Beautiful Hair & Skin from Within: A Hormone-Focused Approach With Dr. Trevor Cates

Introduction and guest background 0:00

Hello and welcome to the Thyroid Pharmacists Healing Conversations podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Isabella Wentz, your thyroid pharmacist, and I am so excited to have you here today. We're going to be talking about the skin, hair, hormone connection with one of my dear friends, Dr. Trevor Cates, and you might note her as the spa doctor. So she is the brilliant woman that developed this fantastic product line, skincare line. And she also has been working behind the scenes to create some additional things for us.

I'm super excited about that. Hi, we'll tell you a little bit about Dr Trevor Kates. She is natural buter reset and clean skin from within, and is the founder of the Spa Doctor Natural Skin Care and Supplement line. She was the first woman licensed as a naturopathic doctor in the state of California. While living in California, she was appointed by former Governor Schwarzenegger to California's Bureau of Naturophobic Medicine Advisory Council. Dr. Cates was a doctor at the Waldorf Astoria Spa in Park City, Utah in addition to running wellness clinics in California and Utah for 25 years.

She's been helping women from around the world. overcome challenges with their skin and hormones and feel at home in their bodies. She's been featured on various TV shows, including The Doctors, PBS, and Extra TV. Dr. Cates has interviewed hundreds of women's health experts for her Hormones, Health and Harmony 10-part docu-series, the Women's Doctor Podcast, in the Spa Doctor podcast. Thank you for having me on. I love being a guest. Since selling the spa doctor company she founded eight years ago, Dr.

Cates has shifted her focus towards advocating for women's wellness. So Dr Cate, it's such a pleasure to have you here. And I always love talking with you because you're so knowledgeable about women health and hormones. and also how it impacts our, you know, not just how, it affects our inner feelings, but also our outward appearances too. Now, I know we were chatting a little bit before and you've been a naturopathic doctor. I don't want to say how many years, right? Because, because we're both still 25. Right.

25 years. Twenty-five years you have been I feel like a lot of us, we go through some training through school or through functional medicine training and we have perspectives on how to help women. And then we through things ourselves and perhaps some of those perspectives shift. I'm curious with you, how has perimenopause shifted or perhaps solidified some other things that you've been doing for the last 25 years? Yeah, it really has. It's amazing. And thank you so much for having me on.

Perimenopause and hormonal shifts 3:00

That's great to connect with you. When I came out of medical school and I was seeing women going through menopause, I know they looked at me and were like, you don't really know what I'm going to through. But all these years, 25 years later, and 52 and i'm like okay now I get I get what all these women were experiencing. It is a totally different thing. I mean, it's one thing to know in your brain from school, but then another thing, to actually live through something and to wake up in the middle of night, feeling the hot flashes and the night sweats and not being able to sleep.

And I always slept so well beforehand. Like, what is this? I thought I was doing all the things. Then I would come up with a plan of like, okay, now I've got these supplements, I got my biological hormones, And then all of a sudden I go through another shift and change. And now I understand why my patients would get so frustrated and be like, why does it keep changing? And so I have a new appreciation for that. Yeah, absolutely. And I know I started having some weird symptoms during the pandemic where I would have that insomnia.

I was like, wait a minute, I've always been such an amazing sleeper. Even when I had, like I, was in the throes of Hashimoto's. If anything, if I slept too much, that would be sleeping like 10 to 12 hours. All of a sudden, in perimenopause, palpitations, anxiety, like rethinking every decision I've ever made in my entire life. And it's crazy what can happen and nobody really prepares us for it. No, it is true and I asked my mom and she's like, oh, I think I have a few hot flashes and that was about it And so, and I think that so many people, there's a stigma that's been associated with it.

