Angela Peterson Reveals Why Most People Get Aging Wrong

Welcome to the Living to 100 Club Podcast. Here's our host, Dr. Joseph Casciani. Welcome to the Living to 100 Club, where we explore what it really means to live longer and better. I'm Dr. Joe Casciani, a geropsychologist. Focused on the mindset, habits, and science of aging well. Each, each episode brings you practical ideas and conversations to help you stay engaged, resilient, and purposeful at any age. On today's program, I speak with Dr. Angela Peterson, a nurse practitioner and author of The Wellness Glitch, about the gaps in today's healthcare system and what individuals, especially older adults, can do to take greater control of their health. Dr. Peterson shares her perspective on how traditional healthcare often focuses on managing symptoms rather than promoting long-term wellness. Drawing from her clinical experience, she introduces the idea of a wellness glitch—systemic patterns in medicine, pharmaceuticals, and lifestyle that can unintentionally work against optimal health. We explore practical ways to improve vitality and independence in later life, including the role of lifestyle changes, hormone evaluation, and emerging regenerative approaches to pain management. First, a little background. Angela Peterson is a board-certified family nurse practitioner, with a doctorate in nursing practice. As medical director, she oversees all clinical care at Amplified Regenerative Health and ensures every treatment plan is grounded in evidence-based medicine. Her approach combines clinical rigor with genuine, genuine compassion, treating the whole person and not just the injury. Angela, welcome to our program.

Thanks, Joe. I really appreciate you having me.

Great. Well, you're very welcome. I'm looking forward to our conversation. Tell me, um, what led you to write The Wellness Glitch, and what does that term mean in, um, simple terms?

In simple terms, um, it really just evaluates the systems that affect our health and our lifestyle. I started noticing very similar patterns in a lot of my clients, a lot of similar complaints, symptoms, disease management. And it just, you know, I kind of was scratching my head, you know, why is this all happening? Why do so many people suffer from so many of the same things? And it really comes down to, you know, the trust that we've had in the so-called experts for our healthcare. And we've just been a lot of people have just been kind of caught in the rabbit— or excuse me, in the hamster wheel of healthcare, where it's disease management, it's not prevention. And you have a complaint, you go get a pill, you have another complaint, you go get another pill. And then soon enough, you're on 5 or 6 different medications. You don't really know why. And we weren't really getting to the root cause of what is is causing disease and people not to feel good.

Hmm. So as you talk about healthcare having glitches, what are some of the most prominent ones? What, what, what are some of the ones that jump out at us?

Well, like I said before, it's just getting kind of stuck in the trap. You know, you trust, you know, this person in a white coat that you've been seeing for many years, you know, your primary care provider, and you trust what they have to say. You know, you have high cholesterol, you get on a statin medication. But what really is the problem is your inflammation. And that has never been addressed. You're not looking at your exercise, you're not looking at your sunlight, you're not looking at your nutrition status, your movement. So there's many things that go into health, but the healthcare system as a whole just is not— we're not taking care of the root cause issues. It's very much driven by profit. And that's what we have to really take a step back and ask the right questions. It's okay to ask questions. Well, why are you putting me on this? Isn't there something else I can do? And when we really look at all of the precursors to a lot of these conditions, it's inflammation. And that's where our healthcare system gets wrong because we're not treating the underlying inflammation that's causing a lot of these chronic conditions. And then a lot of it has to do with insurance and Big Pharma. And it's just that You know, it's that cycle that keeps repeating itself and we're feeding into these large systems that don't really have our best interests at heart. You know, it's very much profit-driven. And that's where, as a consumer, you can take a minute to take a step back and really evaluate what it is you're doing and really make better informed choices. There's so much information available right now, really at our fingertips. And, you know, people are using that and they're becoming more informed. And that's great because they start to ask the right questions. And when you start to ask the right questions, that's when you really reconsider this system that is glitching, that is not working for everybody. And, you know, it's, it's this profit machine that doesn't really have our best interests at heart.

