← The Thyroid (and Hormone) Fixer Podcast: Thyropause, Menopause, Metabolism and How to Fix It
The Thyroid (and Hormone) Fixer Podcast: Thyropause, Menopause, Metabolism and How to Fix It
645. You Can't Take Weight Loss Advice from a Fat Doctor: Confessions and Longevity Hacks from America's Most Hated Doctor
00:51:00
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- [00:00]
Dr. Ivan
I came out. Physicality, mentality, emotionality have always been my focus in medicine and the only way to go about that is more of a preventative meets wellness meets functional meets anti aging meets aesthetic whatever it could be. Because how you live your life and everything like that is such a gigantic aspect of how patients respect you and actually pay attention to what you're actually saying.
- [00:19]
Dr. Amy
Welcome to the Thyroid and Hormone Fixer Podcast. If you've been told everything is fine but you're gaining weight despite doing all the right things, struggling with brain fog, mood swings, low libido, or feeling like a stranger in your own body, you're in the right place. I'm Dr. Amy the Thyroid Fixer and I want you to know right now, I see you, I believe you, and you don't have to figure this out alone anymore. We're going to do this together. But I'm also not here to play nice with bad medicine or empty promises. This show is meant to disrupt the entire health space. We're going to challenge the status quo, connect all the dots other providers miss and give you real, practical, science backed tools you can use.
- [01:03]
Dr. Ivan
Today.
- [01:04]
Dr. Amy
You're not going to get any more recycled biohacking advice, just truth, strategy and hope. Let's get you back to feeling like the badass human you're meant to be. If you've ever walked out of a doctor's office being told your labs are normal but you're exhausted, gaining weight, foggy, frustrated, frustrated, then this is for you. Being told you're normal doesn't mean you're optimal and it definitely doesn't explain why you still feel like something is wrong and feel like garbage. That's exactly why we created the Fixer Lab Test plus Consult. It's affordable, often less than ordering labs on your own from places like LabCorp or Ulta. And it includes comprehensive thyroid and hormone testing plus a full hour long consultation with one of my highly trained team members. We walk you through your results line by line and explain exactly what they mean for you so you can finally understand what's going on in your body and what your next step should be. So if you're done being told that you're fine and you're ready for real answers, then go to fixer power lab.com that's F I X E R P O W E r l a be.com and get some help that you need. So if you've been listening to me for a while, or hey, even if you're new, you will soon learn that I am just brutally Honest and very, very straightforward. So here goes. Are you ready for this? If you are struggling with your doctor, if you can't get your doctor to order the labs, much less even listen to you, about the fact that you now know that your thyroid needs T3, you now know that you have to look at the master gland. Because the thyroid, it literally determines whether or not you're going to lose weight or lose your hair or gain weight or have energy or even be able to use your brain on a day to day basis. That's the thyroid. It's not your gut, it's not your adrenals. You don't need another detox. You need to fix the master gland. And oh, by the way, those beautiful hormones, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, yeah, they play in the same sandbox as the thyroid. So if you ignore those and you say, well, I'm just going to age gracefully, then you're just going to get disease sooner. When your thyroid is low and your hormones are low, the bottom line is not only are you more set up for weight gain, constipation, fatigue, hair loss, brain fog, but you're also set up for a greater risk of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's cancer and heart disease. You can prevent all that and live an amazing life at the same time. So what are you exactly waiting for? I'm just curious. Are you waiting for next year to feel better maybe two years from now? Why don't you just do something about it right now? We prescribe to all 50 states. We do it the right way. We are specialists, true, honest to God, functional medicine, specialists in thyroid and hormones. Just go to functional medicine practitioner who's a jack of all trades and masters of none and is going to sprinkle adrenal fairy dust on you. You're going to be highly disappointed and you're going to be out of money. Go to Dr. Amy.com, click the big button at the top that says become a patient and just book a free call to find out what you can actually do to get better. We can do it for you. We do it every single day. We have helped tens of thousands, thousands of people live their best life ever. And oh yeah, that's right, prevent diseases that will kill them. Don't wait another day. We don't know how long we have on this planet. We better take life by the reins and live it and live it to its fullest. And we can't do that when we're sick. So it is your choice. Continue being sick and be set up for disease. Or make a call to literally change your life. Now stop waiting. All right. Dr. Ivan, my gosh. I mean, we were talking off air. We have so much in common, just from experiences where we lived all the things. But I think the biggest thing that we have in common is our disdain for conventional sick medicine. Treating people the wrong way and leaving them to just flounder for themselves.
- [05:42]
Dr. Ivan
No, for sure. And again, I think that's the real epidemic in this country is the fact that it's not so much dis or misinformation, it's just people who don't get any information. You know what I mean? Like, and when it comes to the actual health care practitioners, there's so much potential for goodness out there. A holistic view of it. Diet, exercise, this, that and the other, which is going to dictate if you need cholesterol medication, if you need GLP1s, this, that or the other. And it's just a situation. Whereas it's kind of sad that the healthcare system's that broken, but it's not hard to fix. It's just complacency, I think.
- [06:10]
Dr. Amy
Well, and, you know, one thing I love about you is, is we have the same attitude. We're very outspoken. You're very, very ballsy in what you say to the world. I mean, you're standing on your pedestal, basically screaming it out there like, hey, guys, we kind of got this wrong in traditional medicine. So you went through the traditional medicine system, the conventional system. I mean, you went to lecom. It's in my hometown. It basically Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine runs the town of Erie, Pennsylvania. I mean, it's all consumed, right?
- [06:41]
Dr. Ivan
It does.
- [06:42]
Dr. Amy
So you went through the DO model, which we know is no longer different from the MD model. So looking back, when did you first realize that traditional medicine just. It wasn't going to let you practice the way that you knew internally you
- [06:58]
Dr. Ivan
wanted to practice medicine again, first and foremost. My father's a chiropractor growing up, so I had a massive respect for how structure governs function, which is one of the biggest principles for osteopathic medicine. If your spine's off, then everything's off. So that kind of fostered the idea of, like, this could be actually pretty unique, I guess you could say, when it comes to how I could pitch this medically. And then once I got into high school and I was into the collegiate sports, like hockey and things like that, and then was in college, I got into the bodybuilding and that. And as you know, in bodybuilding everything. They're the most in tune athletes on earth, you know, I mean, like, they know everything about physiatry and diet and all that kind of stuff. So the aspect that once you understand those principles and then you go to medical school, you aren't taught any of it. You know, it's just like you spend 30 days on cholesterol medication and 10 minutes on nutrition. So it's just a situation to. Whereas, like, I got that probably in the first year, I figured out that if I'm going to really try to make a difference in somebody's life, I'm going to have to go outside the box. I got my nutritionist degree, my personal training I was already doing. I won the Mr. USA thing, which basically led to kind of a great PR move, you know, I guess you could say. So it kind of gave me the option to kind of go out on my own and kind of fire back and not have too much recourse, if you will. And then from there it's just been, you know, just kind of proving the concept over and over again, you know, I mean, like sitting there and like, it's such a common sense way to look at medicine that nobody wants to do anymore. That's kind of where I built my practice. And my patients love it because they're not only getting a way to lose weight, they're getting a lifestyle to keep it off.
- [08:19]
Dr. Amy
Exactly. And well. And so for your story, you know, a lot of times we hear, okay, doctor goes into medical school, practices traditionally. You know, I heard this from a ton of my colleagues. Practices traditionally for years, years, years, has that realization that they're doing wrong by their patient and then they shift and they become a functional medicine practitioner, integrative. But it sounds like that was you from the beginning. Like you went in knowing, you know what, a lot of this is bullshit. And I'm going in with blinders on, ears open, and I'm going to learn what I need to learn here. But I'm also going to bring in my experience as an athlete and immediately interject that into my practice.
