Beyond Aging: How Peptides Transform Health with Nathalie Niddam

Hey, J.J. here. Can you believe how fast the holidays are knocking at the door this year? One minute it's pumpkin spice season, the next you're getting your guest room ready and wondering where their wrapping paper went. And that's when I turned to Wayfair. From bedding and towels to holiday decor and last minute stocking stuffers, Wayfair has everything you need to get your home and holidays together fast. And for way less. With Wayfair, I know I can refresh my guest room in no time. Maybe I'll add a soft new comforter or a few holiday throw pillows. With Wayfair, it's so easy and everything arrives super fast. Plus, there's free shipping for any order over $35 easy and total peace of mind. So whether you're hosting, gifting, or just adding those final festive touches, Wayfair has your back. And when the holidays wind down, Wayfair has everything you need to tuck it all neatly away. Smart storage solutions for every room from the kitchen to the closet. Get organized, refreshed and ready for the holidays. For way less head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. Wayfair Every style, every home. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I R.com hey, it's JJ here. You know, I've been talking about environmental toxins forever, and laundry detergent is a sneaky one. A lot of them contain harsh chemicals like dyes, preservatives, and even UV brighteners. Those brighteners don't actually clean anything. They just coat fabric so your eyes think things look whiter or brighter. That's more chemicals I don't want on my family's sheets or skin. And if you've got sensitive skin or allergies around the house, this can be a big problem. That's what got my attention about Earth Breeze. It looks like a dryer sheet, but it's actually laundry detergent. You toss one in the washer and that's it. No pouring, no mess, and no heavy plastic jug. Their packaging is lightweight cardboard, which helps reduce plastic waste. And if you choose the fragrance free option, it's gentle, hypoallergenic, non irritating and non sensitizing. I really like how simple it is and how fresh and clean everything comes out without those unnecessary chemicals. Right now you can try Earth Breeze for up to 40% off with free gifts@earthbreeze.com virgin that's earthbreeze.com virgin for up to 40% off plus free gifts on your first order this episode is brought.

To you by Diet Coke. You know that moment when you just need to hit pause and refresh. An ice cold Diet Coke isn't just a break, it's your chance to catch your breath and savor a moment that's all about you. Always refreshing, still the same great taste Diet Coke. Make time for you time.

I'm JJ Virgin, PhD dropout, sorry mom turned four time New York Times Best selling author. I'm a Certified Nutrition Specialist, Fitness hall of Famer and I speak at health conferences and trainings around the globe. But I'm driven most of all by my insatiable curiosity and literally of science to keep asking questions, digging for answers and sharing the information that I uncover with as many people as I can. And that's where you come in. That's why I created the well Beyond 40 podcast to synthesize and simplify the science of health into actionable strategies to help you thrive. In each episode we'll talk about what's working in the world of wellness, from personalized nutrition and healing your metabolism to powerful aging and prescriptive fitness. Join me on the journey to better health so you can love how you look and feel right now and have the energy to play full out at 100. Don't miss an episode. Subscribe now@subscribetoj.com to start unlocking your healthiest, most energetic self. There are compounds out there that you can use with diet and lifestyle that are going to help rejuvenate your body. They work with your body to help make your body better. And you're going to hear some stuff today that's going to blow your mind and what's cool about this as opposed to things like drugs. Drugs get in there and they're the sledgehammer that work to just, you know, stop something. When you look at these peptides that we're going to be talking about, they go in and rejuvenate. They go in and make your body work like it used to. So I've been really interested in them and I've been playing around with a couple of them with good results. BPC157 and PeptiStrong. I've been using it from a company called Healthgevity, so I wanted to get deeper into this. And the person who I've been listening to a lot online about it and who I had the pleasure to meet last year at the Health Optimization Summit is Natalie Nidham. She's a holistic nutritionist and longevity educator and she has been really into bioregulator peptides for years. Now you're going to hear the whole story of how she got into them. Pretty interesting. And so much so that she actually has a podcast, her longevity podcast, where she really focuses on them and shares her expertise on them. So again, I am bringing the expert to you on this and you will learn how you can use these to maybe rejuvenate your thyroid, balance your blood sugar, help with reducing inflammation. Super cool stuff. And it's something that you can layer on top of what you're already doing and cycle in for great results. So I will be right back with Natalie Knittham. Stay with me. Hey, jj, Virgin here. Okay, real talk. So often the holidays sneak up on me. Travel, gifts, hosting, you know, all the things and suddenly it's like, wait, who spent what and where? And I know I'm not the only one who's looked at a bill in January and thought, wow, that escalated quickly. If you want to keep your finances under control this holiday season, you need to be using Monarch. It's rated the Wall Street Journal's best budgeting app of 2025. Monarch is the all in one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean interface. All on your laptop or on your phone. Monarch lets you link everything and gives you real time visibility so you're not shocked later. Right now, I've been checking the holiday spending category so I don't accidentally start the new year with that dreaded debt hangover. And honestly, just seeing everything laid out is already helping me stay more aware. This season, Monarch does the heavy lifting. It links your accounts in minutes, gives you smart categorization and super clear visuals. Yes, that end of year reset could be a real goal this time. Don't let financial opportunity slip through the cracks. Use the code virginonarch.com in your browser for half off your first year. That's 50% off your first year@monarch.com with the code Virgin at Sierra. Discover top workout gear at incredible prices. Which might lead to another discovery. Your headphones haven't been connected this whole time. Awkward. Discover top brands at unexpectedly low prices. Ciara, let's get moving. Natalie, welcome to the show.

