95: Your DNA Is Not Your Destiny: How Genetics Can Personalize Thyroid Health, Hormones, Metabolism, and Longevity with Kashif Khan

Kashif, or Kash, Khan is a bestselling author of The DNA Way, a celebrity longevity coach, and a 2-time TEDx speaker known for pioneering a personalized approach to health that integrates both genetics and lifestyle, environment, and nutrition. With a background advertising high-growth startups across industries and contributing to over $500 million in revenue, he brings a really unique blend of business acumen, and health innovation. After overcoming chronic conditions himself, he built a global platform dedicating to helping others optimize their health, extend their lifespan, and take control of their biology. Let's dig in. Kash, welcome to the podcast. I'm excited to have you.

Pleasure. Great to be here.

So, we are going to have a conversation we have yet to have had on this podcast. We are going to be going deep on DNA and how it interacts with our lifestyle, supplements, all the things. As we lay the foundation for that, tell us just what DNA is for people that have no idea.

Yeah. So, there's the science answer, which is confusing.

Right.

Then there's the practical answer, which is very useful, which is you have 50 trillion cells that make up the human body. You're physically designed with all these little molecules that put you together. Inside every one of them is this instruction manual, meaning there's all these jobs happening in your body. You're making hormones, you're detoxifying chemicals, you're metabolizing food, you're thinking. Each one of those jobs is dictated by a gene that's an instruction that tells your body how to do the job. So your DNA is a book of instructions, and every cell has it. The kidney cell reads the kidney page, the heart cell reads the heart page, and it knows how to do its work. So the interesting thing here is our books don't look the same. And so the instructions we receive are different, and that changes how we look, how we feel, but also how our daily biology behaves.

Absolutely. And if we're born with our DNA, right? And this is what we have, and for so long, I think medicine and just regular people thought that was kind of our destiny. In general, like big picture, and we'll go nitty-gritty into this, why should people care about their DNA? Why should they be invested in this conversation?

I would think so. One of the challenges is what most of what we hear and know comes from the research of disease. It's pharmaceutical research. Like, who's paying for research? Somebody trying to make a pill, right? And so that research doesn't necessarily give us prevention or wellness. And so even what we learned about DNA was very limited, meaning here's these genes that potentially cause breast cancer, Alzheimer's, et cetera. You got a 60% chance of this, 40% chance of that. And now your lifestyle habits really determine if the gene is turning on or off. And so, you know what? It doesn't matter anyway. Just manage your lifestyle habits.

Right.

So that thinking is true when it comes to the unique and rare gene diseases that are caused by genes, let's say. Right. But our everyday biology, those genes behave different. They're always on. You're always thinking, you're always producing hormones in your daily, your daily cycle for men, 28-day cycle for women. That stuff is ongoing and consistent. And so that stuff is your foundational biology. But nobody studied that because it's not a disease.

So true.

So now if you start to navigate that, it explains why one person can go take the bioidentical hormones and feel amazing. And somebody takes the exact same prescription and started to grow hair on their chin, right? One person could be a vegan and feel great. And one person becomes a vegan and they lose all their muscle mass because now your everyday biology is taking those habits and choices and processing them. And sometimes you make the wrong choice. But this is much more powerful than the disease-centric genes, which really, if you just manage your habits, it's true, you'll likely be able to manage that too. Daily biology, we need to take control.

Yeah, absolutely. That's so, so true. And I talk a lot about like genetics with my people because I have horribly shitty genetics. Like they're just terrible. And I'm married to a man who is genetically perfect. He's superhuman. And so we see that contrast in our everyday lives. And I think People forget that. They're like, well, you just need to eat clean and don't eat gluten and you'll be great. You know, it's like, no, a lot of people have to actually work harder on their lifestyle because they're set up from a perspective of poor genetics. I have to ask, Kash, what made you get into this? Like, how did you end up here?

So, I didn't come from the formal path. And I think you hear this in a lot of sort of functional medicine stories and innovation. where it's just like, I was sick and nobody could help me, so I helped myself, right?

Mm-hmm.