- [09:01]
Dr. Ivan
No, and again, just, just like with you, you have to practice what you preach, you know, I mean, like, you can't be a fat doctor preaching weight loss. You know what I mean? Like, so you have to translate that into it. You know, patients come to you because they're looking for a hero. They're looking for somebody that they can put their trust in that's going to get them to over the finish line of whatever their goals are, whether it's to live if you have cancer or if it's to lose weight, if you're just looking to get sexier for the summer. And it's a situation where, as you know, I came out, physicality, mentality, emotionality have always been my focus in medicine. And the only way to go about that is more of a preventative meets wellness meets functional, meets anti aging meets aesthetic, whatever it could be. Because how you live your life and everything like that is such a gigantic aspect of how patients respect you and actually pay attention to what you're actually saying.
- [09:39]
Dr. Amy
Yes, exactly. Which I mean, really, if we could just clone you and have like a million more of you, then the world would be a better place and it'd
- [09:49]
Dr. Ivan
be a fun place. I promise you, no matter what, we'd have fun, it'd be a lot of
- [09:54]
Dr. Amy
fun and women wouldn't be suffering anymore. I mean, that's the bottom line. Like, that is the approach that is so necessary. I heard a quote, and I actually quote this in my book too, because it just stuck with me. And I want you to expand on it since I have a chance to pick your brain, of course, in medical school, and I'm going to bastardize this, but there was a speech given to a graduating class of medical students, and the guy gets up there and says basically, in three years, 50% of what you learned will be obsolete. Is that true? And maybe it's a shorter time, maybe in the next year, 50% of what you learned from the obsolete. But how do you as a practicing physician kind of go out there into the world knowing that half of what you learned is already in the past and that you have to stay on top of things or you're going to get left behind, or you're just going to practice bad medicine.
- [10:49]
Dr. Ivan
No, you could be more right. I would say more than half. I'd say 80% of it was just not right. I mean, like, if you take a look at the third leading cause of death in the United States, it's what? Medical error. You know what I mean? So the fact that we're learning from the same well, that kills more people than diabetes does. It's a situation where it's like, do I really want to pay attention to what cholesterol studies say? Let's look at HSCRP. Let's look at reverse T3 like we talk about. Let's look at everything that actually affects the heart and how it works. Not just some, you know, cholesterol, the most important thing in our body is now demonized. By everywhere, because, oh, you know, who pays for all the extra stuff? Big pharma, insurance companies and this, that and the other. So, you know, coming out of medical school, medical school, it served a purpose. It taught me the basics, the actual fundamentals, redox reactions, the Krebs cycle, things like that. But when it came to the actual prescribing and actually how to treat patients, there's a lot of good things and a lot of bad things about how that goes. And, you know, I had to decondition myself coming out of medical school and be like, listen, this is not a factory approach. Not everybody who has, you know, high cholesterol gets Lipitor, not everybody who has diabetes. You get some type of GLP1 or insulin, this, that and the other. It's more of a common sense aspect of it. Again, I was very privileged. I came out, I'd done very well modeling with the Mr. USA thing. So I had like a dual career going. So if I wanted to be a little bit more risque, it wasn't as much of a risk when it came to the medical aspect. I was like, well, I still have, you know, everything now is likes, followers and basically network. So it's kind of nice to have that come out and be able to sit there and be like, you know what I'm gonna say, what I feel. And Again, this was 17 years ago, and now what I feel has become the largest industry on earth right now, the wellness industry. I mean, like, everything from IVs to hormones to peptides, this, that and the other, that was all heresy. You know, five years ago was heresy. And until Covid hit, peptides were unknown. So it's just a situation. Whereas I think physicians need to sit there. And again, they do have golden handcuffs on, you know, I mean, if you go against the establishment, what's going to happen? You're going to lose your certifications, you're going to get kicked out of the hospital, and then what do you do? Try to make it on your own. Unfortunately, these days there's no doctor who can really make it on their own unless they're famous on TikTok or this other nonsense, which doesn't really gauge education or how well you treat patients. This is. How good are you at tagging things, you know, so it's such a diverse aspect, and I'm curious to see what your thoughts are on the transition of actual doctors who know and actually understand the field versus doctors who are good on camera or have a great social media team. I mean, like, do you see that becoming the real epidemic here.
- [13:02]
Dr. Amy
Oh my gosh. Yeah. And then you throw in AI and now we have people, we have patients listening to the like celebrity doctor who looks good on camera but can't do anything behind the scenes. They're talking to AI and they think that they're getting functional and integrative information when it's just loaded down with conventional sick medicine information. So, yeah, I mean, I think this is kind of a conundrum that we're in right now because people don't know
- [13:28]
Dr. Ivan
a mess is what we're into.
- [13:29]
Dr. Amy
Yeah, kind of. And that's why I want to pick your brain on, on this show because I want to educate the listener to know what to truly look for when choosing a doctor. I think too many of the listeners out there, the people out there are just, they're brainwashed. And when, even if we look at how we grew up, we were taught, and maybe you a little bit different if your dao is a Cairo. But for me it was always, you know, the doctor knows best, the dog, the white coat is the authority figure what's going on with your health more than you do. So you don't question what they're saying.
- [14:04]
Dr. Ivan
Oh my God, the bad one.
- [14:05]
Dr. Amy
I think that's been ingrained and that's, that's detrimental.
- [14:08]
Dr. Ivan
No, it is, it's toxic. And again, everybody thinks, you know, people understand, number one, medicine is a business. I mean it is the business. We saw that during COVID It is recession proof how many people made money on PPEs and vaccines? This, that and the other, which are all nonsensical. So people have to understand is like the Hippocratic oath is dead. You know, do no harm to your patient is more of just a placard that people can dust their shoulders off with. You know what I mean? Like, it's just like, you know, what can pay my bills? How do I pay for my house, how do I pay off medical school? People don't realize that I graduated like a 300 some thousand dollar debt, didn't have a silver spoon in my mouth, didn't have anyone to pay it off. I'm still paying student loans on it. That's more of a business move. But still, you know what I mean? Like it's a situation. Doctors come out and they're hungry and the best way to get fed is to jump in line with everything else, go to this thing, prescribe what you're told prescribed and just shut up. And you know, you're seeing more kickback now because patients are actually educated. It's cool to understand what your health is as opposed to before, it's just like, oh, okay, the doctor told me not to eat eggs. Okay, well now we just saw, now eggs are back on the thing, you know what I mean? Back in the food pyramid. So I do think we are at a reflection point when it comes to true health versus the old ways. And a lot of doctors are going to sink or swim. AI is going to take so many jobs from physicians. And I think that's probably a good thing. As sad as it is to say. I think there's a lot of physicians who need to lose their profession because they're doing more harm than good. You know, going through the motions and just prescribing cholesterol. Everybody who has a 201 cholesterol or this, that or the other, just going through the motions. If you are in love with your job, leave. Go be an influencer, go on onlyfans, you know, I mean, like, who knows, whatever it could be, it's just like if you don't want to be here, then leave. And it's a situation. Whereas the field that we're in right now, wellness, there's so many different flavors of it is so palatable and so desirable as a healthcare practitioner. And that's when sharks come in. So you have people in this industry now which are polluting it as well. So you have all these people, you sit there, it's all so and so said this, that and the other is like these people have never seen a patient in their life. They're sponsored by some research only peptide company or they have, you know, buy my red light or this, that, the other. It's just like, just shut up. You know, I mean like give me the science, give me what works and show me patients you've seen before. Show me a cancer patient that's gotten better. I think the biggest pivot which is going to go on, which I think I'm we'll be doing some of this not only back in Pennsylvania, but in the Middle east is the longevity of chronic disease. You know, I mean anti aging and all this kind of stuff. Better skin, hair, nails is all great. But when you start to see how this industry can actually pivot into real disease, neurodegeneration, autoimmune, this, that and the other. It's fascinating. That hasn't even been scratched yet. And again, if you're a businessman, that is the ultimate industry. And with what we are right now, making people who have better hair and tighter skin is one thing. Fixing somebody's diabetes without medication. Now that's true magic.