Jj. Thank you for having me.

See, I told you we're diving right in. I surprised you.

No, we're going in.

We're going in. I am really excited about this topic. I've been stalking you on different podcasts and I love all that you're doing around Peptides and I thought we really haven't talked much about them on the podcast, which is Crazy. Since we're about well beyond 40, and they're such a cool thing and something I've been doing. So I'm excited to have you talk about them. How did you get into them?

You know what it was? I was at a conference, and I was exhausted. I'd been on the exhibitor floor, which is where I spend most of my time at these conferences, and I just needed to take a load off my feet. And so there was a stage off to the side, and there was an empty seat, and I'm like, oh, I'm gonna go sit there. And so I sit myself down and I put down my bags, and all of a sudden I can. You know how you kind of hear a voice through the. Through the haze, and there's a guy standing on stage talking about, yeah, and I've got this tan, and I haven't spent any time in the sun.

And.

And it's. I got it from this stuff called Melanitan. And then. Which he didn't say this stuff. He basically goes through the thing, and then he goes on, and I'm kind of like, oh, that's kind of interesting. That's weird, but interesting. And he doesn't look like a carrot, so maybe there's something to it.

Yeah, it's not like Charisse Tehran at the. Remember that? The unfortunate Oscars.

Most unfortunate Oscars. Yeah. And so then I. And then he starts talking. He throws up a slide, and he's talking about this Russian guy and this research. Research on this stuff called Epitalon. And it's an old people study and how he gave it to these old people. And the next thing you know, it's like 12 years later, and the. The test subject had 33% less mortality than the. Than the control group. And I was like, oh, that's kind of interesting, too. And then the n. He goes on to say, but that's not all, because they had better bone density and they had better happiness scores, and they slept better, and their melatonin production and their this, and they're telomeres. And I was like, okay, really? And then next thing, he's talking about BPC 157. And at this point, my jaw's on the floor, and I tap the guy's shoulder in front of me, and I'm like, is this guy for real? Unbeknownst to me, this guy owned a compounding pharmacy. And he goes, honey, this is future of medicine. And I even forgave him for calling me honey, because I was like, really? And that was It. That was my point of entry.

Who was the guy?

Dan Stickler.

Oh, geez.

You know him. I'm sure you know him. And it was Dan Stickler. And I was like. I was completely gobsmacked.

Yeah, yeah. You wandered into a great. Into a great little lecture.

Exactly. And he wasn't. You know, he was on that side. It was the old Paleo fx.

Oh, that's.

He was on that side stage.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love. I love Dan's wife, Mika. Mika. Mika. She is a trip. Anyway, that's incredible. That's incredible. Okay, so you heard the lecture.

Yeah. And that was like the tractor beam. And I heard Jean Francois Tremblay, who was the. Who was the founder of canlab Research, which is a research lab in Montreal.

Okay, so you can just say this because you're Canadian.

Yes, I'm French.

Are you French Canadian?

Oh, no, I'm French beyond Canadian. And so here, let me say it in English. Jean Francois Tremblay probably is how most people would know him. And he was on a podcast and talking about peptides. And it's so funny because I've never done this before, but I'm like, oh, he's French. He lives in Montreal. I'll bet you I could reach out to him and get him to talk to me, because at this point, I'm like, I'm all in. Right. I've got the hook. Like, I'm completely in.

How long ago was this?

It's gotta be five years at least. Five years. Anyway, long story short, he became my mentor.

Wow.

So I learned a ton from him. I started a Facebook community, which, shockingly, is still up because they're going down meta's, taking down these groups like crazy. And then I started my podcast about a year later. And the podcast was really a way to get people who knew more about this stuff to talk to me than I.

There were a lot many people who.

Knew more than me. So I'm like, how am I gonna get them to talk to me? I'm like, I know. I'll start a podcast. I'll invite them, and I'll invite them. And at the time, not that many people were talking about peptides. So they were just kind of stoked that anybody wanted to talk to them. So that's how it.

You're a smart cookie there, Natalie.

So here we are.

Here we are. So just for someone going, well, what the heck are you even talking about? Explain what a peptide is.

Yeah. So a peptide. Peptide's just another word for small protein. Right? So by Definition, proteins we know are made up of amino acids. And I'm sure your audience knows exactly what amino acid is because otherwise they wouldn't be allowed to listen to your broadcast. So amino acids, the building blocks of protein and peptides are 50amino acids or fewer. Right? So they're by comparison like you have proteins in your body that are hundreds if not thousands of amino acids long and they're all full, folded up into little origami shapes. So peptides are, generally speaking, when we're talking about peptides, they're fragments of those proteins. And it's kind of like they're part of the active component. And so they've been isolated and identified as initiating certain, they act as signaling molecules in the body. And so they initiate certain chemical or structural responses at a cellular level in the body.

And people have heard of these because they've heard of GLP1. So you've heard of peptides, but these are bioregular peptides. What does that meant by bioregulator?

