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

Are you being told hormones are dangerous while suffering through menopause symptoms? In this episode of the Habits and Hustle podcast, I sit down with hormone pioneer Dr. Erika Schwartz, who reveals why the 2002 Women's Health Initiative study destroyed women's health for decades. We explore how 7 million women were wrongly taken off hormones overnight, why your gynecologist still fears HRT, and the difference between bioidentical and synthetic hormones. Dr. Schwartz explains why pellets are dangerous, shares her daily supplement stack, and reveals how to find the right hormone doctor when the medical system has failed you. Dr. Erika Schwartz is a board-certified internist and hormone expert with over 30 years of experience. She's the author of "Don't Let Your Doctor Kill You" and became the leading hormone authority after her book "The Hormone Solution" hit #2 on Amazon the same year the flawed hormone study was published. What We Discuss: (06:50) Debunking Myths About Hormone Replacement (14:25) Navigating the Broken Medical System (19:20) Optimizing Health Through Hormone Replacement (35:56) Foundation of Hormones and Supplements (47:59) The Dark Truth About Medical Insurance (52:48) Exploring Supplements for Health (01:06:24) Empowering Women in Healthcare …and more! Thank you to our sponsors: Momentous: Shop this link https://www.livemomentous.com/?srsltid=AfmBOorDUIZz3psr1Qsq_n1yE8_6JTq_QUFabOO9lH65HDEXCIoJOPLj and use code Jen for 20% off Therasage: Head over to therasage.com http://therasage.com/ and use code Be Bold for 15% off TruNiagen: Head over to truniagen.com http://truniagen.com/ and use code HUSTLE20 to get $20 off any purchase over $100. Magic Mind: Head over to www http://www/.magicmind.com http://magicmind.com//jen and use code Jen at checkout. Bio.me: Link to daily prebiotic fiber here https://bio.me/?utm_source=Jennifer, code Jennifer20 for 20% off. David: Buy 4, get the 5th free at davidprotein.com/habitsandhustle http://davidprotein.com/habitsandhustle. Find more from Jen: Website: https://www.jennifercohen.com/ Instagram: @therealjencohen Books: https://www.jennifercohen.com/books Speaking: https://www.jennifercohen.com/speaking-engagement Find more from Dr. Erika Schwartz: Website: https://drerika.com/ Books: https://drerika.com/publications/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drerikaschwartz/

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  Hi guys, this is Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits and Hustle. Crush it.

• 0:07Jen Cohen?

  All right, you guys, you're in for-

• 0:08Speaker 02

  You need hormones. Everybody needs hormones.

• 0:11Jen Cohen?

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

• 0:45Speaker 02

  Erica, I think I know you.

• 0:46Jen Cohen?

  I know, we are.

• 0:47Speaker 02

  She had such a pleasure to be here. I cannot tell you how excited I am to be with you.

• 0:52Jen Cohen?

  I'm excited to have you here.

• 0:53Speaker 02

  I can't believe I'm here with you.

• 0:54Jen Cohen?

  Well, what's so interesting-

• 0:55Speaker 02

  Of all the things.

• 0:56Jen Cohen?

  I know, of all the things, right?

• 0:58Speaker 02

  Tell them.

• 0:58Jen Cohen?

  So, I met Erica probably like 25 years ago through a mutual friend named Tammy, who at the time was working at Extra TV.

• 1:08Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:08Jen Cohen?

  And we, her and I became fast friends, me and Tammy, and Tammy was doing all sorts of things called, she was doing a show called Life Changers. Do you remember this?

• 1:17Speaker 02

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

• 1:28Jen Cohen?

  Right, okay.

• 1:29Speaker 02

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

• 1:43Jen Cohen?

  Right, it's not for you.

• 1:44Speaker 02

  No, so then I went to Lisa Gregorich, who was the-

• 1:47Jen Cohen?

  Executive, Lisa's the, was the executive producer of Extra back then. I totally remember, and I totally remember this, because I was a life changer. It was, Dr. Drew was the main guy.

• 1:57Speaker 02

  He became, no, so what happened is, I left, and I said, "I can't do it. I'm going back home." Even though, they gave me this amazing contract, I had never made that kind of money. It was amazing. But, I was like, "I can't do this." So, I went home, back to- New York.

• 2:10Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 2:10Speaker 02

  And there were two other guys who were doing it and then they weren't there anymore. And then they brought Drew, Dr. Drew.

• 2:18Jen Cohen?

  So funny.

• 2:18Speaker 02

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

• 2:23Jen Cohen?

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

• 2:34Speaker 02

  Right, you were.

• 2:35Jen Cohen?

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

• 2:51Speaker 02

  Not exaggerating at all.

• 2:52Jen Cohen?

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

• 3:04Speaker 02

  Thank you. I'm glad to hear that.

• 3:05Jen Cohen?

  You were so lovely. I don't remember ever meeting you in person, but we talked on the phone.

• 3:09Speaker 02

  On the phone.

• 3:10Jen Cohen?

  And I just I just had such a nice feeling about you. Cut to now 25 years later, you've written a bunch of books, but you're you're you're one of your books is being re-released. And the book is called Don't Let Your Doctor Kill You, which is a great title. So you're on the podcast to kind of just talk about everything you know you've been doing. But I really wanted to talk to you about hormones and HRT because like we said, it's so popular right now. Metapause is so popular. Everyone's talking about it. And what I really like about you is that you're an actual doctor.

• 3:47Speaker 02

  For real.

• 3:48Jen Cohen?

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

• 4:00Speaker 02

  Of course.

• 4:00Jen Cohen?

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

• 4:18Speaker 02

  No. HRT is exactly what you need because think about it when in your twenties and you're full of hormones, you don't really get sick a lot. When you're pregnant and you're like overflowing with hormones, sure as hell, nothing happens and you're like immortal, literally. So HRT is really important, but it's not HRT. It's the kind of hormones that you're taking. And it's all because of a study that went awry in 2002 called the Women's Health Initiative. And the truth behind that study, you're gonna love it,

• 4:59Speaker 02

  was it was a government sponsored study paid for fully by pharma. So pharma gave the hormones that they were using, which were not human identical, bioidentical, whatever we're talking about now. But they were like, they looked different. They were like from pregnant horses urine. Anyway, and they gave the pharma gave the drugs to the academic institutions that conducted the study. So when the study went off, and it turns out five years into the study that the women were not doing so well, there were 10 years post-menopause, there were smokers, they had all kinds of pre-existing conditions. There

• 5:38Speaker 02

  was no reason. That study was just flawed. And the moment that came out, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the North American Menopause Society, which rules the coup when it comes to women's health, got scared that the truth would come out that it wasn't, that it wasn't government money, but rather drug money, drug money.

• 6:03Jen Cohen?

  Yeah, it is drug money. Yep.

