Pod Insights Habits and Hustle Episode 463: Dr. Erika Schwartz: Why Your Doctor Is Wrong About Hormones and How HRT Actually Saves Lives About this episode 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!
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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/
Transcript 10,937 words · 3 speakers
Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:01 Speaker 00 Hi guys, this is Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits and Hustle. Crush it.
0:07 Jen Cohen? All right, you guys, you're in for-
0:08 Speaker 02 You need hormones. Everybody needs hormones.
0:11 Jen 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.
0:45 Speaker 02 Erica, I think I know you.
0:46 Jen Cohen? I know, we are.
0:47 Speaker 02 She had such a pleasure to be here. I cannot tell you how excited I am to be with you.
0:52 Jen Cohen? I'm excited to have you here.
0:53 Speaker 02 I can't believe I'm here with you.
0:54 Jen Cohen? Well, what's so interesting-
0:55 Speaker 02 Of all the things.
0:56 Jen Cohen? I know, of all the things, right?
0:58 Speaker 02 Tell them.
0:58 Jen 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.
1:08 Speaker 02 Right.
1:08 Jen 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?
1:17 Speaker 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.
1:28 Jen Cohen? Right, okay.
1:29 Speaker 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."
1:43 Jen Cohen? Right, it's not for you.
1:44 Speaker 02 No, so then I went to Lisa Gregorich, who was the-
1:47 Jen 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.
1:57 Speaker 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.
2:10 Jen Cohen? Right.
2:10 Speaker 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.
2:18 Jen Cohen? So funny.
2:18 Speaker 02 And then I was on the show a couple of times, but it was so funny that so that's when we met.
2:23 Jen 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.
2:34 Speaker 02 Right, you were.
2:35 Jen 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.
2:51 Speaker 02 Not exaggerating at all.
2:52 Jen 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.
3:04 Speaker 02 Thank you. I'm glad to hear that.
3:05 Jen Cohen? You were so lovely. I don't remember ever meeting you in person, but we talked on the phone.
3:09 Speaker 02 On the phone.
3:10 Jen 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.
3:47 Speaker 02 For real.
3:48 Jen 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.
4:00 Speaker 02 Of course.
4:00 Jen 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?
4:18 Speaker 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,
4:59 Speaker 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
5:38 Speaker 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.
6:03 Jen Cohen? Yeah, it is drug money. Yep.
6:04 Speaker 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.
6:27 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
6:29 Speaker 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.
6:55 Jen Cohen? Wow.
6:56 Speaker 02 No words. So I was screaming.
6:57 Jen Cohen? That was, that was the way that we should deal with it.
7:00 Speaker 02 Yeah.
7:00 Jen Cohen? Just, just put extra layers on.
7:02 Speaker 02 Exactly.
7:02 Jen Cohen? Because of hot flashes or whatever.
7:04 Speaker 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.
7:16 Jen Cohen? Right, right. Let's be honest now, right?
7:18 Speaker 02 Right.
7:19 Jen Cohen? Yes.
7:19 Speaker 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.
7:52 Jen Cohen? What was that book called again?
7:53 Speaker 02 The Hormone Solution.
7:54 Jen Cohen? Yeah, The Hormone Solution.
7:55 Speaker 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.
8:04 Jen Cohen? Right.
8:05 Speaker 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.
8:36 Jen Cohen? Right.
8:37 Speaker 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.
8:44 Jen Cohen? Right, right, right.
8:45 Speaker 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.
9:28 Speaker 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.
9:44 Jen Cohen? Right.
9:45 Speaker 02 I'm not planning on it.
9:46 Jen 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.
10:08 Speaker 02 Right.
10:08 Jen 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?
10:28 Speaker 02 Well, that's a good question, right?
10:30 Jen Cohen? Yeah, thank you.
10:32 Speaker 02 Yes, so it's like this. The medical education, medical school has not changed.
10:39 Speaker 02 An iota since when I went to medical school fifty, sixty years ago.
10:43 Jen Cohen? Wow.
10:44 Speaker 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.
11:08 Jen Cohen? They don't care.
11:09 Speaker 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.
11:25 Jen 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.
11:49 Speaker 02 Which actually might be better for you.
11:50 Jen Cohen? Really? Well, let me tell you the problem I find, right?
11:53 Speaker 02 Mm-hmm.
11:53 Jen 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?
12:38 Jen 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.
12:49 Speaker 02 Yeah, at least.
12:51 Jen Cohen? At least.
12:51 Speaker 02 That's like literally you making it sound better.
12:56 Jen Cohen? Oh, I'm trying to be polite, you know?
12:58 Speaker 02 You are, you are.
