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July 3, 2025 • 38 mins

Feeling overwhelmed by supplement choices after 50? You're not alone. On today's episode, Nikki Raymond, holistic nutritionist and IFBB Pro Bodybuilder, joins Jay Croft to cut through the noise. Nikki shares her journey from personal trainer to functional nutrition expert, emphasizing the critical role personalized bloodwork and supplements play in healthy aging.

In this empowering conversation, you'll learn:

  • Why supplements are essential (and how to pick the right ones)
  • How understanding your personal bloodwork can dramatically improve health outcomes
  • Practical tips for integrating better nutrition into busy lifestyles

Whether you're optimizing your fitness or helping clients thrive as they age, Nikki provides clear, actionable insights for aging optimally.

Guest Bio: Nikki Raymond is the owner of Xperience Health, a holistic health clinic in Atlanta specializing in functional nutrition, hormone optimization, and body composition analysis. She uses personalized testing to create tailored nutrition and supplement plans, empowering individuals to take control of their health at any age.

šŸ”— Connect with Nikki:

  • Website: https://www.nikkifitfitness.com/
  • Website: https://www.xperience.health/
  • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkifit_fitness

šŸ”— Connect with Jay Croft:

  • Email: jay@primefitcontent.com
  • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/primefitcontent
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/croftjay

šŸ‘ Enjoyed this episode? Rate us on Apple Podcasts and share it with a friend!

šŸ“„ Resources Mentioned:

  • Comprehensive Blood Panels
  • DEXA Scans
  • GLP-1 and Peptide Therapies

🌐 Podcast Website: https://primefitcontent.com

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The cool thing is, like I mentioned at the
beginning of the podcast, is thebody has an innate intelligence
to heal itself.
That's how it was designedright, so we can just clear the
path and put in the right inputsand usually support a little
bit of supplementation.
Man, the body can do crazy,amazing things.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
At any age.
It's not you're not too old forit, because you're 60 or 70 or
whatever you can adopt healthierhabits.

(00:41):
If you want to go down a reallyconfusing rabbit hole, start
looking into supplements forpeople over 50 trying to stay
fit and healthy.
It's overwhelming.
There's so much information anddisinformation out there, so
many scams.
How can you figure out what'sbest for you or your clients, or
at least prevent anyone fromgetting ripped off?
Well, my guest today says it'sbest to keep nutritional advice

(01:02):
simple, to remember thateveryone is different and that
supplements are like automobileinsurance.
You hope you never need it, butif you do, you're glad you have
it.
Hi, I'm Jay Croft and welcome toOptimal Aging, the show for
fitness, health and well-beingprofessionals trying to grow
their businesses with morepeople over 50.
Nikki Raymond owns ExperienceHealth, a holistic health clinic

(01:26):
here in Atlanta.
She's a trainer, nutritionistand pro bodybuilder who's now
helping clients understand theirindividual nutrition needs and
helping them come up with smartways to meet those needs.
I've learned a lot about my ownbody and blood work and
biomarkers in the short timethat I've known Nikki.

(01:49):
It's been invaluableinformation and really
interesting.
In this whole fitness over 50optimal aging conversation, I've
learned a lot and I think youwill too, so I hope you enjoy it
, nikki.
It's great to see you again,thanks very much for joining me
today.
I'm really excited.
It's a pleasure being here, jay.

(02:10):
Okay, good, we have a lot ofinteresting stuff to dive into
and talk about functionalnutrition, holistic health,
optimal aging no coincidence thename of the show and it's a big
part of what you do Famous yeah.
So before we get to all thatcool stuff, tell us about

(02:30):
yourself and you know you havesuch an interesting background.
I don't want to risk leavinganything out, so tell everybody
about how you got to be whereyou are right now.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
Yeah, so you know, my story begins like in my early
20s.
Honestly, I worked at a lawfirm for a while as a
receptionist and I did not likewhat I was doing.
I was very miserable and I was20, 21, and I went and got a
personal training certification,right, and I did that.
And I did that all in my early20s and then I realized that the

(03:00):
clients I was working withweren't getting as good of
results.
So I was like, okay, there's afood piece to this.
It's nutrition, right, there'sgot to be more to this.
So I went and got my first, youknow, nutrition certification.
There's been many since then,but you know, what I found was
people that I worked with thatwe just focused on nutrition,
versus the people that would payme thousands of dollars to meet

(03:22):
with them in person, weregetting better results, right.
So you know, and then I was likeyou know, I feel like I'm
wasting people's money and timebecause I need to be talking
about food, and food is medicine, right, and food is the number
one thing we put in our bodyevery day.
And then, every time we eat,two things happen, and I'm gonna
make it really simple eithermakes us better or makes us
worse.
There's some kind of chemicalreaction that goes on the body

