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Charge Forward Podcast
The Charge Forward Podcast: Dedicated to those who choose to Charge Forward into the Storm when hit with challenges. This is what makes them different and has lead to their success. When in doubt.... Charge Forward!
Charge Forward Podcast
Wellness for Life: Real Conversations on Health, Family & Longevity
What happens when you finally draw a line in the sand with your health?
In this special episode of The Charge Forward Podcast, host Jim Cripps—who’s lost over 80 pounds himself—recaps powerful conversations with guests who’ve transformed their bodies, minds, and families. Joined by voices like Colby Jubenville PhD, James & Melissa Smith, Holly Hartly, Nick & Rhiannon Hiter, Steve & Bre Price, Chris Neville, and Dr. Michael Meighen, this episode brings together the best lessons and breakthroughs from our ongoing health series.
🔥 What you’ll learn in this episode:
- Why small, consistent choices—like apple cider vinegar at dawn or morning functional fitness—create momentum that fuels bigger wins.
- How blood sugar regulation impacts fertility, mental clarity, and long-term disease prevention (with over 50% of Americans struggling with insulin resistance).
- The power of intermittent fasting, from daily 16:8 routines to quarterly 3-day resets, and how these protocols sharpen focus and performance.
- How parents are raising health-conscious kids by teaching them macronutrients, cooking skills, and the why behind nutrition—shaping a new generation.
- A crash course in peptides, PRP treatments, and regenerative medicine with Dr. Michael Meighen—what they are, why they matter, and how they’re changing health optimization.
💡 The message is clear: taking ownership of your health today is like maintaining your vehicle—preventative care now keeps you running stronger, longer.
Whether you’re looking to lose weight, sharpen your performance, or set a healthier example for your family, this episode gives you both the inspiration and the tactical roadmap to start your transformation.
👉 Ready to charge forward with your health? Listen now for the insights that could change your body, your mindset, and your future.
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🌟 Rosema
What it means to be healthy, but your health journey. When did you make that commitment? When did you make that turn?
Speaker 2:Health.
Speaker 1:And Melissa, I know this is much more in your realm. We can eat so much healthier at home. What are some of the things that you're doing for your health that are part of your regiment? I was 305. Oh yeah, so as I sit here today, I'm what? 80, 90 pounds lighter.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Now, you touched on it a minute ago, but health is a big deal to you these days.
Speaker 4:Well, I mean yeah, it's been a big deal throughout my whole life. I just wasn't real committed to it.
Speaker 5:That's right.
Speaker 4:Until I met you. Actually, I mean, I'm serious, I'm not saying this because there's some really cool brand and banner behind you that says charge forward. You know, I mean I love the branding here, but talking to you in those early days about you going, I want to say Roatan, is that?
Speaker 1:right.
Speaker 4:I mean to get your health, and then the hyper focus that you have and the cold plunges and the vitamins and all the things that you do.
Speaker 4:I said to myself I got to draw a line of the sand. The line of the sand for me was Mary Burke. My daughter started going, mb started going to this thing called F 45 and it's functional fitness, and I think it's it's functional fitness with people that have ADD, because it's 45 minutes and you are going through a cycle, a progression, every one, two, three minutes, and so she's like she came home and she, man, if anybody knows me little MB knows me and she's like dad, you got this, is your place, you got to go to this. And so I started going to that and I came home and you want to talk about your confidence is under attack every day and one of the things I know we have to do is help people, teach people how to develop, protect and maintain their confidence. And so, starting my day off and you can see that I'm prepared for today and which I know you're proud of for me to do that but it starts with apple cider vinegar at 4.30 am.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 4:At 5.15, I'm out the door and I'm at F45. At 6, I'm done, and usually he's calling me at like 6.15 to talk about what's got to happen for the day so that the five different businesses he owns will win for the day. And so there's client calls, and this is all before the sun comes up. And as the sun comes up I'm going home or I'm going to my next coffee meeting with my good friend Jason Wheeler and um, and moving into the next meeting and the next meeting and the next meeting, and so you look up and there's just a series of of private victories that happened through the day, and we know that private victories lead to public victories. We call them Jason and I call them mini wins, and it was one of the first concepts that I taught to him. I brought him a thing of coupons. I said, man, when your confidence is down, these coupons right here, these coupons are mini wins. I got a coupon to Waffle House. Dude, do you know a lot of people that have coupons to Waffle House? Dude, do you know a lot of people that have coupons to Waffle House? I mean, this is a big deal, man, because, man, many wins.