12:59 Jen Cohen? Because that's what's happening.
13:00 Speaker 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.
13:18 Jen 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?
13:31 Speaker 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.
13:42 Jen Cohen? So then, okay, so then what would you have people do? If you have no doctor, then what?
13:47 Speaker 02 You figure out who you are. So the point is, you figure it out.
13:52 Jen Cohen? I should be my own doctor?
13:54 Speaker 02 You're probably better off than getting an asshole who's not going to help you.
13:58 Jen Cohen? Or misdiagnose me.
14:00 Speaker 02 Exactly.
14:00 Jen Cohen? Because they're lazy.
14:01 Speaker 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.
14:27 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
14:27 Speaker 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?
14:33 Jen 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.
14:40 Speaker 02 Can you imagine?
14:41 Jen Cohen? They want to have followers. And then, once they start like tracking on social media, the patients are then like discarded, basically.
14:49 Speaker 02 Can you imagine?
14:49 Jen 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.
15:03 Speaker 02 No.
15:04 Jen Cohen? Seeing patients.
15:05 Speaker 02 Right. And you know what they're doing? They're promoting whatever is paying them.
15:09 Jen Cohen? Yes.
15:09 Speaker 02 And it's horrible, horrible.
15:11 Jen Cohen? This is why.
15:12 Speaker 02 That's why it came out.
15:13 Jen 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.
15:23 Speaker 02 You have to start owning it.
15:25 Jen Cohen? Our own medical advisor.
15:27 Speaker 02 You have to.
15:27 Jen 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.
15:43 Speaker 02 Totally.
15:44 Jen Cohen? Okay.
15:44 Speaker 02 Your lifestyle.
15:46 Jen Cohen? Okay.
15:46 Speaker 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.
15:55 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
15:56 Speaker 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.
16:04 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
16:04 Speaker 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.
16:19 Jen Cohen? Hmm.
16:20 Speaker 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.
16:40 Jen Cohen? Right.
16:40 Speaker 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.
16:51 Jen Cohen? Hmm.
16:52 Speaker 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.
17:01 Jen Cohen? Right.
17:01 Speaker 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.
17:15 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
17:16 Speaker 02 That will help you. Get yourself better.
17:19 Jen 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?
17:28 Speaker 02 You're right.
17:28 Jen 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.
17:46 Speaker 02 Right.
17:46 Jen 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.
17:54 Speaker 02 Right. Well, let me throw a little wrench in that one.
17:57 Jen Cohen? Go ahead.
17:58 Speaker 02 If your hormones are out of whack.
17:59 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
18:00 Speaker 02 And you feel like shit.
18:01 Jen Cohen? Mm-hmm.
18:02 Speaker 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.
18:21 Jen 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.
18:43 Speaker 02 You can use them, don't ignore me.
18:46 Jen Cohen? Let's say, if I'm a medical advisor to my own body.
18:49 Speaker 02 Which you are.
18:50 Jen Cohen? Which I should be.
18:51 Speaker 02 Cuz you'll live there, I don't.
18:52 Jen Cohen? Right. That's a good way of putting it.
18:54 Speaker 02 No doctor lives there.
18:55 Jen Cohen? Right.
18:55 Speaker 02 Mm-hmm.
18:56 Jen 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?
19:07 Speaker 02 You need hormones.
19:07 Jen Cohen? How do you know?
19:09 Speaker 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.
19:27 Jen Cohen? Oh, so that's estrogen.
19:29 Speaker 02 So that's, but you know what? It's not only one. They're all together.
19:33 Jen 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.
19:41 Speaker 02 And they need progesterone if they take testosterone.
19:43 Jen Cohen? Is it a mistake just to take testosterone as a woman? If you're not taking estrogen and progesterone?
19:50 Speaker 02 It may not be. Depends on the person. And remember, that's why I go back to the individual is like the key.
19:57 Jen Cohen? Right.
19:57 Speaker 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.
20:24 Jen Cohen? Okay.
20:25 Speaker 02 And suddenly, I was like moody. And I was like, short. People complain about that a lot.
20:32 Jen Cohen? Okay.
20:33 Speaker 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.
21:01 Jen Cohen? Birth control pills do.
21:02 Speaker 02 Yes.
21:02 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
21:03 Speaker 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.
21:47 Speaker 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.
21:56 Jen Cohen? Right.
21:57 Speaker 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.
22:09 Jen Cohen? Right.
22:10 Speaker 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.
22:33 Jen Cohen? Right.
22:34 Speaker 02 You need to know who's sitting across from you. And you need to care about them.
22:38 Jen 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.
23:07 Speaker 02 Right.
23:08 Jen Cohen? Is that, so is that not what people should be doing?