• 6:04Speaker 02

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

• 6:27Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 6:29Speaker 02

  The North American Menopause Society sent out a note because the doctors were like, so what are we supposed to do now? And the women were like, what am I supposed to do now? They said, you should dress in layers and you should be in cool rooms because if you sweat, that's the way to, you know, take care of it. Just think about that. That's 2002. So that was disgusting, actually.

• 6:55Jen Cohen?

  Wow.

• 6:56Speaker 02

  No words. So I was screaming.

• 6:57Jen Cohen?

  That was, that was the way that we should deal with it.

• 7:00Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 7:00Jen Cohen?

  Just, just put extra layers on.

• 7:02Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 7:02Jen Cohen?

  Because of hot flashes or whatever.

• 7:04Speaker 02

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

• 7:16Jen Cohen?

  Right, right. Let's be honest now, right?

• 7:18Speaker 02

  Right.

• 7:19Jen Cohen?

  Yes.

• 7:19Speaker 02

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

• 7:52Jen Cohen?

  What was that book called again?

• 7:53Speaker 02

  The Hormone Solution.

• 7:54Jen Cohen?

  Yeah, The Hormone Solution.

• 7:55Speaker 02

  And it has, it was since we released, it's called The New Hormone Solution, but either one. And it was number two on Amazon, so all of a sudden, I'm the expert.

• 8:04Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 8:05Speaker 02

  2013, the principal investigators, so all these academicians who had done this research on the study, came out in the medical journals, like in JAMA, and said that it didn't really matter if you were on the hormones, these hormones that they had been on, or not, all cause mortality was the same. So the study was flawed and it didn't prove anything. But guess what? The media didn't pick up on it.

• 8:36Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 8:37Speaker 02

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

• 8:44Jen Cohen?

  Right, right, right.

• 8:45Speaker 02

  And it was really horrible. So. Of course, I've been taking care of women, giving them hormones forever. But then all this data started coming, showing that hormones were good for you, that they didn't cause cancer, that they didn't cause blood clots, that bio-identicals or human identical hormones are fine. And not only that, you desperately need them. So the North American Menopause Society and ACOG were like, oh, no, we can't do it, whatever. Slowly but surely, they started moving in that direction. But now they went against compounding pharmacies because they weren't FDA approved. Now they're FDA approved, you can get them anywhere you want.

• 9:28Speaker 02

  Anyway, and they tried to say, well, as as low a dose as possible for as short a period of time as possible. Now it's for as long as you're alive, because I'm not going to stop the hormones so that I can dry up and die.

• 9:44Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 9:45Speaker 02

  I'm not planning on it.

• 9:46Jen Cohen?

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

• 10:08Speaker 02

  Right.

• 10:08Jen Cohen?

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

• 10:28Speaker 02

  Well, that's a good question, right?

• 10:30Jen Cohen?

  Yeah, thank you.

• 10:32Speaker 02

  Yes, so it's like this. The medical education, medical school has not changed.

• 10:39Speaker 02

  An iota since when I went to medical school fifty, sixty years ago.

• 10:43Jen Cohen?

  Wow.

• 10:44Speaker 02

  Nothing has changed. So they, you know, and I used to interview people for, I was on the board of one of the medical schools in New York. And I used to interview people to go to medical school. And I never interviewed somebody who said, oh, I want to be rich. I want to be important. I want to be arrogant, whatever the hell. They all wanted to heal. Four years later, they turn out to be assholes. They don't care.

• 11:08Jen Cohen?

  They don't care.

• 11:09Speaker 02

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

• 11:25Jen Cohen?

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

• 11:49Speaker 02

  Which actually might be better for you.

• 11:50Jen Cohen?

  Really? Well, let me tell you the problem I find, right?

• 11:53Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 11:53Jen Cohen?

  Every doctor becomes now a concierge doctor, or they're the functional medicine doctors. And to see these doctors, there's a major price tag. So it's making people sick, right? Because if you're, if you're somebody who is making like a modest income, you are screwed. There's nowhere to even go to even get proper advice. And if you're going to a doctor and you're someone who's hitting menopause or perimenopause or whatever it is, they're not going to help you. They'll say, oh, no, you're fine here. Or maybe here, we'll, we'll give you this testosterone cream or something. But it's a very blunt way of gen, of dealing with people. No one's really tweaking and looking and changing and fixing. You're getting a very, very sterile medical visit, right?

• 12:38Jen Cohen?

  Because people don't have, they don't have time for you. It's like on to the next one, unless you want to pay twenty thousand a year. And then I will see you when you call me. That's literally what's happened to the medical industry.

• 12:49Speaker 02

  Yeah, at least.

• 12:51Jen Cohen?

  At least.

• 12:51Speaker 02

  That's like literally you making it sound better.

• 12:56Jen Cohen?

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

• 12:58Speaker 02

  You are, you are.

• 12:59Jen Cohen?

  Because that's what's happening.

• 13:00Speaker 02

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

• 13:18Jen Cohen?

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

• 13:31Speaker 02

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

• 13:42Jen Cohen?

  So then, okay, so then what would you have people do? If you have no doctor, then what?

• 13:47Speaker 02

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

• 13:52Jen Cohen?

  I should be my own doctor?

• 13:54Speaker 02

  You're probably better off than getting an asshole who's not going to help you.

• 13:58Jen Cohen?

  Or misdiagnose me.

• 14:00Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 14:00Jen Cohen?

  Because they're lazy.

• 14:01Speaker 02

  And I have a ton of them, situations like that. Because I still see patients all the time. But this is the thing. So you're better off, first of all, you know, and that's, don't let your doctor kill you. The goal is, how do we protect ourselves? And how do we empower ourselves? Because nobody's going to help us. And all these like, you know, media, whatever, social media.

• 14:27Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 14:27Speaker 02

  Excellent, they have, you know, they have all the answers. They don't see patients. So what the hell are you going to do with them?

• 14:33Jen Cohen?

  Well, that was my other thing, right? The second someone has any blip of popularity, they all want to be, every doctor I meet wants to be famous.

• 14:40Speaker 02

  Can you imagine?

• 14:41Jen Cohen?

  They want to have followers. And then, once they start like tracking on social media, the patients are then like discarded, basically.

• 14:49Speaker 02

  Can you imagine?

• 14:49Jen Cohen?

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

• 15:03Speaker 02

  No.

• 15:04Jen Cohen?

  Seeing patients.

• 15:05Speaker 02

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

• 15:09Jen Cohen?

  Yes.

• 15:09Speaker 02

  And it's horrible, horrible.

• 15:11Jen Cohen?

  This is why.

• 15:12Speaker 02

  That's why it came out.

• 15:13Jen Cohen?

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

• 15:23Speaker 02

  You have to start owning it.

• 15:25Jen Cohen?

  Our own medical advisor.

• 15:27Speaker 02

  You have to.

• 15:27Jen Cohen?

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

• 15:43Speaker 02

  Totally.