Literally, I had no formal training, didn't come from the industry. I had eczema so bad that I couldn't even open my left eye. It was like sealed shut. Yeah, inflammation, psoriasis, which is autoimmunity, gut issues, migraines, reflux, all sorts of stuff going on. And the list can be bigger if you wanted to, but I can keep going. But the thing that got me, that opened my eyes, because up until that point at the age of 38, I was never sick. I was fine.

Right.

Then all of a sudden, 6 chronic diseases. And when I started going to doctors who were friends, by the way, they kept giving me the diagnosis and the prescription. And my question was like, where did this come from? What did I do? Because I've never been sick and now all of a sudden I'm sick. That doesn't add up. And I started picturing movies in my head of like somebody in Chernobyl getting close to radiation and their body starts falling apart. It's like, I must have done something like that. Right? So I started to research, and I remembered my father taking me to traditional Chinese herbalists when I was young, and I remembered my aunt who used to go to naturopaths. I was like, what were they doing? So I started investigating that stuff, and I learned traditional Chinese medicine, homeopathy, naturopathy, functional medicine, studied hormones, studied the gut microbiome, and eventually landed on genetics. If I were to give you the aha moment for me, yeah, me and my business partner at the time, and I used to run a business where we helped technology startups grow. I was like a consultant in the tech world advising in anything you could imagine, right? Me and my business partner were the same age, same ethnic background. We lived 5 houses apart, same number of kids. We got married 1 year apart. We had a mirror life. We used to drive to work together every day, used to eat lunch together almost every day, eat dinner together.

Wow.

So I believed the doctors because if it was something I was doing, why wasn't he sick?

Right.

Right. And you start to believe, okay, this is just who I am. And it just, I guess 38 is the magic number right now. Once I got to genetics, I started to learn that we don't process our choices the same. There's a gene called GSTM1. So glutathione is the body's master antioxidant. It's responsible for neutralizing and removing toxins, right? What's not known is the way your body processes glutathione is different also in different parts of your body. So GSTM1 is specifically responsible for glutathione activity in your gut. So whatever you eat, the chemicals, mold, plastics that come along with it are meant to be bound, neutralized, and removed. There's a phenomenon called a copy number variation, meaning not just what version or mutation or variant of the gene I have, but I literally don't have this gene. Zero.

Wow.

Doesn't exist. So, when you read my instruction manual book, there's a chapter missing, which is the chapter on how to detoxify the gut.

Wow.

Right? Now, when I take a step back, okay, but then why did I have this now? Genetics is, right? Epigenetics is the choices I made on top of that for my net result. What choices was I making? Me and my business partner were going to this Lebanese restaurant almost daily thinking that we were eating healthy Mediterranean food, which is true. What I didn't know is in Canada where I live, there's chemicals used to dry grains because we have long winters. And then there's other chemicals used to reconstitute those grains to make them into food. And Health Canada and FDA will tell you they're safe, but they didn't test on me who's missing the gut detox gene.

Right.

Right? So now this one-size-fits-all game, 10 bowls of hummus for 10 people, 9 of them are going to be fine. So nobody's going to blame the hummus, right? So this is where just knowing that one thing and knowing that my gut was broken, leaky, damaged, dysbiotic, knowing that it was leading to a leaky brain and neural inflammation, that's one of many things I figured out. But imagine just knowing that one thing, right?

If you've been listening and thinking, finally someone gets what I've been going through, my new book, Take Back Your Thyroid, Was written for you. When you preorder a hardcover copy, you'll choose one of 2 bonuses that are entirely free, either my $399 Thyroid Empowered course or $150 off a new patient visit at Modern Thyroid Clinic. Preorder your copy, then head to book.modernthyroidclinic.com to claim your gift. Again, that's book.modernthyroidclinic.com.

Book.modernthyroidclinic.com.

This is what you mean when you said earlier, genetics load the gun and environment pulls the trigger.

Yes. Yeah. The gun is ready to fire. Your choice pulls the trigger, right? So, the choices are environment, nutrition, lifestyle. Environment is everything you're exposed to, including people. Nutrition includes your supplements, includes your peptides, includes every choice you make. And lifestyle, how do you exercise? Where do you work? How, when do you sleep? All of that is the, the choice you make that your genes now have to process.