23:11 Speaker 02 You know what? It's better than not doing it.
23:14 Jen Cohen? Okay, so that is something that you would suggest to do.
23:16 Speaker 02 I'd say, once you know yourself, once you've adjusted your lifestyle, right?
23:22 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
23:23 Speaker 02 Because they're gonna just give you hormones, because they have the protocols, they'll follow protocols.
23:27 Jen Cohen? Well, they also, they wanna make money, they're expensive. By the way, these things are not cheap.
23:31 Speaker 02 But, well, right, so you have to make sure that they're doing the right thing.
23:36 Jen Cohen? Well, that's what I'm saying, how do you know, though? That's the thing.
23:38 Speaker 02 Well, you look at your lifestyle, so if you're not sleeping well, or...
23:41 Jen 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.
23:47 Speaker 02 Right.
23:47 Jen Cohen? Now, what do we do? Like, now, let's say I call up Dr. Smith, I go to see Dr. Smith.
23:54 Speaker 02 Right.
23:54 Jen 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."
24:02 Speaker 02 But that's Dr. Smith who was trained by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
24:07 Jen Cohen? So then where do I go?
24:08 Speaker 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.
24:24 Jen Cohen? That's good to know.
24:25 Speaker 02 It's all just like, you know, it's like how Advil, Motrin, Aleve are all the same.
24:31 Jen Cohen? Yes.
24:31 Speaker 02 They're all ibuprofen.
24:32 Jen Cohen? Well, no, that's good, can you talk about that a little bit? I think people are very confused.
24:35 Speaker 02 Of course.
24:36 Jen Cohen? Yeah, I am.
24:37 Speaker 02 So, you go, well, I'll be happy to fix it.
24:40 Jen Cohen? Thank you.
24:41 Speaker 02 But, this is the thing, you have to find someone who has experience, that's the first thing.
24:49 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
24:49 Speaker 02 And that's why I came out.
24:50 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
24:51 Speaker 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.
25:36 Speaker 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.
26:22 Jen 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?
26:36 Speaker 02 Not really.
26:37 Jen Cohen? So there's no way to be, no way for it to be dangerous?
26:40 Speaker 02 When I say something like this, don't push it to that end, right?
26:44 Jen Cohen? Yes, yes.
26:45 Speaker 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.
27:03 Jen Cohen? I was going to ask you about that. So she's taught, you're talking, Erica's talking about testosterone pellets. Very popular.
27:09 Speaker 02 Yeah.
27:10 Jen Cohen? Very popular.
27:11 Speaker 02 Because they're promoted, a lot of marketing for it. And you know what?
27:15 Jen 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.
27:23 Speaker 02 Pellets, right.
27:23 Jen 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.
27:40 Speaker 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.
27:53 Jen Cohen? Okay.
27:53 Speaker 02 To release hormones.
27:55 Jen Cohen? Right.
27:55 Speaker 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.
28:32 Jen 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?
28:40 Speaker 02 If you're lucky, yes.
28:42 Jen Cohen? So would you say then, what is the best, what's the best vehicle to get testosterone into your body?
28:49 Speaker 02 Injectable or creams. There's a new form, which is like sublingual, like a
28:55 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
28:55 Speaker 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.
29:14 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
29:14 Speaker 02 Right? From all this crap in our environment, right?
29:18 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
29:18 Speaker 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.
29:47 Jen Cohen? What is your take on creatine?
29:50 Speaker 02 I love pre-creatine.
29:51 Jen Cohen? You do? Do you take creatine?
29:52 Speaker 02 Yeah, of course. Five grams, twice a day, three times a day.
29:55 Jen 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?
30:03 Speaker 02 No.
30:03 Jen Cohen? For creatine?
30:04 Speaker 02 Tell me about it.
30:04 Jen 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.
30:14 Speaker 02 Yeah, but I think you should be careful of where you get anything from.
30:18 Jen Cohen? Yeah, 100%.
30:19 Speaker 02 So you're right. So I think that-
30:20 Jen 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.
30:28 Speaker 02 I actually got it because of you.
30:29 Jen Cohen? Really?
30:30 Speaker 02 Yeah.
30:30 Jen 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.
30:40 Speaker 02 Yeah, no, I, I, I got it. I got it.
30:42 Jen Cohen? I love it. Do you like it?
30:43 Speaker 02 It seems to be good.
30:44 Jen Cohen? I mean, it's-
30:45 Speaker 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,
31:01 Jen Cohen? Yep.
31:02 Speaker 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.
31:14 Jen 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.
31:20 Speaker 02 Why?
31:21 Jen 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-
31:47 Speaker 02 But you actually live in your body and you know better.
