Personalized Medicine and the Future of Health - Episode 323

One of the things is, is that my students and then also my patients, they all complain of one resounding thing is everyone hears all this conflicting information. That's the first thing. Then the second thing is of the things that are, we can mutually agree upon. They don't know how to implement it or how to start or where to start. So my passion is to solve those problems, give them a true framework to follow, and teach them that they're a category of one. As I say, you know, put themself at the center of the narrative. Don't live vicariously through other people's stories on the Internet. They'll make dogmatic statements like, all wellness begins and ends in the gut. Well, and then they treat the gut first. That ain't true. Your gut is reflective of way other things, you know. And then at the end of the day, you know, it's like you don't treat diseases. Support systems. And in order to support systems, you have to assess those systems.

Welcome to the Gladden longevity podcast with Dr. Jeffrey Gladden, where our passion is helping you to become an AJ hacker. On this show, we want to help you optimize your life energy, longevity, health and human performance with impactful and actionable information by answering four questions. How good can we be? How do we make 100 the new 30? How do we live well beyond 120? And how do we live young for a lifetime? Now here's today's episode of the Gladden Longevity Podcast.

Welcome, everybody, to this edition of the Gladden Longevity Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Jeffrey Gladden, and we're here answering big questions like how good can you be? How do you make 100 to new 30? How do you live well beyond 120? How do you live young for a lifetime? And how do you develop a 300-year-old mind? And today I'm going to be talking with a practitioner, Dr. Anthony Beck, who's a very passionate guy that's working on helping people adequately deconstruct their health. And we're gonna go pretty deep on this in terms of what it takes to actually, really understand where you are so you can make not only a rational and informed decision, but actually a good decision about how to proceed with either what to take or not to take, what to do or not to do, what to eat or not to eat. So we're gonna go deep on this. He's an interesting. We have a little bit of fun on the show, and I think you're going to enjoy it. Anthony, welcome. What's happening Longevity podcast.

Yeah, I like a little longevity.

Yeah, you like a little longevity. Okay, so talk to us a little bit about what you're up to in terms of your global education platform. It seems like you're on a mission to educate people in. And it sounds like you're educating people away from certain things, are actually helping them understand or evaluate the risks of certain approaches, which probably comes down to what I would call the limited vision of those approaches, if you will, the lack of a comprehensive, integrated approach. But talk us through a little bit of maybe even how you got into this. What's where. Where'd you come from to get into this field was this, you know, kindergarten. You woke up and said, you know, I want to be doing this when.

I'm whatever, you know, I mean, depending on how deep you want to go. So I'm a good old boy from North Carolina. Grew up, you know, poor as a day is long, single, wide trailer, you know, out in the sticks of Robinson County, North Carolina.

Okay.

You know, my mom, she was. Where it all really stems from, truth be told, is, you know, my mom was a type 1 diabetic because she was put into a coma by a steroid shot for a. What the docs thought when she was her mid-20s was some type of inflammatory thing going on her nose. And it was interesting, it was a fungal infection. They didn't know she came out of the Como. Next thing you know, her pancreas doesn't work. Anyway, so type one diabetic all her life. Of course she was a two pack a day smoker and you know, she was an alcoholic.

You got to support that tobacco industry over there.

I'm telling you. What, what North Carolina, baby. They took away all the tobacco, now they got pigs. But anyways, okay, so that's kind of what it was. So we were. My mom loved, you know, the fact that, you know, there was, you know, something that I really enjoyed when I was a young thing. She managed hotels and so I got into. She stuck me in the back, you know, at the, in the restaurant portion of it. So I became a, a cook at age 10. Next thing you know, I was going to be a chef as my first career. So I was in, you know, food and beverage management, blah, blah, blah. But. But then, you know, the days of Top Gun came out. You know, this is the, you know.

Late 80s, early 90s, right? Was that.

Yeah, well, that's when I was in school, so I started Old Dominion. Anyways, so I was an ROTC guy. I was going to get my Commission in the Marine Corps and, you know, fly jets and I was just up for service selection and then it turns out, you know, I was hanging out with all the SEAL guys in Little Creek in Virginia beach, and then like, I was like, dude, I'm not going to do that. You guys are crazy. But then this blonde hair, blue eyed chick walked into my life and I had to, I had to change some plans.

