Biohacking for Women: Health & Fitness Secrets You NEED to Know : 1193

You're listening to the human upgrade with Dave Asprey.

It wasn't until I think the last maybe three or four years that even I really started truly tracking my period consistently and doing it in a way that was like, how do I build a lifestyle around my menstrual cycle? Like, I didn't really fully accept that. Like, I was not a man, like, five years ago. Like, I was like, I can do. I literally dated a guy. I dated a guy that was like. He's like, you can do anything that I can do. And I was like, dude, I'm fasting just as much as you are. And I'm getting. You know, I'm starting to really notice that this is not working for me the way it was before. And it was working for a few months, and then I was doing it every other. I was doing it every other day fast.

It happens every time. Like, women over fast. They over keto. Guys do too. It just takes us twice as long as you. Till you hit the wall.

Right, Exactly. Yeah. I mean, I've met bodybuilders that are men that have definitely messed up their hormones by doing too much cutting. And obviously it can. But I think women's bodies, because of our biological imperatives, are a little bit different. Like, we're. I mean, women are oxytocin dominant. We're designed to help create life and to nurture life. Men are really vasopressin dominant, designed to protect life and to protect against aggressors, to actually defend the tribe, you know.

Yeah.

There is such a thing as masculine. Such a thing as feminine. The energies are different. And yes, women can exhibit masculine. Like you just talked about. A lot of women entrepreneurs are exhausted from putting out too much masculine energy.

Yeah.

And especially if you watch any modern movie. It's like the way women display power is by martial arts. That's not feminine power. The way I know. Feminine power. And guys, same thing. We can express femininity as well. And so there's a whole conversation there that may go down to mitochondria. But before that.

Sure.

Your book is called the Spark Factor. And I was really honored that you asked me to write the foreword for it. So thank you.

Thank you so much.

You're welcome.

First Guide for Biohacking for Women. And I declined your invitation to read the intro because I couldn't do it in the time.

It was a really busy time in the year. Like, the end of the year was crazy for me. I mean, it's funny. Cause this is one of those years that I finally reached, like, I think I realized I finally hit the wall of performance and stress where I was like, okay, I finally hit the amount of stress that I can handle before my performance really declines. And the great thing about this book is even just rereading it myself, I realized there was. I'm going to even be returning to this book regularly because our bodies are constantly changing, our demands are constantly changing, and our stress levels are constantly changing. And last year was a really stressful year for a lot of people. It was a year of tremendous change. And what I really want to teach people is that biohacking is about consistently checking in, getting your measurements taken, actually taking a scientific approach to your body. Not just flying blind and just doing things and taking supplements because you think that they're good for you, but because you have data to drive those decisions. It's funny. I'm going to be on Jillian Michael's podcast soon, and I'm a little nervous because she's very much about calories in, calories out.

Why are you nervous? You have science.

What do I say?

I mean, I've always been like, calories in, calories out. Actually, the rules don't apply to. We're not a closed system. You know, it doesn't work that way. I think people need new options for health because things that aren't working just aren't. And, you know, Christopher Palmer, the. This new doctor just from Harvard, he just started putting up social media. He just published a book called Brain Energy. And I'm like, I just interviewed him.

A couple weeks ago, introduced him to Dr. Amin. He's great.

The reason why I love his stuff is because I think we're starting to realize there's a common theory of health, and it's all about metabolism. So, like, if your energy flow, if your body is not functioning normally, your brain isn't going to function normally because your brain is very energy. It demands a lot of energy, and so does your heart.

You.

And this is why I wrote about COVID in the book. And Covid's a very controversial topic to write about.

So how much of the spark factor is about, like, Covid?

It's really a small portion, but what it's really about is like trying to teach people that if you understand mitochondrial health, you'll understand a lot of different conditions. You'll understand mental illness, you'll understand all the major chronic diseases, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and dementia. Like, these are what kills us, right? And you'll actually understand immune system dysregulation, immune system dysfunction, which Sets you up for infection. So it's like I wanted to create a book that was like, a common theory of health. Like, what is this sort of common thread? Because I feel like the medical system has created this ontology of disease that is based on pathophysiology, right? We're taught about all these different ways that people get sick. But I was in the hospital watching over and over and over again that all these people that I was treating had the same risk factors. They weren't eating properly, they weren't exercising properly, they were stressed out beyond comprehension. They had a lot of trauma, and they lived in environments that were poisoning them. And it's like, why? Like, why do those things lead to all these different manifestations of disease? And it's through the mitochondrial dysfunction, right? And this is what the book tries to teach people, is like, okay, if you want to biohack your body, you gotta understand how the body works. And it's not simple, but it's certainly not nearly as complicated as what I was taught in medical school.

You know what?

I love getting to just sit down and chat with you, whether we're on camera or not, because you get it. And there are some doctors who really see this. But most of the time in medicine, you fall into this. If I have a hammer, everything's a nail. And so someone who's okay, it's all about even it's all about mold. Well, no, mold's a common trigger of the actual problem, but it's not the only one. And so the person thinks it's all about mold. Didn't see ebv.

You know, obesity is a great example. One of my friends was saying yesterday, she's like, well, didn't you say that obesity is a disease? And I was like, a disease is literally a term for a condition that we have now labeled as something we can treat medically.

Right.

Semaglutide, anyone?

Exactly right. Which, by the way, is a really cool drug. And I'm pretty sure that Elon and the Kardashians have all gotten super lean on it, which is pretty interesting. And then I just found out yesterday, I was reading on Instagram that Khloe Kardashian is like, I have not lost weight on Ozempic. And it's like, lady, you're tiny. Like, clearly you're doing something, and it's not just lifting weights. Okay?

And also, it probably wasn't Ozempic. It was probably the new one or whatever.

I'm grateful that we have these tools. And how does this thing Work. This thing improves insulin sensitivity and glucagon balance.

Makes mitochondria work better, you mean. Oh, no, maybe it's anti aging. Oh, it is.

I mean, this is the cool thing, peptides. The cool thing that I'm seeing in the world is that peptides are becoming medicine. This is a big deal.

