Health Insurance, Health Shares, Biohacking, Health Impact from Alcohol, Optimization with Rylie Hooks with VitalAz

Welcome to the Biohack Method. I am Lindsey Burwell. I break down the science, cut the fluff and give you real tools to optimize your body with peptides, transdermal patches and root cause biohacking that actually works. Welcome back to the Biohack Method podcast. I have Riley here today with vital Az and I was so pumped to have him here because a. He like takes care of our family, is the best. And he's what I call like a concierge doctor.

Dpc.

Dpc Direct primary care, which just basically means your. Your provider comes to you. It's a game changer. But I wanted to dive all into things. He's had a crazy health journey, health transformation from like getting out of the health insurance model to like doing things him, himself and his way and just kind of learning like the.

More like biohacking ways of optimizing and.

All that good stuff. So thanks so much for being here. So fun to dive in. So I'm so curious. You have now thir. Is it 1300 families or patients?

1300 patients.

And so now how many practitioners do you have?

We have four. We have three full times, one part time.

Three full times, one part time. And because when I met you, it's just you.

Yeah.

Where. When have you seen like the most growth? Like, has it been like in the last couple of years or would you say like, what's built the most, like, momentum and awareness to this type of model for like, health care?

Yeah, I mean, most of it's been like, through social media.

Yeah.

You know, it's a. It's an uphill battle for people to understand the. The whole cash pay thing, even from the health share thing, like insurance. Insurance. Insurance is what's been drilled in people's heads forever. So to try and convince, not convince them, but show them that there's like a easier, simpler way to do it. It's like most things, certain things you get what you pay for. And health insurance is just like that. Just like the FastPass at Disney Line. Everyone knows what that benefit is. This is kind of a fast pass for healthcare sort of thing of like, how can you better access to what everyone else is kind of getting?

Yeah.

Oh, okay. I actually want to talk about that.

So, you know, women that I work with a lot of the time, like, they're trying to find, you know, modalities to optimize their health. Right. And really, like, health insurance is kind of always been like the one thing we think about when we need to.

Go see a doctor and like, get our labs drawn and all these different things.

And so I want to kind of help also.

Let's expand on, like, what model of health care and support you offer versus a traditional health insurance.

Because so many people don't understand, and.

You probably think you probably are like, oh, they're starting to get to know. But I'll tell you, even from my perspective, like, most people think they.

They need to pay health insurance.

It's, like, required by law or something every year to, like, pay for health insurance.

And I had shared with you, I worked for Cigna for a long time, and I saw working with, you know, national brands, their benefit strategy, their benefit plans that they offer to their clients. And even for me, having, like, health insurance.

Yeah.

Health insurance is what kept me stuck at my job for so long because I thought it was, like, this very important benefit that we needed, like, life insurance, Like. Like, it kept us safe and whatnot. And what I learned was that health insurance, like you mentioned, is really for catastrophic care, because you have your premium that you pay every month.

Yeah.

Which, like, any. I mean, it's probably, like, so much more now, but let's say it's like $500,000 a month. You're paying that monthly bill, and that usually doesn't even pay then for your benefits. So when you go to the doctor or when you go to the urgent.

Care, you go to the hospital, you.

Still have to pay up to your coinsurance amount.

Right.

Or your deductible amount. So let's say that's like a $5,000 deductible. So you have to pay $5,000.

Yeah.

Which once you pay the $5,000, then your coinsurance kicks in. So then you're. That's really where health insurance becomes a benefit.

Right.

After you've paid, you know, like, $12,000.

Yeah.

Then they'll cover, like, you know, 70 to 80% of certain things. And that can bankrupt people.

Absolutely.

And they have health insurance.

Yeah.

And the other part that I struggled with is it. It forces you to choose your provider in, like, a certain category. You don't have, like, freedom to choose. Like, I love Riley. He so great. And everyone loves to work.

Nope.

If you want it covered right under our umbrella, you have to choose these ones. You know, there's no, like, autonomy there. And so tell us about how you work with clients and how it's not with the health insurance model. So. And, like, maybe help people understand, like, the difference and, like, maybe the benefit.

Yeah. So I mean, even just with what you touched on, like, referrals you know, for if you're on an HMO plan and you need a referral to a urologist, you have to get an appointment with your insurance designated PCP who then refers you to the urologist. Like it's such a waste of time, you know, for you to have to make two appointments just to make one appointment and then wait for the approval. We see that with imaging all the time. You know, I order an MRI for someone, we've got all the notes in the chart, everything to support it and then the insurance kicks their feet for two weeks and then they deny it and then the patient realizes they can pay 200 bucks for the, the 300 bucks for the MRI instead of the 750 copay and they could have had it done two weeks ago. So there's a lot of that. We're just healthcare waste of our goal is time and healthcare efficiency. And that's kind of where you get a hold of us through text. We communicate with you very efficiently, same day, next day and just really handhold people through navigating healthcare. We do, we call it family practice. So I mean we do all the newborns, which I love. We do, you know, the, well child checks, the urgent care visits and then the adult side of things too as you've kind of gone on, on your journey. You know, we have as well too and we're always willing to learn. So people talk to us about the different peptides and stuff like that. And so a lot of what I've learned over the last few years has been almost patient initiated of them going hey, I'm interested in, in this, what do you know about it? And I'm like, I don't know much but I'll figure it out and you know, or try it myself and, and I've loved exploring that aspect of healthcare too.

