224: The Wildatarian Movement with Teri Cochrane

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Welcome to the JJ Virgin Lifestyle show with celebrity nutrition expert, Fitness hall of Famer and four time New York Times best selling author, JJ Virgin. JJ is a warrior mom whose knowledge and expertise have helped change hundreds of thousands of lives. With over 3.5 million podcast downloads and appearances on Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, the Today Show, Rachael Ray, Larry King Love Whoa, whoa, whoa. This show is about you, not about me. I want to help you find practical, real world ways to dial in your health and mindset so you can finally lose that weight and feel strong and energized. Stop settling for less than your personal best. It's time to find out how to look and feel better than ever. And I'll be right here with you the whole way. Welcome to the show. It's JJ with a super cool guest day. I love what this woman has been doing in the world. She is a, you know, a big corporate exec, gun rogue and you're going to hear the whole story of how she escaped corporate America to become an integrated health expert and really going out there and changing the world of nutrition. And all because she started it all, because she was and still is of course a warrior mom. And now Terry Cochran is an internationally known health expert specializing in complex and chronic conditions as well as bringing elite performance performers to their highest potential. And she's doing that through this. I'm going to call it a movement.

She calls it a diet, but truly.

It'S really a movement. You'll, you'll get that feel as we start to talk about on the show today. She is the author of the Wilditarian Diet. It was number one new release on Amazon and we will put in the show notes how you can grab that@jj virgin.com forward/wildish hearing. But you're going to learn about a concept that goes so hand in hand with my through line of us taking personal responsibility for our health and being our own personal health detective. You're going to learn some new things that you can incorporate here with this wild aarian approach that is just a bio individualized approach to your health. So I'm super excited to have Terry Cochran on today. All right, Terry Cochran, welcome to the show. I'm super excited to talk with you today.

So good to be with you, jj.

I know it's kind of ridiculous that it's taken us this long to do this because this is such a cool topic. So for everyone listening, Terry has created this just, it's going to be one of the biggest things going like everyone's going to know about this within the next year or two. It's the wilditarian diet. It's really a movement. But you know what I think is so fascinating is you were a big corporate exec and now you're in the integrative health field with this wilditarian diet. Like, what the heck happened?

Well, what happened was that when my son was born, by the age of three, we were told he would have brain seizures, he wouldn't grow past 5 foot 4 and he would live a life of compromise. And at first I thought as most mothers who get that type of news, I said, well, what if we can live with it? You know, we're going to have to live with it. But then this greater knowing came upon me and the answer was, well, what if it doesn't have to be this way? So I became literally a solution seeker trying to find a way to health for my son. And when I realized, and this was almost 18 years ago, that the food that we were putting in his body and the drugs that we were giving him were literally making his body break down and that food could heal him. Within five days of changing major food groups for him, he started breathing, then he started walking, he started talking. And then I became that mother for other mothers who was told, you will have a child of compromise and will have a compromised life. So I did this for the other mothers that were, that were told, it's not possible to get your child well.

Wow. Well, and now everybody benefits. And that's the best part of all. So let's talk about, by the way, how's your son now?

He's fabulous. He's a 23 year old, was a junior Olympic gold medalist, singer, songwriter, he was a scholar at a top public ivy. So he's doing just fine.

And is he taller than 5 4?

Oh my gosh, he's a handsome 511. He was prom king at his high school.

Gosh, you know what's, you know what's the most scary about that is the people who would have listened to that and accepted that.

Exactly, exactly.

Right. I mean that's, I mean there's many.

Things I love about you, but your warrior mama part.

Your co warrior mamas for sure, warrior moms love that.

So now you've developed this program and tell us about the foundation of the wildatarian program. What is it?