• 15:44Jen Cohen?

  Okay.

• 15:44Speaker 02

  Your lifestyle.

• 15:46Jen Cohen?

  Okay.

• 15:46Speaker 02

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

• 15:55Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 15:56Speaker 02

  Because it's a continuum. From the time you go through puberty till the time you close your eyes for the last time, it's a continuum.

• 16:04Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 16:04Speaker 02

  Things change. We know that. So the better you know yourself, the more you address your lifestyle, the more likely you are to make life a continuum of health with small interruptions when you're sick. And that's my goal to teach you.

• 16:19Jen Cohen?

  Hmm.

• 16:20Speaker 02

  So the point is, you can take care of yourself by looking like as you get older, can't tolerate the same lifestyle that you had when you were young. Your body can't. So you want to make your body feel better. So you need to sleep. But then when your hormones are out of whack, you can't sleep anymore.

• 16:40Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 16:40Speaker 02

  So there, that's where you need hormones. You know, you can exercise and you need to exercise because you want to maintain your muscle mass because as we know, muscles are the currency of youth.

• 16:51Jen Cohen?

  Hmm.

• 16:52Speaker 02

  You want to eat more protein and stop eating all the carbs and stop drinking all the alcohol because we can't process it anymore.

• 17:01Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 17:01Speaker 02

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

• 17:15Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 17:16Speaker 02

  That will help you. Get yourself better.

• 17:19Jen Cohen?

  You know, I was gonna say one thing about exercise, cuz that's something I, to me, exercise is the fountain of youth beyond everything else, right?

• 17:28Speaker 02

  You're right.

• 17:28Jen Cohen?

  You could be doing, you could take every supplement and you could be taking every hormone in the world, but if you're not exercising daily and lifting heavy weights as you, as you, as you get older and just moving your body, forget about it. Or just walking, plain walking, like that's not overcomplicate stuff.

• 17:46Speaker 02

  Right.

• 17:46Jen Cohen?

  You know, just go for a walk. Movement to me, there's nothing better. If, that's like the foundation. Everything else, you can build from there.

• 17:54Speaker 02

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

• 17:57Jen Cohen?

  Go ahead.

• 17:58Speaker 02

  If your hormones are out of whack.

• 17:59Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 18:00Speaker 02

  And you feel like shit.

• 18:01Jen Cohen?

  Mm-hmm.

• 18:02Speaker 02

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

• 18:21Jen Cohen?

  But when would you, when do you know? Like when, if someone's sitting on a couch and they're super lethargic and they don't wanna, they don't wanna work out, they're having anxiety, they have depression, or like, they're just like, they just have, they're lackluster, okay? How do they, what's the, what's the correlation? Like, truly give us like symptoms if it's not, like, we all hear about what the symptoms are, peri-metap, you don't like the names, but like.

• 18:43Speaker 02

  You can use them, don't ignore me.

• 18:46Jen Cohen?

  Let's say, if I'm a medical advisor to my own body.

• 18:49Speaker 02

  Which you are.

• 18:50Jen Cohen?

  Which I should be.

• 18:51Speaker 02

  Cuz you'll live there, I don't.

• 18:52Jen Cohen?

  Right. That's a good way of putting it.

• 18:54Speaker 02

  No doctor lives there.

• 18:55Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 18:55Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 18:56Jen Cohen?

  How do we know? And how do we know if we need estrogen, if it's progesterone, if it's testosterone? Like, what's the, or if it's even hormones at all? How do we know if actually we need hormones?

• 19:07Speaker 02

  You need hormones.

• 19:07Jen Cohen?

  How do you know?

• 19:09Speaker 02

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

• 19:27Jen Cohen?

  Oh, so that's estrogen.

• 19:29Speaker 02

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

• 19:33Jen Cohen?

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

• 19:41Speaker 02

  And they need progesterone if they take testosterone.

• 19:43Jen Cohen?

  Is it a mistake just to take testosterone as a woman? If you're not taking estrogen and progesterone?

• 19:50Speaker 02

  It may not be. Depends on the person. And remember, that's why I go back to the individual is like the key.

• 19:57Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 19:57Speaker 02

  So it may not be, but testosterone should go with progesterone. Because testosterone does turn into estrogen in the body. So you want to protect your uterus. Not a problem. You're okay. But the thing is, you will know when you need hormones. And I'll tell you how you know. You don't feel like yourself. It's like, in my case, an alien invaded my head. I am pretty even tempered.

• 20:24Jen Cohen?

  Okay.

• 20:25Speaker 02

  And suddenly, I was like moody. And I was like, short. People complain about that a lot.

• 20:32Jen Cohen?

  Okay.

• 20:33Speaker 02

  Nobody thinks hormones. They'll give you an antidepressant. Antidepressants are the number one medication that they give women when they start going through the changes. Then it's birth control pills. Now, birth control pills, they should get rid of them. I mean, if they were men, we wouldn't have birth control pills. The problem is that they put you in a menopausal hormone state because they shut off your own hormone production. So if you do the bloods.

• 21:01Jen Cohen?

  Birth control pills do.

• 21:02Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 21:02Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 21:03Speaker 02

  Or the IUD, Mirena, with a hormone, the synthetic hormone in it. Those things actually cause more problems than they solve. You know, they used to never give women over thirty five birth control pills. Because in Europe, they used to go through menopause with that. Now they give it to everybody. And then what happens? You still wind up with no hormones and you wind up in trouble. So the thing is, when you start not feeling like yourself, probably it's time to have your hormones checked. Ideally, in my world, I would want your hormones checked when you're not having problems. Because I'd like to know what your ideal hormone balance is.

• 21:47Speaker 02

  In the second half of the cycle, not the first one, because I'm not looking for your fertility level. Because there's more to you than just your fertility.

• 21:56Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 21:57Speaker 02

  But we might never know that. And what happens is that I would like to know what your hormone levels are. So then, as you start going through these not to be mentioned labels.

• 22:09Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 22:10Speaker 02

  Your hormone levels start fluctuating. So you'll have high estrogen one day, low estrogen another day. So if you give someone estrogen at that point, you'll create more problems. Because what's gonna happen is their boobs will start hurting, their periods are not coming right. So you want to actually know your patient, which is why you need to know yourself.

• 22:33Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 22:34Speaker 02

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

• 22:38Jen Cohen?

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

• 23:07Speaker 02

  Right.

• 23:08Jen Cohen?

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

• 23:11Speaker 02

  You know what? It's better than not doing it.

• 23:14Jen Cohen?

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

• 23:16Speaker 02

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

• 23:22Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 23:23Speaker 02

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

• 23:27Jen Cohen?

  Well, they also, they wanna make money, they're expensive. By the way, these things are not cheap.

• 23:31Speaker 02

  But, well, right, so you have to make sure that they're doing the right thing.

• 23:36Jen Cohen?