I think this is so cool because not I like not many providers will admit that they're not all knowing and that they. Because I feel like in school you learn what you're, what you need to learn right out of a textbook. This is what you need to know. But really would you say like the majority of your experience and like what you know is just from boots on the ground and conversations with people in your own health journey than your own research and diving deeper into certain things that seem to be working really well or maybe gaps where like you didn't learn that that much in school. Like whether it be like, you know, peptides, obviously it's not something probably in the textbooks but things like that yeah, no, absolutely.

And with technology and ChatGPT and all of that, like your patients can come to you with a lot of information and you may be incorrect to some degree on what you're telling them compared to what some research would show. So you just have to be more open. And that's a way to make patients upset very quickly, is if you shut down their way of thinking or their thought process. You have to remain a little bit more open these days if you want to have patients entertain you as a reasonable clinician and not just this dismissive. No, this is what it is. Your labs are normal, all of that kind of stuff.

Would you.

I loved what you said how when you worked like in a office taking insurance and seeing patients in like the classic, you know, platform, if you will, that you felt like you worked more for insurance than you did for the patient.

Absolutely.

Like you went, it probably got into this work to help people feel better, to take care, you know, take care of themselves and figure out what is causing those blocks and help them on, you know, in achieving health. But when you're in it, like, what was that like? You're like, yes, I'm, I got my degree, I'm doing the work that I love. And you're like seeing how many patients a day? Like 40 to 50 in a 8 hour period or 12 hour period hours. Usually like you, that's not enough. That's too many people to even remember their names.

I know, yeah. And, and hopefully you've done your charting for the day. You know, if it's the next day and then you see another 40 or 50. Now you're trotting on 90 people that, you know, all come in with the same issues and you, you can't remember any of one person. So.

Oh my gosh. So tell us like how you got out of that and then how you got into then vital AZ and like what prompted all of that? What has that been like?

So I was, I was doing those 12 hour shifts, 50 patients a day. And that was in my late 20s. And that was my worst, you know, from a lab standpoint, my worst testosterone in my late 20s. And all my labs just like bad. I felt horrible. I went to my PCP at the time he said I was depressed, which kind of shook me because I didn't feel depressed, you know, and to hear that from someone else was like, am I depressed? Like, I don't feel depressed. So, yeah, ended up starting on some psych meds, Lexapro and stuff like that. And you know, looking back there Were no questions on, you know, hey, what's your sleep look like? What's your stress look like? How many days you get into the gym? You know, what's your food look like? I was bringing lunch to work, but I would literally work a 12 hour shift and eat my lunch on the way home at 9 o' clock at night. So my cortisol was just like through the roof.

Yeah.

And so it was what I felt, just a real band aid approach at the time and kind of made me go on my own health journey of like, hey, you know, I feel like I eat decent, I work out a couple days a week, but like, I don't feel very good. And so I knew I couldn't do that for another four years of I'm miserable, my health is not great. You know, I want to be better at parenting. And something that you, I think, go for is just mental clarity. And so I really just tried to hone in on like, how do I stay mentally clear each day and brain fog, something I really struggled with. So I was doing house calls one day a week for a company and I really liked that. And so that's where we kind of launched with vital to go. Hey, let's start house. This is a really cool, convenient way to do health care. You know, let's see if this works.

Were you scared to take that leap of like, I'm leaving this job? That is all that I've known and really a lot of what the industry knows.

Yeah.

And like consumers too. Because before you started again, 2021, I had never seen anybody do this. And I also feel like maybe like it was like for the rich and famous, you know, to have a doctor come to your chair, you're like, what? Even when I'll tell, like what I'm like, no. Yeah, it's the way to go.

Yeah.

So what was that like?

Yeah, it was interesting at first, you know, because, yeah, you're going to these houses for the first. They've never had someone that does what you do show up at their house before.

Yeah.

And when I used to work in my old job, I had one really fancy guy up in Fountain Hills and I was nervous. You know, he was like my. Probably my richest client at the time. And you know, I just, especially as a PA and not an md, I never had that imposter syndrome. Never felt like enough. And so he really helped me to feel like I know what I'm doing and I'm confident in what I'm doing. And so when I rolled into this, it Was a little bit easier for me to go into people's homes and feel comfortable for different CEOs and high level people and to provide really good healthcare to them and know that it was all mine and in the exact way that I would want it to be done.

Yeah.

For them.

Yeah. I love that. That's so awesome. And so tell me about like you talked about mental clarity and how like you realized that was something so important for you to like really show up for your life.

Yeah.

And would you say most people don't even know what mental clarity is because they're operating at like that, like just brain fog constantly. Would you say that's like a thing that you notice?

I, I don't even think they realize that that's what they're in.