Well, the wildatarian program is a just for you designed diet that speaks to the undergirding of how your body works with genes and how, how your body works with the environment. And it's, it's rooted in the, the tenants of what I call the big three protein, fat and sulfur malabsorption. Meaning we aren't breaking down these three big molecules. And the way I started the wild Aarian was I had a, a client that came to steam me with end stage cancer. And it was a very rare form of cancer called amyloid doses, which are protein deposits. And in his case they had deposited around his heart and it had caused cancer and then the two rounds of chemo congestive heart failure. And I didn't even know what the heck an amyloid was. I didn't even know how to pronounce it. But what I did is we have a scientist on my staff and we're constantly doing research and I started trying to understand how amyloids develop in the body. And lo and behold, we found the research that says guys, if you're eating domesticated animal protein, you're eating proteins that are not able to be broken down. And if we can't break them down, it's going to trip our genes, which is going to make us less likely to break down protein and then we're going to end up wearing them. And now we know with studies out of Cambridge and Japan that amyloids, these nasty little undigestible proteins, are responsible for contributing to 50 major conditions in our country. Diabetes, kidney failure, autoimmune condition, infertility, arthritis, you name it. So that was the big tenet with the, the wild Iterian. What we found was if you then fed the body wild game, unadulterated animal products, they were lower in this amyloid count. And the body was able to then break these protein downs to amino acid and use them as the body is intended to use these amino acids for multiple functions in the body. So that really, that really was the underpinning of the wilditarian movement. And then sulfur and, and fat malabsorption came on later. And I developed this program. I've been Using it with thousands of my clients. And it works. It's all bio individual. We have everybody take a quiz to figure out what type of wild aarian you are and then we develop a program that works just for them. And the book is really undergirded. We released a book called the Wilditarian Diet Living as Nature Intended. And the word diet, in my world, I have changed it from a low vibration word which is when people think about diet, they think, oh my God, when am I going to stop being on a diet? And how much am I going to have to give up in life? And I've changed that word to mean everything that we consume in life. Our thoughts, who we surround ourselves with, and not not only our food. And it is, it is a word of abundance and sustainability because the thought creates the thing. And if we think about it in a different way, belief systems are so important.

There's so much here to unpack. Oh my gosh. Because I know kind of the first thing is you look at the inability break down protein, fat and sulfur. And so. And I also know you have different wilditarian types, like someone listening to this going, okay, where would I start here?

Well, the way you would start is first read my book because it's going to really give you a basic scenario of how and why our body works in certain ways.

And FYI, we're going to have links to all this stuff. So we'll have links@jj virgin.com forward/ while it terrian we'll have a link to get the book which is number one new release on Amazon. So amazing. So, so number one, read the book. Okay.

And then the second, what are the.

Key things they're going to take away from the book?

So what they're going to take away from the book is we're all different and we have to think of the body is not being static. A diet that may have worked for me when I was 21 may not work for me when I'm going through perimenopause. Because during that time in my life I'm. I'm disregulating my hormones. And guess what hormones are? They're fats. And if I already have a predisposition not to be an optimal metabolizer breaker down a fat. If I eat a high ketogenic diet, that ketogenic diet, which worked, you know, 10 years ago, isn't going to work for me now. So we teach people to be body interpreters through body talk. So there's a quiz that you can take that will tell you well, what is my body doing now? How is it speaking to me now? And this quiz is iterative and you take it over time because that our bodies change. But the reason why fat has become such a big deal in our society is that stress is a fat soluble hormone. And when we live the standard American lifestyle, pushing that adrenaline, pushing that cortisol, pushing that stress hormone, we now know that that sucker leaks our gut and makes us fat malabsorbed. And then what happens is we, we become what I say, fluffy. Because all those hormones start hanging out in our lymphatic tissue and we become fluffy. And when our hormones are not broken down, we can't use that insulin. And then we start wearing insulin around our waist, we can't use that estrogen and then estrogen will without being estrogen balance. That can lead to thyroid issues, it can lead to acne, it can lead to estrogen build cells so it can lead to cysts and so forth. So fat metabolism is a really big deal. And we have to listen to our bodies to know am I an optimal fat breaker downer or am I not? And if I'm not, those healthy nuts that I'm eating or that healthy MCT oil that I'm taking in every day may not be great for me today.

All right, so how, how would someone know And I love. So first off, big shout out because I'm all about you being your own personal health detective. I know you call it a body interpreter and really connecting the dots between what you're eating, how you're thinking, what you're doing and, and, and how you're feeling. So that is killer. Love it. Now someone isn't absorbing fat. Well, what are the some of the signs of that?

So some of the signs and it's in the book and in the quiz will also give you a great sign. But if you're.