Right, so the bioregulators are like a subset of peptides, right? So you've got your GLP1 agonist that you were just talking about. And then we have things like another one people might have heard about is BPC157. Then there's the melanitan I talked about earlier. Anybody who's been into bodybuilding knows about melanitan. Cause bodybuilders have been using those for a gajillion years as well as the bpc. But the bioregulators are only two to four amino acids long. So they're teeny to be very technical. We're going to use that super technical term, they're minuscule. And what's one of the features? And they go beyond being signaling molecules. They're actually epigenetic switches. So what they do because they're so small is they can cross the cellular membrane, they can get into the nucleus of the cell and, and that's where they basically bind to specific areas on your DNA and upregulate the production of proteins. And so in that way, they basically drive rejuvenation at a cellular level on a tissue specific basis.

And just for everybody listening, these are the biggest threat to big pharma there could possibly be. So like Natalie said, hey, Med is taking down all these things. It's like you see Things like is BPC157 on or off right now? Like, we just got a stash of it, but can you get it now or not get it?

Well, as far as Your regulatory bodies are concerned it's off limits. It's not a bioregulator. Now interesting about BPC is it's more of a signaling molecule, but it also does affect gene expression, but more as like, it's kind of like it's hanging out more outside the cell and it's doing it by sending messages to the cell. So the bioregulators were discovered and really researched over about three or four decades by a man in Russia by the name of Vladimir Cavinson. And so he was a young doctor in the military and Russian military back in the day. And his superiors came up to him and said, Vladimir, you know, we have a job for you. He's like, oh yeah, what would that be? And basically they're like, you know, our astronauts are coming back from space a hot mess. The submarine dudes are coming back from their nuclear missions. Kind of not looking so good because of course in those days nothing was really shielded that well even probably isn't even now. And we need you to figure out a way to undo the damage. And so that kind of sent him. And. Oh, and then the best part was they kind of gave him a blank check.

Wow.

And said, you can spend. Well in those days they had the money to spend, right. So you can spend whatever you need. We have factories filled with people who, you know, could use some good stuff. So off you go. And off he went. And so he, he discovered these, these, these little tiny peptides that were so interesting because they occurred in every life form that he looked at. We know in science when researchers find something that's preserved across different species, that generally tells them it's pretty important. That's what led him to discover and develop this whole area of what we would call regenerative medicine around these little tiny proteins.

Now I'm assuming, because I will tell you, when I first heard about cerebralysin, I could not find it anywhere. And I had to order it using crypto from Russia.

Right.

Which I didn't think this through because I was getting it for my son to help regenerate his brain. Of course I got it in these glass ampoules that were all in Russian. And then you were supposed to have it done in the iv. I was like, okay, well this is clearly not going to work well for me because I need to find someone to do this.

Plus you need a filter on the needle. I mean, cerebral lysine is particular because cerebral lysine actually is an extract from pigs brains. So it's not even a bioregulator. There may be bioregulators in there, but it's a whole other category. And this stuff is powerful medicine that's actually used as medicine in countries like Russia.

And that's what I was going to ask. So in Russia, are. Are these pretty common? Is this, like, standard of care to use these peptides?

Well, I mean, I can answer the standard of care question because I don't know, but I know that you can buy a lot of this stuff in drugstores. Wow. I don't know about cerebralysin, but I know that you can buy bioregulators in drugstores. And so it's not that. I mean, if you have friends in Russia or Russian friends that kind of bounce back and forth, not that that's an easy thing to do these days, you can get your hands on some pretty interesting stuff.

Amazing. Well, what can we do here in the US And Canada? Now? I will tell you full disclosure. My husband's been using peptides now for years through our buddy, Dr. Tracy Gapin. But I know we've had some issues because some of the things go on and off the market. We have a great compounding pharmacist, so we get a bunch of stuff. But what are some of the top ones that you would want to be looking at if you were looking at aging powerfully and dealing with being a menopausal woman?

Yeah, so that's a great question. So the bioregulators are interesting because they originate in. So we make them when we're young. Right. Like, we have them in our body. And like all good things that must come to an end, we make less of them as we age. Right. So when Cavinson did his work, he figured out that he could isolate them from tissues, glands and organs from animals, refine them and either turn them into an injectable product, which is the hardest one to find, or turn them into a nutraceutical kind of pill in a capsule. Now, those are the extracts. Then we have the synthesized equivalents that are made in a lab. So we're not going to talk about those for now, but the easiest way to get your hands on these right now is they are classified as nutritional supplements. The actual extracts that are orally bioavailable and those we can buy. There's a couple of, you know, there's a couple of providers out there. There's a guy in the uk, they're profound health. They're actually just setting up a warehouse in the States right now. There's Dr. Kent Holtorff. He actually Carries the Nature's Marvels brand that profound health manufacturers. And they had a very close relationship with Cavinson, so everything that they make had his seal of approval.

So those are oral, not injectable.

Yeah. And so they're oral. So, number one, there's. They're way less intimidating than having to run around figuring out how to inject yourself because, you know, most people don't love needles.

Well, in CPC157, you know, you have to inject multiple times a day. I was like, oh, I'm out. Yeah.

Well, so with BP. But it depends what you're using it for, right? BPC157 is really interesting because it originates in gastric juice. It actually can be taken orally. The only thing is that the oral administration of BPC is much more effective for things like GI repair, GI issues, for the musculoskeletal benefits, for things like nerves, for the brain. BPC is generally better, to your point, used by subcutaneous injection. And then I would say, like, unless you've got something very, very intense going on, like a Crohn's or colitis, usually for most people, two a day is good.