That's terrible.

Peptides were.

They're just gonna get 10 times more expensive and be illegal in the US we have to go to Thailand to buy.

Well, so, like, here's an interesting peptide. Bromelatide. I can't pronounce it. PT141.

Yeah, I love that stuff. I inject it a lot.

If you get this from a doctor, that's a prescription version, it's like thousands of dollars. And it's an injection, but you can get it from a compounding pharmacy for like a fraction of the cost. Like 200 bucks, 150 bucks. Ideally, we want to get medicines that are properly dosed, properly produced, properly regulated in a way that we know are safe. Like, what a lot of people don't realize is that most doctors that are working within the insurance system are basically given a formulary, and that formulary says what they can and cannot prescribe, and that is actually designed by the insurance company. So doctors are subcontractors of insurance companies now. And I get messages from doctors all over the country regularly who say, molly, like, things are falling apart. Like, things are. And I hate their life. And it's not just that, like, the actual system is breaking down. And I knew this was gonna happen when I was in medical school because I was lobbying for healthcare reform. And I was like, uh, oh, this whole Medicare reimbursement rate situation is not changing any year. I come back every year, and they're not doing anything about this situation. And then I was like, well, we're gonna just end up seeing a dual system emerge. We're gonna have a public option. It's gonna look like Medicare and the va, and then we're gonna have a private option. And that's essentially what's emerged. But what I didn't anticipate happening was the digital option, right? Like, I. About 10 years ago, when I started working in tech, I. And we were both in the Bay Area, I was starting to work with startups, and I worked with over 50 companies in 10 years. And that's part of the reason why I kind of got a reputation as an innovator. But I did it because I needed to fund building a practice from scratch. And I didn't know How. So I was like, maybe I'll go talk to startups and teach them about how the healthcare system works. Because I've been working in healthcare since I was in ninth grade. So I started working with all these companies, and I was like, oh, my God, there's going to be a tsunami of innovation happening from technology companies that's going to just engulf medicine. And basically, we're seeing all these companies basically go to direct to consumer. They're building these physician networks, they're doing all these online prescription products and experiences. It's not always good. I mean, obviously, like, that one company that did Adderall prescriptions is kind of in trouble with the government. Who knew that selling. I actually talked to one of these investors who is investing in the company. I'm like, you do realize that this is just like a drug deal, right?

You could just invest in the Pirate's Den anyway.

Yeah. But it's funny, because I think we're entering a phase of really people are looking for truth, and the truth is coming out. I mean, the Twitter files. I mean, all of this stuff is coming out.

Can I say something really bad?

Sure.

Adderall actually works.

It's amphetamine.

It's a horrible drug, but it works.

It totally works. Increased stress hormones.

If you're gonna crash the helicopter, you're flying, you should take some Adderall, because then you'll stay awake and no one will die. Except you'll want to kill people more, so you might shoot them, which is why they switched to Modafinil for the government, which works better than Adderall. And I took it every day for eight years. I'm on it today, right now.

Interest.

Interesting.

So, like, it's okay to use pharmaceutical enhancement as long as the benefit's greater than the cost.

Totally. And you really were one of the first people to start talking about nootropics openly.

Oh, yeah.

Like, you were the first. Like, everybody was like, what is.

I took a lot of hits for that. Like, that's unethical. I'm like, yeah. What do they call the guy at the bottom of the class at Wharton who gets his mba? I don't know. Mba? I use smart drugs to get to the bottom of my class. I win.

Yeah.

Well, it's funny.

When I was in medical school, I was, like, getting. I was basically somewhere in the middle of my class, and I was really bad. I had really bad test anxiety, and I went to a psychologist, and I was like, all right, I'm miserable. I don't know if I can do this. And he's like, look, you're not depressed, you're not anxious, you don't have any diseases. You're just a stressed out medical student who's not taking care of herself. So I was like, oh, wait, so this is my responsibility? And he gave me the biggest favor he could have ever given me. Instead of giving me antidepressants, he was like, hey, you need to take care of your body. And I wasn't.

Wow.

I wasn't doing that.

I mean, this was medical school, right?

Like 10 years ago or something.

This was probably like, I don't know. I graduated in 2011, I think.

Okay.

So, yeah, 10, 12 years ago. Yeah, that's really progressive. That's so impressive.

But what I did from there was. I said, okay, I'm a scientist. I'm gonna go into the science. What do I need to do to change my health? So I started doing yoga. I stopped drinking. I was coming drinking mugs of espresso. It was not normal.

Yeah, you're supposed to do mugs of espresso.

Maybe just like a little espresso. It wasn't like a mug. And I was doing all nighters. I wasn't exerc. I was super sedentary. I was super isolated. I was doing everything wrong with my health because I was trying to study and get the grade. And I was not performing. I was not performing at my best. So I changed my lifestyle. I started doing yoga. I stopped doing all nighters. I stopped drinking so much coffee. I stopped eating Raisin Bran for meals, which is. I started eating real food. I started spending more time with my family, my friends, and my grades started to go up. My performance started to improve. My mood started to improve. I had more capacity. I had better performance. I had more productivity. And all my. And I went from an average on my first board exam to 99th percentile my second. And nobody does that in medical school. And all my peers were like, did you cheat? And I was like, no, I didn't cheat. I just changed my lifestyle.

That's cheating.

And they were like, well, what did you do? And I was like, look, I'm not just going to tell you what I did. I'm going to teach you. And so I recruited, like, 10 doctors, and I was like, hey, will you help me teach health to my peers? Because this is not part of the curriculum. And in medical school, I was at the largest medical school in the country, and there was not wellness in the curriculum. They weren't teaching sleep, they weren't teaching Fitness, they weren't teaching nutrition, they weren't teaching integrative medicine, they weren't teaching mind body health, they weren't teaching relationships. And all this stuff was fundamental to health. And I was like, I'm just gonna create a course. And so I got it added to the curriculum and I ended up winning a bunch of awards for this.

That's so cool.