And also just for everybody listening, we will have the quiz link too. So I know you've got the wild A tearing quiz that's going to help everyone figure out their wild A tearing type. We will put that too at jjvirgin.com forward/wilde hearing.

Okay, Absolutely. So one of the big things is I always say let's talk poop. Our stool tells us so much. If, if your stool floats, if it's light colored, if you see grease in the toilet bowl, that's a really big deal. You're not breaking down fats. Another thing is if you have bumps on the back of your arms, if you have a history of significant acne, if you have really bad PMS or heavy clotting periods. If you've had gallbladder or liver issues, if you have a lot of edema, which means that the fat is getting stuck in that lymphatic tissue. Those are really good ways of knowing your fat malabsorbed. And especially if you're super stressed. And when you get stressed, you gain weight. If stress makes you gain weight, that means that you're pushing that cortisol. That cortisol is then making you push insulin. And that insulin has nowhere to go, it's not being used by the cells, and you end up wearing it. Because we know that insulin is a fat storage hormone. So those are just really simple clues to say, hey guys, can I break down my fats or not? And where is my tipping point? And we give you, we give you a roadmap to figure that out.

That is awesome.

And what about protein? How would someone know if they weren't digesting their protein?

Well, so one of the big things about protein is if you burp after a meal a lot, that means you're not breaking down protein if you have trouble building muscle, because guess what muscle comes from. We gotta use and recombine those amino acids to, to make protein muscles. And if you have, if you get lightheaded, if you have, you don't digest your meals. So those are really good signs of. And if you have, for example, that.

Burping, that's a really key one. Start paying attention to people around. I'm blown away by how many people, I'm like watching them after they eat and like digestive enzymes.

Exactly, absolutely. You need betaine to make that hydrochloric acid to make your body break down your protein. And a lot of things is, you know, when you're, when you're stressed out, this is another cool thing. This is why it's in combination, when your body is stressed, you don't make sufficient hydrochloric acid and that's going to predispose you to protein malabsorption. So it's a, it's a double, a double whammy. But literally, if you, if you work out and you just don't have that muscle mass, or if you feel worse after a breakout, a workout, rather you're not using those amino acids to help you get through that workout. And so really big deal. But burping is one of the clear, clear signs also. You just don't do well building muscle. And then a third thing is if you get blood work from your, you know, daily or Excuse me. Your annual checkup. You have to be, again, your own advocate. You gotta look, am I. Am I putting out protein in my urine? If you got protein in your urine, your doc didn't even tell you about that. You're literally peeing out your protein and you didn't use it. So that's a big deal.

So now let's shift over to sulfur, because, really, people haven't been talking about this at all. And, you know, we're all looking at sulfur. We try to eat more sulfur rich foods like broccoli and kale and brussels sprouts and. And onions because they help with detoxification. But you have a warning around it, too. So let's talk. Let's talk about sulfur. And how do you know if you can handle it or not?

That's a really great question. And this is really a new phenomena, jj And I've done deep, deep research into this. I happen to be a WS Wilditarian, meaning that I'm, you know, I'm. I'm an amyloid, low amyloid, low sulfur wildatarian. And the big discovery that I made is like, why is this such a problem in the United States, where we're having massive ulcerative colitis, Crohn's, rheumatoid arthritis, mental health issues, collagen that's breaking down, incredible dysfunction in our collagen matrix structure. What we have found, and this is through the work of Dr. Stephanie Seneff at MIT. Also Amy Yashko has done some work on it, but we've also, in my practice, done some deep research. And we are having a glyphosate sulfur induced malabsorption epidemic. And what we have.

Okay, stop. Okay. Sorry.

Yeah, I talked to you. Yeah. Okay.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Interpret that for everybody, because you just said we are having a glyphosate sulfur induced malabsorption epidemic or something of such thing. And I went, okay, now go back and say that for a fifth.