31:49 Jen Cohen? Right, or I play one on TV, right? No, but like, but yes.
31:51 Speaker 02 That's it.
31:52 Jen Cohen? But like if you-
31:52 Speaker 02 It's better than most of them.
31:54 Jen 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.
31:59 Speaker 02 Yes.
32:00 Jen Cohen? Right?
32:00 Speaker 02 Correct.
32:01 Jen Cohen? Creatine will help you.
32:02 Speaker 02 Yes.
32:03 Jen Cohen? Strength and with recovery.
32:04 Speaker 02 Exactly.
32:05 Jen Cohen? But the other thing is what you just said is that brain fog. So that's why.
32:09 Speaker 02 That's why I said to you, cause it's about bioavailability, right?
32:13 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
32:13 Speaker 02 And you want to make sure that you're not taking talcum powder, basically.
32:17 Jen Cohen? Exactly.
32:17 Speaker 02 Right? And so that's the best test. You just take five grams, put it in a little bit of water, mix it.
32:25 Jen Cohen? Yeah, it's a great idea.
32:27 Speaker 02 Then chug it down. And if within five to 10 minutes, you're like on, then you go, okay, this is working.
32:35 Jen 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.
32:40 Speaker 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.
32:50 Jen Cohen? Right, right, right.
32:50 Speaker 02 How am I gonna know? So that's the best test.
32:53 Jen 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.
33:06 Speaker 02 They put too much in the shakes.
33:07 Jen 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?
33:19 Speaker 02 I think it's great, but what kind of fish oil? Omega three, omega nine.
33:26 Speaker 02 Fifteen, fatty fifteen.
33:28 Jen Cohen? Oh, fatty fifteen.
33:29 Speaker 02 Fatty fifteen's really good. So.
33:32 Jen Cohen? Is it different than omega threes?
33:33 Speaker 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.
33:48 Jen Cohen? That's the one.
33:49 Speaker 02 Don't do six.
33:50 Jen Cohen? So then, so talk, so tell me what supplements then, I won't do the game with you.
33:54 Speaker 02 Go for it.
33:55 Jen Cohen? No, no, no, I want it.
33:55 Speaker 02 ADK, of course.
33:57 Jen 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.
34:04 Speaker 02 How about forever?
34:06 Jen Cohen? Or forever.
34:06 Speaker 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.
34:18 Jen Cohen? Yep.
34:19 Speaker 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.
34:29 Jen Cohen? I've always, that's interesting. I always heard vitamin D take with K too, but I've never heard A.
34:33 Speaker 02 A, yeah, it works great. So that's the formula I'm using at Evolve Science and, you know.
34:40 Jen Cohen? I'm gonna write that down. Okay, thank you. Next one.
34:42 Speaker 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.
34:51 Jen Cohen? Right.
34:52 Speaker 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.
35:03 Jen Cohen? Can you, do you take magnet magnesium citrate then in the morning and take ma, can you take magnesium?
35:09 Speaker 02 No, I only take it at night. I only take it at night.
35:12 Jen Cohen? Because people take magnesium glycinate to chill.
35:15 Speaker 02 Mm hmm.
35:16 Jen Cohen? But citrate won't make you chill.
35:18 Speaker 02 It might, but you know what? You can also take L-theanine, which is calm kind of thing, right?
35:25 Jen Cohen? Mm hmm.
35:25 Speaker 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.
35:43 Jen 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.
35:51 Speaker 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.
36:35 Speaker 02 You know, I put libido in there because it's important, obviously. And I wrote a whole book about it.
36:41 Jen Cohen? Of course you did.
36:43 Speaker 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.
36:53 Jen Cohen? Yeah, that's important.
36:54 Speaker 02 And it's important, so it works. But anyway, so all of these, everything, everything, the clarity of thought.
37:03 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
37:03 Speaker 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.
37:17 Jen Cohen? Really?
37:17 Speaker 02 Of course.
37:19 Jen Cohen? So what happens, because you're right, it's such a fad, right? Everyone's taking these GLP-1s.
37:23 Speaker 02 And they all look like bobbleheads.
37:24 Jen Cohen? What do you think about this whole thing? Yeah.
37:26 Speaker 02 Listen, I've been working with them for five years because I teach peptides at A4M, too.
37:31 Jen Cohen? Oh, you do?
37:32 Speaker 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.
37:52 Jen Cohen? No, not here, not here.
37:53 Speaker 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.
38:08 Jen Cohen? Like resistance training, like it's more to carry, yeah. No, it is because you're carrying so much extra poundage, right?
38:14 Speaker 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.
38:48 Jen Cohen? Okay.
38:48 Speaker 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.