And it's so great to see more women talking about it, TV shows and celebrities and all kinds of people coming out and talking it about. It's really great and, but we have some catching up to do. We, it has taken a long time to get to this place where women feel comfortable talking and also the women's health initiative study that has put set things back with hormone replacement therapy. Also, we've got to, you know, kind of catch up from that, that damage as well. Yeah, it's interesting, because it almost like I had a son at 35. And a lot of times, like, nobody really prepares you for all of the stuff postpartum.

Like, Nobody really talks about that. Then I feel like nobody talks really about perimenopause, and we're just starting to have these conversations of what it feels like. And I think these conversations are really important to have because if we don't talk about the issue, we're not going to talk. About solutions, right? And so there's so many different solutions that I've learned about in the last few years that can support women on their hormonal journey when they are in perimenopause. And naturopathic doctors are leading this effort in many cases because conventional doctors aren't simply ignoring this.

I'd love to know what kind of things you found to be helpful for women in period menopausal. Yeah, completely. You know, I graduated from natriopathic medical school in 2000. I was taught all about bioidentical hormones and of course the nutrients and herbs and diet, stress management, sleep support, all of the things that I still, a lot of it I do today. And it's interesting because a few years after I graduated, the Women's Health Initiative study came out and said hormones aren't safe. I constantly had to educate women, my patients, like, okay, this study is not on bioidentical hormones.

This is different and this is how. And so I continued to do bio-idental hormones since I graduated in 2000. My colleagues and I were, you know, we would get together and encourage each other. So now it's nice to see that a lot of that information from the Women's Health Initiative study, the light has been shed on that. and women are now realizing the safety, especially in bioidentical hormones. So it's made my job easier. But besides that, I'm doing a lot of the same stuff because there's great research that's come up, but a lotta the foundational things I've been doing all these years.

And it goes back to, it still goes to addressing root causes. Because what happens when we go through postpartum, perimenopause, menopaus, whatever those root causes we haven't addressed, those are kind of going to bubble up. So it's actually another opportunity to be like, okay, well, you didn't quite address that those gut issues. Now here's another opportunities now that you've got your hormones are all over the place, we can get back to those group causes. We don't want to forget those, the root cause is like gut microbiome imbalances, nutritional deficiencies, inflammation, And so those, of course, are all the things.

And the naturopathic approach is this more holistic approach. It's not like, oh, you have a hot flash, so take this herb. That's the conventional medicine approach, where it's really no different than you a headache, take an aspirin. In some ways, it is different. But in a lot of ways it isn't, because you've got to look at the person holistically. Yeah, absolutely. It's like, I think somebody once said that perimenopause lowers our resilience. So everything just sort of comes to the surface. And I love how you use the opportunity, the word opportunity.

Root causes, lifestyle, and symptom awareness 9:00

I've heard other things said about that, usually like four letter words, but yeah, it can absolutely be another opportunity for us to heal. A lot of women find themselves in trouble. if they haven't been doing a lot of weight-bearing exercise or really working on their fitness where perhaps they were able to get away with that in their 20s and 30s. And then once perimenopause hits, you really have to be mindful about your movement, right? And really doing that weight bearing exercise. Yeah, 100%. And of course, there is the symptom management as we go through perimentopaus.

I think part of what we're talking about is just the awareness. Symptoms are not unusual. However, symptoms shouldn't be just tolerated. There are signs that there's an imbalance in the body and it's opportunity. So when we have these symptoms, like, okay, your body is screaming. You've heard me talk a lot about skin and how I call skin the magic mirror. And so when have skin issues going on, it is like our body's trying to get our attention. Pay attention, there is something underneath this that needs to be addressed.

Rather than just trying slap something on it, your skin to suppress the symptom. Similarly, we've got to be careful with that with going through perimenopause and certainly not just going on birth control pills to mask the symptoms of things like acne or hormonal imbalances causing irregular periods and things that, which is birth-control pills should be reserved for birth controls, not with trying to address symptoms. Birth control has recently been found to be a thyroid trigger and it's very challenging when women aren't aware how it could affect them and is being used as a band-aid approach from anything from like regulating your periods to PCOS to even perimenopause.