Okay, so let me break that down. Sorry about. Sorry about my gig talk. I, you know, I go into my gig talk. Okay, okay, so. So basically, Roundup. Roundup is a. An herbicide that's sprayed on our crops. In particular, gluten. We now know that Roundup is not only a poison and a carcinogen, but it stops the body's ability to break down sulfur. And sulfur is such a necessary compound in our body because it needs to convert to another element called sulfate. And when that happens, everybody's happy in the playground because then you can use your collagen and you can make really good neurotransmitters and you can have good gut integrity, but it literally stops it in its tracks. And with the inability to process sulfur especially again back to. Because we undergirded in genetics and genetic predispositions. If you have certain genes that you aren't a great metabolizer of sulfur and me being Spanish, so I'm Mediterranean and we look at general populations and certain populations just don't make or have certain genetic traits that make us less apt to break down sulfur. I'm one of those. But if you look at the French, the French generally don't do that. But they, they, you know, drink wine all the time, which has naturally carrying sulfur. They eat garlic in every one of their me a lot of their meals, which has a high rich sulfur compound. But they're just fine. The reason why I believe it's happening is the roundup is stopping our body's ability to break down sulfur. And we've had.

Now how would you know if you.

Couldn'T break down sulfur?

Well, what are some of the great question.

So again, let's look at what the body's saying to us. If you can smell asparagus in your urine coming out, then you, you have a sulfur processing issue. If you have, if you're allergic to sulfur drugs for sure, certainly that's a big red light. Red light. If you have rheumatoid arthritis or have a history, family history of rheumatoid arthritis or arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis specifically. They've done studies in almost 75% of individuals with RA have sulfur processing impairment. If you, it's been linked to adhd. If you have trouble with eggs, the yolk of an egg is pure sulfur. So those are really good signs that if you, you know, if you have wine and it kicks your butt the next morning, it could be the added sulfites.

If you eat deli now is there, is there a test that would show it too? Is it what?

Absolutely. So if you, the 23andMe test, genetic testing. There's three genetic polymorphisms that they're called just genetic traits that you would be more predisposed to being less likely to process sulfur. And that's the CBS gene and the suox gene. But you know, I think if you look at family history and if you have a lot of history of arthritis or osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis or if you can't, if you can't Process that asparagus smell. That's another issue. If you're allergic to eggs, you know, you can eat the egg whites, but you can't eat the egg yolk. That's the thing. So again, body talk. But genetic predispositions will. Will give you an opportunity to at least know where your tendencies are. And in my practice, we say, genes are our tendency. They're not our destiny. Just because I have these genes doesn't mean that I'm going to have to live a life of deprivation of sulfur. Now, again, I said earlier I have a sulfur situation, but I engage in what I call a respectful relationship with my sulfur friends. Do I? Do. Do I Kale? Yes. But do I put it in my smoothies in the morning? No. Do I eat eggs? Yes. But do I eat eggs every day?

No.

So again, it's that dance and that balance of what is my tipping point with my sulfur friends. But that doesn't mean that I'm living a life of deprivation. It just means that I'm making informed decisions on how far I've hung out with you.

You don't live a life of deprivation. And I think that's. That's the biggest point of all. It's like, you know, I. Granted, we all, you know, we're always together at events where we all eat wheat. None of us are eating, like, gluten and cake and crap. But you would never look at and.

Go, wow, like, she's poor.

Poor Terri.

Not at all. I mean, I'm a foodie.

Not at all. Yeah, you're a foodie. So, like, take us through a typical day of what Terry. Okay, so everybody always wants to know this, don't they?