It was like this first. It was like I was like, how is this not part of our education? You know, like, a medical student shouldn't be the one bringing this to the curriculum. You know, this should be baked in. But our curriculums are largely designed by pharmaceutical incentives. So almost everything we are taught is how to diagnose disease and what to treat it with. And what do you treat it with? You treat it with drugs and surgery. And don't get me wrong, I've had surgery and I've taken drugs and they've certainly helped in certain cases.

They're awesome.

Like, I take a little bit of thyroid medicine, a very small amount, and it's great.

I take a relatively large amount, it's even better.

It's awesome.

But it's like, there's nothing wrong with using medical technology for biohacking. And I'm so glad you said that.

Yeah.

Because a lot of people, and I feel like more women than men, they're purists. Like, I would never use a drug. I'm like, that's ridiculous. Like, you should use a drug.

Some of these drugs are life changing, you know, but we shouldn't depend on them completely and we shouldn't be replacing using them instead of lifestyle changes.

Right.

Like, that's one of the things I've been trying to like, hammer into my family members. I'm like, yes, you can take these medicines, but you really gotta do all these other things too, you know? Have you seen this woman train with Joan on Instagram?

I haven't.

She's like, gotta be in her 70s. And she went from like typical overweight middle aged woman to being fit as fuck. Like, she is strong, she is a bodybuilder and her body's incredible. And I'm like, I think now people are realizing, like, we don't need to age the way our parents did and our grandparents did. We can get stronger as we get older. Well, there is this argument about. I'm really kind of like blown away by just how much of a controversy fasting is. I took out about four different sections when it comes to fasting. I have a whole program of how you start with ketosis Whole foods, ketosis, cutting back on snacking, intermittent fasting and then going into longer fasts. And I cut out all the prolonged fasting stuff because I was getting shamed by people who are like, you are going to be ripped to shreds for recommending this to women. And I was like. And it was really just this realization that there's this. Even Malter Longo, who was supposed to be the father of fasting, is now cutting back on his statements on fasting.

He's funny because I asked him about that. Have you had him on your show? So I asked him about that a while ago and he's like, well, that's.

What the mice did.

So that's what I'm going to do. And the bottom line is fasting for a long period of time every day. It doesn't make a lot of sense. But you can look at people like Mindy Pels fast like a girl and there's room for looking at fasting as a tool. But just like doing Adderall every single day is probably really bad for you. So is fasting every single day.

We also need to think about, are you insulin sensitive or not sensitive or not? Do you have insulin resistance? Do you have metabolic dysfunction? Do you have pre diabetes or diabetes? Do you have polycystic ovarian disorder or are you underweight, undernourished? Are you like, did your period stop because you have red s? Like relative energy deficiency of sport? Like fasting is like a tool in the toolbox that you need to use for your life and you may not need it if you're young, fit, healthy, fertile, you may not need to do a lot of fasting. But as you're hitting menopause and you're noticing your metabolism is shifting, I find women that are going through perimenopause doing some of these short term fasts are really helpful for maintaining their weight.

It changes their whole life and their energy comes back and it's magic. And if those women went vegan, they'd feel great for a month and then hit the wall.

Oh, I did veganism for a month and it definitely hit the wall and it did not work for me. But I do think that there is something to be said about different body types. Right. And like, I think I'm more of a mesomorph and I definitely lean a little bit more, a little bit more paleo primal than anything. I'm not really into grains. I do some beans occasionally, but not a lot. But I think we're entering a phase of deep Personalization of nutrition. We have more tools than we've ever had before. And this sort of dietary dogma stuff to me I'm just like, I don't. I'm kind of sick of hearing about carnivores. I'm sorry. I love meat, I eat it, but I love vegetables.

I actually think that the carnivore diet and the vegan diet do very similar things over time.

They eliminate a lot of processed foods, unless you're a vegan who eats processed foods.

I did about three months of Carnivore when I was testing the edges of the bulletproof diet back in 2012 or something and I gave myself leaky gut and gave myself an egg allergy and I felt amazing. And I was like doing 4,000 calories a day too and not exercising. I was trying to gain weight and just to show this diet was superior. It's so thermogenic and I felt so good. And I ended up doing it for that whole time. And at the end of it I was waking up sometimes 40 times a night without knowing it on my sleep monitoring. I used a Zeo back then.

Oh wow.

And I'm like, oh, that's funny. It was great in the short term and it breaks you in the long term. And that's why I'm like, guys, you need to have some less inflammatory plants and to have some carbs in cycle. And like that's where carnivores. Oh, I do carnivore except I eat fruit and honey and dairy products. I'm like, that's.

I love non starchy vegetables. I love making veggie purees and soups.

Yeah, I do too. And like that's not carnivore if you're eating fruit. I'm sorry, like that's another thing. In fact, it looks a lot like the original recommendations I had which was cycle eat grass fed meat, cycle have some carbs, don't have some carbs and so you don't have to have a name. And some people need more carbs than others. I think there is an argument that says if you eat grains and you eat legumes that you will be mineral deficient almost by definition because of phytic acid. That's why Danger coffee has all the minerals and all.

Coffee is great by the way.

Oh, thank you.

I mean I go back and forth on and off of coffee because my cortisol levels. But when I'm on it, like, oh my God, it's just like jet fuel.

We're on it right now.

I know, I'm like loving this because I measure my cortisol in like I think it was after Burning man and I remember saying oh shoot, my cortisol is way too high so I had to cut back on the coffee. But I definitely go in and out of like mud water versus coffee and in your coffee's awesome.

Oh thank you.

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There's a huge number of women, you know, that are, I'm going to call them with great respect, are wise women. You might also call them elders, but literally we need our elders. I learned all of biohacking from people in their 70s when I was in my 20s. That's why I can do what I do. So women in menopause, how much of your book talks about them?

