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(0:00) Introduction and opening remarks (1:09) Alessi Total Care Program introduction and special offer (1:53) Hosts greet each other and discuss podcast feedback (3:40) Importance of being your own doctor and today's topic: hormones (4:17) Overview of the endocrine system and symptoms of hormone dysfunction (6:54) The big three hormones and their interactions (11:10) Root causes of hormone imbalance (20:28) Sponsor: Authentic Nutrition (21:56) Lab testing and medicine approaches (29:53) Natural hormone balance strategies (31:41) Blood sugar and gut health's role in hormone regulation (36:18) Detox and sleep importance for hormones (39:34) Stress management and exercise for hormonal health (43:07) Comparing lifestyle changes and hormone replacement therapy (43:56) Listener resources and closing remarks00:00:00
If your hormones feel off, you don't need a prescription first.
00:00:04
You need
00:00:04
a reset of the ecosystem your hormones live in.
00:00:08
Welcome to Health Decode, your number one source for real health information with your
00:00:13
host, doctor Alessi and Matt Tack.
00:00:19
Hey, Health Decoded listeners.
00:00:20
Doctor Alessi here.
00:00:22
Let me ask you a serious question.
00:00:24
Are you tired of waiting until something goes wrong to finally see a doctor?
00:00:28
At Alessi Functional Health, we take a different approach, the right approach.
00:00:33
We believe true healthcare isn't about chasing symptoms.
00:00:37
It's about preventing them in the first place.
00:00:39
That's why we created the Alessi Total Care Program.
00:00:43
This is a functional medicine based membership that gives you proactive, personalized care
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year round.
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You'll get access to comprehensive blood work and functional testing, custom doctor grade
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nutraceuticals, deep discounts on labs, protocols, and follow ups, as well as twenty
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four seven direct access to your doctor, not just a ten minute checkup that ends with
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another prescription.
00:01:09
And here's the best part.
00:01:11
As a Health Decoded listener, you'll get your first three months completely free when you
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sign up for an annual membership.
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That's on top of hundreds in savings already built into the program.
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This is your chance to take responsibility for your health and join a movement that's
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redefining what primary care should look like.
00:01:30
Head on over to alessifunctionalhealth.com, click on our services tab, and go to Total
00:01:35
Care.
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Learn more about this program and claim your exclusive podcast listener offer.
00:01:41
Your health is your greatest asset.
00:01:43
Let's protect it proactively.
00:01:47
Welcome back to another episode of Health Decoded.
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I am your host, doctor Alessi.
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And your cohost, Matt Tack.
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Great to see you, my friend, as always.
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Always good to
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see your lovely face, my brother.
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I love what we're doing here, man.
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I love the feedback we've been getting.
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It's been really good.
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We just had a patient the other
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day in the office came in and was like, man, I I listened to the podcast, and and now I'm
00:02:13
doing
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you know, he's like, now I'm doing these things for my gut, and I'm feeling so much better.
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Was like, that's that's the whole point, man.
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That's why we're doing this.
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We're not making money on this.
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We're just giving valuable information for people that they don't know.
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A lot of
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people just don't know these basic things about, you know, how what it means to really be
00:02:30
healthy.
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And so I think we've gotten to a a place in this country where health is not what they tell
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you it is.
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It's, you know, it's totally different, and that's what we're trying to disrupt here with
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this episode and ultimately I'm show.
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On the positive note, you know, with this podcast is, you know, our main our main theme
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in Anthem is your health is in your hands.
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And I think, you know, there is becoming a trending mechanism where people are taking
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things seriously.
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Right?
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Hey.
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I'm not getting information from my doctors.
00:03:02
I'm not getting the right information.
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It's very reactive care.
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And, you know, the whole anthem in our podcast is to empower people to really take their
00:03:11
health and put it in their hands and be asking better questions to get better answers.
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That's right.
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We literally have a guide that we give patients in our office who are in our functional
00:03:19
medicine program and it's called the at home doctor kit guide.
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And so it's like all these things, blood pressure cuffs, you know, pulse oximeters,
00:03:28
things that you should have at home, thermometers, right?
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To be able to stay ahead of things, CGMs, like we talked about last episode, testing yourself.
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That way you don't have to go to the doctor to get these routine things done.
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And now you have the knowledge of how to do that, right?
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And how to make educated choices.
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So, the whole point is like you're your own doctor.
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And then if an emergency arises, seek emergent care.
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But ultimately, you know, taking it taking responsibility of your health.
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And so, today we got a cool episode.
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This does build off of the last episode.
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So, back and listen to episode 19.
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And then, you know, it we're doing these in succession so that it's kind of like a book,
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right?
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Like as you read a book, each chapter builds on the last and so this whole concept here is that
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you're building a story of what health is each system in the body, how they interrelate and
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what ultimate health looks like.
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So, today we're going to be talking about hormones and really how to fix your endocrine
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system naturally.
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And so, you know, we're diving into something that literally affects everything in your body,
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but gets blamed on you know, it gets blamed.
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So, you might think of hormones as people always think like, estrogen, testosterone,
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maybe thyroid, but the truth is your entire life is governed by these powerful chemical
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messengers.
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And so, what is the endocrine system?
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Your endocrine system is your body's internal messaging network.
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It's made of glands like your thyroid, which controls metabolism, your adrenal glands, which
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control our stress response, the pancreas, which controls blood sugar regulation,
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pituitary which is basically the master gland which has a down cascade that signals all the
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others, your ovaries or your testes depending on your sex.