Yeah, yeah. So you're talking about symptom management, right? And, and we've heard the term sick care instead of healthcare. We focus on the presenting problem, but we don't look at the whole picture, what might have contributed to that, what are the lifestyles, can we have prevented that? And that's lifestyle medicine, right? I mean, that's practicing it. So what should older adults be asking their providers that they're not asking them now? I mean, you mentioned, why am I on this medicine? But what are some of the bigger questions that people should be asking their providers?

You know, I'm probably going to throw a lot at your your listeners that might be overwhelming, and I'll try to break it down into simple things that you can start asking. But what I see with a lot of seniors is their inflammatory state, and it's caused by the toxins in our environment, and it's caused a lot by the food that we eat, and it's caused by having really high blood sugar for a long period of time. And we see those numbers in the A1C. So that's a 3-month average of your blood sugar levels. And that's really such an important number for me. The other number that I really pay attention to is your CRP. That's your C-reactive protein, and that indicates your risk of cardiovascular disease. And that also is a marker of inflammation. So a lot of these chronic conditions that a lot of seniors have, starting with hypertension, you know, hyperlipidemia, which is high cholesterol, diabetes, you know, these are all preventative conditions that can really be reduced by keeping your blood sugar low. And, you know, asking the question is like, well, why do I have, you know, what else can I do to get off these medications, reduce my inflammation, and start really reprogramming your body to heal itself and get off this polypharmacy. Most seniors that I treat are on so many medications. I really try to— my job, I feel like, is to deprescribe and really take away what's not needed because we're seeing so many really adverse effects of a lot of these medications that could be reversed by reversing your inflammation. Yeah, I'm sorry, go ahead, please. I mean, this may be controversial, or you may think I'm kind of contradicting myself, but one of the best ways that— one of the things that I do to reverse inflammation besides trying to readjust lifestyle, eating habits, so on and so forth, is to use these GLP-1 medications that are not necessarily medications. They're actually peptides that we naturally produce in our body. We just don't have enough of them. But this is really the biggest advancement in medical science that I've seen, really, in a very, very long time. And they're great tools to help reduce inflammation. Yeah. When these are used appropriately under medical supervision, the numbers that I see coming down in a lot of clients, especially seniors, are dramatic, and they're shocked. And it's a way to get off of prescription medication. Now, I know that we're adding in something, but what we're adding in is something that's going to decrease inflammation. And when you decrease inflammation, that's how you increase your longevity, and that's how you prevent chronic disease.

So it's, as I heard a physician on my program before, he said, you know, he was talking about taking more responsibility for our own healthcare. Then I asked him about the GLP-1 meds, and he said, look, if it helps, if it helps people get started to take more ownership, to take more responsibility, to see some progress, he's all for it. And I think that's what you're saying too.

It really is. Absolutely. Absolutely. It's definitely a kickstarter. And the studies that are coming out with these are all positive. And the longevity benefits of it, the cancer reduction, the reduction in inflammation. And like I said before, that reduces your all-cause mortality. Your cardiovascular risk goes significantly down. So I just think all of the benefits definitely outweigh any of the risks, which are very minimal. And quite frankly, over. It's kind of a, you know, it's been sensationalized, but, you know, used appropriately, they can be very beneficial.

Yeah. So I think what I'm inferring, as you're talking about what to ask our providers, what to ask our physicians, it really gets to the heart of this, because that you're saying, what can I do? What should I be doing to get off this medication, to get off these statins, or whatever the meds are, the high blood pressure med, What else should I be doing? And that's what you're talking about. That's more of a preventive approach instead of just focusing on what are the reactions to the pill. What can I do to decrease the types of meds that I'm on? I mean, that's the heart of this approach. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know when we spoke earlier, you also mentioned that hormones are really being overlooked in older adults. How should people think about this area?

