Full Transcript Podcast Introduction and Men's Health Focus 0:05 Hey guys, welcome to the Eat, Pray, Faith podcast with Dr. Tracy. That's me. 0:10 I'm so glad you're here. And today we're taking a deep dive into testosterone. 0:14 And really, this whole month is going to be focused on men's health. So, today I 0:20 decided to talk about testosterone. What is it? you know, how what are some 0:25 things that we need to be aware of uh as as people that deal with men's health 0:31 and practitioners that deal with men's health, but you as the person listening 0:36 to this podcast, whether you're a man or a woman, testosterone is in both, but 0:42 we're going to primarily focus on its role in men's health. Now, we will save 0:48 some time, ladies, to get back to the value of testosterone and women's 0:51 health, too. I personally think women are low across the board on 0:55 testosterone, but for the purpose of today's podcast, we're talking about the 1:00 guys. So, what all are we going to cover in this podcast today? Well, we're going 1:05 to cover what is testosterone? What is all involved in 1:09 the biochemical synthesis of testosterone? What are some of the early 1:14 signs and symptoms? If you have low testosterone, what can that do later in 1:19 life? What are some of the diseases that come from chronic low testosterone or 1:25 not doing anything about it at all? What blood work do you need in order to check 1:31 your levels of testosterone and other hormones as a man, which are really 1:36 important? What are some natural replacements that you can take today 1:40 that can help boost the production of testosterone safely? When is 1:45 testosterone replacement therapy necessary or is it? uh what do we look 1:50 for in a TRT specialist? And then are there's any other things like peptides 1:55 that we can utilize if you're not interested in testosterone replacement 1:59 therapy or the natural products aren't working. So all of these will be covered
How Testosterone Is Made and What Disrupts It 2:05 today in our pursuit to help men become healthier because honestly guys, I don't 2:10 think you talk about it enough. And what happens with men most of the time is you 2:15 end up, you know, with some sort of expression of disease. And honestly, it 2:21 could have been prevented years before if you would have taken the time just to 2:26 address your hormones and testosterone. So, let's just talk about how hormones 2:31 are made in the body just very quickly. If you haven't caught my podcast about 2:35 cholesterol, I would suggest you go back and do that. Uh, and we are going to 2:40 continue this conversation. So, this is all going to build out. This is kind of 2:42 the foundational talk. We're going to go uh into a podcast next time with Dr. 2:47 Silva, who's a metabolic specialist, a DO. He's going to be talking about some 2:52 clinical signs that most men miss uh which can later be detrimental uh if not 2:58 catastrophic to to men because they just wait too long. But if you listen to my 3:03 podcast about cholesterol, then you know cholesterol is good. you know that it is 3:08 a precursor to all steroid hormone production. So what happens when we put 3:14 people on statins, which is one of the top medications that'll be recommended 3:19 to men and women if you have high cholesterol and I'm here to tell you 3:25 that train of thought has to change. There are other things that we should be 3:28 looking at when cholesterol elevates. What are your hormone levels? what uh 3:33 what is the brain activity or the brain need because cholesterol is also 3:38 involved in the neuroplasticity of the brain and then inflammatory markers you 3:43 know what's involved there so all of these things matter when we look at 3:45 cholesterol but for the purpose of today's discussion cholesterol is the 3:50 precursor of all steroid hormones really important that we understand and it's 3:56 primarily obtained through what's called the synthesis of um acetylcholine A So 4:02 again, nutrition is foundational for you guys listening. It's not just about 4:07 eating the same SAD diet, standard American diet, and getting testosterone 4:13 injections. They won't hold. You need the precursors for conversion because by 4:19 taking TRT in an injectable form or creams or whatever you're choosing to 4:24 do, but you're not converting it correctly. you're not using it correctly 4:29 and you're not giving a bo the body a reason to use it such as strength 4:34 training it too can become a problem. So these are things we're going to talk 4:38 about. So when we talk about how does testosterone convert its first step is 4:44 in the conversion from cholesterol to what we call 4:48 pregnenolone and then the step is catalyzed by 4:53 cholesterol through like a sidechain cleavage enzyme. So all this biochemical 4:59 stuff with the help of mitochondria ATP. So if you're listening to me right now, 5:05 that means