we finally crossed the threshold for females to go over 49% of all OB GYN residents.
- [04:00]
Briana Bitton
No offense to men. I would rather. I've always been since I was 16. I would rather have a female. To each its own. I just always wanted a female gynecologist.
- [04:11]
Michael Bostick
Have you ever been to a male gynecologist?
- [04:13]
Briana Bitton
I haven't.
- [04:13]
Michael Bostick
Oh, interesting.
- [04:14]
Briana Bitton
I've never been.
- [04:15]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
I feel like it's just a sisterhood. Like you. You're going to a doctor who gets it. Like, you could talk about your symptoms and most likely they've had them too. So it just makes you feel more comfortable.
- [04:24]
Michael Bostick
I feel like I have a question. Would you go to a female urologist?
- [04:28]
Lauren Everts
No.
- [04:28]
Briana Bitton
You would?
- [04:29]
Lauren Everts
Yeah. They're qualified.
- [04:31]
Briana Bitton
What if they were like.
- [04:33]
Lauren Everts
If they were like the best one and I had a real issue going on and then there was like a guy and he maybe wasn't like, yeah, I think if it comes to medical stuff, I'm like, I need to figure out who really knows their shit, you know, that's where I'm going.
- [04:46]
Briana Bitton
I just prefer a female.
- [04:47]
Lauren Everts
I feel like if I'm going to a urologist, there's probably something going on. I'm like, I need Somebody that's qualified here.
- [04:53]
Briana Bitton
Brianna, what is your aha moment with this? Like, why did you decide to get into this arena?
- [05:00]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
So I was struggling with period cramps like crazy. I was calling out of work. I was working as a Walt Disney imagineer. I was designing the theme parks, and it was so fun. But that's the background I come from. I was a normal girl working in corporate America and having just debilitating cramps, mood swings. I was a disaster to be around, like a raging bitch, if you will. And it was affecting my life. And my brother and I were talking. We were actually living together at the time in an apartment. And so he was, like, witness to all of this craziness, and he's super involved in wellness. And we were talking about starting a company and supplements and wellness because we're so passionate about that. And I was like, is there anything that women can do to proactively help with their period? So instead of taking, like, an ibuprofen or go on birth control, like, is there anything we can do to help this from the inside out? So we started looking into it and realized that there were very amazing, clinically tried ingredients that were proven to help pms. So that was our first product, the first ever PMS gummy Vitamin Flow. And that's what we created. That was our first baby.
- [06:16]
Briana Bitton
What's, like, an ingredient that's random that we wouldn't even think of?
- [06:19]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
So there's Chaste Berry. There's Don Quay. There are all these ingredients that have been vitamin B6 been around for centuries, right? Like, we've. They've been used in, like, medicine and Eastern medicine forever.
- [06:32]
Lauren Everts
I mean, this is a compliment. The Disney background's making sense. You're very animated.
- [06:36]
Briana Bitton
Oh, my gosh.
- [06:36]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Thank you. I talk with my hands a lot.
- [06:39]
Briana Bitton
I cannot imagine seeing her PMSing when you're like, I was such a bitch. I'm like, I can't see it.
- [06:45]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Oh, my gosh. You're. You're too kind. I mean, she's like, ask my brother. Yeah, ask my family. It's funny because, like, I didn't even realize I was PMSing, but the entire family was like, oh, God, watch out.
- [06:55]
Briana Bitton
Did you find out what the root cause of the severity of your cramps was? Or was it just normal cramps?
- [07:02]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
So. So actually, through the research, too, we discovered that, like, cramps and PMS isn't necessarily normal. Like, you shouldn't really. And Dr. Shepard can speak to this as well, but you shouldn't really be experiencing pms. It's A hormonal imbalance. So for me as well, I have the copper IUD because I can't do the birth control pill. It just doesn't work with my body and makes again like really crazy and hormonal. But so the copper IUD makes your periods really gnarly.
- [07:33]
Briana Bitton
That's what I heard. I heard that. And you can maybe speak to this Dr. Shepherd. I heard that the IUD intensifies cramps.
- [07:41]
Michael Bostick
Well, I would say the copper one, I think the copper one, you know, just kind of for all the patients that I've seen, that usually is the one where we'll see a little bit more cramps. And the reason actually behind that is there's, there's two reasons. So of all IUDs, there's ones that have hormones and then there's ones that don't, which is the copper. And so the copper one just is like by slight measurements, a little bit bigger than the other ones. And so sometimes that can be kind of the cause of having more cramps. But the other thing is the hormones. The one with the hormones is there and it kind of calms and quiets the uterus because of the hormones. So if you don't have hormones, then you're more likely to have pain with your period. Cause there's nothing there to kind of create this kind of environment where the progesterone is kind of calming the uterus down. And so the one without hormones is just not giving you any hormones and it's a touch bit bigger. But yeah, that is something. A feature that most people will say is that I might feel a little bit more cramps. But the beauty of it is that it's a birth control option that doesn't have hormones.
- [08:43]
Briana Bitton
Yeah. What do you think about all the stuff that's coming out about birth control now? I, after talking to a lot of scientists and doctors like yourself, I've just like learned so much about the birth control pill that I almost feel bad for the 16 year old me who went to Planned Parenthood knowing nothing about it. Getting on this pill for 10 years, I just, I didn't, I didn't have the, the tools. What, what is your opinion?
- [09:09]
Michael Bostick
I like to take a full approach to it. You know, being a scientist and knowing what we see in a general population of women. When I say general, I mean like global population of women is. I do have appreciation for it. Because when you think about when it was made back in the 40s, this was when there was nothing, like women really had nothing for pregnancy prevention.
- [09:29]
Lauren Everts
It was just prophylactics for men.
- [09:31]
Michael Bostick
Right?
- [09:31]
Lauren Everts
That's all it was.
- [09:32]
Michael Bostick
And so that, to me, was the beginning, I would say, at least, of women being able to say, this is the choice I would like to make with my body, and this might be the thing that I have to take in order to make that choice. So kind of put that in a bucket of like, yes, women are being able to make a choice and decide what they would like to do with their body when it comes to pregnancy. Now, fast forward. We've done so many different things with the kinds of hormones that we put in actual birth control pills that used to be so much estrogen that it was, like, causing blood clots. We've really, really changed that. What I will say is that I think that we need to kind of be more innovative in how we're creating the hormones that go in the birth control. So the good thing is that in the science field, we do a lot of research and data that looks at what are the outcomes that we've seen in the last 20, 30 years of use of these things, and is it causing harm? Is it something that we should maybe change? Is it something that we shouldn't use? I think that we can do a lot more work in looking at what we can actually do to be more innovative and what goes into it so that we can advise patients on a better, you know, example of what they can take for themselves. So I think that there's. There's a lot that can be said in this whole arena, like, we could take a whole hour and talk just about birth control. I think our bodies, where they are today, we have a lot more environmental factors and endocrine disruptors that actually are causing a lot of the changes that birth control might be having an interaction with. So I think it's something that we actually need to open the book again and say, let's take a refresher look at this and see what we have on the market and see how we can refine it and actually make it better.