Mm-hmm.

Right. So, and you know, I didn't answer your question, which is how did I get into this work?

Yeah.

So because I was so sick and I was so enthusiastic about my recovery, my mother who was arthritic and couldn't get outta bed, I got her going to a gym with a personal trainer in months. Like I literally put, she used to, I used to visit her at her bedside, right? My niece who was failing school and running away from home because of her anxiety is now a thriving university student, right? So I was so excited about the work that I did that I actually walked away from my business, gave it to my business partner and said, you keep this. And I built this genetic research company where I got the top PhDs in the world and realized that was not who I needed because they were too, you know, pigeonholed. Instead, I got top functional medicine experts to teach me how the body worked. And then I reversed engineered what genes were involved.

I love it. Well, I'm going to have to get one of these tests. I have to snag one myself. And I know we have an offer for people too that we'll share with them a little bit later, but that's absolutely fascinating. And so this manual, right, that people get, tell me, you know, the parts of physiology that it looks at, and then how does that data extrapolate into everyday life?

Yeah. So I don't— the company that I built, I don't run anymore. Yeah, I brought it to the point where it, it needed to be, become part of the healthcare industry.

Mm-hmm.

So I merged it with this telemedicine company and they now run it and they're bringing it into hospitals and clinics. So it turned into something beyond, which was awesome, right?

Yeah.

Now, yeah. And now the part of, I had to tell you this to answer your question because yes, there is a report where if you were to get it, any genetic report is gonna tell you what version of the gene you have. What does that mean? What does it mean for— what does this gene do? This gene makes the enzymes to help you break down plant protein. What version do you have? The bad one. What is the outcome? Don't live off of beans, right?

Mm-hmm.

You don't do a good job breaking them down, or make sure you add digestive enzymes because you don't make them yourself, right? So that's an example. Now, what I now do is I take that data, and there's a limitation to what the FDA will allow you to report. But there's no limitation to what I can provide in education. So I do masterclasses and events, and I think that the value people get is DNA is the only thing that doesn't change. Your gut microbiome, your hormones, your toxic burden, your cholesterol levels, all of that needs to continue to be tested. Once you test your DNA, that's permanent. So it is so valuable to understand what it means instead of needing a coach to tell you what it means. And so, where I— why I broke off from the company and said, hey, you guys, I'm going to exit, do your thing. I'm going to advise and help you. But I realized what my purpose is. My purpose isn't to tell people, it's to teach people. I want to inform people how to read their DNA so that they have sovereignty because it's never going to change. Read it, understand it once, read it forever.

Right. And when people get a good grasp on their DNA, like where their strengths are, where their weaknesses are, Do you see that shift and evolve due to epigenetics, or basically, like, do people become more resilient if they do XYZ to reduce inflammation for a long time? Like, does it shift after epigenetic approach, or is it pretty consistent for good? Kind of like you said, how genetics are permanent, obviously.

Yeah, I think the goal is, what is my playbook? When I wake up every day, how do I eat? How do I exercise? What do my relationships look like? What is my body designed to do? Were my ancestors barkers or did they sprint around, right? Were my ancestors warriors or were they the accountants that supported the tribe? What do they do? What am I wired to do? And if I go do that, I'm going to thrive. And if I don't do that, I'm going to use words like anxiety and depression, which aren't actually there. And so, it starts with where are you at? Because I would say the failure of the longevity biohacking and wellness world Is the people you're listening to aren't in the same place as you. They've been doing it for a decade or more.

Right.

And so when you start where they're at, it's overwhelming. And then you say, this was a scam, it didn't work. Or maybe you need to regulate your nervous system first. Maybe you're in fight or flight and the body doesn't even want to fix anything. Right.

The foundations, right? Yeah.

Yes. And so always, if you're in acute state where there's actually a disease to be named, a pain point, then you have to start there. Put out the fire. Once you put out the fire, which we can use genetics to figure out where did it come from? Yeah.

Right?