you have to have the right enzyatic action. You have to have the 5:09 right amount of cholesterol. You have to have the right amount of acetylcholine 5:14 A. And now you have to have enough mitochondrial strength to be able to 5:19 convert pregnant into the usable form of testosterone for you guys. And this is 5:26 done by what are called the lightig cells in the gonads or the testes. Okay? 5:31 So having good testicular health is really important as well. Again, we're 5:36 going to look for signs in the next podcast of what most men miss, but I 5:40 just want you to understand this is a cascade of events that comes from proper 5:45 nutrition and pathways that are open and able, which means we don't want toxicity 5:51 in these pathways. And if you think about it, gentlemen, as you're listening 5:55 to this podcast, what are some things that you might be doing in your own 5:58 current life or lifestyle that could be congesting these pathways? Are you 6:04 exposing yourselves to too many EMFs, your phone, your computers? Are you 6:10 sitting too much, creating pressure on that area where the gonads and the 6:16 testes actually have a pathway that they have to function within? And with too 6:21 much pressure, too much sitting, that doesn't happen due to 6:25 inflammation. Are you exposed to other things like heavy metals? Are you 6:31 exposed to other things like glyphosate? All of the pathway disruptors that can 6:36 create a systemic breakdown of you optimizing and utilizing your natural 6:43 testosterone levels. and then what could be contributing to maybe low 6:47 testosterone levels and low testosterone overall and free testosterone. So, lots 6:53 of science behind this, but we're going to try to break this down so that we all 6:58 understand the value of testosterone. We all understand the position of it. So, 7:04 aging is inevitable. We know that. And this process affects uh even the most 7:09 resilient of men. Okay? So, you guys, we know that you're strong. We know that 7:14 you've always been strong, but then you hit a certain point where you're like, 7:17 hm, start noticing a little bit of low libido, maybe less stamina, some extra 7:23 weight gain, and you're not really sure like what exactly is going on. So, all 7:28 of this can lead to a breakdown over time. Uh, and it's usually due to
Why Testosterone Declines With Age 7:34 testosterone levels that start to fall with age. That's not uncommon. I mean, 7:38 it happens to women, it happens to men. It's a natural process. But as I said in 7:42 my video to promote this, I talked about the fact that, you know, because we're 7:46 living longer today, we're living 20 plus years longer than we did 50 to 100 7:51 years ago. That's a big thing. That's a long time to live without optimal levels 7:57 of testosterone. So, we really have to pay attention to that because it's not a 8:02 thing anymore that we can ignore. We have to start earlier and start to talk 8:07 to our men earlier in their 20s and 30s because one in every four men 30 years 8:15 old or over has low testosterone. That's one too many. One too many just overall. 8:21 Uh it is something that we really need to concentrate on to make sure that 8:26 we're talking to our men about what they can do to keep their testosterone levels 8:31 optimal. That's equivalent to about 13 million men overall in just the United 8:36 States alone. So if you look around, you think one in four is truly 8:43 representative of what your eyes see. So what is testosterone? It's the main sex 8:49 hormone for men. This is crucial for fertility, muscle development, bone 8:55 density, libido, mood, and even the immune system. I talked about red blood 8:58 cell production. All of this is really crucial. And when you have insufficient 9:03 testosterone levels, you experience changes such as sexual dysfunction. You 9:09 know, men that are diagnosed with low testosterone, report low sex drive, low 9:14 motivation, have erectile dysfunction. These are not things that just happen to 9:19 you. These are symptoms of things that are going on internally that you've 9:23 ignored for so long and now it's manifesting into a physical symptom 9:29 that's going to make you pay attention. And so erectile dysfunction not only is 9:34 a sign of low testosterone, but it's also a sign of insulin resistance. Now, 9:41 we're going to talk about that with Dr. Silva, so I'm going to save that topic. 9:45 But for today, we're just going to talk about the influence of testosterone, all 9:49 that. So, you can maintain a healthy lifestyle, exercise, nutrition. But what 9:56 more research is coming out is if you take a more holistic approach to boost 10:01 your testosterone levels, whether you're using natural products or you're 10:05 choosing to do some sort of injectable or even a peptide that's going to boost 10:09 the pathway of testosterone production, you are going to feel more normal again. 