April 6, 2024
If you're feeling exhausted 24/7, gaining weight despite sticking to a strict fitness routine, or struggling with mood swings, your hormones are likely out of balance.
Today's episode, “Best Of Hormone Health,” offers real solutions to help you regain control of your hormones and optimize your hormone health with expert insights and actionable strategies. From balancing cortisol levels to enhancing growth hormone production, this episode covers a range of topics to assist you in overcoming hormonal challenges.
Up first, Dr. Marcos De Andrade (Dr. De) is here to revolutionize your understanding of growth hormone deficiency in adults and overall hormone health. Get ready to dive into the world of GHK-Cu, a key player in injury recovery and skin care, and explore how growth hormone replacement therapy can decrease your cancer risk. Dr. De also reveals nature's secrets to boosting growth hormone levels with colostrum, GDA, dihydroberberine, and more. Plus, you'll uncover the illuminating benefits of red light therapy for glandular activation, particularly for the immune-boosting thymus gland.
Next, you'll explore the complexities of thyroid health, shedding light on how this crucial gland affects weight gain, metabolism, and overall vitality with Dr. Amie Hornaman. Expect in-depth insights on the importance of thyroid tests, such as TSH, T3, T4, and reverse T3, in diagnosing thyroid issues. Dr. Hornaman also discusses treatment options for thyroid problems, including Thyroid Fixxr and low-dose naltrexone, as well as lifestyle changes like a gluten-free diet.
After this, you'll get to delve into cortisol modulation and adrenal health with Dr. Craig Koniver who will help you unlock valuable insights into managing stress and optimizing your body's cortisol levels for peak performance. In this segment, Dr. Koniver emphasizes the importance of testing cortisol levels and sheds light on how stress impacts hormone production. Discover the power of adaptogenic herbs, critical nutrients, and deliberate contemplative exercises like meditation in normalizing cortisol levels and enhancing your well-being.
The next featured guest is Dr. Jolene Brighten who sheds light on the effects of hormonal birth control on the body and menstrual cycles. She explains how the pill works and its impact on brain-ovarian communication, discusses the challenges of getting off hormonal birth control, and offers strategies for preparing the body for a smooth transition.
Finally, Jay Campbell shares his extensive knowledge of testosterone optimization and its impact on overall health. He discusses various testosterone delivery systems, including injectable, transdermal, and oral options. Jay also explains the importance of personalized dosing and the potential benefits of testosterone replacement therapy.
Ready to revolutionize your understanding of hormone health? Tune in to join this enlightening journey through the fascinating world of hormones.
Best of Hormone Health
GHK peptide, growth hormone, and cancer with Dr. De
Regenerating Your Thymus Gland, BPC-157, The Liver King Controversy, Growth Hormones & Much More With Marcos De Andrade (Dr. De).