This is a huge area of concern for me, especially for seniors and women and men over 60. In the early 2000s, there was a study that was published. It was called the Women's Health Initiative, and it was a study that looked at the use of hormone replacement in women. And the results were very alarming and they were very concerning. And they indicated that using hormone replacement was going to cause cancer, was going to cause cardiovascular vascular disease, heart attacks, stroke, so on and so forth. And many, many providers stopped prescribing because there was this new black box warning that was telling everybody that this is not a great thing to do. It's going to kill you. And that scared women that are now entering, you know, 60— they're 60 and 70 years old now. But the problem was it was a flawed study and it wasn't looking at the right use of hormone replacement. They were using synthetic hormones. Now we use bioidentical hormones, which are completely different. And it's left out this group of people that are now entering the later stages of their life, and they're missing a lot of these building blocks that are essential for cellular function. So there's a hormone receptor literally on every cell of our body. And ignoring hormone replacement is like ignoring the light in an old car, like a check your engine light in your old car. Just because it's old doesn't mean you still need to have these building blocks. You still need to check the engine. So using hormone replacement will prevent all-cause mortality. And really, the biggest thing is it prevents cognitive decline, it prevents dementia, it prevents Alzheimer's. And to me, that's just a non-negotiable. And it's never too late to start. You know, a lot of older providers will, you know, oh, you don't need that anymore. You're, you know, you're beyond those years. You're fine. You don't need it. Well, it's not true. Like it, you know, we're living longer, much longer lives than we ever have. And using these building blocks are really essential for overall function and especially for cognitive function in men and women. And that to me is the most important because, you know, we can live to 100. You know, we've, we've seen this and, you know, you're you're very knowledgeable on all of this. But if we're not at our, you know, best capacity mentally, then that's a problem, you know, because we're just— you're not living this, you're not living to your fullest potential, and you're not enjoying these years as well as you should be. Yeah.

What comes to mind? What are the top 1 or 2 hormones that you think of with your clients, your patients?

Well, for men and women, it's different.. But for women, they need a balance of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. And then for men, they really need to replace testosterone. And the ratios are different for men and women. But most men that I see, even really teenagers now, and this is the scary part, have very low levels of testosterone. And it's an epidemic that we're not really talking much about. In just health-wise. But there's a lot of reasons for it, and a lot of it just has to do with our environment. But I see low testosterone across the board, and especially in my older clients. And then replacing it is just— it's game changer for people. And like I said, there's no— you're never too old to get it started. Benefit from it. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you mentioned there's a lot of information out there now, evidence-based studies, a lot of information for the consumer. How can, how can people access this? Where, where do we go? What, what would you advise my listeners to do to access, be more confident when they're making these decisions? What do you think they can do?

I mean, AI has been a great tool when used appropriately. AI can give you a lot of answers and cite actual research that you can look at and refer to about these studies, about the evidence of cholesterol is needed for brain function. There's a ton of studies right now that are proving that is true. So I think AI is great. I think that's a tool to use to ask the right questions. Like, show me some studies on why I need cholesterol for brain activity. Well, you'll get more than you've ever wanted, but that resource exists to provide the right information.

Yeah. Yeah. So to go to any AI, um, AI agent, as they call now, um, and knowing how to ask the question, show me the latest evidence on, uh, hormone replacement therapy for my age group. Can you summarize the top 5 studies? And AI can do that in, you know, less than a minute, right? I mean, that, yeah, that's something.

And I think it's incredibly helpful and it gives you the information to make, you know, to make better decisions. And I think that empowers people in a really, you know, meaningful way because they're, you're being educated, you know. The information's always been there. It just hasn't necessarily been accessible. And, you know, seniors obviously have, you know, a harder time with some technology than the younger generations. But, you know, this is all very easy and they're getting very good at it, which I think is great because they're empowering themselves with really, you know, good information that they need for their health.

Yeah, I think it's great information too. And, you You know, it accesses databases around the world, and there's a lot of research being done, not just in the US, but all over. All over the world. Yeah, the AI can tap into that and summarize it in seconds. I've seen it.

Yeah, it's amazing. I mean, it really is. You know, there's obviously a lot of, you know, things that aren't great about it, but for the most part, just gathering information, I think that's been like a really huge breakthrough for people.

What about when people get conflicting advice? I mean, one group suggests A and another group says not A, it's B. Where do we go for that? Or what do you think we can turn to?

