The Peptide Prescription: Faster Healing, Fewer Hormones, And More Muscle

[00:00:00]Welcome to the [music] Functional Medicine Institute podcast. I'm your host Amber Warren. Each week we uncover the root [music] causes of disease, dive into the latest breakthroughs in functional and integrative health, and talk with leading experts who are reshaping the future of medicine. If you're looking for [music] practical, science-based strategies to help you live healthier, longer, and with more vitality, you're in the right [music] place.

[00:00:21]Hi everybody, welcome back. Thanks so much for joining us. Today we're here with Andy Bacall.

[00:00:27]We are just so excited to have him back.

[00:00:28]We If you want to go back episode 78, I interviewed Andy back in March and we did a really good just introduction to his story and his intro into functional medicine and his focus in his practice. And today we just wanted to spend a little bit of time doing a little bit more of a deep dive.

[00:00:43]So Andy, welcome.

[00:00:45]>> Thank you.

[00:00:46]>> And please yes, we're so excited to have you here. So you joined us from the orthopedic world and we're just so thankful. So how long have you been you've been with us what?

[00:00:55]Not even not a year quite yet.

[00:00:57]>> A year next week.

[00:00:59]>> Oh, okay. We're coming up on your anniversary. That's awesome. So um Yeah, I know you've been so much of your practice and we talked about this again in the March episode is just you really helping your patients see the light and own their journey, own their health complications and you're just kind of that guide. So tell us tell your tell us how your practice has kind of unfolded and what's what's happening in your clinical practice in functional medicine.

[00:01:27]>> Yeah, I know it's been great. I would say probably 80% male population, 20% female. So I do see females.

[00:01:34]Definitely seeing guys really take their health more serious whether it's just having to fix lab functions or just become more proactive on diet, exercising, getting guys to just be up on their feet more and moving, less sitting. But practice has been great.

[00:01:49]Take care of a lot of anyone from military, police officers, firefighters, I have some professional athletes. It's kind of been enjoyable to see kind of the valley kind of come in and kind of find out more about FMI and specifically guys that uh seem to all of a sudden come in from the same uh gym or workout facility or church. It seems like I'm just growing kind of quickly and uh it's been fun though because I think a lot of guys can really learn from my story from like the past episode, but allows them to see that there's a health provider that's working as hard on his health that then allows me to do better for their health. So, it's just kind of been a a nice 360 and I think people are getting great results and uh they're able to control their health.

[00:02:29]That's my practice. Can you control your health and I support you? That's what I do.

[00:02:33]>> I love that. I love that so much. So, you're doing share with us kind of some of the specialties you're doing within your practice. We talked we we've really briefly touched on PRP. Can you Can you explain more about what PRP is and how you're offering it?

[00:02:45]>> Yeah, so it's there's kind of parameters around it, um but ideally if people have arthritis or shoulder pain, knee pain, there's some tendinitis issues that I can address. If we look at it from a conservative standpoint and it's a treatment that's really valuable or an option, I definitely will give patients research into what to do and then we can go ahead and do that procedure.

[00:03:05]Specifically on Thursdays normally is when I do them. Uh my protocol is to have people have a lot more rest and not as much activity for about a week. We got to stop blood thinners and fish oils. There's things we've got to kind of do to kind of build the body up for having the injection, but I've had some great early results with a bunch of people already and excited to just be continuing some of my ortho background, but having a different opportunity than just a cortisone injection or have someone have an ache or lingering pain and just feel like there's no hope.

[00:03:34]>> Right. Can you So, how is PRP different than just like a cortisone injection?

[00:03:38]>> Yeah, no. So, when you think about cortisone, it's everyone calls it a band-aid effect. I always say cortisone is therapeutic and diagnostic.

[00:03:45]Therapeutic, you're going to get relief.

[00:03:47]Diagnostic, is it good for 2 days, 2 weeks, 2 months, 2 years?

[00:03:51]Uh whether you're decreasing inflammation, synovial fluid, things of that nature.

[00:03:55]Uh PRP, we're basically taking the body's natural plasma, spinning it down, getting all the healing cell properties back into an affected shoulder joint, knee joint, or a tendinitis issue to give your body's best chance to heal itself on its own. And sometimes combining that with say a peptide as well can be really beneficial because if people really do not want to look for a surgical intervention, these are the best things to kind of promote to have a chance to avoid surgery or to, you know, I tell a lot of patients we work so hard to stay active in the summer cuz it's the best time of the year to be outdoors. People don't want to be in a surgeon's office having to be told they need to have surgery tomorrow and that could ruin their entire summer or a surgery could be a 14-week recovery and that's just kind of a lot of time to not be able to enjoy the lake with your family or camping. So, it sometimes gives patients the ability to see if they can have a lesser of a procedure that gives them a long-term benefit.