- [16:36]
Dr. Amy
It really is. And it's possible. That's the thing. People don't understand that it's possible. They think that they have to have that diabetic pill to get their health to the next level. Now, something that you just said there, I think we can both riff on. I'm going to unpack. It is. And this is what I heard. I'm kind of paraphrasing. There's a lot of doctors out there that might move from the conventional medicine system into functional medicine, slap a label on it, start promoting anti aging, longevity medicine, functional integrative medicine. But they're not practicing any differently. They're just charging you, the consumer. But they're still practicing with all of their conventional psych medicine beliefs. Is that like, I guess the question in that statement is, what can we tell the consumer? What can we tell the patient to look for when they are choosing someone to work with? I mean, besides coming to you or I, what can they look for when they're choosing someone to work with so that they can see through the bullshit?
- [17:32]
Dr. Ivan
I think the most important part is understanding what to ask. You know, if your physician doesn't ask you what makes it better or worse, when did it start? They just come and say, oh, high cholesterol, that's not a doctor, that's a robot. You know what I mean? So really educating the patients in the basics of biochem, I think, is a great one. It's not hard to understand what a redox reaction is. Okay? This is what an antioxidant is. Everyone thinks they need antioxidants. Nobody knows what it is. You know, I mean, so you'll become somewhat of a educated patient and then sit there and ask like, well, this doesn't make me. Is there a better healthy lifestyle option? You know, I mean, learn your lifestyle basics. Hydration, nutrition, exercise, stress reduction, and sleep. Those five things are on the patient. Okay? So again, doctors aren't trained to do that, unfortunately, which they should be. But as a patient, you need to be versed through the hill. Just like with you and myself when it came to fitness in the fitness industry, you need to know all of those. You're going to wake up looking haggard in the day. You know, I mean, like, so understanding. That was why I think we do well with what we do. But I think patients need to start taking their own health into their own hands and understand that your doctor's not your friend, unfortunately. And 90% of them are. 99. I'd say they're there trying to make a dollar, pay their bills just like you are. And a lot of them are burnout, worn down, and just kind of bitter with everything that's going on. So understanding what to ask, I think is the most important thing. And understand the basics of what health is.
- [18:39]
Dr. Amy
Absolutely. And then it really starts at the very beginning. And I love this phrase that you coined, but yet it's so true, is that you can't take weight loss advice from a fat doctor. It really does speak to the fact of you have to look at the person too. And I'm not saying to look at your doctor and judge them, although you kind of are judging if they can't even take care of themselves. And I don't want to hear excuses either. How, how are they going to take care of you?
- [19:07]
Dr. Ivan
Exactly. Exactly. The thing is, like, you see all these physicians who come in stressed out, their belly's done lapped over there over their belt. You know what I mean? Like, I would rather take advice from some hippie in the woods who actually has a decent body and has a fun lifestyle than a Harvard trained doctor who looks like a slob. You know what I mean? And again, you know, like I said, your healthcare practitioner, whether it's a nurse, a chiropractor, a doctor, whatever it could be, you're going to them because you need help. So they should kind of, in a way, be your hero. So you can't have a slob as a hero.
- [19:32]
Dr. Amy
Well, and you're proof positive that we. They can't use the excuse of like, well, you know, the schedule and I'm on call and it's just tough out there. And like, what. What is the reason for so many physicians being so out of shape, unwell, like, visibly?
- [19:50]
Dr. Ivan
I personally think it's just burnout. You burn yourself out in medical school. You get there, then all of a sudden it's like, I got to pay my medical school back. I got to pay bills. Now I'm a physician. I need to, you know, this certain Persona of I need to have a car or how, whatever it could be, you get this God complex. So you're consistently chasing the idea of what you think you need to be. The whole reason I am where I am and the practice, the way I do is from a movie called Patch Adams. I mean, like, if you've ever seen that movie, I mean, I think every physician should see it. You know, you should have fun with it. You know, every day I go to work. Yeah, it's stressful and sometimes Like, I don't feel like going to work today, but that's minimal. That's maybe 10 days out of the 365 days a year I have every other time. It's a fun, fun, unique place because you're treating not only the patient, you're treating the disease, you're treating the lifestyle, you're treating the family, but in a fun way. You know, I mean, augmentation is so much better than prolongation. I tell everybody traditional medicine is the prolongation of death, whereas wellness medicine is the augmentation of life. When you start to augment life, you don't have patients, you have friends.
- [20:39]
Dr. Amy
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And your approach is just, I, I just love it. It's so unique. It is so different. So you actually say too, when you try to cure a problem, you lose a patient. So can you dive more into that? Because I think a lot of patients are walking into their doctor's office saying, hey, Doc, cure my problem. But if they're curing it around or if they're basing their treatment around a healthcare business model, how is that actually going to help the patient?
- [21:05]
Dr. Ivan
This. Not again. I mean, if you have a chance to look at my social media, you wouldn't even know I'm a physician. Honestly, it's me jumping out of planes, me slapping sharks, me riding whales, all kinds of weird stuff. And I say experiential health is the most important part of health. So you have to experience life, you know, I mean, I can be the healthiest person on earth and do nothing with it. It's just straight up masturbation. There's no end point with it, you know, I mean, like, whereas whoever, physician, like whatever, doctor, healthcare practitioner, you should see vet them. Everybody has social media right now. If they're on there and they seem cheesy or they just seem miserable, find somebody else, you know, I mean, you want to find somebody that actually portrays what they're selling. And again, we're in wellness. It is the most lucrative. And again, I'm not gonna lie, it's. It's extremely lucrative. Very, very low risk if you do it right. I'm making more money now than I ever thought I could, but I'm helping people, you know, I mean, like, I'm proud of how I make money. How many hedge fund managers and this, that and the other make billions of dollars? And you're just like, yeah, but I mean, is it really good money? I mean, I mean, are you really proud of how you make that money? You're pushing Numbers around. Whereas as a healthcare person, I mean, you walk out and you're like, you're changing people's lives. You know, it's all about the impression you make and what you leave behind. And that's kind of the fun part about this. When you take this industry seriously, you can sit there and make such an impact. And again, if you cure somebody or make their Parkinson's better, you're not only helping them, you're helping their entire family. Because Parkinson's, neurodegeneration, cancer, it tornadoes everybody down. Not just the patient, it's their entire family. So if you're able to make that whole connection, all of a sudden you just make it a little bit better. You didn't just make it a little bit better for the patient, you made it better for everybody around them. Which again, I say, you know, in life, everybody lives in various gods and religions. I say, that's my true religion, is the karma I get. You know, I mean, like, in this industry that we're in, we have the biggest chance to make an impact versus any industry. Oil, gas, automotive, you can make as much money as you want to in the world. You're not really doing anything to better humanity. And that's where us as physicians need to be proud of what we do. We need to portray that in the health that we keep and the message that we actually portray.