And there's much better solutions out there. There's even alternatives that people can use for family planning purposes. So really, really appreciate you bringing that up. I did want to ask you about how hormonal imbalances can impact our skin. Yes, and and absolutely, it is, of course, one of the root causes and the sort of hormonal imbalances there can be root cause is under hormonally imbalanced. But there are lots of things that can happen. One of The things happens especially like, we notice that starting at puberty is acne.

Acne can Be an issue when we when our hormones are out of balance, especially in puberty when our hormones are surging and especially like androgens are coming to the surface that you know coming into play and those sorts of things. So acne can also show up in perimenopause and so that That really surprises a lot of women when they are like, wait, I thought that was something that teenagers have. Why am I having acne now? And that is those changes in our hormones, those fluctuations, such as when progesterone will start to decline, maybe some of the androgens start become a little bit more in excess.

There are different reasons why we can have these acne breakouts. and even um you know when we're super stressed cortisol can cause those acne breakouts too and then of course we notice things like um premature aging some fine lines and wrinkles getting worse sagging skin and for some women they feel like it's happening overnight and So those are things when we have the especially decline in estrogen, but also even testosterone and progesterone that can cause changes and the acceleration of collagen loss and people start to notice it more rapidly.

Um, what are some natural ways to support that? How do you maintain, keep your skin graceful, right? And kind of, I don't want to say grace full aging, but I feel like rather than fighting against it is, is just really embracing it, But also making it not so apparent. It's, it's really funny that you're kind of struggling with that because it is a struggle with people. It was like, we don't want to say anti-aging because that's I mean, while some people do say, anti aging, I can't stand that, because we're, not going to stop aging.

We're all getting older. And that is actually a beautiful thing. I'm like I love being 52.I think it just amazing. The amount of wisdom and freedom and knowledge and all kinds of success and All kinds things that have happened at this point in my life. But I, love it. So we do not want anti age. like aging gracefully, because I like things like doing things with grace. That makes it sound like easy and seamless. And I've always liked the word graceful. But I also know that we don't want to be, it's not like lazy aging, we're gonna be like, oh, well, that's just gonna happen.

You know, there are things that We can do to make sure that Our skin matches how energetic we feel on the inside, especially when we're taking good care of ourselves, right? So certainly with my approach, you definitely want to do both from the Inside Out and then what we do on The Outside. So from The Inside out, we'd do a lot of the things that you already teach people to decreasing inflammatory foods, right? Things like sugar and dairy and processed foods and getting instead getting more anti-inflammatory foods like omega-3 rich fatty acids from wild Alaskan salmon or antioxidant rich foods that help protect against oxidative damage because one of the biggest things that happens with with premature aging is the oxidative damage, which happens naturally as we age.

But if we consume a lot of antioxidants, that can help protect against that. And then getting also collagen-rich foods, things like bone broth or gelatin, those have collagen. Vitamin C rich foods help support our collagen naturally. So any of those kinds of foods that are anti-inflammatory, rich in antioxidants, collagen rich, nutrient dense foods, those are going to help. And then of course, when we look at You know, things like our gut health, whatever we do to support our good health is gonna help our skin and the aging of our scan and because of that gut skin connection.

And then we also wanna make sure that we're managing our stress. We're getting good sleep. All of those things that you do for your health anyway to help address root causes and just make that, you know you feel your best. those are actually gonna help the skin too. So all the more reason to minimize sugar, minimize processed foods and getting a whole, more like a Mediterranean type diet. I mean, again, I've been doing naturopathic medicine for 25 years. Mediterranean diet has never gone out of style.

like there are a lot of other diets that have come and gone and I mean certainly we know low fat, high fat all kinds of things but Mediterranean diet has been the one that's kind of stuck around the most which means mostly plants and then all these other nutrients that we talk about also getting plenty of protein so because our our skin needs that as well as nutrients and protein. So all of that stuff from the inside, like I said, sleep and movement, getting outdoors and managing your stress, all that really makes a difference with the aging of our skin.