39:05 Jen Cohen? So your, so hormones are the foundation?
39:07 Speaker 02 They are.
39:07 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
39:08 Speaker 02 They really are. And I wish I could say they're not, but I learned it over 30 plus years of doing it.
39:16 Jen Cohen? And so how does, so for example, do you, do you treat men as well?
39:19 Speaker 02 Of course, half the practice is men.
39:21 Jen 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?
39:32 Speaker 02 Depression.
39:33 Jen Cohen? Is depression?
39:35 Speaker 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.
39:43 Jen Cohen? Right, back to the couch.
39:44 Speaker 02 Back to the couch. That's low testosterone. They don't go to the gym, they're not interested.
39:50 Jen Cohen? What if they do go to the gym? I think a lot of guys do go to the gym.
39:52 Speaker 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,
40:36 Speaker 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.
40:51 Jen 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?
41:08 Speaker 02 It's false.
41:09 Jen Cohen? It's false.
41:09 Speaker 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
41:52 Speaker 02 cow, we are going to increase the risk of cancer.
41:57 Jen Cohen? Right.
41:57 Speaker 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?
42:14 Jen Cohen? So what do you think of functional medicine doctors? What's your take?
42:17 Speaker 02 They're fine. If they know what they're doing and they have experience and they care about you, anybody's fine.
42:23 Jen Cohen? Right.
42:24 Speaker 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.
42:44 Jen Cohen? Right.
42:44 Speaker 02 Out the door. Next.
42:45 Jen 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.
42:57 Speaker 02 And sees you.
42:58 Jen Cohen? And is seeing you.
42:59 Speaker 02 And listens to you. And is telling you, like, people come to me and tell me stuff. Like you said about whitewash.
43:06 Jen 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,
43:10 Speaker 02 No, but don't worry about it. But this is the point, there's a point to that.
43:13 Jen Cohen? I'm curious.
43:14 Speaker 02 Yeah, go ahead.
43:15 Jen Cohen? I'm gonna look at this.
43:15 Speaker 02 This is the thing.
43:16 Jen Cohen? Yeah, go ahead.
43:17 Speaker 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.
43:37 Jen 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.
44:05 Speaker 02 No. And you know what?
44:06 Jen Cohen? What?
44:06 Speaker 02 I tell you why.
44:07 Jen Cohen? Okay.
44:08 Speaker 02 I never took insurance because.
44:10 Jen Cohen? Yeah, see?
44:10 Speaker 02 I tell you why, but I'll tell you why.
44:12 Jen Cohen? Okay.
44:12 Speaker 02 And it makes sense because we, as in you and me,
44:16 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
44:17 Speaker 02 should change that whole insurance.
44:19 Jen Cohen? Yes.
44:20 Speaker 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.
44:28 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
44:28 Speaker 02 I didn't want the insurance there. I didn't want anybody there.
44:32 Jen Cohen? It's a nightmare.
44:33 Speaker 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?
44:40 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
44:40 Speaker 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.
44:53 Jen Cohen? Right.
44:53 Speaker 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.
45:13 Jen Cohen? That's right.
45:13 Speaker 02 So what are we talking about? We have to change the system. If we don't change the system, we're doomed.
45:20 Jen Cohen? Yeah, I agree with you. Okay, there are a couple other supplements I want to ask you about.
45:24 Speaker 02 All right, the supplements. We didn't finish them.
45:26 Jen Cohen? We didn't, okay. Quercetin, is that something that we should be taking? And what does it do? No?
45:31 Speaker 02 Not necessarily. It's okay, but no.
45:34 Jen Cohen? CoQ10?
45:35 Speaker 02 CoQ10, yes. CoQ10 is great.
45:38 Jen Cohen? Okay, why?
45:39 Speaker 02 CoQ10 helps with energy production on the, at the cellular level. So now everybody's talking about cells. Everybody's talking about mitochondria.
45:47 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
45:48 Speaker 02 And that's a great supplement. CoQ10 is great.
45:52 Jen Cohen? Because I take for, for the cellular health, I take TruNiagen NAD. Do you take that?
45:58 Speaker 02 Yeah, and we, I work with NMNs, which you're right, TruNiagen's good one.
46:02 Jen 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.
46:11 Speaker 02 Yeah, it is.
46:12 Jen Cohen? You're going to take NMN has to convert into NR. So isn't it better just to take NR, which is TruNiagen?
46:18 Speaker 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.
46:29 Jen Cohen? Really, why?
46:29 Speaker 02 Mm-hmm. And you know, because of the way it's made, really, the way they make it.
46:35 Jen Cohen? Oh, really?
46:36 Speaker 02 Yeah. And you know what? We give NAD shots in the office.
