#37 - ASK JORGE: "IS SUNSHINE THE BEST SOURCE OF VITAMIN D?", WITH GUEST CO-HOST @DRTESSMAURICIO.

So COVID-19 is here to stay for a while. What's the best way to bolster immunity? We've all heard about vitamin D supplementation, but did you know that possibly the sun is your best source of vitamin D? We sit down and talk to Dr. Tess Mauricio starting right now. It's a fact, 91% of us have a dangerous amount of belly fat, and it isn't just unsightly. When you have too Too much belly fat, you lower your immunity and increase your chances of diabetes, stroke, cancer, and even poor respiratory health. The good news is that you can reduce dangerous belly fat and reboot your life in just 8 minutes. Hi, my name is Jorge Cruise, and I'm known as the 8-Minute Life Strategist to the world's busiest celebrities. I've been a fitness, nutrition, and life strategist for over 25 years, and you may have seen my work with Oprah Winfrey, Khloe Kardashian, President Bill Clinton, Tyra Banks, Wendy Williams, Kelly Clarkson, Dr. Oz, Tony Robbins, or even Steve Harvey. My passion to find science-backed life shortcuts has allowed me to write over 30 books and become a multiple New York Times bestselling author with over 9 million books in print. And I know I can help you too. Imagine getting the confidence you want during this COVID-19 world by having a Life Edge at any stage of your life, whether you're just starting your life or in midlife like myself or beyond. Even if you don't think you have enough time, money, or willpower, I know this podcast will show you how to finally put your life together. Welcome to the Jorge Cruise Show.

Welcome to the show, guys. Special edition here. Uh, it's a beautiful Monday and I have a dear, beautiful friend on the line. We've been friends for over 10 years and asked her to join me because During this COVID-19 world, so many of us right now are thinking about our immune system, what we can do to bolster it. And there's a catch, I think, because I love getting some sun and it's— she's going to share with us why that's so important for our immune system. But then the question is how much sun is too much, where then you can get like skin issues, whether it's a skin lesion. And I found myself a little bump right here. So joining me here in San Diego is one of my dearest friends, Dr. Tess Dr. Tess, how are you?

I'm doing great. I'm doing great, Jorge. It's great to see you.

I know, I miss you. We met, we were just talking before the show, guys, literally 10 years ago on set with Sharon Osbourne and Marie Osmond at The Talk. Do you remember that 10, can you believe it was 10 years ago, Dr. Tess?

I can't believe it because I think we both look better, so.

Well, that's because of you.

Thank you, yo. We clicked right away and then we realized we both live kind of in the same area and we both are passionate about what we do. And so 10 years later, we're here.

Here we are.

What a crazy world.

And you know, I'm 50 next year and you're turning 49 this year and you're the girl that literally has the skin of a 20-year-old. And now I know your background, your beautiful background from the Philippines, you have this beautiful beautiful, gorgeous skin. I have a little Latin blood in me, so that always helps. But I can tell you, most people our age need this kind of insight. I think on today's show, what I am so curious about, I think this is such an important conversation to have, and you are the world's authority on this. She has worked with people like my favorite girl back in the day, my Paula.

Yeah, she is forever our girl, right?

Oh, yeah. Paula Abdul is gorgeous. Recently, you worked with a skin lesion with John Lennon's son, Julian Legend. Is that right?

Yes. You know, I met Julian at the set of NBC's California Live. We both love California Live.

Love that show.

And yeah, we hit it off. And then he was back in, in, in LA and I was looking at him and he's like, you know, looking at his scalp and doing kind of an exam. And I noticed the lesion and I said, you know, let's go ahead and biopsy it because it looks suspicious to me. It was an area where he would never see. Because it's literally in the back of his head and he had a birthmark there for the longest time. So he said, "It's probably my birthmark." And I biopsied it, it turned out to be a squamous cell carcinoma. And within a few days we did an excision, we got clear margins, and he was all over the media for a few days. And it really shook Julian's world because, you know, it's one of those things that if he, no one noticed it, it could have gotten bigger and it really could be deadly if skin cancers are left alone.

