April 8, 2025 • 27 mins
Feeling exhausted despite adequate sleep? Struggling with stubborn weight gain? Battling brain fog or unpredictable mood swings? Your hormones might be the missing link to resolving these persistent health challenges.
Dr. Dolcecore delves into the complex world of hormone balance, revealing how these powerful chemical messengers govern everything from your energy levels and metabolism to mental clarity and longevity. With remarkable clarity, he explains why conventional medical approaches to hormone management often fall short, treating symptoms without addressing root causes.
The discussion begins with cortisol—the primary stress hormone that affects all other systems. Dr. Dolcecore emphasizes that no amount of exercise can fix elevated cortisol; only genuine stress management and lifestyle modification can restore balance. He then explores insulin regulation through low-glycemic eating and strength training, thyroid function and its relationship to metabolism, and the critical role of sex hormones in overall wellbeing.
Perhaps most alarming is his discussion of environmental toxins, particularly microplastics. Recent research shows the human brain now contains twice the amount of plastic coating compared to just fifteen years ago—a sobering reality that directly impacts hormonal function. Dr. Dolcecori provides practical strategies to minimize exposure to these endocrine disruptors and support the body's natural detoxification processes.
Throughout the episode, he offers actionable advice grounded in both scientific research and clinical experience: prioritize seven to nine hours of quality sleep, incorporate strength training, manage stress intentionally, detoxify daily through sweating, drink filtered water, and avoid hormone-disrupting chemicals in everyday products.
For those struggling with persistent health issues, this episode provides a comprehensive roadmap to hormonal health through natural approaches that address the whole person rather than isolated symptoms. Ready to reclaim your energy, mental clarity, and overall wellness? This conversation is your essential starting point.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hi everyone, I'm Dr Enrico Dolcecori.
Welcome to this week's podcastof Living a Full Life.
Have you been feeling exhausted, no matter how much sleep you
get, struggling with stubbornweight, brain fog or mood swings
that seem to come out ofnowhere?
What if I told you that yourhormones could be the missing
link to your health strugglesand that you can fix them
(00:24):
naturally?
In today's episode of Living aFull Life, we're diving deep
into hormone balance, the realkey to energy, metabolism,
mental clarity and evenlongevity.
We'll break down how stress,diet, sleep and even the
products you use every day couldbe throwing your hormones out
of whack and, more importantly,how to bring them back into
(00:44):
balance.
I'll be sharing cutting-edgeresearch, actionable strategies
and the exact foods, habits andsupplements that can help you
optimize key hormones likecortisol, insulin, thyroid,
testosterone, estrogen and more.
So, if you're ready to takeback control of your health,
feel amazing in your body andfinally get the results you've
been looking for, stay tuned,because this episode is packed
(01:06):
with everything you need to know.
Hormones can be difficult.
The older we get, you start tolearn about them more and more
and more.
As you age, they become moreproblematic.
They become more unforgivable,and as we get older they become
more unforgivable and as we getolder the changes start to
happen.
But the changes happen not justbecause of age.
(01:29):
Two different people, or even100 different people in a room,
will age differently.
It's not all linear foreveryone and it definitely comes
down to chemical synthesis inthe body.
How long do we transition redblood cells?
How long do our cells live?
How does meiosis work?
How long does our transitionred blood cells?
How long do our cells live?
(01:49):
How does meiosis work?
How long does our celllongevity go?
Those telomeres?
There's lots of research betweenlongevity health, but hormones
are in the talk for everythingabout longevity, health and
overall wellness, becausesymptoms can start to come on at
any age, typically fatigue,weight gain, mood swings, brain
fog, poor sleep.
(02:09):
These things will start tocreep up and they can happen in
your 20s, they can happen inyour 40s, they can happen in
your 60s.
But hormone balance is criticalfor overall health, no matter
what.
So really, what causes hormoneimbalances?
Stress, poor diet, endocrinedisruptors, lack of sleep,
overtraining, overworking, work,stress lots of things can
(02:34):
impact our hormonal system.
So let's go through the topfive or six top hormones that
are always talked about, andwhat spurred this podcast is
that medical management ofhormone overall is not good.
Let's just be honest.
The medical cascade of solvingsymptoms is not the best way.
People are very frustrated withgetting their hormones
(02:56):
regulated because once we get ablood work done to see where our
hormones are at, no matterwhat's low or what's high
medicine doesn't have a realquick answer to this stuff.
It's all test and repeat overtime.
So the low hormones can becounteracted with giving people
hormones either bioidentical orstraight hormones or synthesized
(03:17):
whichever ones we choose tohelp bring those levels up.
But what if we have highhormones?
What is given to people toblock or bring down those
hormones?
Medicine doesn't have manyanswers for this.
They counterbalance hormoneswith other hormones, which
typically doesn't lead to peoplefeeling overly better in the
end.
Low hormones can be directlyresolved with medical care if
(03:43):
that's the simple answer, likelow testosterone or low estrogen
or low progesterone, and justadding that to people's lives
can be life-changing as far assymptoms.
But most hormonal cases are notthat simple.
So things like cortisol.
It's a stress hormone.
It replies to stressimmediately.
Its function is to regulatestress responses, inflammation,
(04:06):
blood sugar and metabolism.
This is what leads us togaining weight and is usually
the underlying reason why peoplecan't let go of weight.
Or if they do stress themselvesout through exercise and fad
diets and do lose the weight,they gain it back it's because
of cortisol.
Chronic stress leads topersistently high cortisol,
(04:28):
which contributes to weight gain, anxiety and adrenal
dysfunction.
This is from Dr Solomsky, whowrote you know why Zebras Don't
Get Ulcers in 2004.
And he talks about cortisoldirectly in that.
So what we need to do is balancecortisol with the factors that
we can control, which are alwaysgoing to be diet, lifestyle and
(04:49):
supplements.
That should be the name of thepodcast today is diet, lifestyle
and supplements.
And how do we counteract thesethings?