- [11:11]
Briana Bitton
It's annoying because now that I have a daughter, I don't. I wouldn't want her to go on birth control. But at the same time, it's like, what to your point, what do you do? Yeah, I really think that they should do something for guys. Like, guys do something for once.
- [11:24]
Michael Bostick
Did you know.
- [11:27]
Briana Bitton
I've ever seen in my life? He's like, I'm leaving. Absurd. It's like, why doesn't the girl just take on everything?
- [11:36]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
I know. And it's. I saw Something that, like, they put. You can, like, heat up their, like, balls or something. Like, you can tell me more. Okay. I saw it on the Internet. I'm chronically online. So, like, who knows the validity. Validity of this? But I did see there was, like, a ball Jacuzzi where you, like, heat.
- [11:52]
Briana Bitton
Up the balls, and it makes it.
- [11:54]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Not temporarily well, because firm or immobile.
- [11:57]
Lauren Everts
I don't know if this is true, but they say, like, if you go.
- [12:00]
Briana Bitton
Balls in a Jacuzzi.
- [12:01]
Lauren Everts
Michael Bost, they say if you're trying to procreate, like, I've. I've had my friends. Like, if you want to procreate as a man, like, you don't. Maybe you don't want to do a bunch of hot saunas. Like, it's actually good to go into cold versions because it makes it closer to the body. I don't know if that's true. I don't know.
- [12:14]
Michael Bostick
That's very true, actually.
- [12:16]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
We have one product for males. Okay, so Preggo is our pregnancy sector. Kind of.
- [12:21]
Lauren Everts
Imagine I said, you had a ball Jacuzzi for males, but it boosts.
- [12:24]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
It boosts sperm production in males to help with conception.
- [12:29]
Briana Bitton
That's amazing.
- [12:29]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Yeah. So our conception support, we have, like, it's a counter product. So we have a prego for Women that has CoQ10 and all these great ingredients to help make your eggs as healthy as possible. And then there's a male counterpart for your partner to help the sperm production and the mobility. And because it sounds silly to say this, but when we were researching this, obviously, 50% of infertility is the male's responsibility, and it's so crazy that it.
- [12:58]
Briana Bitton
Gets projected onto the woman because the guy is insecure.
- [13:04]
Lauren Everts
We've done all these. I've been a big proponent. I've said that a lot of the times. There's even, like, the cap test where it shows, like, the male sperm. Even if it swims well, it can't penetrate the egg. And it's a male problem. I think a lot. We've been vocal.
- [13:14]
Briana Bitton
We're not gonna put Michael on your product, though, because he does not need any more sperm. I've got it.
- [13:18]
Michael Bostick
We're taking a place.
- [13:19]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
I just.
- [13:20]
Briana Bitton
She's like, I'm good on semen on my face.
- [13:24]
Lauren Everts
Can I ask one more question? As it relates to birth control, we don't have to stay on it for too long, but. But say for the parents out there listening, whose daughters are coming in and they're starting at a young age, is there a direction you kind of point them in to say, like, you know, is it an iud? Is it a pill? Like, is there a.
- [13:41]
Michael Bostick
That's what I love. That we've done differently over the last, I guess you could say, 40 decades, as we've given more breadth to what's available. So that's really the conversation and what it should be. Because most times we only think of a birth control pill, but there are actually so many different ways that we can provide contraceptives that I think if you walked into, you know, for people who are listening, if you walk into a doctor's office and you're wanting to get some feedback on contraceptives, if your only option walking out is the pill, then that's not a good visit. There should be much more discussion around what this means and what your choices should be.
- [14:14]
Lauren Everts
And is there something that you kind of like, push people towards or do.
- [14:18]
Michael Bostick
You know, I actually like to hear their story first, see where they are, what their lifestyle's like, Are they good at remembering to take something every day versus not? And then also asking what is the outcome you're looking for? Because some of these birth control options can really help with cramps, or they can decrease bleeding, or there's so many different features. So it really should be like the storytelling and then kind of like giving the menu. So you can kind of pick and choose.
- [14:41]
Briana Bitton
I would, like, take a birth control on a Monday, and then it'd be like, Friday and I'd be like, you forgot?
- [14:47]
Michael Bostick
Yeah.
- [14:49]
Briana Bitton
And then I would, like take 10 and I'm like, what's up? This doesn't do anything.
- [14:55]
Lauren Everts
One more question. And this may be an ignorant question.
- [14:56]
Briana Bitton
No, ask, ask questions, the better. We're on the edge of our seat.
- [15:01]
Lauren Everts
I've heard people say they stay on this because of, like, acne. If they're, if. If they're not having to preclude from procreating, like, do you recommend that? Or you say, hey, do something different?
- [15:10]
Michael Bostick
Yeah, we have. We actually work a lot with dermatologists when they have patients who are like, in the reproductive age or like, younger, and they'll send them actually to the OB GYN to kind of give them what birth control should we put them on? Because it actually really works really well. What is it doing? It's fascinating science behind. So what it does, birth control is it actually decreases the receptor that bind to testosterone. And so if you have less testosterone around, then you're going to have the decreased oily skin, the decreased acne, and all the things that come with just, you know, A subtle shift in your testosterone. But really helping that testosterone level go down is really what's going to impact the skin. And then also estrogen is like, oh my God. Estrogen for the skin is great because it increases like blood flow. And like, because think about when you're pregnant. Right. Most people will be like, my skin was flawless during pregnancy because estrogen goes up. So. Yeah.
- [15:58]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
But that's also kind of why we founded flo was to give women an alternative to taking birth control to help with their hormonal acne, help with their cramps, help with all of those things. Because that was, at least from my experience as a 16 year old going into the doctor, that was kind of the only option for me at the time. I wasn't using it even at that age as a contraceptive. I was like a nerdy little high schooler. But, you know, the cramps and the acne and giving women another option and a way to balance their hormones if maybe acne is the concern. And they don't need a contraceptive at the time. So we wanted to provide women with something natural.