Yeah. Which is still.

If one is gonna go there, which is still, you know, I mean, it's a hurdle.

Yeah. I mean, I did prolo on my luggage, my CrossFit luggage tear. And so I was like, oh, that's what I'll do. I will do. And then I was like, oh, no, I won't. But I do take the oral through healthevity.

Yeah. I love his stuff.

Oh, my gosh. What about the peptistrong? Do you use that? Yes, I love. That's my bff. Okay, let's definitely unpack those. So then it sounds like there's probably a lot of options, like healthgevity, where we don't even have to go the route of these injectables through compounding pharmacies. Yeah.

I mean, look, it depends on the peptide, Right. So for the bioregulators, they're all orally bioavailable. There are about five that. As a matter of fact, there's five that you can't even get as an injectable. Right. For the other peptides, the longer chain peptides. So now we were into the BPC157. Your audience may have heard about TB500 or thymosin beta 4. There's thymosin alpha 1. I mean, they have the sexiest names. We have to agree.

Right.

Because they're still classified as research chemicals. So some of those are orally bioavailable. Many of them are not many of them, as far as the body's concerned, I don't care how little it is, it's still a protein. I'm going to chip, chop it up. And if you eat it, I'm chopping it up, you're not getting the benefits. So what's happening is, I think the race that's really going on right now is all of these scientists and researchers are looking for ways to get it, make it available to people without an injection. And there's some pretty cool stuff coming down the pipes.

And to be clear, the reason they're trying to do that is so it's not considered to be a drug.

That too.

Because right now, the challenge with these injectables is that, you know, they go on and off the market. Are there some injectables that you use and you would say are like, ones you would definitely want to look at for powerful aging, for regeneration, et cetera.

So I'm. I mean, the one, the big powerful aging one, if you will, is the pineal gland bioregulator, and it's called Epitalon. And somehow I don't even know how it landed on that FDA no fly zone list. It actually blows my mind a little bit. Maybe because they heard somebody went to a lecture like I did and went, oh, no, no, no, no, no. We can't be having that out there. So the good news is you can get it not as an injectable. You can get it as an oral supplement. And so as an oral supplement, if you were getting it from Nature's marvels, you would be buying the pineal gland bioregulator. And its technical name is endolutein. So the pineal gland bioregulator, the reason why it's considered really powerful for healthy aging is if you think about what the pineal gland does, it actually is your mast. It regulates your circadian rhythm. And one of the reasons why the old people studies that Cavinson did were so transformative is the first one he did, he only gave them the pineal gland bioregulator. And just by giving them that, he was able to say that they had 33% lower mortality rate after 12 years than his control group who were given polyvitamins.

And how old were these people?

They were 65 to 75 years old.

They're right. That's crazy.

Like, they were not young.

These were oral, These were not injected.

No.

So listen, so this is what's interesting too. And this is where so much gets lost. Like from Russian translation to England, from over there to over here. There's been mass confusion. I will say this. So the products that he was using were the injectable extracts from animals. So he. They were actually taking little itty bitty pineal glands from cows and smushing them up and doing whatever they did, just like the cerebral lysin and turning it into an intramuscular injection. And then the control group. So he was comparing, right, two different groups of people, same age, they were getting a polyvitamin injection. So everybody was getting an injection. Nobody knew what they were getting. So that's why that study's pretty impressive. And so the pineal gland, in addition to managing your circadian cycle, also regulates your melatonin production. And we're all going to sit there and go, okay, well, so they slept better. Big whoop. Well, we know melatonin is.

That's a big whoop.

Well, first of all, it's a huge whoop. And secondly, melatonin is so much more than just about sleep, right? It's the most powerful antioxidant in your body. Like, there's tons of research on melatonin. On top of that, your pineal gland is your master endocrine regulator. So it has an impact on your whole hormone system. The pineal gland also has an influence on the immune system. And the big, big nut here is that the pineal gland, by activating it through this, this bioregulator, it actually activates an enzyme called telomerase. And telomerase is an enzyme that regulates the length of the telomeres. And telomeres are those little ends on your DNA, which you guys have probably heard about. Every time your DNA replicates, you lose a chicklet off the end. If they get too short, they can't replicate anymore and things start to look ugly. And so it's like this kind of cocktail of benefits that is quite global to the body. And so that's why the pineal gland bioregulator, I think, is very. It's critical to healthy aging.

I wonder. So I did a lot of Dr. Joe work, and I go to an event every year. And, you know, the big thing you learn there, because you're basically dinging the bell of the pineal gland. Yes, but the big thing that he talks about is how, especially in the United States, where we fluorid. Fluoridate. Fluoridate. Is that how you say it? You put fluoride in water.

Fluoride in water. Way better way to say it. I wasn't going to be able to.

Help you there sound right anyway, that you calcify the pineal gland. So I wonder if some of this mechanism is decalcifying the pineal gland. I wonder what it's doing. Who knows?

I've asked the question and nobody's been able to give me that answer.

Yeah. Because how would they be able to know?

Well, you'd have to be able to image the pineal gland, literally. Right. And the truth of the matter is that the answer may be sitting in Russian literature, because they're not up.