Okay.

Anyway, so without boring all that, I switched over to, you know, sports, med exercise, fizz and all that kind of stuff. But anyway, so the long and short.

Of it is you left the military to chase your. Your sweetheart. Is that what.

Yes. Now I was never active duty. I didn't, I didn't, I didn't swear in because like Lily, last minute doc, it was pretty fun.

Well, you were. But.

Yeah. So that's where it came from. That's that little, quick little story was I was in a different path, so then I had to switch over and then, you know, it was that kind of a deal.

But I'm guessing you were in active duty with your. Your sweetheart, right? So.

No. So I was not active duty. That's what I'm saying. I walked away from a commission. So now that I was going to do it, but then she's like, I don't. I grew up in Virginia Beach. I don't want to, you know.

Yeah.

Married with somebody.

I think you missed a joke.

Oh, sorry, go ahead.

Well, that was the joke that you were in active duty with your blonde haired sweetheart.

Oh, yeah. Oh, very active duty.

There you go.

Oh, we did wait. I mean, we waited, you know, seven years before I had my first girl, so.

Okay, good for you.

Anyways, so that's a little good to know you. But that's where it came from. So I, you know, so by profession.

So let's talk about, let's talk about the mystery woman here. So what. What was she doing that pulled you into the exercise? So was she involved with that or.

Gosh, no. She was a hairdresser. She was, she was managing a hair salon.

Okay, got it.

Was my first mistake. No, I'm just kidding.

There you go. So your hair looks pretty good. So how about.

That was a long time. Well, we're divorced. I'm remarried, so we had a. I didn't think we were talking about this on the podcast. I'm very transparent.

You've got some residual. Some residual hair.

Yes. I got a daughter out of it, so she's. She's 25 now. I delivered her myself at home though, so I got those bragging rights. That was pretty, that's impressive. Pretty crazy. But, but yeah, so we had a 16 year run and it was tough and you know, the medical practice. So I, I became an ND and a dom by profession. But without getting into all that more personal stuff, it's, it really came down to the thing to where you know, this was, you know, seeing in the, in the late 90s when you know, functional medicine was kind of coming around. And you know, we had the initial stuff with like, you know, Bland and Heyman and all the other kind of guys. So I was a pioneer at the beginning too. And then, you know, then the, the longevity space wasn't really called longevity back in, you know, 05 when I was a faculty with you know, a 4am and I lectured for AMMG and stuff like that. So.

Right.

You know, you know, at the end of the day I just through the whole thing though, and this is really kind of where, you know, it kind of comes around to what I do is, is, you know, it's, it's just being a huge patient advocate and I've, you know, being an integrative and functional medicine guy, you know, I embrace whatever works for the patient. Not just, you know, nuts, twigs and you know, berries.

Sure, yeah. I mean we're, we're the same, we're agnostic to where the solution comes from. As long as it's working for the individual, that's it, we're, we're good. Right. So. Yeah, I think, yeah. So in that, you know, functional medicine training slash education slash being an educator and being a practicing physician, practicing clinician, then you've, you've since transitioned out into full time education or part time education or.

Yeah, so. Right. Probably it was just about 2010, 2011 is when I just by demand, I had so many other, you know, clinicians in the space, MD, DOs, DCs, nurse practitioners, PAs, they were, they wanted to learn how to have their own space instead of, you know, flipping the little tiles at the top of the door and grabbing the chart out of the back of the door and just you know, 7.6 minutes, you know, the model. And I was like, well, you know, and I've been when two, when I lost, when I that first marriage ended, you know, in circa end of 2008, you know, I started virtual. So I was one of the first people to start pioneering doing things virtual. And I had already been lecturing. So fun little story was is I had one of my students out in Vegas and I would go out to Vegas and travel. Because I would also teach and lecture for, you know, Genova Diagnostics, you know, a lot of spectracell, different people. So I would help them train clinicians in their testing and. Because I helped them develop their tests. And so the thing is, is what ends up happening is like, man, I wish you could see some of the patients here. I said, well, I'm in Florida. I said, well, tell you what, let's mo of TV there and put a Skype camera up there. And we started doing that. So I kind of created that in 09. So I've been. I did a virtual practice that far back and it was very successful. And so I grew that and taught a bunch of people to do it. And so that's kind of where that evolved. And then I would do. I would have different compounding pharmacies, you know, sponsor me to do different training intervals and stuff. So that's really what kind of got me. Whatever. So I've been doing virtual for a long time. Both patients all around the world, but then also training other clinicians because they wanted to have their own practice. Right. So they were not having to, you know, have that type of money.