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These are for sex hormones.
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And then your pineal gland which controls your sleep wake cycle.
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And so these glands produce hormones that tell the other glands what to do and then tell your
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body what to do and when.
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However, hormones don't work in isolation.
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They are a symphony.
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And if one instrument is out of tune, the whole song is going to sound off.
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And the truth is most people are walking around with hormone chaos and they really have no
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idea.
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So, you don't have to be menopausal or have a diagnosed condition like PCOS to be affected by
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hormone dysfunction.
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And these are the things.
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Here's what it might look like chronic fatigue after eight hours of sleep, weight gain, brain
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fog, irregular menstrual cycles in females, low libido or that feeling of disconnection,
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feeling wired at night and then anxious during the day, burnout, which a lot of people have
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experienced.
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And so none of this is normal, but it is common, right?
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And there's a big difference between those two things.
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So this episode isn't just about estrogen or testosterone, it's about how your entire life
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is impacted by your hormones and how they are running the show in the background.
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So the good news is that there's always natural and effective science backed ways to repair
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hormones from chaos at the root.
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And we're gonna unpack a lot of that in this episode.
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So, we're gonna start off here with basically, you know, what are the big three, right?
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Let's get into the big three hormones that run your life.
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And so, if I could get every patient to understand just three hormones and how they
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interact, we would eliminate eighty percent of the confusion around fatigue, mood swings,
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stubborn weight gain, poor sleep, and even infertility.
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And so, now let's break those down.
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The first one, cortisol, the stress commander we call it, right?
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This is produced by your adrenal glands.
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Cortisol is your body's main stress hormone.
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We have dove into this in a previous episode, but basically it's supposed to follow a natural
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rhythm.
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It's high in the morning when you wake up, right?
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That alertness, and then it gradually tapers off throughout the day to hit its lowest point
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at night so that you can go to sleep.
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But here's what happens with modern life.
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With stress, under eating, overtraining, constant stimulation, cortisol will stay
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chronically elevated and gets completely dysregulated.
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So too much cortisol over time is going to lead to insulin resistance, thyroid suppression,
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poor sleep, abdominal fat storage, and muscle breakdown.
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Eventually, your adrenals can get burnt out and then that leaves you flatlined where you're
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wired but you're tired.
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And so number two, insulin.
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This is the blood sugar boss.
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Insulin is created by the pancreas and it tells your absorbs to it tells your cells to absorb
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glucose from the bloodstream after eating.
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In a healthy system, insulin rises after a meal and then blood sugar comes down and everything
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resets.
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But when you're eating too frequently or you're overeating processed carbohydrates, or if you
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live in a chronic stress state, you develop insulin resistance.
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Go back to episode 19, we talk a lot more about this.
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So, what insulin resistance means is your cells stop responding to insulin.
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Sugar builds up in the blood and your body starts to store fat like crazy, especially
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around the belly.
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This is really the gateway to metabolic dysfunction, pre diabetes, fatty liver, even
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dementia.
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There's a quote from the Nature Reviews of Endocrinology in 2020, Insulin resistance is a
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key factor in the development of both metabolic and cognitive disorders.
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So, it's not only just a metabolic thing, it affects your brain as well.
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And the third of the big three is your thyroid hormones, which is basically the master of your
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metabolism.
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Your thyroid gland is located in your neck and it controls the speed of every system in your
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body.
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Think of it like a thermostat for your metabolism.
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The main thyroid hormones are things like TSH, which is the brain signal.
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The T4, which is inactive thyroid hormone that needs to then be converted to T3 which is the
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active form that actually goes to work.
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And so, if you're low on thyroid hormones or your body's not converting T4 to T3 properly,
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you'll feel like you're trying to walk but you're moving through mud, right?
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And so, those symptoms of low thyroid or hypothyroid can be weight gain, constipation,
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depression, hair loss, cold hands and feet, that's a big one, that's a real big red flag.
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And then low energy.
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And so, there's also an autoimmune component to this thyroid like Hashimoto's disease, which is
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very common cause of hypothyroidism.
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Basically, this is when your body is attacking its own thyroid tissue.
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We discussed this in a previous episode as well.
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So, how do all these connect, right?
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This is where it gets really interesting.
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These three hormones are constantly talking to each other.
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For example, high cortisol is going to lower your thyroid output.
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Insulin resistance makes thyroid receptors less responsive.
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And a poor thyroid slows down your ability to clear insulin.
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So chronic stress is going to spike cortisol, spike insulin and eventually tank both.
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This is what we call a hormonal cascade.
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And it explains why so many people feel like they're doing everything right, but they still
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feel awful at the end of the day.
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So key takeaway here, if your energy, weight, sleep or mental clarity are off, start by
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looking at cortisol, insulin and thyroid.
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These are keystone messengers.
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And you don't treat them in isolation.
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We fix the environment they operate in such as sleep, food, stress, toxins, they often will
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self correct.
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That's the awesome part about functional medicine is finding equilibrium.
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So now let's talk about how we test for these kind of things, right?
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And also like what symptoms we should be looking for.
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So let's keep on rolling.
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Yeah, so building onto that, the root causes of your hormone imbalance is the question then you
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need to ask, right?
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So let's dive into what actually causes the hormonal chaos in the first place.
00:11:22
So here's the truth.
00:11:23
Hormonal imbalance, definitely not random.
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And it's almost never purely genetic, which you need to know, right?
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It's driven by the environment your body is living in every single day.