I didn't actually focus much on menopause because I, when I originally wrote the book, it was 600 pages because I wanted to include everything. And then I got a little hint of like, this is not a textbook. And I think a big part of we talked about in my podcast and you made me cry when I said that because I'm not a doctor. And I think this have this deep rooted belief that my sister was the smart one. I was trying so hard to make this book like I know my shit. So I wrote 600 pages of like, you know, I know everything. And people are like, just like, okay, Aggie, like no one's actually going to read it because this is a textbook and if you want to write a book, it has to be more of a storytelling. So what's your goal? And my goal was, which I shared with you earlier, to get biohacking into mainstream. You know, it's like that's why this whole thing of why biohacking Bestie? Because I was like, okay, people know the science and where to find it. Like, you can Google it, you can come to your podcast, they can read.

Your book, but it's Google obsessed pool of medical information at this point. You can't Google it, but you can use any other search engine.

Yes. And so I realized that it's like, okay, like I. How can I like make it as simple as possible? And that was really hard. Even right now when I sit with it, I was like this like deep fear. I was like, is this book, you know, it's covering everything I wanted just because it's already 300 pages. I wanted to keep it not overwhelming. And I say that in the book and over. My overwhelmed woman doesn't buy a hack, you know, like a confused customer doesn't buy. And I think people want to take too much information. They don't do anything. And so I think maybe the next book, you know, would be, definitely would include those women. I started to biohack my mom.

Will you, will you work on another.

Book that's for women who are either in perimenopause or menopause actually.

So it's funny that you say that. But we. I have an online course, and we just extended to menopause because that has been the biggest feedback. Women are being told it comes from lack of fertility. Then they're being told that, you know, they can't get pregnant. I send them to your book. And then, you know, a lot of them in their late 30s already have signs of perimenopause. We're entering it way sooner. Yeah, very, very common. And so I was like, oh, well, like, it's kind of like my age group already. And so the more we can delay it, the better. And so we started. Like, I have a science team that's helping me research certain things. And I was like, oh, there's actually so much you can do. But one thing at a time. I focus on how to live according to your cycle. Then I'm gonna have a baby, and.

Then I'm gonna maybe the next month.

And I've had, you know, several, just top notches, experts on women's hormones and perimenopause on the show. I'm thinking like Sarah Gottfried, Anna Kabeca come to mind. Oh, I love Anna and many others. Yeah.

But I don't know if you know. So those who don't know the story. Me and Dave, I lived in Santa Monica for about five years. So I would go to. I would walk to Bulletproof Cafe in Upgrade Labs. Cafe, it's called now, that's the sign.

From the cafe behind me on the wall, because we certainly can't stay down. And yeah, that's the sign because I moved out.

I'm now in West Hollywood, so I don't care anymore. But it used to be my thing. And I even looked. I remember to that point, I was so obsessed with coffee and, you know, the vibrating plate that I remember when I was sitting there and I was like, I need to find an apartment walking distance from where I am. And I did. And we're. We're like two minutes away. And so I would, like, run into you and be like, super shy. But I was just like, hi, Dave, I love all your books. Da, da, da. And then we ended up meeting at an event. And I don't know if you remember, but once I got a hold of you, I was like, dave, I want.

To have babies later.

How do I delay my perimenopause? Was like the first question.

I was.

Like, now that I have access to you, that was the first question I asked. It was really, really interesting what you shared.

It's kind of funny because, you know, I'm a fat computer Hacker, formerly right. And people are like, well, what business do you have as a non medical professional, you know, CIS white male to talk to women about their health. And to that I usually just say, how dare you label me without asking? Which makes me laugh.

Which triggers them even more, of course.

Because they're not people who are actually interested in the answer to the question. But the reality is that the mother of my children couldn't have children and I really wanted to take care of her to the best I could, which.

Is something a lot of guys like to do.

We like to take care of the women in our lives. Like, so I learned and like I studied and, and we had kids as a result of all this, you know, biohacking and fertility knowledge.

They're healthy and beautiful, you know, so that's like, it's, it's, it's like it's a thing.

Like men and women do it together and, and we can support each other in biohacking. Now here's a part of that. What can men do to support the women in their lives in their biohacking better?

First of all, understand this, what cycle is. So a lot of times, you know, a big part of what I do is teaching women about their cycle. And the number one feedback from men is like, but what about men? And like, why can't you learn about your woman's cycle? You're more, more most likely going to be with a woman in a relationship. Wouldn't be your superpower to know what, like, you know, there are only four phases. Not that complicated. Nothing harder than a guy educating a woman about her cycle. I'm like, hey, babe, is that day 21? Oh, oh. How about we just slow down today?

You know, I thought it was. How about I hide today?

But okay, so that's like day 26.

Just like.

But what we actually do is my, my wildest dream is we, we're working on an app for men which would link to female. So basically, as a woman, we're going to have cycle bestie, which is going to help you track your cycle. And then men will have a mirror app so they will see the day that the woman is in and they will be able to see exactly what day she's in and how. What's the best way to support her?

Have it send a text message to the guy every morning that's like, watch out today or do this today.

Yeah, that's the plan.

We would love to have that. And it's kind of funny.

Instruction manual for your girlfriend.

Actually, my girlfriend was like, and yeah, because I'm kind of dating someone, in case you didn't notice, but she actually was like, you're getting an app to track my cycle. And I'm like, this is such a cool thing. So, yeah, so I. I want to know, because it totally directs how I communicate with her and what I plan, right?

Yeah.

So it's. It's actually really cool. So that's one thing. We can know your cycle. And by the way, guys, if you don't want to have kids, knowing her cycle is pretty important because there's really about five days that women can get pregnant the rest of the time. No. And unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on whether you're Mother Nature or not, during those five days, women are insanely attractive and insanely horny. Because when you're ovulating, you're like, I need it. And guys are like, why is she so attractive? And then that's why half of unplanned pregnancies happen. So if you know about that, if you want babies, that's the time. If you know about that, you don't want babies, you could practice extra care during that time.

Yep, yep, yep. So that's basically the vision for. For Psycho Besty, which is helping, like, getting men on board. You know, it's like, it's. It almost feels like for a woman, like it's. It's our job and we need to figure it out. And it's almost like in. In silence and almost in shame. You know, when I ask a woman, I don't know, a single woman who ever walks through the restaurant holding her tampon without hiding it, you know, we all need to change the tampon when we got for dinner, and it's always like, deep in the sleeve, and we're always embarrassed. And I was like, why don't we just own it? But why is it just considered shameful or embarrassing to go change your tampon in a restaurant or in a public place? And so I think we're entering this new era where men are. Are here to celebrate women and want to know more.