Right, okay. Yeah. And that's really caught on. And of course, that was a big. A big swing towards that during COVID and everything else. A lot of people.

Yeah, So I was way ahead of the curve when Covid happened. I'd have been doing almost a decade, so.

Yeah, exactly. So you're way ahead. Well, more than a decade, quite honestly, at that point.

Yeah, that's right. With all blends.

So anyway. Yeah. So now what's your passion? I mean, what are you most passionate about?

Well, and that's what's really cool. I mean, so I've done that and I still do it, but being out there in the space and watching what's happened in social media grow, because I was doing that before people even had Facebook or anything like that. Right. So I kind of watched all that come through. So what I've done is I've finally listened to what was out there in the space. There's a lot of what I call the noise and confusion of the infospace. No lack of people telling their shtick. And a lot of them, you know, have, you know, their passion as well on different topics. But unfortunately there's this infective thing, you know, which is digital marketing. Right. We're all competing for everyone's attention. Right. And, you know, we, we all, we all have our own thing to sell, if you will. And I'm a capitalist. So I mean, I don't, I don't mind at all. But one of the things is, is that my students and then also my patients, they all complain of one resounding thing is everyone hears all this conflicting information. That's the first thing. Then the second thing is of the things that are, we can mutually agree upon. They don't know how to implement it or how to start or where to start. So my passion is to solve those problems, give them a true framework to follow, and teach them that they're a category of one. As I say, you know, put themself at the center of the narrative. Don't live vicariously through other people's stories on the Internet.

Yeah, there's a lot that's, that's a lot of wisdom in that. You know, it is interesting. There are a lot of people with big names with compelling data research and everything else presenting on, you know, whatever it is. Right.

And, well, the trouble with the data they use, though, if I can just interject on that, is people don't understand how science and data and studies work. They, they stack the deck of who are the participants? And so you can look at data and go, well, it had, you know, 27 people. I'm like, would you have qualified for the study? Well, if no, then that it doesn't necessarily apply to you just because you're a homeo sapien.

That's right. So this is a really good point about double blind placebo controlled trials as being the arbitrator of truth. Right. I think it's, it's really. I was on a panel in Chicago with a guy who's a PhD and I brought up the use of peptides, and he got very indignant about the fact that there's no double blind randomized placebo controlled trial, so they couldn't possibly be of any value. Right. And it was like, I tell people.

There'S none of those, that parachutes work either.

That's right. And to your point, there's never been a double blind placebo controlled trial on, you know, parachutes or life rafts or anything else. Right. So I know.

Or love. I mean, geez Louise, we've all experienced it, but no one can control it or define it, and it's just completely illogical.

That's right. It can't possibly be true. My point is that if you have, you know, I'll use a philosophical term, if you've got an epistemology that basically, you know, depends on a double blind placebo controlled trial, then you're in a world of hurt, quite honestly. Right. A world of hurt. And the other thing about those trials, to your point, is there's a lot of selection bias and then there's a lot of statistical manipulation at the back end to find somebody, some subset somewhere that had some kind of a response that we can call positive and then basically we get approved. And now it's marketed as a generally applicable kind of treatment, if you will. Right. So it's, it's, it's really to your point. And we like data and we're not saying we don't like data for sure. We love to see data. We love to see data, we love to see well done data, we like to be informed and yet we know that it's. Every person is an N of 1. Right? To your point, every person's an N of 1. And it really requires, I think in what we do here, a very deep construction, deconstruction rather of the individual to understand who they are before we ever make a single recommendation.

Oh man. And that's the litmus, that's the thing I'd rather self teach people, you know, what to think. I want to teach them how to critically think and to begin that they have to be put at the center of it because, and that's just it, I'm a data driven guy. That's what I, that's the standard that I demand is for people to have their own personal data do it. But, but then that's a perfect example that kind of leads into. One of the troubles that's out there in the info space now is of course people trying to do it solely with gene tests. You know, hey, take this one gene test, they look at five SNPs and then they, you know what a supplement or even these other DNA companies that have do a bunch of SNPs and they're all doing it because like, well, my genes are unique to me. So see, we start speaking the same vernacular, but we're talking two entirely different things because genes don't tell you function at all. It doesn't tell you status in real time. It's risk and certain we use them.