And then what we do on the outside is also important. So for so many years as a naturopathic physician, I focused strictly on from inside.

Skin health, toxins, and clean skincare 17:00

I didn't really think that what you did on surface really mattered. But then 10 years ago, actually it was like 12 years because it's like right when I was turning 40, I thought maybe I should start applying some stuff to my skin. Maybe I need to start doing something and pay attention to that. And around that time I I working at the Waldorf Astoria and a lot of my patients were asking about topically what to do. So that's when i started to really look at that research. And so I learned more about the skin microbiome, the pH of the skincare, and the Skin Barrier function.

And that what we put on our skin does make a difference. Because prior to that, I had always just like, we'll just use clean products, just make sure they don't have hormone disrupting chemicals, which a lot of products do. But there are also certain ingredients that really do help support our skincare. Then the PH of our products being mildly acidic actually supports our skin microbiome, having the right kinds of like plant-based oils rather than things like mineral oil that then just trap in heat and aren't nourishing our that trap in moisture that are synthetic like like silicones and ingredients like that and instead again these plant-based oils that can be very nourishing without trapping in heat.

So all of these things make a really big difference so doing that internally and actually when those two are added together that's when the magic happens. I love that, I know I didn't realize when I was earlier on my healing journey, how impactful the, chemicals can be in our skincare products. I actually got arsenic toxicity from like a lip gloss. And what you put on your skin, you can actually absorb. Can you speak a little bit more to some of the toxins in skincare and how they could affect our hormones?

Yeah, I mean, you think about we use hormone creams on our skin, we used estradiol patches, and we put those on your skin because it's a form of absorption. We can get things into circulation, We get medications and nicotine patches. These are forms of application because our skincare is permeable. Now, it's not the same as swallowing something. Our digestive permeability is more than our skin, but we still absorb a lot through the skin. And it really, I can't say exactly what amount because it varies from one person to another.

Part of that depends on a person's skin barrier function. So a lotta people have, like they have leaky gut, they might also have a leakey skin So then they actually absorb more if they have things like eczema or really sensitive skin. And these types of things do tend to flare up in perimenopause as well. But when we look at what we put on our skin, I mean, sometimes we'll tell people, pause, like, would you put it in your mouth? If you wouldn't, then pause and ask why. Not that you should be able to, skincare products, and make them, so I know you don't wanna swallow them.

They're not made for that. But at the same time, ask yourself why, like what's in it that I don't want to consume? And I can tell you what creating skin care and now with creating hair care products, it makes me so happy to see ingredients that we would take in supplements in our skin, care, products. It just makes sense. Why wouldn't you? Why would you want? To put natural things on your skin? especially since they contain things like antioxidants and oils that help with the barrier function of the skin and that support the pH and things, like pineapple fruit extract that has natural enzymatic processes, you want enzymes in your digestion.

So when I start creating our list of ingredients, I just get excited because I'm like, oh, those are all the things we put in supplements. That's what we're eating. These are great things internally. that's what we should be putting on our skin. Because the thing is, is they actually, if they're formulated right, they can actually work too. Yeah, it's just so fascinating. And, you know, from like a pharmacology standpoint, of course, we can absorb different substances. It's going to vary on your skin type, the fat mass we have in our bodies with certain fat soluble compounds.

Then it is going of, course vary by the compound. A lot of these toxins that are in skincare items are absolutely going to be absorbed and they can contribute to hormonal imbalances and estrogen dominance. A lot of health challenges for women and so I really appreciate one, that your skincare is free Of toxins that can really disrupt that hormonal function and that you also like, you know, I've used some like natural deodorants and I use I used the spa doctor skincare line for my skin these days and.