Yeah. Like how would you describe brain fog? Let's say like somebody is listening because it's. I say that, I say this because I, I have had days where I've had brain fog and it's so debilitating and realizing like some people just, that's their normal operation mode.

Right.

And so like I'm trying to help get people granular on like knowing if they have brain fog or not. So how would you describe like that state of being that you would feel?

Yeah, I mean it's hard if it's not an on off sort of thing of where it comes and goes, but usually just that almost, almost like a light buzz where you're just, you know, maybe your balance is slightly off if you turn your head a weird way, you feel a little bit dizzy, you're, you're slow to think, you can't, you know, put words together.

Yeah.

You just don't feel there. You feel like you, you took a three hour nap and you woke up and you're just kind of in that groggy post nap state.

Yeah.

But you're trying to get through work or being with your kids or holding a conversation and it's all you can do just to like be present.

Yeah. And now what has been the biggest thing for you to shift? Like so realizing I need more mental clarity. Like I want to really step into this like taking like, like owning my day and not my day. It's owning me. Right. Like what has been the biggest thing that has helped you shift into that and like clearing some of that mental fog?

Yeah, I feel like working out for me. Like I was always, you know, I did CrossFit maybe three days a week, but then I worked those 12s and then I'd do nothing. And now I'm, I'm a pretty religious, you know, five, six day a week in the morning. And it's not a, like, kill yourself thing. I've totally gotten over that. Of like, hey, let's do, you know, intense high rep, high intensity cardio for an hour. I do a lot of sauna. I do some red light and just have that hour to kind of think for myself before I get run over by everything else the world throws at me for the day.

Yeah.

And that just kind of sets my mind in a better spot than just waking up and being reactive to every little thing that hits me as the day goes on.

Okay. And I'm thinking too of something that I forget. Oh, you posted about on your social media buy back your time.

Yeah.

That book, amazing. They changed my life and you recommended it to me.

Yeah.

Or to the world. You write to me on social media, Lindsay. I'm speaking to you. No, because I, I even noticed a shift in like, how you were showing up.

Yeah.

And since I've now been kind of more cognizant on, like, where my time is going.

Yeah.

Because I think that whether you own a business or not, like, there is just so many competing priorities when you wake up.

Absolutely.

And it's like just one. It's like reframing, like, what is the most important thing I need to be doing right now and then like, time blocking that so you're more productive. Because our brain cannot multitask. Like, and as women, like, we're really good at having a million folders open and thinking we can, like, juggle in between the folders. But really, like, it's the most inefficient use of our time. I'm. I've since reading that book, really realized, like, trying to do it all in like, one day is so inefficient. And instead, like, literally time blocking. So now. And I'm curious what you do, but, like, right now I've been really honing in on, like, when I have a project, like, I'm sitting down with that person and we're doing that project, like, together during this time block. And I'm not even going to think about it before or after or, like, try to get something done in between. Like, it's like showing up like 100% in the moment of what needs to get done and almost just like side tabling, like the rest of it. Yeah. So I'm curious, what are the big things from that book, how to buy back your time that you've implemented that has, like, been huge for You?

Yeah, well, I just brought that up last week with my wife. You know, I think I read that back in February.

Yeah.

And right as I started reading it, I was running late, you know, I wasn't staying on time and I like messed up a baseball practice. It messed up my wife getting out the door. And I came home 45 minutes late and I was telling her, I was like, I don't think I've been late once since, since then, like that was it. And I don't write out every. I mean, I was going, okay, at 9:45 I'm doing this. At 10:00 I'm doing this. And I would pre write my whole day.

Yeah.

And I don't do that anymore. But it's become such repetition and just the norm for me that like, I don't miss practice anymore. Like when I need to be home at 5. Like I structure my day in a way to make that happen.

Yeah.

Just because of that book and the way that it kind of changed my patterns.

Do you feel like you've also restructured your company a little bit? Because I've seen you grown.

Yeah.

Right. It's not just you anymore.

Yeah.

So, like, maybe did that empower you, like bring on more support? So you're maybe not working in your business, but you're working on your business, like to grow and scale probably.

Yeah, absolutely. Like the whole delegation thing. And my question all the time is like, do I need to be doing this or can someone else do that?

Yeah.

And I really rely on other people now to go, you know, okay, this, I could do this, but It'll take me five minutes. It also take me 10 seconds to send it to them and then it's done. Yeah. Which is hard, you know, to, to offer that trust or have that trust in other people. But it's good once you lighten the load from that aspect.

Yeah. Oh my gosh. Okay, so I have some like big Hot Topic questions I want your opinion on. I feel like people will want to know, like what is like a physician think about these things. But I, I feel like it's a hot topic that's coming up. So we talk, kind of talked about peptides. So we'll start with an easy one. What are your thoughts on peptides? Have you tried peptides? If you have, which ones? Kind of tell me all of that.

Yeah. So, yeah, peptides. I've jumped into, you know, mostly the male side of things on those. I did some more land for maybe six months.

How did you feel.

Some of this stuff and this is why in this whole biohacking space, like, you have to have your variables so lined up so that when you change one thing, you actually know if it's, you know.