Oh yeah, no, I mean, I know that, you know, half my side of the family is very white. My mother's side is the Colombian side, a little brown. And I've been getting my son and, you know, I thought what we could start with, I mean, obviously we have such a great friendship and you're literally one of my dearest friends. I know you were at my wedding that I had years back and Unfortunately, that marriage kind of ended, but it wasn't intentional. And obviously you were there and you've always been at my side as one of my dearest friends. You've helped my kids with their skin issues from pimples to, I don't know what else you've helped with, but you literally are, in my opinion, one of the world's leading dermatologists. And I feel like, you know, to have you on the show, I'm just so honored and humbled. And you've worked with big names in the Philippines, like Imelda Marcos, interviewed, interviewed, interviewed her. Her, and I feel like, who haven't you met with? I mean, I know you've worked with, I mean, other celebrities, but I feel like these people are busy. They need to feel their best, look their best, and I feel like everyone watching here, as much as we want to look our best and we're in isolation, I think what I think, if we could talk about this test, I think it'd be so powerful because you have this background from Stanford University. We went to UCSD together, correct? I think the same year, right?

Yes, yes, we did. You were the savior. I mean, I was just in the library, Jorge. You were way too cool.

Oh my God, I hope not. Probably. I was a Sigma Chi fraternity guy, but I was in the library. But, you know, I was, I think I was still finding my path. You knew what it was. I hadn't switched to health and diet and fitness. I had that degree from UCSD in political science. I haven't used it much to hanging on my wall. But you know, your intention was— let me ask this, because let's get the one-minute Dr. Tess story, because how did you know that skin and beauty were your passion? Because you then went on to Stanford, and that was no hard thing to get through, and you graduated top of your class. And from there, I mean, you met your husband, who was also a medical doctor. I mean, or he is, correct? Yes.

Yes, we were classmates at Stanford Med School. That's where we met. We got married there while we were in med school. And I actually had our daughter, Jaina, months before I graduated from med school. And she is now going to be a senior there and she's pre-med and applying to medical school. So we are a true Stanford family.

I love that. And you know, that part of the world is so pretty. And, and, you know, I love, Stanford has such impeccable education, and I feel like you bring the science, the information, but you truly practice the beauty as well because you understand this. And working with these kind of women that, you know, whether it's Paula Abdul, Marla Maples, right? Trump's ex-wife. You've worked with what other gorgeous women? So many, right?

Yes, I wanted people to know that the majority of our patients are actually not the big celebrities, although I love working with celebrities and part of what I, you know, I think is the coolest part of my job is I get to go to the Golden Globes, you know, and all of those cool events and get to meet incredible people like Paula, like Julien. But, you know, I got into dermatology actually through the psychology route. I actually, when I started Stanford, I wanted to be a psychiatrist and all my research was in geriatric psychiatry and looking at the ways to improve psychological well-being, because I feel like, you know, if we don't feel good on the inside, if we don't, if our psychological and spiritual well-being is not optimized, what's the point of being physically healthy? And then when I did dermatology, I did a rotation. I realized, wow, if you help people with their acne, psoriasis, their eczema, you really turn these people around. You make, you know, turn shy teenagers with acne into confident people, happier, dating. And so I'm like, wow, dermatology is an incredible tool to boost people's self-esteem and confidence. And that is how I approach it. So my mantra in the clinic is really Soul to Skin. It's really beyond beauty. It's really utilizing all these incredible technologies and knowledge that we have now, really. But the goal is ultimately to be our very best inside and out.

I love that.