Would you.

They weren't super diligent about sharing all their stuff. Right. And you know what's interesting about these bioregulators? If you. If I only had one, it would be the pineal gland bioregulator. The close second would be the brain one, which confusingly is referred to as Pineolon. So you would think that pinealon is the pineal gland bioregulator, but no, Pineolon is the brain bioregulator. And it, you know, from a central nervous system perspective, it's a very important bioregulator. And especially if you're a Joe Dispenza aficionado, we understand that balancing the nervous system has everything to do with our function, with how we age. And even if you're not Joe Dispenza, honestly, we know this. And then I used to say there was three. I would say there's four, because I've added that brain bioregulator in there. The next one would be the thymus gland bioregulator. Because our immune system is ultimately what takes us down. Whether it's overactive, underactive, or going sideways, it's the thing that leads us down the path of aging. Then last but not least, we have the blood vessel bioregulator. Because if we can help to restore function to the endothelium of blood vessels, everything goes better. We can deliver nutrients to the cells, we can remove toxins. Our heart can work better, all the things. And, you know, after that, it becomes this stupid game of trying to pick your favorite child. Because are you gonna pick the heart or the liver? You know, are you gonna pick the adrenal glands or the thyroid? I think we'd kind of be hard pressed not to say that they're all kind of important.

Yeah. Well, you look at what your weaknesses are too. Assume.

Yeah.

Wow. So you've been taking these for five years now?

About. Yeah. Yeah. About. Not quite. No, I would say more like three.

And how many are you taking?

It depends. Like, I don't generally take more than three at a time. And I'm not gonna lie, there have been times where I've been like, you know what, I'm taking a break. I'm just, I need a break. I don't want to do this anymore.

And is that a good way? Like, is it better to cycle these? Like, you know, what's the recommendation?

Yeah, I think everything needs to be cycled. Honestly, I don't think there's too much estrogen.

Don't take.

Well, no, except for that. Yeah, I was gonna say there's a few exceptions to that rule, but yeah, your estrogen, no not touching your estrogen promise. But when it comes to peptides, for the most part, unless you have some kind of weird medical condition and you have a physician working with you telling you you need this to continue to function for them. And particularly when it's. And I mean, think about what they're doing. If they're sending a signal to the body to rejuvenate, you shouldn't have to keep hitting that button over and over and over and over again. Right. You should be able to deliver the signal and then back off and then come back to it. So the way we do it is we typically cycle through the bioregulators. And you know, I've got a program in a community that I manage where we're doing a year of bioregulators program. So I'm guiding people through cycling through the bioregulators over the course of a year. And sometimes if somebody is, you know, they've got major blood sugar issues or, you know, they have a, they're particularly concerned about their brain or whatever the case may be, we'll lean into those and bring them back more often. But bottom line, we might do if, you know, when, when you're reading the research that Cavinson wrote, if they were dealing with someone who had an actual issue they were trying to work on, what they would often do is start with a 30 day induction period, if you will, and after that they would, might follow it up with like 10 days a month for a couple of months until things started to shift.

Interesting.

And the other interesting thing about the bioregulators is they play really well with medications. So you don't have to. It's not an either or, it's a this and right, because sometimes you need conventional medication. Sometimes the medication is required for a period of time. But what the medication doesn't do is encourage a renewal, if you will, in the body which the bioregulator does.

Right. So these are. The difference with this is like a medication may block a symptom. This actually is regenerative. And this is what I think people are missing about GLP1s. Like, I look at people who are trying to lose weight and quite often their metabolic health is the limiter for them being able to lose weight. I know that there are people out there say, it's just a calories thing. And I'm like, have you worked with someone who's very metabolically damaged? Sorry. You know, resistant. You know, because it's more than that. Your body's a bank account and chemistry lab and a history book. So we got a whole bunch of stuff going on there, from toxins and trauma to, you know, insulin resistance and cortisol and estrogen to, you know, maybe some little bit of over underestimating what you're doing in terms of lifestyle. So. That too. Yeah, no, all, all, all the above. But what it seems to me that I'm seeing with GLP1s that's so interesting is that they can come in repair, which it sounds like is kind of the hallmark of these peptides is that they're going in and doing repair work.

Yeah. I mean, I would say the GLP1s are a little different in a way, but I hear what you're saying. I think you're right. And I think the. And I think we agree on the GLP1s. I think the biggest problem with GLP1s right now is they've become everybody's step one. And sometimes they don't go past step one because they're like, you should have.

To earn the right to use a GLP1. It should be okay. We've got you eating protein, we've got you lifting weights. You're focusing on your sleep. Now you get to use GLP1. So you use the least amount as you're doing these things to help you heal and restore insulin sensitivity and get out of your metabolic black hole.

Yeah, exactly like, exactly right. And we're gonna go as slow as possible. Like, we're gonna give you enough so that the needle is moving, but we don't want the needle to go all the way off to the side here. We want to give your body time to adapt. We want your brain to have time to reset your set point. We want, you know, we want this to happen slowly and gradually so that we bring everybody along. We're just not ripping fat off your frame because guess what, that's an injury. And it's coming right back.

Well, and it's not just fat you're ripping off if you're doing it fast.