Yeah.

And I think that's what's so hard about some people is they're just like, you know, okay, McDonald's today. But then I didn't. And their variables are too. So for us it's a little bit easier to look at, hey, did this make a difference or not?

Yeah.

And so I'm always, you know, there's a psychological benefit of going, hey, here's what I'm told. This is supposed to do for me.

Yeah.

And thinking, you know, it might be doing that for you. So I did it for six months. I also did some carnivore stuff at the time. I did lose quite a bit of weight. So, you know, I feel like it helped a little bit.

Did you. And S is of the family of growth hormone, right. It increases growth hormone. So did you sleep really good? Did you notice any change in sleep?

Yes and no. I mean, I wasn't sleep tracking back then.

Yeah.

I did get the vivid dreams.

Okay.

But I have noticed. So most guys will do that. But if I do any females on Samorin, they feel they don't get the dreams.

Here's what's weird. These growth hormones. So like cjc, Morlands, some Moreland. I'm noticing because I work with clients who like peptides too. I'm noticing really Anyone under like 50, they don't really feel a huge amazing change on these growth horn peptides.

Yeah.

But like I have clients who are like, you know, 50, 55, 60, that do feel it. They do feel a sense of vitality. Yeah. And so I started kind of digging into it from. This is just like, from what I was reading is that growth hormone really doesn't start plummeting until you're like mid-40s. 50. Right. And that's like. Yeah, that like growth hormone that like gives you vitality. Like think of like a baby.

Yeah.

Like Craig has a little newborn baby. And how they sleep so much. They're just like sleeping so hard and their growth hormone is so high because they are growing, they're repairing. Right. Like they get hurt, they repair fast, they sleep hard, they recover fast. And when you're a little. Same thing. You have a fast metabolism, all these things. So.

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When you hit, like, 55 or 50. 55, the growth hormone plummets. And that's where people will feel like, yeah, I'm just like, I don't feel as strong. I'm not sleeping as good. I don't have as good a recovery. You know, all those, like, things. And then you take the girl, someone. It's like, oh, that's much better.

Yeah.

So, yeah. And they're expensive. They are expensive, like CGC and IPA Moreland and. But I feel like they're marketed, like, to women right now, at least, like, take CJC and, like, if you want to lose weight. And I'm like, I. That's not the. That's not really the mechanism of it. Like, it's great for when it's needed, for when you truly are. Like, you may have. You made. Your growth hormone is probably fine.

Yeah.

So you probably took it and you're.

Like, I don't know.

I feel maybe different because you're in, like, elite shape. Right. But for someone who, you know, isn't taking care of themselves and older.

Yeah.

Could benefit.

Yeah.

And they could feel the difference. Yeah. That's. That's an interesting. Okay. What other ones have you tried?

Some are interesting. Like, I haven't tried the melanitan.

Yeah, I have.

Yeah.

Yep. Yep. Melanitan.

That's awesome. So. Yeah. Oh, I did BPC for a while.

Okay. Did you have an injury or were you just testing it or.

Yeah, I was, like, six months into a wrist thing that just was not going away.

Yeah.

And so the shot form still worries me a little bit. Like, I won't do the shot form. To have patients inject with the needle wherever, you know, their injury is.

Yeah.

Does sketch me out a little bit.

Because if they hit maybe like, like a nerve or maybe a vein.

Yeah. So. And the research I've done says that it is orally absorbed or gut absorbed anyways.

Yeah.

So just taking it orally increases that naturally.

Yeah.

So I don't know. I don't know if one's better than the other, but I do feel like that helped move the needle for sure on the injury that I had. Yeah.

That's so great. Have you tried any GLPs?

I've never done a GLP.

What are your thoughts on GLPs?

I mean, just like you talked about, like the ipamorlin and those, like, if you just look from a cost standpoint, like, the potential benefit of GLPs is just blows those out of the water.

I know. And I feel like people feel it. Like they feel it.

Yeah, yeah.

If a Moreland and then you're like, me.

Yeah. Maybe pulling the strings.

Yeah.

So, yeah. There's such a huge benefit for a lot of people on those. You know, obviously there's a lot of, like, already the right person for it and you need someone to really walk you through. Like, what does this look like? You know, again, you have to have an optimized diet and the protein, if you just jump on it, like people used to do with phentermine, you know, back in the day, but they don't change anything else, then, you know it's not going to be good for you.

Yeah.

But if all your boxes are checked and then you add a GLP one on there, you know, in low dose. Yeah. I've seen some really good stuff.

Have you seen a lot of your female clients, like, want. Or even male clients? I feel like, actually I hear a lot of guys, so I'll work with the wives. And from my perspective, everyone wants to be on a peptide.

Yeah.

And then, then I'll have them be like, yeah, my husband's gonna take some too. You know, but they like, the husbands are like, don't tell anyone. It's like, yeah. I still feel like there's taboo in general where even people like, well, don't. I don't want anyone to know.

Right, right.

But I, I do. I see the landscape changing a lot in like the last few years. So I'm curious, do you have a lot of, like, your mom, like the moms you're working with and like, husbands being like, I want to try.