Tendencies, basically genes are perfect.

That doesn't mean do it.

That's right. Yeah, that's right, yeah. So here's the thing. I just had this conversation earlier today with a client on a, on a zoom call who we were talking through her stuff and we're going to recommend that she get a clearly CTA scan. Right? And the reason we're doing that is that we Looked at her cardiovascular system through about eight different lenses. Right. So we know her genetics. We want to know what those are. You know, we looked at what her lipid profile is. We know what her LP is. We did a cardiopulmonary exercise test where she actually scored better than she has in the past. And yet her stroke volume deteriorates at a faster rate with increasing workload than it ever has. Right. Which is a subtle indicator and probably the most sensitive indicator of some form of blockage. Then we looked at her glycocalyx with a scope, and she really has a deficiency in her microvasculature and her glycocalyx function. And then we look at her blood pressure, we look at the stiffness in her arteries, we look at her carotid intimal medial thickness. And the reason we do this is because in medicine, there is never one test that tells you what's going on.

No, there's not.

Right. There's never one test. And it's. It's really important for the audience to understand this, that in order to get something to come into focus, you have to look at it through multiple lenses. Kind of like a fly with a compound eye. Right. Sees the world through multiple lenses and creates a, you know, a working image that it works.

I completely agree.

That's how medicine is. And so you can never, ever go to a company and say, well, do your test and I'm going to take your supplements. Right. It's like, no, give me your data problem. Let me integrate that with six other tests or 12 other tests that actually show me where I'm at now. I actually know what to do.

Right.

And I think this is really a missing piece. It's something we, you know, kind of do in spades over here, but I find it missing a lot of times.

Right, well, and that's. That's the. That's the. The. The punchline for my passion is, is. Is how can I take that exact same thing and then insert where I come from? And so I literally created a test panel that is a starting point for everyone, regardless of who they are or where they are. They can bring that into clinicians such as yourself or myself. And we've already got that part covered. So I'm sure you're familiar with Genova diagnostics, right? So they've been around for a long time. I've been with them for 30 years. So they love my, you know, approach, balance protocol. And they're like, well, what do you. Cause I've consulted them a lot. I Helped them, you know, before they launched their GI stuff for the nutritional panel for years and like I said, educated for them. But the thing was is I'm like, but it's still missing in the market. A curated one that people can do. And also it's not so complicated. So we put together a fantastic array of initial functional labs at an at home kit that doesn't require going and getting phlebotomy.

Yeah, that's great.

And we included DNA SNPs in it too. So that's so. And that's the thing. So that data is foundational because we talk about, you know, nutritional things and stuff. And then of course those physical exams and stuff, they're powerful. I mean we can't do everything virtually. You have to have, you know, the hands on and there's certain equipment that has to be, you know, applied. Yeah.

We find biometric testing, you know, to be incredibly useful. For example, when it comes to thyroid, we find thyroid misdiagnosed all the time.

Yeah.

Because people are looking at blood tests, it's like, well, your T is such as normal, you know, your T3 looks okay, you know, all that and it's like it might even be optimal. What we find is that if you don't know the resting metabolic rate, you know, you don't really know where they're at systemically. And if you don't know their genetics for their DIO2 gene, about how they convert inactive T4 to T3 in the brain, you're missing another massive piece. Right. So it's.

And then you got talking heads out there that are saying T4 to T3 is, is a methylation pathway and it happens in the gut. I don't know if we want to drop names, but yeah, I mean these people are just lying. It's crazy.

Exactly. The gut will impact stuff. But I'll tell you, I originally tried using T3 T4 ratios and I'm very quickly got very disenchanted with it. But we find resting metabolic rates to be super, super helpful.

Yeah.

So that and genetics as well. The point being that if you're listening to this is that you want to be working with somebody that can give you really precision and that means that they have the, the understanding capability to actually look at you through multiple lenses, to actually get, get your stuff to come into focus. Otherwise it's going to be blurry and you're going to make mistakes.