[00:04:52]>> But you it is PRP helpful even for patients if they're not a surgical candidate? Like say or they think they might be facing surgery in 3 to 4 years or they just want to maintain function.

[00:05:01]They They can't run anymore and they at least want to be able to go for a run one or twice a week.

[00:05:05]>> Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, there's a lot of statistical research that PRP can be beneficial for 3 to 22 months.

[00:05:12]Uh sometimes it's going to be one of those things where if you have tried the physical therapy, you've changed your diet, you changed your inflammation, if you tried a cortisone shot, it still allows you to have a control of your health versus all of a sudden having a surgeon say the only thing you can do is have surgery which may be true, but it also may not be necessary at that time frame for that patient or in the best patient's interest, if you think about it, right? Like I let patients make their choices. I give them the education behind why I would do something and we work together versus just being forced into a one type decision which I think patients like having opportunities and options presented versus it's either, you know, yes or no, black or white, surgery, no surgery. So, it's kind of nice to be able to give a different approach to allowing their body to have a chance to heal something if it's not necessarily needing a surgery cuz for most patients they have to either get a CT scan, an X-ray, an MRI. So, they have to get a lot of imaging done, which costs a lot of money. And if they don't see that it's a surgical addressment, they're still frustrated cuz they just have a thousand-dollar bill all of a sudden and they still don't feel better.

[00:06:19]So, sometimes just being the PRP can really give them the hope to bypass a surgery, heal an old injury, or be able to do everything in their own, uh, you know, body's function to, uh, get 2 more years out of, uh, achy shoulder, knee, or just to get healed up so they could run a Spartan race or a marathon with their kids, right?

[00:06:40]>> Absolutely. Yeah, no, I love that answer. I'm so curious and I I know we don't have the human data data on this yet, but I'm curious what you see in practice or what your beliefs are.

[00:06:50]BPC 157 versus PRP.

[00:06:54]Um, it probably differs based on, I assume based on the body part that you're trying to treat, but I would love to know your thoughts.

[00:07:01]>> I think one of the biggest things I'm learning about more peptides, and this is a kind of a probably a different entire episode, but the DNA cellular function is so big.

[00:07:10]When patients are doing well with diet, exercise, their inflammation is controlled, these peptides can really take off. People that are not as, say, disciplined with diet, exercise, and routine, and their DNA cells are not as prompt to be able to heal faster or for these receptors for these peptides to go to work, they're not as activated to where it's like, I try to find the right patient for the right treatment, but I think the idea is where everyone looks at a cortisone shot as this like negative thing, a peptide and a PRP can be such a more pronounced benefit of a natural way to get an injury to go away.

[00:07:46]I've seen it in my own personal healthy successful. I've seen this in several handful of my patients. And especially one of the unique things to Amber is a lot of my patients this summer, right?

[00:07:59]I've gotten torn biceps, torn rotator cuffs. I've got ACL tears already. But people are going through the surgery and they're having quicker recoveries because of the peptide. And it's been such an amazing thing because with having that collagen productivity to help those soft tissues mend back together, people are getting through physical therapy with less pain, less inflammation. So I am such a huge believer in even if you require the surgery, being on that Wolverine-based stack peptide has been giving people such better outcomes. And I've literally had physical therapists call me and just say, "People are way ahead of schedule because of whatever you've been doing."

[00:08:39]>> Yeah.

[00:08:40]>> And all I'm doing is getting them to be on a specific peptide for the right reason, and people get great results.

[00:08:46]>> So you're combining BPC-157 with TB-500.

[00:08:49]>> 100%.

[00:08:50]>> And are there any instances where you're using one of the other in isolation and you're not doing the combination product?

[00:08:56]>> I mean, you're just adding more milligram strengths personally. And sometimes I feel like if you don't address both of the avenues and pathways, you may not get the best route or the best healing. I personally have seen so much success with the combination that I I try to help patients A save money. It can be cost draining. But I just tell them that is if you're going to fight with milligrams, I don't think you're going to get the best results. So the combination to me is way more beneficial. But for a lot of patients, I'll separate the two out. I'll give them the research behind both peptides, and they can either make the decision to take both or they can put them together and have it be more cost-effective. But I've seen the biceps tendon heal twice as fast. I've seen incision sites heal quicker. Uh patient the other day had rotator cuff surgery. At 2 weeks they reached their uh physical therapy protocol for 6-week interval. So, to see patients be a month ahead of schedule, but also to not be on longer narcotic use or nerve medication or just be taking an entire bottle of ibuprofen.