Yeah, exactly. The Subaru Share the Love event is on from November 20 to January 2. For 18 years, Subaru and its retailers have supplied over 2,700 local charities through the Share the Love event. When you purchase or lease a new vehicle during the 2025 Subaru Share the Love event, Subaru and its retailers will make a minimum $300 donation to charity. Visit subaru.comshare to learn more.

Well, let's pop back over to bioregulators. We'll jump back and forth. Cause we're women and we can do that.

We can do that.

So what are some of the things that you've seen? Like you personally taking these bioregulators, like, personal experience of what's happened to you?

Yeah. So for me, I've never. I haven't had a major issue, but what I've seen in my community, I have better stories about them than I do about me. So some of the stories that I've seen that have really kind of given me pause. Right. So I've seen this a couple of times now with women with thyroid issues. And one in particular who's in my. In my group who came in one day and said, guys, you are not gonna believe this. So I've been hacking away at my Hashimoto's for years with my naturopath. So she's been doing all the work. She's changed the diet. She's, you know, she's doing all the things and she couldn't get. She just couldn't move the needle. And she said. So I decided I was gonna go buy the thyroid bioregulator and I was gonna do 30 days of this bioregulator. And in her case, it was the last piece of the puzzle that she needed. And she came back and she said, like, she, like her naturopath almost fell off her chair.

Wow.

She was like, holy. Jumping, like, your. Your numbers look normal.

Wow.

Right. And so. But that is an unusual. Because I've had lots of people with thyroid issues throw the thyroid bioregulator in. I would say, typically, if I was going to help someone who was working on a thyroid issue, it would be part of the equation. I would probably add in the adrenal bioregulator as well, because those two glands are so inextricably linked. And I would probably throw the central nervous system in there too. We're hitting the HPA axis. We're going the whole way up and down. Another one that really moves the needle, which is really interesting, is the prostate for men. So for I had an elderly guy who was getting up to go to the bathroom like 500 times a night. Okay, I'm exaggerating, maybe four, but four is disrupted sleep, like it's a pain. And so I put him on the prostate bioregulator with the blood vessel bioregulator. He did 30 days, and then we had him do 10 day cycles after that. And lo and behold, doesn't my phone ring after a couple months going, you're not going to believe this. Like, I'm going to the bathroom once and I'm pretty much sleeping through the night. So that's another one. Now, again, you want to make sure that you've knocked out all the negative, you know, all the bad things that could be at play here. And once we know that it's just benign prostate hyperplasia or whatever the case may be, now we can start to think about, could the bioregulator be helpful? I've had people's liver enzymes come down from using the liver bioregulator. I've seen blood sugar control get better with the pancreas. But I want you guys to hear this. In every case, they were also doing all the other things. The liver person wasn't sitting there pounding alcohol or doing whatever and watching their liver enzymes drop. The person whose blood sugar numbers started to normalize was also working on their diet, but they'd been doing that forever and just weren't making any progress. And bringing that bioregulator in just seemed to be the final little push that they needed to start to get things to move in the right direction.

Yeah, I think that's the difference between a drug which is a sledgehammer and it's just gonna just attack whatever it is. Whereas this is just one piece.

Yeah.

Of the assist.

It's the training wheels on the bike. You know when your little kids learning to ride a two wheeler, if you ever did that, like, you know, they've got those little training wheels and at first they wobble and they use the training wheels a bit and then eventually they don't need them. And maybe once in a while the wheel, and then eventually you take them off, you don't need them. So that's the idea.

So these ones that you're using right now, can people in the United States get them now or is it going to be.

Yeah, 100% and you don't need to use crypto. Cool.

Yeah, you don't have to. Well, you know, when we were getting them, we were signing up. They were said, not for human use. Right. For animal use. Part of a test subject. I'm like, okay, you know, here we go, honey. We're going in. Let's go. We're now test rats. Okay.

We're now lab rats.

We'll try it. All right, this all makes sense. Let's flip gears just for a moment, because I would love to address the GLP1s, since you're coaching a lot on these bioregulators. Do the GLP1s come into this conversation at all?

Sure.

I mean, if somebody's got a lot of weight to lose, if that's what they need. It's like you said earlier, on the one hand, we don't want them to be the one stop. Because you're shooting yourself in the foot. But on the other hand, for someone who's been. We have to accept that people have broken their metabolisms. Like, they've been yo, yo dieting, they've been abusing their bodies. Or in the case sometimes with women with. As they go through menopause, like, world goes to hell in a hand basket, they pack on them. I call it the magic 10. Right. It just shows up overnight. You didn't change anything. And you wake up one morning, you look down, you're like, wow, what just happened?

I know if anything, you're doing, like, more exercise, restricting more, and you're like, what is going on? What's going on?

This is not okay.

Whose body is this exactly?

You know, And I haven't changed my diet, which is part of the problem, because nobody tells us that we're about to become insulin resistant.

Right.