Yeah. And when I created this test called Nutracor X it's. What is the name of it? So we, we Take a look at a tremendous amount, over 120 biomarkers. And you know, it's one of those things is, is you, that's that you can take into a practitioner who looks through a, you know, a multi lens such as yourself. Because, because that was just it. That's what I was trying to say, doc, is that if people don't know, it's overwhelming. It's all these things, all these practitioners. And so I was like, well, how can I solve the problem of the patient needing foundational information on vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids. Mm, okay. And then a curated set of, you know, genes that help us make decisions to translate those. You see what I mean? Like everybody's all MTHFR these days. And if so you gotta do this. I'm going, eh, that's not how that works. You can't just go, I have mthfr. And then therefore I need to take, you know, methyl vitamins. Well that's. First of all, MTHFR doesn't govern what people think it governs anyways, that whole folate thing is not correct. They're on the wrong gene. Snp, it's dhfr. But aside from that, that's not a functional test. So I have people functionally test their form of amino glutamic acid, their methylmalonic acid, their kidney rhinin pathway. So then we know those. So then when you go into the things like you do, it's just an added benefit. You've got it foundationally. It's like literally going through, you know, basic English and math. Remember we all took comm 101 in college. Like why are we doing that? So I think that's the biggest issue, and that's where my passion has turned to now, is supporting that patient encounter with my fellow practitioners, like you, to give access to fundamental data that they can bring to the picture. So that way they can facilitate that experience clinically with competent practitioners.

Yeah, that's, that's, that's quite cool. Yeah, we're building an app over here that we'll be introducing. We're going to be doing some beta testing on it shortly actually. And it's going to have the ability to offer testing and, and supplements and other things and also be able to ultimately be able to connect people to local practitioners that can, that can help them. Right. It's the idea with this.

There are good ones out there, you know, but. Oh yeah, for sure. And I've trained lots of them. But you know, the thing is, is my fun thing though is a social Media is very pill, potion, powder, gadget, gizmo heavy. You know, the longevity space and the biohackers have just corrupted it. It is ripe with fraud and grifting. I don't mean to be negative, but I want people to know that. Right? So these people are. If you're taking absence of data about you specifically in real time, now translate it through your personal story, then, you know, you might do okay. But most people, their story, if not most, I'm say the vast majority have told the story. Yep. I took this because I heard this, and they all have that cabinet of those bottles of good intentions. Right. Well, I heard this was good for this. And the peptide world is doing that too. I mean, I still have, you know, melanitan, two spots on my abdomen from when I started, you know, messing with that in six. And, you know, because I'm. You can see I'm a white boy, right, you know, from North Carolina, but I got some Cherokee in me, so I do tan. But at the end of the day, you know, it's like, peptides are great. Okay? But it's like, well, where's your starting point? Well, this is great for mitochondria. Okay, well, have you tested your mitochondrial organic acids to know what's going on? You're gonna demand from them better performance with this, you know, this turbo boost. But you don't. You haven't even looked and saw are the. Are the rings of the pistons, you know, Right. Or not. So that's what I'm trying to tell people is like, listen, we've got all these fun things in the longevity space, but you don't even know where you're at right now to start.

That's exactly right. That's exactly right. Yeah. You really have to deconstruct thoroughly. Right. It's. I. The analogy I like to use is each of us is a Formula one card. And if you're a. If. Right. If you're a Formula one car, you've basically got sensors on everything. You know, pressure. Right. You know, wing angle, you know, suspension settings, you know, horsepower output, you know, everything there is to know. Driver inputs, you know, the rate of change of steering, you know, anything you can think about is being tracked. And so the idea for the. For the human is that we are. We are much more complicated than a Formula one car.

Oh, for sure.

And yet. And yet we're making decisions with way less data than they have about that car.

Yeah. And every one of those, I have patients in the pit crews, you know, they have computers, they Plug it in. They still rely on information and where they run that car geographically, like when they're out in Vegas doing it there and whatever, they're going to run it different than if they're in Monte Carlo. It's entirely the environment changes.

Humidity, the air. The air, altitude, you know, all of it.

It's incredible.