[00:09:57]Like obviously that's not going to help our gut health. So, it's been really exciting for patients to start this pre-surgery and they go into surgery with a little bit more more uh positive like confidence knowing that this peptide is helping quickly.

[00:10:10]>> Well, then I think about you never did totals in your ortho practice, right?

[00:10:14]Total joints?

[00:10:15]>> I've done over I've assisted in about 4,800.

[00:10:19]>> Okay. So, okay, you're you've Okay, so I'm thinking about these clients who you would otherwise get back to activity.

[00:10:25]The the success rate of these clients if they continue to lose weight or keep weight off during their healing recovery. Like why why are these orthopods not Why do they not have peptides that they they offer as part of their post-op medication protocol? Like why? Why are >> Kind of the reason why I love FMI now.

[00:10:45]Uh surgeons are surgeons. They're meant to cut. They're meant to do surgery and they don't have the time or the capacity to try to help fix a diet, fix inflammation. Um they're built to have a full surgery schedule, operate from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. And you're unfortunately respectfully kind of a statistic and you don't get the quality attention that you may need to help, but uh there's a research study that I read not long ago where knee replacement, hip replacement after 1 year post-surgery where every doctor will tell the patient that this will allow them to walk better, move better, lose weight. That's why you're having a knee replacement or a hip replacement. And the article is based around over 500 patients and only less than one out of five maintained or lost weight at year one of their total.

[00:11:39]>> Oh, so sad.

[00:11:40]>> So, when you really think about it, if 80% of the totals are not gaining a better activity of daily living or a health-conscious goal, it shows that the surgery is not making the impact that a lot of times we as providers promise, and that's a disturbing fact as the rates of totals have gone up hundreds of percent in just the last couple decades, right? You used to have to be 65 years of age to get a total.

[00:12:06]Um in my career, I've put totals in uh 20-year-olds. It's just it's just a different world, and it's hard because they had obviously different ailments compared to osteoarthritis, but it's hard to have to have to go through such a challenging surgery and not get the either the dietary needs, the inflammatory needs, or the realistic mindset of how to really better yourself post big surgery.

[00:12:29]Um And then you have complications which come about, and that's That's what makes this really challenging.

[00:12:35]>> Yeah, you actually made me think I want to kind of jump to another avenue here.

[00:12:39]You just made me think about these these clinics that are popping up like obviously, we're spots been around for a while, but I'm thinking about like med spas or hormone optimization centers that are popping up and not actually doing the head-to-toe functional medicine approach.

[00:12:55]Um when you're not changing your diet, when you're not fixing the gut microbiome, when you're not optimizing the liver to make sure that you can detox these hormones, especially four types of estrogen. Um the like they're just really missing the boat on really being able to get these patients optimal and keep them optimal and really change health outcomes.

[00:13:15]>> It's It's kind of funny you say that, Amber, because what I do tell some patients was that my jobs came down to hormone clinic in Boise, hormone clinic in Salt Lake City, or doing functional medicine and adding a hormone peptide component. And I tell most patients the same exact thing you are you are so honest with because I looked at the hormone clinics identical to surgery.

[00:13:40]It's just in and out.

[00:13:42]You know, patient one, patient two, patient three. You're providing a service, you're not building relationships, you're not addressing head-to-toe function, you're not learning about their health goals, you're just providing a quick service to hopefully, you know, improve say a hormone function or an energy level. And so I tell a lot of guys that my whole goal is to show you that this is way more important than just hormones, but like we got to take care of your entire health. And I'm so much happier that I'm with FMI because I get to help the patient from start to finish versus just providing that little bit of change versus uh not being able to fully benefit and impact their their health journey, if that makes sense.

[00:14:21]>> Mhm, it makes so much sense. Yeah, no, I've just I've just been noticing these type of clinics popping up literally left and right. Uh pellets, hormone optimization, peptides, aesthetics are usually part of it. Um I'm noticing IV therapy is often part of it. Um but nowhere on these websites or descriptions are they talking about gut health, liver health, organ health, um diet, nutrition. I mean, even just, you know, you think about skin aesthetics in the anti-aging world.