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And if we can identify the root causes of that, we can reverse the dysfunction.
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So let's break it all down here.
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First, blood sugar dysregulation.
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What we talked about in episode 19, the hidden hormone sabotage.
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So if your blood sugar is constantly spiking and crashing, your insulin stays high.
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And insulin just doesn't manage sugar, you need to know that.
00:12:02
And it also directly influences a number of other different factors.
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Number one, estrogen.
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High insulin promotes estrogen dominance.
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Testosterone in both men and women.
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So women might not know this, but they have a distribution of and estrogen in their body.
00:12:22
So, excess insulin can throw this off balance.
00:12:27
Cortisol, crashes in blood sugar stimulate cortisol spikes.
00:12:31
And then your thyroid, the T3, T4, as Doctor.
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Alessi just aforementioned, insulin resistance shows thyroid hormone conversion.
00:12:39
So it's properly converting from that T4 to T3.
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And this is why people with prediabetes or even just sugar cravings often show up with hormonal
00:12:48
imbalances completely across the board.
00:12:51
So the bottom line here is you can't balance the hormones if your blood sugar is out of
00:12:58
control.
00:12:58
So hope you understand that and let's dive a little bit more into what chronic stress does
00:13:04
in the cortisol domino effect.
00:13:06
So I've said it before and I'll say it again, stress is not just emotional.
00:13:11
Your body treats it differently.
00:13:13
So think about it, work deadlines, high intensity workouts, undereating, toxin
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exposure, and poor sleep, all has threats, whether indirectly or directly exposed, right?
00:13:27
So when that happens, your adrenal pump your adrenal pumps out cortisol to keep it going,
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right?
00:13:35
But over time, the response becomes dysregulated.
00:13:39
So and no, adrenal dysfunction isn't pseudoscience.
00:13:46
It's a direct measurable of that disruption in your body's ability to maintain stable cortisol
00:13:52
rhythms.
00:13:53
And think about that rhythm that you have, that cadence is the word we like to see.
00:13:57
Do you have a cadence within your body and it affects every other hormone downstream?
00:14:03
So think about these, sleep issues, low progesterone, low testosterone, insulin
00:14:08
resistance, and thyroid suppression, and what that can do to your body.
00:14:12
It's a cascade that starts with stress and then ends in complete burnout.
00:14:17
So another thing that we talked about, I think in episode 15 or 16, was this element of toxin
00:14:23
overload.
00:14:24
So the endocrine disruptor epidemic.
00:14:27
We are bathing in chemicals that were never part of our biology.
00:14:32
So BPA and plastics, personal care products, pesticides on our food, These compounds mimic
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or block the natural hormones.
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So what does that mean?
00:14:44
They confuse the hormone receptors.
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They disrupt feedback loops.
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Those can be neural feedback loops, right?
00:14:52
Burden the liver and the detox systems, and they also interfere with the reproductive
00:14:58
function.
00:14:58
We've heard that a lot.
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A lot of women, right, struggle with that.
00:15:02
So even these small exposures over time, they do add up.
00:15:06
And this is especially true in women with estrogen dominance or men with declining
00:15:12
testosterone, which is a clearly epidemic on both sides.
00:15:17
Here's a statistic from the endocrine reviews in 2015.
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I want to read this cause it's really important.
00:15:22
Is the endocrine disrupting chemicals are now considered a global threat to human health?
00:15:30
Think about that.
00:15:32
And that was a it was a study done and published in 2015.
00:15:36
So now, nine years later, what is it producing?
00:15:40
Poor gut health.
00:15:42
The hormone detox bottleneck.
00:15:45
If your does more than your gut digests more than just digest food, right?
00:15:52
Helps metabolize and excrete excess hormones.
00:15:56
It produces neurotransmitters and hormone like compounds and influences inflammation and
00:16:02
immune response.
00:16:03
So if you have these factors, it's likely because of poor gut.
00:16:09
So bloating, constipation, irritable syndrome, food sensitivities, and histories of
00:16:16
antibiotics.
00:16:17
If you're constantly on antibiotics, you likely have poor gut health, right?
00:16:21
So you likely have some level of gut dysbiosis, which means hormone detox slows down and
00:16:28
recirculating of estrogen or toxins make systems worse.
00:16:34
So as we always, we like diving into the nutrient deficiencies that this might cause.
00:16:38
So you can build hormone, you can't just build hormones out of thin air.
00:16:43
So your body needs micronutrients as a supplementation to produce a cadence within the
00:16:49
hormonal factory in your body, right?
00:16:51
So zinc for testosterone and immune regulation, right?
00:16:56
Magnesium is another one we've talked about in prior episodes for adrenal and thyroid
00:17:00
function.
00:17:01
B vitamins, especially B6 and B12 for hormone synthesis and detox.
00:17:08
Selenium converts the T4 to the active T3 hormone.
00:17:17
Iodine is critical for thyroid hormone production, iron, which we get from food supply
00:17:24
and needs supplementation because low level means to poor oxygen delivery and energy
00:17:29
production, which is the building blocks for your cells, the mitochondria.
00:17:33
So if you're low in these, your hormone production will suffer no matter how much
00:17:38
hormone balancing supplements you take.
00:17:41
So here's a case study.
00:17:43
I love adding these in because really shows what this looks like maybe for you or somebody
00:17:49
you know.
00:17:50
So let's take for instance, a 38 year old woman came in complaining of fatigue, heavy painful
00:17:56
periods, hair thinning, irritability, and poor sleep.