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

• 23:38Speaker 02

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

• 23:41Jen Cohen?

  No, no, no, let's move past that point, like, we're doing all those things now. Now we're sleeping well, now we're like, oh shit, I do need hormones.

• 23:47Speaker 02

  Right.

• 23:47Jen Cohen?

  Now, what do we do? Like, now, let's say I call up Dr. Smith, I go to see Dr. Smith.

• 23:54Speaker 02

  Right.

• 23:54Jen Cohen?

  Dr. Smith is like, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll get your blood test, and we'll do a blood test," and it says, "Yes, your testosterone's five, you're fine."

• 24:02Speaker 02

  But that's Dr. Smith who was trained by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

• 24:07Jen Cohen?

  So then where do I go?

• 24:08Speaker 02

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

• 24:24Jen Cohen?

  That's good to know.

• 24:25Speaker 02

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

• 24:31Jen Cohen?

  Yes.

• 24:31Speaker 02

  They're all ibuprofen.

• 24:32Jen Cohen?

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

• 24:35Speaker 02

  Of course.

• 24:36Jen Cohen?

  Yeah, I am.

• 24:37Speaker 02

  So, you go, well, I'll be happy to fix it.

• 24:40Jen Cohen?

  Thank you.

• 24:41Speaker 02

  But, this is the thing, you have to find someone who has experience, that's the first thing.

• 24:49Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 24:49Speaker 02

  And that's why I came out.

• 24:50Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 24:51Speaker 02

  Because there's so many inexperienced people who are promoting themselves as experts, who don't see patients. And that's not okay, because you're not helping women. And you're actually kind of fueling the fire against hormones by getting the wrong doctors, the wrong providers. So it's very important that you find the right ones. So, you know, I teach at A4M, which is the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, which has hormone tracts, and they teach them, and they get them certified. And they have some basic information. So go find one of those. There are a lot of those. But the thing is, if it's working, so let's say, okay, you've gone, you started.

• 25:36Speaker 02

  They're not going to sell you into many supplements. You're lucky. They figured out that your hormones are low. They'll give you hormones and you feel better. So you're lucky. If you don't feel better, just give it three months. If in three months, you're not back to your thirty five year old self, move on. What we have to understand is the relationships with doctors are the same as any other relationship. If it's a two way street, it works. If it's a one way street, it's a dead end. So you don't want to be in a dead end. So if you feel better in three months, stay with it. If you don't feel better in three months, find someone else. And as you said, there's one on every street corner.

• 26:22Jen Cohen?

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

• 26:36Speaker 02

  Not really.

• 26:37Jen Cohen?

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

• 26:40Speaker 02

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

• 26:44Jen Cohen?

  Yes, yes.

• 26:45Speaker 02

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

• 27:03Jen Cohen?

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

• 27:09Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 27:10Jen Cohen?

  Very popular.

• 27:11Speaker 02

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

• 27:15Jen Cohen?

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

• 27:23Speaker 02

  Pellets, right.

• 27:23Jen Cohen?

  And so they're pushing them. That's what a lot of these HRT doctors are doing, pushing these. And also like what happens, like you're going from zero to sixty, you put a pellet in your. But it's like four, your testosterone goes from like 10 to 400. And there's nothing you can do about it. You can't like.

• 27:40Speaker 02

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

• 27:53Jen Cohen?

  Okay.

• 27:53Speaker 02

  To release hormones.

• 27:55Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 27:55Speaker 02

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

• 28:32Jen Cohen?

  That's actually a great point. So once you kind of screw around with your receptors like that, how can you, can you fix them?

• 28:40Speaker 02

  If you're lucky, yes.

• 28:42Jen Cohen?

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

• 28:49Speaker 02

  Injectable or creams. There's a new form, which is like sublingual, like a

• 28:55Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 28:55Speaker 02

  thing, which has not been studied enough, which is new, that I would not endorse yet, but hopefully it'll, it'll work. The problem with oral testosterone is, you know, it goes through your liver. The same as oral estrogen goes through your liver. Your liver is already over toxic.

• 29:14Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 29:14Speaker 02

  Right? From all this crap in our environment, right?

• 29:18Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 29:18Speaker 02

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

• 29:47Jen Cohen?

  What is your take on creatine?

• 29:50Speaker 02

  I love pre-creatine.

• 29:51Jen Cohen?

  You do? Do you take creatine?

• 29:52Speaker 02

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

• 29:55Jen Cohen?

  So do you, so I take it too. And I, I, do you know, do you know anything about the whitewash, acid wash, all these different types of washes?

• 30:03Speaker 02

  No.

• 30:03Jen Cohen?

  For creatine?

• 30:04Speaker 02

  Tell me about it.

• 30:04Jen Cohen?

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

• 30:14Speaker 02

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

• 30:18Jen Cohen?

  Yeah, 100%.

• 30:19Speaker 02

  So you're right. So I think that-

• 30:20Jen Cohen?

  I use Momentus, you guys. It's my favorite. And that's just, it's called Momentus. It's like they, it's like everything is triple party tested.

• 30:28Speaker 02

  I actually got it because of you.

• 30:29Jen Cohen?

  Really?

• 30:30Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 30:30Jen Cohen?

  I love that. Thank you. By the way, Momentus, you hear that? Oh, third-party tested, not triple-party tested, third-party tested. I don't even know what I'm talking about. I was looking to be over your shoulder.

• 30:40Speaker 02

  Yeah, no, I, I, I got it. I got it.

• 30:42Jen Cohen?

  I love it. Do you like it?

• 30:43Speaker 02

  It seems to be good.

• 30:44Jen Cohen?

  I mean, it's-

• 30:45Speaker 02

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

• 31:01Jen Cohen?

  Yep.

• 31:02Speaker 02

  is you take the five grams, you put it in a little bit of water, not this much water, but like a little bit. You take it, and then all of a sudden, your brain kicks in and you feel good, so you know it's working.

• 31:14Jen Cohen?

  So that's what I, that's why I wanted to ask you about it, because a couple of things. Women are really scared of taking creatine.

• 31:20Speaker 02

  Why?

• 31:21Jen Cohen?

  Because it's the same as the hormones. We've heard so much of it being like, oh, it's gonna bloat you, and it's going to, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a supplement that guys only take. Again, there's a lot of like rhetoric that's been around for like 30 years, that people still kind of remember or heard in the past. And so it's kind of like tainted what, what the truth is, right? But that's the one supplement that I think, I mean, listen, I'm no doctor, but I would think-

• 31:47Speaker 02

  But you actually live in your body and you know better.

• 31:49Jen Cohen?

  Right, or I play one on TV, right? No, but like, but yes.

• 31:51Speaker 02

  That's it.

• 31:52Jen Cohen?

  But like if you-

• 31:52Speaker 02

  It's better than most of them.

• 31:54Jen Cohen?

  Well, right, no, I, thank you, but I think if you wanna like- Like if you want to like keep muscle on your body.