(03:42):
every time we eat.
So, like I said, it's anopportunity to make yourself
better or worse.
So you know, I started there.
So fitness has always been athing.
Then it morphed into justnutrition.
Then I did that for many, manyyears, virtually in a person,
some with some people, and Iquickly realized that there was
a lot more to people's healththan we get into hormones, even

(04:03):
to gut health, than we get intostress and cortisol, and there's
just so many different things.
So I went down the functionalmedicine path and, you know,
started looking at holistichealth care and how we can
actually heal the body.
And my little soundbite forpeople is you know, the body has
an innate intelligence to healitself.
It was designed that way by theuniverse, god, whatever you
want to say, but we clear thepath and there's always a root

(04:26):
cause.
So I did that for a long timeand in lieu of all of that,
probably in my early 30s, Istarted competing in
bodybuilding.
I was a bikini competitor.
It's a very small, veryfeminine look.
I did that for many, many yearsand then, after my fifth year,
sixth year of competing, Ifinally got my pro card.

(04:47):
So now I compete in the IFBBInternational Federation of
Bodybuilding and use all of myholistic tools to optimize my
body.
And one of the biggest things istesting and knowing your
numbers when it comes to bloodwork, knowing your numbers, dexa
scans, which is a bone, mineralbody composition test machine I

(05:08):
actually have one at my clinic,you know.
It's just being able to test andmeasure what you're doing, to
make sure that the diet you'redoing, the supplements you're
taking, the peptides that you'redoing are actually getting the
result you want right.
So it's been this whole likejourney of realizing there was a
gap, realizing people need tofocus on food, then realizing

(05:30):
that, ok, now we need to reallytake it to the next level to
optimize.
You know I deal with people whoare the sickest of the sick and
have symptoms and they've beentold they're normal by their
doctors.
Or I deal with people like you,jay, who you're just you do the
things you work out, you eatyour good food, you take your
supplements, but then it's likehow can I optimize what I'm
already doing?
Kind of my story, you know.

(05:55):
It actually led to me branchingout into hormone replacement
for people, peptide therapies,and I actually needed a physical
location to be able to do that.
So last year I decided toactually take my online business
and put it into a brick andmortar in Atlanta, georgia.

Speaker 2 (06:06):
So yeah, so it's been a journey for sure.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
So I'm a big believer , like I said, in testing and in
what we call functionalnutrition and you said that at
the beginning of the show.
So what that is, it's a branchof functional medicine.
So I'm not a doctor, I'm aholistic healthcare practitioner
and nutritionist.
So therefore we practicefunctional nutrition.
It's doing blood work andunderstanding the body and what

(06:29):
it's deficient in, and beingable to really tailor someone's
supplements and their food tohelp them lose weight, feel
great, build muscle, heal thebody, whatever it might be.
So that's the whole premise offunctional nutrition and really,
jay, it's teaching people howto eat.
There's so much information.
We're all overloaded with allthis Try this diet, try this, do
this pill, blah, blah.

(06:49):
Or my friend Sally said thisworked great, but it's slowing
down to say, ok, I'm going to doblood work and I'm going to
find out what I actually need todo from my own unique
bio-individuality, and so that'skind of the premise of the
clinic.
It's testing, understanding andeducating people on their
numbers, what it means, and thencoming up with a nutrition
training protocol for them basedon what their body needs versus

(07:14):
what they've heard on a podcastor they've read on Instagram or
so on and so forth.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
Right, you know I love it because I think the path
that you just described foryourself is something that we're
kind of all going through as aculture.
Perhaps I agree.
I agree You're ahead of thecurve, yeah, but I think it's
still relevant for a lot ofpeople you know who think, well,
I need to get in shape, so I'llgo to the gym, and they work

(07:42):
out, and nothing changes on thescale.
Then somehow someone tells themor they figure it out that they
need to watch what they'reeating.
Oh, ok, I need to do that andthings get a little bit better.
And then you're like yeah, Ireally like this.
I feel good, I'm strong.
I mean love it.
What can I do now?
What's better?
And it's not an obsessive way,it's more like peeling the onion
Does that make?

Speaker 1 (08:02):
sense to you?
It totally does.
And it's a journey, right.
And you're exactly right.
Everybody starts somewhere intheir journey, whether it's
maybe they were overweight, ormaybe they had some kind of
health scare or whatever it is,or maybe there's just that light
switch that kicked in that said, what am I doing?
Right?
I have a lot of men that I workwith that are like executives
and things of that nature, thatthey worked so hard their whole

(08:22):
entire life on their career butnow their health's kind of gone
to poo, and so now they're like,okay, I want to use this money
that I've made to take care ofmyself, right.
And so the whole premise ispreventative healthcare because,
unfortunately, the Westernmedicine you know that, that we
all are traditionally exposed toit's sick care, right, they are