Couldn't women just take the birth control pill? Cause it's so much easier.

Yeah, no, I think it's a great idea, actually. Now that you brought that up, tell.

Me, talk to me about biohacking for women and the birth control pill.

So we're not here to judge people for their choices. I know that sometimes birth control can be the best thing that you can do because we're all in situationships or other things that are not serving us. And the goddesses that we are. But in reality, I was never informed about the side effects of birth control. And that's the biggest thing. As long as it's an informed decision. You know, you do you. It's your body. But my decision about taking birth control was not an informed one. It was just presented as a candy or kind of like, oh, you know, you know, going to have a period. This is great. No one made me understand that, you know, ovulations, our superpower. We actually get stronger, our bones get stronger. We. It helps us with insulin, you know, resistance during ovulation. So also, we're more attractive and we're more likely to get a, you know, raise at work. So. Yeah, like, you're losing on all of that. Yeah, I mean, these are the. There's studies for that. So. Yeah, no one ever told me, like, hey, this is the birth control. You're not going to ovulate for years, which means that your body won't regenerate naturally every month. And so that's, that's a big one. Apart from the fact that, you know, synthetic benefits, birth control makes a lot of women depressed, suicidal, like it did for me. And, you know, Ricky, like, who came on my podcast, created such a beautiful documentary, the Business awesome coming on my.

So I met her at Bernie, man, years ago, and that's how I got her on the podcast.

Yeah, she's, she's, oh, she's so good. She wrote a little endorsement for the book. She's like, yeah, just get women off birth control. I'm like, yay. But also, I totally get it. It might not be the solution for.

Every single woman out there, maybe not every single one. I think it's one of the biggest crimes against women is hormonal birth control.

100%.

Having access to birth control is absolutely necessary. And I think it's a human right. But selling something that increases risks of all kinds permanently and changes your psychology and changes your mate selection without telling you, that is unethical. And so, you know, throughout the course of my life, I've been familiar with this for a very long time because of my work in longevity, even in my early 20s. And so whenever I was. Was dating someone, you know what? I really care about you. Like, even even though we're not going to have any kids, I would really like for you to be as healthy and as powerful as possible. Like, let's look at the literature and see what happens. And they're like, I didn't know I was doing this to myself. And I'm like, that's great. You know, it's your choice. And then if they go off birth control, then I smell different than they break up with me.

Oh, wait, it is a thing. I don't know if it was true for you, but it is a thing. Even co producer Abby Epstein had that situation where the moment women get off birth control, the pheromones change and they no longer attractive. One thing that I. Because my question was like, let's get women or off birth control. But the question is hormonal birth control.

Birth control. Hormonal birth control. Not good.

Yeah.

Yes. Thank you for correcting me. That's right. And so we were thinking, like, what can I do? Because the reason why we're on birth control in the first place is not because we can get pregnant for only five days more. Most women have very irregular periods, and so it's really hard for them to track those five days, you know, and it's that ovulation window changes. And so one of the big missions with the book is to help women support that cycle naturally. You know, I'm working with Sean Wells on a supplement that will work on, like, female mitochondria to. Would actually help you get your period way more regular.

All mitochondria female, are they.

No, no. As a.

For.

No, no, no. I just meant for like, for women.

I was like, wait, I. I'm teasing it. But a mitochondria always passed down from the woman's line. There's. There's like seven women who have all mitochondria on the planet. They're the great great. Or nine, I think. Nine women.

Oh, no way. I didn't know that.

The nine daughters of Eve that tracks the source of mitochondria for all humans.

Oh, I didn't know that. So we're all kind of related or not.

But it's only the women pass on mitochondria, guys. We don't get to do that.

Oh, interesting. Yeah. So that's basically what we have been working on because I. I realized, like, for most women with the amount of toxins that we're consuming, they don't have regular periods. They will get pregnant if they just, you know, rely on their, you know, tracking their cycle. And you have to really actively toxify. And, you know, I just. I got a real annoyed because I just posted, you know, if you're using drugstore makeup and, you know, not detoxifying actively, you know, it's probably not a good idea for your hormones. And, you know, there's a skin care Exercise expert that said, no, no, no, all skincare is good for you. And I was just like, oh, the mainstream misinformation is driving me crazy. Like it's just mad.

It's so broken in the mainstream and it, I still feel like we're encouraging women to cut calories, to lose weight. What happens in a woman's body when she under eats calories and exercises?

I mean, so I think even if you don't try to lose weight, it's the, the, the message is so strong for women that I shared with you on my podcast that like we under eat just because we think it's more feminine. You know, just like smaller meals, smaller bites, avoiding steaks or meat. Right? Like, I think we not only don't eat enough calories, we most, we don't eat enough fat and enough protein. Like if I look at, you know, I worked with so many women right now and it's incredible. It feels like, can you write down everything that you ate today? And it's usually just processed carbs or carbs and sugar, you know, very little healthy fats, very little protein. And so we like scared to eat normal meals because of societal standards. And just like, I'll just have a smoothie or I'll just have a latte and I'll be fine. So I think it's just like there's a lot healing that needs to happen because the moment we don't have enough calories, we not only have massive hormone disruptions, you know, there is a big psychological like refeeding syndrome that happens as well. You know, when we just basically start to eat the yo yo diet, right? So we, you under eat and then you have a very unhealthy relationship with food where you will get hungry after a while, you know, and left and ghrelin gets all confused. And all of a sudden I had that I could never feel full on a vegan diet. I was just like, I had to tell myself, okay, time to leave the kitchen. But I could never feel full. And I always came, I always felt hungry. It's like it was so hard, you know, and it's. There's this moment in the book where I mentioned that I was listening to your interview with Dr. Mike Hyman and you said if you can't fast for 12 hours, like there's, you don't have metabolic flexibility. And I'm like, what? What's that? I remember thinking like. And I'm like, and I tried like fasting for like till 12 and I was just like, oh my God, I Feel like I'm dying. Like, what is. How can people do it every day? And so it's. Yeah, that was like, a big turning point, actually, that interview of yours and you saying that I was like, oh, maybe my diet isn't that good because I genuinely, my, I had stomach pains. Like, I couldn't go without.