10:15 I promise you. So let's talk a little bit 10:20 about basically what is testosterone and what does it do in the body so that we 10:25 have an understand. So this is not just about muscle and libido. I know I talked 10:30 about that but we really need to know what happens when it's low and how it 10:34 interacts with your other hormones and most importantly how to test for it, how 10:39 to help you with it and then how to naturally and clinically overcome it. So 10:43 testosterone as I mentioned before is a steroid hormone. It's primarily produced 10:47 in the testes in men. Smaller amounts in women of course uh it belongs to what's 10:53 called the androgen class of hormones and which are responsible for your male 10:57 traits predominantly you know your facial hair and your muscle mass etc. uh 11:03 in puberty we see this coming forward and increasing whereas prior to puberty 11:09 testosterone is not the main hormone that's helping your growth and 11:12 development. You have other ones and then once you hit puberty it really 11:16 turns to testosterone. So you can get muscle growth and strength, bone 11:21 density, fat distribution. This is also going to determine your sperm 11:25 production, uh your libido, your mood, your regulation, your brain, your 11:30 cognitive memory. I hear guys say all the time like, "I can't remember 11:34 anything anymore. I think there's something wrong." And also red blood 11:37 cell production. And you might be asking, "Well, who cares about that?" 11:40 Well, the health of your red blood cells really determines oxygenation of your 11:43 body, your recovery, your ability to balance your B vitamins and utilize 11:48 those through stress and also your iron levels. So guys, testosterone is no 11:52 small thing. Really, really important. And I know the 70s and the 80s kind of 11:57 ruined it. And we associate testosterone with horse steroids and bodybuilders. 12:02 But I'm here to tell you guys that if this is the number one hormone that
Core Functions of Testosterone in Men 12:07 determines after biologically your XY chromosome of you being a man, 12:13 biologically you're a man at conception and then physiologically you get 12:18 attributes based on this particular hormone later in life that biologically 12:23 man at birth. So, with that said, testosterone, although secondary, is 12:29 vital and keeping those manly traits throughout life because your chromosome 12:34 isn't going to determine that. It's going to be the expression of the 12:37 steroid hormones that determine the health that you have through the next 50 12:44 to 70 to 80 to 90 to 100 years, right? All right. So, what are some easy signs 12:50 and symptoms? And you can get a piece of paper and write this down if you want. 12:54 Fatigue. That's usually the number one symptom that happens. Just an overall 12:58 decreased energy. You don't feel like doing anything. That can go into mood 13:02 regulation. Right? So you might have a decreased mood, mood changes, 13:06 irritability, depression. Now, some men think that their irritability or their 13:11 aggressiveness is associated with too much testosterone. And actually, it's 13:15 testosterone that's going to help elicit a lot of the calming effects because it 13:21 does start at the HPA access, the hypothalamus, which is your brain. And 13:25 so, you're receiving this information. And because you don't have optimal 13:29 levels of your hormones, you can't regulate your reactions to it. And so, 13:33 having optimal levels of testosterone will actually help you regulate. Low 13:38 libido, I mean, that's pretty much a given. If you start losing your sex 13:41 drive, uh erectile dysfunction is another one. You could have decreased 13:46 muscle mass, decreased strength, uh increased body fat, especially around 13:51 your abdomen. That also can be a secondary metabolic issue or even a 13:55 primary metabolic issue that's then going to lead to low testosterone. So, 14:00 chicken or the egg, again, we're going to talk about that next time. Uh brain 14:03 fog, that's a big one. Poor concentration, you can't focus for 14:07 periods of time. Decreased body hair. It's not the primary reason that people 14:12 lose their hair, but overall a decrease in body hair. I, you know, one of the 14:16 things that I notice is men shed more. So, if you're noticing more hair in the 14:20 sink, more hair in the bathroom. Ladies, you're noticing this because, you know, 14:24 we're cleaning up after them most of the time. I don't know why they shave and 14:27 then think that that hair doesn't go everywhere, but whatever. Um, so if 14:32 you're noticing that, that's a sign that maybe their testosterone is a little bit 14:36 lower. uh poor sleep, insomnia, inability to sleep or stay asleep. You 14:41 could have an adrenal issue where you're under primarily a lot of stress creating 14:45 high cortisol which is going to then steal your pregnenolone, steal your 14:51 progesterone, and leave nothing left to build your testosterone because your 14:56 pregnenolone and your progesterone are your building blocks for your other 14:59 steroid sex hormones. And if cortisol is stealing them to build himself because 15:05 you're under chronic stress, you'll eventually end up with low testosterone. 