I love the Soul to Skin philosophy. I think that's so important because, you know, I feel like with, with my clients, whether I'm helping with nutrition or fitness or life coaching, it always comes down to having that confidence to do what you want. I can tell you for me, when I saw this little bump on my face here, I was like, oh my gosh. So, you know, in the last 6 months I have been here in California. I was in New York for a while helping the Real Housewives of New York and enjoyed that immensely. I was getting sunshine there, too. So, as much as I am half Latino, the other half is a white boy. I get worried. I thought, could you dive into, take us into immune function because we need vitamin D, we need the sun. It's kind of like a candle or a fire. We need the light, but too much can be dangerous. Maybe tell us why we need vitamin D, why the sun is actually our friend to a degree, right? Then obviously, I want people to know later that one of the things I've been taking now for ever are these little, these little guys. I mean, you remember these, these are your babies. She has this magical pill that I have been taking and I stopped for the last 6 months and you were so kind to send me some of this Healthy Skin. And literally it's like sunscreen in a pill with antioxidants. So we'll talk about this later and I'll give out the website, you guys. Ashley's gonna give away a virtual cosmetic consultation to everyone watching with you in person, right?

Yes, yes. So, you know, definitely I encourage all of you to, you know, take advantage of the virtual cosmetic consultation. You can call from anywhere. We can set up a FaceTime or Zoom. So anything that's bothering you, your skin, your hair, your body, this is your opportunity to personally talk to me and we will, you know, really just educate you. It's all about education. Just like you, Jorge Cruise Cruise, this is what I love about you. Is that you're so passionate about education, creating awareness of all the things that maybe is just in our world, but we wanna get that message out. And that's kinda what we're gonna do during the consultation. But the skin, as everybody knows, is the largest organ of our body. It's outside. And, you know, sunlight, I mean, dermatologists have to almost be like politicians because we kinda have to do a lot of compromising, right? Because we tell them, "Don't go out." Wear your sunscreen, protect yourself from sun and UV exposure. But then we absolutely know as well that the only way we naturally can produce this crucial, crucial compound vitamin D is through sun exposure.

So there's the paradox, right?

That's it, right?

And I feel like let's focus in right now because I'll give out the website and all that at the end of the show. So you guys have to listen. All right. Because this is, I think, the gem of all gems you're going to give us. Because this is a paradox. Too much sun, you could get a little who knows what. I'm going to have you look at it later. I'm going to get one of these virtual cosmetic consultations with you. And you've always taken care of my skin, so I trust you 1,000%. But so I may have overdone it, but maybe it's something else. I don't know. But tell us why— I mean, you said the skin is the largest organ in our body. A lot of people don't think of it as an organ. Maybe start with that and then why this organ and why our immune system right now with the COVID-19 out there must have sunshine or at least vitamin D, right? There's always ways to supplement if you don't have that. And then give us the prescription of how much is ideal sunshine. Tell us when and all that. And then tell us obviously, because I don't usually take this till after I'm out in the sun for like 10 or 15 minutes, but then you kind of dial me in., and then I feel I've got this protection, and then I feel good. Then, you know, if I'm going to be out in the sun extra long, you'll have to remind me if I need to use sunscreen or not if I'm using this, the healthy skin supplements. Would you start with the organ and what you just said about— Absolutely. —skin being the largest organ, and then take us into the sun.

Absolutely. So, the skin is very important, and it does protect us. You know, it's our first line of defense. When it comes to viruses and bacteria. It also basically helps us regulate, you know, we have our sweat glands there, and very important if you're working out so you don't overheat. It also has pressure sensors, so the feeling, the touch sensations, right? It has our hair follicles, so that kind of helps protect us as well. And then, you know, there's obviously For aesthetics, this is how we present ourselves, and this is a lot of times is so key for our own self-image. And so that's kinda just thinking about it as an organ and why it's really, really important. And then thinking about sun exposure, and obviously people are aware of this now, that, you know, with excess sun exposure, especially especially if you have the higher risk skin types like you're talking about, you know, the fair skin. If you do not have the ability to tan, if you just go out there and you just burn, then you are at a higher risk for sun damage, accelerated aging from UV, and also obviously skin cancers. And the one that we are always worried about is the one that could be deadly, which is melanoma. And so those are the reasons why we as dermatologists, you know, if you ask, "Okay, what's your number one advice?" We always tell people to wear your sunscreen and really minimize your sun exposure. But, you know, we actually have, when we have our big Academy of Dermatology meeting, we talk about, you know, when we are making these recommendations to really become almost phobic with UV, especially if you've had a history of skin cancer or family history of skin cancer. You know, are we really putting the patients at risk for vitamin D deficiency? Because vitamin D is created by a special reaction that requires UVB, ultraviolet rays B. It basically will transform a cholesterol that is on the surface of the skin. It's part of our skin. And then we create a precursor to the active form of vitamin D. So then that reaction is necessary. So you need skin exposure to sun. And then it travels then to your liver, get transformed, and then your kidneys. And now you have calcitriol, which is the active form of vitamin D. High school trial? Calicitrial. Oh my gosh, Google that word.