- [16:40]
Briana Bitton
And I think that's really smart because I remember when I was getting off birth control and I've told the story before on the podcast, but I was going to just get prescribed a spirulina lactate.
- [16:51]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Yeah.
- [16:51]
Briana Bitton
Which is like the thing in it that helps, supposedly. I don't know if that's true, but that's cool that you guys have given people a more natural option to switch off more gracefully and seamlessly without feeling like they have to just go on something else.
- [17:06]
Michael Bostick
Yeah. And I think that's important too, is to just to make sure that there should be no shame on either side of it.
- [17:11]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Exactly.
- [17:12]
Michael Bostick
Is that if you decide to take one versus not that it's okay, but that's the beauty in having these products is that you still have an option outside of taking all these other things.
- [17:21]
Briana Bitton
Why are we seeing such a surge in pcos? Like, what is going on?
- [17:26]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Fpcos.
- [17:27]
Michael Bostick
Yeah.
- [17:27]
Briana Bitton
Why. Why is. I want to know why? I. I've never seen so many women talk about this.
- [17:33]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
I know. It feels like it's everywhere. I had an ovarian cyst rupture a year ago and that it's. It's so funny. All of our. This entire brand all revolves around things that have happened to me. I'm a complete disaster. Like I'm such a mess. So had an ovarian cyst ruptured, Discovered that I had pcos. And when they went in there to like, do the surgery and fix me. They discovered I had endometriosis too.
- [18:03]
Briana Bitton
So do you think perhaps the reason that you had such bad cramps was because of the endometriosis?
- [18:09]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Potentially, and I never knew about it. And the. And with endo, there's really no way to know if you have it unless you go in, right? For sure.
- [18:15]
Michael Bostick
Yeah. That's the diagnostic tools you have to symptoms.
- [18:18]
Briana Bitton
If someone's listening, what are the things that they should be looking for?
- [18:21]
Michael Bostick
Endometriosis is typically what we'll see very, like, painful cramps. So cramps are. The uterus is contracting during your period. So that's usually why people feel cramps, is because it's contracting, and we sense that as pain. So when they're elevated and, like, really increase, like, people are in the fetal position or can't go to school, can't go to work, and it's really debilitating. That is a clue for a practitioner or a doctor to being like, hmm, I wonder if this patient has endometriosis, then. The other thing is that we tend to find the longer that people have endometriosis and it's not diagnosed, will start to have, like, pain in between their periods. So it's not dependent on the cycle. It starts to be in between the periods. And that's because of the endometriosis in the pelvis is responding whether it's your period or not. And that is a good telltale sign as well.
- [19:10]
Briana Bitton
In both of your opinions, I'd love to hear both. Why do you think people are having women so much, so much of a hard time getting pregnant? Is it because we're saturated with more content, so we're seeing it more, or is it because there's something going on with cleaning supplies or endocrine disruption? Like, what is going on? Because I see it everywhere about infertility, and we've had a lot of experts come on the podcast. What are you guys have been around this world. What are your opinions on that?
- [19:41]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
I mean, from a social perspective and from being involved in this company perspective, I think, number one, it's that we're finally talking about it. I think that maybe it has been going on forever, right? And women's health has just been so historically overlooked that we're finally getting to a place where we're comfortable to talk about these things.
- [20:02]
Lauren Everts
I think that. But also the birth rates have been going down. Like, if you look at France, it's like the last since like the World War II. It's the lowest live births that there's been since then. The data is interesting.
- [20:12]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Yeah. I also think maybe. I mean, I'm 32 and single and thinking about freezing my eggs. I also think people are having babies later in life, and that's a contributing factor. And Dr. Shepherd.
- [20:23]
Michael Bostick
Yeah. There's multiple reasons why we start to see this. One, because of our environment. I think a lot of it has to do with food. Kind of like the environment, toxins, that really disrupts internally our body and the ability for a body to function the way that it does consistently, all the time. The other thing is age. Age is just one of those things that we can't say that we're not aging when we are. So if we wait longer, which is fine. But with that comes just biologically for a female, we are born with all the eggs we'll ever have. And so as we start to age and they kind of decline and their quality declines, that's just something that we can't fight. And then the last thing that I would say is that we really, when I'm going to go back to food and diet, is a lot of the Western diet. And just what we're exposed to from, like, pesticides and how we prepare our foods really has wreaked havoc on our body internally and inflammation, but all our insulin and glucose, and that's kind of the. The halt of pcos. PCOS is not an ovarian disease. PCOS is really at the core insulin glucose issue and a metabolic issue.
- [21:31]
Briana Bitton
That is so weird that you say that, because I just talked to a doctor on air who told me that people who are going on Ozempic are getting pregnant left and right. Ozempic babies, Ozempic. And I'm not a scientist, but it does something with your insulin. Is that correlated?
- [21:48]
Michael Bostick
That's completely true. So a GLP basically is a drug that we've used for years before. It was a weight loss drug specifically for diabetics, because we were controlling the rate at which insulin is absorbing glucose and correcting that whole relationship. So once that's corrected, your hormones actually can respond better, like all over your body, your thyroid, your reproductive hormones. And so when we start. Started to see that people were now taking it for weight loss. One, they're losing weight, which is going to help with increasing pregnancy rates. But two, they were correcting their insulin glucose ratio and boom, getting her pregnant.
- [22:21]
Briana Bitton
So, so as a doctor, if someone comes into your practice and they're overweight, would you use GLP1s as a tactic to get pregnant?
- [22:31]
Michael Bostick
It's kind of like Indirectly. So if they're like, I want to get pregnant, we would do the same thing we would do with anyone else. Look at, like, what are the reasons why? And looking at everything. But we do know that obesity has, for as long as we've known, been one of those things that's gonna decrease your actual pregnancy or ability to get pregnant. So I do suspect that we may start to use it as that. But right now, I can see people using it indirectly to saying, hey, let's look at you, and let's try to use a GLP and see if we can get your weight decreased. All the while, let's see if we can get you pregnant, too.
- [23:05]
Lauren Everts
So, Dr. Shepherd, if women or couples come to you and say, hey, we're trying to procreate, and what, like, do you give them a couple things that they should maybe start thinking about doing before start trying?
- [23:14]
Michael Bostick
Yeah, absolutely. Because that is at. At the core of figuring out. Because infertility, when we look at it, one in eight couples or. Or single people are. Have infertility issues. There are so many reasons why. But a category of infertility is unexplained, which is the worst diagnosis, because we'll work up everything, and then at the end, we're like, God dang it, we didn't get in one of these little compartments that could have caused it. Now it's unexplained.