15:09 But you'll also primarily end up with adrenal fatigue. So sometimes 15:15 testosterone lowering is because you are stressed out, because you are in fight 15:21 or flight, because you have high cortisol. So we're not getting into all 15:26 of the reasons that you would have low testosterone. That's between you and a 15:29 practitioner. My primary mission today is to get you to understand the value of 15:36 testosterone if yours is low and to get to somebody that can look at the why. 15:42 Why is your testosterone low and then help you rebuild your natural levels? 15:48 You may need to do some peptides, TRT, and or natural products to do that while 15:55 you get to the root, but I'm not going to give you every possible pathway to 16:01 low tea. Okay? And then for the younger 16:06 generation that's popping up, one of the biggest things we're seeing is 16:09 infertility. We talked about testosterone being big on contributing 16:14 to the health of your sperm count, your sperm motility. also your sexual 16:19 function and libido. If you're 20 and 30 and you're having issues with that, 16:23 that's an infertility issue. If you're 40, 50, and 60, that is a modulation 16:29 issue. So different. And I don't know if guys, unless you're Charlie Chaplain, if 16:33 you're going to be having kids in your 60s, I mean, you go you. If you're doing 16:37 it, good job. But most of the time we're talking about younger guys, 20s and 30s 16:43 that are just getting into their, you know, um, marriages and wanting to 16:47 create a family. So that would be more on their end, but super important to 16:51 start talking about it. Don't always look at the woman with infertility. So 16:56 you have a couple walk into your office and they say, you know, we're having
Signs, Symptoms, and Long-Term Effects of Low T 16:59 trouble getting pregnant. It's not just about the woman. We got to start looking 17:03 at the guys because we are also finding out that children that have neurological 17:09 issues uh at birth or even after is a a contributing factor between mom and dad, 17:16 their levels of toxicity and their level of mitochondrial regeneration or ATP 17:22 production to make new and healthy baby cells. Got to look at both. Okay. So, 17:28 some of the long-term effects of low testosterone 17:32 um is metabolic syndrome. So, remember I talked about chicken or the egg. You can 17:36 have metabolic syndrome which means high insulin, high glucose in the blood, not 17:41 utilizing all of that. Um and you can also have that belly fat, congestion of 17:47 the liver, fatty liver, etc. That can be the cause of low testosterone. But 17:52 long-term low testosterone can also create a secondary metabolic syndrome or 17:57 even type 2 diabetes because testosterone again is incredibly 18:03 valuable in muscle mass. And if we look at what muscle does and muscle is 18:09 medicine, muscle has these glut receptor sites on it. And so when you're working 18:15 out, they actually activate so that the available glucose in your bloodstream 18:22 gets pulled in without insulin. And that's what we want. We don't always 18:26 want insulin driving glucose into the cells. 18:31 We want to be able to pull that into the cells without 18:34 insulin as well because insulin is catabolic. It builds and so it's going 18:39 to build belly fat. it's going to build an unchecked insulin that's out all the 18:43 time that doesn't have anything to work with or has too much of something to 18:48 work with is an issue. So, long-term testosterone need 18:53 cardiovascular disease. This is really important because cardiovascular disease 19:00 is still the number one killer beyond all cancers. And now with the most 19:06 recent technology that's been put into the blood and people voluntarily did 19:10 that to themselves, you have an increase of this risk. If you add on other 19:17 issues with that, you are increasing your risk even 19:22 more. So by optimizing things, you may never not be able to change that, but 19:27 optimizing things around it can be very helpful and very 19:32 preventative. If you have low testosterone for long term 19:36 osteoporosis fracture risk just like women with low estrogen which is their 19:42 primary get osteoporosis and fracture risk men you 19:46 will have it too with low testosterone muscle wast wasting that's 19:51 called sarcopenia that's a big one you guys start to get soft and mushy and you 19:57 get what are called dad bods now I know that everyone's making dad bods cool and 20:02 sexy And you know, we even have cheerleaders now that are dadbod 20:06 cheerleaders. I