Once you put out the fire, then you can ask, how— what does optimal look like? What does the best version of me look like? The best sleep quality, the best libido, the best energy, the best hair and skin. And what are the habits that will get me that? Once that's done, then you can start seeking life extension. Then the biohacking and the longevity stuff stacks on top of an optimal frame, right? So, I would say pause and do those things in that order and just understand where you're at. Also pause and say, you're going to get data, whether it's your DNA, your gut microbiome, your hormones, some kind of testing you're doing. And our instinct is to like figure it all out and do everything, right?

You're right.

And it's not going to give you a great outcome. So, there's also pacing the work, which is start with your nervous system, get that regulated, get yourself in a regenerative state, then work on your gut, that central thing that's tied to so much chronic disease, fix it. Then work on your toxic burden. What is your body overwhelmed with that you didn't know that you learned through testing? By the time you've done that, whatever you're working on has already become a tiny version of itself.

Yeah.

Right? And now that thing is so easy to fix. And so people think of this way and knowing that it took you 40 years to get here, why are you trying to fix it in 2 weeks?

Right.

Right? So there's no magic pill if you want the finish line. Right? Not a bandaid. So that's what I would say. Now in terms of last part to your question, it's the key systems that are informed through functional genomics. Genetics is you have the BRCA gene, you might get breast cancer, good luck, right? Functional genomics is why would the BRCA— why would you actually cause that level of inflammation to that tissue that it would actually get DNA damage and cancer? So there's a reason. Now you can take action. So the core systems that I would say that can be covered with some level of certainty where you know it's for sure the truth and you can work on it. Cognitive function, executive function, your mind. Who are you? If I have your DNA, I can describe your personality to a T. I don't— if I have—

Really?

Yeah, yeah. If I've never spoken to you, never met you, I can describe how you behave, how you seek reward. Do you procrastinate? Are you a drama queen? Are you detail-oriented? Everything about the way you think and perceive the world. Because everything is driven by neurochemicals. The neurochemicals are driven by the genes that tell you how much to make, how much to bind, and how long do they last, right? So, one is cognitive function. Who am I? Am I the leader? Am I the warrior? Am I the caregiver? Who am I, right? Second is sleep. The, you know, I can't fall asleep, I can't stay asleep, I sleep through the night but I don't feel so rested. Those are all genetically different things. Some people are genetically wired to be the morning lark and get up early. Some people are genetically wired to be the night owl and have their best cognitive function when the sun goes down, right? It's hardwired into your DNA code.

Yeah.

And so, quality of sleep. Third is metabolic. So, what are you eating and how do you know that's what your body needs? You know, there was work I did with the US female Olympic team some years ago where I showed them the women that were struggling were actually Genetically designed to live off of carbs. And everybody was on this low-carb diet. And when we brought the carbs back in for that small group of women, they started to thrive and win again.

Fascinating.

Right? So, there's amylase enzyme that's required, and they just happen to make it really well. The TCF702 gene pathway for insulin resistance, they just did it well. They were literally designed to eat carbs. So, metabolic. Then, I would say gut. Gut metabolic is what are you consuming, Gut is the actual health of the gut tract. So, is it leaky, damaged? And also, what is the state of the microbiome and everything that's, you know, living symbiotically with you inside your gut tract? Fourth is your environmental health. So, what are you exposed to and how does your body process it? There's certain genes that help you detoxify mold. There's certain genes that work with parasites. There's certain genes that help you with chemicals and fragrances. And so, where is your kryptonite? Where is your body not doing a job? And there, what do you prioritize your environment? Finally, hormones. This is the area that was, I would say, I didn't know in the research I was doing what I was going to learn. I was just doing it because it was so fascinating. And what I learned was the most broken, gaslit, failed part of our healthcare system is everything around women's hormone health, right? Preach.

That's my whole shtick, my friend. That's what I do all day. Yep.

And I didn't know that the very first thing we studied was breast cancer. Only because the first clinic that said, yes, we'll give you access to our patients, was a breast cancer clinic. And it was an integrative care clinic. So, they understood our side of the, you know, how to approach things, right? And I started to see how these women were literally just being ignored. Like, the system was not designed for a 28-day hormone cycle. Women were not included in medical research, right? The same thing happened in the biohacking world. When you think of the top biohackers, who do you picture in your head? Gary Brecka, Dave Asprey, Peter Attia, Huberman, all these guys that are telling you what worked for them. The difference is that they don't have a nefarious intent. They just don't understand that you put this in the context of a 28-day cycle doesn't work the same, right? So that's where I would say the biggest impact is, is women understanding how they make hormones, clear hormones, bind hormones, metabolize hormones. And then things like breast cancer, Alzheimer's, all that become a lot more clear.