Now this is amazing. Now to get this process to happen, let's just— can you give us 3 examples? Say someone who's very white, someone who's half white like me and half brown, and then someone who's maybe much darker, you know? Yes. How much for the white person, the medium brown person, and the dark person?

This is really a good point, Jorge, because you can imagine that the The more pigment there is on the skin, the more melanin there is. And melanin protects the skin from the UV, damaging UV rays. But it also blocks that UV that you need to convert vitamin D. So the darker your skin, the higher your risk for vitamin D deficiency. They actually have done studies. And in the general public, for those who are, you know, with Caucasian skin, Caucasian skin, it's about 40%. But if you have, you know, Hispanic skin, have a little bit of melanin, it's about 65% can have vitamin D deficiency. But in African Americans, it can be as high as 90%. So the darker the skin, the longer exposure you need to, to get the proper amount of basically reaction to get vitamin D.

So give us a prescription for, let's start with the white person. Really old white person burns pretty quick.

So I would say definitely wear sunscreen on your face because it's about surface area. And there's actually the face, which is the most commonly, common area for skin cancers and obviously the one where we care about most for aging. So protect that, wear sunscreen there, but maybe wear a tank top and shorts. About 15 minutes of sun exposure midday has been— 15, 15. Okay. Ooh, one five. Yes, 15. So it's 15 to 30 minutes when you have fair skin. But definitely protect your face.

And if they're laying out or whatever, that'd be like 15 minutes on one side and then flip it, right?

Literally. Well, you know, you don't want to— Both sides. You can, but it's really surface area and then the darker The darker you are, the longer it actually— they recommend if you have melanin, so if you are skin of color, 30 minutes.

Hi, this is Jorge and I wanted to interrupt the show just for a minute because I want to make sure that you're on my VIP mailing list for future podcasts and for insights and shortcuts on how to improve your health from everything on intermittent fasting to yoga to 8-minute workouts. Workouts, to how to just work better and how to have less stress and also how to manage pain. I mean, you name it, all my best shortcuts come out every Monday and it's totally free. You heard it right. So I'm gonna encourage you right now to take a second and jump onto your laptop and go to jorgecruise.com, or you can do it on your mobile device, obviously, and sign up for the Jorge Cruise Report. And it's totally free. Tell your loved ones about it, Join it. It's over a quarter of a million people that are getting this email, and it's going out every Monday, and I want you to be a part of it so you know what's coming up next every week. All right, guys, let's get back to the show.

If not up to an hour of—

Let's go up the scale. So white person, 15 minutes, and that's the max, right? Maximum.

Yes. Then they— the studies are showing that 15 minutes, it's adequate if you you are wearing a tank top and shorts, right? And sunscreen, do they have to wear sunscreen or can they wear with nothing? Well, you know, here's the thing. There have been studies that show that sunscreen, if you have broad spectrum sunscreen, which means you're blocking both UVA and UVB rays, that you can decrease your actual vitamin D production by up to 95%. So it's very effective in blocking UVB. But we don't want that one, we want the vitamins, right?

Yeah, so— Put it on later in the day, maybe.

Yeah, so some recommendations is that definitely keep the sunscreen on your face and then the rest of your body, you can get a little bit of sun exposure and then apply your sunscreen later if you think you're gonna be out more, longer, then maybe 15 minutes if you have fair skin or 30 minutes to an hour if you have darker skin.