Yeah. You know, when I was a vegan too, I bought bowls like, like as big as my upper body to try and get, like, enough salad in there. And I would just, like, chop up all these veggies. It was ridiculous. These giant red salad bowls from one of those. I forget the name of that fancy kitchen place, like William Sonoma. And, And I'm like, it takes so long to chew that much food. I'm like, I'll put it all into a blender. And I'm doing like a gallon of blended veggies with coconut oil and all that other crap in there. And I was never full. Like, just constant aching hunger. I think that, that women, that, that creates more stress in women's bodies than it does in men's because you're more sensitive to a lack of, of calories, lack of nutrients, because it affects your monthly cycle. And for guys it affects longer cycles. Does that sound real?

100%.

And I think, you know, even up until this point, you know, we still get shamed for eating full meals, like in the restaurant when, you know, sometimes my fiance loves, Prefers sometimes a sweeter breakfast, so he would order waffles and I would order a steak. And the waiter comes, so it's like, oh, steak for me. He's like, oh, wow. Such a small girl and you eat so much, you know, I don't give an F. But, like, most women get a little intimidated by it because it's like, it's so common.

Waiters actually say that. Really?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Women just feel like, like such an ugly waiter and there's nothing you can do about it or anything like that. It just feels like there should be, like, a smarmy response to that.

No, but I, I, if you're, if you're a woman in your 20s and 30s, I'd say you probably have to eat a little bit more than your boyfriend. You have so much more at stake. Your fertility is at stake. Like, you need that fat. I was like, I just don't understand. Like, if anything, we should normalize women eating more, not less.

I have never been attracted to women who only eat like two bites of salad because you know what they do? They eat half my steak. Oh, I'll Just have a bite. And I'm like. Like, I actually needed two steaks, and I only ordered one because I was being polite. And now I'm. I just order like, hey, can I have the steak? And then another side of steak on the same plate? And they're like, what? Like, I don't want the other crap beans or whatever. Just put two steaks on a plate and whatever veggies I actually want to eat that you serve, which isn't probably that many.

And.

And then. And I've done that on dates too, and I'm like, sorry, I'm gonna eat the big steak. Because I. I don't have the brain and body that I want if I don't eat enough steak. And if that's an issue, like, it's probably not a good match.

Fortunately, I find that eliminates 80% of women in the US for you. But it sounds like you're happily in a relationship.

I don't think it does.

I've been on a good number of.

Dates, so maybe it's just because of.

The function of who I am in the world, but I can't imagine a guy being, like, bothered by a woman nourishing herself. And if. If you're a guy and a woman, you're saying actually wants to eat and it. And it turns you off, dude, get a therapist. Like, seriously, you have seated psychological issues, and you need to deal with those right now.

I mean, because it's like. I think it comes, like, the. The hunger for life and that. I think a lot of boys or men, Children, are intimidated by strong women. And there's something powerful about eating a good meal. You know, it's like claiming your power back and just saying, hey, I'm hungry. I'm gonna eat. And I think a lot of men can be intimidated by it.

I guess we'd have to bring on men of different ages and perspectives to know if that's real. There's. It's funny, there's this balance.

Like, me in my 20s on Raya. I think it's very different now because it's like, people are waking up. But, you know, 10 years ago, it wasn't exactly the case.

I think 10 years ago, we had more of that. And there's a difference between a healthy woman and then, like, an angry woman.

Yes. Oh, let's talk about that. Because that's. Actually. That's.

I. I spend a lot of time. I. I hang out with people of all different ages. I have a bunch of friends in their 30s, mostly because they have much better parties than my friends in their 60s and 70s, no offense. Some of my 60 year old friends are, are like really good partiers. But I'm somewhere in the middle of that range. So when I, when I'm talking with them, women are clear. Like, and we have been for, for whatever hundreds of thousands of years. Like men are generally a physical threat. Right. Like we're bigger. And like most women I know have had at least one really negative experience with a man who was stronger.

Yeah.

And so totally acknowledge that. And many, many men have had an experience of having their character assassinated. Like a, basically an angry person who had a vendetta who was willing to lie. So guys are afraid, like can't ask her out because she might have been educated, that if she felt uncomfortable and asked her out that it was harassment. Like I know a place, they were.

Teaching this in a school.

So guys were like, if I say the wrong thing, I can have my, I could lose my job and you know, my reputation. So they're locked in. And women are like, I could have my physical safety. And they're locked in. Right. So then it comes down to learning how to feel safe in your body if you're a man and if you're a woman. So then you're like, oh, I can feel someone who feels safe and I can feel that I feel safe. And then you can have a conversation and like, hey, like, would you be interested in talking about going out sometime? And if they're like, no, then they didn't feel threatened and you didn't feel threatened and we're all good. But I think that takes growing up.

Yeah.

And no, and I, I actually mentioned that big part of why we store fat is not feeling safe in our bodies. You know, it's really, it's a big like safety suit that we put on. And so when we don't feel safe, we project that sense of unsafety onto everyone around us and everyone is, you know, a potential threat. And a lot of women live in that state. You know, I have been harassed multiple times. Once with a knife in Brazil, recently in Bali. Walking late at night. Yeah.

And you're not a big person. What are you, like 4ft tall?

Pretty much. So, you know, so interesting. I was actually, it was a missing part of the chapter in the book and I was recording a voice note. Sometimes I go for walks and just like voice not what I want to say because I have such good ideas. And then when you said about laptop, it's not exactly, doesn't flow every time. And I was like, Recording a voice about like all women and the feeling of safety and how so much more important is for us to nurture that, not rely on our partner. Because I think then we're just in a very codependent relationship. You need to find that safety within you. And then this guy comes up and he starts harassing me on a bike, which was super intimidating, but all in the voice notes.