- [22:53]
Dr. Amy
So I'm going to play like the devil's advocate and address at the same time, right? So I'm going to. I'm going to play the patient that's listening right now going, well, that's all nice and good, Dr. Ivan, but here's the thing. I'm on a fixed income, and all y' all are charging like a couple hundred, a couple thousand dollars to work with you. And I just need to use my insurance because that's what it's for, right? So why doesn't my PCV down the road that takes my little insurance card and runs it and I just pay a $10 copay? Why isn't he helping me more?
- [23:25]
Dr. Ivan
Exactly. And again, it's situations because either he's ignorant, he doesn't want to, or he's not getting reimbursed himself for it. I mean, insurance is a terrible thing. Thankfully, I don't know what an ICD9 code is, so it's a situation I can only imagine waiting to get paid for it. So, again, you do have to understand that medicine is a business, and that's kind of the bad thing. And when you go on and say Oh, I pay health insurance this, that and the other. You're going to get treated just the same as anybody else's insurance. All right? If you want to go outside the box and become a little bit more, it's going to cost money. Just like eating a regular food versus organic food or like healthy food, that kind of stuff, it costs more because the quality is better. I can get a steak from Ruth's Chris. I get a steak from Denny's. Yeah, steak came from a cow. You know what I mean? Like, but again, the end of the day is like, yeah, but okay, I can go to my PCP, who doesn't really care about me, or I could spend the extra 2, 3, 400 bucks to get a real opinion, actually understand what we're doing. And that's where AI eventually is going to come in again. In our industry. It's going to take an extra minute, but at the end of the day, I mean, it's going to start at least making common sense tertiary associations to where it's okay, like, well, your heart's off, let's check what you're doing sleep wise and you know how your stress levels are. Maybe practice breathing, you know what I mean? Regular basic stuff, which is the, I mean the old school medicine, breathing, vibration, electromagnetism, even though it's been bastardized by a bunch of hippies and all these weirdos, it's the true form of actual medicine. I mean, like, what we do is just icing on the cake. And I think that's the thing is, so people who complain and moan about this industry is like, okay, how much is your health worth? It's the most important asset you have. I'd rather drive a Ford Pinto and then have a Ferrari. Body versus opposite, you know what I mean? Like, so, yeah, there are some give, take and find a physician that you think is on par with what you can afford, but also what you think you deserve.
- [24:57]
Dr. Amy
Oh, absolutely, 100%. I always reflect back to my early 20s when I was scrimping, scraping. I mean, my God, if I made like two $300 a week, like, that was a good week. And when it came to my health, I remember finding the money and I can't say like, oh, I ate ramen noodles. Like, I don't know what I did, but I diverted. Maybe I didn't get my nails out or whatever it was, but I found the money on such a low, low, low income, you know, you hate to say it really does come down to what's important because I get it. People have to put food on the table, on a roof over their head and all of that. But sometimes you might have to, you know, allocate, like Rob Peter to pay Paul in order to have that Ferrari body. So you're not.
- [25:38]
Dr. Ivan
Yeah, no, yeah.
- [25:39]
Dr. Amy
Not working with a Pinto.
- [25:40]
Dr. Ivan
It's commitment. And again, like, if you get something for free, don't take it seriously, you know? I mean, that's the whole thing, you know, I remember back in the day when I worked at Four Seasons, I had a staff, and I was like, okay, everybody, we're going to pay for this for you. It's this program. Not one person took it seriously. Why? Because it was for free, you know? And again, I tell people, yeah, what I do, the repertoire I have, the education I have. I mean, yeah, I'm very expensive to come to, but you're getting a nutritionist, personal trainer, person who's been in it for 17 years, somebody who lives life away. But again, it depends on what kind of education you want behind your actual services versus, oh, well, I'd rather go to live and spend $5,000 on a bottle of champagne and then kind of cut corners here. Then you're gonna have a body like mashed potatoes. I mean, God bless you.
- [26:17]
Dr. Amy
You know, Exactly. Exact mashed potato body. I like that. I just had a bisola. Do you want to burn fat while just sitting around? Do you have extra weight to lose? Do you want less inflammation? Do you want to reduce your oxidative stress? Do you want to improve your lipid panel, maybe become more insulin sensitive? And once again, burn fat while you're sitting there at rest at your desk or on your couch watching Netflix. Well, now you can, with the power of T2 that is in Thyroid Fixer. Now, Thyroid Fixer is not just for those with a thyroid problem. It's for anyone looking to lose body fat to improve their metabolism to have better energy. Thyroid Fixer actually works at your mitochondrial level, so it is stimulating your metabolism. It's also activating ATP, which gives you more energy, nice and steady through the day. Here's the other really cool thing that Thyroid Fixer does. It turns on a gene that prevents fat from accumulating all over your body. So that means, yeah, if you slip up and you have the Oreo cookie or the sweet potato fries, which are my two favorite, they're my downfalls. That is not going to put extra fat on your butt, your hips, your thighs, and your abs. Oh, and your arms. You don't want those jiggly arms. So why don't you just improve your fat burning potential and actually turn on a gene that prevents fat from accumulating on your body with the power of thyroid fixer. So as a listener of the Thyroid Fixer podcast, your first time purchase, you can use the code listen 20 L I s t e n 2 0. We'll put that down in the show notes and if you've already purchased it, but you just want to save a little something, something extra, then use the code listen 10 L I s t e n 10 and grab some thyroid fixers. Stock up today because it will help you burn extra body fat. And who doesn't want that? Okay, let's talk labs because I know you're as big into labs as I am and really looking at all the data. But let's first start with why doctors don't. Can you help my audience understand why is that such a hurdle? Because I always say like it's no money out of their own pocket to write reverse T3 on your lab order and yet they refuse to do it.
- [28:43]
Dr. Ivan
Again, it's a situation. I mean, if you're going to look for something, you better know how to fix it. And unfortunately, a lot of physicians out there don't even know what verse T3 is. And the podcast that me and you together is probably the most important marker we have on there with the high stress lifestyle in the United States and pretty much every other country. Now, the amount of stress in our system that causes this whole, you know, mass hypothyroidism out there, it's just insane. You know, I mean, it's a situation. Whereas a lot of physicians aren't taught that. They're taught to play by the rule book, which is insurance based, what's covered, what's not. ICI code does this, that or the other, and this one doesn't that. So it's a situation. Whereas there's ignorance, there's nonsense, and there's just like the aspect of physicians just don't want to look for it if they're getting paid for it. Fantastic. You know, I mean, they'll check everything. A lot of physicians don't understand that the more you understand, the more your potential is to earn because you're fixing more but the efficacy of the actual patients even higher. And it's just kind of funny. Like with all of the lab testing I do, and with access I have the number. I mean, it's the most in depth lab test. You'll find autoimmune, heavy metals, food sensitivities, hormones, this, I mean, it's pretty much everything you possibly want on it. But every single potential of finding something negative that I find has a program attached to it. So I know how to fix what I'm looking for. A lot of physicians might want to do it, but there is like, well, I don't know how to fix testosterone. I'm a family practicer. Then learn or refer, you know what I mean? Like, if you don't do it, refer. But lab testing, I tell everybody, is the picture of the puzzle I have every piece on earth. Hyperbaric, stem cell, exosome, peptide hormone, IVs, you name it. I can't put the puzzle together if I don't have the picture. And the picture is the diagnostic testing. So if you want me to treat you, I need to know more about you than God does. So I can treat you like God. You know what I mean? Like, I know everything about your biochemistry. Along with the most important part as well it goes along with it, is the intake form. I want to know what you're eating, how your sex is, how your sleep is, how this is, you know, tell me everything. So again, the AI system that I developed, we put that all together, it spits out this beautiful correlation to where the more lab testing I have, which is the most important part, coupled with the intake form, which is also the most important part, then you have this beautiful program that's customized to the patient. And it's beautiful the way it works. I mean, it's such harmony.