- [23:38]
Briana Bitton
You've been around all different kinds of women because of what you're doing. Brianna, what are some things that have shocked you about this space that you didn't know?
- [23:47]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Oh, my gosh. So much. I would say. I would say that how many women are struggling silently would be the biggest surprise.
- [23:56]
Briana Bitton
I.
- [23:58]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
When I started this, I thought I was kind of, like, going out on a limb. I was not the one to be talking about my period in public. That was not. That was not my mo. But then when I started to talk about it and I started to my friends and have these little focus groups, everybody was going through something. So I would say that noticing that PCOS was wreaking havoc, noticing that so many of my friends were calling out sick because of their periods and really just having these experiences that we didn't feel comfortable enough talking about openly in public. Like, it wasn't truly until when we launched Flow about, like, five, six years ago, our ads were some of the first to say period or PMS on Instagram. Like, there were not people posting about their period on the Internet.
- [24:48]
Briana Bitton
It's so interesting to me. I remember being in class with you and, and, and getting my period and not thinking it was a big deal and didn't understand and people are. This is when I'm like 13. People were so weird about it.
- [25:03]
Lauren Everts
Yeah, we were also 13 year old kids. So everyone's weird about everything at that age.
- [25:06]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
But you'd like slip your tampon up your sleeve and like sneak or bring your entire bag to the bathroom with you or whatever.
- [25:12]
Michael Bostick
You know, I will say they didn't have pretty wrapping back then when I was so it was like very obvious. Now they're like, well, make it a pink or yellow with flowers.
- [25:20]
Briana Bitton
I never had a tampon. I only had a pad. I have a really weird.
- [25:24]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Just tell us everything.
- [25:26]
Briana Bitton
The doctor might. You might have to plug your ears. I believe this is my own deduction. I think that there's endocrine disruptors in the applicators and the tampons and toilet paper from the stuff that I've looked into. And I think it's fucking crazy that girls once a month take a plastic microplastic thing, shove it in their vagina and then let it sit up there. Sorry Michael, but I don't understand that. And then I also don't understand if you really deep dive of what's in like, like drugstore toilet paper, how we're wiping down there with all of these toxins and we're expecting some great result. I think that that's part of the problem.
- [26:14]
Michael Bostick
Well, I think that the industry actually has shown that too. You weren't shocked? No, I, I hear that all the time. I think that that's why you do start to see a lot of these other companies who are coming out with more organic forms. Like, you know, there's coral and then there's honey pot. And so you'll start to see a lot of this shifting towards exactly what you said. So people who are sitting there and saying, I think that this may be a cause, so I'm gonna create a product that actually does the thing that I want it to do.
- [26:42]
Briana Bitton
It would make sense though, because it's a habit that so many women are doing. We're all doing the same habit and a lot of us are getting a bad result. You guys should do tampons next. I know in this branding would be so cute.
- [26:57]
Michael Bostick
You.
- [26:57]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Oh, I know.
- [26:58]
Briana Bitton
We've.
- [26:59]
Michael Bostick
Look at this. Ideas here.
- [27:01]
Briana Bitton
Sorry.
- [27:01]
Michael Bostick
I like ideas here. Growing ideas.
- [27:04]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Stay tuned.
- [27:04]
Briana Bitton
Maybe, but make them like really aesthetically pleasing though, because we don't suitcases a case, maybe a like a little like wallpaper situation on the package. Organic. Non.
- [27:17]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
We need you on the branding team. Lauren, you're hired.
- [27:21]
Briana Bitton
I just think that, like, that is a huge problem. And I've always felt weird about that ever since I was little. So I've always worn pads. And all my friends make fun of me. They think it's like. But then I start to think, well, what's in the pad?
- [27:33]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Well, I was just gonna say one.
- [27:35]
Michael Bostick
Of the up there, 90 other things with the cups. And then I think in general, there's.
- [27:41]
Lauren Everts
A large amount of people that are.
- [27:43]
Briana Bitton
Michael, weigh in on Tampa.
- [27:45]
Lauren Everts
That are just starting to agree that a lot of the things we eat and consume and drink and materials we use, like that needs to be. Be maybe looked at again.
- [27:53]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
I mean, well, that's why we created the flow endocrine superfood. So our newest product is to support the endocrine system as a whole, and that's really why we created it. So all of our products so far have been very hyper focused on specific women's issues. So number one, vaginal probiotic at Target, right? Like, it's always like, we wanted to figure out the vaginal probiotic, we wanted to figure out menopause. We really wanted to focus on these issues that women deal with. But then when we were thinking about it, the background of all of these imbalances, everything, all of the discourse we're hearing about cortisol and insulin, all of these things, it all is the endocrine system. So it all roots back to this system that's behind the scenes controlling the majority of how we feel.
- [28:42]
Briana Bitton
Our mood, our fatigue, our weight, maybe like, I feel like it's gonna be like the gut.
- [28:47]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Exactly, it is. And no one's really addressing it holistically so. And the gut plays a huge part. Like, I'm forgetting the exact number. But all of our hormones, like excess hormones, are absorbed by the gut microbiome. So it's so crazy how we have this system that all works together to really make us feel our best, but is like kind of ignored. And then we're dealing with all these disruptors, right? Like our. Our water has plastic. Everything has plastic. Our tampon applicators. Like Michael not to talk. I'm. Literally everything I direct toward Michael is about balls. I'm so sorry.
- [29:23]
Lauren Everts
Well, I can understand. I mean.
- [29:27]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Yeah, there's.
- [29:28]
Briana Bitton
Okay with the underwear microclastics and guys balls. I found non toxic kids underwear. I have to link it in the show notes because I learned that our daughters are wearing underwear that's filled with endocrine disorders.
- [29:42]
Lauren Everts
Well, I did this. I was talking about this the other day and whether. And like, I won't get into political stuff, but I was just saying, like, you know, a bipartisan issue is that I think there's general consensus that, like, it takes a lot of work just to find healthy alternatives and to live in a healthy way these days. Like, it shouldn't be this hard to figure out what to use, what to eat, what to wear. It's a real exercise. And I think Lauren and I are fortunate. We have resources as we've grown, and it's hard for us. I can imagine people that struggle and don't have as many resources. How the hell are you supposed to know?
- [30:11]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Exactly.