Yeah.

Like, what are your thoughts?

Like, yeah, exactly. Like you said, you know, guys are like, yeah, maybe I'll do it. I will say long term. And I know that's all kind of still developing and stuff, but the guys are definitely more like jump on it for three months, lose what they want and then they're done.

Yeah.

I think for females it's a struggle of like, hey, I feel great, I've lost this weight, I don't want to gain it back. So then becomes the mental side of like, how do I maintain this?

Yeah.

Without feeling like crud.

Yeah.

Eating enough calories and making sure that this thing isn't going to like cause problems long term.

And I think that's why it's even more important for people to a go into it not as like a quick fix. Like this is a vehicle to help you dial in the foundations. And honestly, like, I'm always like, look, these peptides are where they weren't designed for weight loss. Yeah. They actually were designed to fix blood sugar and insulin. Right. And when you, when you fix blood sugar and insulin, when you're metabolically flexible and that process is like in, you know, in great shape, then the byproduct of that is a healthy metabolic body, which then the byproduct can be weight loss.

Yeah.

Right. So if you go into it like I want to fix blood sugar and insulin and I'm going to do that by protein, fiber, fats, exercise, strength train, microdose of GLP to really move the needle on that insulin and blood sugar, then you, you know, you titrate off, but you keep those habits in place. I have a lot of clients who don't gain the weight back, but what I do notice is that people do like to have some on hand for like a little booster, you know, like if the holidays are coming up or like about to go on vacation, because there is something happening with the, the GLPs systemically with inflammation. That's so instant.

Yeah.

And I think like, regardless of how, regardless of like, let's say someone lost like £20 on it and then they get off, inflammation is inevitable in today's world.

Right.

Because like Wi fi.

Right.

Can cause inflammation. Like radiation from an airplane can like inflame your cells and that can feel like a couple pounds you gained or something when really it's just there's like a hyper inflammatory response happening. And so, but there is a mechanism somehow with those peptides that are, that's calming that down.

Yeah.

And so that's what that's. Personally what I see is like women are like, they're on it. They get to their goal weight and they feel great, and then they'll titrate off, but then, like, just want a little booster.

Yeah.

Not be, like, dependent, but, you know.

Yeah. And that's what I love about compounding those. It's. It's so flexible.

Yeah.

Like, I'll. I'll lengthen people out. You know, hey, let's do every 10 days. Let's do every 14 days. Let's do, you know, even smaller.

Yeah.

Versus just these kind of one and done needle, like.

Yeah, whatever those are. Okay. Talking about peptides, what are your thoughts on things like ketamine, Ketamine therapy, and explain to you what it is, because I can guarantee a lot of people don't know what that one is.

Yeah. So ketamine, the best description I've seen of it is, you know, the. The comparison to skiing. And if we went down the same ski slope a hundred times, you'd build some grooves in that slope. Right. And so that's a PTSD event. Hey, I had something happen in my pool. Every time I ran in the pool, that's where my mind goes. You're going down those same tracks. What ketamine does is throw a fresh coat of snow on there. And so now you see a pool, and you're not going straight down that path again. You've got new and alternative paths to go.

Okay.

And so I've seen folks that have struggled with PTSD for years and years and tried everything and, like, one or two sessions of ketamine and like, a different person, which is crazy. I've also seen people that have gone 30, 40, 50 times and, you know, still struggling with the same issues. So, again, not for everyone, but for those folks, I do have some folks that have been, you know, in and out of jail or DUIs and just very mentally unstable. And I'm just like. One or two treatments of ketamine could literally change their life. Like, just do it.

And ketamine's not considered, like, plant medicine. It's like an actual drug, would you say?

Yeah. Yeah.

Okay.

It's been used in ERs for, like, sedation for years.

Okay.

You know, if a kid went in and I dislocated my elbow when I was 15, and so they gave me ketamine to sedate me as they reset my elbow.

Okay.

It's. It's a pretty tame, you know, light sedation, medication, and, like, I don't know.

If you've done any. Like, now I'm like, I want to research more about this. But, like, where did they decide it had have been recently? Because I feel like ketamine just kind of started taking off. But, like, where do they learn and figure out that, like, this. The sedative tool drug can help people create new neural pathways in the brain. And now we're going to use it in, like, wellness clinics.

Right.

Like, where did that all happen?

I honestly, I don't know. Like, if it came from er, I don't know if people were coming home, like, happy, magically not depressed anymore, and they were like, what happened? But, yeah, I haven't looked into that enough to know where they dove off of. But I mean, kind of like the GLP1s of like, okay, this is for diabetes, but now we're seeing this. And so sometimes you're not even, like, focusing on this, and then you just find that.

Yeah. And do. Is ketamine legal in every state? Do you know?

I don't.

It's legal here, though.

Yeah.

Right. But we have to go to, like, a clinic.

You do. And not all clinics are the same.

Okay.

The best experience I've had, because I've never done ketamine, but apparently it's. It's kind of a journey as you do it. Have you done it?