Everything. Right. And it does for us too. Except, you know, we're biologically, we're. Because we're biological, we're more adaptable than a Formula one car. Every. Every adaptation has to be programmed into it, whereas we have programming already built in. And yet it's really, really important for us to just think about that and think about how little we know about what's really going on.

Right, Right.

You know, one of the other things that comes out is people getting full body MRI scans and being told they don't have cancer. Right. It's like, oh my gosh, what are we even talking about? Right?

I know, man.

It's really. I think it's really kind of tragic. Or I scan. I had a calcium score of 15, so my heart's good. I'm fine. It's like, oh my gosh.

Right. Yeah.

It couldn't be further from the truth.

Right.

That you can be sure about that. Right. It's true that you have a score of 15. That's great. Okay, great. But it's not true that you really understand where you are cardiovascular. It's not true with an MRI scan that, you know, whether you got cancer or not.

Yeah. And then you have these people now they're. They're going to these longevity clinics and they're, you know, getting eboo, or they're getting into a med bed and they're hitting them with all these things and it's all cool and sexy and, you know, the. I'm going, hold on a second, you guys. I mean, everybody is entitled to what they do. Like I said, it's always buyer beware. But again, that's where I try to. I come back to foundational things. I can't be all things to all people. But if they want a high integrity, you know, in person, focused, you know, roadmap, then they have to have. There's certain little things that you have to look for. And that's what I show people to do, you know, and we all have our place. There's billions of people on the planet and our influence is limited. And I'm not the right clinician for everybody. You know, my personality alone is going to differentiate that.

Just North Carolina probably rules out 90%, 98%.

If you're a little, you know, a little on the blue state side, we might not really, you know, agree on a lot of things. So, and I accept all that. You know, I mean, I tell people, you, you know, you cannot love or out give me. That's the thing. I really, you know, make sure that people realize that I see things from an individualized space and I take that to heart in so many things and afford people that space. But of the ones that do, and it resonates. And if they want high integrity and they're tired of all that kind of fun stuff, then hey, man, come on home. Or come come visit this new place. Because it works. And that's why I tell my colleagues like you, I play well with others.

Right.

In other words, there's things that I can do that will fill the gap of clinical time, you know, and prep your patients. Right. Because I love to focus on air, water, light, sound, EMF and food. We call that the environmental inputs. Right. And, and then we let's look functionally at some systems and get some initial data and it's not expensive either. That's the other thing. As you know, in our space stuff, you know, I'm a premium person, you know.

Yeah, no, it can, it can get expensive, particularly spending labs around the world and doing all kinds of. Oh yeah, I mean, there's some good stuff out there, right? So.

Oh, for sure.

You're gonna run an F1 car.

It's gonna, yeah, you got to pay. There's stickers on those hoods and that, that chassis for, I mean, every available spot onto your point. That's exactly right. They're like, hey, I want that lower left, you know, place above the, the gas can.

There you go.

Yeah, that's wild. But, you know, that's, that's the big trouble that's out there is the marketing based stuff. So I, I, that's tough for people, but I think they're starting to see it more now.

Yeah, no, that's good. So where do, where do people find you if they want to learn more about this?

Well, you know, my main place is mymethod.com so balance, protocol.com, everything is there. You can really, that'll direct you to various other places. Of course. I have an ebook they can grab that just details my entire shtick. Right. What is balance protocol? What's the framework? Where's this guy coming from? You know what, what are, what, you know what, what are my, what's my creed, if you will, all that's there, you know, there's a couple of options when it comes to I built an entire community so that way people can come do that. Because I didn't like getting censored and put in Facebook jail because, you know, I was talking, you know, contrarian. So that's my other. My other c. You know, so. But yeah, so balance protocol.com is. Is the hub. And then, of course, all across social media at Balance Protocol, they'll find me in content and other podcasts that I've been on. And, you know, my message is pretty clear. People pick it up really fast. It's really easy to see where I'm at.

It is. It's straightforward, but it's also resonates deeply with us. You know, the concept of being n of 1. The concept of there is no one test that tells you everything, and yet, that being said, you've got to start someplace.