Well, you know, that's the hard question because there's always going to be conflicting information no matter what. You know, one group's going to say this, one group's going to say that. And then I think you just have to really look at yourself and what you believe in and where your core values are. And if, you know, if you believe that medications are going to help you, well, you're probably not going to change your mind. But if you believe that the right diet, the right amount of sunlight exposure, the right amount of movement, and the way to keep your blood sugar regulated, if that resonates with you, then you should probably start making some of those changes. But you can bring a horse to water, but you can't necessarily always make them drink. We're still kind of in that phase of life. But, and that's just human nature, you know, there's, there's not much we can do about that, but except present information in an easily digestible way. And if it doesn't resonate with you, then you can make your own decisions.

Sure, that's right. And it's more informed decisions. That's what I call it. We can get a lot of education, but it helps us to make those really informed decisions. And that's what counts, not just what, you know, what you hear on the TV ad or something like that. We can really educate ourselves. Yeah, absolutely.

And I don't want to say like all medications are bad, like that's not what I'm trying to say. Like there are things that are great. There's actually a new classification of drugs called DORA. They help with sleep. And there's actually some studies that have shown that it's reducing Alzheimer's. So there are some really good medications that are out there. But for the most part, some of the ones that have been overprescribed are just really causing more problems than they should be. Yeah, yeah.

Well, that's great information, Angela. I appreciate that. But I just want to take a break for half a minute. And before we continue, if any of my listeners are working in senior living or care services, you know how important it is to create meaningful engagement, not just fill time. Many of the ideas we discuss here are built into structured programs I've developed for teams and communities. You can learn more at livingto100.com. Solutions. That's livingto100.solutions. Yeah. Thanks. Let's continue with Angela. No worries. Yeah. You work with approaches like peptides and regenerative therapies. How should listeners think about these in practical ways?

Well, this is like a, you know, this is a very hot topic right now. Yeah. And, you know, there, there's a lot of, there's a lot of noise and a lot of news about peptides and it's gonna do this and that. And, it's going to change really everything. But peptides are awesome. I really think they're the next wave in medicine. But what's important is what is first is the foundation. So, you know, and these peptides can be very expensive too. So if your foundation is not solid, there's no reason to jump into the world of peptides until you have a really solid foundation, a good metabolic state, you're at an ideal weight, and then you've really optimized your hormones. That's the foundation. And then we can start to add in things for optimization. And really, there's a peptide for everything. And then some of my favorite ones help with healing and repair. So getting over injuries and be able to heal your body. A little bit more holistically. So there's lots of possibilities and there's really a peptide for everything. But the important thing is to start with the foundation. And if that is not solid, then none of it else really matters. Then I kind of call it like pissing on a forest fire. It's not going to do much. It's fancy and you may have some placebo effects to it. But the real important part is to start with that healthy foundation and then work our way from there.

Yeah. That's the necessary baseline. Yeah. Once you're there, then you can look at— so can you give us an example or two of someone who benefited from this, this approach using?

I mean, I have a ton. So it's, it's really a pattern with a lot of my clients that, you know, I get a lot of consults that I do every day and people will come in with a laundry list of things that they've seen on Instagram or TikTok that they want to try. And part of my job is to explain how things— how this works and then explain how we need to really start with the foundation. So if you're not at a healthy weight, that's part of, like I said, what we need to start with first. So I see this a lot with people and they'll get maybe a little bit frustrated with me, but it's— we just— we need to make sure those building blocks are there. But this I see all the time with my clients. I mean, just looking at the lab work for a lot of people that I evaluate. The before and afters are really remarkable, and I get so excited when we can start taking away medications and they can start having more agency over their health. But it's a common theme with most of my clients. But the weight loss journeys that I've helped people really conquer has been one of the absolute highlights in my career because a lot of people have tried everything. They get very frustrated. And then when they have a tool like GLP-1 that helps them get to the ideal weight that they want to be at, they're really just ecstatic. And so many things in their life just start to change. And I love seeing that. I love helping people with that. And it's been like a true joy to really be part of that journey.

Yeah, that's great. I mean, people do struggle with weight loss, of course, and the GLP-1 medication regime is very important. Are there any things that are also necessary to combine with those medications? Oh, absolutely.