00:18:00
She has seen multiple providers and was told her labs were normal.
00:18:07
But when we looked deeper, her blood sugar level was unsustainable high fasting insulin.
00:18:15
Ferritin was low, which explained the hair and energy issues.
00:18:20
Estrogen dominance was present low progesterone ratio, and her thyroid labs were technically in
00:18:27
range but sluggish, T3 conversion and high reverse T3.
00:18:33
So after addressing her diet and supporting her adrenals, correcting the nutrients and
00:18:39
improving detox, her symptoms dramatically improved.
00:18:43
And this is what happens when you treat the root, not just the hormone levels on a lab
00:18:48
test, right?
00:18:50
So here's another study done by the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism in 2017.
00:18:58
So environmental and nutritional factors play a larger role in hormonal disorders than genetics
00:19:04
alone.
00:19:05
So in other words, you are not doomed by your DNA.
00:19:08
Your daily environment is what shapes your hormone dysfunction.
00:19:11
So the key takeaway here, if your hormones feel off, you don't need a prescription first.
00:19:18
You need a reset of the ecosystem your hormones live in.
00:19:22
So, how do you do this?
00:19:24
You fix your blood sugar, you lower your stress, or have a managed environment which you
00:19:30
can outsource stress, which we're doing actually a challenge right now, which allows
00:19:35
you to actually use a stress management tool.
00:19:38
Right?
00:19:38
Typically, that's done through breathing exercises for five minutes a day.
00:19:42
Right?
00:19:42
Very easy stuff.
00:19:44
Lower your detox, your environment.
00:19:46
Right?
00:19:46
There's detox tools that we use, but it's being more conscious of your storyboard or your food.
00:19:52
Like what you in your mouth that ultimately is going to impact your hormones?
00:19:57
Heal your gut.
00:19:58
There's a number of ways we just aforementioned how you can do that.
00:20:01
Rebuild your nutrient base with micronutrients and aided supplements.
00:20:05
So do that and commit to it for one hundred days.
00:20:08
Anything you can do for one hundred days, I guarantee you, you feel the change and you're
00:20:14
better than majority of the people out there.
00:20:16
So your body needs this.
00:20:20
So now let's get into the testing and how we specifically nail down where you may be
00:20:25
struggling with these hormone imbalances.
00:20:28
But first, here's a quick word from our sponsors.
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Now back to the episode.
00:21:54
Alright.
00:21:55
Welcome back.
00:21:56
Yeah.
00:21:56
Let's get into it, man.
00:21:57
And let's talk about lab testing, what to look for and honestly what conventional medicine
00:22:03
often misses.
00:22:04
And so you know, the truth is if you don't test, you're guessing, right?
00:22:08
And even worse, if you test the wrong things or interpret them through the wrong lens, you're
00:22:13
still stuck in the dark.
00:22:15
And we see this constantly patients come into the office.
00:22:18
They're frustrated, they're holding their lab results from their primary care doctors.
00:22:23
And they said, they told me everything was normal.
00:22:25
Why do I feel like crap?
00:22:27
And they're exhausted, they're gaining weight, they're anxious, moody, they're not sleeping,
00:22:31
they just don't feel like themselves.
00:22:32
If I had a dollar for every time I heard that I'd retire, right?
00:22:35
I don't feel like myself.
00:22:37
So, something's not normal.
00:22:38
So, where's the disconnect, right?
00:22:41
And this is where conventional medicine versus functional medicine matters.
00:22:46
Because here's the deal, conventional medicine, they run a very limited snapshot.
00:22:50
We talked about this last episode, a snapshot.
00:22:53
It's a very small take of what's going on and it's usually focused on a disease diagnosis,
00:22:58
not a function.
00:23:00
And the reason is if they can diagnose it, they can prescribe something for it, they can get
00:23:04
paid.
00:23:05
That's just the system and how it works.
00:23:07
So, they're gonna look at TSH for thyroid, they're gonna look at total testosterone for
00:23:11
men, estrogen for women, and then maybe fasting glucose.
00:23:16
If those number if those few things they look at fall within this very broad reference range,
00:23:21
you're told you're fine.
00:23:22
Sorry that you do feel like crap, bye.
00:23:24
Right?
00:23:25
And so, it's not a functional approach.
00:23:27
So in functional medicine, we ask totally different question.
00:23:31
Is your body functioning optimally?
00:23:33
Not just are you sick yet?
00:23:35
Right?
00:23:35
And so we're looking for patterns, relationships between the systems, early signs
00:23:40
of dysfunction, not just disease.
00:23:43
And so these are the tests that we would run instead, right?
00:23:46
And this is exactly what we do in our office for these certain kinds of things.
00:23:50
A comprehensive hormone and metabolic panel.
00:23:53
And so let's walk through some of the most valuable labs that give us real insight into
00:23:58
hormone health.
00:23:59
And I actually created for our functional medicine program, what I call, I mean, cast the
00:24:05
broadest net and look at everything, right?
00:24:08
And it's a comprehensive panel that tests for all of the major markers that you're not going
00:24:12
to get with conventional doc, but it's going to give us the story of your body and how it's
00:24:18
functioning.
00:24:19
And so, we include that as a free thing in our functional medicine program and that's just
00:24:25
part of how we operate.
00:24:26
It's like let's check everything and then let's go from there.
00:24:29
And so, first thing on that is a full thyroid panel.
00:24:32
The reason I say full is because it doesn't just stop at the TSH, which is your thyroid
00:24:38
stimulating hormone.
00:24:39
That's just a pituitary signaler, right?
00:24:42
I want to know if the thyroid is producing and converting hormones properly and I also want to
00:24:47
know if the thyroid is attacking itself or if your body has signs of autoimmunity.
00:24:53
So, we look at TSH, free T3, free T4, reverse T3, which is basically the inactive T3, it's
00:25:01
kind of like the brake pedal form.
00:25:03
And then two major things is TPO and TG, which is thyroglobulin antibodies.
00:25:09
These are assessing for Hashimoto's autoimmunity.
00:25:13
And so, the red flag that we often catch is the TSH looks normal, but free T3 is low.
00:25:20
That's basically subclinical hypothyroidism in action.
00:25:23
It's on its way to be full blown.
00:25:26
The next one we will look at a lot is the Dutch test, which is basically a dried urine test for
00:25:31
a comprehensive hormone panel.
00:25:33
This is the gold standard for mapping hormone metabolism, not just the levels that are in
00:25:38
your blood.
00:25:39
And so with the Dutch, we can see cortisol patterns across the day.
00:25:43
Again, not just a one time snapshot of the moment the blood was taken.
00:25:47
We can see DHEA, progesterone, estrogen, all forms, testosterone and its metabolites, and
00:25:54
then how your liver is ultimately breaking these down because again, the liver has to
00:25:58
clear the excess and then what does it do with it?
00:26:01
And so we'll often catch estrogen dominance, not because estrogen is too high, but because
00:26:06
progesterone is too low and the clearance is being impaired.
00:26:10
That tells me we need to focus on liver health and the detoxification.
00:26:14
The next thing, metabolic markers, blood sugar and insulin.
00:26:18
We spoke about this last episode how fasting glucose is not enough for me to tell what your
00:26:23
blood sugar response is or your metabolic health, right?
00:26:27
I also need the fasting insulin because it's gonna tell me what is your body doing producing
00:26:31
insulin, right?
00:26:32
And then the hemoglobin A1C which is a little bit more broad three months kind of blood sugar
00:26:37
average.
00:26:38
And so, again, fasting insulin over eight to 10 is a major clue for early insulin resistance
00:26:45
even if that A1C is normal, right?
00:26:48
So, we need more than just one thing.
00:26:50
The next thing that's gonna be in there is always sex hormones and binding proteins,
00:26:54
estradiol, progesterone, total and free testosterone, DHEA, and then sex hormone
00:27:00
binding globulin.
00:27:03
Something we see all the time in men, low testosterone paired with a high sex hormone
00:27:08
binding globulin and an elevated estradiol.
00:27:11
That's showing estrogen dominance, not just low T.
00:27:14
And those are two different things.
00:27:16
Your body's converting to estrogen not testosterone.
00:27:19
Why?
00:27:19
Right?
00:27:19
And so that's where we uncover, we get to the root cause and figure that out.
00:27:24
And then the next thing that we include in there as well is nutrient testing.
00:27:29
So, the hormones don't just create themselves.
00:27:31
Your body needs raw materials to build these things.
00:27:34
Things like vitamin B12, folate, vitamin D is the most important.
00:27:39
That is basically a pre hormone.
00:27:41
It's not even a vitamin.
00:27:43
Magnesium, zinc, ferritin, which is your stored form of iron, selenium and iodine.
00:27:51
And then we'd like to look at the cortisol awakening response, which is called a CAR.
00:27:55
This is a deeper dive into your adrenal health captured through a salivary test.
00:28:00
So, we'll take a salivary sample first thing in the morning, midday, later in the day and
00:28:06
before bed.
00:28:07
And now we have more than just a one time snapshot, we have a day's worth of what your
00:28:12
cortisol is doing.
00:28:13
And so, want to see obviously elevated in the morning, lower at night.
00:28:17
And oftentimes, we'll see the influx of that and that's where we talk about things like
00:28:20
adrenal fatigue and burnout.
00:28:23
And so, some of the big red flags that constantly get missed with conventional
00:28:27
testing.
00:28:28
And so, let's just summarize a few of these that we see often.
00:28:31
The normal TSH but low free T3.
00:28:35
Basically, you're still hypothyroid but you're functioning, right?
00:28:39
Low progesterone in women over 35, this is going to be mood issues, irregular cycles,
00:28:44
fertility problems.
00:28:46
A high nighttime cortisol basically tells us there's going to be insomnia is what we're
00:28:50
going to see.
00:28:51
This is telling us that adrenal fatigue, low testosterone in men with the high estrogen as
00:28:56
we just talked about, this is an imbalance.
00:28:58
It's not just a low T.
00:29:00
And then low vitamin D, which is going to be energy, immunity, thyroid issues that are often
00:29:06
missed.
00:29:07
So the takeaway here that I want everyone to really, really think about and look at is if
00:29:13
you don't test, you are guessing, you just are.
00:29:16
I think I have this.
00:29:17
Symptoms can mean multiple different things until you test and find out what's going on.
00:29:22
And if you test the wrong things or if you just say, Oh, it's low T, Now you're just isolating.
00:29:28
You're not really getting answers or a whole picture.
00:29:31
And so data drives a lot of what we do.
00:29:34
And testing isn't just about finding what's broken, it's about understanding how your body
00:29:39
is operating so that we can support it intelligently and appropriately as well.
00:29:44
And so, as always, let's get into man.
00:29:47
I'm gonna let you take it from here, but let's get into how we tie this together and like some
00:29:51
action steps.
00:29:53
Yeah.
00:29:54
One thing I do wanna know on what you just said though is, you know, typically we see a lot of
00:29:58
either men or women in a clinic that their primary care physicians, if they see them low
00:30:04
in progesterone or they see them low in an area, that they will put blockers in place.
00:30:10
And I would highly recommend you speak with Doctor.
00:30:13
Alessi or a functional medicine doctor before somebody chooses to put you on a blocker
00:30:19
because there is dysregulation in the body that needs to be identified in the root cause.
00:30:25
That's what we're going to be talking about is balancing those hormones instead of blocking
00:30:30
something.
00:30:30
Get using a drug to block something.
00:30:32
That's not what you want to do that doesn't naturally operate within the cadence of your
00:30:37
body.
00:30:37
So that's why it's so important to go to the root cause because we are big believers in the
00:30:42
optimization of your hormones, right?
00:30:45
And that's a cadence of whether it's adding additional testosterone to your body or
00:30:51
estrogen and some pairing, as well as the natural form through maybe a series of
00:30:57
supplementation or stress management, right?
00:31:00
So here we go.
00:31:01
How do you rebalance the hormones naturally?
00:31:04
And this is where we're going to just like tie it all together.
00:31:07
So we've talked about what hormones are, how they get disrupted, and how they we test them
00:31:11
properly.
00:31:11
Right?
00:31:12
All the things.
00:31:13
But now comes the part where most people skip over the favor of it like a quick fix.
00:31:19
Right?
00:31:19
I just want a quick fix the things.
00:31:20
Just give me the band aid approach.
00:31:22
Right?
00:31:22
Yeah.
00:31:23
But what does it take to actually rebalance the hormones naturally without the meds and without
00:31:29
that band aid?
00:31:30
Right?
00:31:31
So here we go.
00:31:33
So regulate blood sugar levels.
00:31:38
Your hormones ride on that glucose wave.
00:31:41
We're really, really dialing this in, because it's so imperative, right?
00:31:45
We just talked about this in a prior episode, but your blood sugar is the entry point to your
00:31:51
hormone health.
00:31:52
If your glucose and insulin are out of whack, everything downstream from estrogen and
00:31:56
testosterone to cortisol and thyroid completely gets thrown off.
00:32:01
So here's the game plan here.
00:32:04
Build your meals around protein.
00:32:06
Like simple as that, right?
00:32:07
Aim for 30 grams of protein on your plate at every single meal.
00:32:13
You should be looking at thirty thirty grams of protein.
00:32:15
How do you how do you measure that though?
00:32:18
Might be a question.
00:32:20
And typically, that's gonna take anywhere from 25 to 30% of your plate.
00:32:24
A standard chicken breast is gonna fall between 25 to 35 grams of protein, six ounces to eight
00:32:30
ounces of a chicken breast.
00:32:32
That's how that's the measurable.
00:32:33
Right?
00:32:34
So I like chicken because chicken is more that lean protein source that you're gonna get the
00:32:39
most proteins out of with, with really, like, a substantial amount of fat, but healthy fats
00:32:45
incorporated into that.
00:32:46
Right?
00:32:47
So then adding in the healthy fats and fibers because they slow the glucose absorption
00:32:53
process.
00:32:54
So make sure there's a blend of those two as well.
00:32:57
And that's through greens.
00:33:00
And then you're gonna get that through like simple carbohydrates being I'm sorry, more
00:33:05
complex carbohydrates being like your greens.
00:33:08
Asparagus is a great way.
00:33:11
You'll have name a few for me, Doctor.
00:33:13
Alessi.
00:33:14
Really I really love sweet potatoes and squash or
00:33:17
Sweet potato.
00:33:18
Ones.
00:33:18
Yeah.
00:33:19
Those are great ways to start incorporating, the fats and the fibers into it.
00:33:24
So they they're gonna slow the glucose process.
00:33:26
So cut out the snacking every two hours.
00:33:29
That's really important.
00:33:30
Keeping insulin elevated all day is not a good thing, right?
00:33:34
So try intermittent fasting.
00:33:36
That's a way great way to give the gut and the stomach just a resting period.
00:33:41
So I typically wait, till roughly around nine or 10:00 to eat, and that just gives me that
00:33:48
fasting window.
00:33:49
So predominantly, it's done through that sleeping.
00:33:51
So you're gonna go to sleep at nine, maybe pick up at ten the next day.
00:33:54
That gives you that twelve hour window.
00:33:56
So that is only after your blood sugar is stable and your stress is properly managed.
00:34:02
But here's the here's the truth.
00:34:04
At the end of the day, a ton of patients come through the clinic and women are complaining of
00:34:10
just losing that stubborn belly fat, you know, regain that energy they once had and they just
00:34:14
want to sleep better.
00:34:16
And that can happen just by stabilizing your insulin at the end of the day.
00:34:19
So let's dive into the gut side of things.
00:34:23
Now that we're phasing from the insulin, how do you do that appropriately and getting into the
00:34:29
gut start in your microbiome?
00:34:31
So, this is made up of a ton of bacteria within your gut microbiome.
00:34:35
Your gut isn't just about digestion.
00:34:37
It's the mission control center for hormone regulation.
00:34:43
So it breaks down a lot of people say your gut is your first brain.
00:34:46
We've said that, right?
00:34:47
Your gut is your first brain.
00:34:48
It has a lot of neural responses from it, right?
00:34:52
It breaks down estrogen and helps clear it from the body.
00:34:55
It produces neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine.
00:34:59
It regulates inflammation, what affects the cortisol and your thyroid.
00:35:04
So, the starting point from this.
00:35:07
Remove inflammatory foods, the gluten, the processed dairy, the sugars, the seed oils, all
00:35:14
those things.
00:35:15
If you can remove them or eliminate them or minimize them, it's going to help you.
00:35:20
So add healing foods and supplements like bone broth, glutamine, zinc, and slippery elm.
00:35:27
Those are some of the things that you can add in.
00:35:30
Support the microbiome.
00:35:31
So you want to support it with the good gut bacteria that you can form, right?
00:35:36
So use targeted probiotics and prebiotics based on the symptom or testing.
00:35:42
So artichoke, just to name a few, but artichoke and eggplant, great, great sources for that
00:35:49
kind of that prebiotic, probiotic, and a whole food source along with supplementation.
00:35:54
So, just a note, we want to go back.
00:35:56
If you missed episode 16, gut health or bust, go back and we break this all down in a very
00:36:03
basic way for you.
00:36:05
So, number three, support those detox pathways.
00:36:10
Eliminate what's hurting you.
00:36:13
All right?
00:36:13
So hormones have to be stabilized and excreted properly.
00:36:18
Your liver, your lymph, and your sweat glands do all the heavy lifting.
00:36:23
But in a toxic world, your detox pathways just simply get overwhelmed.
00:36:29
So what do we do?
00:36:30
Eat cruciferous vegetables daily.
00:36:32
What we just aforementioned, the broccoli, the brussels sprouts, the arugula, great, great add
00:36:37
ons, right, from a whole food source.
00:36:39
Use targeted supports, NAC, milk thistle, DIMM to help metabolize the estrogen.
00:36:47
Sweat it out with a regular sauna session.
00:36:49
I'm a big sauna guy.
00:36:51
So if you can sweat that out, that helps your cardiovascular system.
00:36:55
So sweat it out, walk.
00:36:57
If you're in the Florida sunshine like we are, walk, do those things, right?
00:37:02
Drink clean water, filtered water, no BPA line bottles or tap water loaded with just endocrine
00:37:08
disruptors, that'll help.
00:37:10
So if your liver's just sluggish at the end of the day, your hormones stay stuck in a
00:37:15
circulation longer than they absolutely should.
00:37:18
So the recipe here is the estrogen dominance, acne, and fatigue is what accumulates and
00:37:25
that's where you're the exposure of that, right?
00:37:28
So sleep in the circadian rhythm.
00:37:31
I love diving into this because this is your internal clock and this is your regulator
00:37:36
throughout the day.
00:37:37
So hormone production follows that rhythm that you're gonna have today, but it starts with
00:37:43
stress management and sleep.
00:37:45
So melatonin cortisol growth hormone, they rely on the circadian clock to stay completely in
00:37:52
sync.
00:37:53
So if you're burning the candle at both ends, scrolling TikTok in your bed, yeah, the
00:37:57
hormones are going to suffer.
00:38:00
So, here's the foundational steps that you can follow that are just easy things that you can
00:38:06
plug in, right?
00:38:07
Seven to nine hours of sleep every night.
00:38:09
Studies have shown if you have a bedtime and a bedtime routine, you're less likely to get
00:38:15
dementia.
00:38:15
So, if you can get yourself in bed, prepare yourself for bed, dementia and Alzheimer's are
00:38:21
drastically delayed if not eliminated.
00:38:25
Go to bed and wake up at that same time daily.
00:38:27
So, then avoid screens.
00:38:29
So if you can avoid that blue light blockers, be even putting on glasses if you have to be in
00:38:34
front of the screen, do that because that's gonna help minimize that and regain that
00:38:39
melatonin response, which allow you can sleep better.
00:38:43
So use those blackout curtains and a sleep mask if you have to.
00:38:47
And then getting that natural sunlight in the morning.
00:38:50
Most people are rushing in the morning.
00:38:51
If you can get up that fifteen to twenty minutes early, just get outside, get that
00:38:55
indirect sunlight exposure.
00:38:57
What that's doing is preparing your body for sleep.
00:39:00
So you need to prepare yourself just like you do every day, getting up, getting outside,
00:39:07
getting that indirect light exposure.
00:39:08
So low melatonin production equals that poor detox, and then you're gonna have sluggish
00:39:13
hormones, which ultimately are gonna lead to sluggish sleep.
00:39:16
So then we get dive into the stress management side, the stress load, because cortisol really
00:39:22
is that gatekeeper, you know, letting things come in and out as they please.
00:39:26
And if you're constantly in that stress mental state, you're you're just you're gonna have a
00:39:32
thrown off hormonal imbalance.
00:39:34
So chronic stress changes your endocrine landscape across the board.
00:39:38
So high cortisol equals a suppressed thyroid, estrogen, progesterone imbalance, and
00:39:44
testosterone drops.
00:39:46
And here's how we calm the system, the functional pieces that we're embedding in,
00:39:51
right?
00:39:51
Breath work, Breath work to that box breathing.
00:39:54
What the reason why I get in a cold plunge, I really on a weekly basis, is because of that.
00:39:59
It forces me to do that breath that box work breathing.
00:40:03
Right?
00:40:03
The four seven eight technique where you're breathing in for four seconds out for seven.
00:40:08
Cold water exposure is a great way to work on that.