-Growth hormone deficiency in adults…05:48
- GHK-Cu — found in saliva, urine, plasma, and blood
- Is basically 911 for injury
- GHK decline with aging sees an increase in cancer because of the decline in the production of GHK
- Used topically in a lot of hair growth and skin care treatments (use code BEN to save 10%)
- Growth hormone replacement therapy reduces the risk of cancer in adults with growth hormone deficiency: A meta-analysis
- Adult growth hormone deficiency
- The replacement of growth hormones helps prevent cancer
- A study called the TRIIM (Thymus Regeneration, Immunorestoration, and Insulin Mitigation) trial
- The first human clinical trial designed to reverse aspects of human aging
- DHEA + recombinant growth hormone + metformin = slowing of the aging process
- oost growth hormone naturally
- The role of growth hormones to regenerate the thymus gland
- For the regeneration of the thymus gland, which degrades as you age
-The use of red light for glandular activation…12:25
- Red light is recommended for use for the thymus gland to strengthen the immune system and increase thymus gland activity
- PBM (photobiomodulation) is very beneficial
- Sunlight
- The thymus gland has extra sensitivities to the environment, even spiritual
- The Tapping Solution by Nick Ortner
- Podcast with Nick Ortner:
- Thymus tapping for anxiety or stress relief
Thyroid health with Dr. Amie Hornaman
What Doctors Won’t Tell You About Your Thyroid, Little-Known Hacks To Improve Thyroid Function, The Best Thyroid Supplements & Much More With Dr. Amie Hornaman
-How does the thyroid affect weight gain?…15:00
- The thyroid controls all metabolic processes, including fat-burning
- If your thyroid isn't working, there's nothing that is working
- Diets, exercises, supplements, and peptides won't work — doing all the work but not seeing the results
- If people can't burn body fat, their metabolism drops
- Decreasing calories by eating less further drops metabolism and T3 production of the thyroid gland
-Thyroid tests…18:12
- TSH — Thyroid Stimulating Hormone test
- TSH is a pituitary hormone produced by the pituitary gland, not a thyroid hormone
- Standard medicine — 4.5
- Functional medicine — below 2
- InsideTracker
- T3 — active thyroid hormone in your body
- T4 — inactive thyroid hormone
- Reverse T3 — antithyroid hormone blocks T3 action at the cellular level
- Hashimoto antibodies
- TPO (thyroid peroxidase) and TGA (thyroglobulin antibodies)
- Detects hypothyroidism as an autoimmune form where your body's attacking your thyroid glands
- 95% of hypothyroidism is Hashimoto's
- Over-exercising and over-dieting can affect the thyroid directly
- A stressor on the body that can flip on the Hashimoto switch
- Analogy to leaky gut
- With a leaky gut syndrome or a food allergy
- A stressful incident in life can trigger a sudden autoimmune reaction to certain foods
-What to do if tests show a thyroid problem…23:59
- Thyroid Fixxr (use code BEN20 to save 20%)
- Treating Hashimoto's
- Low dose naltrexone
- Black cumin seed oil
- A gluten-free diet (gluten is a molecular mimicker to the thyroid — can induce an autoimmune attack)
- Low thyroid hormone treatments
- The goal is to get lab values into the optimal range and eradicate symptoms
- Suboptimal T3:
- Only 2% of hypothyroid patients do well on T4 monotherapy
- 98% do well on T4 and T3, or T3 alone
- T4 alone is not going to work, you have to add T3
- With reverse T3 issue, lower the T4 or do just T3
- It’s all about the personalization aspect
- Podcast with Kashif Khan:
-Red light therapy for thyroid issues…27:04
- Red light therapy shows a positive effect on the thyroid gland
- Tissue regeneration and more output of the thyroid hormones
- Kineon (use code BGLIFE to save 10%)
- Wraparound device that you put ice packs
- One for the gut and one that wraps around the collarbone
- HigherDOSE Red Light Face Mask or Red Light Neck Enhancer (use code BEN to save 15%)
-Cold thermogenesis for thyroid support…29:17
- Cold therapy is very useful:
- Brown fat activation
- Decrease in inflammation
- The body adjusts to cold
- Cool Fat Burner
- Cold packs for gut and neck
- Kineon (use code BGLIFE to save 10%)
- Wraparound device that you put ice packs
- One for the gut and one that wraps around the collarbone
- Stacking with T2 (use code BEN20 to save 20%)
- Lowers or improves insulin sensitivity
- Stimulates mitochondria
- Improves energy
- Inflammation goes down
- Fat is burned
- Grains of Paradise
- Potent brown fat activator
-Testosterone for women…33:44
- Women get left behind in the testosterone talk
- Testosterone is the most abundant hormone in a woman's body
- It gives motivation, drive, and strength — helps with body fat, libido, and hair growth
- Conventional medicine and standard lab value range for women — 2–48
- Amie believes it should be 50 and above
- Women's Testosterone Booster (use code BEN20 to save 20%)
- It's all about the dose, the administration, aromatizing testosterone into DHT
- Personalization is important
- Testosterone protects against autoimmune disease
- You can lower the Hashimoto antibodies by bringing the testosterone levels up
- Women with lower levels of testosterone get Hashimoto's more than men
How to treat or modulate cortisol with Craig Koniver
Cortisol Decoded: The Myths & Truths About A Hormone Crucial To Your Health & Survival.
