Sex, Intimacy, Hormones And The Link With Mitochondria

Introduction and Guest Background 0:00

Welcome back to the Restore Your Mitochondrial Matrix discussion. I'm your host, Laura Frontera. I'm bringing you experts to help you boost your energy and fix your health so you can build the life you love. And today, my special guest is Doctor Anna Quebecer, aka the girlfriend doctor. Eye doctor. Welcome to the summit. It is great to be here with you, Laura. Thank you. Oh my gosh, this is going to be such a fun discussion. You're an expert in all things women's health. And we're going to talk about hormones and keto.

And we're going to we're going to go all over the place. We're going to talk about sex and intimacy and the link between mitochondria. This is going to be a really fun talk today. I want to officially introduce you to our audience who doesn't already know you. You're a triple board certified and a fellow of gynecology and obstetrics, integrative medicine, and anti-aging and regenerative medicine. You have special certifications, if that isn't enough, in functional medicine, sexual health, and bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.

And for the last 20 years, you've served 10,000 and more and counting women in your private practice and millions more millions through your books, online videos and articles. It's such a pleasure to have you here. It is great to be here with you. And it's an honor because this topic of mitochondria is is essential. You know, one of the things and I love this, when you told me about your summit and what you were talking about, it's number one. If we can get to the cellular level, we fix everything else.

Everything else gets better. And when we have good energy, we have more passion, right? We have more pleasure in life. And we we feel more at home in our bodies. Yes. I think that's what many of the women watching and many of the men want for their for their significant others and partners as well. This is what it's all about. And that's why I say we're we're we're at the summit so you can fix your health and build the life you love. Because it's all about joy and enjoying the journey, right? I mean, then that brings us to oxytocin, the most powerful anti-aging hormone that fixes everything.

Let's talk about it. What's the deal with oxytocin? So oxytocin, all of us like to qualify. Oxytocin is, you know, very different than oxycodone. So we're not talking about pain really. Although oxytocin, which is the hormone of love and longevity, is a natural pain reliever. It's a hormone we give off during childbirth in abundance. That makes us forget the pain of childbirth. So it has that analgesic and amnestic effect, right?

Oxytocin, Love, and Longevity 2:37

But it's also it's also what I found through my work. It opposes cortisol. And it's the one of the most alkaline izing hormones of our body. So at the cellular level, it does a lot to repair our body and give us that energy. And oxytocin, let's say. And it's given off during orgasm, during laughter, during play. All of these great things, when you pet your dog and when your kitty cat gets in your lap and it's, you know, when you hug your spouse or when your children crawl in your lap, that's when you get an oxytocin burst.

And, as are other ways that we can get it because it sounds like we want more of this. Oh my goodness, we do. And certainly sex and intimacy, hugging, kissing those are big ways and all the ways you mentioned and the things that we know that increase longevity and quality of life. Healthy community, good quality, healthy marriage. And you know, there's the saying when you see three times you sneeze the truth. So I am telling the truth. Y'all up here sneezing. I'm trying to mute myself during the sneezes.

But I just came back from the, horse. We have horses, Laura. And so that's another way, you know, being with animals, like you said, like pets. That's another way to increase oxytocin. And, we've got we have horses. We have dogs coming back from the horse ranch. I'm just clearing out my sinuses. Oh, that's just fine. You got your oxytocin hit. Is there a way to get oxytocin in a capsule, in a cream? In a bike? How do you get it? Where do you find it? What is it? Definitely want to make it through gratitude, through prayer, through meditation.

Those are ways, right? Through doing things you enjoy. But the things that take it down is that cortisol. So one of the things like this has been part of my journey, and I write about this in my books, that when I had, you know, trauma in my life and I had significant PTSD, PTSD for a long time, that cortisol goes up, right? When cortisol, cortisol goes up, oxytocin goes down, right. You're in stress mode. Not the time to connect, right. When cortisol, the most acidifying hormone in our body, though, you know, it's like a little robber.

It's there to help immediately. But for two, if you have it for too long, it starts breaking down your cells. And, you know, I always say it's the key that unlocks the door to healthy cell membranes and healthy boundaries. So it is it is that, you know, it's problematic. But when it's up for too long, gear repair, ventricular nucleus in the brain will shut it down. So. Hey, cortisol, you're freaking me out. So it's not that the the adrenal glands, which produce cortisol, the stuff that they, wear out, it's that they're, you know, you're suppressing their function.