46:40 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
46:41 Speaker 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.
46:52 Jen Cohen? Right. Well, it takes a long time.
46:54 Speaker 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.
47:06 Jen Cohen? Does that work, though?
47:07 Speaker 02 People like it.
47:08 Jen Cohen? Yeah, but does it work?
47:09 Speaker 02 I don't know.
47:10 Jen Cohen? See, this is the thing, like, I'm not, overall, like, vitamin IVs, right? It's a huge business, right?
47:16 Speaker 02 We have it, we do it.
47:17 Jen 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.
47:28 Speaker 02 Interesting. Let me give you another piece of it.
47:30 Jen Cohen? Okay.
47:31 Speaker 02 So IVs used to be what you get when you go to the emergency room and you have debt, right?
47:37 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
47:38 Speaker 02 Then all of a sudden, somebody got the idea like, maybe we can keep people healthy with IVs.
47:43 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
47:43 Speaker 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.
47:53 Jen Cohen? Yeah, exactly.
47:54 Speaker 02 And the hydration and things like that.
47:57 Jen Cohen? Exactly.
47:57 Speaker 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.
48:08 Jen 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.
48:25 Speaker 02 Well, she's a nurse, she's like the conventional mom.
48:27 Jen 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?
48:36 Speaker 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.
48:47 Jen 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?
48:58 Speaker 02 No.
48:59 Jen 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.
49:08 Speaker 02 If it works, I interviewed for AFREM, where I run the podcast there.
49:13 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
49:14 Speaker 02 The founder of TruNiagen.
49:16 Jen Cohen? Oh, wait, hold on, is it Charles Brenner?
49:19 Speaker 02 Yeah.
49:20 Jen Cohen? He's the scientist, right?
49:21 Speaker 02 Yeah, he's the scientist.
49:22 Jen Cohen? Okay.
49:23 Speaker 02 So he sold me on the whole thing, obviously.
49:25 Jen Cohen? Right, right, right.
49:26 Speaker 02 I bought the whole thing, I did it, I didn't do the IV. So, yeah, it happens to be a good product.
49:32 Jen Cohen? Right.
49:33 Speaker 02 It sounds like a good product.
49:34 Jen Cohen? Right.
49:34 Speaker 02 Why not?
49:35 Jen Cohen? Right. So, but no, I'm asking, I wanna know legitimately, right?
49:39 Speaker 02 Yeah, no, I wouldn't, no, the data behind it is good.
49:41 Jen Cohen? The thing is like, okay, so how about NAC? Have you heard of NAC?
49:45 Speaker 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.
49:56 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
49:57 Speaker 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.
50:06 Jen Cohen? Really?
50:07 Speaker 02 Mm hmm.
50:08 Jen Cohen? So I've been taking it every day. Is that, is that okay? Because does your body get?
50:13 Speaker 02 Get used to it.
50:13 Jen Cohen? Yeah, it used to, if you're taking a supplement for too long.
50:16 Speaker 02 Yeah. The body gets used to it. So I like drug hormone supplement holidays.
50:22 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
50:23 Speaker 02 To give your body time to reset and then say, oh, I want this again.
50:26 Jen Cohen? Right.
50:27 Speaker 02 So I do that.
50:28 Jen Cohen? How, like, how long should the vacation be?
50:30 Speaker 02 Depends what it is. Like, when you finish with a bottle, skip the next bottle for a week or two.
50:36 Jen Cohen? Really?
50:36 Speaker 02 Yeah.
50:37 Jen Cohen? Or like, cycle it? Because, yeah, your body gets used to it.
50:39 Speaker 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?
50:45 Jen Cohen? Right.
50:45 Speaker 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?
50:59 Jen Cohen? Yeah, of course.
50:59 Speaker 02 I gotta have a brain for you.
51:01 Jen Cohen? Right, of course. Like, I ask hard-hitting questions.
51:05 Speaker 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.
51:13 Jen 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?
51:20 Speaker 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.
51:34 Jen Cohen? How do you take it?
51:35 Speaker 02 Oral.
51:36 Jen Cohen? Which one, like, which one did you say?
51:37 Speaker 02 Oh, you know what? The ones I use is, um, allergy research is the one I like.
51:43 Jen Cohen? I'm gonna ask you about one that my friend is taking. He just actually sent it to me.
51:46 Speaker 02 Yeah.
51:47 Jen Cohen? He asked me to find out about it.
51:50 Speaker 02 Mm hmm.
51:50 Jen Cohen? He's like, on top of his stuff, so.
51:52 Speaker 02 Good.
51:53 Jen 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.
51:58 Speaker 02 Mm hmm.