Mm-hmm. I'm curious. So I'm the founder of Modern Thyroid Clinic. We're now, we're a nationwide telemedicine practice. We started as like a brick and mortar in Austin and expanded cuz we had like a 9,000-person waitlist and we didn't know what else to do. I'm curious if you found anything in the realm of thyroid that's interesting, not to put you on the spot, but I'm just for my own curiosity.

Oh, huge. We found a lot of correlation. I would say it's, it's one of the bigger things we work on. And not that people knock in our door are saying thyroid, people knock in our door saying fatigue and other, and then we tell them it's actually thyroid, right?

Exactly. Yeah.

And so what did we find? There's multiple things. For example, the gene that I mentioned for myself, the GSTM1, some people have the opposite where I'm missing it. Some people have an extra copy of that gene, right? And so now they're doing the job more, a little too well, more than the body needs. Now, what happens when your gut is a hyper-detox responder? It's going to lead to an ultra-sensitive response to environmental toxins in your food, which will lead to signals to your brain. You know, the gut and the brain are connected through this bidirectional gut-brain axis. They talk all day long. But what most people don't know is that for every one signal the brain sends down, the gut is sending 8 signals back up. It has 8 times more influence. Right? And so, that influence, if your gut is struggling with a toxin and you have the good detox gene, the second signal is too powerful and it starts to develop antibodies and it starts to get to an autoimmune state. And then, somebody will say, I have Hashimoto's. Mm-hmm. Right? And what you have is a gene that's a hyper-detox responder that's leading to, it could have been rheumatoid arthritis, it could have been psoriasis, you happen to get Hashimoto's, right? So, then we have And I would say this is the big one when it comes to women's health, that, you know, if you look at general population data and you look at the estrogen metabolites, meaning progesterone turns into testosterone and the testosterone gets aromatized into estrogen, right? That's where sort of the medical doctor thinking ends. Where you need to keep going is after you make the estrogen, there's 2-hydroxy estrogen, 4-hydroxy, and 16 as metabolites. One of them is beneficial, 2 are inflammatory.

Mm-hmm.

We know based on your genetics which ones you're making and at what volume, right? Now, if you are making the 4-hydroxy estrogen, right? And you're making this, you could be doing everything right, eating clean, doing everything right, but you happen to live in a hormone disrupting world that you can't control. And if you're making this 4-hydroxy metabolite, that can create significant endometriosis, fibromyalgia, thyroid health issues. It's the reason why 80% of dementia is in women and not in men, right? 80% of autoimmunities in women. And that, that list keeps going on, right? So, that's another one where we can now, as opposed to treating the thyroid, which is an important thing to do, let's also block the thing that's causing the problem. There's, there's things you can do to slow the expression of that gene down, right? Sulforaphane, calcium D-glucarate, they, they actually slow the gene expression down.

Yeah.

Right? But we have to first know what problem we're solving. There's so many more. We can talk about the thyroid for an hour straight, right?

Correct.

But, but there's so— it's not one cause. This is the whole point of genetics. Everyone's story is going to be different.

Yeah.

But that's what everybody needs, my story. I need my unique story for precision and speed. Now I can do the right thing at the right dose at the right time. And I don't need to do all this other stuff and it's going to work.