And that's what prolonged stress does. So when cortisol is up for a long time, your PBN shuts it down. But at the same time your oxytocin is shut down too. So you have this dangerous state where cortisol slow and oxytocin slow at the same time. So you tend to be very acidic, very inflamed, and also but emotionally you're disconnected. You stop enjoying the things that you really love to do, the things that you know brought a smile to your face and you don't want to you don't even want to do those things anymore.

And so, so that that, imbalance is critical. So to get rid of that, we have to, number one, manage stress, compartmentalize, manage, meditate, do all those good things and do everything that does increase oxytocin so you know, things that make you laugh, people that you love being around you. We need to take that extra step, pet. More intimacy, those healthy intimacy. Those are great ways to increase oxytocin. And we know from the blue zones that healthy community is another another key factor that increases longevity.

It's one of the blue zone characteristics. And so with that that comes oxytocin. So again when you're sitting at a table and drinking a glass of wine, but you're with all your friends with the glass of wine that is anti-aging. Or is it the friends that you're with laughing and enjoying each other that is increasing oxytocin, that creates that longevity? And I would say it is that, that's so good. Well, so we've covered all the ways you can increase it naturally. Is it such a thing to supplement it?

Is that something that people do to support if they need more? Yeah. So initially when I had my own journey, one of the things that I started doing was adding back some oxytocin. So I wrote prescriptions for it. I compounded it into a Cherokee, a passage that you can take. You can use it in between your cheek and thumb, and you can take oxytocin that way. You can also use it vaginally or in a nasal spray. So those are those are good ways. And one way to test is certainly well first of all, you can you know, any of the symptoms loss of pleasure anhedonia chronic fatigue increased decreased connection like lack depression, all of those things, are a sign and that you may be oxytocin deficient.

The other thing is pale skin, cold hands. And and for example, Asperger's or autistic disorders are naturally oxytocin insufficient. So increasing oxygen, you know, using oxytocin as a, you know, as a supplement while you're working on getting these, life factors back in place, healing your physiology, healing your mitochondria while you're doing that, getting a prescription for oxytocin. And I'll tell you a story because I've used oxytocin, I mean, gosh, for over 20 years, I use it initially for sexual health to help with orgasm and pleasure.

And it was, you know, some people respond really well and others don't. And the way I started testing was to do an oxytocin injection. So I had, a client who I'd been treating with oxytocin. She came to me one day and she goes, you know, my son, he's on the spectrum. And, you know, he's just. But he was just, you know, not doing much, wasn't going outside. And he was 22 years old, and he lost his essential drive for life. And so she gave him one of her oxytocin. They first don't tell me that you did that.

And so she brought him in for an evaluation. So the first thing I did, like, you know, I gave I gave a questionnaire, it's my oxytocin quiz. I gave him a questionnaire and then gave him an injection of oxytocin to mix it. If you're as a physician, you want to mix it with lidocaine if you're going to give an oxytocin injection, first of all, because you're just doing it to test, but it burns. So you mix it with a little lidocaine. And I was sitting there with him and he was pale, wouldn't look at me.

And in the eyes, hands were cold and clammy and within like a couple minutes he just looked me in. The eyes started smiling. His ears picked up. That's another sign. A little flesh on the chest. Like if you had an orgasm, for instance. Another sign. And so he was. He showed a positive reaction to oxytocin. And so I knew this was one thing that he would benefit from. And while we I usually say 3 to 6 months of supplemental oxytocin, but then you should have these other, you know, habits in place to naturally increase your oxytocin too.

And it was again, it was just changed his life. She came up like just four weeks later. She said, he's got a job. He's outside playing football again. He's doing a lot of fun stuff. Imagine. I mean, it seems to me that all of Catholic medicine is missing the mark where all of these, you know, people that are suffering from depression, and taking prescription drugs that cause all kinds of terrible side effects, side effects, they might just be able to get their life back and feel better. If they had a doctor who knew about prescribing oxytocin to support them, that's what comes to mind.