Do I love it. I love sharing what I eat. Because, you know, part of the thing is I walk the walk. I can't ask my clients to do something that I don't. And I love this. It's not because I have to. It's because I want to. So in the morning, and I work out regularly, but in the morning, I start my morning every morning with a cilantro and cucumber juice. And I'm not talking a smoothie. It's a juice because that's like. I call it a nutrition iv and because I do have a sulfur sensitivity and I also have an oxalate sensitivity. That's a whole other line of things like spinach and parsley and so forth. Cucumber and cilantro are my best buddies. One cucumber is amazing because it has silica. And guess what? Silica does. It helps build good collagen matrix. And because I'm that predisposition to not have good collagen matrix, I do that. And, you know, you've seen me, jj, I've got good bone structure and good muscle structure in terms of the, the, the cilantro. Such it is literally, it just cleans my liver every, every morning. I love that. So I start that with a little bit of apple cider vinegar and water. And then in the morning I'll have an egg white omelette. I'll have egg white omelette with some zucchini. Sometimes I'll have some, some goat cheese with strawberries. Sometimes I'll have a berry smoothie with some whey protein and avocado and again, some more cilantro. I'll have oatmeal. So I vary it, but I like to have some protein in there for sure. I know I do better in the morning because I got a long, very busy day adding some protein. And if I'm doing, you know, if I'm doing some goat, goat cheese in there, I'll add a little bit of whey protein in there. So I like to try to get about 10 grams of protein in the morning and then in the, for lunch. I do this during my work week. I do it every, every day. I have what I had for dinner the night before. So today what I had, I had this amazing cod, lemon, lemon cod with some wild rice, asparagus and some acorn squash. So that's it. That's an amazing meal. And the night before I had lamb stew and I made lamb stew in five minutes. So I'll do. I'm a, I'm a high fat wildatarian, so I love my lamb, I love my duck, bison. Oh my gosh, bison burgers, bison sirloin, and then I'll do beans. I'll do beans one day a week. Usually on my weekends when I'm running around, I'll do a, a black and red bean enchilada that I've just thrown together in the microwave with some, some melted goat cheddar and I'm good to go. But again, love shellfish and fish. Mussels have so much. They're so rich in selenium and zinc. For me, again, good brain food for somebody who needs that. And so again, very varied, not deprived. Super yummy. I love my, my nuts and some chocolate at night. Almonds I don't do during spring season because they tend to pollinate here in the D.C. area. So we eat counter Seasonally again, part of my new thinking and nutrition. People trying to eat with the seasons. Not if you got a liver tipping point that says no go for you. So that's pretty much how I, how I, how I roll with.

All right. I'm sure everybody listening is going okay, you need to. Obviously you're going to want to read the book. Take the quiz, which you can do at jjvirgin.com forward/wildatarian, and thank you for providing that. And I'll have a link to where you can grab the book on Amazon. Number one new release. I'd love to throw one more at you, Terri, if you have.

You got it.

So what's one thing that you do every day? Could be diet, could be mindfulness, something. What's one thing you do every day that you feel like makes the biggest difference in your life?

One of the biggest things that I do is I'm always noticing what I'm noticing. And if I'm having a thought in the morning, I do this every morning. I check in with myself, you know, and like you, I'm, I'm quite busy and there's a lot going on, a lot of moving parts in my life. But if I, if I'm feeling something in my body that, oh, gosh, this doesn't feel good. Whatever it is that I'm thinking about, I shift the thinking, I shift the thought. It's like I literally unpack that. I'm. I'm stepping away from that energy and I'm going to shift my mindset from, you know, ooh, feeling really constrictive and uncomfortable to ease and flow. And I'm telling you, that has been such a game changer for me because the thought creates the thing. We literally manifest what we think. I, I am such a true believer of this. And if I want to manifest ease and flow, that's what's going to happen. If I want to manifest rigidity and problem after problem, that's what I'm going to manifest. So it's really noticing and checking in with myself every day. It's. It's been such a good.

I love that and I love the ease and flow. Ease and flow. So I'm going to remind everybody to grab everything we've been talking about. Obviously, this is. We, like, just, we probably just scratched the surface enough to make everybody go, the heck I got to know more. So you can. Jjvirgin.com wilditarian start with taking the quiz. Grab the book. That's going to help guide you. And I know you've Got a bunch more resources when they get jumping in because you've got great recipes and all sorts of stuff so she's not going to leave you hanging. And Terry, I wanted to thank you so much for being with us.

My great pleasure my dear. Such an honor.

Ah well took took a while to get you on and well worth the wait. So thank you. I appreciate it. Alright now after the break I'm going to be answering a listener's question. So stay with me.

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Welcome back. This is a time where we answer listeners questions. So today I got a two for one. Yes. So because normally I do a listener's question and then I dive in and do a podcast review and a shout out of gratitude. But I got all in one today and again we answer listeners questions. I grab them from Instagram, from Facebook, but today's I've grabbed actually from our podcast reviews and this is a review on itunes that also turned into a question. So I'm gonna do a big shout out to Mary M. Scoger and she gave me a five star review in Apple podcast. So first of all thank you Mary. And secondly, I'm just gonna read this. There's a great little testimonial in here and also question that I'm excited to dive into. So here we go. I have to say jj, you are really incredible. Thank you so much for what you do. I listen religiously to your podcasts. I always get some wonderful little nugget of information that helps me on my journey back to health. But I must say this one really hit home. Why? Because I'm a 60 year old woman gone through menopause and I feel as though I was left with a disaster like a tornado came and destroyed my body. Sorry to be so negative, but that's the way I feel. I think Mary, I'm asiding for a second that a lot of women are wagging their head. Totally understanding. And it's funny. I was answering some videos, doing some video questions the other day and I said menopause, it's kind of like all hell just broke loose. So I think a tornado is a great, great description. So here we go. I'm coming back.