[00:14:49]I mean, alcohol, hydration, smoking, nutrition, stress management, sleep.

[00:14:54]Like it's Like it it comes from within and it's just kind of mind-boggling to me that that so many of these clinics aren't paying attention to these things and not actually looking for cellular change.

[00:15:07]>> Yes. Well, and it's funny cuz like as most of my patients know, uh a lot of guys come in looking for hormones and I I stop them quickly because it's not it's not the time or the place, it's not the right uh medical approach, or they need to really change a lifestyle, or a diet, or gut health, or just they need to see that their labs are so more of a priority than just the hormone function.

[00:15:31]And that's where I get most people, as I tell most people, I only approve one out of three guys for hormone therapy.

[00:15:37]And that shows you that 66% of men, whether you're 30, 40, 50, 60, have really given up on health function to where we got some things to work on before you just get such a great benefit, or even like a peptide. Like the peptides and the hormones are down the road in the practice of mine when you show me that you really changed a lot of the things that men or some women refuse to kind of, you know, really reciprocate or say, "Hey, yep, my diet's not good. I don't exercise. My sleep's not good. My stress isn't good. Uh I know I can improve on my gut health."

[00:16:11]When you have all the people making the same type of, you know, excuses, you have to fix the excuses, and then these peptides and these hormones become so much more beneficial once people really have, say, a better pathway, or a better understanding of why life has been getting more challenging with fatigue, uh brain fog, uh anxiety, things of that nature. So, it's so much fun to have the hormones as a great finish line, but it is never a starting block in my practice because a lot of us need to work on a lot of our health decisions first.

[00:16:43]>> Yeah. I'm curious in your practice, Andy, what when you you cuz you've mentioned gut health a handful of times now. What are you mostly seeing? What are you mostly seeing with regards to poor gut health?

[00:16:52]>> Well, think about our practice, Amber.

[00:16:54]We have functional medicine providers that are very much more in-depth with those things. My world as a PCP is just understanding their past health history, if they've had reflux disease, things like that. I challenge a lot of my patients to do a kind of a DNA food sensitivity test. It's a hair follicle, and it's a lot more inexpensive. It's very doable. It's a home kit, and it allows people to see their inflammatory markers built through what their DNA tells them, and it's a starting block to where they may the change their diet not because I'm tough on them, but they can see on paper what maybe is inflamed like or inflamed like a orange apricot lean protein like a salmon a chicken a beef, right?

[00:17:36]I have people that have high sensitivity to coffee black coffee. We all like our coffee and if you don't know you're sensitive to coffee how can you ever have a better gut health protocol if you don't know that coffee every morning is upsetting your gut. So I like to have some simpler protocols that are not doing a necessarily a cleanse or a detox or a autoimmune protocol diet or even like just a just a whole rebuild of your gut health. That's that's our higher end providers. I like to keep it simple, but I think a lot of patients get so much benefit from the food test where they say wow like I didn't realize that dairy was so impactful or gluten was there. So these are the things I start my patients trying to recognize and once they see those changes then we go on to the next thing and the next thing and next thing.

[00:18:20]So over the course of 6 months we've had hopefully a fixed peptides hormones any need for Western medicine sugar insulin things like that. So it's I kind of set patients up for their success, but they have to put the work in and that's what what I like about most of my patients are really trying hard to improve their health.

[00:18:40]>> Yeah, that's that's it's such a blessing to operate under the umbrella that you and I operate on because most people when they come to a functional medicine clinic they're ready for change. They are they're not in a conventional setting. They're not they're not interested in just checking the boxes of an annual wellness exam cuz they get you know cheaper insurance or their workplaces making them do it. Like they actually come to us motivated and at least with eyes partially wide open and ready to kind of see the truth and see the the gap between the conventional approach and our approach.

[00:19:10]Um so it's it's great. No, that's a really good approach. So this hair test you're doing, it's not IGG, it's not IGE, it's DNA reactions to food?

[00:19:20]>> your Yep, it's just your DNA and they can analyze it through uh protocol testing that marks what your DNA triggers are and they can see what high sensitives, low sensitives you have and it's a good platform cuz same with like ordering an IG test, right? Or a celiac panel, I mean that could be really expensive and a lot of times insurance will balk at it and they can't approve it, right? So if you can just see it through your food and your and your DNA, you can make kind of the same assessment, but also I try to help patients save money and I think it's a big deal because uh certain gut test or gut biome testing or zoomer gut testing, that could be three to $800 and that that's a lot of money and if you don't get a lot of concrete evidence, it's hard to change your diet versus if you do a $70 test and you see big triggers, uh these are things you got to work on.