I've never done. No. And I'm so, like, that's. I'm so interested in, like, all the biohacking, like, things, you know, And I've had people ask me about it, and I know some people who've done it, but I just don't know, like, all the details, I guess. Yeah.

Well, and so for me, like, this same thing of, like, neural pathways. Like, I have some clinical neural pathways that I want to keep. And so it's like, if you do ketamine, does it remove some of those things? Like, so that's my hesitation. But the best one I found, you finish the session and then you do a counseling session right after.

Okay.

So you deal with all the stuff you just went through rather than just like, oh, my gosh, that was like a crazy dream. And then you're just left to go home and kind of of deal with it on your own.

That's so important. Like the integration part. Yeah. And like, integrating what you experience into, like, your life to make your life better.

Yeah.

Yeah. So I guess if people are like, it, if this would be good for somebody, it sounds like, who maybe has those, like, hamster world thoughts. And they tried everything. Maybe they even tried antidepressants. They've tried all the herbs. They're like, calm their Thoughts down. They're like white knuckling it. Maybe they even tried therapy.

Yeah.

So ketamine would be a good option potentially for somebody who, like, really just mentally does feel stuck and it's taking away their quality of life. But they do need to probably find like a qualified practitioner that does some of the integration work. Whatever. Okay. It's going to be so interesting, I think, to see, like, in the next few years, like the landscape of things coming out to help with health that seem very non traditional. Which leads me to my next question. I'm dying to know your opinion. Okay. What are your thoughts on plant medicine? Like psilocybin?

Yeah.

I, again, I feel very taboo to talk about though. I feel like. But I'm like very. I'm. I mean, full transparency. I'm like, super interested in it.

Yeah. Going back to our whole, like, I want to be in control. I want mental clarity. That's the part I struggle with.

Okay.

Like, I've only used marijuana once or twice.

Yeah.

And absolutely does not agree with me.

Yeah.

Like, as an anxious person, having that lack of control is. Is not for me.

So.

I don't know.

Have you, though, you're. You're a little. You do a lot of research on, like, you know, all the trends and stuff coming up. I feel like. Have you been hearing more about, like.

Psilocybin, plant medicine being like a thing? Like, a lot of the top experts.

Are using it, recommending it. Like, I know for you. You're like, probably not for me, because I know me and I know I.

Don'T want to, like, be out of control of my body, but, like, do you have any initial thoughts about it? Like, are you at all intrigued on, like, the science coming out and the.

Research coming out about, like, what it's.

Doing for people or.

Yeah, I mean, I guess kind of. Back to my ketamine. Story of my guy I've known for years with ptsd. I've seen him do ketamine, and now he's doing awesome. Like, if it's not for me, I'll use those examples of. Okay, this patient went and did some psilocybin.

Yeah.

You know, I. I just have very close relationships with my patients. I can text them all the time, and so I can really check in and see if I notice or if they've noticed any differences from something like that.

Yeah.

So I use that probably.

That's so fun. So I went to this mastermind in California this last weekend, and a girl was there, and her. So she's an ex Attorney. And she now is a psychedelic facilitator.

So wild, right? You're like attorney psychedelics.

But she's amazing and her story is so good. I'm actually, I'm gonna have her on a podcast. But what she described, which is why I like started doing more research too, is she was saying that, you know, psilocybin is a mushroom. She's not talking about like ayahuasca or anything. Like, she's talking about literal plant, like mushroom, microducting mushrooms.

And she said, we, our bodies.

And I believe this, like, we are more than just a body.

Yeah.

Like, we are not just what we eat and like these, like, you know, this like skin on our body. We are very emotional and spiritual beings.

Yeah.

And so much of health is not addressing that. Like, we're like, eat healthy, work out, do this. But like, we aren't slowing down enough to like talk, have those conversations about like, our spirit and like our emotional well being. And I do feel like, you know, sometimes we're talking about nervous system and cortisol and.

Yeah.

Reducing stress, managing stress. But like, it is truly just as powerful as what you eat and how you move your body. And the thing with the psilocybin and what she described it to me was.

That culturally we are now at this.

Place where we like, it's just like.

Do more, be more, achieve more. Go, go, go. Like, we are so dysregulated, right.

And our nervous system is on hyperdrive. Like, if you were to pull us back to like old times, it would look like we were being chased to die at all times.

Right.

And what the mushrooms do is they soften. They soften you, like, soften your ego, soften those hard parts that make you believe that you do need to do more, be more. And go, go, go, go. Yeah, it just like, like you just, it softens you enough to just like be more present and experience life more in the moment and like, notice. Like she was even saying, like, you'll notice. Like, all your senses will be heightened where you like, you're so much more engaged in this conversation. You're not thinking about the other conversations or like the weather that day. You're like so much more aware of how beautiful it is. Like, or like the. You cooked a meal and you're just like, these flavors are incredible together. Like, it just makes you experience life like almost more by being more.

Being less rigid and hard and more.

Like soft and spiritually. This, like open, you know, and so that's why I'm like, that's Such an interesting.

I don't know.

Yeah.

Definitely want to look into it more, but it just seems so. Yeah.