- [30:12]
Lauren Everts
I think about this for our kids and their kids. I talk to my parents about this. They're older and they don't remember having to deal with all this kind of stuff when they were younger. A lot of these issues. And I'm sure, sure, doctor, you've seen them. Like, a lot of this stuff is, you know, we're living longer and we have a lot. We have a lot more at our disposal now. But it takes a real effort to just be health. Just baseline healthy.
- [30:36]
Michael Bostick
Yeah. I mean, seven out of 10 chronic diseases in the US are avoidable. And that means it can be avoided through, like, diet and. Or exercise or, you know, give us.
- [30:48]
Briana Bitton
An example of a couple of what you mean by that.
- [30:50]
Michael Bostick
Oh, so for example, diabetes, hypertension, copd, which is like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
- [30:57]
Briana Bitton
How do you. Is that exercise?
- [30:59]
Michael Bostick
So that would be like a lot of what we inhale. Right. So exercise is gonna decrease that. But also diet, a lot of it really has to do with diet. Cause just like you were saying before, the body is really all connected. And so if the gut microbiome, which really connects with the brain. Right. And so a lot of disruptors that you may ingest or not being excreted from the body, a lot of that blood is then shunted to the brain. Brain. Right. And so you have to think of what we're putting in our bodies is fueling our bodies. And so if they're all interconnected and we're not fueling it in the best way, or we're in environments that kind of breed these things that are not great for our bodies, then that's when we start to have all of these issues. So we are living longer, but we're not living longer, healthier.
- [31:42]
Briana Bitton
What are the tall tale signs of an imbalance? And what do you both recommend to someone who thinks that they might be imbalanced?
- [31:50]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
So what I've noticed is fatigue is a huge one. Right. Like, if you're feeling lethargic and tired, there's most likely something going on. And chronic stress. Right. Like, we are all chronically stressed as Americans. We're buzzed up and, like, always crazy and just. We have so many different. Especially when we're looking at the female hormones. Right. Like something like pcos. You're bloated all the time. You can even have facial hair. Like, there's so many little signs that. Very telling. In a hormonal imbalance.
- [32:24]
Michael Bostick
I think that a lot of it is everyone knows their body best. And when your body starts to not function in the way that it should be or used to in the past, I think that should be the kind of, like, that light bulb that goes off in your head is that something's off. And what in my lifestyle could I do to change that or get it back to the regulation that it used to be? And a lot of times it can be something as simple as, like, your daily activities, that you're either not implementing something or you've taken something out that was extremely helpful for you. And again, I'll go back to, like, diet and exercise and the food that we take, and whether it's getting sunlight in the morning or grounding or making sure that we meditate to decrease our cortisol levels, I think those are things that everyone can take part in, but I think as a. As a whole, we all can take part as a community. And I think that was such a critical point that you brought up, is that we need to make sure that we're watching all of these things that we're. We're putting in our foods and in our. And in our plastics and in our. So that really is now impacting everybody in a way that's, like, over time, like what you've seen. Like, you're saying, yeah, we're seeing it over time, that this is impacting everyone in a way where they're not showing up more healthy.
- [33:36]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Yeah.
- [33:36]
Lauren Everts
I mean, like, we're vocal because we do this show and talk to people like yourself all the time that have an expertise. And, you know, we. Sometimes we catch a lot of shit because what you're doing is you're telling people and some kind of time that, like, hey, maybe you're not living the way you should be, and that it feels like a personal attack. And it's not. It's just a lot of people are just unaware of the fact that they have different options or healthier options or maybe the things that they think are healthy are really not healthy. I mean, we were talking earlier about just cleaning supplies, like looking and seeing, like what are you actually cleaning with? Is it necessary all the time? I had a follow up question for you. As a doctor, what do you find most challenging or frustrating for yourself when it comes to treating your patients?
- [34:15]
Michael Bostick
Yeah, I think, you know, even in the medical community, we haven't done the best job in allowing people to have ownership of their own kind of journey in the things again that they do every day. So what we've, I think we've constructed this kind of relationship where we wait till we're sick and then we go to the doctor and we give you something. Right. And so that becomes this transactional kind of relationship until you're, you're only going cause you don't feel well. But what we should be teaching is before you get to me and don't feel well, what are the things that I can teach you to stay well? And we've moved away from that. And I think when we look decades before is what was a doctor really? They were kind of like the community guy who would go around and meet with families and talk to them. But their transaction used to be like food. Right. Like I'm going to give you these groceries if you kind of help out. If, you know, we have a cough and because we've just come up. Yeah. Medications are not a bad thing. So I don't want to put shame on medications, but I think maybe we have used them too much as a crutch instead of focusing on the things that could really be done every day. And when we look at the, you know, the ingredients and like flow in looking at the endocrine system and something that you can add every day. Yeah. That can help with your system. That makes you feel better.
- [35:30]
Briana Bitton
That's.
- [35:30]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Yeah, yeah, that's. Oh yeah.
- [35:31]
Lauren Everts
I remember when I was a kid, you'd go for like a checkup and then the doctor would be like, okay, go do these few things or eat this kind of. I don't. You don't really do that anymore.
- [35:38]
Briana Bitton
Something that has helped me balance my hormones and this is so weird is weightlifting.
- [35:42]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Oh, interesting.
- [35:43]
Briana Bitton
It naturally helps, I can tell you weightlift. I can tell it does. Don't you feel like it balances your insulin or something?
- [35:50]
Michael Bostick
Absolutely, absolutely. You know why? Yes. There is a reason why your muscle is the biggest absorber of glucose.
- [35:56]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Yes.
- [35:57]
Michael Bostick
So if you're like taking that glucose in because you're lifting weights, then you're decreasing the glucose that's just sitting around doing nothing. And that's what you don't want glucose to do. You don't want it to sit around do nothing.
- [36:06]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
And that's the, The. The insulin resistance that we hear. It's when the insulin isn't being absorbed by your muscles. Right.
- [36:11]
Lauren Everts
Let's all compare our biceps.
- [36:12]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Let's all put your bicep up.
- [36:14]
Lauren Everts
Let's all compare our biceps.
- [36:16]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
I try. I've been slapping on my.
- [36:18]
Lauren Everts
There you go.
- [36:19]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Pilates arms.
- [36:20]
Briana Bitton
But, you know, you're busy building a company. I want, I want to get to that. I think it's very impressive that you and your brother have created this out of nothing. I always find it super interesting when there's someone that sees a need, they want to disrupt a space. They want to stop with the taboo. And I feel like you guys have nailed and you've also done beautiful packaging. What has been the nitty gritty entrepreneur behind the scenes of this? Because I know it's not easy.