mean, you do you, but it's not it's not healthy. And while 20:12 it's common, it shouldn't be normalized. You know this whole body positivity of 20:18 wasting or metabolically decreasing your potential to overcome a disease or body 20:26 positivity that leads to a disease metabolic disorder cardiovascular cancer 20:31 neurodeenerative whatever that looks like is not sexy. It's actually 20:37 detrimental. And so you can shift that. You know I'm not saying that you're not 20:42 gorgeous and created in God's image. So, what I'm saying is we don't normalize 20:47 unhealthy patterns and say it's okay. If you're doing everything you possibly 20:52 can, you still have a little bit of a dad bod and your testosterone is good, 20:55 you go you absolutely. But that's not going to be the case. I can guarantee 21:00 you. Uh increase of all cause mortality is another risk of long-term low 21:06 testosterone. So, you die younger. I'm just saying. Cognitive decline, that's 21:12 another one. And then you're going to have an overall effect on all of your 21:17 other hormones. So you have this hormone dance, right? DHEA, estrogen, 21:23 testosterone, all of this. So DHEA is a precursor hormone. Um, and 21:29 it's made in the adrenals. So again, under a lot of stress, adrenal 21:33 dysfunction, you're not going to get a high conversion of testosterone because 21:37 you're under stress. So DHEA is going to convert to 21:41 testosterone. and estrogen. When you have low DHEA, it 21:46 means you have low poor hormone production. When you're under stress and 21:50 you have poor adrenal function, you have low DHEA, you'll have low testosterone. 21:55 It's the way it works. Estrogen, men, you need this, too. I know that we're 22:00 not like oh estrogen in small amounts because if you have too much uh 22:07 aromatization which means testosterone to estrogen via an enzyme called 22:15 aromatase. This can lead to fat gain, mood swings, low libido. So, if your 22:21 testosterone is getting converted because of stress, because of all these 22:26 other things, and it's becoming too much estrogen dominance, there's ways that we 22:30 can help you there as well. Obviously, getting to the why, but putting things 22:34 in place that are going to help you. And then you have what's called sex hormone 22:38 binding globbulin. Um, this binds with testosterone in the blood. And high sex 22:45 hormone binding globbulin equals free or what we or equals less less free active 22:54 testosterone. So you don't want your sex hormone binding globbulin to be high in 22:59 the blood. You want it to be at a functional range so that you have 23:03 available testosterone that can be bound. Okay. And then you have what's 23:07 called luteinizing and focular stimulating hormone. These are pituitary 23:12 hormones and they signal the testes to produce 23:16 testosterone. So when you have low levels of LH or FSH that means your 23:22 pituitary is not functioning, not just your testicles. So there is a cascade of 23:28 things that you test in men uh blood workwise that gives you a full picture 23:33 of why. And so when you're testing for testosterone, you should be testing for 23:39 all of the androgens, the DHEA, the estrogen levels, what type of estrogen, 23:46 your sex hormone binding globbulin, your free testosterone, your total 23:50 testosterone, your luteinizing hormone, and your fulcular stimulating hormone. 23:55 All of those should be tested. I always throw in the full thyroid panel, vitamin 24:00 D, and a few other bells and whistles that we'll get to later. 24:05 So when you test for testosterone there is a few things that I look at. Number 24:11 one is total testosterone which measures all circulating testosterone which is 24:16 both bound and unbound. So available and not available already kind of utilized. 24:21 The free testosterone only makes up 1 to 3% of 24:25 the total but it's the biologically active form. And so it's important and 24:31 sometimes more important than the total because if you don't have any 24:36 biologically available testosterone to actually bind, we have an issue. So 24:42 again looking at the SHBG, the LH, the FSH and the estradiol, your estrogens, 24:50 your DHEA sulfate in the form of sulfate, all important. So we had to 24:55 look at functional lab ranges. So if you have your labs right now, you can bring