Yeah, make a difference. But then again, everything we do on a daily basis. So one of my oxytocin increasing practices, I don't supplement with it anymore. But what am I. Oxytocin increasing practices before I even open my eyes and get out of bed I think where did I see love yesterday? Where did I feel love? Where was I loving and really focusing on that? Where did I laugh? Or could I have laughed more at a situations that brings up laughter and that sense of and it lowers cortisol? It absolutely does.

And what I noticed is, as I went through my own journey, and one of the things I talk about as being keto green, like my book getting alkaline and in ketosis at the same time, is that when we do these oxytocin increasing practices, we have more, we have more, we're more alkaline.

Supplementing Oxytocin and Stress Recovery 11:30

Check your urine. You're more alkaline all day. And that's that's the difference. Cortisol increases, the acidity of the urine. Oxytocin decreases, the acidity increases the alkalinity of the urine. So that's just powerful medicine, because we know with a more alkaline urine, you have less metabolic disease, less mitochondrial disease, you know, less, you know, diabetes, heart disease, less cancer, less inflammation. And we see that all around, and especially midlife. I mean, we want to enjoy our life.

We've worked really hard. We've had some traumas in our lives. It's time to shed that old skin and really emerge from this, you know, the reproductive stage of our life into the second spring of our lives. Absolutely. Now, I wanted to talk to you about To green, but I also have a burning question while we were talking about how you were using, oxytocin vaginally. And, you know, we were talking, you know, earlier and I, we wanted to really cover sex and intimacy and hormones and the link with mitochondria.

So I want to put a pin in Quito Green for just a second and cover this topic. And then I want to go back to Quito. Okay. Okay. Fantastic. Yeah. So what is the link there. So so well number one it's that that longevity hormone. So increasing oxytocin increases longevity when it comes to sexual health. Two it's again that cellular that cellular function. And our hormones definitely affect our cellular function. Right. Our hormones actually increasing our mitochondrial function or energy. And the big is is decreasing cortisol.

So when we have more like when we have more oxytocin in our life, we have more nitric oxide in our life, we have more, you know, it's just that anti-aging, so healthy cellular regeneration. There was a study that looked at oxytocin in in muscle and aged muscles. So in 70 year olds and looked at, increasing oxytocin and what effect that had on their muscle cell. And we saw muscle cell regeneration and older than 70 year old cells. So I think that's just one of the key things. And when it comes to vaginal health, you know, again, we get a lot of oxytocin with orgasm.

And of course with pleasure. So if we're having discomfort every time we do something that's not going to serve our oxytocin at all. So decreasing vaginal dryness and, discomfort with intercourse, it's another big factor. Another big factor there. Yeah. Thank you for covering that. So all right so Quito. So I have Quito Green here. This is one of your books. You also have a cook. You also have a cookbook, a menu pause cookbook. But this book in particular is it. Men can use this. However, you wrote this with women in mind and you started to talk about the importance of keto, an alkaline lifestyle.

And this is really important with mitochondria as well, because keto, is one of the strategies we can use to help with, regenerating the health of mitochondria. So can you give us kind of an idea of if there's a healthy way to do keto, there's a not healthy way to do keto. This book is all about a healthy way to do it. So maybe break that down for us. Yeah. So I'll start with like a little story about how I even created it. So I was going through, I would say, a second menopause at age 40, a perimenopause, full blown symptomatic with brain fog at 48 and weight gain without doing anything different.

Right. So a metabolic stall and, you know, mood swings, anxiety, irritability, depression, hot. It's just all the symptoms that just to not add to quality of life. Plus I had two teenage daughters and a wee one in elementary school. So life was crazy. And just a little backstory as I was diagnosed with early menopause and premature ovarian failure at age 39, I failed the highest doses of infertility meds I was told I would never be able to have another child. Oh, wow. Yeah. And so when to reverse that through many of the things that I've taught.

And then at 48, I was cycling down again into this other spiral and I was like, okay, this is why I write in my first book, The Hormone Fix, that it takes more than hormones to fix your hormones. It's so true. It takes more than hormones to fix your hormones. And, and, so at at that time, I was like, I was devastated because I'm great. I'm doing everything right. What? I'm what's wrong here? And our our hormones start to shift and insulin, and we become more insulin resistant and cortisol becomes more dominant as our reproductive hormones start to drain.