- [36:47]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Oh, no. So I would say, really, the beginning was the most nitty gritty. We. When we came up with the idea, right, we're like, oh, great, this is a great idea. And then we got down to business, and it took us two and a half years of R and D to make this happen. When we thought it would kind of be maybe a plug and play. And we learned really quickly that that was not going to happen. And we had to the best doctors, nutraceutical scientists, manufacturers. Because again, like, I'm just a girl who was struggling. Like, I didn't know the first thing about creating a supplement. I just knew that I needed it. And so we had to employ all these people, get a dream team together and make this happen. So I would say that would be like a huge hurdle that we had to overcome. And then when we launched, and we launched first with Flo, I think the second hurdle was figuring out how to expand, Right. We're like, okay, we have this hero product. And we learned really quickly that, like, we had a great response from our. Our community, and we had all of these women telling us their experiences. It's so funny. Like, our, our social ads and our social posts almost became little, like, message boards. We created this community and these women would be talking to each other, be like, oh, this really helped me. Or, like, I've been trying this.
- [38:04]
Briana Bitton
That's so smart. It's like a community where people feel comfortable to talk about things they can't talk about.
- [38:09]
Michael Bostick
Yeah.
- [38:09]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
And because we were kind of like putting this platform up and being like, hey, we're just gonna call it how it is. We're just gonna talk about these things in the open. It really inspired people to just start kind of spilling their stories. So we got a lot of feedback. We got a lot of great things that our customers wanted. So that's when we started expanding into more products, like addressing menopause. And my mom really helped us develop that product too. Cause she went through it, and what.
- [38:35]
Briana Bitton
Did she say about menopause? And how have you developed a product around menopause? If someone who's listening wants. Want support with that.
- [38:41]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Yeah. So she actually. She's totally fine, but she. We discovered she had uterine cancer. So she had a hysterectomy. And like, thank God we caught it, like, super early. It was the best possible scenario in. In the case. So she had a hysterectomy and was forced into immediate menopause. So it hit her really hard. And because she had the cancer, it was a little bit more risky for her to do any bioidentical hormones and stuff like that. So she was instrumental in creating Menno, our menopause product, which is an all natural, proactive approach, kind of how we approach everything with actually a lot of similar herbs and vitamins that are in flow, our PMS supplement that naturally balance women's hormones and give them the support that they need and really help balance those hormones as they're fading out. So maca root is like the female.
- [39:32]
Briana Bitton
I've heard that.
- [39:33]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Yeah.
- [39:33]
Briana Bitton
It's amazing, right?
- [39:34]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Yeah, incredible.
- [39:35]
Briana Bitton
What besides herbs, would you tell people about menopause? What are the things that you would prepare them for? Dr. Shepherd?
- [39:43]
Michael Bostick
I would say we've kind of constructed this idea that menopause is, like, horrible, and so people are already fearing it. And 40% of a woman's life is spent in the menopausal stage. Right. Because once you pass menopause, you're menopausal till you die.
- [39:57]
Briana Bitton
I could use a break from my period and pads and take the silver lining. Then we can do what we need to do without protection. Pregnancy, menopause is.
- [40:09]
Michael Bostick
You were, like, in the minority.
- [40:10]
Briana Bitton
I would say I'm good with that.
- [40:12]
Michael Bostick
I'm glad you are. You just share the word.
- [40:14]
Lauren Everts
Pull this clip for later. Save it for me for a while and then.
- [40:18]
Michael Bostick
But no, I think that because women might dread it or the symptoms that may come with it, that we need to actually start these conversations earlier. And once we start the conversations earlier, then people have a fundamental idea of what's gonna go on what they can take, what would be good for them, them, and then also beefing up their, their weightlifting, because that's also important too. And so I think if we can enter this stage more with the readiness of. This is going to be a transition that I have to go through. Like 100 of women are going through menopause. Like there's not 96 or 92, it's 100%. So what can I do in understanding it so that I can make this journey the best version of myself and enjoy this 40% of my life that I'm going to spend in the postmenopausal phase?
- [41:00]
Briana Bitton
Why I wanted to have you guys on the podcast is what I like about this is I feel like you're rebranding things that society has put such a fear around. Yeah, periods, pcos, menopause. These are things that we've been taught, like you said, that we need to fear and it shouldn't be like that. And the energy around that is probably making it worse when it comes 100. Even the pregnancy thing, in listening, listen again, I'm not an expert, but I believe if you're thinking in your head all the time, oh my God, I can't get pregnant. Oh my God, what's my temperature? Do I need to be checking my cycle? What's my. That chaoticness around the pregnancy, I believe, creates a barrier for you to not get pregnant. You're not in a flow state. And when you're getting pregnant, you should be in a flow state because things are flowing towards you. It's life. And so, you know, again, this is my own experience with, with my kids. I was like, I'm gonna get pregnant. That's all I did. I said, I'm gonna get pregnant. And I constantly thought in my head, pregnancy is flowing towards me. Listen, this may sound woo woo. I just think if you, if you're constantly stressed about the menopause, stressed about the pregnancy, you're not, you're not getting a flow towards you.
- [42:21]
Michael Bostick
No, I think it's important for each of those categories. Pregnancy, puberty and periods and menopause is exactly what you said. I think the mindset is very important with that. But leaning into the experience rather than trying to push it away because then you're just creating this like, you know, relationship where it's not flowing, like, exactly like you said. So the more that we lean into it because we have an understanding of it, but we have a mindset that this is something, something that I can do, like I can do hard things, I can do things that might be a little bit difficult, but I'm gonna flow with it. That is gonna create much more of a pathway.
- [42:55]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
And I've heard so many stories like that. Like, women will be so stressed, and it's like the center of their universe, and they're like, trying to get pregnant, and then the second they kind of give up, but they're like, you know what? I'm just gonna go with the flow. They get pregnant.
- [43:07]
Briana Bitton
Well, it's very similar to getting married, in my opinion, or dating someone. Like, if you're constantly like, I need a guy, I need a guy. Where's a guy? Where's a guy? A guy doesn't like, like me, that is not attracting what you want. If you're like, you know what it. What happens happens if someone finds me, they're lucky to be in my presence. Like, I'm. I'm so great. You're gonna attract a certain kind of person, think you're great.
- [43:32]
Lauren Everts
I think it's with everything, though. Career, with money, with dating, with everything. I think if you're putting out, like a certain kind of energy, that's a. It's a bit of a repellent in some ways. Ways.
- [43:43]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Totally.
- [43:43]
Lauren Everts
And like, if you're like, you're applying for a job, I need this job. And it's just like, whoa, you know.