Hormone Interactions and Blood Work to Check 24:59 those up and we're going to talk about them. So your total testosterone, your 25:03 lab range is going to go from 250 to,00 normal. I'm here to tell you 25:12 clinically, my personal opinion, men under 600 don't feel 25:18 well. So, if you're running at four, you're running at 25:22 three on your total, and it'll say total testosterone, you're low. You're not 25:28 going to feel great. If we look at free testosterone, the lab ranges can run 5 25:34 to 21. I will tell you, men under 20 or excuse me, under 15, they don't feel 25:41 great. So, we have to look at more of a functional range than a normal range. 25:49 Normal's too broad broad. I talk about this all the time. Plus, we need to see 25:53 changes. We need to see You might feel terrible at 15, great at 17 when we're 25:59 talking about free testosterone, but a little bit angry and 26:03 moody at 25. So, that's too high for you. So, this is what I'm talking about. 26:09 When we use natural products, peptides, or even 26:14 TRT, you have to have a practitioner that will run the numbers for you, that 26:19 will look at the functional ranges and the small changes where you feel good 26:25 because every body is different. We have to look at how is your overall 26:34 symptomology, the libido, the energy, the mood and also what are your numbers 26:42 expressing and we got to find the magic where the symptoms are gone and you feel 26:48 great and the numbers are stable. That's your optimal. And it looks different for 26:53 a lot of people depending on height, size, weight. It's also going to change 26:59 with your fitness level. I will tell you that people will start coming to me 27:04 with, you know, levels of four or 500 and we get them up to 600 700, they 27:09 start working out, they put on more muscle mass and they start to feel bad 27:13 again. They may need more testosterone because they've put on more muscle mass. 27:19 So, we have to also look at the fact that your body's needs change as you 27:26 become healthier. Some people feel fine. So again, 27:30 individualized protocols. These are not blanket statements. These are not things 27:34 where I'm like this is the exact number. It's going to be very different. There 27:38 are things that we can do um such as natural pathways, peptides, etc. that we 27:46 can utilize so that you have choices in your health. Very important. One of the 27:53 things that I want to talk about with um estrogens in men, which really gets 28:00 swept to the side, you know, we talk a lot about testosterone and 28:05 DHEA. Those are manly hormones. But in men, estrogen's not produced directly. 28:12 It's converted from testosterone as we talked about. This isn't necessarily 28:16 balanced because it's the balance that's going to support bone density, libido, 28:21 vascular health, and neurop protection. If you have too little, you're going to 28:25 have joint pain. If you have too much, you're going to have uh more feminine 28:31 qualities. But estrogen is still important to you guys. So, we don't want 28:35 any estrogen, like zero. One of the things that I see happening with TRT, 28:40 and I want to address this because it's important, is that they will also get 28:45 put on an estrogen inhibitor, a medication that lowers estrogen. I 28:52 personally, unless their estrogen is super high, am not a fan of that 28:57 strategy. I'm a fan of if you need TRT, testosterone replacement therapy, of 29:04 doing some natural products that will help with the conversion and slowing 29:10 down that that aromatase uh 29:14 naturally. I am also a fan of understanding like why, right? But I'm 29:20 not a fan of medicating down unless it's getting to a point where it's dangerous 29:26 and something else that I'm unaware of. There are ways that you can utilize 29:30 natural products to help with conversion and lower estrogen in men and optimize 29:36 testosterone. Even if you're using TRT, but I personally am not a fan of 29:41 medications that lower estrogen in men. I'm just not. So aromatase, I've talked 29:48 about that a couple times. This is 29:52 upregulated. So that enzyme that is going to convert testosterone to 29:56 estrogen, right? The way that that happens in men is when you have 30:02 increased body fat. So you're eating the standard American diet. When you have 30:07 insulin resistance, this aromatase enzyme is upregulated, meaning 30:12 testosterone is going to convert to estrogen fast. and hard 30:17 alcohol, chronic stress and xenoestrogens. Those are fake 30:23 estrogens that are toxic that will hijack receptor sites and amplify 30:28 aromatase enzyme to convert tes testosterone to estrogen in men. 30:34 You get those from plastic bottles, um, body washes that have high 30:41 xenoestrogens, cologn. Think about deodorants. Think about all the things 30:45 that you're putting on your skin. Guys, it's really important that you pay 30:49 attention. You know, this whole like men's body wash that you can smell 42 30:54 feet away. I'm sure that's great, guys. Switch to a castile soap or something 30:58 natural. You should be using natural deodorants. You should be, you know, 31:05 absolutely making sure that your colog or don't use them at all. You smell good 31:10 enough as long as you're showering. Like some of you guys, you need you need some 31:14 lessons on showering. No, I'm just kidding. So, really important. Think 31:19 about it. Um, also the coping mechanisms that you've developed, right? The the 31:24 few beers after work or hitting the bars, like all of that's going to lead