If you're listening to this podcast thinking, this is me, I've been tired, dismissed, and I just want my life back, I wrote Take Back Your Thyroid for you. And because I want to help you take the next step, if you preorder a hardcover copy today, you get to choose one of 2 exclusive gifts. You can either get my full Thyroid Empowered course, a $399 program designed to help you truly understand your thyroid, take control of your health. Or if you are ready for personalized care, you can choose $150 off of a new patient visit at Modern Thyroid Clinic. We are open virtually in 48 states. Just pre-order your hardcover copy and then head to book.modernthyroidclinic.com to claim your gift. I cannot wait for you to read it. I truly believe this book is going to change lives. And one more time, in case you missed it, book.modernthyroidclinic.com is your hub to select whatever freebie works best for you. And I think that is, in a perfect world, the next era of where we're going, right? Because I think, look, like I was around, you know, towards the beginning-ish of functional medicine and kind of its It's wave swooping in and it's great, but like, it's a lot. People have to do 1 million things every day. In a lot of cases, they have to live in this tiny little bubble and it's not personalized, it's not unique for them. And it sounds so much like this is the next era, the next layer to go deeper and try to work towards more personalized medicine. Yeah.

Personalized medicine has always been desired, but again, the people that drive regulatory and research just are taking that word personalized and applying it to the existing medicine, right? Yeah. How do we make this painkiller 5 different painkillers so it suits the person, right? And as opposed to— it should not be about masking the symptom, it should be about never getting the symptom.

And I think medicine, like, I'm, I'm a traditionally trained clinician, I think it's so much based on algorithm. It's impo—

Mm-hmm.

I would, I don't wanna say it's impossible cuz I hope to leave space that medicine can evolve, like conventional medicine can evolve into truly personalized care. But it's so hard to do personalized medicine in an algorithm-based practice that I think finally the, the society people are coming around to the concept that, hey, I might need to leave this insurance-based model. Keep it for emergencies, keep it for when I'm sick or I'm in a disease state, but have someone else help make me well that can take the time to do this. Because could you envision in the next 10, 15 years, could you envision truly personalized medicine, genomics included, in everyday conventional medicine? Do you think that's possible? I'm curious, truly.

It's not only possible, it's coming. And it's coming for 2 reasons. The exact thing you said, people are voting with their wallets, right?

Yeah.

Because what people misunderstand is the insurance company, inasmuch as they make money from your premium, they make money when you use the services. They're an administration of your care. They're not an insurer of your care. And so if you're not sick and using their services, they don't like that, right? And so if people aren't using the services, they will have to adapt. And create services that you want to use. That shift is coming. The second shift is coming is we have a very American-centric view, but there's a lot of stuff going on outside of this country that's going to create pressure, right? For example, I'm working with the government of Dubai right now and they're making this entire longevity city, they call it, right?

Yeah.

Yeah. And so I've been, been there a couple of times working with them regularly and they're doing some pretty phenomenal stuff, including They want to genetically test the entire country. They want everybody to have the bill.

So awesome.

Yeah, they want to gut microbiome test the entire country. They want to hormone test the entire country. And they're saying, why not if we're paying the bill? Because now you truly have an insurer who is the government paying the bill. They're saying, why not if we can have a better, more productive, happier nation, but also put the money in the right place? They're doing it. So when you see innovation like that, announcements are going to come out in a year or so, and like an entire country has been genetically tested for personalization. People have to follow that, right? You're going to look so obsolete and backwards if you don't.

It's true. I love that they are setting that standard. I got to tell you, there's so much demand for us to go to Dubai for Modern Thyroid Clinic. Like, they want us there so bad. It's wild, you know, but I think they're educated and they're ready for the next era of what's to come in the health and longevity space. I have a couple rapid-fire questions, but I did want to, number one, ask a little bit about how people can find out more about your work, keep up with it, kind of give us your spiel, how they can find you on social or wherever you hang out.

Yeah, I would say Instagram is the best. I post something daily. about the type of stuff we're talking about. And if you go to Instagram, you can sign up for my email newsletter where again, daily I'll, I'll share pretty awesome information about the body and health and wellness and functional medicine. And if you like what you're hearing, there's, this is what I do every day. Right. So you can join there in terms of like, how do you work with me? How to do that? There's, there's so many things I'm working on right now. There isn't a single great place to send you.

Yeah.

So I would tell you the best is go to the email newsletter and you'll be informed of everything I'm working on. There's a lot of really cool projects from Clinics to partnerships with other people, to the Dubai project, to equipment and machines, to peptide stuff. There's so many cool things we are helping support. It's better just to join the newsletter and you'll learn about everything.