Right? I start to decline. And so with that, I was up and I started gaining. I gained 20 pounds without doing anything different. And I had been well over 240 pounds, had lost 80 pounds, kept it off for quite, you know, for quite a long while. And and that weight gain was terrifying. So that took me into the keto journey, which I was very familiar with because I low carbohydrate diets for my Candida patients and keto. I have a my first daughter has a seizure disorder. So I knew about keto for brain health.

And so I strictly went keto and I was like, okay, I'm cutting out all carbs, being very strict, and I felt what I call keto cranky or keto crazy. And I said I had two teenage daughters and you cannot lose your cool when you've got, you know, when you've got teenage girls at home, they will manipulate you. And so, I but I was like, why is this happening? And that's why I was checking your for and I was checking ketones and I knew I was in ketosis and I started checking your MPH was something I told my patients to do, and I used to do on a regular basis.

And I was at my urine was as acidic as the paper red. And for me, that was an moment because I was like, no wonder I'm feeling cranky and inflamed and, you know, I feel like I'm hitting a wall and I can't live this way. So I just started adding the alkaline was the sauteed b greens, kale soup, sprouts, all the cruciferous vegetables, low carbohydrate greens and alkaline icers to help support that key factor in my physiology. And I felt amazing. I started feeling more amazing. And what I also recognized, those mornings I would walk on the beach or and do that gratitude journaling I was my urine was more alkaline each day.

So with Keto Green, I talk about this because it's not just about what we eat. You know, that's key, but it's also our mindset that's huge.

Keto Green and Metabolic Flexibility 18:18

And it's even more important midlife and midlife. We have to focus on these things because progesterone, our natural protective brain hormone, is declining from our mid 30s. And we start to get those worsening PMS symptoms or Perimenopausal symptoms. And that's a sign. So when I when I did this, I felt amazing that I lost the extra weight. But more importantly, I felt like everything else, nothing in my external environment had changed. So I had two teenage daughters, still was burned out from my practice, but I had this mental clarity again.

That sharpness, my edge, back and weight, my hormones were dialed in. So was this ketosis that really lit up my brain, but in a healthy way with the outcome. Amazing factor, which is so much it's even it's important for men, but it's even more important for women. Men have the protective hormone testosterone ten times as much as women do, and that testosterone is anabolic. It builds up your muscles, keeps you strong, keeps your muscles strong, keeps your bones strong. Women, we have less. So the organizing factor as important it is for men, it's even more so for women.

And it's not just the ketogenic diet, it's getting into ketosis. It's getting into that fat burning state. And in that state, our really it lights up our brains when we're in that healthy state. And what I found out after the fact with more research was that in perimenopause and menopause, because progesterone and estrogen are declining, that you need estrogen. And I think more specifically progesterone for that muscle cell health, right, for the muscle and brain to be able to use glucose for fuel.

So we become less efficient at using glucose for fuel. And we think and our bodies like give me more glute, our brain like give me more glucose, give me more glucose so we can have more carbohydrate craving. But it's actually if we shift to using ketones it is not hormonal. Use of ketones for fuel is not hormone dependent. It is not hormone dependent. All our cells become more efficient, our cells repair better, we have higher. We vibrate at a higher level. And so I experience what I call that peace that surpasses all understanding.

It talks about that in the Bible. And I was like, oh my God, nothing in my external environment has changed, but I have this peace and everything. My kids were better. I, you know, that's why it's so important for women especially. You kind of take care of yourself first. Get clear, get your energy. So you're you're vibrating at a higher level and ketones help us do that. Ketones and focusing on getting there in a healthy way. Now this is awesome. You've just given me a whole new imagery for a, for our cells burning fuel efficiently.

I mean, we talk about burning ketones is efficient, like a car that you're using. You know, premium gasoline in instead of something that's, you know, not high octane and that burns dirty. And that's when we're eating our carbohydrates. But just that state of peace that you were able to achieve that brings it to a whole new level. Is it safe to stay on this diet long term? Should it be used? Should people bring back in, carbohydrates, more carbohydrates? You hear about women in hormones and needing carbohydrates for hormones.