(08:45):
there to medicate you when youare out of range on your labs,
and until you're out of range,you're just good enough not to
need medication and there's nomalice at all.
Right, if I need surgery, I'msuper glad.
There's anesthesia, right,super glad.
And that's just not how theywere taught, right?
So people like I exist to givesomeone a path, a guidance, when

(09:06):
they're trying to optimize,like you said, peeling back the
layer of the onion and you neverend.
There's no ending to this.
Science is going to continue toemerge, right?
Your body is going to heal.
You're going to say, oh, let'soptimize this, or let's optimize
this right.
Your body is going to heal.
You're going to say, oh, let'soptimize this, or let's optimize
this, right.
And so it's just really beingsomewhere where someone come and
ask questions.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
Yeah, I want you to tell me, tell us what the path
is.
The journey is when someonecomes to see you and they do
this blood work and they do thistest, and then I want to.
I'm more than happy to give anexample of my experiences
regarding particularly mytestosterone, which you revealed
a lot of information to me, andI'm 61 years old and that's a

(09:48):
big topic for a lot of men myage.
Women my age have a lot ofquestions about hormones as well
, and it really you opened myeyes a lot, so tell me what you
know.
Johnson down the street comes tosee you, and what do you do?
What's the process?

Speaker 1 (10:04):
So the ideal scenario is somebody comes in and does
their DEXA scan, which, onceagain, it's the most accurate
way.
It's the gold standard in bodycomposition testing.
It'll let you know your bonemineral density and that's
really important too.
You don't think about it, butwe need strong bones to be able
to have autonomy later in life.
You know I don't know about you, but when I'm 90 I want to be

(10:26):
able to get in my car, go to thegrocery store, buy my groceries
, unload them and be strong andnot worry about risking right.
And if I do fall, my bones arestrong enough to take it right.
So, starting out, it's bodycomposition testing and blood
work right.
So that would hopefully be likethe first step of the of the um
the process let me stop you.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
When you say blood work are we talking about?
I gotta go to the hospital fora month and you draw blood every
day.
Are you talking about you?
Just take a few few, we take afew words like at the doctor,
what's?
What are we talking about?

Speaker 1 (10:53):
yeah, so we start with just what we call a
comprehensive blood panel, right, so we have our doctors will
run some really basic stuff,some CBCs.
They'll just run a lipid panel,a CMP, right.
It's very basic right.
But we go above and beyond withover 65 plus biomarkers and
then also being able to testthings, like I said, that the
doctor's not normally going totest.
And then also, too, our rangesin functional medicine and

(11:17):
nutrition are very tight.
So standard LabCorp, questright, when you get tested
you've got the sickest of thesick and the healthiest of the
healthiest.
The range is really big Infunctional medicine.
We're looking at tight ranges.
We want you optimal and you canactually detect if something is
going awry far before it everbecomes a problem.
So that's the type of blood workthat we start with and then

(11:39):
having just a meeting with thatperson, the type blood work that
we start with and then having ajust a meeting with that person
.
There's usually an intake formthey fill out and they sit down
with me or one of my colleagueshere and going over it and
finding out who they are, wherethey've been and where they're
trying to go right from there.
It's reviewing their blood work, coming up with a supplement
protocol, a nutrition protocolfor them.
Um, if any further testing isneeded or wanted, we can.

(12:00):
So that's super fun becausethen you get into gut microbiome
mapping, you can get intocortisol testing, micronutrient
testing, and then one of mypersonal favorites is food
inflammation sensitivity testing.
So food signals our body whatto do and the food inflammation
and the food sensitivity testingis going to tell this person
exactly what they should eat fortheir makeup.

(12:23):
Just because you can eatbroccoli doesn't mean that I
should.
And a lot of times if we havesensitivities, it usually means
that the gut is irritated andthere usually needs to be some
kind of healing protocol.
That comes into play.
And it's not pharmaceutical,it's supplements, it's food
right.
So I think that, jay, that'skind of like the basis right.
It's like coming in to get yourbody composition, coming in to
do a comprehensive blood panel.

(12:44):
We test this at tons of markersthe doctors don't test Like,
for instance, doctors testthyroid.
They run TSH.
We have six different markersfor the thyroid that we run
right.
Hormone panels are usually likethree things.
We have about eight that we runfor hormones right.
So it's just taking a deep diveto get really granular and
trying to find the root cause ofwhat's going on with someone.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
Now, when you say supplements, I think a lot of
people automatically think ofmultivitamins at the Publix, you
know, in Publix, with thevitamins and creatine and
whatever else you can buy there.
And I think the question thatthe general consumer often has
is what am I?
What is this?

(13:25):
Is this any good?
Is there any effect here?
Or because I, you know, wedon't really know if this stuff
does anything.
You're not talking about takinga men's multivitamin that I
bought at Walgreens.
You're talking about somethingthat's much more sophisticated,
right, Correct, yes.