Yeah, that's my concept. I call it Q square. M square. So qualify, quantify, measure, and monitor. Yeah, See, I got my stick, too. Right? So that's it. And then context cubed. It's all about context. Context contest. Just like real estate is Location, location, location. It's like, okay, well, you have this. It's good one with your arteries and then your lipid panel. Okay, but what's your story? Where do you live? What's your geographic location? You know, what. You know, what's your control pause? You know, what other things do? What medications are you on? What are your genes? There's. It's. I wish it was simple. We're trying to. But, yeah, it's.

It's just not simple at this point. Right. Because there's. There's so many factors that go into it. You know, I mean, when you think of cardiovascular, gut health, oral health, I mean, there's so many different critical. Right.

Yeah, all of it. And people like, well, can't you just tell me, Doc? I'm like, no, this is what you're not doing. You're not practicing for your obituary. We're not trying to just write a quick little blurb. I said, you kind of are, though, because, you know, you're digging your grave with your teeth. But, you know, at the end of the day, there's nothing is simple. Being a parent's not simple. Running, opening a business, managing people, building a house. It's not simple.

That's right. Staying married is not simple for that.

Right. Yeah, you got to. You got to do it. You got to put the effort in. But, you know, I want to teach A litmus. And that's what balanced protocol gives people.

Yeah, that's great. Well, I think one of the things about it is that when people really do this and they start to feel great again, you know, and the big thing that we see, we get these messages all the time from our clients is that, and when they're in the office talking to us, it's like, oh my gosh, I can't believe the difference between me and my peers. They're all sitting around complaining about, you know, what's bothering them. And we're, you know, planning hikes in, you know, the Patagonia and flying into Central America and we're, you know, we're doing all kinds of stuff. Right. And, and we feel great. Right. And that's, that's the payoff. So if you're listening to this and it sounds like a lot of work, the reason that it's worth it is because you get to, in our terminology, you get to live young for a lifetime. Right. So that's, that's really, really a powerful thing to be able to do.

Sure. I mean, that's what I'm going for. I mean, yes, we all want to be, you know, live 120, you know, I'm 53, so you know, I'm over the hill, you know, and, but at the end of the day, you know, I have, you know, nine and 12 year old daughters, I have a 25 year old, my wife's 17 years younger than me. So I mean, I got a lot of things in place that keep me that way. But, you know, but the key here is, is to understand that what people are up against is they see what's on top of mind awareness out there in the info space and they see these gurus and people flaunting their celebrities and $50,000 for light beds and oxygen machines and PMF stuff or whatever.

That's right.

And then, so then that, that attracts everybody. It's a very slim population that can have all those. I have all that in my house, of course, because I wanted to test it. But the vast majority of people don't need it. Right. And so, but, so then for those people, they say, well, oatmeal is for the peasants. You shouldn't be doing that. You need grass fed, grass finished beef and paying, you know, $40 a pound for a high quality protein. And then, oh, by the way, buy all my supplements. And I'm going, but, but hold on a second. Right, so there's a lot of lack of integrity in our colleagues out there. Knock. I'm gonna take it.

This is true. So, yeah. Buyer beware, buyer be careful. And also understand you are an F1 car, and it does take some. Some serious deconstruction to actually get it right for you. And if you struggled with it not getting it right, we've had a lot of people come in here that haven't gotten it right at other places. And they come in here, we figure things out for them.

You know, they keep questing, which is good. They haven't given up. That's what's awesome.

That's right. But the approach matters. It really does. Mm. It's really. I think you don't. You don't really want to know what your doctor does as much as how they're thinking and how they go about it. Right.

I agree.

Us is what questions are they asking? Are they asking the question, how many people can I put through my red light bed? Or are they asking the question, how do we actually get it right for this individual? How do we actually crack the code for them? Right. And that's.

That's why I was excited to come on here and speak with like minded, because a lot of other people that. It's. That. That. Right. You there. That you just said. Yeah. It's not. It's not the standard.

No. Well, it's not the usual. It's not the usual.

I talk about it.

I think it is the standard. Quite honestly, I think it is.

Well, it is the same, but I'm talking about. Yeah, I agree. Touche. You know what I mean? Because I always say raise your standard, but that's not the common practice. And you can. You could see the. See the. Where you don't go. They like, hey, well, listen, they'll. They'll make dogmatic statements like, all wellness begins and ends in the gut. Well, and then they treat the gut first. That ain't true. Your gut is reflective of way more other things, you know, and then at the end of the day, you know, it's like, you don't treat diseases. Support systems. And in order to. Support systems, you have to assess those systems.