Oh, wow.

Yeah. And so I actually sent it to my fiance after I was like, you won't believe it. As literally as I'm leaving, leaving this voice note, it's there. But that made me realize how, you know, and then doing Aya and just kind of having this realization that we live in this, this feel, you know, we feel like, like pray a lot of times. And that makes us feel like we're constantly running from instead of kind of just stopping and just like, okay, cool, I need to own that feeling.

If you over fast or if you.

Just are going through aging in women.

Low libido.

Talk to me about why that happens.

So many reasons. So low libido is multifactorial. I tell people, imagine walking into a cockpit of a, of a plane and looking at all those buttons and dials. So it can be relationship. If you don't like your partner or you're not attracted to your partner, that has a lot to do with it. Neurochemistry. If we have too many inhibitory signals in our brain and not enough excitatory signals, hormones, as we age, our ovaries produce less and less testosterone. There was a consensus statement two years ago that testosterone is key and vital for women in all the domains of sexuality. You know, our lifestyle, you're working third shift, he's working second shift. You have young babies in the bed. Medications, illness, they're stress. You know, you're stressed about money, you're stressed about the pandemic. There are so many things that can interfere with sexuality. And the truth is that one out of every ten women struggle with something called hsdd. Right? We changed impotence to erectile dysfunction. We call low libido, which I feel like blames women. Hypoactive sexual desire disorder. And one out of every 10 women suffer from it at some point in their lifetime. And we have to decide when they need treatment. And as of 2015, there were zero treatments on the market, none for women. And now we have two that are FDA approved. And then we have a few that are off label treatments. Right. Meaning they're indicated for something else. But there's FSFI data. Female Sexual function index data proving that libido does increase. If you prescribe these medications.

And these are they.

They've stopped naming medications that you can pronounce.

Adi, A, D, D, Y, I and vilice.

Who names these things?

So I can say by Lisi, adi. What is that, Addie? Addie.

Is that how you say it?

All right, Addie.

So I have never experienced the effects.

Of these drugs because Lana doesn't. Doesn't use them. What are they?

How do they work?

So they work on different neurotransmitters in the brain, and basically they increase excitatory signals and decrease inhibitory signals. And they did a fascinating study where they took women who were struggling with hsdd, women who weren't, showed them erotica, I. E. Porn, and then put them in MRI machines and watched the neurochemistry. And what they saw with women who are struggling with HSDD is the parts of their brain that say, yes, I want to have sex, or yes, I'm gonna eat that cake, were very quiet. And the parts of their brain that told them no were very active. And the opposite pattern, women who weren't struggling with their libido. And so, yeah, so these medications work on neurochemistry, and they're non hormonal, which is really nice for patients who can't have hormones. Addie is every night, regardless of whether or not you want to have sex. So it is a female Viagra. It's not on demand. Vi Lisi is an injection given at least 45 minutes before you want to want to have sex. And it is on demand. So they both work differently.

Can you take them together?

No, that's okay.

It's one or the other.

Yeah, it's one or the other. And then I oftentimes will add testosterone, depending. But side effects are both different. Some are contraindicated for certain patients, but basically adding MET clinical guideline or endpoints as far as increased number of sexually satisfying events. So no more checking a box sex or keeping the peace sex in the marriage. You know, decreased distress about your sexuality and increased desire. So that's really, really nice. And some of my patients who are like, Dr. Debate, you have to fix this. Now. Addie can take six to eight weeks to work. No, I'm serious. They'll come in and be like, listen, I'm having a save the marriage weekend. And we're like, okay, well, then I can't give you this medication because it'll take too long. And so I'll prescribe by Lisi because that works immediately. Both Drugs have side effects, both drugs have non responders. So it's just setting expectations for patients. But you know, it's a travesty because Addie took six years to get FDA approved. Viagra took six months. You know, men have 26 options, women have two. And so it's been an interesting journey with the FDA and to even get best solutions out there that, you know, you can prescribe for patients.

Let's talk about something that's going to be more likely to help listeners right now and that's hormone replacement therapy. What's your take on it? Should women be replacing it? You're a fan.

All right, I'm a fan, yeah.

What about all the risks? I mean, people talk about cardiovascular, breast cancer, dementia, stroke, all these bad things.

That might happen if you have a young person's health.

So if you, here's what the latest data has shown. The American Heart association just came out with a review. They looked at the whi, the Women's Health Study, the Nurses study, Framingham and followed those patients out for 20 years. And they took two cohorts of people. And they said, all right, starting young, starting healthy. There's something magical about estrogen being protective. If you start with later, like late 50s, 60s, then it may exacerbate pre existing health conditions like Alzheimer's, dementia or cardiovascular disease. But if you start young at the very, you know, if you don't have an estrogen free interval, you know, a very small one. The women who were on hormone therapy in the form of estrogen plus or minus progesterone versus those who weren't and we follow them, have less cardiovascular disease, less death from cardiovascular disease, less all cause mortality and less mortality from cancer. So that's what the late, it's, it's an issue of timing seems to be it. So as far as what kind of put in your body, I don't use, I don't recommend Premarin, which is from Pregnant Mary urine. I don't do synthetics. They do, it's heavily for people.

You don't need to do that to pregnant.

I know. I say, look, I have an ethical issue with this. I have great options for you that are completely, completely, you know, I, I go with what your herbs used to make, which is estradiol. That's my, that's my drug of choice. And so I have lots of options. I have, I usually stick to a transdermal option because oral will bump up the clotting factors. About seven out of a thousand women will have a blood clot on oral versus transdermal. So I. I usually go with the transdermal option. A patch, a cream, you know, whatever her insurance will cover, or if she's out of pocket, we. We get out the apps and we start looking for the cheap and the best affordable option for her. Um, and then if she needs progesterone again, I'm trying to get as close to what the ovaries used to make, and that's going to be a micronized progesterone.

Do you find it offensive that insurance companies have anything to do with this?