Speaker 1 (13:45):
So kind of some education on supplements.
Right, they're not regulated bythe FDA, right?
And when you buy supplementsyou want to look for a GMP stamp
and that means a third partyhas come in and tested that
supplement to actually say whatthe company said is in the
bottle is actually in it.
Because there's not a lot oflegality, right, that people can
put stuff in it and sell it andyou just don't really know what

(14:07):
you're getting.
Now, the other problem withsupplements is some supplements
are synthetic, so they are notbioavailable, so your body can't
absorb them.
A lot of the lines that we workwith are bioavailable.
They're made from food-basedproducts, so your body
recognizes it.
You know, I tell people if youcome to my office, I have a
giant bucket in my office I callit the supplement bucket of
shame where people read it andwe go through it and I'm like,

(14:30):
do I throw it in the bucket ordo I read it?
Right, it's just educating now,right.
Right, getting rid of thecoloring in foods?
Well, they're in supplements.
So, like you know, I haveclients that come in that are
thinking they're doing a reallygood thing for themselves.
They're taking their D andthey're taking this, but you're

(14:52):
putting little bits of poison inthe body at the same time,
right?
So not all supplements areSupplements are created equal by
far.
Now there are some really greatbrands out there, but it's
having the education,understanding what you're
looking for.

Speaker 2 (15:04):
Right, Okay, Good.
It's not as simple as sayingtake all the supplements.
And it's not as simple assaying supplements are bad.
Don't take any supplements.

Speaker 1 (15:17):
It's more like you really need to educate yourself,
because the FDA doesn't do it.

Speaker 2 (15:19):
I think they just approve whether or not it's
going to kill you.
Basically Is that correct.

Speaker 1 (15:24):
There's something called GRAS, generally
recognized as safe in the US.
They don't have to actuallyprove that it doesn't cause
cancer, they can just say it'sgenerally recognized as safe,
that's legal in Europe.
They have to prove that thisproduct is safe for human
consumption.
There's a lot higher up, youknow, above our heads, stuff

(15:44):
that's going on.
I do think the pendulum isstarting to swing the other way.
I think that people arestarting to be more in tune to
like what they're actuallyputting in their body.
Yeah, I think so.
Misconception, the misleadingthat's happened when it comes to
supplements, and I want to saythis to your viewers too.
I have people that I meet thatare like I don't need
supplements and I'm like but youdo.
So let me tell you why and thisdoesn't come from me, this

(16:06):
comes from I can pull, I guess,into a whole list of doctors and
their quotes right, these arefunctional medicine doctors.
They used to be cardiologists.
These are educated peoplesaying that you can absolutely
not get what the body needs toperform optimally without
supplementation.
And my analogy is this Jay, youuse your car insurance every
day, but you don't think aboutit.
But if you get in a car wreck,it's there, right?

(16:29):
Yeah, so it's with supplements.
We have some basic foundationalsupplements I always tell
people to take and I'll tell youwhat those are in a minute, but
it's having those input everyday to make sure your bases are
covered.
So, if your body needs to dosome kind of chemical reaction
or it needs to heal itself, orit needs to support some system
in the body or fight off orelevate the immune system or
fight off a bacteria or whateverit has, what it needs, so it's

(16:53):
your insurance policy.
So, unfortunately, the foodthat we have and the
agricultural revolution and allthe different things that have
happened to our food over timejust the quality of the
nutrients is not there.
So you know once again, uh, Ibelieve that knowledge is power,
right, if we know these things,you know, and it can be a
rabbit hole for some people.
It is.
I like to think of it as ajourney, right, just constantly

(17:14):
like self-hacking and trying tofeel how can I be better?
How can I be better?
Yeah, I just want to share that.
It's like you know, I get somany people that always want to
question well, why do I needsupplements?
Because it's car insurance.
You need it in case.

Speaker 2 (17:27):
And you mentioned in passing about the food industry.
We don't really eat foodanymore.
You know, we eat crap out ofboxes and bags and it's produced
somewhere and maybe there mightbe some little itty bitty
element of actual food in it,but a lot of it is not and so
it's you know, the idea that Ijust get everything from what I

(17:50):
eat, and what you eat is Hostess, Twinkies and Fritos.
It's like yeah, no, that's notenough.

Speaker 1 (17:56):
Well, even it even goes further than that too.
So people who are, so I'mdubbed people optimizers, those
Well, even it even goes furtherthan that too.
So people who are alive, so I'mdone.
People optimizers those are thepeople that are like into their
health or trying to do thething.
Optimizers.
Then you have the other genrethat maybe you're symptomatic
and they really need to healtheir body Got something going
on, Right, and their doctorstold them they're fine, but I'm
not fine, Right.
So that's when we get in thatroot cause For the optimizers.