I mean, you know, it's not like I said, it's a tool. And you need to definitely make sure you're getting enough protein that's a whole food source, not a bar or shake or powder. Those are synthetic. And really, my crystal ball of predictions is going to be that the protein craze of this time is going to be refuted because a lot of people are just overdoing it and not using whole food sources. The protein that we don't absorb is just stored as fat. And I think it's going to be very similar to the low-fat craze of the '80s and '90s. So that's kind of my crystal ball prediction. But you have to get adequate, you have to get good protein sources. And I really prefer that to be from lean, real foods like lean meats, eggs, cottage cheese, cheeses even. Incorporating that into your diet is very important. Exercise is very important. It's very important to, you know, do resistance training. And those are all things that, you know, are, are definitely, you know, needed when you're on a weight loss journey.

Sure. Yeah. Lifestyle factors that are important wherever we are, right? I mean, diet and fitness and connection, social connection. So, How do you help patients move from the quick fix, the short-term fix, to long-term strategies? People want immediate results. How do you help people think more long-term?

Well, it's just like with anything, you know, the first step of a, you know, 100-mile race is the first step. And, you know, you just have to keep your goals in mind and really celebrate the small successes along the way, you know. The first time, just this last week, I had a client call me and say, you know what? I was able to get off my Lexapro. And I said, that's amazing. And I had actually helped her start making homemade yogurt and to really work on her gut lining because the gut-brain axis is so connected. And that to me, I'm like, that's a huge win. That's a huge win for you. Congratulations. That's great. I'm here to help if you're having one of those days, but just being able to celebrate the small successes along the way and just giving tons of encouragement. People get discouraged very easily and like, well, I didn't lose any weight this month. I'm like, but look at your blood pressure. Look at the activity that you've increased. So really being able to help people just celebrate those small wins. Goes a long way.

Yeah, yeah, that's important. I, I agree. It's the small steps, they build up that confidence. You get small successes and it builds up more confidence. And we don't have to have a success every day, right? But we just want to think of, what am I going to do tomorrow that I'm not doing today? And that, that's what you're talking about, celebrate the small, the small wins. That's important. Instead of thinking about where I want to be 6 months from now, we think about where I want to be this week, what I want to be doing differently this week.

And I always ask people too, like, how do you feel? Like, how is it you feel? Like, we've done all these things, we've made all these changes, and, you know, they're like, actually, I feel amazing. Like, well, just remember that, you know, remember how you used to feel, how you were sluggish, you were fatigued all the time, and, you know, now you have energy, you're able to keep up with your grandkids, your kids, and do activities that you hadn't done in a long time. So, you know, just being able to recognize how you used to feel versus how you feel now is really helpful too.

Yeah, that's always one of the best outcomes measures, right? How do you feel? How do you— how are you seeing yourself today rather than a month ago? Yeah, that's important. So when we spoke also, we touched on the loneliness epidemic. Do you see that coming into the picture with your clients?

What's that like? Yeah, absolutely. You know, and I write about this in The Wellness Glitch too, that, you know, society has just become so disconnected. And even though with social media and use of our phones and stuff, we can stay connected with loved ones, but there's a disconnect with it too. And just having people around and people in your life, whether it's neighbors or a senior center, is really— it's so important, especially as we age, because humans are— we're social creatures. That's how we thrive. And when you don't have that kind of a supportive network, We really see disease start to— disease starts to increase when people are isolated and they don't have that social connection. So there is a lot of evidence to that. And just finding your community, getting involved, staying and having a purpose too, you know, like that I think is so important as we age to maintain some sort of purpose, you know, a reason to get up in the morning. Someone's counting on you. What is that purpose going to be for you? And, you know, really being able to stay connected to your community is, is really important. And it's easy to disconnect because we can get our food delivered. You know, we can work out in our homes. We can really, you know, you can live in New York City with millions of people and really never have to leave your apartment if you don't want to. And, you know, that, that design is not sustainable for really human connection. And that's when people get depressed. And that's when another medication comes into play. So maintaining your environment and your connection with your community, which I know you talk a lot about that, I think is really a foundational building block for overall health. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you.