• 31:59Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 32:00Jen Cohen?

  Right?

• 32:00Speaker 02

  Correct.

• 32:01Jen Cohen?

  Creatine will help you.

• 32:02Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 32:03Jen Cohen?

  Strength and with recovery.

• 32:04Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 32:05Jen Cohen?

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

• 32:09Speaker 02

  That's why I said to you, cause it's about bioavailability, right?

• 32:13Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 32:13Speaker 02

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

• 32:17Jen Cohen?

  Exactly.

• 32:17Speaker 02

  Right? And so that's the best test. You just take five grams, put it in a little bit of water, mix it.

• 32:25Jen Cohen?

  Yeah, it's a great idea.

• 32:27Speaker 02

  Then chug it down. And if within five to 10 minutes, you're like on, then you go, okay, this is working.

• 32:35Jen Cohen?

  That's a, I see it, cause I'm not a, I'm not a shake person. I, I don't really have shakes often.

• 32:40Speaker 02

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

• 32:50Jen Cohen?

  Right, right, right.

• 32:50Speaker 02

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

• 32:53Jen Cohen?

  That's a great, that's a great way of doing it. So, cause like, like to your point, like, well, you'd have so much, you have a shake every morning. I have a shake once in a while. So then like what people do is they don't, they don't take the proper supplements. They, everyone puts everything in the, in the.

• 33:06Speaker 02

  They put too much in the shakes.

• 33:07Jen Cohen?

  But you were saying other things. What else do you think is important for people? Like what supplements are you some, that you swear by? I mean, can I name you some and you just say which ones you think? What, what do you think of fish oil?

• 33:19Speaker 02

  I think it's great, but what kind of fish oil? Omega three, omega nine.

• 33:26Speaker 02

  Fifteen, fatty fifteen.

• 33:28Jen Cohen?

  Oh, fatty fifteen.

• 33:29Speaker 02

  Fatty fifteen's really good. So.

• 33:32Jen Cohen?

  Is it different than omega threes?

• 33:33Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, they're, they're higher concentration. So they're great. Then there is plasmalogens, which is omega nine, which work on the brain really well. So they're, don't do omega six, whatever you're doing.

• 33:48Jen Cohen?

  That's the one.

• 33:49Speaker 02

  Don't do six.

• 33:50Jen Cohen?

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

• 33:54Speaker 02

  Go for it.

• 33:55Jen Cohen?

  No, no, no, I want it.

• 33:55Speaker 02

  ADK, of course.

• 33:57Jen Cohen?

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

• 34:04Speaker 02

  How about forever?

• 34:06Jen Cohen?

  Or forever.

• 34:06Speaker 02

  What whatever, right. A D K, we have, I have that as a combination because you know, vitamin D, because it's about D, obviously. D is actually a hormones, a hormone.

• 34:18Jen Cohen?

  Yep.

• 34:19Speaker 02

  It's not um vitamin, but it's a fat soluble hormone. So if you take it A D K together, it gets absorbed better.

• 34:29Jen Cohen?

  I've always, that's interesting. I always heard vitamin D take with K too, but I've never heard A.

• 34:33Speaker 02

  A, yeah, it works great. So that's the formula I'm using at Evolve Science and, you know.

• 34:40Jen Cohen?

  I'm gonna write that down. Okay, thank you. Next one.

• 34:42Speaker 02

  Okay. Magnesium. Remember magnesium is crucial. Now, there are a lot of types of magnesiums. And you know, citrate is great to make you poop.

• 34:51Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 34:52Speaker 02

  But it's also muscle relaxant, you know, glycinate is great as a muscle relaxant. So I think combinations are great, but also citrate is wonderful. You don't have to go too far.

• 35:03Jen Cohen?

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

• 35:09Speaker 02

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

• 35:12Jen Cohen?

  Because people take magnesium glycinate to chill.

• 35:15Speaker 02

  Mm hmm.

• 35:16Jen Cohen?

  But citrate won't make you chill.

• 35:18Speaker 02

  It might, but you know what? You can also take L-theanine, which is calm kind of thing, right?

• 35:25Jen Cohen?

  Mm hmm.

• 35:25Speaker 02

  In the morning and that will help you calm down. Now, anxiety, as you know, comes from hormones. So if your hormones are imbalanced, you're not gonna be walking around with a knot in the pit of your stomach. So you won't need the theanine.

• 35:43Jen Cohen?

  Mm hmm. So tell me all the benefits then of hormones, just so we have a like a, a really good clip that I'm gonna put up.

• 35:51Speaker 02

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

• 36:35Speaker 02

  You know, I put libido in there because it's important, obviously. And I wrote a whole book about it.

• 36:41Jen Cohen?

  Of course you did.

• 36:43Speaker 02

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

• 36:53Jen Cohen?

  Yeah, that's important.

• 36:54Speaker 02

  And it's important, so it works. But anyway, so all of these, everything, everything, the clarity of thought.

• 37:03Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 37:03Speaker 02

  Your, your appetite. You know, we have GLP-1s now, everybody's taking GLP-1s. If your hormones are not imbalanced, the GLP-1s are going to be just another fad diet.

• 37:17Jen Cohen?

  Really?

• 37:17Speaker 02

  Of course.

• 37:19Jen Cohen?

  So what happens, because you're right, it's such a fad, right? Everyone's taking these GLP-1s.

• 37:23Speaker 02

  And they all look like bobbleheads.

• 37:24Jen Cohen?

  What do you think about this whole thing? Yeah.

• 37:26Speaker 02

  Listen, I've been working with them for five years because I teach peptides at A4M, too.

• 37:31Jen Cohen?

  Oh, you do?

• 37:32Speaker 02

  Yes, so I've learned a lot. I know peptides pretty well and we use a lot of peptides. But GLP-1s are great, but you know what? They're great in context, like everything else. When you lose weight, like let's say you're 50 pounds overweight, not happening here.

• 37:52Jen Cohen?

  No, not here, not here.

• 37:53Speaker 02

  No, not here. 50 pounds overweight, so you made muscle to carry those 50 pounds of fat. I mean, 50 pounds of overweight, not fat. So you have more muscle than you think, right? Because you have to carry it, because you're carrying the weight.

• 38:08Jen Cohen?

  Like resistance training, like it's more to carry, yeah. No, it is because you're carrying so much extra poundage, right?

• 38:14Speaker 02

  It's like resistance, exactly. So then you start taking GLP-1 and you start dropping the fat. But you're also dropping the muscle. And while you're dropping the muscle, then you know what happens? Everything else falls apart. Then your metabolic rate, which is crucial, goes down. So now all of a sudden, you look like a bobblehead and you feel like crap. The only way to prevent that is to have your hormones balanced first. And the way I say it is, we treat people in layers.

• 38:48Jen Cohen?

  Okay.

• 38:48Speaker 02

  So the treatment starts with the hormones. If your hormones are imbalanced, then I can give you GLP-1s. Then I can give you supplements. Then I can give you peptides. Then I can send you to work out. Then I can do a lot of things because you have the foundation.

• 39:05Jen Cohen?

  So your, so hormones are the foundation?

• 39:07Speaker 02

  They are.

• 39:07Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 39:08Speaker 02

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

• 39:16Jen Cohen?

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

• 39:19Speaker 02

  Of course, half the practice is men.

• 39:21Jen Cohen?

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

• 39:32Speaker 02

  Depression.

• 39:33Jen Cohen?

  Is depression?

• 39:35Speaker 02

  Yeah, you know what? When they get older and they stop losing their macho thing, they wanna go do things. And they just sit on the couch, back to the couch.

• 39:43Jen Cohen?

  Right, back to the couch.

• 39:44Speaker 02

  Back to the couch. That's low testosterone. They don't go to the gym, they're not interested.

• 39:50Jen Cohen?

  What if they do go to the gym? I think a lot of guys do go to the gym.

• 39:52Speaker 02

  Yeah, I know. And they're trying so hard and they're like stepping with the, on the gas with the, you know, gas tank empty. So that's really bad because that brings me to one thing, you know? The whole thing with prostate cancer and testosterone was one report in 1939 by one doctor by the name of Huggins, who reported a patient with prostate cancer with high testosterone. And that took over the whole urology idiocy. And to this day, they're still not gonna give testosterone to men. And in 2007, this guy, Morgenthaller, who was the head of urology at Harvard,

• 40:36Speaker 02

  did a whole review, like a total study review of every study ever conducted and proved that there was no connection between prostate cancer and testosterone. And nobody talked about it.

• 40:51Jen Cohen?

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

• 41:08Speaker 02

  It's false.

• 41:09Jen Cohen?

  It's false.

• 41:09Speaker 02

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

• 41:52Speaker 02

  cow, we are going to increase the risk of cancer.

• 41:57Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 41:57Speaker 02

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

• 42:14Jen Cohen?

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

• 42:17Speaker 02

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

• 42:23Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 42:24Speaker 02

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

• 42:44Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 42:44Speaker 02

  Out the door. Next.

• 42:45Jen Cohen?

  Right. So you're all about like really, your whole thing is like picking practitioners, doesn't matter what type of doctor, but someone who you feel genuinely cares.

• 42:57Speaker 02

  And sees you.

• 42:58Jen Cohen?

  And is seeing you.

• 42:59Speaker 02

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

• 43:06Jen Cohen?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. What was it called? I'm gonna look it up because it's gonna, I think I said it wrong and I'm like,

• 43:10Speaker 02

  No, but don't worry about it. But this is the point, there's a point to that.

• 43:13Jen Cohen?

  I'm curious.

• 43:14Speaker 02

  Yeah, go ahead.

• 43:15Jen Cohen?

  I'm gonna look at this.

• 43:15Speaker 02

  This is the thing.

• 43:16Jen Cohen?

  Yeah, go ahead.

• 43:17Speaker 02

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

• 43:37Jen Cohen?

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

• 44:05Speaker 02

  No. And you know what?

• 44:06Jen Cohen?

  What?

• 44:06Speaker 02

  I tell you why.

• 44:07Jen Cohen?

  Okay.

• 44:08Speaker 02

  I never took insurance because.

• 44:10Jen Cohen?

  Yeah, see?

• 44:10Speaker 02

  I tell you why, but I'll tell you why.

• 44:12Jen Cohen?

  Okay.

• 44:12Speaker 02

  And it makes sense because we, as in you and me,

• 44:16Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 44:17Speaker 02

  should change that whole insurance.

• 44:19Jen Cohen?

  Yes.

• 44:20Speaker 02

  Because I didn't take insurance because I didn't want anybody else between you and me. I didn't want the malpractice lawyer there.

• 44:28Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 44:28Speaker 02

  I didn't want the insurance there. I didn't want anybody there.

• 44:32Jen Cohen?

  It's a nightmare.

• 44:33Speaker 02

  It's between you and me. So that's, you know, now it's AI was deciding if you should have whatever the hell you're having. You know what I mean?

• 44:40Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 44:40Speaker 02

  It's disgusting what's going on. But people say stupid things because they don't know any better. They'll say, well, the insurance will cover this. And they don't understand that that means you and I are paying for it.

• 44:53Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 44:53Speaker 02

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

• 45:13Jen Cohen?

  That's right.

• 45:13Speaker 02

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

• 45:20Jen Cohen?

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

• 45:24Speaker 02

  All right, the supplements. We didn't finish them.

• 45:26Jen Cohen?

  We didn't, okay. Quercetin, is that something that we should be taking? And what does it do? No?

• 45:31Speaker 02

  Not necessarily. It's okay, but no.

• 45:34Jen Cohen?

  CoQ10?

• 45:35Speaker 02

  CoQ10, yes. CoQ10 is great.

• 45:38Jen Cohen?

  Okay, why?

• 45:39Speaker 02

  CoQ10 helps with energy production on the, at the cellular level. So now everybody's talking about cells. Everybody's talking about mitochondria.

• 45:47Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 45:48Speaker 02

  And that's a great supplement. CoQ10 is great.

• 45:52Jen Cohen?

  Because I take for, for the cellular health, I take TruNiagen NAD. Do you take that?

• 45:58Speaker 02

  Yeah, and we, I work with NMNs, which you're right, TruNiagen's good one.

• 46:02Jen Cohen?

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

• 46:11Speaker 02

  Yeah, it is.

• 46:12Jen Cohen?

  You're going to take NMN has to convert into NR. So isn't it better just to take NR, which is TruNiagen?

• 46:18Speaker 02

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

• 46:29Jen Cohen?

  Really, why?

• 46:29Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm. And you know, because of the way it's made, really, the way they make it.

• 46:35Jen Cohen?

  Oh, really?

• 46:36Speaker 02

  Yeah. And you know what? We give NAD shots in the office.

• 46:40Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 46:41Speaker 02

  They love it, but not IV. Make sure you tell them, not IV. IV NAD doesn't work. It's painful. You feel like you have an elephant sitting on you.

• 46:52Jen Cohen?

  Right. Well, it takes a long time.

• 46:54Speaker 02

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

• 47:06Jen Cohen?

  Does that work, though?

• 47:07Speaker 02

  People like it.

• 47:08Jen Cohen?

  Yeah, but does it work?

• 47:09Speaker 02

  I don't know.

• 47:10Jen Cohen?

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

• 47:16Speaker 02

  We have it, we do it.

• 47:17Jen Cohen?

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

• 47:28Speaker 02

  Interesting. Let me give you another piece of it.

• 47:30Jen Cohen?

  Okay.

• 47:31Speaker 02

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

• 47:37Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 47:38Speaker 02

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

• 47:43Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 47:43Speaker 02

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

• 47:53Jen Cohen?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 47:54Speaker 02

  And the hydration and things like that.

• 47:57Jen Cohen?

  Exactly.

• 47:57Speaker 02

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

• 48:08Jen Cohen?

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

• 48:25Speaker 02

  Well, she's a nurse, she's like the conventional mom.

• 48:27Jen Cohen?

  Yeah, she's like, you're just gonna pee it out anyway, right? So you're saying that it depends on like what the scenario is?

• 48:36Speaker 02

  Yep. And I think that I look at what we do with the IVs and I look at what I do with IVs and I say, hmm, they actually work if you do it right.

• 48:47Jen Cohen?

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

• 48:58Speaker 02

  No.

• 48:59Jen Cohen?

  So their IV is accept, like this is like super potent, very potent, and it takes 30 minutes to get into your body. Does that make a difference? You should try it.

• 49:08Speaker 02

  If it works, I interviewed for AFREM, where I run the podcast there.

• 49:13Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 49:14Speaker 02

  The founder of TruNiagen.

• 49:16Jen Cohen?

  Oh, wait, hold on, is it Charles Brenner?

• 49:19Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 49:20Jen Cohen?

  He's the scientist, right?

• 49:21Speaker 02

  Yeah, he's the scientist.

• 49:22Jen Cohen?

  Okay.

• 49:23Speaker 02

  So he sold me on the whole thing, obviously.

• 49:25Jen Cohen?

  Right, right, right.

• 49:26Speaker 02

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

• 49:32Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 49:33Speaker 02

  It sounds like a good product.

• 49:34Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 49:34Speaker 02

  Why not?

• 49:35Jen Cohen?

  Right. So, but no, I'm asking, I wanna know legitimately, right?

• 49:39Speaker 02

  Yeah, no, I wouldn't, no, the data behind it is good.

• 49:41Jen Cohen?

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

• 49:45Speaker 02

  Of course, N-acetylcysteine is amazing. It's great for your brain, it's great for your lungs, it's great for everything. And I use it regularly, funny that you mention it.

• 49:56Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 49:57Speaker 02

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

• 50:06Jen Cohen?

  Really?

• 50:07Speaker 02

  Mm hmm.

• 50:08Jen Cohen?

  So I've been taking it every day. Is that, is that okay? Because does your body get?

• 50:13Speaker 02

  Get used to it.

• 50:13Jen Cohen?

  Yeah, it used to, if you're taking a supplement for too long.

• 50:16Speaker 02

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

• 50:22Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 50:23Speaker 02

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

• 50:26Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 50:27Speaker 02

  So I do that.

• 50:28Jen Cohen?

  How, like, how long should the vacation be?

• 50:30Speaker 02

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

• 50:36Jen Cohen?

  Really?

• 50:36Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 50:37Jen Cohen?

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

• 50:39Speaker 02

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

• 50:45Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 50:45Speaker 02

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

• 50:59Jen Cohen?

  Yeah, of course.

• 50:59Speaker 02

  I gotta have a brain for you.

• 51:01Jen Cohen?

  Right, of course. Like, I ask hard-hitting questions.

• 51:05Speaker 02

  Right, that's right. So there, like, I'll take a lot of them. Then I'll go home and I'll be like, okay, you can chill out.

• 51:13Jen Cohen?

  Yeah, cool. Okay, so then tell me what you're, what you do every day. What's your, you say you take your AM ones and your PM? What do you do AM and what do you do PM?

• 51:20Speaker 02

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

• 51:34Jen Cohen?

  How do you take it?

• 51:35Speaker 02

  Oral.

• 51:36Jen Cohen?

  Which one, like, which one did you say?

• 51:37Speaker 02

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

• 51:43Jen Cohen?

  I'm gonna ask you about one that my friend is taking. He just actually sent it to me.

• 51:46Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 51:47Jen Cohen?

  He asked me to find out about it.

• 51:50Speaker 02

  Mm hmm.

• 51:50Jen Cohen?

  He's like, on top of his stuff, so.

• 51:52Speaker 02

  Good.

• 51:53Jen Cohen?

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

• 51:58Speaker 02

  Mm hmm.

• 51:58Jen Cohen?

  I'm taking.

• 51:59Speaker 02

  Is it liposomal or something?

• 52:01Jen Cohen?

  Yeah, you just said it. What did you?

• 52:02Speaker 02

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

• 52:08Jen Cohen?

  Yeah, what's, okay, so what do you call it?

• 52:10Speaker 02

  Liposomal.

• 52:11Jen Cohen?

  That's exactly what it is.

• 52:12Speaker 02

  Right, so it gets absorbed better supposedly. I'm not.

• 52:16Jen Cohen?

  It's not, it's not, it's not true?

• 52:18Speaker 02

  No, it's more expensive.

• 52:18Jen Cohen?

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

• 52:23Speaker 02

  Yeah, then when I travel, I take the fence, which is lactoferrin. Lactoferrin is actually an immune booster that your body makes. It's part of your body. And you can really can't find it very often. We have it and, um, you know, they practice as it. And it's great. Do you know what? Echinacea and all that other shit. No.

• 52:44Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 52:45Speaker 02

  This one works really well. And I've been using it since like, God only knows.

• 52:49Jen Cohen?

  Really?

• 52:49Speaker 02

  Yeah. And it really, only when I travel.

• 52:51Jen Cohen?

  Okay, what's the other ones?

• 52:53Speaker 02

  Let's see, what else do I take? CoQ10, creatine.

• 52:57Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 52:58Speaker 02

  What else do I take in the morning? In the morning, I take the NMNs, right? Because of the NAD thing. Then I take a peptide. It's called TB4FRAG, which is a peptide that's an immune boosting peptide.

• 53:12Jen Cohen?

  How is it, how you take, it's oral?

• 53:13Speaker 02

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

• 53:19Jen Cohen?

  Okay.

• 53:19Speaker 02

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

• 53:26Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 53:27Speaker 02

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

• 53:31Jen Cohen?

  That's it, that's it. How about, how about at night?

• 53:34Speaker 02

  At night, I take the ADK.

• 53:36Jen Cohen?

  Okay.

• 53:36Speaker 02

  I take.

• 53:37Jen Cohen?

  Oh, you take vitamin D at night?

• 53:38Speaker 02

  Yeah, but I can take it in the morning. It's fine.

• 53:40Jen Cohen?

  Okay.

• 53:41Speaker 02

  I take Prodrom Glia, which is the omega nine, which is the, oh, in the morning, I take the, um, fatty 15.

• 53:50Jen Cohen?

  Hmm. And you take another type of omega at night?

• 53:54Speaker 02

  Yeah, because omega nine, which is Prodrom Glia, actually helps you sleep beautifully.

• 54:02Jen Cohen?

  I've never heard that.

• 54:03Speaker 02

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

• 54:11Jen Cohen?