(18:17):
Even if you're eating vegetablesand proteins and animal
proteins and things of thatnature, still they don't have
the nutrients that they used tocall it 40 years ago.
But you're right.
So we eat products as a nation,as a country.
When I walk into a gas station,when I walk into Publix Crowe
or wherever I see products, Isee Nike shoes.

(18:38):
You know what I mean.
They're man-made, Our bodydoesn't recognize them and they
inflame the body and createmetabolic chaos.
Yes, Body is just, it's all outof whack.
But the cool thing is, like Imentioned at the beginning of
the podcast, is the body has aninnate intelligence to heal
itself.
That's how it was designedright so we can just clear the
path and put in the right inputsand usually support a little

(18:59):
bit of supplementation and putin the right inputs and usually
support a little bit ofsupplementation man, the body
can do crazy amazing things Atany age it's not, you're not too
old for it because you're 60 or70 or whatever.
No, not at all.
Adopt healthier habits.

Speaker 2 (19:12):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, it's really interesting
the crap that we eat.
It's really interesting thecrap that we eat we as a culture
now.
So much junk food, so muchultra processed food, and we
wonder why we're obese as anation.
It's not because we're, youknow, necessarily lacking in any

(19:40):
sort of self-discipline,although we might be, and that's
a different conversation.
The stuff that we put in ourmouths from the grocery store is
not food by and large, it's not.

Speaker 1 (19:47):
It also causes a lot of blood sugar dysregulation.
So a lot of people have a hardtime controlling themselves
around food.
So, first off, there's foodscientists that sit in a
laboratory to try to figure outhow we can make this super
palatable.
So they keep coming back formore, like that's their job.
What was it pringles like.
Once you pop, you can't stopright, like yeah, like that's
like for real.

(20:07):
That's what their job is.
And in nature there is no fatand sugar combined.
Think about it.
Where in nature do you get fatand sugar?
Avocados don't have it.
Animals don't have it, right,and so fat and it Right, and so
fat and sugar combined.
Think, hostess, twinkies, right, super palatable.
And it just lights up thedopamine receptors in our brain.

(20:28):
So we're like, yes, we wantmore.
So even if somebody is tryingto do the right thing and you
know, control cravings they'rehaving this dopamine hit, coming
in right from these palatablefoods and then then also too,
because they're so processed,it's spiking our blood sugar.
Our bodies bring it back downreally quick.
Now, when that happens and itgoes below what we would just

(20:49):
like a good baseline, then thebody's like, hey, I need to eat.
Blood sugar is too low, right,and that's that blood sugar
roller coaster up, down, up down.
So some people are fighting anuphill battle that they don't
even realize and they're likewell, why is this not working
for me?
It's because their physiologyis out of balance.

Speaker 2 (21:08):
And it's a struggle.
What can we do people listeningto this, who work in health and
well-being and fitness, whoseclients and whose prospects are
not going to do what you'reproposing, and maybe they don't
have access or awareness orfunds what have you to partake
of someone like you in theircommunity?
But they can still do betterthan they're doing.

(21:29):
So how can we communicate thatto people without wagging our
fingers and being scolds andtelling them to put down the
Pringles?
You know the Diet, dr Pepper.
That's bad for you.
You know better, it doesn'twork.
Right's bad for you.
You know better doesn't workRight.
So what can a gym owner do?
What can I do?
What can you know anybody do toget their elderly mother to eat

(21:50):
a little better?
Or I don't know?

Speaker 1 (21:52):
I think education is key, right?
So let's say, I'm from a gymowner, right, I'm a gym owner, I
could have educational seminars, meetings, right.
And you can't just do one andtwo people show up, they're gone
.
That didn't work.
You have to create the culture.
You have to create the culture.
We're gonna, we're gonna ridethis till the camels come home.
We're gonna help you with yourfood, right?
Um, when I used to with clientsand like, uh, personal training

(22:14):
clients, uh, two decades ago,getting old jay, uh, tell me I
was, I would tell people if itswam in the ocean, flew in the
sky, grew out of the ground youcan eat it, right.
Or the thing I hear a lot oftimes too is well, I'm just so
bored with food.
Well, no, there's no shame,there's no shame in that.
But you are on this almost likedrug addicted kind of back and

(22:37):
forth with these processed foodsand you have to just stop one
and you'll go through a coupleweeks of the detox.
Right, we don't feel so great.
That typically habit.
Your energy is low, but as soonas that comes back, wow, like
you feel like so good.
But you know, I go back to the.
I'm sorry I skipped around alittle bit, but going back to, I
get bored with my food.
So we are paleolithic beings.