Avoid excessive caffeine andsugar and consume magnesium rich
foods is got to be the focusfor most people listening to
this podcast, because you allhave elevated cortisol.
Most of you do so.
(05:11):
We need to be careful when wealready have a high stress
hormone in the body, becauseit's adapting to a constant
sympathetic life of constantstress.
We default to certain thingswhich make us grab quick foods
or do quick things, and caffeineand sugar are at the top of the
list.
We'll grab our coffee and we'lleat a sugary cookie to just
(05:32):
kind of get through reallyquickly, but these things
actually do not help cortisol.
And eating magnesium-rich foodscan actually help balance
cortisol.
So that's through our diet.
Two very simple tips there.
Foods can actually help balancecortisol.
So that's through our diet.
Two simple, very, very simpletips there.
Lifestyle for cortisol is toprioritize stress management.
(05:52):
There is no exercise for this.
There is no yoga stretch.
There is no burpee challengefor cortisol.
What you need to do forcortisol is prioritize stress
management.
You're going to have to take astep back for the things that
are stressing you out.
There's no other way aroundthis.
I know work is work, marriageis marriage, kids or kids,
(06:13):
mortgages or mortgages.
But you're going to have totake a step back or else nothing
will change.
We have to change the stressthat is happening inside.
You can't avoid it, you can'tdeter it, but you do have to
take a step back and take abreath and let bygones be
bygones or let things drop alittle bit as far as the
importancy or the anxiety thatthey create.
I have no other tips for you.
(06:34):
If we don't change the mentaland emotional stress component
of this, we'll never get to thebottom of this, and this is why
Americans and North Americansdon't succeed with stress
management and weight managementis because the constant
cortisol bombs are happening ona daily basis.
So we have to cycle this.
Cortisol starts to elevatebefore we wake up and as we wake
(06:58):
up to get us started for theday, and should naturally just
start to decline as the day goeson.
That's probably the time tohave some caffeine, a cup of
coffee, do those things.
It's first thing in the morning.
It doesn't mean getting rid ofthis stuff, but eliminating
sugar is probably a great ideafor 30, 60 days to help you
balance your cortisol.
Then supplements that canreally help you that you can add
(07:20):
in right away.
Always take my advice with agrain of salt.
Please check with your doctor ifyou take any medications and
pharmaceuticals, because somesupplements can interfere with
some things.
Everyone's in a different boat,right, we're all in the same
ocean but in a different boat.
Some of us are fighting withthyroiditis.
Some of us are fighting ulcers.
Some of us are pre or postcancer or actively in cancer.
(07:41):
Be careful with the supplements, always check.
If you're in one of those boats, please check.
But for the rest of us that aregetting through life on a
wellness base, these areperfectly fine to start taking
Ashwagandha, rhodiola rosea andphospholidylserine.
These things can be addedindependently or in a
combination to help cortisol.
(08:02):
You'll find this online withcortisol revive or cortisol
supplements.
They'll help you with cortisol,but ashwagandha and some other
herbs can really help withcortisol.
You can add these to your diet.
This is number one on the listfor a reason for me because in
(08:23):
today's topic, if we don'taddress cortisol, the rest of
these won't get better at alleither.
It won't help you with yoursymptoms.
So please focus on stress.
It's the stress hormone.
It's what throws everythingelse off your metabolism, and
then your metabolism throws offyour sleep, and then your sleep
throws off your energy.
It's just a negative cascadethat happens.
(08:43):
Number two, and this is inimportance cortisol, then
insulin.
Insulin is a hormone.
We don't think about it as ahormone, but it is.
So people that need to takeinsulin are taking insulin as a
hormone, either throughinjection or whichever way to
balance their blood sugars,because their body isn't
producing enough of it.
It literally controls bloodsugar and its job is to store
(09:04):
fat.
We do not want our pancreasexcreting insulin all the time,
because it will store fat, andthat's the problem here is, our
cortisol is high and our dietspromote the constant release of
insulin into the bloodstream.
Hence we're storing more fatthan we are building muscle or
burning fat.
That's the issue here.
High insulin levels promote fatstorage and inflammation.
(09:27):
They increase diabetes risks,and this is from JAMA from 2018.
It's been repeated a milliontimes in the literature.
So diet, lifestyle supplements,low glycemic foods, high fiber
and protein rich meals is thekey here, even adding
intermittent fasting.
If you know that your bloodsugar levels elevate, or your
(09:49):
A1C elevates, depending on whatyou eat, this could be a
pre-diabetic term that you'regoing through and an
intermittent fasting, highprotein, low glycemic index diet
is the magic bullet tomitigating high blood sugar and
restoring metabolism over longperiods of time.
(10:10):
The weight loss the only weightloss program I've ever done
with my patients in my careerhas been that low glycemic skip
breakfast to make itintermittent fasting, high
protein vegetables and a littlebit of fruit during the day to
help with digestion.
That is the diet that is comesfrom many different books the
(10:30):
whole 30 book, the paleo book,the Mediterranean diet, the
South beach diet.
Everything that you look atcomes back from the root of high
protein, low glycemic.
That's the longevity.
That's the blue zones.
That's how all these people eataround the world that live to
100 plus years of age.
It's no rocket science anymorethat that's what you have to
(10:53):
default to to get success.
Lifestyle here.
This is where basic training,some strength training really
does play a role in insulin.
It's been shown over and overin exercise physiology that
strength training decreasesinsulin sensitivity, meaning
that the pancreas will releasethe right amount, a low amount
of insulin when needed whencarbohydrates are ingested.
(11:13):
That is great.
And then supplements.
You can do berberine, alphalipoic acid, ala, chromium.
You can add these to yoursupplement list or have a multi
that has that in there.
Usually alpha lipoic acidyou'll get separately, but
berberine you can get separate.
Chromium's, usually in a multi,are all great supplements to
(11:37):
help sustain insulinproductivity in a healthy way.
So we got cortisol, we gotinsulin.