When we weren't. Right. So the GLP1, it's a bit like BPC157 with gut issues. They're compounds that can move the needle for people even before they can move it by themselves. And it starts like for someone who's carrying around an extra 50 pounds. If they can start dropping weight, all of a sudden they have more energy. All of a sudden they can move more. All of a sudden, their inflammation has dropped a little bit. They're not as achy. They want to exercise. So I think it's how we use them. And it's the promise that we make, which, first of all, we don't make promises, but it's the promise that's being put out there right now is, use this and you'll be fine. And the real promise should be, this is something that is Going to give you back that competitive edge. It's going to give you the ability to help your body to do the work so that you can get yourself to a point where you're healthier, you're fitter, you're leaner, you've got more muscle. You've taken the opportunity of not caring as much about food so that you can recalibrate your taste buds and learn how to eat normal food again. And now we're in a world where we can start to help people hit their goals and now wean them off, maybe, or maybe they stay on a baby, baby dose because they just need it. But, you know, I had someone else say to me today, so they're going to have to be on GLP1s for the rest of their life. And I'm like, no, they won't. I mean, some people might, but a lot of people won't.

But even if it were like, you look at it and go, all right, someone going through menopause, Estrogen drops, inflammation goes up, they become insulin resistance, Cortisol goes up, and this could. And now estrogen's dropping, so it's hard to build muscle. This could drop the inflammation, improve the insulin sensitivity, help them build muscle. Because it actually can.

Yeah.

And so they have that chance if it was someone who's obese or morbidly obese. Think of the polypharmacy that they're on. And so when I hear the argument, oh, they might have to be on this for life, I'm like, but they were gonna be on all these other things for life. So all of a sudden, they get off their blood pressure medication, cholesterol medication, you know, all these insulin, all these other things, and they're on one thing, low dose cycling. How is that a problem? That's bad. I'm missing the problem here.

Help me, help me understand this. Because they're not taking that statin anymore that's causing muscle weakness so that their bicep tendon will rupture when they try to pick up the wrong thing.

You've got something that's actually helping them build muscle. So that's a terrible thing. Yeah. I was just on a panel recently at an event where it was. I was the middle ground. I was like, they put me in the middle. They put the scientists over here who were talking the positives about it, and they put Jillian Michaels and Callie Means over here. Ouch. And I actually got called a liar and full of shit. And I was like, you did not. Never have I ever. I actually go Listen to everything I'm saying. Because I'm not an md, I actually have all the research with me. So I'm happy to share all this with you. And so, no, I'm not a liar or full of shit, thank you very much. But it was pretty interesting because my whole thing was people. I've worked in weight loss for 40 years. When people get to a certain point where they're weight loss resistant, they've got such metabolic damage, they're deep in a hole they've got to dig out of. If you could throw them just a little rope to help them start to get out of the hole as they're doing the other good things, it's great. But. Sorry, Jillian, you actually work with people on a ranch? When I worked in TV, we at Dr. Phil didn't have them on a ranch. We had them in real life. So I saw the difference between being able to tightly control people or sending them out into the wild. And you know, the reality is it's a challenge.

Well, and what happens to those ranch people when they leave the ranch?

Well, we know what happens to the ranch people when they leave the ranch.

I know, exactly, exactly. But that's what I mean, you know, like trying to say long term success, like, that's just. I, I don't, I don't. I mean, there was, there's some doctor recently, I'm sure you've seen this, put up a post saying that GLP1s are going to eat. Not only are they going to eat your fat, they're going to eat your muscle and your heart is a muscle, so it's going to eat your. And I'm like, come on, like, what? Who's paying you to say this? Like, that's.

They're not eating anything. They're not Pacman.

Like, number one, there's no Pac Man.

Learn the mechanism of action.

Number one. And number two, like, I'm not doctor either. But we know, we understand the mechanism of action here. Like, we need to get rid of this dogma that's so prevalent and bring back a more nuanced message that helps people to understand. These are such a powerful, powerful tool, but you gotta learn to use them properly and you will get to live happily ever after.

Well, I love the way you're approaching this because it's okay, do all the things. And then here are some things for the areas that need some rejuvenation that you can cycle in and do. I'm like, this is fabulous. And I didn't know. And this is why I Wanted you selfishly to be on the show. Like, I've been using the peptistrong one, and I also use the oral BPC157. Cause I was too big of a baby to inject myself twice a day. I literally do a testosterone injection every other week, and Tim has to do it. And I go do the cold plunge. Then I get out, then he has to do it. Like, a whole thing. Yeah, it's like, I'm a big baby about these things.

But you get into the cold plunge. So that's pretty good, right?

Like, well, he was icing me down. I'm like, why wouldn't I just do this after I get out of the cold plunge?

I'm just saying.

Duh. Anyway, I know you have a guide. You've written about this. So in the guide, does it tell where to get these things, too?

Which ones? Like, so the bioregulators. That's readily available. That's on my website. I've got a whole page. I mean, website. I'm. I have a new website coming. I'm so excited.

It means right now, it's. You're in that. That terrible space.

You're in that space where you look at your older website.

Shame.

Yes.

And then I hate to tell you this, but your website's done, and you love it and so beautiful. And then a couple months later, you're like, oh, shoot. Like, that's what I was. Like, oh, shoot. I thought I just did all this, and now this all needs to be redone again. It's like, it's.

Nope. Right now I'm still in the anticipatory phase, so I'm sticking with that.

Okay, cool. It's like house remodeling, but you get it all remodeled. And then you're like, oh, yeah, why.

Didn'T we fill up the floor? Why did we put in a new. All these new kitchen cabinets and not change the floor? Like, whose idea was that anyway? But so the oral peptides, the bioregulators, all that is on the website. I mean, look, because of regulatory issues, the injectables are. It's a very gray zone. So there's a couple of research labs that I trust and have worked with in the past and in the communities. In the group, people share about all this stuff. We talk about it. I think, to be honest, people need to be cautious and they need to use their good judgment here.