- [43:47]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Yeah.
- [43:48]
Michael Bostick
That energy, what you radiate, you know, comes internally. So you're pushing that out without even realizing it. And the atmosphere can read it. So I, I totally agree with that. And I actually tell that to my patients. I'm like, hey, let's, let's, let's work up here a little bit so that we can kind of control some of the things that are going on here.
- [44:06]
Briana Bitton
I call it the ruminator. And what I really like about the way that you are as a doctor is you've mentioned so many different tools that don't have any to do with the medical community. And like you said, medicine's needed when it's needed. But there should be a plethora in your toolbox. I think what you guys talked about with maca root, like, that's such an amazing tool. Grounding, meditation. Yeah, it's like, it's not just like a one size fits all. What are some really all star ingredients? I see that there's all different kinds of adaptogens. What are the ingredients that you, like, have hand picked that you're really proud of besides the moxie?
- [44:43]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
So in the flow? Endocrine superfood powder. There's four buckets we're kind of trying to tackle. So it's the brain, the thyroid, the ovaries and liver and kind of the reproductive section of your body and the gut. So. And they all work together, you know. So L. Theanine and rhodiola are the ingredients that help the brain. So L. Theanine is that calming ingredient that is in matcha, and it gives you kind of that calming effect. You'll take this or you'll have it in the morning with your smoothie or with some lemon and water, and you'll feel calming effects within the hour. It really keeps you at that homeostasis and stops that cortisol spike. So it really, really helps with that. That's incredible. I struggle with another thing, hypothyroidism. So I have a thyroid imbalance. So iodine and selenium are used to balance your thyroid and produce T3 and T4. So selenium is actually in. Have you heard of people, like, eating two Brazil nuts a day? Day? So we do it. Yeah. Do you?
- [45:47]
Briana Bitton
So that's what I've seen you eat two Brazil nuts for, like, two months. You eat your two Brazil nuts.
- [45:54]
Lauren Everts
I have them in my office there. And then.
- [45:55]
Briana Bitton
Okay, I can't. I'm going to see. I'm going to make a video.
- [45:57]
Michael Bostick
Very enthusiastic about that, too. He's like, yes.
- [46:00]
Lauren Everts
You know, every day it's amazing that I can even live without you watching me.
- [46:05]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
And then for. For your ovaries and your sexual health, we have dim, which is a super ingredient for ovaries and estrogen. I've heard you talk about this.
- [46:15]
Briana Bitton
I've heard a lot about this ingredient.
- [46:17]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Yes. So it is. And also artichoke extract. So what it does is it just helps you produce the good estrogen. So there's actually good estrogen and bad estrogen, kind of like cholesterol. And so you want to produce as much good estrogen as you can. So dim really produces the good estrogen. It really helps with pcos. It helps balance those hormones and make sure that you're at the optimal level of estrogen. Estrogen.
- [46:41]
Briana Bitton
If our audience is listening and you both had to recommend one product to start with, what. What is the product? Say someone they have mild periods, maybe a little severe, but not crazy. What would you guys both recommend?
- [46:56]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
If it's mild periods, I would really start with the endocrine superfood powder.
- [47:01]
Briana Bitton
That's what I thought you were going to say because it's such a holistic.
- [47:04]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Approach and it is weight management. It's Managing yourself, stress, it's managing your fatigue all really holistically. If you're struggling with something more focused, like hyper focused, then we have an ovarian product for that I take every day to help manage my pcos. And we have our Vaginal probiotic. It's our. It's our bestseller. It's like, it is. It's changed my life. Like, it's absolutely insane. Like, and it's funny. Like, even I was, like, not to get too graphic, but this is what I do. Like, it's so funny because it's still ingrained in me as a woman to.
- [47:38]
Briana Bitton
Like, get graphic, Michael.
- [47:42]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
It makes everything as, like, fresh as a daisy.
- [47:44]
Michael Bostick
My favorite product, probably because I'm older, is Menno. So I am of the age of where I am liking the Menno product.
- [47:55]
Briana Bitton
Your skin is so beautiful. You do not look older to me.
- [47:58]
Michael Bostick
Oh, I'm. I'm almost 50.
- [47:59]
Briana Bitton
You look great.
- [48:00]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Great.
- [48:00]
Michael Bostick
Thanks.
- [48:01]
Briana Bitton
Weightlifting.
- [48:02]
Michael Bostick
I think I'll just. Yeah, weightlifting is, like. That's. That's killer right there.
- [48:05]
Briana Bitton
You look great.
- [48:05]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Do I need to start.
- [48:06]
Michael Bostick
Weightlifting is a game changer.
- [48:07]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Yes. Yeah, you need to start weightlifting and doing the Pilates thing.
- [48:11]
Briana Bitton
Pilates is great.
- [48:12]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Okay.
- [48:13]
Lauren Everts
I started doing the Pilates thing.
- [48:14]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Okay.
- [48:14]
Michael Bostick
How do you like it?
- [48:15]
Lauren Everts
I moved over from I do the weightlifting, but then I do the.
- [48:18]
Briana Bitton
Incorporate the Pilates weightlifting 100. I think. I think everyone in the world should weightlift, though. That's a whole other episode.
- [48:25]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Okay.
- [48:26]
Michael Bostick
You know, I just come back here.
- [48:27]
Briana Bitton
I think it's changed my life, unfortunately.
- [48:29]
Lauren Everts
It's one of those things where if you. If you start doing it young, you'll carry it forever. If you start doing it older, it's harder, but it's arguably needed when you're older much more than when you're younger.
- [48:40]
Briana Bitton
I lost 60 pounds.
- [48:42]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Wow.
- [48:43]
Briana Bitton
And from.
- [48:44]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
And, like, primarily weightlifting.
- [48:46]
Briana Bitton
I had a baby. I was 60 pounds heavier than I was before, and I implemented weightlifting and protein, and it changed my hormones and my life and. And my confidence. And I weightlift now four days a week, sometimes five. I love it.
- [49:02]
Michael Bostick
You're my bff.
- [49:03]
Briana Bitton
It shrinks the body composition, you know, so, like, jeans that I wore in high school, I can wear now even if I'm the same weight as I was before and couldn't wear them.
- [49:13]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Yes.
- [49:13]
Briana Bitton
It's weird.
- [49:14]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Yeah. The muscle weighs more than.
- [49:15]
Briana Bitton
I love it because of all the stuff that you're into with hormones and.
- [49:19]
Michael Bostick
And.