51:58 Jen Cohen? I'm taking.
51:59 Speaker 02 Is it liposomal or something?
52:01 Jen Cohen? Yeah, you just said it. What did you?
52:02 Speaker 02 Liposomal, you know what? It's like a gimmicky thing for absorption, that it's better absorption.
52:08 Jen Cohen? Yeah, what's, okay, so what do you call it?
52:10 Speaker 02 Liposomal.
52:11 Jen Cohen? That's exactly what it is.
52:12 Speaker 02 Right, so it gets absorbed better supposedly. I'm not.
52:16 Jen Cohen? It's not, it's not, it's not true?
52:18 Speaker 02 No, it's more expensive.
52:18 Jen 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?
52:23 Speaker 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.
52:44 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
52:45 Speaker 02 This one works really well. And I've been using it since like, God only knows.
52:49 Jen Cohen? Really?
52:49 Speaker 02 Yeah. And it really, only when I travel.
52:51 Jen Cohen? Okay, what's the other ones?
52:53 Speaker 02 Let's see, what else do I take? CoQ10, creatine.
52:57 Jen Cohen? Yeah.
52:58 Speaker 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.
53:12 Jen Cohen? How is it, how you take, it's oral?
53:13 Speaker 02 Oral. No, everything I'm taking is oral. I don't do any shots when I go anywhere. No, no.
53:19 Jen Cohen? Okay.
53:19 Speaker 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.
53:26 Jen Cohen? Right.
53:27 Speaker 02 Let's see, what else do I take in the morning?
53:31 Jen Cohen? That's it, that's it. How about, how about at night?
53:34 Speaker 02 At night, I take the ADK.
53:36 Jen Cohen? Okay.
53:36 Speaker 02 I take.
53:37 Jen Cohen? Oh, you take vitamin D at night?
53:38 Speaker 02 Yeah, but I can take it in the morning. It's fine.
53:40 Jen Cohen? Okay.
53:41 Speaker 02 I take Prodrom Glia, which is the omega nine, which is the, oh, in the morning, I take the, um, fatty 15.
53:50 Jen Cohen? Hmm. And you take another type of omega at night?
53:54 Speaker 02 Yeah, because omega nine, which is Prodrom Glia, actually helps you sleep beautifully.
54:02 Jen Cohen? I've never heard that.
54:03 Speaker 02 Listen to this one. There's another one called apigenin, which is from chamomile. And that helps you sleep well, too.
54:11 Jen Cohen? Really? Okay. Are you taking that?
54:13 Speaker 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.
54:23 Jen 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.
54:32 Speaker 02 No, no, no.
54:33 Jen Cohen? But because I was gonna say, I was gonna say, I want to correct myself.
54:37 Speaker 02 Please.
54:37 Jen Cohen? Because you know your body, you're paying attention.
54:40 Speaker 02 Been there a long time.
54:41 Jen Cohen? Yeah, you've been like your own advocate. Everyone should be their own advocate.
54:44 Speaker 02 Mm hmm.
54:45 Jen 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?
55:02 Speaker 02 You know what? There are a lot of blood tests. Most of them are to make money off of you.
55:06 Jen Cohen? Right.
55:07 Speaker 02 They're not going to teach you anything.
55:08 Jen Cohen? Which ones should people, which blood test should people take?
55:10 Speaker 02 Probiotics. Probiotics, right. I knew there was something else.
55:13 Jen Cohen? Okay.
55:14 Speaker 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.
55:37 Jen Cohen? Who does?
55:37 Speaker 02 No kidding.
55:38 Jen Cohen? Isn't inflammation, that's how every, that's how everything gets.
55:41 Speaker 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.
55:46 Jen Cohen? Right.
55:47 Speaker 02 Take some probiotics, take some digestive enzymes.
55:50 Jen Cohen? What's, so when do, when do people take digestive enzymes? Because I think it's confusing.
55:54 Speaker 02 You know, before big meals.
55:55 Jen Cohen? Okay.
55:56 Speaker 02 Because they have the enzymes, right, to help your. Liver and your gallbladder. So you take that and some people swear by him.
56:05 Jen Cohen? I know, that's what I was gonna ask, that's why I was asking you.
56:07 Speaker 02 Oh, my God, they love them.
56:08 Jen Cohen? So how do we know if you need one?
56:10 Speaker 02 I don't take it.
56:10 Jen Cohen? You don't take it?
56:11 Speaker 02 No, I don't get heartburn.
56:12 Jen Cohen? I don't either.
56:13 Speaker 02 I don't get any problems, so then we're fine.
56:14 Jen Cohen? You don't need to take it.