00:40:12
You can start with cold showers and then maybe even do ice baths.
00:40:17
Adapted genetic herbs are a great way too.
00:40:20
So like I incorporate a powdered ashwagandha in my diet.
00:40:24
I love doing that.
00:40:25
The holy basil of just sprinkling various things on herbs are a great tool.
00:40:30
Another thing that Doctor.
00:40:32
Alessi does very routinely that I love is just that prayer journal and that gratitude.
00:40:38
So don't underestimate the power of the mindset of nurturing that mindset.
00:40:41
I call it the priming mechanism for how you start your day.
00:40:45
So reminder, here we go.
00:40:48
Adrenal dysfunction isn't a myth.
00:40:50
It's a dysregulated stress response, and it can be a sabotage every hormone in your body.
00:40:58
So we want to do this by moving intentionally.
00:41:00
Hormones love consistent behavior, smart exercise.
00:41:05
Movement is a signal to your body that's safe, capable, and responsive.
00:41:10
So I want to dig into what works best.
00:41:14
What's going to work best for you?
00:41:15
A lot of people just want to aim on, hey, I'm going to get on the treadmill or I'm going go
00:41:19
walking or I'm going to do these things.
00:41:21
But the reality is you can get better a better response from strength training.
00:41:27
Two to four times a week boost testosterone and improves that insulin sensitivity.
00:41:33
Zone two cardio.
00:41:34
It's something that we're working on with our all of our, pay some of our patients that are
00:41:39
in our challenge and then some of our clients that have got into the challenge as well.
00:41:43
But that zone two cardio is really that heart rate threshold.
00:41:47
So it's great for mitochondria health and fat burning without spiking your cortisol levels.
00:41:52
So increasing that heart rate where you're getting into what we call the blue and the
00:41:57
orange zones.
00:41:58
So it's making you work, you're slightly uncomfortable, right?
00:42:02
Walking daily.
00:42:04
People, you know, I think more women probably approach that 10 than men.
00:42:09
So we wanna change that.
00:42:10
Right?
00:42:11
We wanna get into it where you're walking daily, where there's consistent effort built
00:42:16
into it, whether it's after a meal, really after every meal would be a great way just to
00:42:21
get out and walk, get a few thousand steps in.
00:42:24
Avoid overtraining.
00:42:26
So CrossFit sixty days a week with no recovery, that's gonna be hormonal disaster, right?
00:42:32
You wanna have a recovery window that's between eighteen to twenty four hours so that you can
00:42:37
keep hormonal balance.
00:42:38
So, Movements is that brain release to the right chemical messengers.
00:42:42
It's a free, absolutely free hormone therapy.
00:42:46
You can do some basic things.
00:42:48
We have some at home things that we do within our app that you can utilize as part of just
00:42:54
right in the middle of your living room.
00:42:58
So, here we go.
00:42:59
Lifestyle wins over the pills.
00:43:01
So, are you choosing the pills or are you going to choose the lifestyle piece to it?
00:43:07
So, hormone replacement therapy, there's a time and a place for it, and we believe in it.
00:43:14
But you know, here's the truth.
00:43:15
Your lifestyle factors are really that direct alignment first, right?
00:43:19
That's not going to be the end all be all.
00:43:22
So although we believe in that, if your gut's a mess, you're stressed out twenty four seven,
00:43:26
you're living on sugar and coffee, you have all these bad habits, you know, that's that's not
00:43:31
gonna fix that.
00:43:32
So you really need to build the foundation first.
00:43:35
So how do you build that foundation?
00:43:38
Don't be at war with your hormones.
00:43:39
You don't have to fear your body.
00:43:41
You just need to understand how it works.
00:43:44
Give it the inputs it's missing.
00:43:46
Recreate those habits.
00:43:48
Balance isn't a product you buy.
00:43:51
It's a byproduct living in alignment.
00:43:54
Oh, that was good.
00:43:56
I like the
00:43:56
little play on words there, man.
00:43:57
Really good.
00:43:59
As always, man, if you want to learn more about how we help diagnose, reverse, and heal hormone
00:44:06
imbalances within our functional medicine programs, please go to
00:44:10
alessifunctionalhealth.com, schedule a consultation with myself or one of our doctors,
00:44:16
and let's create a personalized plan.
00:44:18
We're gonna be very specific to your needs, your goals, and your lifestyle and what works.
00:44:23
Listeners of this podcast are always gonna get exclusive discounts and price reductions on all
00:44:28
of our protocols and lab tests.
00:44:31
And as always, if you found value in today's show, please like, subscribe, share this mess
00:44:35
episode with anyone you think needs to hear it.
00:44:40
That's how we grow this message and change more lives.
00:44:42
And wanna get in touch with us or be featured on an episode, you must email us ask at
00:44:47
AlessiFX Health dot com, for any questions that you want answered.
00:44:52
And then as always, visit us if you wanna be educated to adolescentfxhealth.com.
00:44:57
You can sign up for our newsletter there and check out our resources page to learn more
00:45:01
about our approach to nutrition and cutting edge therapies.
00:45:05
And as always, thank you again for tuning into Health Decoded, where we break down the
00:45:09
science, bust the myths, and help you take control of your health naturally.
00:45:14
Until next time, stay curious, stay empowered, and remember that your health is in your hands.
00:45:21
Thank you for tuning into Health Decoded, where we break down the truth about all things health
00:45:26
and empower you to take charge of your well-being.
00:45:29
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00:45:59
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