Yeah, don't do what I did. Do not order the glass ampules from Russia that you can't. Then I couldn't do anything with it anyway.

And you don't know how to use them. Right. And I mean, I can't even begin to tell you how often in the Facebook group we get a post from someone saying, well, I just spent $500 and here's. And they post a picture of all the things they bought. So now what do I do with them? I'm like, who does that?

We don't even know what's in there. Well, the fact that we can use these orals is fantastic. Like, I mean, anyway, wouldn't we want to. And again, all I've been messing with is the healthgevity company. Cause I got turned on to the peptistrong. Oh yes. But I'm excited to dive in more now that I've heard this.

Yeah, no, I mean there's some really, there's such interesting information. And there's one peptide called thymosin alpha 1 and it's an immune peptide and it's actually an approved drug in about 40 different countries, just not Canada and.

The U.S. isn't it so crazy?

Which is so tragic because what it does is it supports the innate immune system. And so, you know, if you want to talk about giving of like, if you wanted to talk about the evil vaccine word. And we can talk about the fact that elderly people, their immune system is so exhausted half the time they can't mount an immune response to a vaccine to make it useful. Well, there's a, there's a study out there that shows that if they use thymosin alpha 1 as the adjuvant, it actually supports the body's immune reaction so that the vaccine actually works for them. Now, I'm not saying anybody should go out and get a vaccine. I don't want to have any part of that conversation. I'm not promoting vaccines. All I'm saying is there's really interesting information about other countries that use these compounds as medications that for some reason we've just got our heads in the sand in these here saying, no, no, no, we don't want to hear about it. For some reason, we just don't think it's okay. And I'm hopeful that in the not too distant future there's going to be more openness about this stuff because it.

Doesn'T seem like we're going that direction.

It seems that way. Right? I mean, with BPC157, it has so many potentials, it affects so many different systems of the body positively. Now, it doesn't mean that some people might not have a negative reaction to it. It does and can happen. So that means that we need to bring it out of the shadows, we need to bring it into the light, we need to do the research. We need to or at the very least allow all of these functional physicians who've been working with this stuff to be open about it, to present their work, to talk about it with each other so that we can start to learn more. I mean, this is an opportunity. Like these are compounds that really work with our physiology instead of blocking it or stifling it. So this is the stuff we want to really lean into.

Now you have a guide, right, that you go through all of this.

So in my membership community, if people join as an annual member, they get access to the peptide crash course, I call it.

We'll make sure we put all of this information in the show notes. And I'm going to put it now, Natalie's name is not spelled the way you would think it's spelled. So jjvirgin.com Natalie with an H, right? N A T H A L, I, E. Yes.

You even put the H in the right place.

So it's Nathalie.

Yes. Because French people. Yeah, because French people have no clue what to do with H's. They don't pronounce them. So it's like this decorative letter. They're kind of like, I don't know what I'm going to do with it.

I put it there, stick it into.

Places and then poor English speaking people try to pronounce it and you know, it's.

Well, only reason is I've met you and I knew you so I was like, I know it's not Nathalie.

Yes. But you know, many people have called me Nathalie.

Oh, I'm sure.

Yeah, of course. It's been done.

Yes, I know. We're gonna see each other in a week.

I can't wait.

Now, are you in the biohacking movie or are you in the Shield?

I'm in the movie.

The biohacked one.

I'm in the biohack yourself movie.

So.

And you're heading up S.H.I.E.L.D. which is amazing.

These are two documentaries that have like a whole host of awesome people that the Lollies have put together. So we are going to be at this premiere at a 4M in a week together, which is super fun, super exciting.

Yeah?

Yes. Like it'll just be fun to see everybody there. This has been amazing. I am going to try more things beyond just Pepti Strong and some bpc. Well, you know, it's like anything muscle, you know.

It's like sign me up.

It's like my dogs with chicken. More muscle. Like I'll do it, you know. But yeah, I'm going to do a little thyroid experiment next because this is interesting stuff. I'll report back in. So thank you, thank you. I appreciate you. I'm looking forward to seeing you in real life here soon.

Thank you so much jj. It was a pleasure.

Be sure to join me next time for more tools, tips and techniques you can incorporate into everyday life to ensure you look and feel great and are built to last. Check me out on Instagram, Facebook and my website jjvirgin.com and make sure to follow my podcast@subscribetoj.com so you don't miss miss a single episode. And hey, if you're loving what you hear, don't forget to leave a review. Your reviews make a big difference in helping me reach more incredible women just like you to spread the word about aging powerfully after 40. Thanks for tuning in and I'll catch you on the next episode. Hey JJ here. And just a reminder that the well Beyond 40 podcast offers health, wellness, fitness and nutritional information that's designed for educational and entertainment purposes only. You should not rely on this information as a substitute for, nor does it replace professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. If you have any concerns or questions about your health, you should always consult with a physician or other healthcare professional. Make sure that you do not disregard, avoid or delay obtaining medical or health related advice from your healthcare professional because of something you may have heard on the show or read in our show notes. The use of any information provided on the show is solely at your own risk.

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, 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.