That's right.

You know, and we use the pills, potions, and powders, but they got to tell you when to stop. But. But it made me so much better. It felt good. When I was taken, I said, great war. You're there now. Yes. Okay, well, then, you know what? You can let it go.

Yeah.

You know, I mean, people love to pop the pills example. Just a shameless plug because, you know, methylene blue got a lot of stuff in our space. So I literally, I took the time to write the book on it called the Blue Molecule. Right. So they. This isn't even on Amazon, but because I wanted to answer it. It's a tool. It's not for everybody. It has its thing. So the true name is the science, the power, and the risks of methylene blue. So what people have to realize is, is that we have tools, but you need to really work with a competent practitioner who can guide you through that journey. If you're trying to do it on your own, great. We can get some information. But let's be very clear that to truly overcome and to live the age of a tree, you're going to have to have, you know, some mentoring. You're going to have to have some help and support that. There's no getting around it. You know, formula one teams don't win. It's a freaking ant fest. And you know what? And they have everybody doing the same thing, and they usually win by just a clink. I love that analogy we brought into this because that's exactly right.

Yeah, no, it's. It's true. It's really true. And there's a team of people that are working on them, but they're all synchronized. And that's another important thing that. That we do with our clients. We may not be their only practitioner. They may be seeing somebody else. Right. An orthopedic or some sort of surgeon someplace or something like that. We coordinate with those people.

Right, Exactly.

Everything stays synchronized. Right, Got it. It's. What's interesting is that some. Some traditional docs are receptive and some are just like, you know, no, I don't even want to talk to that guy. But that's fine. We figure out a way to kind of work around that, too. But when you can actually collaborate, because we're willing to collaborate, then I think that's really in the client's best interest. Right.

It's 100%.

Another real differentiator is, does the practice have the client's best interest at heart, or is it really about them kind of growing their own empire or their own financial thing or whatever it is. Right.

Because patients need to know that they're the boss. Boss. We work for them.

That's right. They're the boss. And if you want them to collaborate with somebody else, they should be willing to collaborate with somebody else. Right. They're there. You're writing the check to them. They should be there to service you. Right. So.

Yes, but see, that insurance model is the. Is whatever. Because if some he who pays the bills or she who pays the bills, you know, makes the rules. And so a lot of what we do is of course out of pocket fee for service or whatever, but even if they're in that insurance model, if they're going to a primary or whatever, my message to them is, hey, listen, you don't have to stay there, don't. If you don't have somebody who's listening to what you want to do, that's it. It's like I have a trust. I don't own anything. Everything is all on trust. So I have a foreign trustee. Okay. But I'm still the trust protector. I could fire and replace that trustee.

Sure.

Right. I don't handle the day to day business of it. But so people need to understand when you have these people working as trustees on your case, you need to protect what you, what you've granted to it. And you see what I mean? And so people need to realize and hear very succinctly, don't stay with anybody who robs you of your happiness or peace or your health. If you ever leave a clinician's office and you're like upset or bothered or whatever, you gotta go replace the pit crew, baby. Because at the end of the day, it's gonna cost you. It's not what you're in it for. So patients need to be again, see that center, focus. They really gotta drive that home.

Yeah, that's right. No, it really is, it's really very client focused, patient focused. So good stuff.

Yeah. Another. You're not in an echo chamber. But we, we resonate and share the same message because we can't all be the same, you know what I mean? We can't just have everybody, you know.

Yeah, no, it's perfect. Yeah. Well, I appreciate you coming on the show and.

Yeah, man. Hey, thanks for having me. I'm always grateful to, to, you know, to do this kind of stuff because, you know, at the end of the day, we always want to be, you know, not protective of our audience, but you know, we do, you know, opposing views are fine, but it's good to let them also know that, hey, listen, there, there's others and things like that that, you know, so don't feel, you know, left out when it comes to that. And I'm always very grateful, you know, to, to have the eyes and ears of a following that, you know, you've already earned the, you know, the trust and love of. So, you know, I'm humbled to be here and I appreciate the visit Yeah.

I appreciate that too. I appreciate you coming on.

So yeah man.

Okay buddy.

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