So for those fair-skinned people, 15 minutes is truly your limit. And what time of day is ideal? Is there a time of day? Give us the exact spot on this.

The studies actually show that around noon, although again, when dermatologists talk about it, they say avoid sun from 10 to 2, 10 AM to 2. So I— but all of the studies that look at vitamin D, they are saying midday. Obviously, the higher, you know, the sun rays, the stronger, the less time you need to be out there.

Okay. So now let's talk about people with medium skin. I'm kind of there. I don't know if I'm too dark, but I feel like half white, half dark, and the brown people. So maybe can they go up 15 minutes? And then take us to someone with very dark skin.

So I would say 30 minutes. 30 minutes is what we would recommend for someone with yours or my skin type. And so, yes, so for, for, for Asian skin, if you can tan well, you can go up to 30 minutes. Okay. And then for African Americans, then you want to go up to between 30 minutes and an hour depending on the surface area. And this is again talking about you exposing, you know, some skin using a tank top and shorts.

So you really want to wear kind of like what I had on today outside, right? Perfect. You want to have your arms out.

You want to show the guns. Show your toes, thighs, and legs.

And some shorts and let the sun in. And then tell us, what do we do? Because then that's when I would use some protection.

Right. So So what you're talking about is we absolutely, we know that antioxidants help our skin and it helps any of our cells too, right? Antioxidants basically block the oxidation, which is the process our skin and cells go through to get injured, damaged, age, and die. So antioxidants block that process. So many different antioxidants. One that people know about is vitamin C. That is very common. You can obviously— lots of foods that are rich in vitamin C. And absolutely, if you can get vitamin C and antioxidants from your foods, that's the best. But it's actually been shown that when talking about vitamin D, it's very hard to get the proper amount of vitamin D just from your diet. And that's talking about ingesting lots of fatty fish.

I like getting it from a fish source, and you can get it from a head-to-nose kind of carnivore diet as well. There's a lot of vitamins in the healthy fats, right?

Correct. And some fortified cereals. I know that a lot of your viewers, they don't take dairy. But that fortified dairy can be a good source of vitamin D, but it's very hard. You actually need to ingest a lot. So supplementation, the good news is that studies show that supplementation can really help when you are vitamin D deficient. And when we say vitamin D deficient, there's actually a blood test. It's very easy to find out if you are vitamin D deficient. If you have darker skin, you probably— and you don't do a lot of work outside where you're exposing your skin to sun exposure, and if you are elderly especially, you probably are vitamin D deficient. And so you can get an easy blood test and they can check and then they can supplement.

Give us a healthy range, Dr. Tes, not to interrupt, but what's a healthy range of vitamins? Oh, sure. Vitamin D and how do you measure it? So when people get this test, because I know some conservative doctors may say, oh, you're fine and you just need a small amount, but I've heard some more integrative health doctors talk about that you need up to 10,000 units. But tell us what a healthy range is. So if they get it, and then how much should they be taking?

So the daily, kind of the daily— recommended dose is 400 international units, 400 to 800. Isn't that small?

I think I've heard that that's not enough.

Well, that is kind of right now. Actually, until the 1980s, it was 200. Oh my God. So since the 1980s and since more and more research has shown that vitamin D is so vital in so— for so many things. Immune function.

We're talking immune function.

Number one, it's critical. It's absolutely necessary for normal immune function. It's cancer prevention, for mood, for our bones. There's a lot of women that follow you who probably are worried about osteoporosis. 100%. Vitamin D is crucial for that. And so because of that, they raised it to 400. Now they're even saying that In the elderly, they're raising it up to 800. And then I know, like you said, a lot of naturopathic doctors are even saying higher than that. We know that there are also papers that are coming out that, you know, people who have had hospitalized for COVID, they're giving them IV treatments of high-dose vitamin D.

What have you heard? What are the numbers you're hearing?