[00:20:11]Um, I have a couple that raised cattle for five years and she is highly sensitive to beef and that is their livelihood and she's had stomach issues for five years.

[00:20:21]It's not the it sometimes it's not having to be told what to eat, what not to eat, it's having to be reprogrammed that your body cannot tolerate a good carb, a good protein um or coffee for some of us and that's that's a tough one, right?

[00:20:35]>> Ew.

[00:20:37]>> I know.

[00:20:37]>> [laughter] >> I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it.

[00:20:40]>> I know.

[00:20:40]>> No, that's that's awesome and I think you you were talking about how it's like a really good platform. I think it's also just a really good initiator of conversation. Like let's let's talk about the diet. Let's talk about things that you might think are healthy for you, but they might not be healthy for you, right? As an individual. No, and and I talk a lot about that in my practice, too. Even just when it comes to different kinds of exercises based on your allostatic load and your body stressors, um what's right for even your spouse or your friend or sister might not be what's right for you. Um and that that's that's a big deal. I'm curious these men that are coming to you saying, you know, I want to feel better, um enjoy better sleep, have better exercise, and improve body composition.

[00:21:19]Okay, you've mentioned testosterone replacement therapy, you've mentioned peptides, but what are what are some of the other things that you consider to be significant chain changers for them that really move the needle when they're trying to improve like specifically body composition is actually what I wanted to know.

[00:21:33]>> I mean I mean big thing for a lot of men, too, right? Everyone tells me that I I always ask, "Are you a snorer? Do you snore heavy? Does the wife Does the wife nudge you? Like what's going on?"

[00:21:42]And simple things are just getting a sleep study. I mean that's one of the biggest things I get a lot of guys to sit there and and basically have a hard conversation with. I mean you can see sleep apnea on certain lab values sometimes, but I mean simple medicine, you can have somebody open their mouth and look at their back.

[00:21:57]If they can't If you can't see Adam's apple, uvula, if you can't see down their throat, you already know their airway is compromised. This isn't rocket science. So, I get guys to see that if we can get their sleep improved, that's a huge help, right? The food test we The thing that I like about the food test is I teach most patients that by the age 40, you better know what a diet looks like or better have a direction of how to do a diet. Like keto is phenomenal to help decrease the insulin and sugar productivity if you have high sugar.

[00:22:25]Carnivore is phenomenal if you got more gut health issues, but you can stay disciplined in full exercise and functionality. Some of my patients that are the most healthiest patients are dairy and gluten-free. It It's just They kind of pick They help The food test helps them pick their avenue or their road map, and I just support them and they get to see their results. So, when people can learn how to balance hormones, add a peptide, improve sleep functionality, if I can get people more active in health-conscious decisions, and then you add all that up together, I can change their body composition quite dramatically cuz when you as we've talked about, you improve liver function, you decrease gut inflammatory function, they should start to see the results they want, right? Because that's the key of, I think, what we do in functional medicine. It's all the pieces of the puzzle have to come back together versus the next prescription-based medicine that halts this function or gives this side effect or hurts the stomach acid or affects the kidneys, affects the liver. It's just It's the risk-reward. It's the It's the It's the cause and effect. It's the negative feedback loop that we all learn about in school. So, it's just fun to get all the pieces of the puzzle quickly put back together and then patients feel like they're heading the right direction.

[00:23:42]Every one of my practice, I don't joke about it, but everyone is vitamin D deficient. We all live in fours. We all don't have outside jobs. And just fixing vitamin D from a male standpoint is the number one supplement for their testosterone. Adding a workout, adding an 8 hours of sleep, so that sleep study becomes so valuable. Those are the top three things you need for survival for just natural testosterone. And then when you check their magnesiums and some other things, you can learn to start putting these supplement packages together. And then patients know that they have their hormones, their peptides, their supplements, their diet, their new exercise, their better sleep quality, and then the body composition finally starts to change for the better.

[00:24:26]And it's fun to see people pick up momentum, but it's also fun to see not just one lab value change, Amber, but when a patient comes back and you've ordered five tests and every single test you ordered has an improvement, that is honestly what gets me out of bed and patients really respond when they see actual change. And you can prevent further medication usage and they finally start to feel like themselves.

[00:24:50]And that's what I love.

[00:24:51]>> I love how you weren't just so, especially as like a very athletic strong man yourself that's had great improvements. I love that you weren't just so focused on well, you have to eat carnivore and lift a crap ton of weights to change your body. Like it's so multi-factorial, it's multi-dimensional and I love and and I again, I just keep going back to like, please find yourself a provider that's asking the right questions, ordering the right labs, knows how to interpret your labs. These reference ranges that were that that are given on these labs, it's garbage. It was based on like a subset of people that were hospital lies. It's not based on healthy people.

[00:25:27]Um so, you know, we're all we all look at our own reference ranges looking for optimal values and not just within the reference range because I mean, what's the reference range for total testosterone in men? Like 200 to 800?

[00:25:39]>> I my range I trust is 300 and 900 and that's considered normal. Well, here's the problem, Amber. If you're at 301, statistically, that's 5% of your hormones.

[00:25:51]And I I tell most guys, what can you do with your life that you have 5% energy towards? Not much, right?

[00:25:57]>> Nothing.

[00:25:57]>> And so, I joke because as the range is this big, nobody's on this side of the range. Everyone is 90% of us are on the low side. So, no wonder people's diets are suffering. No wonder people's sleep is suffering. It's just the the ranges are so skewed and same with vitamin D.

[00:26:14]>> Yeah.

[00:26:14]>> Vitamin D is 30 to 100. My average is 40 is 41. If we get 41 score on a test, we're not going to be in medicine. It's just So, people just don't have optimizing good nutritional baseline vitamin labs, nutritional labs. And so, when you fix those, it's the difference of more energy at 5:00 to go for a walk, play with the kids versus just come home and sit on the couch and all of a sudden let your body slowly just kind of warp and and run down.

[00:26:42]Article I read not long ago that once most people retire, they average 3 to 5% muscle loss every single year.

[00:26:49]>> Mm.

[00:26:49]>> And and it's just because their activity level starts to go down so quickly. And you just think about that if you lose your active lifestyle that by the time you're 70, 75, like you really have no more muscle. And if you've not fixed your diet, like this is why I think people are at an higher risk for Alzheimer's and dementia. And it's just it's just tougher when people are are trying to find someone that helps them in the right way in medicine, and they don't get that type of feedback or they don't see results. And as we are in this >> We're done.

[00:27:24]>> Yeah, we're done. I tell my patients that just spend a year with me, see what happens. I promise you we'll improve things. And most people in a quick time frame really see success.

[00:27:35]Uh a patient the other day, he was he's been with me for a year.

[00:27:39]He was a very poorly controlled diabetic, and he didn't like me right away cuz I was a little tough on him, which you might find hard to believe.

[00:27:46]But the way I helped him was it wasn't me trying to change his diet and lifestyle. He got so angry because his insurance company saw my report, saw my orders for that he had diabetes, and started to send him packages on insulin, and glucometers, and the diabetic clinic. And he was so angry that all he wanted to do was talk about now that he's a diabetic and how all the resources to becoming a diabetic that he then he really paid attention to his diet. And he is literally almost fully remiss from diabetes in less than a year, and he's lost 45 lb, and he feels great. And it's exciting because as we talk about hormones, he just increased his natural testosterone over 200 points, which I have never seen in my practice yet because he took his health back in control. So, these are the things that I'm excited about helping people with.

[00:28:37]>> Yeah, did did you use peptides in that case?

[00:28:40]>> Uh tough love.

[00:28:43]>> Tough love. Yeah, you got him off his booty and made him put some good things into his body.

[00:28:48]>> Yep, lot of lot of fasting, mile or two-mile walk every day, resistance training three days a week, cut the sugar, uh really just kind of showed him how to decrease all that adipose fat tissue that is just stuck there with glucose not moving. So, he really worked hard and he got results. And we did use a little we did a little GLP, but it wasn't till he really fixed his diet that the GLP helped more of that inflammation to his joints and to his everything else where once he lost the first 25 lb, his energy improved, and then we added the GLP cuz then he knew how to fix his eating habits, and all of a sudden his knees felt better. He's walking consistently, and he just he kind of picked up momentum over time versus just handing him a GLP on day one and not fixing the other parts of his health. And I'm just very proud of him, and he's uh probably probably by October he'll have zero signs of diabetes.

[00:29:45]>> That's amazing.

[00:29:46]>> is exciting, and what I tell a lot of patients is that diabetes is not just a diagnosis, it's a quarter million dollars to you as an individual that you will spend on your health.

[00:29:59]>> Mhm.