- [30:37]
Dr. Amy
Oh, that's amazing. Now, with Access Labs, is that something that a patient can order their own or is that. I know we're actually in the process of collaborating with Access, so is, is that I know we can order it for patients, but can the patient order their own as well?
- [30:52]
Dr. Ivan
Yeah, what you do is you get a hold of them, they can put you in contact with various doctors. Again, you don't just want to order and just have labs and not understand them, you know, I mean like so they have the at home thing now. You see it on all the Instagram things. You put it on your shoulder, it draws the blood for your throat super easy. They do a lot more in depth testing, urine and all that kind of stuff as well. The reason I use them again, Trust me, for 17 years I've gone through so many labs, it's bananas. But with them it's nice because they kind of let me play chemist. So I'm like, I want to test this, this and this. They're like, well, take this tube, this tube and this tube. I'M like, thank you. You know, I mean, like, so I can put all these kind of like, fun, unique lab tests together, which again, gives me such a, as a physician, gives me the best arsenal. It's like having a machine gun, a bazooka, a rifle, a knife, because I can pick every single different, like, piece of artillery that I need to actually attack whatever problem or concern the patient actually has.
- [31:33]
Dr. Amy
Yes, yes. And, and we love labs. Like, when labs, to us, it's like, ooh, gimme, gimme. Like, we love that because we take in that information and we, like you said, we can see, see that person in a totally different light. So it really helps to put the pieces of the puzzle together. So diving into hormones, Speaking of labs, let's go the hormone route. Because, I mean, I know you love hormones. I love hormones. So you built a TRT practice for men in Miami, which I absolutely love, because we got to love on the guys too. When their testosterone drops, my God, it just rocks their world.
- [32:06]
Dr. Ivan
Exactly.
- [32:07]
Dr. Amy
But then the way I see hormone medicine practice for women is honestly, with these pop up freaking clinics, it's like malpractice in slow motion. So what is your read on the state of women's hormone care?
- [32:20]
Dr. Ivan
Well, I think the biggest thing is, I think, you know, everybody knows menopause. It's the biggest buzzword on earth right now. I mean, menopause, oh, estrogen, progesterone, drop. Okay, that's great. A lot of people understand that women go through andropause first. So andropause is the decrease in testosterone and basically dhea. That's why once you have the perimenopausal years, it's harder to lose weight in the midsection. The curves go to kind of a pair type aspect of it. And again, it was like, oh, I'm going through. But no, you're actually losing testosterone. That's why it's happening. Testosterone is fitness, fat loss, energy, mental clarity, sex and mood. Not a bad thing to have, you know what I mean? Like, but nobody pays. Oh, that's a male hormone. Women need testosterone as much as I need estrogen in my life. If we didn't have it, we would die. But it just so happens. Testosterone, luckily enough to be a man, is kind of a more fun hormone, I guess you could say, more that sexy, cool one. So what I do with women, you always check in things like testosterone, cortisol, DHEA, IGF1, which is outside of the regular estrogen and progesterone for labs, because all of those things play together. There's eight total hormone aspects that you need to really look at when it comes to actually treating somebody hormonally. So these pop up clinics that just jack men's testosterone up to 1200 or give women pellets where they grow a beard because it's convenient. You just look at it being like, this is such shit medicine. You know, it's so easy, but wrong. You know, if you sit there like, I don't need a 1200 testosterone, I need a 600 testosterone. But with normal IGF, thyroid and DHEA, you know what I mean? Like, so it's a situation. It's more about balance than excess.
- [33:38]
Dr. Amy
Right. Well, and you and I were in the world where we saw the excess and we know what pushing the limits of testosterone can do to the male and the female body. I mean, it really isn't about who can get to the highest number the fastest. It's about working with the rest of your biochemistry and what that means for you and how your body's going to accept it and utilize that hormone, that specific hormone.
- [33:59]
Dr. Ivan
No, it's true. The biggest thing is it's not understanding one hormone. Like I said, it's understanding them all. But then you have to play that into things like hyperglycemia, various heart markers, and I'm not talking about. I'm so sick of hearing about cholesterol. Cholesterol is 1/20 of the story. I need to know the plac, the LP, all the major real investigations into actual cardiovascular disease. Then you take a look at neurotransmitters, autoimmune disease, natural killer cells. All these different things play onto who you are as a person. So hormonals is one rung of a gigantic pyramid that physicians, unfortunately, the more specialized they get, the less of the pyramid they look at. And I think the worst care patients get because of that. So I tell everybody the more specialized a doctor is, I did a fellowship, this, that and the other. It just means you've narrowed your focus so much to one field that you don't care about anything else. Oh, I just focus on prostate. But what about heart? I don't care about the heart. I focus on the. It's just like sexual dysfunction is heart disease. You know, I mean, like, it's mind blowing. So the whole aspect is, again, I hate the word holistic because unfortunately, it's been so chopped up and repackaged by every brand on earth. But again, you do have to look at the entire body. So I'm gonna call it entireism. How's that Sound, you know, if you look at the entire body, everything about it, lifestyle, emotional aspects of that, and then use kind of an architect, you have to build that house back, but make sure every single pole and every single electrical and every single plumbing part of it is actually on point, working correctly. If not, you just got a shitty house.
- [35:17]
Dr. Amy
Yeah, exactly. And I love how you have such a great insight. I feel like you have this, this vision, this all encompassing vision where, you know, we've talked about, you've seen the detrimental effects of conventional medicine, sick medicine, and when, when those docs stay in their box, like you said, it's not doing no harm, it's doing harm. Right. All the way over to this other side where now we see a plethora of hormone clinics and telemedicine, functional, integrative, alternative, whatever, holistic, whatever name you want to buzzword you want to put with it. It's a great marketing term term for those docs to make money. And the fact that you're in Miami too, which, this is my next question for you because I feel like you have this unique lens. You're in this city that is very, very health conscious, very aesthetic conscious, beauty conscious. So, you know, the sharks down there are praying and they're praying hard on women's confidence looks, aging, anti aging, longevity, the whole thing. What would you say is being done incorrectly in our world? Functional, integrative, altar, whatever you want to call it, that is as bad as what we're seeing in the conventional medicine world over promising.
- [36:34]
Dr. Ivan
I mean, you sit there and see how many doctors have to say, nad therapy, that's all you need. It's just like, okay, red light therapy, it's the best cold plus, I mean, you sit there, there's so many buzzwords. It just goes through a peptide every week and it resets. What did you hear about thymusine Beta? Yeah, I heard about every other influence for the last three years talk about it, you know, I mean, it's like, it's just that repackaged aspect of it, which is the most terrifying thing, which is the same thing when it comes to health, you know, oh, it's World Cancer Day, so everybody focuses on cancer for a minute. Oh, it's dementia week, you know, I mean, like, so you just highlight these diseases where it's just like everything is related, you know, I mean, like, so it's a situation. Whereas I think this industry right now is getting so popularized. And so I guess the dogma behind it right now is it's terrifying because it's nothing but buzzwords and influencers and then the real doctors who were actually in this 10 years ago, they're just being left behind because they're like, what are you guys talking about? Well, Gary Breaker said this. Or blah, blah. He's like, he's never seen a patient his life. What do I want to know about? Why? Well, he's a million followers. Fantastic. I mean, he's got a million fake friends. That's awesome. You know, I mean, like. And he's getting the weeds of it, and you get sick of it. And then it's at the point to where it's like, even during COVID I was like, you know what? Don't try to save somebody who doesn't want to be safe. If you sit there and tell them five times, check this out. Well, no, Joe Rogan said this. It's just like, then go have Joe Rogan be your doctor if that's what you want. I mean, Mr. Fear Factor himself, nothing against it. They're bringing awareness to it. But when people in this industry get so hyped up on buzzwords and TikTok and Instagram, just like, guys, that's just a platform, you know? I mean, look at what this person's done. Have they seen patients? What are they treated? What are their success stories? Not just, oh, Damon Johns came in as a patient. Who cares? You know, I mean, really cares about that, you know?