So what do you have to say about that? Yeah, definitely. For menstruating women before your menstrual cycle and during ovulation, those are times for higher carbohydrates. Those are times to have to add back a little bit more of the carbohydrates. And like in my new book, menopause, the plans are six day. So seven day, the seventh day you can feast. Or like with keto green 16. It's a 16 day plan. But then I want you to, you know, take a day to, you know, a day or two to explore. We need that metabolic flexibility.

We always need to be able to use glucose, of course, and we always have it circulating. But we need to be able to become more keto adapted. We need to be able to become more efficient at using fat for fuel because it's again, it's like like you said, regular gas is, you know, glucose is to gasoline as ketones are to jet fuel. And that's what we want more of at this time and actually design for more of that. And if you think about it through history, the time for spiritual enlightenment, what do people do. They fast, they get into ketosis.

They do. They do. Well this is a great book. It's been out for a while. The Menopause Book is the new one. And I'm sure you can get it at Anna Quebec a.com at at Amazon everywhere right. Yeah. Yeah. Doctor intercom anywhere and anywhere. Books are so doctor. Okay. So, you definitely pick it up. I, I've referred my clients to this book for years, and, I have a copy on the shelf myself, and there's fantastic recipes in that, but, can you share with us? You know, we're talking a lot about menopause and women going through menopause.

And you have a, have a, the way you think and the way you operate and the way you, help people is that you can breeze through it so it doesn't have to be awful. So while we're talking about this book, menopause and what we're talking about this, how do we breeze through menopause. So so number one, it's get keto green get into that keto alkaline keto green really work on that. And it's with healthy fats. And I can talk about what a day in the life looks like in on a keto green plan. But the lifestyle factors are key.

And that's where we do intermittent fasting and we stop snacking. So in menopause and beyond, you know, two meals a day or two meals, you know, two meals and maybe a small meal and a periodically you want to change things up. You don't want to do the same thing every day. That's where we burn out. And that's why, you know, I wrote menu pause to have five different plans that kind of change things up so that we're not doing the same thing. And we're trying we're really helping support our gut microbiome.

We're helping support our mitochondria. We're helping support our hormone detoxification especially. And that becomes really a healthy way to do it. So we need to we do need to change things up. We get in trouble when we're doing the same thing every day. And I know that, you know, you get your favorite foods, your favorite meals, your favorite, whatever becomes easier. But we have to we have to keep that metabolic flexibility. Yeah. So your key is about what you're eating. Yeah. Really eating. Yeah.

Breezing through menopause through you know what you're eating when you're eating it. Like don't eat past 6 or 7 p.m. and, you know, and, and intermittent fasting. It's really and then also the, the oxytocin increasing factors going to say oxytocin. Yeah. You know, it's a are you saying a blessing before you eat. Are you eating slow enough that you're chewing your food and it's dissolving in your mouth before you swallow it to help support digestion and then menopause and beyond? Are you using some bioidentical hormone replenishment?

I like to use the word replenishment versus replacement to support your body. Never want to suppress what our body's able to make, but we need to support it, especially during a time, a major transition, so that we can live our best life. There was some law that had a client who did my magic menopause program, and I love this because she sent me her before and after pictures and her before picture. She's on the couch with a blanket on and she goes, this was me every day after work. She was, I, a renal dialysis nurse.

And she goes, I used to love my work, but I was, you know, I just give everything at work, I come home, I had nothing left for the family. I'm on the couch with a blanket every day. And, And just within a short amount of time, she did her follow up pictures. Her on her, horseback riding. You know, her on horseback, just enjoying life. And she said, you know, I have the energy to do the things that I love to do. She goes, I haven't run my horse in two years. And I was thinking about selling them, and that was one thing.

And the other thing was, she goes, you know, I my not only do I enjoy my family more, but my family enjoys me more. Like they'll come in and go outside with me. We're doing activities together, you know, she said. I was I was living my life on the couch and now I'm really living my life. That's amazing. I yeah, I agree, when I, when I talk to people

Breezing Through Menopause 26:38

and they say what they what their goals that they want, they want to enjoy their time with their loved ones. They want to feel good and energetic, to do hobbies and to travel from time to time. I mean, these are the wishes and the the thoughts that people have about what motivates them to get well. Yeah. And then also changing the way we look at growing older. Right. We want to look at it as the second spring of our life. So breezed through menopause into the second spring of our lives because that we've worked so hard, right.