[00:29:59]>> And so, when I tell people with your insulin, your metformin, your heart complications, your infections, you're spending a quarter million dollars of your money towards your diabetes, and that doesn't sit well with a lot of people.

[00:30:11]>> It's so true. Let alone the way it shortens your life and shortens the decreases the quality of life, and oh, we could go on and on.

[00:30:18]>> Yes.

[00:30:19]>> Yeah.

[00:30:19]>> And and and I don't like them and I tell most diabetics you you get three months with me, and I I can't help you if you don't fix it. I just I give them the answers, I teach them how to do it, and most of them have responded quite well.

[00:30:32]And it's it's just fun to see people not have a sugar intolerance, and then it's fun to see guys in in this this individual, it wasn't like he was 20 or 30. He was an older individual and he just thought his health wasn't as bad as it was and guess what? Now he has control of his health, he has zero prescriptions and he's doing very well. And it's that's these are like a lot of stories I'm starting to get, but it's also they're putting a lot of work in and he he earns all the credit. So he worked he worked harder for his results. So.

[00:31:01]>> That is so cool. Okay, so back to back diets. We've touched on BBC 157, TB 500 known as the Wolverine stock that I agree is just astounding for healing injuries, preventative injuries, chronic pain, post-surgical outcomes improving.

[00:31:17]GLP-1s obviously inflammation, pre-diabetes.

[00:31:20]I'm even noticing improvement to energy, improvement to to mental health with with the way that it increases serotonin in the brain. What are some of your other peptides? Favorite peptides?

[00:31:30]>> CJC, Ipamorelin.

[00:31:33]Love the combo, growth hormone. So it's really beneficial obviously for muscle recovery, for fat loss and for improved strength. It's kind of like a bridge that for some younger guys that are not ready to get on hormone therapy, it's an excellent peptide.

[00:31:49]Big to love, big big to love.

[00:31:52]Guys that are trying to improve their functionalities but yet still maybe from a reproductive standpoint want one or two more kids.

[00:31:59]For higher endurance athletes, I've gotten really obsessed with MOTS-c fixing the cells energy, the mitochondrial function.

[00:32:07]I have been on both and I can tell you that it works but it's time and effort and patience and commitment. So I'm big into like those type of peptides. I'm more excited about as we get older some of these other peptides that are really not necessarily getting headway yet but ones that are helping brain matter function, things like that to reduce risk for Alzheimer's and dementia. There's just a lot of research coming out and for most of us it's kind of just it's exciting, it's intriguing it's intriguing, but same thing, right?

[00:32:39]You have the wrong clinics or you have the wrong website or the wrong person teach you how to do a peptide and you get a bad result, bad outcome, and so for people that I take care of, I said, "You need to take your health as serious as you can." Like ours are authenticated, they are we know exactly where our peptides come from at FMI. So, it's exciting to know that we can provide a great service versus somebody going on a worldwide peptide.com and getting 10 vials for 100 bucks. I'm like, "This is not a cost-effective measurement. You are putting something that's probably not a true peptide in your body and that could have side effects or issues." So, >> Yeah, we're seeing it more and more of these impure peptides on the black market that people are buying to save, you know, save a couple hundred dollars and it is not worth it.

[00:33:27]>> Yep, DSIP Delta peptide for sleep patterns. Obviously, a lot of people have a hard time sleeping, so this peptide instead of blocking the GABA receptor, it actually tries to repair that that receptor to where everything like trazodone, Ambien, Lunesta blocks the receptor. So, people are seeing really good results from the DSIP peptide that I put them on. Uh Selank is one of those things where from anxiety issues, people are I I have high motor stressed businessmen and financial guys that are really stressed out with work.

[00:33:58]This has been a very good calming type peptide. So, I use peptides around the patients' needs and wants and I just try to get them to see the research behind some of these and a lot of my patients have been so happy with a different approach versus, you know, having always to have uh the prescription pad out and we just write, you know, the next medicine up on up on our list of, you know, top three this or the top three this. Like, these peptides have been really uh fun to introduce patients to.

[00:34:26]>> Yeah, they have, but they're just tools in our toolkit. I love how you kind of said at the beginning like you'll leave so much on the table if you if you're taking a peptide and not lifting weights, not doing your zone two training, not eating well, not staying well hydrated, not keeping healthy cells. So, um yeah, I love that you said that. So, just as we kind of wrap up here, Andy, I just wanted to know cuz I think this is I get this question all the time in my practice, I'm sure you you do as well. Like, what are some of the keys to longevity and anti-aging? Specifically in your male male population cuz that's the majority of what you deal with.