  Really? Okay. Are you taking that?

• 54:13Speaker 02

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

• 54:23Jen Cohen?

  Is there a blood test so people can take them to see if they should be taking these? Because instead of just giving people lists of things, like you know, you know yourself, right? Because you're a doctor.

• 54:32Speaker 02

  No, no, no.

• 54:33Jen Cohen?

  But because I was gonna say, I was gonna say, I want to correct myself.

• 54:37Speaker 02

  Please.

• 54:37Jen Cohen?

  Because you know your body, you're paying attention.

• 54:40Speaker 02

  Been there a long time.

• 54:41Jen Cohen?

  Yeah, you've been like your own advocate. Everyone should be their own advocate.

• 54:44Speaker 02

  Mm hmm.

• 54:45Jen Cohen?

  Um, I know, that's what I understand. But instead of just like giving, not you, but instead of people just taking a ton of different stuff. Is there a blood test so people can actually see what they're deficient in? When these are things that are a little bit more, you know, a little more unique, right?

• 55:02Speaker 02

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

• 55:06Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 55:07Speaker 02

  They're not going to teach you anything.

• 55:08Jen Cohen?

  Which ones should people, which blood test should people take?

• 55:10Speaker 02

  Probiotics. Probiotics, right. I knew there was something else.

• 55:13Jen Cohen?

  Okay.

• 55:14Speaker 02

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

• 55:37Jen Cohen?

  Who does?

• 55:37Speaker 02

  No kidding.

• 55:38Jen Cohen?

  Isn't inflammation, that's how every, that's how everything gets.

• 55:41Speaker 02

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

• 55:46Jen Cohen?

  Right.

• 55:47Speaker 02

  Take some probiotics, take some digestive enzymes.

• 55:50Jen Cohen?

  What's, so when do, when do people take digestive enzymes? Because I think it's confusing.

• 55:54Speaker 02

  You know, before big meals.

• 55:55Jen Cohen?

  Okay.

• 55:56Speaker 02

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

• 56:05Jen Cohen?

  I know, that's what I was gonna ask, that's why I was asking you.

• 56:07Speaker 02

  Oh, my God, they love them.

• 56:08Jen Cohen?

  So how do we know if you need one?

• 56:10Speaker 02

  I don't take it.

• 56:10Jen Cohen?

  You don't take it?

• 56:11Speaker 02

  No, I don't get heartburn.

• 56:12Jen Cohen?

  I don't either.

• 56:13Speaker 02

  I don't get any problems, so then we're fine.

• 56:14Jen Cohen?

  You don't need to take it.

• 56:15Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, you gotta look at what's going on, right?

• 56:18Jen Cohen?

  How about bloating?

• 56:20Speaker 02

  Bloating is hormonal. Bloating is hormones.

• 56:23Jen Cohen?

  Well, it can't be, because I've been, I get bloated, I've been like, maybe like TB too much. Like, everything, I like, I've been getting bloated since I was like twenty, nineteen, eighteen.

• 56:33Speaker 02

  So that's hormonal.

• 56:34Jen Cohen?

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

• 56:36Speaker 02

  So I like to eat food.

• 56:37Jen Cohen?

  No, I eat a lot.

• 56:38Speaker 02

  I eat a lot, too.

• 56:39Jen Cohen?

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

• 56:44Speaker 02

  Like, you're eating thirty grams of fiber?

• 56:46Jen Cohen?

  Like, a salad, my, like, my friends and family say it's like a trough.

• 56:50Speaker 02

  I love it, me too.

• 56:51Jen Cohen?

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

• 56:57Speaker 02

  God bless you, what's wrong with that?

• 56:59Jen Cohen?

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

• 57:01Speaker 02

  Try it, see what happens. Try it, always.

• 57:04Jen Cohen?

  Okay.

• 57:05Speaker 02

  Try it, if it works, by all means, if it doesn't work, get rid of it.

• 57:09Jen Cohen?

  What probiotic should people take?

• 57:11Speaker 02

  Depends, like, you know, their probiotics are Candida, and like, you know, Saccharomyces boulardii, whatever, if you have Candida. But there's some bifidus, they're basic probiotics that help, that work really nicely. You can also drink, like, you know, the brine from sauerkraut and kimchi and all of that.

• 57:30Jen Cohen?

  I hate that stuff, I know it's very popular.

• 57:32Speaker 02

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

• 57:38Jen Cohen?

  I know you are, of course, that's why. Okay, I'm sorry, okay, so basically, you gave me a great list of, okay, so all these supplements. Okay, your book is called, yet again, do I say your title of the book?

• 57:48Speaker 02

  Sure.

• 57:49Jen Cohen?

  Okay, say the title.

• 57:50Speaker 02

  We can do another podcast when I do that.

• 57:53Jen Cohen?

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

• 57:56Speaker 02

  Please don't.

• 57:57Jen Cohen?

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

• 58:00Speaker 02

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

• 58:05Jen Cohen?

  This is so, I'm so happy to see.

• 58:07Speaker 02

  A house? I'm like, it's her house.

• 58:09Jen Cohen?

  I know. By the way, yeah, well, because this is where I do my little thing, my little podcast in a basement.

• 58:14Speaker 02

  So cool.

• 58:14Jen Cohen?

  Thank you.

• 58:15Speaker 02

  You're beyond cool.

• 58:16Jen Cohen?

  Oh, my God.

• 58:16Speaker 02

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

• 58:20Jen Cohen?

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

• 58:22Speaker 02

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

• 58:28Jen Cohen?

  Listen, I didn't pay her.

• 58:30Speaker 02

  Oh, my God, you're so proud of you.

• 58:32Jen Cohen?

  You're so sweet. Thank you.

• 58:33Speaker 02

  Women should support each other. If women got it.

• 58:37Jen Cohen?

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

• 58:39Speaker 02

  Yeah, we should.

• 58:40Jen Cohen?

  Um, everyone, Dr. Erika Schwartz, besides the book, where could people find you?

• 58:45Speaker 02

  Dr. Erika Schwartz?

• 58:46Jen Cohen?

  Yes.

• 58:47Speaker 02

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

• 58:51Jen Cohen?

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

• 58:55Speaker 02

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

• 58:57Jen Cohen?

  Okay, they don't have to have you.

• 58:58Speaker 02

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

• 59:01Jen Cohen?

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

• 59:06Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 59:06Jen Cohen?

  Do you have time?

• 59:07Speaker 02

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

• 59:10Jen Cohen?

  What?

• 59:11Speaker 02

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

• 59:22Jen Cohen?

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

• 59:26Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 59:27Jen Cohen?

  Thank you.

• 59:27Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 59:28Jen Cohen?

  Thank you.

• 59:28Speaker 02

  My God, thank you.

• 59:29Jen Cohen?

  You're welcome. Thank you. Bye.

• 59:31Speaker 02

  Bye.