(22:59):
At one point in time we wererunning around with spheres and
killing animals and foraging,right.
And if we're paleolithic beings, think about that creature.
There wasn't all of theseoptions.
We were super happy.
We had some animals that wekill, maybe some nuts, some
berries, some foliage, right.
And you know, I just think thatpeople make it a really hard and

(23:20):
they make it harder than itneeds to be, and the social
media and all the differentthings don't help.
I would say we'll keep it supersimple Eat real protein and
every meal.
Try to eat veggies at everymeal.
And if you're trying to loseweight, you minimize your
carbohydrates.
Right, and try to eat healthyfat.
That is still an energy source.
Right, and try to eat healthyfat.

(23:40):
That is still an energy source.
You can still.
You can train the body by theinputs that you put in of what
fuel you want it to metabolizeand use.
So if you keep putting in carbs, it's going to keep burning
carbohydrates or utilizingcarbohydrates, because anybody's
like we are lazy, we are done,we're just going to keep giving,
keep using what you give us,right.
So it's harder for the body tobreak down fat in the beginning
for fuel, but it can't, itabsolutely can't.

(24:02):
So you know, I think that it's.
The question is, how do we getpeople to?
Maybe don't have the resources,or how do we get our client to?
You know, jump on board withthis.
It's either hand-holding andmaking it really simple and
trying to show them like, evenon my social media.
I'm trying to show some like,even on my social media and
trying to show some of my meal,sometimes because it's like eggs

(24:23):
, like eggs and avocado, likeit's not fancy, it's not a
recipe, it's just I need eggs, Ineed, I need protein, any
healthy fat in this meal andwe're done um one thing.
That then there's no shame inthis, but this is something that
I've learned just in dealingwith clients over the years is
the biggest thing people tell meis they don't have time yeah
that's me, but I give peoplegrace upon grace.

(24:46):
I do, but you're always notgoing to have time.
That's always going to be athing.
And being healthy is going tocost you one thing, and that is
time, right.
So can you grocery shop on aFriday, meal prep on a Saturday
for four or five days, right, orwhatever.
So it's like you know, I givepeople grace, but in the same

(25:06):
sense, we have to realize thatmost people's lives aren't going
to get any slower, so we haveto get a priority.

Speaker 2 (25:16):
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That's prime like prime of yourlife fitcontentcom.
Back to the show.
Yeah, it's really about for meI shouldn't speak for others,
but I think this is probablytrue.
It's our priorities and we don'teven realize that we're making

(26:23):
them priorities, because if wedid, we would prioritize what we
eat and we would prioritize oursleep and we would prioritize
our health, and we do not dothat.
We say, oh, I'm too busy, andso I try to say for myself again
, as just you know, I'm too busyto read a great work of
literature this week, you knowwhat?

(26:43):
Because maybe I am, or I'm toobusy to practice the piano this
week, because I really wish Icould play the piano.
So gosh, if I just practicedevery day I could do it.
Right, what have you?
I don't say I'm too busy to eata decent lunch today, right,
you know.
And so I don't.
I don't get it.
I think we have to highlight,like you said, education,

(27:05):
highlight to people.
You're making a choice every,every time you put something in
your mouth.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
It's either going to make you better or it's going to
make you worse.
Yeah, and that's very, verysimple.
I'm simplifying that, right,but that's just kind of what I
think about it that resonateswith some people.
So every bite, I'm like, okay,is this making me better, or is
this going to make my cognitivefunction better?
Is it going to help me withbody fat?
Is it going to help me achievewhatever goal?
It doesn't always have to beaesthetics, but is it?
Can what I'm eating get mecloser to my goal?

(27:34):
And you know the other.
The other thing too, I thinkfor people is you can't make it
all or nothing.
This is a journey, this is amarathon, not a sprint, a
process, not an event.
So it's baby steps.
Dr Mark Hyman, I love him.
He's a great functionalmedicine ND.
He wrote a book called theSugar Detox, like a decade ago,

(27:54):
10-day Sugar Detox, and hestarts out and I believe this
and I use this with a lot of mypatients is in with the good and
out with the bad, right, soit's not totally revamping
everything at first.
But what good can I put on myplate?
I mean spaghetti and meatballs.
Can I add some broccoli to that?
Cool, great, that's a greatstep Right.

(28:14):
Then it's like what's next?
Okay, well, I'm eating, youknow my healthy grain cereal or
grain free cereal with cow'smilk.
Can I put almond milk in there?
Right, it's just, it's takingbaby steps to kind of hash
through and dig through becauseyou're not going to change it
all overnight.
I get some people that come in.
They're like give me everything, right.
But that usually doesn't work,you know.

(28:37):
So it's just look at your lifeand figure out right off the top
what do I, what do I know?
For a fact I'm doing that'swrong, like no, there's no
education to this.
You probably know there's onelife that you eat that was not
that good, you know.
You know, for me at one pointthis is silly, but when my kid
was little it was grahamcrackers.
I was like I would eat hisgraham crackers and I realized I

(29:01):
was buying them for me and I'mbuying them for him because he
wasn't eating them, you know.
So it's trying to identifylittle bits of things of what we
can make, one small change at atime.