-How to modulate cortisol with Dr. Craig Koniver…42:10
- No. 1 is testing
- Tests:
- An elevated or even normal morning cortisol from 14–18 is pretty good
- Most people would be less than 14 and not sleep well
- Salivary cortisol test — DHA, DHEA, and pregnenolone
- DHEA is then further converted into other hormones, such as testosterone and estrogen
- You start losing your ability to make cortisol because of stress
- Then the body is going to steal from these other hormones
- The adrenal gland is like a factory producing hormones:
- Cortisol is the goal, but it makes the other hormones too
- Cortisol imbalances lead to the depletion of other hormones
- Pregnenolone is made from cholesterol; cortisol is made from pregnenolone
- Low cholesterol levels affect cortisol production
- If you don't have cholesterol to be turned into pregnenolone, you can't make enough cortisol
- The leading cause of heart disease is not elevated cholesterol, it is low testosterone
- Cortisol helps optimize health
- Having a cortisol reserve enables you to handle and tolerate stress, thus preventing cancer, autoimmune disease
-How to ensure you have a cortisol reserve…47:10
- Behaviors to normalize cortisol levels (deliberate contemplative exercise)
- Meditation, prayer, reading, listening to music, journaling
- Activate the parasympathetic system, turn off the sympathetic system
- Meditation is not the only means of managing stress
- Adaptogenic herbs:
- Licorice root (delays conversion of cortisol to cortisone)
- Holy basil (sense of the divine in one's world)
- Cordyceps powder (adrenal-strengthening herb)
- Rhodiola
- Schizandra berry
- Critical nutrients:
- Peptides
- Hexarelin
- Epitalon
- Ipamorelin
- GHRP-6 and GHRP-2
- Phosphatidylserine (100–300mg)
- Ashwagandha (use at bedtime — 300–3000mg)
- Glycine (great for the liver, 1000–5000mg at bedtime)
- CBD (at bedtime)
Birth control with Jolene Brighten
The Pill – Everything You Need To Know About The Dangers Of The Pill, How To Get Off It Safely & Safer, More Natural Birth Control Alternatives.
-How the pill works…1:02:58
- Beyond the Pill by Dr. Jolene Brighten
- The pill works on your brain level
- The brain signals to the ovaries when to ovulate
- When you take the pill, you shut down brain-ovarian communication
- The pill distorts FSH/LH levels, thus affecting ovulation, menstrual cycles, etc.
- Causes mood alterations and even difficulty getting pregnant once off the pill
- Women have complained about neurological symptoms since the introduction of hormonal birth control
-What happens during the normal menstrual cycle…1:04:58
- What normal FSH/LH levels should be without the pill
- Day 1 of the period begins with the “flow” of maturing eggs
- FSH and estrogen rise
- Once ovulation occurs, the corpus luteum secretes progesterone
- Every form of birth control produces progestin, not progesterone
- Weight gain is common
- Water retention due to lack of progesterone
- Moodiness is common
- A woman stops ovulating because the pill is affecting her body at the brain level
- From day 1 of the period, you are getting eggs ready
- FSH is telling the ovaries to ovulate
- In the first follicular phase, FSH rises, and estrogen rises
- Estrogen tells the brain to release LH
- LH tells the ovaries to release an egg
- Corpus luteum secretes progesterone
- Every form of birth control produces progestin, not progesterone
- Progesterone stimulates the GABA receptors in your brain — making you calm and relaxed
- It also helps with fluid retention
- When progesterone is low, you experience anxiety
- Estrogen is not challenged by progesterone
- Estrogen left unchecked can stimulate tissues to grow
- Those tissues can sometimes be cancer tissue, in the breast and the uterus
- Synthetic estrogen and progestin are associated with an increased risk of certain cancers
- Breast cancer
- Liver cancer
- Brain cancer
- But decreases ovarian cancer and endometrial cancer
-How progestin from hormonal birth control affects the body…1:08:14
- Progestin delivered via an IUD does not stay in the uterus
- You can’t see the progestin in the blood, but the body metabolizes these hormones
- With IUDs, some women stop menstruating and stop ovulating
- If a woman stops ovulating, it's because it's impacting her body at the brain level
-The effect of the pill on athletic performance…1:09:28
- Shuts down testosterone production by as much as 50%
- Affects energy, bone health, etc.
- Fatigue faster
- Testosterone is essential for muscle mass, energy production, and bone health
- Women athletes on the pill fatigue faster, their muscle gains are less, and endurance goes down
- Affects both endurance and power/strength negatively
- Alters your liver at the genetic level to express higher amounts of sex hormone-binding globulin
-Getting off the pill…1:12:34
- Weaning off the pill is really a bad idea
- Won't be protected against getting pregnant
- Hormonal birth control is only effective if you take the dose the way it's designed
- The 99% effective at preventing pregnancy that the pill gets is if you are a perfect user
- Women using hormonal birth control for symptom management, painful periods, heavy periods, acne, and irregular periods will experience the symptoms again if they stop using it
- Prep your body a good three months before stopping
Testosterone replacement expert Jay Campbell
How To Use Testosterone, Peptide Stacks That Will Blow Your Mind, The Truth About Getting Peptides On The Internet, & Much More With Jay Campbell
-Testosterone deficiency…1:15:40
- 1 out of 4 men between the ages of 20 and 35 have a testosterone deficiency
- Elements that are environmental barriers when it comes to testosterone production
- Dirty EMF in major cities is terrible
- Blue light
- Worst fertility crisis in the history of the world
- Low testosterone in young men due to video games, bad food, and lack of exercise
- Girls reaching puberty earlier and/or menstruating earlier
- People are not outside and grounding in nature
- Snowballs Icing Underwear
- Parents have to be proactive and teach kids healthy habits
-The correct use of testosterone…1:21:04
- Jay has been using peptides since 2004
- Used every delivery system for testosterone
- Injectable system – daily injections
- Transdermal
- Transscrotal testosterone system
- Patches
- IV
- Placing it on the base of your scrotum is eight times more permeable
- Haven't tried intranasal — some people say there are side effects like headaches
- Natesto nasal gel
- Some oral systems are already FDA-approved but very weak
- Different compounding pharmacies have different dosages
- Transdermal testosterone — AndroGel
- 50mg per milliliter
- Almost non-existent amount
- Topi-CLICK dosing dispensers/applicators
- Compounded 200mg per milliliter shows benefits
- Three clicks of the applicator to get 200mg per milliliter
- If cream is used, higher doses are needed
- First-time users will notice effects within 48 hours
- Enhanced dopamine
- Well-being, better energy
- Everybody's different so dosing should be different
-Taking aromatase inhibitor instead of testosterone…1:28:57
- There's no logic behind using an aromatase inhibitor for testosterone optimization other than just misreading the studies or the science
- You need healthy (and arguably high) levels of estrogen to confer protection to all of your biological systems
- Podcast with Jay Campbell:
- There's no such thing as high estrogen symptoms, there's just high inflammation and high estrogenic body fat
- Never block estrogen when taking therapeutic testosterone
- There's no such thing as high estrogen symptoms
- There's high inflammation due to high levels of fat, obviously estrogenic fat, which again is visceral body fat, due to metabolic dysregulation
-And much more…
Upcoming Events:
- Health Optimization Summit — London: June 15–16, 2024
The Health Optimization Summit is the ultimate gathering for anyone passionate about biohacking, wellness, and living their best life. Dubbed a must-do event, it promises a transformative weekend filled with the opportunity to meet and learn from over 35 world-class speakers (including yours truly) in nutrition, longevity, mental health, relationships, and more. Learn best-kept secrets, try out the latest high-tech health gadgets, and discover the cleanest supplements and foods on the market. Don't miss this life-changing weekend — grab your tickets before they're gone here.