All right.

I've always been so health oriented, but getting a handle on hormones is tough. I started using progesterone creams a while ago, so I believe I was on the right track. However, when menopause hit man, I blew up like a balloon. I gained 35 pounds almost overnight and of course, it's been right in the belly. Lovely. Not so like many, I've reached out to my doctors and they of course just told me to eat less, move more. Okay, note from me. Come on. When are we going to get through this? Okay. Of course I've done all this and for three years, nothing has worked for me. I'm now on a keto paleo diet with inter intermittent fasting. I eat one meal a day, a good sized one, healthy. This seems to be working for me. Now. I do bone broth in the morning, so it's not like I'm not getting nutrition during the day. I love it. I've learned so much from you. I'm working to balance my hormones, which is so hard. Even still, I'm going to try Dr. Anna Kabeca's creams and the maca powder. Question for you. I do not hear much about women who are low in estrogens. Like estradiol. Progesterone is always the topic. But what about low estrogen? What happens with low estrogen? What do we do? I've always been afraid to use any kind of estrogens. I did have my estradiol checked and came back less than 10 PG's. Paramedical. I've not heard one word from my doctor yet, so I'm going to have to go this alone. No, you are not. I'm going to jump in here by the way, along with the thyroid issues. Anyway, don't get me started. So I so appreciate you and what you do. You are saving lives with your knowledge and I want you to know that I so appreciate it. Thank you again. I will be a forever fan. All right, so here's the deal. Oh my gosh. Estrogen. If you are low in estrogen, you are in deep doo doo for a variety of different reasons. And here's why. Estrogen is nature's like, antidepressant for women, just like testosterone is for men. Too high of estrogen. Yes. You're going to have problems. You'll probably become insulin resistant. You'll be storing fat, risk for breast cancer and other female cancers. But too low of estrogen, you will have similar problems. You'll be storing fat and you'll be depressed and you'll have hot flashes and your heart and your brain and your bones will take a hit. Okay, so that's the big problem I see here is we're so scared about estrogen. But, but the deal is, women, our biggest risk is not breast cancer, it's heart disease. And when your estrogen goes low, all of a sudden you'll start to see your, all your worst cholesterol markers, especially lp, go up, you'll start to have brain fog, you'll feel like you're getting dementia, your bones start to thin. So the deal is you do not to get your estrogen down too low. So here's what I, here's, here's kind of the process number one for sex hormones. It's all about a balance. Estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. It's actually way easier after you've gone through menopause. The toughest part is as you're going through because they're all over the board and trying to balance a moving target is challenging. Now that you've gone through, you're actually in an easier place. But what I found is if you've now got estrogen in the tank, it is going to be really hard for you to lose weight because you will need estrogen, estrogen to burn fat. So what you want to. And if you're just using progesterone, all you're doing is driving estrogen down further. Your body will make some estrogen from the testosterone, but progesterone will drive it down. So what I believe to be the best way to do this, and what I personally do is first thing you want to do is you want to make sure that you've done everything you possibly can with your diet so that you are supporting good blood sugar response and eating foods that can help with phytoestrogen. So that's step one. So things like freshly ground flaxseed meal can be great there and taking supplements that can help you with hormone balance as well with sex hormone balance. So we will put in the show notes the Link to get 20% off your first order on Femguard + balance. That's got some great things like black cohosh and Vitex and Damiana. So that's that. And also GLA can be helpful here. Next, you want to make sure your thyroid's dialed in because if your thyroid's not working, you won't be able to produce Your sex hormones. Well, so super important to work with a functional medicine doctor who understands looking at TSH free T3 and T4 and thyroid antibodies and reverse T3 and optimizing. And you also, of course, want to make sure adrenals are working well because you've got to rely on your adrenal glands for estrogen production as you go through menopause. And then, and this is the other challenge, if your estrogen is tanking, you're going to hold on to fat because we're going to produce estrogen through our fat. So then we start to look at. All right, let's optimize now. Now that we've gotten here, let's use the least amount of bioidentical hormones to get the desired effect, to protect your brain, your heart, your bones and feel good and be able to