Well, I mean, you know, I hear different numbers and like you said, about 1,000, you know, and the good news is that there actually was a big study in the study about 20 people. People are always worried about if you take too much, what happens, right? Well, what happens? Tell us. If you have a normal liver, kidney, where you can metabolize it, really mostly nothing. Actually, there's a case series that they studied 20,000 people over a 10-year period and they were supplementing and they only had one true toxicity out of the 20,000 people. Wow. And that person, and 37 had above what they were saying was normal, but only one actually exhibited signs of real vitamin C toxicity.

This is hard to OD on, if anything. Yes. And so if you were to recommend just, What's an extra safe amount of vitamin D? What would be a number that some people would be like, whoa, but you would say it's probably okay?

Yeah, so I would say at the minimum, if you are getting your sunlight, which is again, that's the best way, that's our most natural way, you are eating good nutritious foods, I would say if you can supplement 400 international units, that's again, our recommended daily dose. That should be good. Now, if you have darker skin, if you're elderly, if you are taking medications that may block the metabolism and formation of vitamin D, or if you have other issues, if you live in a place where there's no sunlight. I know a lot of your viewers are from the East Coast. If you're in Boston or higher up north, you're really not getting a lot of sun during certain times of the year. And so supplementation is really, really key.

What would be that level? 1,000 IUs or units or whatever they call it?

So I would say, yeah, so you can go either 400 to 800, 400 to 800 if you really do not see sunlight as much. And I know that in Europe they're recommending higher doses because there's absolutely many months of the year they cannot make their own vitamin D. Do you think 10,000 units is too much?

I've heard that.

Yes, I think, I think 10,000 units is, is a lot. Um, but you know, like I said, the good news is, um, it, you know, from the case series, it seems like it's very hard to, to, uh, to hurt yourself from it.

Well, I think that's powerful because I think with, with what we've got going on, and you know, I keep reading the papers, talking to doctors, I'm connected to some of the best people like you are. And I feel like this COVID-19 thing is going to be a part of our culture for a while to be, you know, while to come. It's not going to be solved by summer and it's not going to be solved by the new year. And whether we're back and open for business and wearing our masks, I think, I think people now are more interested in a good immune system. Don't you think, Dr.

Tess? 100%. And because there is no real treatment yet for COVID, there's no vaccine yet, our best defense is really our immune system being the best that it can be. And vitamin D is really, really crucial. We know that, you know, what vitamin D does for the immune system. One, it boosts our innate immune system, so our macrophages that actually detect the virus and It kills them on the spot. Really, the activity goes up. And then also it increases our active immune system to actually decrease that what we call cytokine storm, which is like just the massive release of all these chemicals that ends up really causing a lot of the problems and like, you know, the acute respiratory distress syndrome and even death in patients. And so for that reason alone, it's really important. And not just vitamin D, there's a lot of case series now looking at vitamin C, which is a very, very powerful antioxidant, which also happens to be on healthy skin. And zinc, also important. So the healthier we are, the better we are able to fight the infection. If God forbid we do come across and in contact.

And what I love is that the supplements that you replenished me on, these beautiful little cap— these little pills I take, or, uh, they're tablets, right? This product, guys, is truly a game changer because for me, I don't like spraying a lot of stuff on me, you know? And I feel like when I first learned of this, probably at least 5 years ago, you had it in a different format, but you guys have now— you and your husband kind of created this Stanford— I love that, say that, what does that say? Stanford-educated MDs, and you both are. But this is something truly incredible because it makes, you know, you get your dosage of your sun, whatever, based on what we talked about, the right amounts, not too much. And then if you're going to be outdoors, I mean, go indoors if you can, but then if you're going to go outdoors, I feel like I take this and I'm safe from that damage. And I haven't been taking it recently, obviously, but I'm back on my regimen and I feel like, tell people why this works, because I feel like you're the first person that told me about how this can, and is it true? Would you say it replaces or it works with sunscreen? Obviously it can do a little bit of both. How powerful can this be? And if you take 3, is that better? Because I feel like I want to be protected after I get my dosage of sunlight.