- [38:04]
Dr. Amy
Yeah, no, exactly. Exactly. Oh, my gosh, I am so with you on that. And so I want to get your take too on. And, you know, it seems to be more men, although we can definitely transition and pick on some of the ladies too. But it seems to be more men that are using platforms, standing on stages. You already mentioned one of them basically telling people and giving this message to women, which is driving me bananas. You don't need hormones. You don't need that thyroid medication. You don't need that bioidentical hormone. You just need to fix your genesis or you just need to detox or just, you know, like, whatever their masterclass is at the time. Shine red light on your thyroid and all will be well.
- [38:44]
Dr. Ivan
By the way, buy it here with my code. It's just like. It's so nonsensical. Dr. Oz, May. Dr. Oz was the number one to do it. This massive doctor comes in, all of a sudden, he's pitching cranberry juice, you know what I mean?
- [38:54]
Dr. Amy
And it's sold out. Like, it sold out on Amazon.
- [38:57]
Dr. Ivan
God bless them. And again, I mean, an idiot. And their money is soon parted ways. You Know what I mean? Like, so it's a situation. Was like, if people want to spend money on that, believe it and wonder why they're not keeping cured after 18 times of going back to the same well, Einstein said it best. Repeating the same thing with a different result expected is basically lunacy. So it's a situation. Whereas if you want to believe these people who hype up and Brian Johnson's don't die, let's do this. He's a great marketer, one of the best marketers I've ever seen. I don't know how he does it with how he looks, but God bless him, you know what I mean? Like, he's doing it great. So, I mean, there's nothing against it. He's bringing awareness to it. But when that starts to shadow over and be like, no, you don't need thyroid medication. Some people do need medication, traditional medicine, as much as I go against it, there are such pure qualities into it where you need it, surgeries you need, various medications you need. I'm not going against that. I'm going against the nonsensical nonsense, you know, but when it comes to all these people being like, you don't need any of this stuff, just take, you know, red light therapy and take this sublingual tablet of this and put this patch on, it's like, just shut up. You know, just shut up. Because just so nonsensical. It really is. But common sense is not so common anymore.
- [39:57]
Dr. Amy
Yes, yes, absolutely. Thank you. And what I always say is what I would really like to do is remove the testicles of all those guys and they tell them that they don't need testosterone.
- [40:07]
Dr. Ivan
I think they're already removed, personally, but I mean, who knows? I mean, like,
- [40:12]
Dr. Amy
truth.
- [40:13]
Dr. Ivan
Don't cut that out, Leave it in.
- [40:15]
Dr. Amy
Like I said, we're totally leaving that. Okay, so, yeah, I mean, listeners, if you don't absolutely love this man and know that you're going to get the best of the best care by now, then you can just stop listening and go, go watch a BRCA video, but
- [40:29]
Dr. Ivan
I think is on somewhere else.
- [40:32]
Dr. Amy
Go watch a BRCA video and do your genetics. Okay? So I want to think, oh, my God, I love it because you, you know a thing or two about peptides. And now, okay, before we dive in, I got to ask you this question because it's kind of like my opinion and a statement and a question all rolled into one. I think so many people have jumped on this peptide bandwagon. They don't even know what they're Taking or what it's supposed to do. They're like, yeah, I take peptides. I'm like, great. Which ones? They're like, I don't know. Like that. You know that B1. What is that? Like one? Exactly. Okay, green. Why? They're like, well, I saw it on
- [41:05]
Dr. Ivan
Instagram, of course, of course. And again, when you ask somebody to actually define a peptide, they just kind of scratch their head. Nobody understands. It's basically just protein that's under 50, 50amino acids, number one. So it's very safe. But the whole aspect of what a peptide is, is a peptide basically stimulates your body to actually work more efficiently. What you don't understand is if your body's in a shit place, you have mercury toxicity, you have autoimmune disorders going on, you are completely inflamed, you have some type of issues in your body. If your body's not 100% ready to work, that peptide is not going to be 100% ready to actually work for you. Peptides come in. Third stage for me, lifestyle is number one. Exercise, diets, nutrition, stress reduction, hydration and sleep. That's number one. That's medicine. That's true medicine. Then you have hormones, you have detoxification, you have cellular health. So you're looking at senolytic cells trying to clear those, improve how ATP goes through it, which is one of the most important. I mean, it is your currency of life. Then you look at heavy metal toxicities which are basically draining from the inside out, something you put into your body, and then hormonal aspects which are basically affected by all of that. Then come the peptides and the stem cell. I think the most enjoyable thing is watching people go down and spend $50,000 on stem cells in, like, Mexico and shit. It's just like you went in there smoking, like, and you think it's going to work for you. I mean, of course, George, I saw Joe Rogan and I saw Chris Hemsworth, I was just like, yeah, but those guys live and breathe health, okay? You don't. I mean, like, it's not going to help granny who has, you know, broken knees and then things like that. You know what I mean? So fixing the right things first is where you go about it. Peptides are great. I actually wrote the first protocol as a part of a company called Vikrant in 2013. It was the first real peptide that hit the market. IGF1LR3, one of my favorite, which I'm surprised nobody's buzzworthy this one yet. It's the ultimate so IGF1, LR3. I wrote the protocol on that in 2013. Next to us was a company called TaylorMade. I don't know if you remember TaylorMade. So TaylorMade then blew it up. They took everyone. The next year, you had Melanotan, this, that, and the other. And then the peptide craze started.
- [42:54]
Dr. Amy
Yep.
- [42:55]
Dr. Ivan
So I. I've been on this. I was one of the first physicians on this whole juggernaut to see it, and I've seen the beauty of it, and right now I see the bullshit of it. Okay. Because now it's just like, my God, it's just like, peptides don't work like this, you know? Now you're seeing like, oh, anti swing peptides don't work this. That well. No, because a lot of people who aren't ready to take them are taking them. So you're seeing the anti peptide start to come out, which, again, it's gonna get worse and worse and worse, and all of a sudden it's gonna cripple an industry. That's beautiful, you know?
- [43:18]
Dr. Amy
Yes. Well, tell me more. Tell me more about this IGF LR3, because you're right, it got kind of pushed aside because of the other peptides. So what is it? Why does it need this resurgence?