Number three it's going to hithome for a lot of you thyroid
hormones.
T3, t4, tsh.
These cascade of hormones playa major role in regulating our
metabolism, regulating ourenergy and regulating our body
(11:58):
temperature regulating ourmetabolism, regulating our
energy and regulating our bodytemperature.
So scientific research showsthat iodine, selenium and zinc
deficiencies can contribute tothyroid dysfunction.
And this is from the NationalInstitute of Health in 2020.
So, balanced through.
We balance our thyroids throughdiet, lifestyle and supplements
.
Yes, once we get intohypothyroidism or Hashimoto's or
(12:20):
hyperthyroidism, we now have adysfunction in the thyroid which
needs medical help, medicalintervention through some type
of regular dosage of thyroid tomake sure our blood levels stay
normal.
But even there, some doctorsdon't look at all four thyroid
lab markers.
They look at the two, t3, t4,or T4 and TSH, and they base it
(12:43):
off of those.
But really what we need to dois look at the entire thyroid
panel.
So in our diet we wantiodine-rich foods, seaweed, eggs
, protein, red meats, seleniumreally good in Brazil nuts the
selenium is high in Brazil nutsZinc get it from the supplement
here we have zinc again.
(13:03):
Or you can eat pumpkin seeds orthese types of things as well.
But those are the three thathelp with thyroid regulation.
Again, when it comes to thethyroid, the best, the number
one thing we can do in ourlifestyle is reduce stress and
avoid overeating.
That's it.
Those are the two things in theliterature that show to either
(13:26):
improve or influence our thyroidhealth is with reducing stress.
Number one by overwhelminglyand not overeating.
Overeating creates an excessivemetabolism response when we
overeat and we eat too much ortoo many snacks during the day,
or if we're snackers, we'reconstantly eating.
It causes the metabolism tonever go through an intermittent
(13:48):
fasting phase and no fastingphase, and that stresses the
thyroid system.
We can add iodine, we can addselenium, we can add L-tyrosine
for an amino acid, we can addthese things and make sure that
they're on our list.
As we talk about thyroid, wemove into a fourth one the
estrogen and progesterone, orsex hormones.
(14:09):
In the female focus, thefunction of these is to regulate
the menstrual cycle, mood, bonehealth and metabolism.
Scientific research shows thatexoestrogens from plastics,
pesticides and cosmetics disrupthormone function.
This is from the endocrinereviews in 2019.
And what that shows is that,from diet, lifestyle and
(14:33):
supplement, is that we can addconiferous vegetables like
broccoli, cauliflower?
Is that we can add coniferousvegetables like broccoli,
cauliflower and leafy vegetables, flaxseed and omega-3s to our
diet, which help promoteregulation of estrogen.
What we have to do is avoidplastics and use non-toxic
(14:54):
skincare.
This has been an endemic in ourculture for the last 70 years,
with the cosmetic industryputting a lot of things on our
skin that are leading to directplastic absorption From 2000 and
, I think, 10 to now, 2025, theyare finding the equivalent of
one tablespoon of plastic indeceased human brains.
(15:16):
That is up from half atablespoon 15 years ago.
So they've been monitoring this, measuring the amount of
plastic that's coated on thehuman brain the exoplastics from
our environment, frommanufacturing, from the waters,
from waste, from the plasticsthat we use, from the plastic
(15:39):
bottles we drink water from,from the cosmetics that are put
in plastic bottles and then werub them all over our body,
shampoo our hair, whatever it is.
We've now doubled the amount ofplastic that's coated just in
the brain.
This is just from the brain.
I just read it the other day.
So a full tablespoon ofmicroplastics is found coated on
the human brain.
So we have to avoid these.
(16:01):
You have to avoid these.
Use non-toxic skincare, usemetal containers, use glass
porcelain.
Just eliminate the plasticsfrom your home and your foods as
much as possible.
Supplements here, as far asestrogen and progesterone, there
(16:22):
isn't anything directly throughsupplements, chastberry, the
Vitex and Chastberry andmagnesium have shown to play a
role in helping regulateestrogen and progesterone.
And didomethylene Um, I don'tknow the research.
You know those are the onesthat pop up.
The research isn't really thereto show any effect on estrogen
(16:46):
levels in the body or bring themdown.
So what ends up happening withthese is we need to do a proper
detox to help move somemicroplastic out of the body,
help regulate our overallhormone system and help the
thyroid regulate as well.
That usually has a down routein helping with the sex hormones
.
As we talk about sex hormones,we move into testosterone, which
(17:08):
is both for men and women.
It's important in both.
It regulates muscle mass, whichis the most important thing of
testosterone's role.
Libido, mood and even fatmetabolism plays a role here,
just like the thyroidTestosterone in itself.
Declining testosterone islinked to insulin resistance and
obesity.
So as we go down this list, Ihope I'm painting a picture
(17:30):
that's starting to develop somecolor here.
Stress will have this cascadedown and affect the top 10
hormones in the body one by one,knocking them off like a line
of soldiers in a war.
It's just going to wreak havocon the whole system.
A line of soldiers in a war.
It's just going to wreck havocon the whole system.
(17:51):
So what we need to do as far asdiet, lifestyle and supplements
for testosterone is use healthyfats in the diet.
Avocados, grass-fed beef,zinc-rich foods.
These things will help sustainand produce testosterone in the
body through our diet.
This is why eating no fat dietlong-term is horrible.
I think we need to have a trialand put Atkins is dead.
(18:13):
But put these people that wrotethese books on trial and put
them in jail for telling peoplethat fats are bad, that eating
no fat is smart.
It's the dumbest thing we'vetold in any human generation
that the entire cellularmembrane of every cell, the
trillions of cells in our bodies, are made from a fatty chain.
(18:35):
It makes no sense to not havethis in your diet.
So that's why meat is good.
Meat has protein and fats builtinto it, which is great.
Lean meats less so, and thenfatty meats more so, which are
great.