56:15 Speaker 02 Yeah, I mean, you gotta look at what's going on, right?
56:18 Jen Cohen? How about bloating?
56:20 Speaker 02 Bloating is hormonal. Bloating is hormones.
56:23 Jen 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.
56:33 Speaker 02 So that's hormonal.
56:34 Jen Cohen? No, it's because I love to eat foods.
56:36 Speaker 02 So I like to eat food.
56:37 Jen Cohen? No, I eat a lot.
56:38 Speaker 02 I eat a lot, too.
56:39 Jen Cohen? I eat a ton of, like, volume is my thing. I can, I have to like eat volume.
56:44 Speaker 02 Like, you're eating thirty grams of fiber?
56:46 Jen Cohen? Like, a salad, my, like, my friends and family say it's like a trough.
56:50 Speaker 02 I love it, me too.
56:51 Jen 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.
56:57 Speaker 02 God bless you, what's wrong with that?
56:59 Jen Cohen? I get bloated from it. So then, do I need a digestive enzyme from it?
57:01 Speaker 02 Try it, see what happens. Try it, always.
57:04 Jen Cohen? Okay.
57:05 Speaker 02 Try it, if it works, by all means, if it doesn't work, get rid of it.
57:09 Jen Cohen? What probiotic should people take?
57:11 Speaker 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.
57:30 Jen Cohen? I hate that stuff, I know it's very popular.
57:32 Speaker 02 I'm just saying it, just saying. I don't do it, but I like actually sauerkraut, because I'm from Eastern Europe.
57:38 Jen 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?
57:48 Speaker 02 Sure.
57:49 Jen Cohen? Okay, say the title.
57:50 Speaker 02 We can do another podcast when I do that.
57:53 Jen Cohen? Let your doc, don't let your doctor kill you, God, no, please don't.
57:56 Speaker 02 Please don't.
57:57 Jen Cohen? Uh, please don't. Erica, I'm so glad that you came on.
58:00 Speaker 02 I am thrilled. When I saw that it was you, I was like, this is heaven.
58:05 Jen Cohen? This is so, I'm so happy to see.
58:07 Speaker 02 A house? I'm like, it's her house.
58:09 Jen Cohen? I know. By the way, yeah, well, because this is where I do my little thing, my little podcast in a basement.
58:14 Speaker 02 So cool.
58:14 Jen Cohen? Thank you.
58:15 Speaker 02 You're beyond cool.
58:16 Jen Cohen? Oh, my God.
58:16 Speaker 02 And I love it. And I want to see your new TED Talk. I'm very excited about that.
58:20 Jen Cohen? Okay, so I'm gonna, I'll send it to you after.
58:22 Speaker 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.
58:28 Jen Cohen? Listen, I didn't pay her.
58:30 Speaker 02 Oh, my God, you're so proud of you.
58:32 Jen Cohen? You're so sweet. Thank you.
58:33 Speaker 02 Women should support each other. If women got it.
58:37 Jen Cohen? There are, you know, that's a whole other podcast we should be doing.
58:39 Speaker 02 Yeah, we should.
58:40 Jen Cohen? Um, everyone, Dr. Erika Schwartz, besides the book, where could people find you?
58:45 Speaker 02 Dr. Erika Schwartz?
58:46 Jen Cohen? Yes.
58:47 Speaker 02 D R E R I K A S C H W A R T Z on Instagram.
58:51 Jen Cohen? There you go. And if you are living in New York, are you accepting new patients?
58:55 Speaker 02 We have like three other doctors. They don't have to have me.
58:57 Jen Cohen? Okay, they don't have to have you.
58:58 Speaker 02 But, but yes, I am. But to answer your question, there is an answer, yes.
59:01 Jen Cohen? This is what I like about you. This is a doctor that's actually a doctor that's seeing patients.
59:06 Speaker 02 Yes.
59:06 Jen Cohen? Do you have time?
59:07 Speaker 02 Well, how else am I gonna know what's going on?
59:10 Jen Cohen? What?
59:11 Speaker 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.
59:22 Jen Cohen? And that's the thing. That's, and that's why you're like a trusted source.
59:26 Speaker 02 Thank you.
59:27 Jen Cohen? Thank you.
59:27 Speaker 02 Thank you.
59:28 Jen Cohen? Thank you.
59:28 Speaker 02 My God, thank you.
59:29 Jen Cohen? You're welcome. Thank you. Bye.
59:31 Speaker 02 Bye.
Previous Episode 462: Wesley Hunt: The Ex-Military Method for Staying Lean While Eating Massive Meals Next Episode 464: Dr. Stacy Sims: Why Women Are Not Small Men and Need to Train Completely Differently Page updated November 3, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated
