80: Biohacking, Balance, and the Science of Longevity: Revolutionizing Women’s Health with Kayla Barnes-Lentz

Foreign.

Hello and welcome.

I'm Dr. Jen Simmons, a breast cancer surgeon turned integrative oncologist on a groundbreaking mission to transform the conversation around breast health. If you're seeking to redefine the way that you think about breast health, you're in the right place. Breast health isn't just an aspect of well being. It is health, integral and indispensable. Here on the Keeping Abreast podcast, we delve deep into the innovative ways to diagnose, treat, screen for, and prevent breast cancer. But it's more than that. It's about having the crucial conversations that empower, enlighten, and drive us all to a healthier place. As someone who has navigated the front lines of breast cancer treatment and now champions an integrative approach, I bring a unique perspective to these discussions, blending rigorous science with holistic health principles. Health is a journey, not a destination, and I am truly honored to accompany you on this path. Each episode aims to provide you with actionable insights and cutting edge strategies to take charge of your breast health and.

Your overall well being.

So whether you're here to learn about the latest in medical advancements or seeking tips on lifestyle changes that foster real health, then the Keeping Abreast podcast is your go to resource. Let's embark on this journey together, because when we talk health, every conversation matters. And now stay tuned for this week's episode.

Get ready everyone. Get in your seat, get comfy and be prepared to take lots of notes and be prepared to really hear things that are life changing today. Because I have none other than than Kayla Barnes Lentz with us today. And I am so excited to just dig deep into everything that you're doing, everything that you're up to. And we have a lot of timely stuff to talk about today as well. But just a little intro in case you don't know. Kayla, she is the owner of Live the wellness space. This is one of the country's most innovative precision medicine and biology upgrading clinics. She's the host of the Longevity Optimization podcast, which I had the honor of being on a few months ago. And we definitely stirred the pot when I was on your podcast.

And you.

Are quoted as being the most measured woman in the world. So let's start by talking about that. Like you, you basically track and measure everything and you pull, put it all out there for the world to see. How does that feel?

Really good question. I don't get that a lot. It feels really good. First and foremost, you know, you and I both know that there's not nearly enough data on women. Right. The studies historically have not included us hardly any. And, and that is, it's sad. It's 2025 and I feel like we're at the ground floor of women's health research. Like we literally are starting from the bottom. So the way I perceive that is if we don't have a lot of great data and literature to rely on, then we have to start doing it ourselves. We both know that even in medicine, right. That it can take 20 or 30 years, even if it was proven out in the science, to then actually become part of practice. Right. You're, you're a medical doctor. It takes so much long to get something proven and then incorporate it. You know, as an aside, my mom.

Is jabbing people with something and then it's six months.

There you go. There you go. So my mom is, you know, in her 50s, she lives in Ohio in a small town and she's going to her regular doctor and she's being cautioned heavily that she should not be doing HRT because it will cause cancer. I mean. Yeah.

So 20 year old data that has been completely retracted is entirely scientifically disputed. And yet two decades worth of physicians still talking this narrative, this very controlled, contrived narrative. I mean, it was there for great purpose, Right. There was a reason why they had those findings. And that's because why would you give one treatment, medication, whatever you want to call it, when you can give them antidepressants and anxiolytics and sleep medications and medications for their heart and medications for the cholesterol and medications for their bones and medications for reflux and on and on and on. Right. So why give HRT when you can instead give 7, 8, 9, 10 medications? And that's what that was about.

Yeah.

And yet still your mother is still getting this advice.

Shocked. I mean, of course, you know, I own a clinic. I'm like, mom, please, you know, just go see our providers, me. But I was shocked that this was still being told to her. So how that relates to my feelings about what I'm doing is at the minimum, I'm doing n of 1 testing of myself, right. Trying to be as rigorous as possible with my controls. And then I'm putting that data out there and we're of course covering the basics, right. Like my lifestyle has been established with all the basics that everybody listening and I'm sure we'll go into, but things like sleep and nutrition and you know, stress reduction, all of those things. Exercise. But I'm also incorporating a lot of this more innovative and A little bit more boundary pushing therapies, things like we offer in my clinic, things like ozone and nad, and then even going up to stem cell therapy. So I think that we need people doing this because it does move us along in some way. And we need for Women by women protocols. I am so grateful for all the men, you know, a lot of them you and I know, that have been, you know, really well known in this industry. I think when you think about biohacking and longevity, you think of all men. You know, we have Dave and Ben and Brian and, and all these great people. But when I started my biohacking health optimization journey, you know, I was following some of these for Men by men protocols, as I call them, and I wasn't having great results. You know, I was doing too much fasting, too much cold plunging. I was watching my thyroid numbers decline. I was watching my hormones become more dysregulated. I was, you know, trying some of these, these diets that might work for men but weren't working for me. And I was watching my gut become more, you know, imbalanced. So that's when I decided, you know, if, if not me, then who? I might as well put the data out there. I am in a position to do so, right? So I have this longevity clinic because we know that it can be really inaccessible to do a lot of these lab tests that I'm doing on a quarterly or even more frequent basis. So if I can do them and just put that information out there for women, you know, we know that I'm going to be different and have different needs than maybe you do. But at least we have some info, right? And we're opening up the conversation. So how can women live with less chronic disease? We know that women live longer than men, right? About, you know, four to six years or I think about 4.5 years longer on average. But we're also living with more chronic disease, more autoimmune conditions. So number one goal is to open the conversation about where we're at and the status of health, the same thing you're doing, which I'm obsessed with, and then have potentially practical ways, or at least, you know, eye openers as to maybe I should do this total talks task, because I wasn't thinking about my toxic burden as a woman. And you and I know that women experience significantly higher levels of toxic exposure on average than men. So let's think about a total toxic burden and let's like, you know, Kayla did this type of detox, maybe that works for me. And I can bring it to my doctor or maybe I can find a doctor that is more progressive, you know, like you are, that's thinking about these things. So it makes me feel really good to do that. Of course there's always some criticisms along the way, right. I live an interesting life. You've been to my house. I basically have a medical clinic inside my home. So some criticisms come along the way with doing things that are different. I think a lot of people believe that I might not be enjoying life based on this sort of like discipline in my day to day. But you know, Jen, I there to me there's nothing better than feeling amazing. To me, things like going out drinking on the weekends or staying up late or you know, binging on junk food. The way I've trained my mind is just to think of those things as poison, right? Because. Because they are.

Because they are.

Yes, because they are. But we've been conditioned as a society to think of those things as fun, right.

And we've normalized them. We've normalized them, right. We've taken things that we know are toxic, that we know are por poisonous, that we know are carcinogenic. Right. We know alcohol causes any number of cancers. Rest we, we know that and yet we have normalized it. We have even allowed the industry to tell us that it is good for you. I mean, there was a narrative not so long ago that sounded like a glass of red wine a day is good for you.

Yeah, right.

We talked about resveratrol in the red wine.

Right.

And we completely ignored the fact that it was coming along with a toxin that was far outweighing any benefit we could ever get.

Yeah, absolutely.

It's definitely in the narrative. And I want to back up a little bit. And you talked about that women live longer than men. That's the estrogen factor. So that everyone knows. So while all of these people are thinking about estrogen blockade, just remember that the reason that women live longer and live better in general is because of estrogen. And when we take that away and when we deprive women of estrogen of bioidentical hormone replacement, we are depriving them of having their health. And I thought something really interesting that you said was that you tried all these diets and tried all of these kind of biohacks, for lack of a better word, and you watched your thyroid numbers go down and you, you, you saw your metrics start to change and not in a good way. And this is completely demonstrative of one of the biggest problems is that men and women are not the same. We are not biologically the same, we are not physiologically the same, and we cannot treat our bodies the same way. Women have different needs than men do. At every stage along the way, women have different needs than men do. So I had, I had a woman yesterday who said, you know, I never felt better than when I went strict keto, which incidentally is not good for women. And as she's saying this, I'm looking at her labs and what she meant was that that was the thinnest I was because when she was strict keto, she eliminated all kinds of junk food. And people generally do feel better in the short term. Women do feel better in the short term. But her cholesterol was 3 80. Yeah, 380. I was like, well, you may think that it's good for you, but your body is screaming, screaming, I have a huge fire to put out. Yeah, that's what, you know that when, when we see people bump their cholesterol like that, we know that, that cholesterol is a very anti inflammatory molecule. So this is your body trying to put out a fire.

Yeah.

So I would love to hear the things that you that are generally assumed to be good for you, that you found to really not be good for you.

Yeah. Well, let's start with some of the, like, basic principles of health. Right. I think you and I can both say that sleep is the foundation of health. Right. When you have poor night sleep, I mean, more cravings, your hunger hormones go up, your blood pressure can increase, your glucose increases. So sleep, I think if you want to even take just one thing from this podcast to improve, it's like, go to bed early, get high quality sleep. So when you look at what the literature says about how much more sleep women need than men, it says about 11 minutes. What I have found. So when I was trying to keep up with this incredibly strict schedule of, you know, just six and a half hours to seven hours, you know, which my husband thrives on, I found I was just feeling awful throughout the day, you know, so when I, I was able to, and I'm very fortunate to be able to do, run these kind of tests on myself. So, you know, I'm able to go to bed and wake up as I please. Right. I don't have to use an alarm clock. So I have found that I need at least an hour. And again, this is not in the literature and I would love your opinion on it. I need at least an hour more than my husband and even a bit more than that. During my menstruation. So when I'm on my bleed, I need even more rest. And this is of course NF1, but it's, it's really continual tracking on my aura ring showing that I need this more sleep. But if we only operated off what the study said, you know, my, my husband would get six hours and I would get six hours and 11 minutes and we would be all good.

Yeah.

What do you think about this?

Absolutely not. So what's happening when we sleep? Sleep. We think of sleep as rest, but it's actually a very active process because sleep is where the healing happens. Sleep is where the majority of our detoxification happens. The majority of that is happening in the liver. And so there are some barriers to that happening in that if you go to sleep on a full stomach and your body has to digest a meal, then it has to wait until that meal is digested for the liver to kick in and start to do the detoxification of all of the things that it encountered during that day. And so from at a baseline.

Women.

Encounter more toxins than men do. And we, our livers work a little slower than men's livers. This is actually why a man can't. There is really no safe amount of alcohol for a woman. A man can definitely tolerate more alcohol without getting sick than a woman can. And it's because we do not toxify as efficiently as a man does. Our livers are not the same and we have so much more to do. So using alcohol as an example, if you consume an ounce of alcohol, it will take your liver eight hours to detoxify that. If you're adding that on top of the estrogen that your liver already has to detoxify, all your other steroid hormones, hormones that your liver has to detoxify. And then we are surrounded by all of these xenoestrogens. Even if you're really, really careful, you're still going to get them from our environment. And so your liver has a really hard job to do. And if you give it more work, it's not going to be able to do it. It's not going to be able to get through it. This is one of the reasons why people, without changing what they eat or how they move, but if they're exposed to more toxins in the course of their day, if your liver doesn't get through, has to create a fat cell and store those toxins in fat because it's trying to protect you. It's a protective mechanism. So this is why people gain weight if they're not sleeping enough or encountering more toxins. This is the mechanism that's going on. So I have found, and I actually have seen data to support this, that women need at least an additional hour as good.

I need that data because I've only seen 11 minutes.

I'll find it for you. Women need at least an extra hour. So men ideally will, will be able to complete their detoxification process somewhere between six to eight hours, whereas women need seven to nine. But you know, too little sleep is not good. Too much sleep is not good either.

Right.

So everyone has that internal need and individual balance. But I think the main thing that you were bringing up, which is so very important is first of all make sleep a priority.

Right.

Schedule your sleep and you should be doing it at the same time every day. Although it does change a little bit with seasons. And then you, you know, you're in the right place when you wake up without an alarm clock.

Yeah, right, yeah.

Like your body is telling you, okay, I did my job and I'm ready.

Yeah, I love that. And I also love that, you know, going back to why I'm doing this, you know, and of one, I found literally this hour. Right. That's what I've been able to understand from my own data. And luckily you have found research to support that. So that's incredible. But let's say that research wasn't there because it is hard to find since you know, a lot of it says like 11 minutes or 20 minutes, then at least I'm putting it out there that hey, this is what I have experienced. Try it on your own and see how you feel. Right. Because we, we are all bio individual. So sleep is definitely one thing that I feel like in the industry we all are prioritizing sleep now, but that if we're following a male protocol as a woman, we're probably going to be led astray. Right. Because men don't simply don't need as much sleep as women. Right. So that's the first thing.

Yeah.

A second thing is I would say hormetic stressors, potentially as a whole. And that includes fasting and that includes, I'll put cold therapy in this bucket as well. Two things that you and I know can be great for you, Right. They are incredibly beneficial at the right time and dose. When I was following some of these more formal by male protocols, I was reading things about Omad and you know, a significantly less, a significantly more calorically restricted diet and you. And I also know that in mice caloric Restriction is one of the only things that actually extends lifespan for sure. Right. So I was incredibly gung, gung ho about that, very excited. And I started to just do that all the time. I have the mental fortitude, I have the discipline. I can do that for as long as I need to. So I did. And I just watched my thyroid start to decline. It was too much for me. So again, going back to things that might be great for men, right, because their hormones are just 24 hour cycle.

Yeah.

Incredible for them, but might not be the best for women, which is what I found. What are your thoughts on this too?

I agree with you completely. And I, I know that the things that work for men work for men because their lives are Groundhog day. It's the same exact thing every day. Whereas depending on where you're meeting us in our cycle, we have different needs and we, we, we create very differently than men do. So we have different needs to create. Right. So depending on where you are in your cycle, you may need to make a lot more progesterone, you may need to make a lot more estrogen, you may have a time in your month where both of those fall off. Whereas the men are doing the same exact thing every day. We have to be adjusting according to where we are. So us doing the same thing every day is never going to work, even if that thing is good for us at some point. Right. I love Mindy Pelz's book Fast Like a Girl for that reason, because she addresses that, that we are in constant flux and what we're doing at one part of our cycle is not going to work for us at another part of our cycle. And we're either going to see dysfunction or we're going to feel the dysfunction.

Yeah, absolutely.

So I completely agree with you that we need to first of all not do it like a man, not do the same thing all the time. And at a baseline, we may need something different.

Yeah, absolutely. And I found a similar theme with cold therapy. Right. So I am the type of person where I put it in my protocol and I do that thing every day or every time that I said I was going to do it, because I'm a big believer in every time that you tell yourself that you're going to do something and then you don't do it, you just lied to yourself, you just broke a promise to yourself, and then you're going to begin to trust yourself less. So I'm definitely of the mindset that if I say I'm going to do something, I am Going to do it. So let's make it the most beneficial for my biology as a woman. So I was cold plunging, cold temperature. So now I keep my cold plunge at 55 Fahrenheit. I was doing it, you know, in the low 40s on a daily basis, and I was just watching my HRV tank. You know, it's. My heart rate variability was just declining. And theoretically, you should actually be improving your hrv, Right. Because it's. You're becoming more resilient. But that's not what was happening. So for a man, that could happen. Like, my husband can cold plunge, and it's so fun being married because now I get to see, like, the differences firsthand. And he can cold plunge every day, and I look at his statistics and everything is going great. But for me, it was just far too much. So we live in a time where information is more accessible than ever, which can be absolutely incredible, or it can be a little bit detrimental if you don't find the nuance for a. As for you as a woman and just go with the okay, so. And so is cold plunging on a daily basis. Maybe I should be doing that, too. You do it. And the problem is, Jen, is that if you're not able to access the labs that I access, then you might not know, you know, that you're kind of running yourself down the wrong course. And we know that no chronic diseases develop it usually in a day. It's if this is a. Years and years and years. So I luckily am able to check the protocol and what I'm doing pretty quickly and then make amendments to it, which I think, you know, is valuable and is one of the reasons why I feel good about putting data out in this way. But I would definitely say hormetic stressors and just the amount of stress on the body. I've really flipped my thinking to be way more focused on putting my body into a parasympathetic state, which not a lot of the biohacking protocols for men are focused on. Yeah.

It's so interesting that we're talking about cold therapy and your HRV response, and I would love for you to just talk about that a little bit for people who don't know what you mean by hrv.

Yeah.

But I was just talking to JJ Virgin about this exact thing where she had her cold plunge on in the high 40s, and she was doing it frequently, and I think she was doing two minutes and she saw her HRV go down.

Yeah, JJ and I are doing a panel, by the way. There's a female longevity event here in LA February 1st. If you are around, you should come. Mindy Pelt. JJ Virgin Casey means I'm going to be there. Jillian Michaels. So it's going to be a lot of fun. It's at the Saban Theater. It's called luminescence.

Yeah, we'll definitely touch base about that afterwards. I love that. But she had the exact same thing. So talk about hrv, what it is, what it means, what you're looking for.

Yeah. So HRV is a heart rate variability. I'm measuring it on my oura ring that I wear on a daily basis. So heart rate variability is the time in between heartbeats, essentially. So if you think of your heart as being beating really fast, that time is going to be shortened. So HRV is influenced not only by things like cardiovascular health. Right. But also stress. So really, HRV can be seen as, you know, a measurement of stress on the body. And you can see that fluctuate. And based on aura stats, women tend to have, you know, a little bit of a lower HRV in general. Our resting heart rate also plays a factor in that. And we know because women have slightly smaller hearts, that our hearts are beating faster. So that, that makes a lot of sense. But for me, like, my goal for the end of the year is to get my HRV to 100. It's about 60 to 70 now. And by implementing all of these new stress reduction practices. So basically, my protocol has been. Has gone from adding more stressors all the time. So we have exercise, the stressor, which is great for you, but we had exercise, we had cold plunging, we had the sauna, we had the, you know, reduced sleep, and we had the reduced eating. All of those things were great for males. Right. So now I've really transitioned my protocol to be more so about putting into the parasympathetic state. And I see those results directly on my hrv. So if my aura logs that I had a restful day versus a stressful day, my HRV will be up by, you know, 10, 12 points the next day. But when I was cold, plunging and doing all of these continual stressors, I mean, it was way down. It was in, you know, the 20s to 30s. Now with that switch, we've. We've already gone up by 30 to 40 points, which is amazing.

Yeah. And it, it actually is a mark of how resilient you are. Right. And we all want to increase our resilience. And you need stressors to increase your resilience because it's talking about Your ability to adapt. And you can adapt unless you're challenged.

Absolutely.

There is a fine line and too much challenge just drains you, which is what you saw, which is totally, you know, that's the data that you saw. And the amazing thing and you, you, you noted this is that you are measuring so you have the ability to see. That's why these things are so important. Because if you don't have the data, you don't know what the true effect of these things are on you.

Yeah.

And so, you know, you don't necessarily have to have like cold plunge. You can, you can turn your shower onto cold.

Right.

You need to be able to measure the data, you need to see what effects it has, and you need to be able to titrate it.

Yeah.

You need to know where your sweet spot is and when, what is too little and what is too much. Because that is very, very true for women. We hit that too much thing way earlier than men do.

Absolutely. And you know, to be clear, I'm still doing these things. So now instead of cold plunging and, you know, 40 something degree temps every day, I'm doing all my cold plunging in my follicular phase because we know that we're a little bit more resilient then. And I'm keeping the temp at about 55, you know, so I have, you know, a podcast where I get to interview incredible experts because there's not really great data on this exact cold temperature, cold temp for a woman for cold plunging. But, you know, I've interviewed a ton of experts. I asked this question all the time to people that, you know, are experts in cold therapy. And it seems like everyone's landed on about 55 degrees Fahrenheit for women. And then I'm only doing it, like I said, in the follicular phase, up through ovulation. So it's not that I'm not doing these things anymore, it's just that I'm doing them in a way that is more aligned with my female biology, which has really proven to be incredibly beneficial for biomarkers, for energy, for health, for feeling good. And I think that's incredibly important. And same thing, you know, I still, it's not that I don't ever fast anymore. I will still do, you know, some level of fasting, definitely time restricted eating, because we know that you don't want to be eating anywhere near three hours prior to bed because of exactly what you mentioned earlier. I have an Entire video on YouTube. I think I'm one of the only women creating Long form content on longevity on YouTube, which has been really fun. So it's like my entire morning routine and then my midday routine and then my evening routine. So you can kind of see some of the wind downs. But, you know, I consistently have, you know, 97, 96 on Aura for sleep sleep score, which I don't think aura lets you get 100. I've never seen anyone with 100 sleep score. So activity, you can get 100, but I don't think sleep you can. So, yeah, I'm really, you know, again, just proving out what works and what doesn't. And we use data to guide all of this. I also have an entire medical team behind me. So I have a medical doctor, a physician's assistant, a whole team of nurses, everybody reviewing what I'm doing before we put it out there. Um, not again. Not that it's going to be applicable to everybody, but that it's, it's medically accurate for me and at least what that protocol is. So that's, that's exciting. Yeah.

And I just want to call attention to what you said in the beginning, which is that you will tolerate more in the follicular phase, in the beginning phase of your menstrual cycle. And so you can do more exercise, you can do more stressors. You, you will tolerate that in the luteal phase of your cycle after ovulation and until conception or until your bleed, you need more carbs, more rest, more gentle. This is, this is the time when you need more nourishment, which is why when we talk about these heavy keto diets or these heavy stressors, women won't tolerate it. Because if you want to be fertile, which you should be fertile. If you were premenopausal, you should be fertile. But if you want to be fertile, you need to nourish your body at that time where conception is supposed to happen. Because if your body thinks that you're at war or you're not safe, which is what fasting feels like to your body, which is what stressors feel like to your body. If your body feels like it's not safe, it's not safe to bring a child into the world. You know, we are all invariably about survival and procreation and it's about creating the optimal environment, which I know is really important for you, especially at this phase in your life. It's about creating that optimal environment that will house and grow a child.

Absolutely. Yeah. You know, my husband and I, we want to have a lot of babies. I told you that I Want to have a big. Yeah. I was one of five for most of my life growing up and then he was one of six. So we are excited. We got married only about a year, year ago in September. So we are gonna, you know, start trying this year. And I'm also excited because something that I'm going to be doing that to my knowledge I don't think has yet been done is incredibly extensive biomarkers all throughout my pregnancy. So looking at hundreds of so needed, so blood biomarkers, looking at bio age, looking at gut health, looking at nutrient status, looking at toxin testing. I mean all the things, nad level testing and then just put that information out there. It's, it's, it's just something that I feel like we need. So I'm really excited to do that, you know, later this year once we're able to conceive. So, yeah, that, that's super important. Another thing that I think, you know, might be valuable to listeners are, is total toxin testing, you know, so unique to women. Of course, men can benefit from doing this testing as well. But, you know, we know that autoimmune conditions are so much more prevalent in women and, and everything. All the negative health conditions are just unfortunately skyrocketing. I read some data a few days ago that says currently we're at about 49th in lifespan the US but the female lifespan in particular is thought to be dropping by 2050 precipitously. So that is really concerning. Right. But it also kind of matches up with what you're seeing in your practice and what we're seeing across the board on chronic conditions for women. And to me, that's a massive alarm we need to figure out for everybody but women ourselves. We have to figure out what's going on here. So I do a test called the Total Toxic Burden. I do it about four times a year. And again, you don't need to do it four times a year. I just do it because I want to see any small changes that occur. Like for example, I just did one and I'm interested to see what happened with this wildfire. We can talk about that in a second. But. So the Total toxic burden combines environmental toxins, molds and mycotoxins and heavy metals. So if you do one of these labs, even, let's just say once a year, you could be awakened to the idea that you live next to an environmental production plant and you're being exposed to chemicals that you had no idea. You could be seeing that your personal care products are increasing your parabens through the roof. An interesting story. And because this is how quickly it really can happen. And I don't want to be. It's not fear mongering, but, you know, my husband, I of course, put these specific products for him to take to the gym out on his counter. And when we did our next total talks test, because my husband does these tests with me, I saw all of us. And his parabens went from in, you know, an optimal range to shooting way up. And I'm like, what happened here? What. What are you doing that I don't know about? You know? And he's like, oh, well, I just started using the products at the gym because it was easier. And that just goes to show that the parabens went from optimal to in the high range in just the course of, you know, six months from his testing. So this, I think, at least really gives you a good picture of what toxicities you're being exposed to. And I think that is incredibly important for women. Are you a fan of this test?

I love it. I use it on everyone. And I had this really interesting case where I had a breast cancer patient where her crp, the C reactive protein, which is a marker of inflammation, just wouldn't go down. And I couldn't figure out why. And so we did a total tox just to see if I was missing something. And her mycophenolic acid, which is one of the mycotoxins, came back in the, like, thousands.

Yeah.

And we figured out that she shares public water with a pharmaceutical company because mycophenolic acid is actually a drug that we use to prevent rejection in transplant patients. So they were basically dumping the drug in the water and she was consuming it unknowingly. Exactly. It is like, crazy that these things happen, but these things happen. And she would have never known had we not measured that, because I was like, wait, where is this coming from?

Yeah. And imagine if you hadn't caught that when you did and she continued that high level of exposure. Yeah. What would ultimately, you know, result if not already? So, yeah, I think that that's a really great test, you know, specifically for women. I also do the Dutch test, which just keeps not eye. High level, you know, eye on hormones.

Whoa.

So I think if we can kind of. I like to think of it as, like, preparing a great offense against any of the issues that can come down the line, because to me, it's just so heartbreaking. And I know that you feel the exact same way. All of these issues that women are being plagued with since moving to Los Angeles. I'm not being hyperbolic when I say and, and keep in mind, people probably come to me with medical information more than just your average person, because it's the industry that I'm in. But I have not met a single woman and these are all women in their early 30s, mid-30s, that is not struggling with something, whether it be PCOS or fertility issues or autoimmune, multiple autoimmune conditions. And I, you know, very fortunately I don't have any autoimmune conditions. I don't have anything that, because of the way I'm living. And so if we can just all move a little bit more towards the direction and you don't have to pick up all the things I'm doing. Definitely not. You don't need a hyperbaric in your home. It's just, I think that the foundational pieces of health, you know, sleep, your water quality, I always say, the things you do every day, right? So we eat, we sleep, we breathe, we socialize and we move. If you can optimize those, which those are, you know, low cost and sometimes free, then you're going to be better than, you know, 85, 90% of, of people. So focus on those things. And then these other little things I'm using to move the needle, it's all, you know, trial and error. It's, you know, let's see if this can actually help regenerate because not only do I want optimal health, I'm trying to see, you know, kind of what's possible for women in, in the life extension in a healthy way. You know, I have no interest in, in living to be really, really old and unhealthy. I want to be very healthy and still living a long time. Right.

What we should all want is to live a really long time and die young.

Yeah, right.

That should be all of our goals.

Are you ready for a breast cancer screening revolution? Well, I'm thrilled to introduce to you a breast cancer screening tool that I have only recently learned about, but I have universally adopted. This is the ARIA test. This groundbreaking at home breast cancer screening test is one that I believe will completely change the game. So imagine a screening test that's as simple as shedding a tear, because that's aria. It's a non invasive, convenient and perfect for all bodies and all breasts and dense breasts implants, no problem. ARIA makes it clear for everyone, even women as young as 30. Aria is backed by over a decade of clinical trials, thousands of samples, and it's developed alongside top breast health experts here's how it works. You collect a tear sample at home and then ARIA then analyzes it for protein biomarkers that can signal early breast cancer. And the best part, you, you get a consultation with a breast health specialist to review your results. Now, ARIA isn't replacing breast imaging. I am using it alongside qt. It's complementing it and giving you a fuller picture of your breast health. Knowledge is power and ARIA is putting that power back in your hands. It's time to take control of your breast health and ARIA is another way of doing it. Go to Aria Care a u r I a dot care and use my code, Dr. Jen 20 in Capitals D r j e n n 20 to get 20% off.

Back to our show.

Hello, my beautiful listeners. I'm taking a quick break here to share something truly transformative with you today. If you're ready to take control of your breast health journey.

Thank you.

Then you need to get your hands.

On a copy of my book, the.

Smart Woman's Guide to Breast Cancer. I wrote this book to make a massive impact in the world of breast cancer, empowering women everywhere to make informed choices and educated decisions. You have so much more power and.

Control over your health than you might think.

And this book, this is a roadmap to harnessing that power. Inside, you'll uncover the truth about conventional treatments. They're often overestimated benefits and underestimated, under explained and under disclosed long term side effects. But more importantly, you'll discover the true drivers of health and how the choices you make at home every day can lead you to the best health, the breast health of your life. Even after a breast cancer diagnosis. Whether you're looking to prevent a diagnosis, avoid recurrence, or simply live your healthiest life, this book is for you. Join me on this journey to empowerment and health. Grab your copy of the Smart Woman's Guide to Breast Cancer today and let's revolutionize the way that we approach breast health together.

So I, I want to talk about the biology upgrading.

Yeah.

So for just in general, can you just tell us, what does that mean? How do you upgrade your biology?

Yeah, I mean, so many different ways. The basic things that we talked about is upgrading your biology and you can, you can measure biology upgrading, right? So if you get a lab done right now and then you make tweaks, you know, let's say you're working with a patient, you get three labs back, you have their gut lab, you have their total tox lab, and you have, you know, a blood panel and maybe hormones are dysregulated. There's some gut dysbiosis and, you know, some toxins. Well, if you can remove those things, if you can balance the dysbiosis, if you can reduce the toxic burden and you can optimize the hormones, you've just upgraded their biology.

Right.

And change their life.

Yeah, yeah. So you're not a doctor, you're not a health professional. How did you get into all of this? How did you learn about all of this? Like, how did this happen for you?

Yeah, I mean, it started with just studying nutrition in college. I was, you know, studying nutrition. I did not grow up on a healthy diet whatsoever. Very much of the standard American diet. I ate pop tarts, toaster strudels. Food that's are. These are not foods. This is a complete atrocity. And I had to, like, explain to my mom, like, mom, what were you doing? You know, of course it's fine. I fixed it. But yeah, I grew up on a very standard American diet. And so I just started making small tweaks in my diet and I felt so much better, really. The initial interest was I've been an entrepreneur for my entire life. I started my first company at like, 17 years old. 17, 18. Somewhere around there. And I knew that if I wanted to have this ultimate life that I dreamed I could have, which I now have, I was going to have to have incredible focus, stamina, motivation. And that requires upgrading your biology. I couldn't have done that on like, wonky, kind of like optimal biology. Right. Like, we had to upgrade our brains. I did a lot of additional trainings too. You know, I did Dr. Amen certification way back when. And I. And just started to. I'm always in some sort of program because I think learning is the most fun aspect of being in this industry. And I just started to, again, trial things on myself. I got super deep in it about five years ago when I went to go research for the clinic. Right. So if you're going to open a longevity clinic, you have to know what therapies make any sense. Are they clinically backed? You have to talk to other providers, like, or providers in general as to what our providers can do at the clinic and what they've seen work. You know, of course we hired a medical team and I started to run all these labs on myself because I wanted to think through, you know, as, you know, they don't. They don't necessarily teach you this. You know, some of the providers that I was. I was hiring, they didn't necessarily even think about originally A total tox test or a gut test. So we had to experiment with them all and see what type of information does this give us, what's going to be actionable from that. So, you know, a small group of us did that and we were just like, lights on, eyes open, like, this is amazing. I've never had a doctor recommend this before. Never even thought about it, like in this granular of a way. And so, yeah, did so many different labs and then we started to really try a lot of these different protocols. So for four years after opening the clinic, you know, I was just in there every day doing this stuff and then measuring it, doing it and then measuring it. So it's been a fun journey and obviously having a business in this space has been incredibly helpful. But yeah, that's how I got started and that's how I got obsessed with it. And it's the coolest industry to me. I am just completely obsessed with it. And I can't wait to see where it goes, you know, because with the advent of AI, I am so excited. You know, I speak at conferences quite a bit on this topic and just about my protocol and what I'm doing. And I've been to some really interesting conferences. I was at one in Gastaad, Switzerland and some of the things that are being worked on are just incredible. Like we have to be able to extend our health span to get to the place that we can actually have biological age reversal. So in the, in our industry it's called the longevity escape velocity. So when we can actually decrease the damage faster than the damage is accumulating, we have then reached the longevity escape velocity. Just so exciting. I mean they're, they're doing things that seem to be working. It's not publicly available yet, but you know, taking new young mitochondria, integrating them into older dysfunctional mitochondria, and we know that mitochondrial dysfunction is just such a massive issue right now. So I'm excited about the future, trying to stay as healthy and as vibrant and as disease free as possible until we can really get to that longevity escape velocity. And also just trying to show you, show people that it doesn't have to be boring. I feel so fulfilled, so excited about every day and it's, for me, it's been a really enjoyable experience.

So, you know, biopacking and you are known as a biohacker.

Yeah.

This often gets labeled as something that can only be enjoyed by the elite.

Yeah, it does.

So how, how do we make this accessible to the average person? Because most people are not able to capitalize on any of this now.

Yeah, well, you know, there's a few things that I'm excited about. We can talk about practical ways, what to do right now, but I am excited about the future because I think, you know, the Maha movement is going to help restructure this a bit. Right. I. I had RFK Jr. On my podcast and he was, at the time, he was a presidential candidate and he was the only presidential candidate that had ever spoken about mitochondria. I was blown away. I was like, this is amazing. We need this.

I have to tell you, I get so angry when people say that he shouldn't run HHS because he isn't a doctor. You look at that. Sorry, God, for saying negative things, but that train wreck that was head of HHS before him and like, who wants to look like that? There's no way that woman was healthy.

No, right? No, no, no. Yeah.

So he may not be a doctor, but both doctors don't know anything about health. Nothing.

Yeah, right.

So sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt him.

No, no. I mean, yeah, I agree. And plus, I don't think he needs to be a doctor because he is just, he's going to be the messenger and he's going to be the idea creator and he's definitely going to have a team of doctors under him. Right. Working on these things. So I don't think that should be a concern of people. But we absolutely have to think different because you know what would make this so much more accessible? Biohacking biology upgrading is if that gut test that we talked about or that total toxin test was covered by your insurance and it was part of medicine. Right. So I'm excited about the future of what's going to be changed in this administration for sure. But I think on a practical level, just going back to what I said before, the low cost, sometimes free tools that you can implement, such as going to bed early, getting high quality sleep using maybe cold therapy, and the right dose at the right time for a woman getting morning sun in the eyes to just jumpstart your circadian rhythm and then viewing evening sunset to really put you into a state ready for bed. Because we know that if we are disrupting that circadian rhythm with food or light, that our melatonin production will be suppressed. So, you know, that's another free way to upgrade your health, moving your body. It doesn't have to be anything wild you can do, you know, at home workouts, you can find simple weights, you can go outside, run there are a lot of ways. Walking, yeah, walking is a great one. I love walking. I walk around in the hills up here and I get, you know, probably 10 to 15,000 steps a day. And it's great. I, I build it into my life because the other thing is not only is it expensive, it's also time consuming. Right. So I try to build in as many things as possible. If you and I were just having a meeting over a call or a zoom, I would just take you out on a walk or a walking pad inside or. You know, there's so many ways you can build it in. Getting nature, being outside for stress reduction, building it in throughout your day, taking deep breaths. I feel like breathwork is so underutilized. But as I lean into it more because I have these new goals for myself of the, you know, 100 HRV by the end of the year, I'm incorporating a lot of breath work. I have a little device right here. You don't need a device, but it's a little device that you can, when you put your finger on it, it will expand and then contract so you slow your breath down. I mean this is a very simple and free practice that can really, really change your biology because we also know if you're in fight or flight all the time, your digestion and digestion is compromised. Your immune system can be compromised. So many reasons your brain to just relax and get high quality sleep. So there's so much that you can do that is considered biohacking that falls under those, those free or very low cost protocols and your toolbox, social communication, spending time with friends, not being lonely, not smoking, all the big ones, you know, changing some of your food stuff, you know, just reducing some of those ultra processed foods, of course, and processed foods and just trying to get single ingredients. Nutrition is so polarizing and it's, it's just wild. I mean we know that the Mediterranean style diet has been deemed best for longevity. That's pretty much the diet that I have. I do consume, you know, smaller amounts of, of really high quality meats, which I know can be expensive. But just swapping out as you can some of the more processed foods for single ingredients.

I want to ask you what are some of those biohacks that are out there that you have found to be. Total nonsense.

Total nonsense. Let me think a few. I mean, there's some really wild ones, right? Like there's some wild ones like people drinking urine that I've seen. I mean, absolutely not.

So I think that that's a really good example yeah, that is.

That's wild. Let me think. You know, I think because I've just removed the ones that don't work from my brain, but definitely the drinking urine one, I would say. And then there's other things that are just. We're unsure of the data. Right. So, like, one thing that is exciting for women is rapamycin potentially. Right. Because it's in some early research. It hasn't been peer reviewed yet, but it has been showing that it could potentially increase ovarian or, you know, push off ovarian aging by five years, which is super exciting. Right. So I actually put it into my protocol because of that. And. But then there's also some conflicting information that it can speed up biological age. So it's. Again, sometimes it's like, would do we wait and see? Do we try it on ourself and then make a. Make an adjustment if, you know, things end up changing or we see markers? But again, that's like a perfect example of something that getting rapamycin in the right dose prescribed by a doctor that, you know is going to be applicable for this situation is difficult in and of itself. Right. To get that done and then to be able to measure frequently enough to see if things are changing. And then I can make, you know, I can update. People say, hey, I've taken it for three months and it seems to be moving in the wrong direction or seems moving in the right direction. And this is just what worked for me. Consult with your doctor. Yeah. What are some. What are some biohacks that you think are totally. Because they're probably just not coming to my mind. The ones that are, like, totally worthless. I mean, you know, I think that.

There is a lot of gimmick around some of them. Like, for instance, I think that infrared sauna is great, but then there are. There are a lot out there that are not great versions and not delivering a great product.

A thousand percent. Yeah. Well, I told. So I told you that because of this actual reason, my husband is now the CEO of a sauna company. And it started because these saunas were actually built to be for people with chemical sensitivities. So they used no wood glues, no plywood, and they have the lowest VOCs on the market. And then inside of the sauna is a Faraday cage. So a Faraday cage can shield emf. So I sleep in a Faraday cage. You've been to my house and seen it. But this is a really good example because if you're sitting in a sauna, it was mind Blowing to me when I first came to the realization that some saunas actually could be harming your health. That is wild. It should be the opposite. But if you're using all those wood glues and varnishes and plywoods and poor materials, then it's just off gassing VOCs into the chamber. Ridiculous. Yeah. So.

So you're getting challenged while you're in your sauna.

Totally. So. Well, we should. We. If you ever need a sauna, we should get you one because we have, you know, multiple heavenly heat saunas now. But literally the idea 30 years ago when this company was started is, let's make a sauna for people with chemical sensitivities. Because saunas were causing people with chemical sensitivities to have a flare up. That's wild. Should be the opposite.

Yeah. And along those lines, what are the things that you have encountered that, like, you could now never live without? Like, what are those things that you feel like, have really moved the needle for you? Change the way you feel, change the way you live. Like, what are your indispensables?

Sauna actually is definitely one of them. I mean, I, we, we both know this. The toxic burden is so high. I mean, people that would come into our clinic, and I'm sure you see a lot. They, if they go to take the total toxin test, they're like, oh, I'm super. I'm gonna be great. Right? They're all gonna be low. Results come back very different story time and time and again. So I do actually have one of the lowest toxic burdens. You know, I only have three things in the medium range, and I think that's a pretty good result. And I attribute a lot of that not only to, like, being really aware of, like, products and, you know, my home things of that nature, but consistent sauna use. And plus, when you look at the data on sauna, it's amazing, right?

Yeah.

If you're using it more than four times a week, like a 40% risk and decreased risk and cardiovascular disease, really incredible for the toxins. So sauna is one thing that I think will forever be in my protocol. Obviously, I think one of the biggest bang for your buck is exercise, consistent exercise. I love doing HIIT for the benefits of, of course, like things like VO2 Max, but also the mitochondrial benefits. When we're really pushing our mitochondria, some of those dysfunctional mitochondria can, you know, fall off and, and go away. And then we can actually force our body to improve mitochondrial density. So exercise. That's the, the hiit side of it and then the strength training side of it for improving bone density, body composition. As a woman, I mean, you and I both know it's so incredibly important to maintain good bone density. Loading the bones is so important for us. So that's definitely one of them. In terms of more like technology. I love pemf. You're sitting on a PMF mat over there. I have a pulse PEMF mat under me. So I always think of it, it kind of like grounding on steroids. That's. That's how I say it. But you know, we, we are electrical beings and we know one of our mutual friends, actually Dr. Connealy, when I went to her center out here in California, they do a test on you called the meat test. And it's actually measuring the voltage of your body. And it's. It's apparently been well established now that a lot of unwell people have much lower voltage than a healthy person. So.

And they have blockade. They have areas where they're actually draining.

Yes, exactly.

And stopping. And stopping the flow of energy.

Yeah. So pmf, you know, one of the potential benefits is improving that energy. You can also do it through grounding though, right? Like, it takes more time and it's a little bit more of a commitment. But grounding is a free practice with a lot of, a lot of science and research behind it. So there's usually like a free or low cost version of a lot of these things that we're talking about. And when we think about longevity markers too, as a whole, you know, some of the more traditional ones, before biological age testing, we had things like grip strength and gait speed. And there's a variety of tests that you can look at just to get an idea that are pretty, you know, low cost. So we want to have more muscle and strength on our bodies to improve that grip strength. We want to be moving and running to improve gait speed and we want to improve mobility. So those are, are some of the good ones. I also really do enjoy red light therapy. I actually have a low level laser therapy. So we have a lot of panels around the house which I think are great. But I have found this low level laser therapy, I've been doing it on, on my neck actually, because there was some research out of Japan that showed with low level laser therapy that it was. The women were all infertile to start. And there were really incredible outcomes in terms of actually being able to conceive with this low level laser therapy, even just putting it on Your primary veins in your neck was giving, you know, anti inflammatory benefit throughout the rest of the body. So I'm excited to see where low level laser therapy and red light therapy goes in terms of like fertility and you know, thyroid health for women. Because I really love the ability to just move it around the body to an area that I, I need. I broke my finger, you know, my door. You've been in my house and my door, it's like super heavy. I broke my finger, but I was able to Heal it in two weeks with BBC 157 peptide red light therapy two times a day and PEMF two times a day. It was like, you know, my doctor was just blown away.

Yeah. Which is amazing. And I'm glad you brought up thyroid because that is another epidemic. And one of the things that drives me crazy when we talk about these things that I think are total nonsense is we see these people walking around drinking alkaline water or whatever out of a plastic bottle. And it's like, people, please do yourself a favor. Like you can't take in. Even if that does have some benefit, which I really don't think it does, even if that does have some benefit, if you're drinking it out of a plastic bottle, you are not helping yourself. You're just adding to your toxic burden. I go like berserk when I, when I go to these conferences where we are all supposed to be in this together, trying to make this world a better place, a safer place, a healthier place. And walking around looking at all these people drinking out of plastic bottles. What are you doing? I know how, how are walking around, God forbid, with Starbucks, like how this is terrible for you. Why would you do that to yourself?

It's in everything. Plastic is literally in everything. I do a test now, it was like one of the first microplastic tests on the market. And you know, I don't really think there's a great reason right now to do it because there's nothing incredibly actionable to actually get the plastics out of the tissues. I am trying plasma pheresis, things of that nature that are like filtering so it actually filters all your plasma or eboo, who filters all your blood. So we're looking at those things. But I'm excited where the future goes because we now know that plastics are accumulating in the brain at about double the speed. Right. And this is so concerning in our every organ, you know, testicles, ovaries and the placenta. These microplastics are so basic. And yeah, I mean, definitely at minimum, never. I never use plastic. I don't get the, the cups that heat up. Like so many things look like it might be metal or paper. It's not metal or paper, it's lined with plastic.

Yeah.

Clothes. I'm really trying to take my clothing in a natural fiber and plastic free way because, you know, we wear these like workout clothes are so cute, right. And they're nice and like fitted and compression and then we're sweating and it's just plastics inside of the clothing and it's just seeping into our body. So there's so many like small tweaks you can make on that front too. That was a really great, you know, point to bring up.

Yeah. My solution to that is that I literally have not bought any new workout clothes. Like I figured at this point I have sweat all of the plastic out of it and, and I'm just sticking with my like 10 year old leggings.

There you go.

So you talked about filtering and you are in L A. Yeah. And right now L A is on fire.

It is literally L A is on fire.

So I want to hear about the air quality because I know that you've tested it and what you think a good regimen should be for all of these people that are living in this toxic environment and suffering. Like how, how can they help themselves to maybe filter out some of what's happening, maybe detoxify from what's happening. What, what advice do you have to these people? Because you are really, you know, people are looking to you for these answers.

Yeah, yeah. And I'm happy, you know, always it's, it's not medical advice, it's just what I'm doing. I'm always happy to share that to start with the air quality. I am very glad that I have been really intentional about air filtration because it's, it's everybody, everybody that's listening to this I think should have high quality air filtration in your home. Whether or not there's fires, that's the first thing. So we luckily have had about three, six, which is probably about three times the amount of air purification we really need in the home. So we had a great head start. So anyone listening to this is in la, I think definitely getting high quality air filtration. You want to look for something with HEPA and a carbon builder because they can filter out different types of materials. But you know, obviously I became incredibly concerned with the air quality once these fires all started. So this is, you know, it's not a perfect test because it's not looking for everything that I ideally would want it to. But I bought an air tester for home to look at the VOCs, or volatile organic compounds in the air. These can be things like formaldehyde and benzene, which we know are harmful to human health, especially at high concentrations or extended periods of time. So I bought the air tester and I tested the air inside the home, and it's very good. It's within range. So essentially, if you get air filtration, you have to make sure it covers the actual amount of square footage that you have in your home. Otherwise you need to just stay in the room that it's actually filtering. Because I don't want people to just get one small air filter and think that their entire family is fine. So you have to make sure that you do it appropriately. But when I took the air tester outside, it immediately went from, you know, 80 or 90, fluctuating a bit, up to 945. So anything over a thousand is deemed as immediate action needs to be taken. Right. So the air quality outside is very poor right now. So what I'm doing is I'm simply staying inside. And when I do need to go outside, I'm wearing an N95 mask. Not a big fan of masks, but I am going to wear it for my health because it's going to help protect me. But I'm really just limiting the time that I spend outside. And I'm going to continue to monitor the air quality. You know, something that is super concerning to me about the air quality, that this is not measuring. This is measuring radon and VOCs and a variety of other metrics. But it's not looking at heavy metals, which is a big concern of mine, given that so many homes had burned. If this was just a wildfire, that would be different. Still concerning. But we have had, you know, thousands, I think 5,000 structures or more at this point, probably more that have burned. And when you think about that, we're thinking about batteries, we're thinking about cars, we're thinking about all of these different materials inside of homes. So it's not. I have not checked the heavy metals. I am going. I want to hire a professional. So I'm kind of like doing my research now to figure out who can come and test the air inside of my home, outside of my home. And of course, I'll just. These things are expensive, so I'm happy to do it and then just post the data freely for everyone here in LA once I find a great source. But I feel pretty good about being inside the home. It's unfortunate though, right? You live in L. A To be outside, to be in nature, to be hiking in the hills. It's so sad. But we have to do, we have to do so for the time being, staying inside with really high quality, quality air filtration. I have a Jasper, I like that one. But there's a lot of great models out there, so just find one that works for you. In terms of detoxification, also super important. So I'm doing quite a few things. I've really up my vitamin C intake, quercetin. I'm doing a lot of sulforaphane. So I'm doing. The thing I'm taking is called brock shot. But you can do any, you know, kind of like sulforaphane or you can just do broccoli as well. Broccoli sprouts too. So those can really help detoxification.

Broccoli sprouts are much more effective and concentrated than broccoli. And if you're going to eat broccoli, make sure you eat the stem, not just the florets because the stem has the major nutrient.

Yeah, yeah. I've been going to town on the broccoli sprouts, been loving them. And let me think what else I'm doing. You know, I, this is a little bit more on the extreme side, of course. Sauna. I'm doing a lot of sauna to just detox that as much as I can. Staying super hydrated to really help flush those toxins out of my body. And then I also have done, I have an at home nebulizer. So this is not for everybody. You know, consult your doctor because I have glutathione that I'm nebulizing at home. But that of course is prescribed by a medical doctor. So you need to you know, consult with your doctor to get something of that nature. But that, you know, that's being ultra careful. But you know, if you've been exposed to a lot of things or we're in a really close area to the fires or in the fires that might be helpful. What do you think about that?

Yeah, so I love nebulized. I think nebulizing is a great way to deliver a lot of things because we are very absorptive along of our along our lungs. And it is a very easy way to get whatever you're looking to get quickly into the bloodstream and effectively into the bloodstream and avoiding the gut. So this is something that I really utilized when I was practicing Surgery. Because when you have to go through the gut, first of all, it goes through the first pass of the liver, has to be detoxified, has to eat. There's a lot of things that happen when you have to utilize the gut. You rely on absorption, you rely on all those things. Whereas if you have a form that you can deliver directly into the bloodstream and you want people to be able to do it at home, they can nebulize it. And when you nebulize it, you just directly absorb it into the bloodstream. So I'm in total favor of doing that. And I love the things that you selected. I love glutathione, I love sulforaphane, because. And I would think about supporting your liver. Definitely, definitely filtering your air and being cognizant of that. And I do want to mention this because obviously if you're in la, this plan doesn't work. But if you're not in LA and you're not in an area where there's poor air quality, what the quality of the air in your house is probably because it's so recirculated far lower than the quality of the air outside of your house. And in as much as you can open your window and circulate that air, I think that that is a very important lesson for everyone.

Absolutely. And when we don't have. Yeah, when we don't have fires going on as, you know, like all the windows open. One behind me would normally be open all day. But yeah, unfortunately when you're in this situation, we have to do the opposite. But yeah, I mean, it's, you know, I'm praying for everyone out here and really taking care of your health, making sure you get high quality sleep during this time. Hopefully you're still moving your body and keeping up your practices because there's the air quality, but then there's also the stress, the general just stress and emotional turbulence that people are going through that have lost their homes or even that know someone that lost their homes or so focusing on whatever it looks like for you, I would focus on prayer and, you know, meditation and breath work, whatever you can do to just start to activate that parasympathetic state a little bit more. Because I think everyone over here is really in a pretty intense fight or flight.

Yeah, I agree, I agree. Lastly, I just, I think people want to know what everyone is always fascinated by, what supplements people use to stay healthy. What are you, what are you taking every day? So I think people would love to know, what are you taking every day? What are your go to supplements?

Yeah, well of course it's all very bio individual and I use my labs to dictate what supplements I take. But I think about supplementation as a few different buckets. So we have my baseline, right. That would be things like super high quality Omega 3 and Omegas are one of the things I'm always looking at. I want to keep my omegas around, my omega index around 9 to 10 because the data shows that over 8 has, you know, a 15 to 30% reduction in cardiovascular events and also about a 4.5 year extension of lifespan for a higher omega index. So high quality omegas, definitely magnesium. Vitamin D are staples. Those are like basics. And then we have my vitamins or supplements that are for my protocol based on my data. So this is going to change every quarter. You know, I am currently just working to re optimize gut health because I had a breast explant, you know, last year and I did have to take antibiotics. So I'm working on getting my gut health back to that optimal state. So I'm doing some probiotics, a variety of different kinds of and doing. There was a little bit of dysbiosis after the antibiotics kind of wiped out some of the good ones. So that's my protocol supplements. And then I'm looking at the total tox burden. So we might do some binders with the sauna and looking at the Nutri Val. I really like a nutrival test because you're not guessing right. The Nutri eval test is going to give you an assessment of all your nutrients, of your amino acids. So then we look at this once a quarter and then we amend, you know, is your vitamin C a little bit on the low side? Then we supplement with that. Actually typically I'll do an IV therapy to just get up the nutrients real quick and then I'll maintain with those levels just of supplementation at home. So that is always changing. And I do encourage people to look at your labs, of course, and then take what's best for you. People ask me this question all the time and I kind of always answer it this way. And then I have the third bucket, which I call my longevity bucket. So in my longevity bucket I have things like NAD or NMN or nr. So I do any divs at my clinic on a certain protocol, but then I'll maintain at home with either an injectable or a supplement. So I think, you know, some sort of NAD or NR NMN protocol. NR and NMN are the precursors. So Some supplements on the markets are nmn, some are nr. Um, but having a protocol for that is important to me. I also love urolith and A. So I do eat a lot of pomegranates and a lot of NATO natto to bump up those URLs. But God bless you.

Natto's challenging.

It's, it's rough, it's sticky and slimy and does not. It's challenging. I just pomegranate.

I'm all, I'm, I'm there with you 100%.

Yeah. But the concentration is so high. The concentration is worth it. You just got to get over it. So you can either do something like, you know, pomegranates or you could do natto or you know, you can take. There's a supplement called Me dopure that I take as well, which is your lithium A. So that goes in the longevity bucket. I have spermidine in my longevity bucket. There's quite a bit of research on, you know, improvements in brain health and kind of mimicking autophagy. So I have spermidine in that bucket. And let me think what else I have in my longevity bucket. I mean those are, those are three of the hero products for sure. And then I'm trying new stuff all the time. I mean, I'm trying, you know, stem cell, plant based stem cells, you know, like stem, stem region. I'm trying stuff all the time just to see what happens and so it's ever evolving. But those are some of my, my, my favorite supplements for sure.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think the only thing I would add to that is that I'm doing energy bits every day.

I love energy boots, actually. Yeah.

Yeah. So I'm, I'm, I'm taking advantage of, you know, nature's master detoxifier. Right. So the, the, I, I have completely bought into the powers of the algae and I've noticed a difference when I'm, when I'm consistent with it, when I, when I'm doing it every day, I definitely feel better, have more energy, sleep better.

Yeah, no, you know, actually I forgot to include energy bits in my current protocol for sure. But I enjoyed them all the time. But for the detoxification, energy bits has been really great. And yeah, they're, they're easy to take. A few other things actually that I am taking as well. In liposomal form. I have like a longevity mushroom blend is kind of in that longevity bucket. I do take liposomal glutathione as well. So I have the nebulizing. But I kind of am always taking glutathione just because again, I feel like our toxic burden is so high and. And it can be helpful. And I love to take like super greens. I take that as well. So that's kind of in that longevity bucket. I take a lot of supplements. I take probably 35 supplements a day. But I'm working on something really exciting that is going to help with that. So I also take a lot of collagen. Love collagen. I cycle silica into my protocol. I do minerals, so I add in a lot of minerals. We know that our water is really depleted of minerals. And I really order high quality spring and mineral water as well. So I think that's kind of what I got going on.

Yeah, that sounds good. Well, I loved having you here today and having people get to benefit from all this amazing work that you're doing and the example that you're setting and the trail that you're blazing for the future. Because we are not men. We are not the same as men. We need to do it differently. And we need people out there to show us how to do it differently. And yes, you are an n of 1, but all of us are in n of 1.

Right?

So just the same way that we are not going to thrive on the same protocol as a man would, we're also not going to thrive on the same protocol that our girlfriend next door is thriving on. And so there is always going to be that element of the n of 1 and experimentation and figuring out what works best for you. And there are definitely guidelines I love that we talked about. You realize that you need an hour more sleep than your husband. I actually think that that tracks across the board, but that there are other things that you've been figuring out for yourself. How much cold exposure is benefiting you, how. How much fasting is benefiting you, and where the. Where the lines are drawn. But that you have amazing access to all of these therapies and modalities that a lot of people don't have, but that you highlighted. There are so many things that are absolutely free which will make a huge difference for people. You know, sleep and cold therapy, you can just turn your shower to cold, right?

Yeah.

Getting morning sun, getting midday sun, watching the sunset, grounding in nature, moving your body, doing breath work, making sure that the quality of your water is good, avoiding toxins when you can. That usually is not only. Not only is that free, it's probably saving you money because you're out there saying like, say no to all that stuff. And and simplify what you're doing. And I think probably one of the most important things that you mentioned that we all need to put in the forefront is connection. It's social connection. And that is one of the major determinants of how long people live is how connected that they are to their family, to their community, to. To the world.

Right, Absolutely.

That's what we see in the blue zones. We see all of this longevity because as you get older, you become more valuable in your family, in your society, in your community. And if you are connected and living with great purpose, that will translate into longevity. So I love this whole conversation that we had today. And I know that this is just the first in many, many conversations that we're going to have together.

I love that. Well, when you came on my podcast, doctor, it was just, I mean, you gave me chills with your story. And I am so excited to know you because I just love, you know, when, when someone who has spent so much time in educating, you know, you did all of this. You became a surgeon, you were at the top of your game, and then you left because it was the right thing to do. And you're now helping, you know, women all over the world. It's. It's really inspiring. No, we didn't talk about the QT scan, but you, you know, were one of the people to turn me onto that. You really opened my eyes with the whole mammogram thing and I got my first QT scan. So I'm excited about that because also, longevity is right, like looking at diagnostics. We didn't talk too much about some of the diagnostics that I do, but I do the full body MRI every year, every couple years. I'm doing the calcium score with the soft plaque analysis. I'm doing the QT scan yearly. Now I'm doing the Grail cancer pre screening test. Just, you know, you want to catch things early. It's a huge part of living longer. But I'm just, I'm so excited about our friendship and everything that you're doing and your new centers that you're opening. I hope you open one out here so I can go to it.

I am certainly opening one there.

Love it.

And we have to get you to take the ARIA test.

Yes.

Is one that we are actually measuring. Well, I shouldn't say we. It's not my company, but they are measuring. They are looking for the S100A8 and S100A9 proteins, which are proteins that are markers of inflammation that is pretty specific to the Breast.

Interesting.

So it is either present in the very early stages of breast cancer, where you may not even be able to detect the cancer yet on imaging, but if the. That proteins, if those proteins are present, you know that you have the inflammatory precursors to breast cancer. So I love this test because it speaks to prevention.

Yeah.

Because you can actually intercept this process and change the trajectory. Because if you know that you have inflammation in the breast, then you're able to actually. Course. Correct.

Yeah.

And. And this. This goes completely along with all the things that you do where, you know, you have the opportunity to see, well, this is something that's good, but only good in measured doses. Right. So, you know, to back off. This is the same thing in that if you learn that you have inflammation in your breasts, you know that you have to look for one of the causes of which, you know, I have a list of 30 things that. Where you need to look. Right. Like, I have the rock to lift up, and you can look underneath it and see which one is there for you. So I love this Aria test. It's Aria Care. And if you use my code, Dr. Gen20 in caps D, R, J, E N N20, you get 20% off this test. And it's so, so, so affordable. It comes to, like, $130. Wow. So for $130, you can know if you have this risk factor, this very true, real and now risk factor for breast cancer. So I love that test. I think that you should absolutely be doing that test. And for most women, I recommend that they do that every six months. Well, yeah, because just like you're measuring your inflammation in the rest of your body, you should be measuring your inflammation in your breast.

And so I'll definitely.

And yeah, that one, absolutely. And you know, we have the same goal in mind. We want to live as long as possible, as well as possible, and ultimately die young. And this should be everyone's goal, and it is attainable and achievable. And it doesn't mean that you have to have a ton of gadgets in your house. You can do all of those things that we talked about that are absolutely, positively free, and they will make a huge, huge, huge difference, and they will, without question, contribute to your health, wellness, and longevity.

Absolutely.

Kayla, it was great to see you today, and I hope you come back soon to visit us. And I want to thank all of you for listening and know that I will be back next week, same time, same place. It's Dr. Jam. Bye for now.

Thank you for joining me on this episode of the Keeping a breast podcast with Dr. Chen. I hope you found the discussion informative and empowering. Remember, breast health is health, so by staying informed and taking proactive steps, you have the power to optimize your well being. My team and I encourage you to apply the knowledge gained from today's episode to make positive changes in your life and share what you've learned with others. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to our podcast and leave us a review. Your feedback and support mean the world to us and help us to reach more people who can benefit from these conversations. Stay connected with me on social media where I share additional resources, advice, updates and announcements related to breast health. You can find me on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Dr. Jennsimmons and remember, MyGen has two N's so until next time, remember to stay proactive, informed and confident in your breast health journey. The key to your health is you.