So eating a little bit of thathelps in the long run.
But from lifestyle, what wewant to do is strength training.
Again, strength training hascome up twice in this podcast
(18:59):
and we have to optimize sleep,and that goes for regulating all
hormones, but strength traininghas come up twice.
It's really important to keepour muscles active with
resistance, a little bit ofpushing, a little bit of pulling
, a little bit of bands, alittle bit of lifting, a little
bit of weights, lots of weights,heavy weights, whatever you
want, whatever you want to do, Ilike to go to the gym and I
(19:21):
just push as heavy as I can.
That's what I like to do.
But I'm 41.
So I feel like I can still doit.
So I do it and I feel likethat's the best way to maintain
lean muscle mass.
Supplements boron, d-asparticacid, togcat, ali have been
shown in the literature to helpwith testosterone a little bit.
(19:43):
There are like multiplex formen with ashwagandha, l-arginine
, some other things there thatsay the amount that you would
need in these supplements tomake a change is minimal.
Actually it's a lot, but youhave a minimal change in it.
It's really going to come fromlifestyle.
Doing the exercise and eatingthe healthy fats in the diet is
(20:08):
what's going to help withtestosterone.
And then melatonin.
We just did a podcast aboutthis maybe two months ago.
Sleep and recovery it's therecovery hormone and its
function is to regulate oursleep, wakes cycles and cellular
repair during the night.
So melatonin plays a role atnight as cortisol starts to go
through at its bottom, ascortisol starts to tank for the
(20:30):
day.
At the end of the day that'swhat makes us tired Melatonin
starts to be produced because,assuming that we're going to go
to sleep, we go to sleep and inthat time melatonin regulates
our sleep-wake cycles throughour REM cycles.
So sometimes we wake up in themiddle of the night, sometimes
we fall into deep sleep,sometimes we don't, and then
it's doing all the cellular ortriggering the body to cellular
(20:51):
repair, all the cells in thebody.
So this is from Harvard MedicalSchool in 2016.
Blue light exposure reducesmelatonin production, affecting
sleep quality.
Blue light Blue light comesfrom every screen that we have.
That's why people put theirscreens on dark mode now.
Think that they're being allcool.
It's still blue light.
So if you stare at a screenbefore you go to bed, you've
(21:13):
been exposed to a lot of bluelight through your eyes, which
throws off your whole system.
So, no screens one hour beforebedtime.
Turn them off.
Turn them off.
Turn off a lot of the lights inthe house to make it a little
bit more dim.
Start, turn them off.
Turn off a lot of the lights inthe house to make it a little
(21:34):
bit more dim.
Start getting ready for sleep.
Diet tart, cherries, magnesium,rich foods.
This has been repeated sincethe 60s, but once we get into
melatonin dysregulation, itbecomes difficult and sleep
difficulty and insomnia andhaving trouble staying asleep
can be life changing for a lotof people and not in a good way.
And getting these new systemsin place is going to come from
diet.
From diet, chiropractic carehelps as well.
Regulating the nervous system.
(21:54):
Regulating the nervous systemis a direct and quick way to
stimulate a decrease in stressin the body.
This is why chiropractic is sovaluable and what we do is that
the chiropractic adjustmenttowards the spinal column into
the central nervous systemimmediately sends a relaxing
(22:15):
factor into the body.
This can last 12 hours, 24hours, 48 hours, 72 hours.
That effect from thatadjustment can last days and
that is what immediately gives adirect decrease in stress
response.
If you jump out of that andjump right back into the car and
back to work, the stress willgo right back up.
So adding it into your lifestyleat opportune times plays a big
(22:38):
role as well.
As far as lifestyle, we have toreduce that screen time right
before bed and then black outcurtains, blackout your room.
No digital lights, no digitalclocks, no blinking lights from
the Apple Watch underneath yourwrist, no electronics in the
room that has any light.
That's dark as you can andteach your kids to do this as
(23:01):
young as possible.
And then the supplements aremelatonin and magnesium.
You can use magnesium glycinatewhatever you want, but
magnesium plays a huge role inthis as well.
Okay, that's a huge bomb of apodcast.
But to wrap it all up, ourlifestyle is where I wanted to
(23:21):
highlight this whole podcast in.
In making ourselves better isit comes from our lifestyle.
We talk about diet and food.
I don't know how many times Ican do this podcast.
It seems like four out of fiveare all about diet and lifestyle
, and it all comes to this.
We are designed.
We're human beings.
We're humans like it or not.
We're animals.
We're programmed.
(23:42):
We're designed perfectly by theway the DNA all the way out to
move and to eat what's on thisearth.
That's it.
It's not what craft makes in awarehouse.
It's truly how we're designed.
And if you try and play aroundwith that, well, enjoy your
diseases and your medications.
I have no other thing to tellyou about this.
(24:04):
We need to prioritize sleep.
Seven to nine hours here we go.
Here's your four tips from thewhole podcast Seven to nine
hours.
Avoid screens before bed.
Strength training and movementboosts your insulin sensitivity
and your testosterone.
You have to manage stress.
Go out there and find whoeverit is that can help you manage
stress and listen to what theysay and follow up with them and
(24:28):
do whatever it is, because theywill be the most valuable person
in your life.
Detoxify daily not detoxes thatyou buy for 14 days over Amazon.
You got to detox daily.
Sweat.
You got to sweat either throughexercise or get an infrared
sauna from home.
Do one of the or get haveaccess to a sauna somewhere
where you sweat.
That's how you get these toxinsout of the body.
(24:51):
Drink filtered water.
The biggest thing you can do isit has to be filtered reverse
osmosis, filtered, doublefiltered, not from plastic
bottles and avoid endocrinedisruptors, the pseudoplastics
that we were talking about, andI think you're building yourself
up for a great endocrine systemand a healthy endocrine system.
(25:13):
Moving out of that.
If you need help with any ofthis, functional medicine is
probably the cream of the cropwhen it comes to hormone balance
.
You look at the person as awhole.
You look at all three things oflifestyle, stress and diet, and
(25:33):
then you look at in-depth bloodwork of how things work all the
way from the pituitary gland,then downward from cortisol,
melatonin.
By the time we get to thethyroid it's way down the list.
We're looking at the things upchain that are doing this and
then you couple it with properexercise, yoga, chiropractic
care, whatever it is, and youcreate this recipe to success of
(25:54):
overall hormone balance.
And being in hormone balance isa pretty good place to be
overall.
A lot of people have minimaleffects and side effects living
that way.
So wishing you all the best inthat.
Hopefully that was a few gemsthere.
Focus on that in your life andif you have any information or
if you have any questions,hopefully we have the answers
(26:15):
for you.
Info at fulllifetampacom.
We love to answer any questionsyou may have.
Have a great and healthy week.
Hi everyone, I'm Dr Enrico Dolcecori.
Welcome to this week's podcastof Living a Full Life.
Have you been feeling exhausted, no matter how much sleep you
get, struggling with stubbornweight, brain fog or mood swings
that seem to come out ofnowhere?
What if I told you that yourhormones could be the missing
link to your health strugglesand that you can fix them
(00:24):
naturally?
In today's episode of Living aFull Life, we're diving deep
into hormone balance, the realkey to energy, metabolism,
mental clarity and evenlongevity.
We'll break down how stress,diet, sleep and even the
products you use every day couldbe throwing your hormones out
of whack and, more importantly,how to bring them back into
(00:44):
balance.
I'll be sharing cutting-edgeresearch, actionable strategies
and the exact foods, habits andsupplements that can help you
optimize key hormones likecortisol, insulin, thyroid,
testosterone, estrogen and more.
So, if you're ready to takeback control of your health,
feel amazing in your body andfinally get the results you've
been looking for, stay tuned,because this episode is packed
(01:06):
with everything you need to know.
Hormones can be difficult.
The older we get, you start tolearn about them more and more
and more.
As you age, they become moreproblematic.
They become more unforgivable,and as we get older they become
more unforgivable and as we getolder the changes start to
happen.
But the changes happen not justbecause of age.
(01:29):
Two different people, or even100 different people in a room,
will age differently.
It's not all linear foreveryone and it definitely comes
down to chemical synthesis inthe body.
How long do we transition redblood cells?
How long do our cells live?
How does meiosis work?
How long does our transitionred blood cells?
How long do our cells live?
(01:49):
How does meiosis work?
How long does our celllongevity go?
Those telomeres?
There's lots of research betweenlongevity health, but hormones
are in the talk for everythingabout longevity, health and
overall wellness, becausesymptoms can start to come on at
any age, typically fatigue,weight gain, mood swings, brain
fog, poor sleep.
(02:09):
These things will start tocreep up and they can happen in
your 20s, they can happen inyour 40s, they can happen in
your 60s.
But hormone balance is criticalfor overall health, no matter
what.
So really, what causes hormoneimbalances?
Stress, poor diet, endocrinedisruptors, lack of sleep,
overtraining, overworking, work,stress lots of things can
(02:34):
impact our hormonal system.
So let's go through the topfive or six top hormones that
are always talked about, andwhat spurred this podcast is
that medical management ofhormone overall is not good.
Let's just be honest.
The medical cascade of solvingsymptoms is not the best way.
People are very frustrated withgetting their hormones
(02:56):
regulated because once we get ablood work done to see where our
hormones are at, no matterwhat's low or what's high
medicine doesn't have a realquick answer to this stuff.
It's all test and repeat overtime.
So the low hormones can becounteracted with giving people
hormones either bioidentical orstraight hormones or synthesized
(03:17):
whichever ones we choose tohelp bring those levels up.
But what if we have highhormones?
What is given to people toblock or bring down those
hormones?
Medicine doesn't have manyanswers for this.
They counterbalance hormoneswith other hormones, which
typically doesn't lead to peoplefeeling overly better in the
end.
Low hormones can be directlyresolved with medical care if
(03:43):
that's the simple answer, likelow testosterone or low estrogen
or low progesterone, and justadding that to people's lives
can be life-changing as far assymptoms.
But most hormonal cases are notthat simple.
So things like cortisol.
It's a stress hormone.
It replies to stressimmediately.
Its function is to regulatestress responses, inflammation,
(04:06):
blood sugar and metabolism.
This is what leads us togaining weight and is usually
the underlying reason why peoplecan't let go of weight.
Or if they do stress themselvesout through exercise and fad
diets and do lose the weight,they gain it back it's because
of cortisol.
Chronic stress leads topersistently high cortisol,
(04:28):
which contributes to weight gain, anxiety and adrenal
dysfunction.
This is from Dr Solomsky, whowrote you know why Zebras Don't
Get Ulcers in 2004.
And he talks about cortisoldirectly in that.
So what we need to do is balancecortisol with the factors that
we can control, which are alwaysgoing to be diet, lifestyle and
(04:49):
supplements.
That should be the name of thepodcast today is diet, lifestyle
and supplements.
And how do we counteract thesethings?
Avoid excessive caffeine andsugar and consume magnesium rich
foods is got to be the focusfor most people listening to
this podcast, because you allhave elevated cortisol.
Most of you do so.
(05:11):
We need to be careful when wealready have a high stress
hormone in the body, becauseit's adapting to a constant
sympathetic life of constantstress.
We default to certain thingswhich make us grab quick foods
or do quick things, and caffeineand sugar are at the top of the
list.
We'll grab our coffee and we'lleat a sugary cookie to just
(05:32):
kind of get through reallyquickly, but these things
actually do not help cortisol.
And eating magnesium-rich foodscan actually help balance
cortisol.
So that's through our diet.
Two very simple tips there.
Foods can actually help balancecortisol.
So that's through our diet.
Two simple, very, very simpletips there.
Lifestyle for cortisol is toprioritize stress management.
(05:52):
There is no exercise for this.
There is no yoga stretch.
There is no burpee challengefor cortisol.
What you need to do forcortisol is prioritize stress
management.
You're going to have to take astep back for the things that
are stressing you out.
There's no other way aroundthis.
I know work is work, marriageis marriage, kids or kids,
(06:13):
mortgages or mortgages.
But you're going to have totake a step back or else nothing
will change.
We have to change the stressthat is happening inside.
You can't avoid it, you can'tdeter it, but you do have to
take a step back and take abreath and let bygones be
bygones or let things drop alittle bit as far as the
importancy or the anxiety thatthey create.
I have no other tips for you.
(06:34):
If we don't change the mentaland emotional stress component
of this, we'll never get to thebottom of this, and this is why
Americans and North Americansdon't succeed with stress
management and weight managementis because the constant
cortisol bombs are happening ona daily basis.
So we have to cycle this.
Cortisol starts to elevatebefore we wake up and as we wake
(06:58):
up to get us started for theday, and should naturally just
start to decline as the day goeson.
That's probably the time tohave some caffeine, a cup of
coffee, do those things.
It's first thing in the morning.
It doesn't mean getting rid ofthis stuff, but eliminating
sugar is probably a great ideafor 30, 60 days to help you
balance your cortisol.
Then supplements that canreally help you that you can add
(07:20):
in right away.
Always take my advice with agrain of salt.
Please check with your doctor ifyou take any medications and
pharmaceuticals, because somesupplements can interfere with
some things.
Everyone's in a different boat,right, we're all in the same
ocean but in a different boat.
Some of us are fighting withthyroiditis.
Some of us are fighting ulcers.
Some of us are pre or postcancer or actively in cancer.
(07:41):
Be careful with the supplements, always check.
If you're in one of those boats, please check.
But for the rest of us that aregetting through life on a
wellness base, these areperfectly fine to start taking
Ashwagandha, rhodiola rosea andphospholidylserine.
These things can be addedindependently or in a
combination to help cortisol.
(08:02):
You'll find this online withcortisol revive or cortisol
supplements.
They'll help you with cortisol,but ashwagandha and some other
herbs can really help withcortisol.
You can add these to your diet.
This is number one on the listfor a reason for me because in
(08:23):
today's topic, if we don'taddress cortisol, the rest of
these won't get better at alleither.
It won't help you with yoursymptoms.
So please focus on stress.
It's the stress hormone.
It's what throws everythingelse off your metabolism, and
then your metabolism throws offyour sleep, and then your sleep
throws off your energy.
It's just a negative cascadethat happens.
(08:43):
Number two, and this is inimportance cortisol, then
insulin.
Insulin is a hormone.
We don't think about it as ahormone, but it is.
So people that need to takeinsulin are taking insulin as a
hormone, either throughinjection or whichever way to
balance their blood sugars,because their body isn't
producing enough of it.
It literally controls bloodsugar and its job is to store
(09:04):
fat.
We do not want our pancreasexcreting insulin all the time,
because it will store fat, andthat's the problem here is, our
cortisol is high and our dietspromote the constant release of
insulin into the bloodstream.
Hence we're storing more fatthan we are building muscle or
burning fat.
That's the issue here.
High insulin levels promote fatstorage and inflammation.
(09:27):
They increase diabetes risks,and this is from JAMA from 2018.
It's been repeated a milliontimes in the literature.
So diet, lifestyle supplements,low glycemic foods, high fiber
and protein rich meals is thekey here, even adding
intermittent fasting.
If you know that your bloodsugar levels elevate, or your
(09:49):
A1C elevates, depending on whatyou eat, this could be a
pre-diabetic term that you'regoing through and an
intermittent fasting, highprotein, low glycemic index diet
is the magic bullet tomitigating high blood sugar and
restoring metabolism over longperiods of time.
(10:10):
The weight loss the only weightloss program I've ever done
with my patients in my careerhas been that low glycemic skip
breakfast to make itintermittent fasting, high
protein vegetables and a littlebit of fruit during the day to
help with digestion.
That is the diet that is comesfrom many different books the
(10:30):
whole 30 book, the paleo book,the Mediterranean diet, the
South beach diet.
Everything that you look atcomes back from the root of high
protein, low glycemic.
That's the longevity.
That's the blue zones.
That's how all these people eataround the world that live to
100 plus years of age.
It's no rocket science anymorethat that's what you have to
(10:53):
default to to get success.
Lifestyle here.
This is where basic training,some strength training really
does play a role in insulin.
It's been shown over and overin exercise physiology that
strength training decreasesinsulin sensitivity, meaning
that the pancreas will releasethe right amount, a low amount
of insulin when needed whencarbohydrates are ingested.
(11:13):
That is great.
And then supplements.
You can do berberine, alphalipoic acid, ala, chromium.
You can add these to yoursupplement list or have a multi
that has that in there.
Usually alpha lipoic acidyou'll get separately, but
berberine you can get separate.
Chromium's, usually in a multi,are all great supplements to
(11:37):
help sustain insulinproductivity in a healthy way.
So we got cortisol, we gotinsulin.
Number three it's going to hithome for a lot of you thyroid
hormones.
T3, t4, tsh.
These cascade of hormones playa major role in regulating our
metabolism, regulating ourenergy and regulating our body
(11:58):
temperature regulating ourmetabolism, regulating our
energy and regulating our bodytemperature.
So scientific research showsthat iodine, selenium and zinc
deficiencies can contribute tothyroid dysfunction.
And this is from the NationalInstitute of Health in 2020.
So, balanced through.
We balance our thyroids throughdiet, lifestyle and supplements
.
Yes, once we get intohypothyroidism or Hashimoto's or
(12:20):
hyperthyroidism, we now have adysfunction in the thyroid which
needs medical help, medicalintervention through some type
of regular dosage of thyroid tomake sure our blood levels stay
normal.
But even there, some doctorsdon't look at all four thyroid
lab markers.
They look at the two, t3, t4,or T4 and TSH, and they base it
(12:43):
off of those.
But really what we need to dois look at the entire thyroid
panel.
So in our diet we wantiodine-rich foods, seaweed, eggs
, protein, red meats, seleniumreally good in Brazil nuts the
selenium is high in Brazil nutsZinc get it from the supplement
here we have zinc again.
(13:03):
Or you can eat pumpkin seeds orthese types of things as well.
But those are the three thathelp with thyroid regulation.
Again, when it comes to thethyroid, the best, the number
one thing we can do in ourlifestyle is reduce stress and
avoid overeating.
That's it.
Those are the two things in theliterature that show to either
(13:26):
improve or influence our thyroidhealth is with reducing stress.
Number one by overwhelminglyand not overeating.
Overeating creates an excessivemetabolism response when we
overeat and we eat too much ortoo many snacks during the day,
or if we're snackers, we'reconstantly eating.
It causes the metabolism tonever go through an intermittent
(13:48):
fasting phase and no fastingphase, and that stresses the
thyroid system.
We can add iodine, we can addselenium, we can add L-tyrosine
for an amino acid, we can addthese things and make sure that
they're on our list.
As we talk about thyroid, wemove into a fourth one the
estrogen and progesterone, orsex hormones.
(14:09):
In the female focus, thefunction of these is to regulate
the menstrual cycle, mood, bonehealth and metabolism.
Scientific research shows thatexoestrogens from plastics,
pesticides and cosmetics disrupthormone function.
This is from the endocrinereviews in 2019.
And what that shows is that,from diet, lifestyle and
(14:33):
supplement, is that we can addconiferous vegetables like
broccoli, cauliflower?
Is that we can add coniferousvegetables like broccoli,
cauliflower and leafy vegetables, flaxseed and omega-3s to our
diet, which help promoteregulation of estrogen.
What we have to do is avoidplastics and use non-toxic
(14:54):
skincare.
This has been an endemic in ourculture for the last 70 years,
with the cosmetic industryputting a lot of things on our
skin that are leading to directplastic absorption From 2000 and
, I think, 10 to now, 2025, theyare finding the equivalent of
one tablespoon of plastic indeceased human brains.
(15:16):
That is up from half atablespoon 15 years ago.
So they've been monitoring this, measuring the amount of
plastic that's coated on thehuman brain the exoplastics from
our environment, frommanufacturing, from the waters,
from waste, from the plasticsthat we use, from the plastic
(15:39):
bottles we drink water from,from the cosmetics that are put
in plastic bottles and then werub them all over our body,
shampoo our hair, whatever it is.
We've now doubled the amount ofplastic that's coated just in
the brain.
This is just from the brain.
I just read it the other day.
So a full tablespoon ofmicroplastics is found coated on
the human brain.
So we have to avoid these.
(16:01):
You have to avoid these.
Use non-toxic skincare, usemetal containers, use glass
porcelain.
Just eliminate the plasticsfrom your home and your foods as
much as possible.
Supplements here, as far asestrogen and progesterone, there
(16:22):
isn't anything directly throughsupplements, chastberry, the
Vitex and Chastberry andmagnesium have shown to play a
role in helping regulateestrogen and progesterone.
And didomethylene Um, I don'tknow the research.
You know those are the onesthat pop up.
The research isn't really thereto show any effect on estrogen
(16:46):
levels in the body or bring themdown.
So what ends up happening withthese is we need to do a proper
detox to help move somemicroplastic out of the body,
help regulate our overallhormone system and help the
thyroid regulate as well.
That usually has a down routein helping with the sex hormones
.
As we talk about sex hormones,we move into testosterone, which
(17:08):
is both for men and women.
It's important in both.
It regulates muscle mass, whichis the most important thing of
testosterone's role.
Libido, mood and even fatmetabolism plays a role here,
just like the thyroidTestosterone in itself.
Declining testosterone islinked to insulin resistance and
obesity.
So as we go down this list, Ihope I'm painting a picture
(17:30):
that's starting to develop somecolor here.
Stress will have this cascadedown and affect the top 10
hormones in the body one by one,knocking them off like a line
of soldiers in a war.
It's just going to wreak havocon the whole system.
A line of soldiers in a war.
It's just going to wreck havocon the whole system.
(17:51):
So what we need to do as far asdiet, lifestyle and supplements
for testosterone is use healthyfats in the diet.
Avocados, grass-fed beef,zinc-rich foods.
These things will help sustainand produce testosterone in the
body through our diet.
This is why eating no fat dietlong-term is horrible.
I think we need to have a trialand put Atkins is dead.
(18:13):
But put these people that wrotethese books on trial and put
them in jail for telling peoplethat fats are bad, that eating
no fat is smart.
It's the dumbest thing we'vetold in any human generation
that the entire cellularmembrane of every cell, the
trillions of cells in our bodies, are made from a fatty chain.
(18:35):
It makes no sense to not havethis in your diet.
So that's why meat is good.
Meat has protein and fats builtinto it, which is great.
Lean meats less so, and thenfatty meats more so, which are
great.
So eating a little bit of thathelps in the long run.
But from lifestyle, what wewant to do is strength training.
Again, strength training hascome up twice in this podcast
(18:59):
and we have to optimize sleep,and that goes for regulating all
hormones, but strength traininghas come up twice.
It's really important to keepour muscles active with
resistance, a little bit ofpushing, a little bit of pulling
, a little bit of bands, alittle bit of lifting, a little
bit of weights, lots of weights,heavy weights, whatever you
want, whatever you want to do, Ilike to go to the gym and I
(19:21):
just push as heavy as I can.
That's what I like to do.
But I'm 41.
So I feel like I can still doit.
So I do it and I feel likethat's the best way to maintain
lean muscle mass.
Supplements boron, d-asparticacid, togcat, ali have been
shown in the literature to helpwith testosterone a little bit.