Speaker 2 (29:10):
I'll tell you something.
It's something that you broughtup from my blood work when you
did the panel on me.
I believe you found correct meif I'm wrong that I was a little
bit low in iron.
Yes, which is interesting,because my partner had

(29:30):
previously had his blood workdone just a couple of weeks
before and he was low on iron.
Well, he's vegan.
I'm not, but I guess I'm abouttwo thirds vegan because he
cooks most of the meals and Igenerally eat what he makes.
So never occurred to me.
I just said, oh, I'm eating allthis food.
It happens to come from plantsinstead of animals and it's

(29:50):
affecting my you.
You saw that, yeah, yeah, yeah.
That was really interesting tome, and so there's all sorts of
things that you can tell fromfrom these numbers yeah, yeah,
so interesting.
And then also I asked you oh, goahead, I'm sorry, no, you go
first.
Well, I wanted to ask to talkabout my testosterone a little

(30:11):
bit, not because I have an issuewith my testosterone, but
because it illustrates a lot ofthese points.
Okay, so I've had mytestosterone checked with my
annual in my annual physicalevery year since I turned
whatever I'm 61 now.
It's always been fine, I guesson the high end of acceptable.
But, as you pointed out, theacceptable range is really broad

(30:32):
.
I don't know what it is, butlet's say it's 200 to 800.
And I was always around 650 or700.
So I didn't worry about it.
And but as you get older, menstart talking about these things
.
Testosterone is something thatwe talk about more than you know
, you might imagine.
And so you did a little bitdeeper dive and found that, yeah

(30:53):
, I'm acceptable, but I'm notoptimal, right.
What is the difference for a manof my age?
Not, I don't want to talk aboutme, I mean just me as an
example of a fairly typical 61year old person to be a little
bit, you know, not optimal onsomething like testosterone.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
Yeah, so, first off, all men go through andropause,
which is equivalent to ourfemale menopause.
Something happens.
There's nothing you did to makeit happen, right, it's just a
natural way of life.
Now, everybody's different.
I have a 36-year-old male inhere with a testosterone of 167

(31:35):
is total, which is really low.
So optimal range is going to besomewhere really between,
holistically, 600 to 800.
Really, if you're working withbio-dentical hormones and you're
really trying to like push themarker, 800 to a thousand is
where people usually feel likereally good, you know.
And so if you are a male andyour testosterone is in the 400s

(31:55):
, right, and you notice thatyour erection stiffness is not
quite there, If you notice thatthe lack of libido is there,
that dry, that ready to go andcrush the day, energy levels
drop, it's a good sign that youmay need to get your hormones
checked.
And for you, Jay, you were in agood range like right, you
weren't too too low.

(32:16):
But I do think in the next fewyears you need to just watch it,
because if you're getting lowerinto the 400s or something like
that, then I think that it'd bea great idea to explore it.
So biomedicine hormones arereally protective for men and
women.
So for men, there's a decreasedrisk of cardiovascular events
and strokes, right.
And then also, too, it's atherapeutic dose.

(32:39):
We're not doing bodybuilderdoses, right.
We're going to get you back towhen you were in like your 20s
and your 30s and you're likerocking and rolling right,
Everything's great, and tellpeople.
It's like we have the scienceto do it, right.
And for me, being a veryholistic person, I don't like
pharmaceuticals.
This is probably the closestthing I do to a pharmaceutical,
but it's something my bodyrecognizes because it's
bioidentical.
And for females it's kind ofthe same thing.

(33:00):
It's like you know themenopausal symptoms, hot flash
and the weight gain and the moodand the skin dryness and the
hair loss, all these things.
It's like you don't have tosuffer, you don't.
We have the technology tobalance them and replenish them
and get you back into a placewhere you know you go live your
life as society.
We're living more and moreyears.

(33:22):
We're going to have moreSagittarians people living to
100, than ever before in thesenext few decades.
Right, and you can either justaccept I'm getting old, which, I
feel like, is what a lot of ourparents did right.
And there's well, I'm 40, I'm50, I'm old, I'm like I am 40,
and I feel like I'm 40, I'm 50,I'm old, I'm like I am 40 and I
feel like I'm 20.
It's just a number.
Age is just a number.