- [43:30]
Dr. Ivan
Well, it's crazy. IGF1 isn't like growth factor is basically the most important, I would say, aging hormone on Earth. The lower that goes, the worse you are able to hear. Regenerate, repair. So what happens is when you sleep and, you know, delta sleep is the hardest thing to actually achieve in life. Okay? And us as a species, right now, we're on our phones. We're. We're up until 12, this, that and the other. So the ability to get to delta sleep is one of the toughest things that we can do right now. During delta sleep, 90 to 96% of your growth hormone is released naturally. Growth hormone then goes throughout your entire system, goes to your liver, and gets repackaged into the 40 chain. IGF1. I don't know if it's 40 or 41, something like that. And then what happens is IGF1 goes through and basically helps you assimilate the entire environment into your tissue. So that's what causes all the vitamins, minerals, amino acids to get pulled in your tissue to rebuild hair, bone, tendons, muscle, all that kind of stuff. But when you put the LR3 aspect on it, it works all day. So now you have this. This molecule that's just anabolic and building and building, building. If you Have a broke. I mean, I broke my arm, healed it in six weeks as opposed to six months, jacked it out. I was taking the right peptides, the right minerals, the right IVs, because that IGF one was like a sponge for me. You have to do it correctly, make sure you test again. You want to be putting this in people who have any type of mets or anything like that, but it's to me probably the most effective muscle builder, healer, regenerator, pre and post surgical. It's fascinating the way it works, but you have to do it right. But nobody, I'm surprised nobody's jumped on it. That and Foxo4 are two of my favorite peptides. And DSIP obviously, which nobody has talked about yet, but IGF1, I was thankfully enough the first person write the protocol on it in 2013 at the A4M. Go figure.
- [44:54]
Dr. Amy
Wow, that's crazy.
- [44:56]
Dr. Ivan
It's a great peptide.
- [44:58]
Dr. Amy
Is it still available? Like is it okay for sure now with the FDA crackdown and then now they're considering releasing some of them. Where is the IGF1LR3 in that? Is it, Is it already approved?
- [45:13]
Dr. Ivan
It's all good still. Yeah, I get if there's two pharmacies right now that we order from, they're all obviously FDA cleared three or fives. But yeah, we get it there. It's just nobody really understands it or they're actually scared to prescribe it. Well, I was a super zoom in. I don't know how that happened. Back out. I don't know how that happened. My goodness. Well, I guess we're like this the rest of it. I don't know how to make that work, but there we go. So yeah, so that's kind of the ideology behind what IGF1 actually is. I love it. It's probably one of my favorite hormones to actually prescribe.
- [45:36]
Dr. Amy
Okay, so would you give that. So after you kind of like build the foundation of the person and clean the territory because we can't put peptides on a dumpster fire. So once you actually build up that foundation right then. Okay, let's say you bring that in. Give me three other favorite peptides that you would bring into a person.
- [45:57]
Dr. Ivan
So IGF1 obviously is one of my favorites only. But again, you have to have Tessa Morland Ipamorelin CJC Sermon or something like that before because IGF1 will castrate you immediately. So situations you have to have those secreted dogs before that, like I said, DSIP delta sleep inducing peptide, one of the most fascinating ones that helps you get a delta sleep. Sleep is the most important thing that we do do. So that's obviously a great one to add in there. Thymosine alpha for the immune system. We're seeing so many immune systems that are just jinky and crazy, so I think thymus alpha is a great regulator of it. Yeah, Thymosing beta is good with bpc, so I usually was kind of in combination. And ghk. GHK is great for hair, skin, nails, as long as you have a copper toxicity. So that's something you have to pay attention to as well. Epitalion, if you're really at your peak of your game, epitalin is like the telomere or telomere, however you want to say it, the actual one that actually helps you anti age correctly. So that's definitely a good one. Obviously bpc, like we said before, and thymosine beta are great for healing. And then aod. AOD is a great fat burner. I don't know if you used to use fragment 157 back in the day for bodybuilding, but AOD is fantastic for straight up fat burning. You have brimalanotide or PT 141 for sex, which is great for both men and women. Then you have melanotan 2, which is for tanning, which is kind of back and forth. I think it's. I mean, I use it personally, but you know, you have to be careful with that one. Oh, LL37 and SS31. LL37 is for immune system. SS31 is for. Oh, these are actually fun ones. SS31 is for your mitochondria. And then you have human and MOT C, which are two peptides that are actually derived from mitochondrial DNA, which is kind of unique. So those all together work great with nad, methylene blue and things like that for cellular health. That's a lot of peptides on like. Like two minutes there.
- [47:27]
Dr. Amy
Oh, yeah. No, I love it though. And everybody can go ahead and rewind and play it at one speed, not the 2x that you have it on.
- [47:34]
Dr. Ivan
Exactly.
- [47:35]
Dr. Amy
And then because two acts with Ivan and I, it's like, like, just go
- [47:40]
Dr. Ivan
with it, you know, Go with it.
- [47:41]
Dr. Amy
You got to rewind. You got to take notes. But you know, I kind of want to pick your brain though, too. On the SR, would you say the SR 31.
- [47:49]
Dr. Ivan
SS 31.
- [47:49]
Dr. Amy
SS 31. Because I keep hearing about that one as well and about MOT C. And I interviewed a woman the other day who we were kind of breaking down, you know, GLP1s or GLP2s and threes and all of the GLPs and how we have that subset of women that they don't want to touch it, like, and. And good for them. I mean, that's fine if they're like, nope, nope, not for me. But there are other peptides that we can bring in. Like you said, AOD for fat burning motto C I heard is also really, really good for even like that brain craving, the food noise. Am I right on that?
- [48:21]
Dr. Ivan
Oh, for sure. It's super good for that one. Yeah, it's great for that one also. I mean, when it comes to Dihexa is phenomenal. Absolutely love it. C Link and C Max is too. So it's all about maximizing how your brain works. The reason I like the mitochondrial peptides because it actually increases how ATP is propagated, which is the most important thing. More ATP is more everything. So when you know how to do that cycle correctly, you can throw slop in there as well. Slop is the one that makes you. It's basically cardiovascular exercise on a pill. So, I mean, there's so many different peptides, but again, none of them work unless your body's ready to work. You know what I mean?
- [48:50]
Dr. Amy
Right. And are you bringing them in and out, kind of like flexing them in and flexing them back out again?
- [48:55]
Dr. Ivan
Yeah, no, for sure. It's all about cycles. It's all about cycles. So you have to basically sit there and like, say, sometimes your mitochondria can only be stimulated for a certain amount of time. And once that's done, then you said it's okay two months on, one month off, or three months on, one month off, or things like that. So it's a situation as you have to understand how to actually cycle things incorrectly. And then from there, if you do it right, you can do this in perpetuity and everything works out perfectly fine. But if you do it wrong, you just keep hitting the wrong thing. You exhaust your actual sensors and then from there they don't work. So it's a situation. You have to cycle them incorrectly.
- [49:25]
Dr. Amy
Well, see, and I think this is the problem, Dr. Ivan, is that people are buying their peptides from the research sites and they're buying them because, and I'm seeing this straight from the horse's mouth. The girl that was washing my hair, like she was helping my main hair girl, and she's telling me how she's on red on. She got it because she knows it's for real. Because the TikTok influencer that told her where to get it, is definitely losing weight. I'm like, oh, good Lord. People are buying this left and right. So, yeah, okay, so you have the person out there that is just injecting a whole bunch of different stuff into their body and they don't have a plan. They have no plan whatsoever. Can you lay out that plan? Is that what you do for people where you could say, all right, just stop. Just. Just for sure, we're going to map this out so that you don't wreck your body and clog your receptor sites and waste your money and yeah, I know you're getting it from the cheap sites, but you're wasting your money. Number one, probably it's fake. And then number two, you're stacking the wrong stacking and you're confusing your body.