(19:43):
There are like multiplex formen with ashwagandha, l-arginine
, some other things there thatsay the amount that you would
need in these supplements tomake a change is minimal.
Actually it's a lot, but youhave a minimal change in it.
It's really going to come fromlifestyle.
Doing the exercise and eatingthe healthy fats in the diet is
(20:08):
what's going to help withtestosterone.
And then melatonin.
We just did a podcast aboutthis maybe two months ago.
Sleep and recovery it's therecovery hormone and its
function is to regulate oursleep, wakes cycles and cellular
repair during the night.
So melatonin plays a role atnight as cortisol starts to go
through at its bottom, ascortisol starts to tank for the
(20:30):
day.
At the end of the day that'swhat makes us tired Melatonin
starts to be produced because,assuming that we're going to go
to sleep, we go to sleep and inthat time melatonin regulates
our sleep-wake cycles throughour REM cycles.
So sometimes we wake up in themiddle of the night, sometimes
we fall into deep sleep,sometimes we don't, and then
it's doing all the cellular ortriggering the body to cellular
(20:51):
repair, all the cells in thebody.
So this is from Harvard MedicalSchool in 2016.
Blue light exposure reducesmelatonin production, affecting
sleep quality.
Blue light Blue light comesfrom every screen that we have.
That's why people put theirscreens on dark mode now.
Think that they're being allcool.
It's still blue light.
So if you stare at a screenbefore you go to bed, you've
(21:13):
been exposed to a lot of bluelight through your eyes, which
throws off your whole system.
So, no screens one hour beforebedtime.
Turn them off.
Turn them off.
Turn off a lot of the lights inthe house to make it a little
bit more dim.
Start, turn them off.
Turn off a lot of the lights inthe house to make it a little
(21:34):
bit more dim.
Start getting ready for sleep.
Diet tart, cherries, magnesium,rich foods.
This has been repeated sincethe 60s, but once we get into
melatonin dysregulation, itbecomes difficult and sleep
difficulty and insomnia andhaving trouble staying asleep
can be life changing for a lotof people and not in a good way.
And getting these new systemsin place is going to come from
diet.
From diet, chiropractic carehelps as well.
Regulating the nervous system.
(21:54):
Regulating the nervous systemis a direct and quick way to
stimulate a decrease in stressin the body.
This is why chiropractic is sovaluable and what we do is that
the chiropractic adjustmenttowards the spinal column into
the central nervous systemimmediately sends a relaxing
(22:15):
factor into the body.
This can last 12 hours, 24hours, 48 hours, 72 hours.
That effect from thatadjustment can last days and
that is what immediately gives adirect decrease in stress
response.
If you jump out of that andjump right back into the car and
back to work, the stress willgo right back up.
So adding it into your lifestyleat opportune times plays a big
(22:38):
role as well.
As far as lifestyle, we have toreduce that screen time right
before bed and then black outcurtains, blackout your room.
No digital lights, no digitalclocks, no blinking lights from
the Apple Watch underneath yourwrist, no electronics in the
room that has any light.
That's dark as you can andteach your kids to do this as
(23:01):
young as possible.
And then the supplements aremelatonin and magnesium.
You can use magnesium glycinatewhatever you want, but
magnesium plays a huge role inthis as well.
Okay, that's a huge bomb of apodcast.
But to wrap it all up, ourlifestyle is where I wanted to
(23:21):
highlight this whole podcast in.
In making ourselves better isit comes from our lifestyle.
We talk about diet and food.
I don't know how many times Ican do this podcast.
It seems like four out of fiveare all about diet and lifestyle
, and it all comes to this.
We are designed.
We're human beings.
We're humans like it or not.
We're animals.
We're programmed.
(23:42):
We're designed perfectly by theway the DNA all the way out to
move and to eat what's on thisearth.
That's it.
It's not what craft makes in awarehouse.
It's truly how we're designed.
And if you try and play aroundwith that, well, enjoy your
diseases and your medications.
I have no other thing to tellyou about this.
(24:04):
We need to prioritize sleep.
Seven to nine hours here we go.
Here's your four tips from thewhole podcast Seven to nine
hours.
Avoid screens before bed.
Strength training and movementboosts your insulin sensitivity
and your testosterone.
You have to manage stress.
Go out there and find whoeverit is that can help you manage
stress and listen to what theysay and follow up with them and
(24:28):
do whatever it is, because theywill be the most valuable person
in your life.
Detoxify daily not detoxes thatyou buy for 14 days over Amazon.
You got to detox daily.
Sweat.
You got to sweat either throughexercise or get an infrared
sauna from home.
Do one of the or get haveaccess to a sauna somewhere
where you sweat.
That's how you get these toxinsout of the body.
(24:51):
Drink filtered water.
The biggest thing you can do isit has to be filtered reverse
osmosis, filtered, doublefiltered, not from plastic
bottles and avoid endocrinedisruptors, the pseudoplastics
that we were talking about, andI think you're building yourself
up for a great endocrine systemand a healthy endocrine system.
(25:13):
Moving out of that.
If you need help with any ofthis, functional medicine is
probably the cream of the cropwhen it comes to hormone balance
.
You look at the person as awhole.
You look at all three things oflifestyle, stress and diet, and
(25:33):
then you look at in-depth bloodwork of how things work all the
way from the pituitary gland,then downward from cortisol,
melatonin.
By the time we get to thethyroid it's way down the list.
We're looking at the things upchain that are doing this and
then you couple it with properexercise, yoga, chiropractic
care, whatever it is, and youcreate this recipe to success of
(25:54):
overall hormone balance.
And being in hormone balance isa pretty good place to be
overall.
A lot of people have minimaleffects and side effects living
that way.
So wishing you all the best inthat.
Hopefully that was a few gemsthere.
Focus on that in your life andif you have any information or
if you have any questions,hopefully we have the answers
(26:15):
for you.
Info at fulllifetampacom.
We love to answer any questionsyou may have.
Have a great and healthy week.
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