I love it.

Okay.

So a few questions just to tie up some loose ends. Tell me where you think people oversell DNA. Like, what questions can it not answer and what questions can it answer?

I can tell you your risk of a disease is kind of a falsity because that is based on the research of studying people that are already sick.

Hmm.

The truth is, meaning that they already got sick, we don't know why they got sick, but they can't recover from the disease because of the gene, right? The truth is, let's find which biology is broken that leads to inflammation, Autoimmunity, and poor energy. Yeah, those are disease. These are every disease: inflammation, poor modulated immune system, and low cellular energy. That's how to use genetics, right? So, that's the gap.

Where do you think traditional labs still apply? Like, at what phase, in what manner?

I think the metrics in traditional Labs matter. The tool of a traditional lab is not so great. I mean, and the interpreter, they're looking at ranges. They don't know what it means, right? So the, I would say traditional labs matter if you have someone that knows how to interpret the data in a functional manner. That's what matters, right? And also if you can stay away from the biggest labs where the data isn't even accurate.

Yeah.

Right?

Yeah. Tell me the biggest misconception about DNA in, in summary, or maybe we haven't even talked about it yet.

Well, I would say if somebody, you know, the, I would say the number one negative that you'll hear is like, I don't wanna know if I'm getting Alzheimer's. I'd rather not know. Right? Misconception is you're gonna get this propensity and risk score and good luck. See you later. It's actually the propensity is giving you a priority because you're also going to be told why that's happening. And now you can take control and prevent it. So, for anything that I could tell you in your DNA that's coming, I can also tell you why it's coming and what to do to make sure it never comes.

I love that. So, recently, a little backstory, I found out like heart disease is really severe in my family. I went and had my genetics run for heart disease. And, They break 'em down into like green, yellow, red. And I was red in every single one of 50 or so genes except 2, I was orange. So like terrible, terri— terrible cardiogenetics. And I'm 40, I don't even know how old I am. I'm like 43, 44. I won't, I won't do the math right now and bore you, but I'm like, okay, now I know that this is a priority for me. I went and had a, you know, a Cleerly scan. It came back perfect. But I know this is something I need to work on for the rest of my life because my genetics—

Yeah.

Definitely move me closer towards the risk category. And I feel like that's really empowering.

But now take that example where the geneticist leaves it at a risk score, right? Exactly what you just said, red dot. But they don't tell you why. What does this gene do? What's the biology it instructs?

It's basically inflammation. Like, I am, and I know that, like, I'm the most inflamed person that I know. But yeah, it's all inflammation.

So now, now why? Here's an example of now we can actually be precise and take action. There's a gene called 9p21, which will actually tell us the quality of your endothelial lining. So your inner lining, your— so most cardiovascular disease doesn't start in the heart, it starts in the arteries. Right.

Right?

So if somebody sees risk for cardiovascular disease, what do you do? What do you fix? Let's now look at 9p21. If your endothelium is genetically subpar, the tissue grade is not good, it's going to get inflamed faster than other parts of your body. Right? We know the tools to add are tyrosine, diobax, cardio miracle. There's a lot of things you can take that build your endothelium. Now you've dealt with it, right? Second, there's receptors for cholesterol transport, right? That determine how effectively your body knows how to move cholesterol around the LDL HDL circuit, right? If those receptors don't do a good job, then the oxidized cholesterol that's damaged doesn't get recognized and gets left behind to build up and create plaque.

I also have that. Yeah.

You also have that. So now, now we know there's certain things you can do to actually activate the receptor to make them work better, right? There's certain peptides and nutrients, and then you now have a solution. Mitochondrial function, the highest density mitochondria in your body is the cardiovascular system. And the amount of energy this system takes is why you have the mitochondria there. So, sometimes oxidative stress and what's called superoxide dismutase, the mitochondrial pathway, that's not working. And so as the energy stops, these algorithms give you a score, but they don't tell you why. If we break it down to the very first thing you said, nitty-gritty, right? The details. Now you know exactly what to do for each detail, and there's relief as opposed to anxiety. You know, we've taken many people off their cholesterol pills, off of their insulin from diabetes, reversed Alzheimer's, reversed Parkinson's, reversed multiple sclerosis. And I'm saying that word as loud and clear as I can— reverse. On a recorded call that's going out to the public because I'm saying that, yes, that's the word to use, reversed, right? We've reversed these diseases because we're not, I'm not trying to treat anything. I'm trying to find what causes it, stop that cause, and the body knows how to heal itself.