Absolutely. Every day I fight this battle, and it makes me insane. The same with testing, you know, same with blood work. It's like, you know, they. I decide a patient needs X, Y, Z test based on my clinical experience and my level of expertise, and it is a battle. So in the clinic that I built for menopause, I don't take insurance. I try to keep the cost reasonable. I cover the labs with their visit costs, and then I have the freedom to order what I want to order. I also contract with a lab to get better pricing, you know, so I. I try to keep the costs down, but my patients are so happy because they're getting individualized care this way.

Yep. And there is, There is. There's so many connections between the insurance companies and. And big pharma, where. That's why Premarin, which is horse mary urine that provably causes problems when women use it, that. That's still on the list because it's covered by some insurance company somewhere.

Yeah.

So I'm getting a lot of questions from our live audience. And by the way, guys, if you're listening, you go to daveasprey.com and you can sign up for the Upgrade Collective. You can be in the live audience and ask questions and all. And it's really fun because we have this whole community of people who are part of the collective, and a lot of them are asking.

All right, Dave, Mary Claire just kind.

Of dropped a bombshell there, saying that if you've been off of hormones after menopause, that maybe starting isn't a good idea.

How long of a gap is too long?

So that's a great question because we just. So when they looked at the whi, which was the original study, that kind of left a generation of women bereft because of flawed science. The average age in that study was, I believe, 62 or 63. And the. So they were starting women on hormone therapy. So the average age of menopause is 51. So so more than half of these women had been menopausal for over 10 years. And so that's when I start counseling patients. Look, you know, they come in in their 60s, never been on, never offered hormone therapy. You know, they come in, they're interested in the discussion. I'm like, okay, well, let's look at your risk factors. Let's get a calcium score. Let's, you know, talk about Alzheimer's and dementia. And is this run in your family? You know, because these were the diseases that seemed to get worse if there was a pre existing condition when they started the hormone therapy. So it's not for everyone. It is absolutely not for everyone. But every woman deserves the conversation about her individual risks, benefits, potential health goals. You know, what does she want out of this? So I today, this morning was at my exercise class. I do a workout with a bunch of ladies, and one of them is my patient. She said, hey, can I ask you something on the side? I said, yes. We went in another room. So she's a breast cancer survivor and she is in my menopause clinic. And she said, I just saw the oncologist and, you know, I had stage one cancer, lumpectomy, chemo, and. And they want to put me on whatever. You know, it's not tamoxifen, it's something new. And she said, I'm reading everything and the risks and benefits. And I said, well, what percentage chance is. Is. Is this going to decrease your risk of getting recurrence? And she said, I don't know. And I said, well, that's probably what you want to ask. And she said, I'm worried that my quality of life's going to be so poor from the side effects of this medication. I said, look, the oncologist's only concern usually is that you don't get cancer again. That's their job.

Even if you're locked in a prison, as long as you're in cancer, they win, right?

And so your quality of life matters, your ability to sleep at night worried about getting recurrent cancer matters, you know, so it's all a balance. So I gave her a list of questions to ask, like, what is the percent? What am I gaining by this? What percentage? You know? And I said, for you, the risks of poor quality of life might outweigh any potential 1% chance decrease of recurrence. You know, think about it that way. And I don't think we're having those conversations with patients. We're all so worried about getting sued or the 1% that we're just missing the boat, that this is someone's life. You know, she's got to sleep at night, she's want to enjoy her sexual intercourse. I mean, it's going to take all, everything out of her vagina and just leave nothing left, you know, so. So I think it's really important that the patient goes in armed with questions, armed with information, asking the right questions to make sure she's making the right decision for her and her quality of life. It's not cookie cutter for everyone.

It's not.

So it sounds like the answer is that if someone's been menopausal for 10 years, the study showed a slight increase in potential risk, which, by the way, you could offset with some basic supplements like, oh, if your clotting factors go up, take some serrapeptase and there you go.

Now your clotting factors go down.

You have less fibrinogen because you took a cheap enzyme on an empty stomach that breaks up thrombin and fibrinogen, stuff like that. So, so then it comes down to, is quality of life higher when you're on hormonal replacement when you're in menopause?

Is it usually, yes, the quality of life is higher. Anytime you sleep better, especially if your sleep's disrupted, everything gets better. First thing I ask my patients is, how are you sleeping? Tell me about your sleep patterns. What's going on there? Because it's, you know, it's tied to so many things that when I talk about the menopausal toolkit, you know, HRT is just one small part of what I counsel patients about. Now, again, I went back to school. I have a nutrition background now. You know, we talk about nutrition, we talk about exercise, we talk about stress reduction, we talk about sleep, we talk about possible other pharmaceuticals, and of course we talk about supplementation. So it's all part, you know, it's like a tackle box and everything is important.

Many people out there are saying, oh, fasting doesn't work for perimenopause or for menopause. And I think it's because they're over fasting. Right. Talk to me about fasting for perimenopause.

Yeah, for when I first got into the studies and when, when the nutritionists were throwing things at me, I was really looking at lowering inflammation levels, you know, because perimenopause and menopause become a pro inflammatory state. And I'm like, what can we do with our world outside of medication to lower that naturally? And so many studies, you know, Mark Matson's work from the NIH on neuroinflammation. I mean that he just, you know, he's this wonderful PhD, doesn't make any money, worked for the NIH and this was just his passion and I was so intrigued by it. So when I started looking at, you know, the very few studies that were done for women in menopause, it looks like a 168 seemed to be pretty much the magic window, you know, where you weren't starting to chew up protein, you know, chew up your muscle to get get amino acids going, you know, it seemed to be enough to get the, the anti inflammatory benefits without moving into starvation. And so of course, you know, do I work 24 hour shifts at the hospital? Did I do a perfect 168 every day? No. Do I do one now? No. You know, so it's like most of the time I hit a 168 roughly if I'm traveling or ill or whatever. I eat when I'm hungry, but my body's just used to it now and I'm enjoying all of the anti inflammatory benefits and hopefully some longevity as well.

You're listening to the Human Upgrade with Dave Asprey.

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