- [49:19]
Briana Bitton
And, I mean, you're so into all these things. I feel like weightlifting is right up your alley.
- [49:23]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Okay. I gotta do it.
- [49:24]
Briana Bitton
But I feel like I'm kind of like a. When I talk about it, like, I'm. I'm kind of not like a whore for weightlifting. Like, I, like, love it so much that it's almost like. I don't know.
- [49:35]
Michael Bostick
I feel like you may have listened to me before, because that's all I talk about. You do weightlifting? Yeah, I can tell.
- [49:40]
Briana Bitton
You can tell by looking at your body.
- [49:41]
Michael Bostick
Yeah, I. I did it, but I've increased, so. I've always done it, but I've increased in my 40s, weightlifting because it's a game changer, and I know what it does internally.
- [49:50]
Briana Bitton
What's your whole thing? What's your whole schedule?
- [49:51]
Michael Bostick
So I would say I'm the quick and dirty weightlifter, where I can do it, like, in a good 35 to 40 minutes.
- [49:57]
Lauren Everts
That's all you need.
- [49:57]
Michael Bostick
But I know that if I do higher weights, low reps, then I can kind of get that in and can learn. It can work for me for the rest of the day. But it's really that glucose, because as you start to get older, your glucose is just kind of like, I'm gonna sit around, and I'm like, I don't explain how, like.
- [50:11]
Briana Bitton
And I'm not like, you have to explain this. How it makes your metabolism go all day.
- [50:15]
Michael Bostick
Yeah. So it makes your metabolism go all day. Because myokines, which is just a fancy word for the cells that the. The muscle makes, is for immune system. It's for decreasing our fat. Right. Increasing our muscle. And it also helps with cognition as well. So muscle really is. I call it like, the organ of long. It really is there to sustain so much of your body, and then it also helps support your bones, which we know when you get older, your bones get weak.
- [50:39]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Yeah.
- [50:39]
Lauren Everts
Not to pick up my dad, if. Your dad. If you're listening to this. But as he's gotten older, he, like, kind of stopped doing that. And I was like, hey, this. You know, you start to, like, get a little bit more. Now he's. Now he's jacked. He's, like, 80 years old.
- [50:49]
Michael Bostick
He started again.
- [50:50]
Lauren Everts
He started again. He's doing it for five years.
- [50:52]
Briana Bitton
It doesn't. I think a lot of women are scared you're gonna bulk up. Yeah, it doesn't bulk you up. It sure shrinks. It, like, shrink wraps you.
- [50:59]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
It kind of. I feel like it would, like, tighten me up a little bit.
- [51:02]
Briana Bitton
Like, you look amazing. I mean, you look amazing. You look like you weightlift. But I just think, like, with everything that you guys have with your products. It's very synergistic to what you guys are doing.
- [51:12]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Yeah. You know, it's so funny.
- [51:14]
Briana Bitton
Our.
- [51:14]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Our dad started weightlifting. Now he's like freaked out. He's like, I have to start weightlifting, blah, blah, blah. And he is the biggest fan of the mouth tape. He wears it every single night. The pink mouth tape. Our 60 year old father wears it, his little lips, every single day. He had changed his life, him and my mom.
- [51:34]
Lauren Everts
But if he keeps doing it, the cutest thing.
- [51:37]
Briana Bitton
You have to email that to me. Laurenskinnyconfidential.com you have to email that to me. That is so cute. I love it.
- [51:43]
Lauren Everts
Your dad, what's his name?
- [51:45]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Eddie.
- [51:46]
Lauren Everts
Eddie, if you're listening and you keep doing this for the next, like, you know, I got my dad back into it. He will add years to his life.
- [51:52]
Briana Bitton
Excuse me. So will mouth taping.
- [51:54]
Lauren Everts
No, no, of course. But I'm saying just weightlifting alone.
- [51:56]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
It's so good for people. And he's building a sauna at the house. He's like, excuse me.
- [52:01]
Briana Bitton
So will flow.
- [52:02]
Michael Bostick
Absolutely.
- [52:03]
Briana Bitton
Get yourself some superfood powder in your smoothie. Strawberry lemonade is the flavor hormone balance energy and stress gut microbiome. You can also check out the menopause one if you're going through that. I think the vaginal pro probiotic is absolutely genius. I love that you mentioned because we have not talked about this on this episode or on this podcast. Vaginal odor.
- [52:25]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Yeah.
- [52:26]
Briana Bitton
Michael, plug your ears.
- [52:28]
Lauren Everts
I've hung in here pretty good on this episode, I gotta admit.
- [52:33]
Briana Bitton
Right now.
- [52:33]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Yeah.
- [52:34]
Lauren Everts
When you come back, you can bring the ball jacuzzi and I will, I will square the whole conversation.
- [52:39]
Briana Bitton
You have to bring the organic non microplastic tampons. Do we have a code and can we do a giveaway?
- [52:46]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Yes, yes and yes.
- [52:48]
Briana Bitton
If you guys follow Positive positive without the E on Instagram and you tell us your favorite part of this episode on my latest post, we'll send you like a goodie bag of all the favorite products.
- [52:59]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Yes.
- [53:00]
Briana Bitton
Okay.
- [53:00]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Full, full goodie bag. Full gift basket.
- [53:02]
Briana Bitton
One winner. And then what is the code for everyone who wants to go shop?
- [53:07]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
It's skinny and it's 25 off.
- [53:10]
Briana Bitton
You guys check out oh positive health and Target nationwide in the intimate care aisle and online at Amazon and at. Oh pos. Definitely enter the giveaway. Go. Follow positive without the E on Instagram and go shop. Use code Skinny. Definitely. I'm telling you, get the superfood powder. It's strawberry lemonade. Like I said, I'M gonna be taking that vaginal probiotic, so things smell fresh as a daisy. Michael Bostick. Thank you guys for coming on. Where can everyone find both of you? Pimp yourself out.
- [53:39]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
I'm just Brianna Bitton, first and last name.
- [53:42]
Michael Bostick
I'm at Jessica Shepherdmd.s H E P H E R D M D Come find following.
- [53:47]
Briana Bitton
And if people want to ask you questions about intimate care or vaginas or buttholes or whatever questions that they have about gynecolog Gynecologists questions can they drop in your DMs? Oh, please.
- [54:00]
Dr. Jessica Shepherd
Hit me up. Talk about it all day long.
- [54:02]
Briana Bitton
Okay.
- [54:02]
Michael Bostick
And drop it in the oh, positive dms as well as mine.
- [54:05]
Briana Bitton
I love it. Thank you guys both for coming on the show.