I feel like it makes a big difference in my perimenopause skin, but. I find like sometimes there are natural things, like natural deodorants, natural skincare things. And you're like, you know, I still am stinky and like my face is not moisturized. You know what I mean? And so could you talk about some of the ingredients that you love utilizing in the skincare and how do you make it work? How do make a clean and work, that's quite the accomplishment. Yeah, yes. I know. And that was partly why I created the company 10 years ago was because patients would feel like, Dr.

Cates, I now you want me to use that natural stuff. But here, here I'm seeing patients at the Waldorf Astoria and they're used to really fancy, beautiful, sense and expensive skincare products. They're like I go to the health food store and I am not happy with this experience. So I started to look at it. There's got to be a way because the healing power of nature is real, right? And so I really started to look at that. And part of it comes down to, like I said, the pH of the products. So the research shows that it's best with our skin being mildly acidic.

Naturally, when our skincare is in a healthy state, it is mild acidic, So what we put on our skin should support that. And I mean, we can put things on her skin that are higher pH and then our skincare has to adjust. So if our skins really healthy, maybe it can do that, but as we get older, We want all the support we could get, right? We generally put the the skincare products for the face in particular around 4.6 pH is kind of that ideal. So somewhere between 4 point 65 is ideal, but we're usually right around four point six and people can actually you just get pH strips and test your serums or moisturizers.

If it's 100% oil, you can't test a pH with that going back to chemistry class, it has to have some water in it. So not just pure oil. But that's one of the things and I think a lot of times people are focused on a single ingredient, like you know, like a bioretinal, a retinal alternative or something, which can be great. But I can tell you, people always ask me, what is your secret sauce? What is the key ingredient in this product or skincare? And I'm like, every single ingredient has a purpose.

So it's like asking, What's your favorite child? I only have one. That's easier for you. I've got three stepchildren. It's hard for me. I mean, certainly we want antioxidant rich nutrients. And what I find is I really like to get it as you would find it in nature. Like for example, sea buckthorn fruit oil is really naturally rich in vitamin C and also some essential fatty acids. So instead of isolating and just putting vitamin c in a formula, we like the whole plant when we can. and so antioxidant-rich ingredients like that.

There are also a lot of great peptides that we're now putting in this product or products. When I started, some of these ingredients weren't even available, so it's great to kind of update with some We only choose naturally derived ingredients though, because there are a lot of products out there that are so-called natural, but they might have a few natural ingredients and they may avoid certain toxins, But they're still containing things that I wouldn't put in products, things like dimethicone, which is like when there was silicone heat trapping, or also like phenoxyethanol and also certain fragrances that can still have hormone disrupting chemicals in there.

So look for antioxidant rich ingredients, peptides can be really great, anything and then also that pH of the products. Those are some of key things. Thank you so much for sharing that. I know it's like, it is exciting to see when you utilize skincare that actually works and makes a difference. And you know, you're not like you, know like intoxicating yourself. Basically, I did want to ask you about your book, The Natural Beauty Reset, the four key factors that help with hormonal balance. Yes. And so with my book, so I have two books, Clean Skin From Within came out first that was focused on skin, but I did get so many questions about hormones.

So I wrote my second book focused primarily around hormones and so it's really, we've touched on these food, movement, mindset and skincare. And all of these really help on a day-to-day basis as the daily choices that we make that make the biggest difference. You can sometimes go and do a special spa treatment or something like that every now and then, which is great. But really what the daily choices that we make are most important and those four areas are really key for balancing our hormones are also important for our skin.

And then what I did with natural beauty reset is I took those and I created a seasonal aspect to each of those. So for each the four seasons, I give food, movement, mindset, skincare recommendations. Thank you so much for sharing that.

Natural beauty reset and hair care 28:00

I'm going to link the book in the comments and show notes for people if they wanted to check that out. One of the things I was super, super super excited about, and I've been hearing about it from some colleagues, is that you actually now are, like you have a hair care line. And you know how passionate I am about hair? One other reason why I, well, I'll Leo, so that's one of their reasons, but you know, just being Leo in general. But hair loss is one of the big symptoms that many women with thyroid disorders face.

I know this was like, I could deal with the like fatigue, and I can deal With like the joint pains and all of these things. And I was going to different doctors and they were like oh, you're just getting older. Of course, that was 25. Then the hair lost, like I should not be losing hair at 25, this is something. For a lot of women, it's their hairdressers. that will be like, hey, I think you need to get your thyroid checked because this is a really big symptom of thyroid dysfunction. Additional reasons can lead to hair loss as well.

I was hoping you could talk through some of those things for us. Yeah, absolutely. And hypothyroidism is definitely one of the big, or thyroid disease can be a big reason for having that hair lost. It is one the more common ones that we see in clinical practice. But also there could be nutritional deficiencies, things like iron deficiency, anemia can be a big cause, especially women who are still menstruating regularly. And so that certainly is, anytime you go through a bit stressor, that can a reason for hair shedding more.

So there are also certain medications that could cause hair loss. we definitely always want to look to the root cause, like why is the hair falling out? So that is really important. And that's one of the reasons why I paused on creating some haircare products because I never want people to think it's just about what you topically put on or even a supplement because you've got to address the group causes behind why are you. But once you start addressing your thyroid, once iron supplementation, if you realize you're anemic or once that stressor has passed or you or the infection, you know, infections, another one that can cause hair loss there.

Once you address these, that is like, okay, now how do I get my hair grow back? Yeah, so that's why I was so excited that at the Spa Doctor, we launched a hair serum, a Hair Grow Serum. And, even with my skincare products, I'm like hopeful, but you know, you never really know. And so like I put it put together this hair serum. I like, all the ingredients have the research behind it. and I wanted that, the experience of it, and want it to be greasy and oily, because I don't want to wash my hair every day.

So and i know that women don t want t do that. so it's wanted to get the textures right that and but we wanted it t work right. And it's been amazing to see the benefits for people seeing their hair grow. And I think I was telling you that my hairdresser said, you need to stop using this because you've got too much hair now. So the hair growth serum is really great. We've things in there like pea sprout extract and peptides and red clover flower extract, gota cola. Things in there, again, I get excited because I'm like, these are things I'd put in supplements.

So this is really great. But it really does work. And then we also just launched a shampoo and conditioner, which I was always nervous to make because Skincare is not easy, but when you're trying to make clean and effective skincare, when haircare, I was like, oh, it's so hard because you've got to have the leather and, you know, got people with all different types of hair. And so it took us a little bit of time to get the right formula for this. But I'm super excited that we're able to keep it super clean, and still give that feeling of, my hair feels great after using it, after styling it.

So again, lots of natural ingredients, herbs in there that you would love. So I mean, things like rosemary, sea buckthorn fruit oil, kelp extract, gota cola, and things that are in their that just are really great for the hair. And also good for environment. We always just double check too with EWG. making sure that our environmental working group because they have a clean database for skin care and also hair care, and that are products are always rated below a four that's in that very low end of that.

So I'm very happy about it. I really, really am excited about that. And as you know, like hair loss is thyroid hormones can impact it, but also like hormonal imbalances like PCOS, when you have too much DHT, um, When you make too testosterone, all of these things can lead to hair. Um, and do you, I know you. Have a, some supplements blends as well. that could support that. Do you typically recommend utilizing the supplements together with a hair serum for optimal hair growth, or would you just use them on an as-needed basis?

I'm curious how you approach it. Yes, thank you for asking. Again, I always like to go back to that root cause. If a woman is going through perimenopause, And she's got our menopause and she got some of that hair loss because of those hormonal changes. We do have a supplement that helps. It has things like soft palmetto in there that help with that DHT. And so I think it's a beautiful combination to do that because again, just like skin addressing inside and then also on the outside. Now that hair growth supplement is not going to necessarily be, so if it is, it not a woman going through perimenopause and those types of hair loss reasons, It may not, its not gonna help with someone who has iron deficiency anemia or that has unaddressed hypothyroidism.

But once they've addressed those things, they can help the hair grow faster. Yeah, I personally had an issue with DHT conversion where like my body was just like, let's give you some DH T and that can be a really, really frustrating symptom of, you know, chin hair and basically you get hair where you don't want it. I would get like chin acne and like hair on my chin and then I'd be like losing hair here and for some women You know, it is absolutely your thyroid hormones and you need to get those in balance.

Sometimes you to make sure that you are on a high enough dose of thyroid getting your TSH between like 0.5 and 2. And then sometimes you you're on like a T3 containing thyroid hormone to really support that hair growth. where your iron storage is low. So you're not going to be growing your hair for that reason. But there's also a few of these additional root causes. And so I appreciate that you also consider DHT because I feel like it's a very underappreciated cause, you know, skin and hair issues.

Absolutely. I think a lot of times people were focused on men with hair loss, and DHD being issue for men and so there were a lot of you know soft palmetto and things like that supplements for Men but um we don't want to lose our hair either. What about collagen? What are your thoughts on utilizing collagen because I know this is a very common um ingredient for for hair and skin and nails. Do you like utilizing collision and what are Your best recommendations for that? Yeah, at the Spa Doctor we do make a collagen supplement and we have our dermal beauty blend also has marine collagen in it and then we just have a collagen powder that people can use and that's bovine collagen.

I think it's nice to get a combination of the different types of collagen, I do think they make difference for our skin, our hair, but also our gut health, it's hard to go wrong with collagen as long as you're using a really clean source. And I love ours because the powder, because it tastes really good. In addition to the collagen peptides, it has things like vitamin C that also helps support our natural collagen production. Yeah, I think that can be very helpful for so many women, but I'd love for you to tell us where people can find you, where they can your books, or they get more information about your product lines, and how to best connect with you.

Great, yeah, if people find out about me, DrTrevorKates.com. and follow me on social media, Trevor Kates, or Dr. TrevorKates. And then the Spa Doctor is the skincare supplement and haircare line that I created. So I founded it, I sold the company, but I still advise them and consult them, and help with product development and things. So that's the SpaDoctor.com. You can also follow them on social media, the spa doctor. The books, Clean Skin from Within, Natural Beauty Reset, those are on Amazon wherever books are sold.

Yeah, that is where I am. Fantastic. Are you ready for some rapid fire questions? Okay. Is there a wellness hack that you refuse to participate in? wellness hack I refuse to participate in. There are a lot of them. I would say any kind of psychedelic anything, psychedelics, microdosing and assisted therapies. For me personally, I know that in certain environments like with PTSD and things like that, that there can be some help. Me personally I don't want to Yeah, I hear you on that, like microdosing and macrodosing that to me just doesn't seem like a fun way to spend an afternoon or a few days.

I totally appreciate that they make may work really well for some people. But there's also other things that don't involve psychedelics that could work too. So I'm sort of like I naturally have a really high theta wave brainwave. And so that means I have like, I can close my eyes and meditate and have these like very visual, it's almost like dreamlike states while I'm awake. And so I don't need to do stuff like that. Yeah, your brain can already do things on its own, right? I'll absolutely appreciate that other people might benefit from it, and I'm not trying to discount that.

But yeah, it's also not for me. What about if the supplement police came to your house and raided all of your supplements and said, we're going to confiscate everything, but maybe we'll just let you keep one thing? What would be that one that you would keep? I mean, to be honest, I know it's gonna sound like a pitch, but the hormone balance blend that I created for the spa doctor right now at this point in

Rapid-fire questions and closing 40:00

my life, that would be a hard one to part with, hormone balanced blend. Can you tell us what's in that and what that does? Yeah, so this is for perimenopause and it has things like black cohosh and chastity and things that help with those kind of fluctuations that we go through in perimentopase and helps with managing some of the symptoms. I find it particularly helpful for my mood. Um, I noticed on days that I don't take and i'm like, why am I just not feeling like myself today? I'm, like oh, that's right.