We've had trauma, we've faced tough situations. So how do we now enjoy the life that we really want to? So it's also that imagery like, what does it mean to get old to you? What is like, I just became a grandma not too long ago, five months. And but the concept I had, a grandma was sick and dead. I didn't know my grandparents. My mom died a year after my firstborn was born and was she'd been struggling with her health, with diabetes and heart disease for the prior 15 years or more, diabetes for 30 years.

And she died at 67, undergoing a second heart surgery. She never got to enjoy, enjoy the things. And so for me, the image, I didn't even realize it. Laura. This just blew my mind. So when I first learned that I was going to become a grandma, it was interesting. You know, I, you know, felt like, okay, well, you know, I'm going to be a strong grandma. I'm going to be healthy for this grandbaby. But when she was born, I was skipping my workouts. I was bringing pastries home. I mean, I was not keto pastries, either.

I was like, but my mom was a baker. And so for me and then I realized, oh my gosh, I'm becoming sick. And I'm becoming, you know, I'm losing the, the, disciplines that I work so hard for what is going on. And I've realized my image of being a grandma was sick and dead, so I had to. I have to constantly reframe my mindset to see myself as not just a grandma, but as a great grandma. You know, flying my kids around, taking trips, hiking mountains and really just enjoying enjoying my life and reframing how I think this second spring of my life looks.

I'm really claiming that in a beautiful, healthy way. And once I realize that. So I mean, that just just changed everything. And you're okay. Yeah, crazy. But it is that image. It's that image of what we, you know, the subconscious is 95% of our our thoughts are from the subconscious. So we have to reprogram the subconscious. And it takes that takes that, you know, that awareness first of all. And and it's amazing and I tell you, I was just speaking at, keto Conference in Austin, Texas, and, Mindy pals had come up to me and she talks about she talked about this on, on stage.

She goes, Anna, what are you doing? You look amazing. And I said, well, thank you. I and she goes, what are you doing? And I said, you know, honestly, it's oxytocin. It's this grandbaby in the house that is just like gives me a daily dose of unconditional love. And it's just yummy, right? It's this yumminess. And, that certainly is again, the biggest longevity hormone in our body. So as much as we can incorporate the thoughts that bring us joy, control of those thoughts, compartmentalize the, you know, compartment allies or, or become aware of the negative thoughts.

And there's so much right that we can be worried about in our days, especially now that we really start to reprogram that so that cortisol does not take hold and suck the joy out of our lives. Oh my gosh, this has been so good. You are one sexy grandma to Anna. Thank you. Here I am. Yeah. You're incredible and you're such a stand for women. Living, the absolute best life that they possibly can. And and I'm so inspired because I'm entering that second, you know, phase of my life. I'm going to be. I'm.

I'm perimenopausal. I'll be 50 this year. I'll be headed into menopause. And I really feel like I'm just getting started. There's so much ahead of me. And it gets to be the best phase of my life. And live it in the healthiest way possible, right? Yeah, it it's pretty. It's pretty amazing when, you know, you eavesdrop other conversations when you're out and with family and stuff and you hear about people talking about medications they're on or and even just in science or consulting with clients that know how much we've given our power away.

Yeah. And as women, we we, you know, and I love what you do because it's about empowering women to live their best life. Yeah. And and we do that not with a prescription pad or surgical procedure right now. We don't. This has been amazing. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and all you do to advance wellness and health and women and families and men too, because they all benefit from everything you're teaching. So tell everybody again where we can find you and you have a whole line of amazing products.

You have the most amazing lip product that I've been using lately. That is just amazing. I mean, you've got everything good that we women want, so where do we get it? So my website is Doctor Entercom. So doctor and then A.com and but find me on social media too at the golf and doctor on Instagram. I'm on TikTok on Facebook. We have a thriving, growing community. And my girlfriend doctor share my podcast. Great. Thanks so much. You take good care now, Hannah. Thank you. Bye.