So interesting.

I like that. I always. I was trying to think back to, like, caveman days, and that sounds a lot like that of just like, enjoy. Very simple simplicity.

Yeah. Or even like Italy.

This is what's crazy to me. Like, I go to Italy and we are drinking wine, which they cannot put any chemicals in their wine. They can't add sugar, and they can't add preservatives. You actually will go to prison. They told us if you add anything to your wine.

Wow.

Drinking wine every day, eating late, staying up late. And we all collectively said, like, we've never felt better.

Yeah.

And I tr. I know. And it's. This goes back to. To like, just how they are. They center their meals around connection, about being in the moment, not rushing around and just like being in your community, obviously, like not adding crap to your food and whatnot. So they're doing so many things right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I've heard that story so many times.

Yeah.

It's sad.

I love that.

Okay, if you had any advice for, like, people who are feeling stuck with, like. Yeah, I feel like I have this brain fog. I feel like I'm going through the motions and I don't have good support with, like, my doctors. I don't really use my insurance. Like, what would be your advice for somebody who feels overwhelming getting started and, like, feeling better and having support to feel better with health and all the things? Like, maybe even like thinking how you would talk to yourself five, ten years ago. Where should people start? Or what's a good advice you would tell them to get started in maybe removing some of the things out of their life or adding the things. What would you tell?

Yeah, I think what's interesting about a lot of this stuff is that I think we all like to think long term. I want to lose 60 pounds. And then you do it and then you get started and then you get frustrated. And what I've done with a lot of things is I've gone to two and four week goals and like Carnivore for me and for anyone that I've had Tri Carnivore, like two weeks. Like most people. All you need is two weeks of you're gonna eat anyways. So, like, yeah, just try it.

Yeah. Are you still doing Carnivore?

No.

You backed off. You backed off.

I mean, I still eat probably 75%.

Yeah. And carnivore is just straight up. We're just doing steak Steaks?

Yeah, yeah, steaks and eggs and burgers and.

Yeah.

Lots of fats. So do more carbs. And that's more for, like, muscle preservation with workouts and stuff versus just only having protein on board.

Sorry, I'm like, segueing. But how do you feel like, like, compared to when you're just doing Carnivore versus now adding carbs? Like, how do you feel? Do you feel better on one or the other?

I mean, my. From a workout standpoint, my workouts really sucked on Carnivore.

Yeah.

From an energy standpoint, I'm. I'm totally a believe, like, carbs are what should be fueling your workouts and muscle preservation. You know, again, if you're fasting or you don't have carbs on board, you're just eating away at your muscle for working out. So I've kind of shifted on that a little bit.

Yeah, that's awesome. Okay, so two, two, two and four week goals has been a big one for me.

Two and four week goals? Yeah. So, like, for me, my workouts change every month. You know, if I want to change my diet and do Carnivore, it's okay. The next two weeks, we're gonna implement this.

Yeah.

And so just having these short chunks of going, look, I can do that for two weeks, I can do that for a month. And it's not do everything. It's. It's do one thing this month and then the next month you're going to do this, you know, and so, like, steps. Okay, we're low on steps. Let's try and get 10,000 steps. Yeah, let's do that for the next 30 days. And then you look back and go, did it help me? Did it not help me? Yeah, if it did, then you stack the next thing on top of it. Okay, I'm gonna get to the gym and lift weights three days a week. You know, and I think people get overwhelmed with going, I can't change everything at once. It's too much. But when it just becomes your daily habits, you know, for my wife and I were taking phone calls, getting our steps in. Like, you just. It becomes normal to you once you've added and implemented those things that, you know that help you.

I love that. I. I think we all like, we think transformation means like, black and white. You go all in. It's like, then you eat one cookie, now it's done, you give up, you quit, whatever. But I think it's like being realistic with your goals and starting with even just one and doing Two weeks mastering that. I love that. It makes it so much more like doable and achievable. Yeah, that's good. Okay, so if people are in Arizona and they're looking for support in a non traditional way where they aren't using health insurance, they're not going through like the motions of sitting in a doctor's office waiting forever being seen by, you know, for only five minutes. Where could they find someone like you that could offer more of like a concierge collaborative care model? Like tell us a little about like what that looks like with Vital and how they can find you.

Yeah, so it's a movement of mostly clinicians that have worked for big corporations and said, hey, I want to do this on my own or a better way. And so that movement's called Direct Primary Care dpc. And so that's, you know, is it concierge is a dpc. Yeah, most people know what concierge is, so that's kind of what I just explained it as. Yeah, but it's, it's not the concierge price tag.

Yeah, I know that. I think that's what's so huge. Like I'll tell people, oh yeah, we have Riley from Vital Easy. It's like he's like, come to our house and they think they're like, oh, you probably have so much money spent on. I'm like, no, it's. I'm literally saving money not having health insurance and having our health share with Riley.