I didn't Take the supplement So I think it really does kind of help stabilize. Yeah You know the chase tree the interesting thing I felt like with perimenopause I got like a lot of brain fog But the I started taking chase three and I was like. Oh my gosh. Like my brain is bad it's so so fascinating how I mean, I wasn't taking it for those benefits. But all of a sudden, and I'm like, okay, let's get this organized. Let's clean this up. And for a while, it was like you know, kind of like walking around in circles and like really having trouble with I was, like Do I have ADHD?

I've never had ADHD. I always have this like high, like very high executive function. I've taken so many of those assessments and it's like, you know, this is where you shine. And then all of a sudden perimenopause hit. The only thing that really helped for that was Vitax, or taste tree, which is another name for it. It's so fascinating. It is really great. Now, after women go through menopause, it's not as helpful. But if our ovaries are still working, then it does seem to still help. Once you get postmenopausal, It doesn't seem work as much.

Yeah, I think I have a few more years before I get there. So, so I'm utilizing, but I know a lot of women have said that as well as like, it could work in perimenopause. But once you've crossed the line, right, and you haven't had your menses for a year, you'll want to do something more like progesterone and, bioidentical hormones, that it's going to stop working. I'm happy that it's working. Yeah, Don Quai is another one that's in the Hormone Balance Blend that I think is really great with helping with mood and brain fog and things like that.

Did you know that this is actually a big game changer for low ferritin levels? So a lot of women with low ferritin levels tend to do really well with that. So I love that you put that in there. And you know, your perimenopause, you've got heavy menses, and you got all these issues that can be such a big game changer. I'm sure you knew that, but everybody listening, I am like, oh my gosh, this is an amazing formula. You've really thought it through. The other question I wanted to ask you is, what's the craziest, most outlandish thing that I mean, I guess it's crazy.

I grew up in an organic farm in Virginia. Like I grow up with like, and my parents introduced me to natural medicine, like when I was, a lot of health issues, but I got, well, when was 11 years old. So I feel like I've been really blessed with that part. But as I get older, realized that I had some unresolved emotional stuff and things like that. And so one of the crazy things that I just, I went and like, went into like this trauma therapy program and it was an immersive six day program. I started, this was crazy for me because I'm the person that's like I've got kids, patients, a business.

For me to completely check out and go into this deep, trauma therapy work. I did it at a place called OnSite. It was just amazing. And we had to turn our phones over our laptops. Like we couldn't have any of that. That to me was crazy. But it was really profound. and I feel like, I think it's hard to escape some sort of trauma in life. What it can be our families, it could be something that happens in school with coaches, with work, all kinds of things can happen with marriages. And so I think it's an important piece, but I never thought I would do that.

But I bet it was so life changing for you to do and to process all that trauma and come out to the other side of it. It's so important to care for yourself. Last but not least, I did want to ask you if there are any Perhaps like things that you indulge in that maybe aren't like naturopathic doctor approved where somebody would see you and they'd be like, huh, is that Dr. Trevor Kate's any kind of like guilty pleasures? Okay, I've got one. I'm going for you. Love chocolate. Like that's my big thing.

And my kids know this about me. My weakness is Reese's peanut butter cups. And they know like I'm super healthy. I just don't touch that stuff. But they'll put it in front of me. And they know I can't turn it down. That sounds really delicious and like a great thing to have as part of balance, right? Make sure that your detox pathways and your digestive enzymes are still working pretty well and that you're microbiome is in check. It's good to like test your microbiomes every now and then, isn't it?

Dr. Trevor Cates, thank you so much for being here with me today. Thank you for all the incredible work and education that skincare and now for our hair, we really, really appreciate you as a woman who uses your products. So really great having you here. For everybody listening, I hope this conversation has been healing on your journey. Until next time, take care.