Yes. So here's the thing. About 5 years ago was the first time that I actually even spoke about, you know, the power of vitamins and nutraceuticals in a medical conference. And it was a totally new concept. And about 4 years ago, I went on the Dr. Oz Show, your friend, with your friend, Dr. Oz. Mehmet Oz, we love Mehmet. Yes. I love him. He's incredible. So he invited me to be one of, his expert for anti-aging supplements. And we talked about individual ingredients like collagen, which is also in here. You see, this is my pack, my, my pack. Yes, I love it. So it has collagen, and we were talking about Polypodium leucotomos extract, which is a botanical that is incredible. Lots of data about it that shows it can help protect your skin from UV damage. And then we talked about lipowheat, which is an internal moisturizer, which is also in here. And so I was one of those doctors that, one of the first medical doctors that really kind of understood the power of nutritional supplementation. Because this is really not taught a lot in med school, Jorge. Even at Stanford, right? No, it's really, we learn about drugs. But we don't really learn that much about nutrition. And as when, short story about how we came up with Lively is my husband, Dr. James, went through a brain tumor and spinal cord injury. And through the process of getting him better, we really looked at everything that is available in nutrition and nutritional supplementation. We really researched it and we believed in it and we really feel it was fundamental in his recovery. And so that's why I'm like, okay, you know, it can help everything. And I wanted certain ingredients for me to take. And so I put them all in here. And so this has vitamin D. We talked a lot about vitamin D because like I said, I tell all my patients stay away from sun, but I know they need vitamin D. So this already has 400 International units of vitamin D. When you take the serving that we recommend, it has the polypodium leucotomos collagen, it has zinc, it has vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin E, selenium, turmeric, it has Ganoderma mushroom. So it has so much. And so I tell my patients, so my patients, I recommend this to them. And Jorge was at the clinic 5 years ago.

I was, I remember when you gave this to me then.

People who work out a lot, because they feel like when they sweat, all that sunscreen is gone. And then we tell people, reapply, reapply. If you're gonna be in the water, reapply. And then they're like, is there anything else? And then there are people who are actually allergic to sunscreen. And so we recommend the pills. You take 2.

Let me get a close-up so they can see this.

The healthy skin. Now they can get this.

I'm gonna tell them where to get it right now. Because I know everyone's like, what the heck? This is like sunscreen in a tablet. And it—

We can't really make that claim, but it's because it has antioxidants that protects your cells from any kind of damages, specifically UV damage. And there are ingredients in here, if you study each of them, they all have shown that it can help promote the health of the skin. And also because they're, whatever's good for the skin, I tell people, is good for our overall health. So we're talking about the same ingredients that help your skin look its best, but also help boost your immune system. It helps your hair. It's anti-aging altogether.

I love that. I think you're so brilliant in your work. I mean, you know, I love talking and hanging out with you always because I feel like we have such passion for health in different ways. And I feel like you walk your talk as I have been doing for 20+ years now. And I feel like this gift you're giving everyone that's watching, listening to us is like valuable. I would say it's worth $400 or $500 because to have a one-on-one with you, I mean, this is like, like this is what Paula Abdul does. And I know I, I don't give one-on-one consultations. I wish I had the opportunity to. So I would say, is this for the first 10 people or how many people can you take right now?

Well, you know, if they're your followers, I would say just call. I'll do it because especially now, Jorge, I just want kind of like to help as much as I can to boost people. We all need this connection now, you know, and this is something that I'm very passionate about. And so whatever I can do, and there's no obligation. Don't feel pressured that you have to, you know.

No, you're the least salesperson I know. You care and I think people are gonna call you because they want to improve their skin. So I I'm gonna give them, so this virtual cosmetic consultation, guys, you can go to her website, it's mbeautyclinic, it's M as in Mary, B-E-A-U-T-Y clinic, C-L-I-N-I-C dot com, mbeautyclinic.com. Did I get it right, Tess? Yes, perfect. Good, and then they have a phone number you can also call, old school, you know, some of us just rather call. And if you don't pick up or your team doesn't, can they just leave a message there as well?