Functional Ranges, Estrogen Balance, and TRT Considerations 31:28 to insulin resistance. is going to congest the liver. It's going to slow 31:33 down your metabolic processes. It's going to impact your gut health and it's 31:37 going to slow everything else down anyway. So, when you have high estrogen 31:42 in men, because of this insulin resistance, because of this issue of 31:47 increased body fat and increasing the aromatase 31:52 enzyme that takes testosterone and converts it to estrogen, which is not 31:56 what we want. A little bit, but not a lot. bitting these people that have 32:02 these habits, eat poorly, have insulin resistance or drink too much under 32:05 chronic stress, etc., you can get what's called gyneastia, which is male breast 32:10 tissue. So, when I see somebody with male breast tissue, and I'm seeing this 32:14 a lot more in kids, I know that they're estrogen dominant because they're 32:20 experiencing insulin resistance because of what they're 32:24 eating and their body converts testoster testosterone to estrogen because their 32:30 aromatase enzyme is amplified. 32:34 So this also will lead to a lot of irritability, brain fog, fatigue. Um you 32:41 get this negative feedback to the hypothalamus into the 32:45 pituitary that you have enough estrogen so it inhibits testosterone because the 32:51 aromatase is so high and you get stuck in this functional loop. When we look at 32:56 estrogens on blood work, we're looking at estradiol, which is E2, or in-depth 33:04 estrogen metabolite breakdown, which is in what we call a Dutch test. Now, a 33:10 Dutch test we usually associate with women, but guys, we can do Dutch tests 33:15 on you because I need to know all your other hormones, too. Now, they're going 33:19 to look different on the scale than a woman, but we need to know. So, there's 33:25 different types of estrogen. We need to know that. Total testosterone versus 33:29 free. We need to know that. Your DHEA, we need to know that. I need to know 33:32 your cortisol levels. I need to know your sex hormone binding globbulin, your 33:36 FH, your FSH, all the things. Very important. So, I just wanted to address 33:41 that because estrogen is not talked about enough uh when we talk about uh 33:47 men's health and men's hormones, but gymastia is a big issue. It's a big 33:52 issue in our kids based in insulin resistance. And I say personally that 33:58 PCOS in women even without the cyst, right? Polycystic ovarian syndrome is 34:04 really based in insulin resistance. That's what it 34:08 is. And so you get the cystic like ovaries due to long-term insulin 34:14 resistance. Some women don't even get the cystic ovaries, but they're still 34:18 diagnosed with PCOS because their testosterone shoots up. Because for 34:21 women, it goes the other way. We go from estrogen and all of a sudden we we're 34:25 we're bound up in testosterone because our testosterone 34:30 gets converted way down to lots of estrogen and sometimes we get stuck 34:34 because we don't have the aromatase because it gets inhibited by the insulin 34:39 resistance. The same with men. It's like the opposite. But your gymastia is like 34:45 the PCOS of men, right? You just don't have ovaries. But anyway, that is kind 34:50 of how I explain it to men. You still have conversion issues just like women, 34:55 hormone imbalance issues just like women, mood issues just like women. It's 35:01 just not as apparent because you guys, I think, are better at hiding your 35:04 emotions where we women, we're just all out there on you all the time. And we're 35:09 kind of sorry about that. But that's just how God created us. 35:13 So, all of this to say that we have this path of 35:18 vital vital information for you right now to find a practitioner that can do 35:26 some functional blood work or even a Dutch test for you as a man. Let's find 35:32 out where not only your testosterone is and your free testosterone, but where 35:36 your cortisol is, where your estrogens are, your DHEA, and all your other 35:40 hormones so that you have a path to a longevity type of lifestyle where your 35:49 cells are aging beautifully, you don't have joint pain, you can put on lots of 35:55 muscle mass, you have good mood, you have good cognitive abilities, you don't 36:01 have cardio iovascular issues. You don't have any type of adrenal issues, fatigue 36:06 issues, energy issues, libido issues, ED issues. Like you feel good and you feel 36:14 good through the decades. That's what we want for you. Trust me, every woman, 36:18 every woman wants that for you. Every single one we do. And 36:22 then you as a man will feel more 36:27 motivated, stronger, healthier, more confident. You will look 36:33 better and you will absolutely 100% have better quality life. That's 36:40 what we all want.
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