(33:42):
So I think that it's veryimportant to really check your
hormones, and that's what we dotoo at the clinic, you know, is
just really diving into that.
And then the other piece, whenit comes to hormones, that I
think makes our practice alittle bit unique is that we
look at all four legs of thechair of the hormone cascade.
So look at all four legs of thechair of the hormone cascade.
So you have your sex hormones,your estrogen, your testosterone

(34:04):
, your progesterone, Then youhave thyroid hormones, Then you
have cortisol and then you haveinsulin, right?
So you've got to make sure allfour legs of the chair are in
balance.
So your insulin making surethat you're not pre-diabetic,
make sure that you're notconstantly spiking your blood
sugar, keeping it more even.
Your cortisol are you a stressball at work, right?
Is there a way that you canmitigate some of that stress?
Life's always going to be busy,but your perception is your

(34:26):
reality.
So can you reframe it toyourself?
Can we take some ashwagandha?
Can we try to like blunt thatcortisol response?
Can you not watch TV or workuntil you go to bed?
Can you have a sleep hygieneroutine where you know 90
minutes before it's bedtime youstart winding down, you start
turning lights off, you read abook, something of that nature,
and then like the sex hormonesright, Just knowing what your
levels are and you know somebodycould be at 600 and feel

(34:49):
amazing for a male, for males,and feel amazing.
Somebody else could be at 600and just feel like crap, so, so
different.
And that's the thing that Ithink that I have to I would
like to express to people islike we are unique.
We are so unique and you can'tbase what you do with your help
on what you heard or what youread.
You have to have the data sothat way you can actually

(35:11):
measure it.

Speaker 2 (35:13):
Yeah, look, nikki I.
I could keep asking youquestions all day long, but I
want to keep this respectful ofyour time and also the
listeners' time and the peoplein Tandis.

Speaker 1 (35:25):
I know that.

Speaker 2 (35:26):
Yeah, no, no, no.
It's great, and I know we can'tget into everything in one
conversation, but tell peoplewhere they can go to learn more
about this and to contact you ifthey're so interested.

Speaker 1 (35:37):
Yes, absolutely so.
We are building our website.
It's going to go live in abouta week.
So we've been at the clinic nowfor almost three months.
We're referral based only rightnow.
But if you go to our website atwwwexperiencehealth so it's
spelled with an Xexperiencehealth you can go on

(35:57):
and scroll down to the bottomand just send me a message that
says hey, what are youinterested in learning more
about?
Right, give me your name, youremail address, and then we can
do a free consultation.
Once the clinic is open andrunning to the general public,
consultations will be paid.
There'll be paid consultations,but for right now and for all
your listeners.
If somebody has questions, orthey want to learn more about
peptides we didn't even talkabout peptides, it's a whole
other caboodle of health or theywant to learn more about the

(36:20):
GLP-1 weight loss medication orhormones or nutrition or testing
, just shoot me a message andthen I will respond.

Speaker 2 (36:27):
Both of those topics were on my list, nikki, peptides
and GLP-1s.

Speaker 1 (36:31):
But man We'll have to come back and do it again.

Speaker 2 (36:34):
I have to do a part two, because it's too
interesting, they go together.

Speaker 1 (36:37):
They go together.
The GLP-1s and the peptides gotogether because the GLP-1s are
actually a peptide and, for youraudience, your GLP-1s are your
ozibank, your weight loss.
It would go to your weight lossmeds.
They're not all created equal.
Your body does make GLP-1s andthere's a reason why most people
are deficient and it makessense that you know.
If you're low in iron, right,jay, if you're low in iron, it

(36:59):
doesn't make sense to supplementwith iron.
Or if you're low in vitamin D,it makes sense to supplement
with vitamin D, right?
If you have a gut that'sdisrupted and your GLP-1
acromantia bacteria is a littlebit on the lower side, then you
could supplement with it andbring your supplement to
baseline.
So there's that, and thenpeptides too.
Like I said, it's a whole otherkit kaboodle.
It's getting the data, gettinga solid foundation, and then

(37:21):
it's optimization.
So those are our three pillarshere at Experience Health.

Speaker 2 (37:25):
I love it and we will have to do this again because,
like I said, I could ask youquestions and I get the sense
you could talk about it all day.

Speaker 1 (37:32):
Call me crazy?
No, not at all.
Not at all.

Speaker 2 (37:36):
Okay, well, nikki, thanks so much much.

Speaker 1 (37:38):
it's been a pleasure, it's a pleasure.
Yes, you can also follow me oninstagram at nikki fit
underscore fitnesscom.
So nikki fit fitnesscom or atnikki fit underscore fitness.
That's my instagram.
You can see us there.
We also have experiencehelp oninstagram, but my website is
probably gonna be the best wayto get in touch with me.

Speaker 2 (37:55):
Okay, ww experiencehelp and I will put
all of those in the show notesso people can find them
Wonderful, wonderful.

Speaker 1 (38:02):
I appreciate you, Jay .
You've got to come up and visit.
You've got to come see me.
You've got the DEXA scan on us.
You've got to come to DEXA scan.

Speaker 2 (38:07):
Yeah, I want to get the DEXA scan.
Okay, I'll be right up Okay.

Speaker 1 (38:11):
See you.
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