lose weight so that you can get to your ideal body fat. And so for most people, what I see is a patch of bioidentical estradiol. Also, you want to take dim with this. And again, we'll put into that, into the show notes designs for health dim avail and how to get that for 20% off the first order because that will help you not metabolize that into bad estrogens. So that is important. And then so using estrogen, taking some testosterone, because some of the testosterone can convert to estrogen, so you may need less. And testosterone, of course, critical for being able to build muscle and for having good sex drive libido. And then, and you probably need to do that, you know, depends on which form you're doing. If you're doing a pellet, if you're doing a patch, if you're doing a shot. One of the things, I'm sorry, cream or shot. One of the things with testosterone is you want to make sure before you do a pellet that you know what dose you need to be on. Because if you do a pellet and you're on the wrong dose, you're in trouble. So first, figure out the dose before you go that route. But generally I do a shot once a month. I'm actually going to start taking that to every other week. And then I do an estrogen patch every other day. And then I do progesterone topical. And I do that for a week, a month. And so what you'll think about is cycling progesterone, the only time you've got steady state progesterone. So you would do ProgesterOne one of two ways. If you're someone who has super duper Duper low progesterone. And this is generally when someone's not in menopause. This is pre. And you need to drive down estrogen a bit. It might be something you're using on an ongoing basis, but for most people, the only time you ever have steady state elevated progesterone is when you're pregnant and can make you insulin resistant, can lower your estrogen. So progesterone generally would be something you cycle and that would be to protect your uterus and ovaries. And then you would do a steady state estrogen through a bioidentical patch and then you would also have some kind of a testosterone replacement. But again, it's a whole process. And here's the thing. This all happened to me right, when my son was in a coma in the hospital, right? So if I can get through this, anyone can. And it was really challenging then because it was all over the place and I was in the hospital. It was crazy. But again, get your adrenals, get your diet and lifestyle dialed in, get your adrenals dialed in, get your thyroid dialed in and then work sex hormone balance. Do not do a ketogenic diet in this situation. It can make things worse, not better. Okay. Both for thyroid adrenals and sex hormones, that wouldn't be your operative thing here. But work on really good blood sugar balance, work on getting in some naturally estrogenic foods and freshly ground flaxseed meal can be incredible. Here to throw into your smoothie and then add the supplements and then go work with a good functional medicine doctor. And you can always post on my Facebook page as to where you're located and we can help you find one who can help you do all this. Alrighty. There you go. Thank you so much for your kind words. And again, if you have a question for me, JJ Virgin official on Facebook, JJ Virgin on Instagram, we monitor everything. I have, me and my whole team, we're always in there checking it out. We're also on YouTube, I have my YouTube channel and we also check there as well. So. And pop in on one of my lives and ask questions there too. So love the questions and I super, super love the great review and all the kind words. So thank you so much for that and I will see you next time. Bye by that's all for this episode of the JJ Virgin Lifestyle show, which marks another step towards a healthier body and mind. Don't forget to rate review and subscribe to the show and we'll talk to you next week.

Hello listeners, this is Anne Bogle, author, blogger, and creator of the podcast what Should I Read next? Since 2016, I've been helping readers bring more joy and delight into their reading lives. Every week, I tag all things books and Reading with a guest and guide them in discovering their next read. They share three books they love, one book they don't, and what they've been reading lately, and I recommend three titles they may enjoy reading next. Guests have said our conversations are like therapy, troubleshooting issues that have plagued their reading lives for years and possibly the rest of their lives as well. And of course, recommending books that meet the moment. Whether they are looking for deep introspection to spur or encourage a life change or a frothy page turner to help them escape the stresses of work, work, school, everything, you'll learn something about yourself as a reader and you'll definitely walk away confident to choose your next read, with a whole list of new books and authors to try. So join us each Tuesday for what Should I Read Next? Subscribe now wherever you're listening to this podcast and Visit our website whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com to find out more.