- [50:24]
Dr. Ivan
No, for sure. And again, once you understand how peptides work is the most important thing, then you sit there and see you have somebody come in if they're on BPC and like, why is it not working? Because your IGF is in the tank, you know, I mean, your growth hormone isn't there. Your testosterone is incorrect. So, I mean, you have to sit there and have the foresight as a physician to understand when a patient shouldn't be on a peptide. Also, there are side effects. You know, I mean, don't say there's not any side effects to it, but I mean, you do have to understand that everything does have a side effect, no matter what it is. So, you know, understanding things like secretagogues which increase growth hormone, which can do that, you have to be careful with those, you know, I mean, like, some people don't need those. So you get retention of water, sugar, metabolism issues. So once you understand that, you take a look what the patient's on. They got it from so and so from Steve at the gym or whatever it could be. And then all of a sudden it's just like, wait a minute, let's kind of figure this out. And then once you have that, it kind of works out very well for both you and the patient.
- [51:10]
Dr. Amy
Yeah, no, I love that. And I love that you do that. I love that you do that with patients as well. Or that you offer that service for sure. All right. I want to end with just something that's. I guess it's probably more for me than it is for the people. I don't know. We all can just start stuck. You can keep listening. It's fine. Balls deep. Living like this is a phrase that we throw. I've thrown around years. I don't know if that speaks to who I am or not. And then my husband always use that phrase too. But you're actually using it in a different way where you are telling people they need the intervention, but you're also giving the reason why. Unpack ball deep for me.
- [51:48]
Dr. Ivan
So, yeah, so ball Steve Living is kind of my aspect of like you should live life balls deep, I guess you could say. And again, the experiential, the experiential part of health, you know, I mean like so sit there and like myself again, everything for me is balls deep Living because I go the max if I die tomorrow. I've had the most amazing life on earth. But what this brings in is the emotional health, which a lot of doctors don't even understand. You know, I tell people I have to werewolf every three months, I have to go on a trip, do something, nearly die, come back. I'm like, okay, what's next? You know, what's next on the actual list. And then from there that's kind of how I live my life. I'm 42. I couldn't be happier, honestly. I'm emotionally indestructible physically. Everything I'm super happy with where I'm at. But it's been super fun to bring out the patients. Sometimes we go to different parts of the world. I've taken patients to Dominica, to somewhere sperm wells, to Rwanda, Uganda to walk with gorillas. I've taken a patient to the North Pole to see narwhals and polar. I mean like, you get out of your comfort zone and you really understand that life is a beautiful thing and health is what can actually get you there. It's so fun.
- [52:42]
Dr. Amy
It really is an amazing and oh my God, I love it. I absolutely love it. We could end there, but I have one last question for you and then I'll let you go. And then we'll put all of Dr. Ivan's information, including balls deep living down into the show notes so you can all check it out. If you want to fly to Miami and work with them. Absolutely freaking go do that. So there are going to be people that come and work with you based on this episode before that person that can't, what would you leave them with? Are the three things they can do this week that's going to move the needle on their health, whether it's choosing a doctor or looking for certain things as they choose their insurance based provider, whatever, or something that they can do to move the needle on their health to get their body out of that dumpster.
- [53:24]
Dr. Ivan
Fire for sure. Number one is hydration. Everybody should drink three and a half liters for the next five days. You'll feel phenomenal, I promise you. So that's number one. Number two is go to bed at the right time, same day every six days. Okay? Ten, get up at six. I don't care if you're not tired, just go to bed and actually keep yourself there. And then number three is set goals. So what you need to do is basically have goals in your life. So you need short term goals, long term goals. Because I told my patients, if you have goals in life, you know, getting healthy is just masturbation. You need to really have something to look forward to, accomplish it and then move on to the actual next thing. So I think those are the three cheap, easy, fun things to actually fix. You might be going through a divorce, a breakup, whatever it could be. Hydration, sleep and having goals is going to solve anything.
- [54:05]
Dr. Amy
And you know, there are people going, yeah, yeah, yeah, thanks. I heard that all before. But yet it's true.
- [54:11]
Dr. Ivan
So true. Look at my Instagram. I mean, literally, I live this every day. And again, I'm 42, I, I'm better shape than I was when I was Mr. USA for God's sakes. Happy, happy. Every day is the happiest day of my life. You know what I mean?
- [54:24]
Dr. Amy
Not many people can say that. And you got to start with the simple. It's, it is cliche. We know it's cliche. We know it, but yet it works. We can't tell you. I know everybody would love to hear, like, do this peptide and do this meditation, rain dance and then, you know, stand on your head and when medication, £20 will come off, right?
- [54:44]
Dr. Ivan
No, it's not There again, like once you become happy, good sleep, you know, three good nights of sleep is better than any medicine on earth. Once you feel happy, that translates to your health, just your happiness, longevity, whatever you want to call it. But all I can say is like, just from somebody who's lived and breathed this for the last 17 years, which I like to say I'm probably the most. I hate the word biohack, but from. For how long? I've been doing it at such a high a level. I mean, I've never felt as happy, as energetic as I do right now. I mean, it's crazy. And again, I've had some, I'm up to 14 near death experiences and every single time, no matter what has happened during that experience. I just got back from Indonesia, I had the worst case of subcutaneous emphysema they've seen in Indonesia ever. And I healed it in basically a day and a half, whereas I was supposed to be in the hospital for 22 days straight. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the health I've actually kept myself in. And again, I went out, I kept a good attitude about it, and literally just. I was snorkeling the actual next day. So again, it's about keeping yourself healthy, and that translates to pretty much everything. Wow.
- [55:34]
Dr. Amy
Okay. Well, there's a powerful story right there for you. Yeah. Well, thank you for sharing that. And I know I. I love you. I love your message. I love your vitality. And I mean, my gosh, if you can't see the evidence in this man of how he lives and how it's. It's just so simple. It's just so simple. And yes, you're right. Bodybuilders are the OGs of biohack. We were here first.
- [55:59]
Dr. Ivan
Exactly. Exactly.
- [56:01]
Dr. Amy
Yeah. So this man knows his stuff. Go see him, look him up, follow him, go see him down in Miami, work with him, do all the things I absolutely love. Dr. Ivan, I'm so happy that you came on the show. Thanks for doing what you do.
- [56:14]
Dr. Ivan
Oh, thank you for the invite. Doing the same with you. Like I said, it's always nice to talk to somebody who actually knows their craft. And again, we had the talk on my show with the thyroid. It was the most. One of my favorite thing is that you actually understood it. You know, you go beyond, which a lot of physicians don't anymore, healthcare practitioners in general. So thank you for doing you well.
- [56:29]
Dr. Amy
Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, everyone, for listening. I hope you thoroughly enjoyed this episode. So share it, share it, share it. Because, you know, the ladies out there, they need to know what they're looking for when they're looking for a doctor, what to ask for, what to look for, what to unpack. And, you know, maybe you do just branch out and invest in your own health. Because body's a Ferrari, ladies.
- [56:52]
Dr. Ivan
It's your most important asset.
- [56:54]
Dr. Amy
Body is a Ferrari. Okay. Love you all. Thanks for listening. The information shared on the Thyroid Fixer podcast is intended solely for informational and educational purposes. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult with your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, treatment or before making changes to your healthcare regimen, including medications, supplements, or other therapies. Use of the information provided in this podcast does not establish a doctor, patient, or client provider relationship between you and the host or between you and any other healthcare professionals featured on the show. Any medical opinions or statements made by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or affiliated parties. Statements regarding dietary supplements or health related products mentioned in this podcast have not been evaluated by the fda. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Some episodes of the Thyroid Fixer podcast may include sponsorships or affiliate links. The host may receive compensation for discussing or promoting certain products or services. Any such sponsorships or affiliations will be clearly disclosed during the episode. All opinions expressed are those of the host or guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of any sponsors. The inclusion of a product or service does not imply endorsement by any healthcare professional featured on this podcast.