I think that's so true because it is so easy to pull back, especially if we become disconnected from family. We kind of retreat and maybe isolate. And it's really a matter of pushing ourselves and kind of really setting that plan, even a small goal, like I need to do something today that I didn't do yesterday, because it doesn't come easy. It's hard. Sometimes those walls get put up, and we do need to force ourselves. But then we see some of the benefits. Then we see some of the the joy, some of the, you know, some of the rewards of reaching out. Maybe it's a phone call, maybe it's an email, maybe it's going to the senior center, maybe it's connecting with a neighbor, whatever it is. But it's those small steps that are so important. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for that. So if our listeners could do 1 or 2 things this week to improve their health, 1 or 2 steps they can take, what would you suggest?

Well, there's lots, but it really starts with kind of evaluating where you're at and where you want to be. And reducing your exposure to toxins is huge. So avoiding seed oils and processed food, I think, is fundamentally important. And also really pay attention to the plastic plastics that you consume. This is causing more problems than we're really aware of. But choosing to not drink out of a plastic water bottle, using filtered water in a metal container is much better. Not microwaving convenience meals in the microwave that the plastic is leaching into the food. And the plastic exposure really is causing a lot of damage to hormones and also artificial scents. That's kind of a big one that I have with people. I don't think we realize how toxic that is to our environment. There's studies that are saying that actually being around cigarette smoke is less toxic than the fumes and the carcinogens that are coming out of artificial scents. And they're everywhere. They're in people's cars, they're in their homes, they're in their office. The ones that you plug into the wall, they're just all full of chemicals. And getting rid of that out of your home environment is really important. I hadn't heard that. Like the oil diffusers that we have, as long as it's a natural essential oil, that is much better. But most of them are not. Most of them are chemicals. And most of the candles you buy commercially have a lot of toxic chemicals and plastics in them. Paraffin is plastic. And looking at these petroleum products that make plastic, that is a huge environmental exposure that needs to be eliminated. And just doing those simple things can really change kind of your body's like reaction to, you know, stress and, and how it functions. So, you know, just pay attention to those little things and, you know, really try to, to remove those from, from your, your day-to-day life.

Day-to-day life. Yeah, that's great advice. That's great advice. So a lot of the plastics that we use, it breaks down in the microwave and it's in the plastic drinking bottles and now the oils and the not the oils, but the scents and, and that we pick up to make our house smell pretty.

Yeah. And they've just been kind of like used, you know, oh, I, you know, we just really haven't thought about it. The research hasn't been there. It's just been a consumable that, you know, I want my house to smell good, so I'm gonna put these air fresheners everywhere. I want my car, I don't want my car to stink, so I'm gonna, you know, put it in my car. But the long-term effects that, you know, we're seeing with health are, are just starting to come to the surface. And they're, they're, you know, not the best.

Yeah. Well, that's some great advice, that great information you've shared with us. Thank you. Thank you, Angela. Tell us about your website and how people can get a copy of your book and learn more.

Yeah, absolutely. My book's on Amazon. You can— it's in paperback or the e-Kindle version as well. So it's called The Wellness Glitch. You can just look it up there. And, you know, I go into a lot of these things in more detail and just, you know, how they're all connected and, and how we fix it. So I kind of present the problem, and then I present solutions on how we can fix things. And then my website is ampdhealth.net. I'm also very active on Twitter, which I still like to call it, and you can find me there at Fix the Glitch Now. And that's probably my favorite platform because I really enjoy writing and I feel like it's a good way for me to express my thoughts. Especially with writing. But I'm also on Instagram at Amplified Total Wellness as well. Okay. And you can reach out or text me anytime. I answer questions and do consultations and my phone numbers on the website, but I monitor incoming texts in real time and I'm happy to respond and give advice and maybe set up an appointment for a consult. Yeah.

Oh, that's great. That's great to be so accessible. Thank you. So the website, AMPD Health.

Correct.

re-ampedhealth.net. Okay. Wow. Great information. Thank you so much for—

Oh, thanks, Joe. This was a pleasure.

You're most welcome. You're most welcome. And thanks to all of our listeners for tuning in. As always, I encourage you to take one idea from today's conversation and see where it might fit into your life. Small shifts over time can lead to meaningful change. If you'd like more guidance and resources, you'll find them at my website, livingto100.club. Until next time, uh, stay positive and keep on smiling. That's right. Okay, thanks.