Yeah. And I've always tried to hack that healthcare system of cost and I've tried to explain that to people over the years and it just hasn't worked. And I think people are growing to like we talked about earlier, make your healthcare or health insurance a math equation and not an emotional decision. And when you March out that 20 grand a year that you would spend to pay your premium, hit your deductible versus $5,000 a year for like, you know, my stuff and a health share. Yeah, it's kind of like, wow, is 15 grand a year, you know, saved on healthcare worth it to me again.

It'S not even be able to see a provider you want to see and.

Right.

I also will just dive into that for real quick just to explain. So I don't think we did yet. But so you, you have the options of health insurance that could be through your employer or like you're a self employed and you go to the marketplace and get health insurance. So. So that is where you pay your monthly, then you pay your deductible. Then you have your co insurance. That's like what we were all born and kind of like doctrinized to do. Right. Health share. And you color in what I might be missing. But health share is where you are paying a much smaller monthly due. Which could be like 500.

Right.

Let's say 500 towards this like communal health share. You pay that 500 every month for you or your family. And then if there was an emergency or even if you got pregnant, needed to have a delivery. Right. Like whatever emergency over a certain threshold, that health share will pay 100% but they won't pay for like the little onesie twosie doctor visits or urgent care that costs $50 or like, you know, dental. It's more so for the. They will pay you 100% for anything catastrophic over a certain threshold, which is really where we need it. We need health insurance.

We don't get go bankrupt over these million dollar claims.

An accident.

Right.

And so that's where like the difference would be. Your paying towards a health share to be like really catastrophic coverage. But when you go to like a little doctor urgent care, you're paying out of pocket for that, which seems scary to people.

Yeah.

But like cash pay your cat, you're considered cash pay which is so much cheaper. And really if you really look at the cost spending a year, like are you really going to the doctor?

Right.

100 times. Are you really going to urgent? Like there might be one or two visits. Right. Maybe.

And so it's like looking at that cost difference.

Yeah.

I don't know if you would add.

Anything more to that.

Yeah, no, I mean it's, it's a two sided coin. And so yeah, it's, it's scary. Okay. I went to the dermatologist. What's my cash pay, biopsy rate and stuff like that. We were hospitalized seven days into being on a health chair. Didn't even have the paperwork yet. And honestly it was one of the best experiences I've ever had because I was like, okay, we hit our thousand bucks and like I don't care how long we're here.

Yeah.

You know, I don't care what meds you have to give him. I know that every time we give him Tylenol, it's not $200 a vial.

Yeah.

You know, coming back to us. And so it was awesome. Like we got our thousand dollar bill and we were there for three days.

That's so awesome.

Versus, you know the opposite when it's.

Health insurance and Are you using Zion?

That's when I Use Zion.

Yeah, that's what we're. Yeah, we switched because you. We were using Christian Health Ministries because all of you will be like, what is healthier? Which one? Yeah, that one's super popular, but we just switched to Zion and it's. I mean, we don't use it, so.

Yeah, no, they've been great. Right. I haven't had to use it either. CHM kept getting more and more expensive.

Yeah.

And their premiums were going up.

Yeah.

So Zion is pretty user friendly. Everyone I've talked to over there is. Is pretty cool.

Yeah.

Our goal is still as our DPC concierge stuff. We want to provide 90% of what's actually going to happen to you.

Yeah.

You know, all of the pediatrics, primary care, urgent care. That's. That's still us.

Yeah.

And then you use ZION for that 5 to 10% of the big stuff that happens.

So they would. So people could do their health insurance or health share and then they could bring you in to their care plan and pay that like, membership fee, if you will. And then they have direct access to you or another provider. And I love that it's tech support, call support and just like just having that person on your team that is consistent too, like not a random doctor, which is so great. Do you see this model kind of going nationwide? Are you seeing more states kind of stepping into this or like more practices? Because I don't really know a lot of states doing this, companies doing this.

Yeah. There's more clinicians that are again, trying to step out. And so there's a good website, it's called DPC Mapper. And so you can type in your zip code and then it will like pull up, you know, all the practices that are registered, like we are. That's so nice in your area. So we get questions like that, you know, hey, I live in California, but like, is there someone out here that does what you do? So, yeah, you can find them all over the place. I think they'll just continue to populate.

Yeah.

And it's really good care. You know, it's. It's the providers running their own practice and essentially you're the person that's paying our salary. So it's like we want to provide the best experience and care for you, not just like, yeah, we work for banner and you know, whatever, whatever on my next patient.

Oh, that's so good. Okay, so your Instagram is vital.

Az.

Vitalaz. Right?

Yeah. Underscore something.

Okay, so is it vital? Underscore az.

I think it's Underscore.

Vital.

Vital. Az.

Underscore.

Underscore.

Underscore. Okay. Yeah, we. We love the underscores. And then your website is@vitalaz.com. okay, perfect. So that's where they can find you. Anything else you want to share before we wrap up?

No, I mean, thanks for having me. I'm excited to continue using these guys.

That's it for today's episode of the Biohack Method. If this lit something up in you, do me a favor, share it. Tag me at Lindsay Burwell Wellness and drop a ridiculous review. Ready to dive deeper? Head to the show. Notes for peptides, patches and programs that are changing the game for high performing women like you.