[00:35:00]>> Uh resistance training number one, one and foremost. And I and I'm I'm tougher on women because a lot of women are big into uh spin class, bar class, yoga class, hot yoga class, cycle class, uh F45, Pure Barre. It's more high-intensity, high-quick workouts, high you know, high muscle burn, high calorie burn. So, I'm really big into resistance training. Your skeletal muscle is your immune system. So, that to me is number one and foremost. Um I pick and choose cardio very carefully with patients just because cardio can be a blessing and a curse. Um so, I I think diet like we talked about like if you understand inflammation and you understand what foods could cause inflammation, staying away from those type of triggers. And then just like with peptides, having good hormone function. I think hormones are such an vital thing for a lot of us as we get older to allow people to build a foundation around. If you can have better energy, mood, sleep, recovery, you should be able to then sleep better, diet better, uh move better, and just feel overall better. Um but the thing too is you think about it, right? Like the gym populations in the world or the United States, it's age 18 to 25. And then from 25 to 65, there is a big dip.

[00:36:15]And at 65 when you retire, the gym then picks back up cuz now you're retired and you want to stay alive and survive. So, I teach so many patients that that 40-year gap while we raise family and have kids and we really try to become successful or provide. That 40-year gap is where you really see where people's longevity either is maintained, gets injured, uh suffers. I tell all my patients, my grandpa farmed till he was 78 years old. He lived into his 90s.

[00:36:44]My grandma is still alive today, and she is still independent, and she's almost 90. When you have active health lifestyles, you get to enjoy this world a lot longer on very little medication.

[00:36:57]People that have desk jobs or slow down or are so just stuck in a sedentary lifestyle, like it's just you're going to suffer. And that's where people need to move, they need to be more active, and um it's just long-term health, exercise, diet, uh be more active than you were years ago, uh help inflammation, help your joints, um and get to feel better. And that's it's just it's time and effort, but it's consistency, right?

[00:37:24]>> Mhm.

[00:37:24]>> Um And that's what people just don't want to be part of is that consist of lifestyle of I will walk once a week. I will work out twice a week. I will stretch once a week. Like you have to be committed to those changes, and when people miss a 3-month interval or they take a month off, like their bodies go backwards, and you just can't afford that.

[00:37:45]>> Mhm. Mhm. It's so good. I love how you talked about those decades that you miss out on when you're just not able to prioritize exercise. And it doesn't I tell my clients too, like I'm not going to ask you to go to a CrossFit gym every day for an hour. Like the data truly is 20 to 30 minutes two to three days a week of resistance training. It's It's not a lot. That amount of time, that small amount of time can work wonders.

[00:38:08]We're talking an hour a week, hour to an hour and a half a week can work wonders for your body. Now, you have to do it in the right way. You can't just go Jane Fonda it with or like you said Pure Barre with three to five pound weights.

[00:38:19]Like it You have to have muscle growth.

[00:38:21]It has to be You have to be If you're not lifting heavier, 3 months later, you're do you're not doing something right and you're not going to see those metabolic benefits. But yeah, you said you said that so well. I love that so much. Andy, thank you for your tidbits of wisdom. Thank you for sharing what you're seeing in in your practice and just the data that you know. We're just We're so thankful to have you on our team and have you helping us change lives.

[00:38:41]>> It's honestly, like I said, it's been a great first year. I'm excited for year two.

[00:38:45]Uh love doing these love doing these podcasts with you. Love helping people any way I can and this has been It's been a fun first year at FMI. So I've been excited and excited for year two.

[00:38:56]>> Good. Well, we're thrilled to have you.

[00:38:57]So if you want to find out more about Andy or go see him, he works out of our Meridian location and please go check out his bio on our website. Thanks so much for tuning in.

[00:39:06]>> Thank you.

[00:39:07]>> Thank you. Thanks [music] for listening to the Functional Medicine Institute podcast. At FMI, we're committed to helping you achieve your best health.

[00:39:13]Whether that means staying well with regular [music] check-ins, resolving chronic concerns, or taking a proactive approach to aging and long-term vitality. Through our integrated model of primary care, [music] functional medicine, and regenerative specialty services, we provide a precise, root cause roadmap tailored to you. No matter your [music] starting point, we'll help you move confidently through confidently toward [music] optimal wellness. Discover what's possible at funmedinstitute.com.