- The Longevity Circle Retreat in Croatia — Superyacht Wellness Adventure: Sept 4–10, 2024
Step aboard the ultimate luxury wellness journey: the longevity-focused Superyacht Wellness Adventure, set against the breathtaking backdrop of Croatia from September 4–10, 2024. This exclusive, invite-only event offers an unparalleled experience that blends opulence with the pursuit of wellness, disease prevention, and a long, happy life. With only 10 cabins available, this intimate retreat promises personalized attention and an atmosphere of elite exclusivity. Each day, I will lead 5–6 invigorating workouts, share insights through 1–2 enlightening talks, and engage in organic discussions and Q&A sessions, ensuring a transformative experience. Secure your spot here on this once-in-a-lifetime adventure and be part of a select group dedicated to elevating their health.
- Biohacking Retreat with Ben Greenfield — Costa Rica: Oct 28–31, 2024
Join me this October for an unparalleled biohacking retreat set in the breathtaking landscapes of Costa Rica. This is an exclusive opportunity to dive deep into the world of biohacking, wellness, and personal optimization at Kinkára, a sanctuary of rejuvenation and adventure. Over three nights, you'll get to explore cutting-edge strategies for enhancing your health and performance, from engaging lectures to hands-on meditation and breathwork sessions. We'll bond over group hikes, savor three meticulously prepared meals daily, unwind with live music, and experience the transformative Temezcal ceremony. Plus, you'll enjoy luxury amenities and quality time with me and a community of like-minded individuals. Space is intentionally limited to 50 guests to ensure a personalized and impactful experience. Don't miss this chance to elevate your well-being and connect with the essence of biohacking amidst Costa Rica's natural beauty. Secure your spot here to ensure you don't miss out!
- Keep up on Ben's LIVE appearances by following bengreenfieldfitness.com/calendar!
Click here for the full written transcript of this podcast episode.
Resources from this episode:
– Podcasts and Articles:
- Tapping & EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique): Pseudoscience, Quackery or Wildly Effective Healing Modality?
- Why You Worry About Stuff, Wake Up Earlier Than You Want To & Get Bored Easily: Unlock The Secrets Of Your Genes To Reverse Disease, Slow Aging & Achieve Optimal Wellness, With Kashif Khan.
- Sunlight Makes You Skinny & Blue Light Makes You Fat: 11 Ways To Biohack Light To Optimize Your Body & Brain.
– Books:
– Other Resources:
- Entera (use code BEN to save 10%)
- Colostrum
- Dihydroberberine
- Bitter Melon Extract
- Ceylon Cinnamon
- ACV
- DHEA
- Thymosin β
- Thymus Extract
- Sweetbreads
- Red Light
- Thyroid Fixxr (use code BEN20 to save 20%)
- Kineon (use code BGLIFE to save 10%)
- HigherDOSE Red Light Face Mask or Red Light Neck Enhancer (use code BEN to save 15%)
- Cold Therapy
- Cool Fat Burner
- Cool Fat Burner
- Grains of Paradise
- Licorice Root
- Holy Basil
- Cordyceps Powder
- Rhodiola
- Schizandra Berry
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin B5
- NAD+
- Phosphatidylserine
- Ashwagandha
- Glycine
- CBD
- Snowballs Icing Underwear
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Do you have questions, thoughts, or feedback for me? Leave your comments below and I will reply!
Which specific brand(s) of grains of paradise do you use/recommend? The link to Amazon is just a general search.
hey Eve, I got this (https://amzn.to/448xnXh) from Chef Cheri because the Burma Spice (https://amzn.to/4aERizu) that I used to get was not available, and it is still unavailable as of today.