Yes, leave a message and someone will to get back to you. A real person.

We're talking no robots here. It's an 800 number. It's 833-462-3288. Correct. Good. At mbeautyclinic.com. And I'm gonna try to dig up that video of you and Dr. Oz.

I'm sure it's on YouTube, right? Oh, I'm sure it is. I'm sure it is. And like I said, it's one of the first time that we've ever even talked about the concept of nutraceutical and nutrition to help the skin and help protect the skin. And so it's really beauty from inside. And nowadays with COVID it's more important than ever to keep the skin as healthy as possible because it is the first barrier, you know, against all of these potential pathogens, bacteria, viruses. And especially now because When we're covering ourselves, our skin, our skin really ends up breaking down and we're washing our skin a lot as well. We're drying the skin. The stress that we have like psychologically can also make your acne, your psoriasis, your eczema worse. You can start having hair loss from stress. So all of those things really can happen And this is why I love what I do, because it's really the connection of, you know, the inside, the soul to the skin.

Well, as you say, soul to skin beauty.

And we have a podcast. My husband, James, Dr. James— Tell us his podcast.

What's the name of it so we can all subscribe?

Yeah, it's called Soul to Skin MD. Oh, I love it. All right.

And we're going to have him on this month as well. Okay. Perfect. I mean, not to plug your husband, but he is a doctor, but he knows about sleep, the deepest kind, because he's by profession, tell everyone what he does.

Yes, so he is a trained anesthesiologist, and like I mentioned, with his own health struggles, became a real passionate believer in healthy living, because doctors usually are the worst. You'd agree?

They don't sleep, and they're not allowed to sleep. It's not like they choose this life, right? Probably just, you're overworked, right?

Overworked, not sleeping, not eating well. And so really that was a huge wake-up call for both of us. And that really has made us focus on maintaining good health so that we can prevent disease. And so we don't have to really live in and suffer from disability. And there is so much that nutrition can do. And obviously the other big thing is physical activity. If there's anything else, it's nutrition, physical activity, and mindset, which Jorge, this is what you do, and this is why we're friends. We believe in the same thing.

Absolutely. You know, positive energy feeds on positive energy, and you know, I've had a rough year in the past. Just my life is reset. The COVID was gravy on it. My father passed on Christmas Eve, and it was one of those years where everything kind of Everything happened at once, but you know what? I know that those lemons we get, right, Dr. Tess, become lemonade if we're with the right people.

Absolutely. I really feel that pain is a high price for change and growth. And so sometimes we just have to really figure out what it is that we can learn from that painful experience. And then sharing our stories, which, which you're so open to, Jorge, um, sharing our stories too. We both—

I think a lot of people—

I think it's so important.

It is, it is, to share, because we're not alone. I think we forget that sometimes, you know, that if we have a tragedy, whether it's a death, divorce, or whatever, that we're all alone. If we have a lesion or we have this— but we're not. And I think I, I can't thank you enough, Tess, for sharing, uh, this time with us and sharing, uh, Everything you did, I feel so much more back dialed into healthy skin and immunity, obviously. And will you let James know I send him my best and please send my best to your complete family. You have such a beautiful family, your mom and dad as well, please.

Thank you so much, Jorge. And I really just encourage everyone to keep watching Jorge. And he's really, from a medical standpoint, he's really, So advanced, and he is really telling you the right things so that you can be your very best inside and out. Well, I love you so much.

I send my best from my heart to yours. Please give my best to your family, and I hope to see you one of these days in person, hopefully.

Yes, I can't wait, Jorge. I know. With our masks. With our masks, but we will be taking our vitamins daily.

Correct. Don't forget.

Take that 2 a day and 3 if you're really going to be out in the sun.

100%. Oh my gosh. All right. Thank you, Tess. I love you so much. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Peace and purpose. Bye everyone. Thank you for listening. Thank you, Dr. Tess. Well, I really do hope you enjoyed the podcast today.

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Take good care.