I love it. That's fascinating. I should have like pulled up my labs. You probably could have ran through them so darn quick. It would have been a perfect example for everyone to watch through. Um, tell me one lifestyle change. Most everyone should personalize based on their genomics.

They should personalize. You know, one thing that's really easy to personalize and makes a huge outcome is the way you train. So, if I have your hormone genetics, I can tell you, should you be doing Pilates? Should you be doing heavy weightlifting? Should you be doing drop sets to failure? So, your hormones do a couple of things. Reproductive health, as we know, they drive your body type, hair and skin quality. But they also fuel your physical activity and expectation that you move the way your ancestors moved. Were they agricultural? What did they do? Right. And if you move in that way, you're going to get the best ROI in terms of body composition, ease of use, ease of recovery. If you don't move in that way, you know, I was working with a tennis player and this is like a Wimbledon, US Open level tennis player, right? He got diagnosed with a cardiovascular issue during his prime, during like Wimbledon era. Right? While he was playing at Wimbledon, literally, right?

Wow.

So, he was said to me, they're like, oh, maybe it's a rare genetic thing. You know, it doesn't make any sense. You eat clean, you do everything right, you know? And so, he had the exact combo that I just described of the bad endothelial tissue, the bad cholesterol transport, but he also had the worst possible mitochondrial function genetics. And what did he do for a living? Cardiovascular exercise, which meant additional oxidative stress that his little fireplaces couldn't— they had no chimney to clear the smoke.

Yeah.

But he was choking his cells in oxidation. And so, we had to allow him to continue the sport, but support that. So, yeah, even whether or not you should be doing cardiovascular training, your DNA will tell you.

So fascinating. I love it. Is there anything I haven't asked that you feel like people should know?

Wow. I know.

It's a good one.

Yeah. I would say, you know, a good part of our community That's coming to us. Like you, we run a functional medicine practice, right? I'm not a clinician. We have a whole clinician team. I'm more the researcher that comes up with protocols, right? And helps everybody. Most people coming in, what they're coming in for is not what they have, right?

Mm-hmm.

I can't get pregnant. I have migraines. I have a cardiovascular issue. Sometimes it's you have a vaccine injury. Sometimes it's you have long-haul COVID. Sometimes you have a mold issue. Sometimes you have EMF sensitivity. Sometimes there's, there's something else, right? So I would say that if there's never a question, and I, I would, you know, 'cause I've seen a little bit of your work and, you know, the, the way you address the thyroid isn't, here's a pill for an ill, you're trying to figure it out, right?

Mm-hmm.

And so if, if that detective work isn't happening, you're not using the tool properly and you're not being led properly, right? So I would say that's the anomaly that I would point out is that a lot of the people that come to us where everything else failed, Yeah. The problem they're trying to solve isn't even their problem, right? There's something else underlying that. That's just one of the red flag check engine lights that they're getting.

Right. That's just the signal.

Yeah. And so when we actually dig in, we also noticed there was other problems with it. Like, you know, they're so inflamed and dealing with that one thing, the relief they get from other stuff, like the pain is gone, the sleep is better, libido's back, my vision is better. Like they didn't even realize those things were breaking down.

Yeah.

Right? So, I would say that's the one big thing. Detective work, look under the hood, fix the biology, not the symptom.

Fascinating. Well, this was such a great conversation, and I so appreciate you taking the time to share it with my people because I am leaving feeling inspired, empowered, able to feel like I can move forward and take action on all these parts that I might never even know exist unless I get thorough genomic workup. So thank you so very much for your work and your time.

Pleasure. Maybe we have to do the part 2 where I go through your DNA and expose you to the world.

Let's do it. That would be the coolest. People would find that so incredibly fascinating. So we'll get it on the books. Sure.

Let's do that.

I love it.