Speaker 4:And so when the chips are down. What do we say? Many wins. But the many wins start with the health, and for me it was apple cider vinegar, f45, and then Restore. And Restore is something that I've been to in the last two years and I started doing NADs and drips and I mean, if I'm telling myself the truth, dude, you're the one that got me going on all that. So I'm charging forward in my health because Jim made me charge forward. How about that?
Speaker 1:Now we touched on it just briefly, but health and, Melissa, I know this is much more in your realm. What are some of the things that you're doing for your health that are part of your regimen?
Speaker 6:I try to work out five days a week. Okay, an hour would be great. Sometimes I don't have an hour, but I do what I can Strength training. You know, when I was in my 30s and 40s it was, oh, I want to look a certain way. So I'm going to work out to make that happen. Now, when I see the health that my mom was in before she passed and the health that his mom is in now, I want to be strong. So I do a lot of, a lot of strength training now, a lot more than I used to, because I want to be able to sit down and get up and hold my grandchildren and play with them as I get older.
Speaker 6:So you watch what you eat and you try to eat clean. And you know there's all of this diet that's bad for you now. And you know we did find that there is something to that because we went to Europe and ate what we wanted and came back and we weighed less when we got back than we did when we left, because the food over there is different. So we've really been careful about trying to eat clean foods, you know, without the organic, you know the organic foods, those kinds of things and then just, even if it's just a walk, you know, a half hour walk a day, if that's all you have time for that's better than nothing.
Speaker 8:She dances in the pool. That's what she does, I do.
Speaker 6:I like to do water aerobics and I just get in there and play because it's fun.
Speaker 8:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 6:You know, there's no.
Speaker 8:I think generally the message was there's no, uh, there's no magic secret or something you can buy on TikTok shop or something like that. That's right, it's just old fashioned hour of cardio or hour of strength, right? And then, uh, and then we just tend to eat better, eat more natural food and eat it better, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 6:Yeah, and I do it first thing in the morning, okay. I try to make sure that I start the day that way because, you know, I mean, I retired last year First time in my life. I've never, you know, I've ever not worked Sure, and I had in my head that I was, oh, I could work out two hours a day when this happens. Well, no, that didn't happen. Things come up Sure. So I make sure that I get my required time in before I go do anything in the mornings.
Speaker 1:Okay Now. Are you working out at the house? Are you doing a class somewhere? What's what's your? What's your favorite thing?
Speaker 6:Well, right now I work out at the house. There's a gym upstairs. We had the upstairs finished and it's a full gym and I use um less meals. Um, it's a a workout program, um out of the UK, I think, um, but many years ago, through gym memberships, uh, they offer strength training, uh body combat, which is like a kickboxing class, um a dance class, and so I subscribed to that and it's like a hundred dollars a year yeah. And it's just I stream it.
Speaker 1:Half the probably three quarters of the gym upstairs belongs to me, because it's just open floor you know, as is the rest of the house when you first show up to crossfit, it is a little cold and I feel like there's a certain amount of sweat that has to leave your body before everybody's like, oh, you're supposed to be here, but once you do and it's not like, and it's not like there's.
Speaker 1:It's not like there's somebody's measuring it or whatever but like there's a day when, all of a sudden, this is where you're supposed to be, these are your people. You cheer them on, they cheer you on. You may have your best day ever, and somebody's there like, oh my God, like that's like I remember. So a text came out this morning about um. Was it formal or or whatever?
Speaker 6:is coming up.
Speaker 1:And last year, out of left field, I had no anticipation of this, Uh, but we'll.
Speaker 1:Came over and he was like Austin and I talked about it and we felt like you should have gotten rookie of the year or whatever because you have improved so much, and like there was nothing that like that wasn't prompted by anything. Literally, I was like, oh my God, I was shook to my core and they gave specific examples of you weren't able to do this, and now you're able to do this and I was like, oh my God, like these are my people. Yep, and so somebody out there if somebody thinks it's a cult, it is absolutely not. It's not like you are compelled to do anything you don't want to do because like the workouts and I get how it can be seen as extreme. But if you come in specifically, like in the nine o'clock, you're going to see Miss Pam, at 72 years old, doing the same workout but with a much lower weight and obviously with lower intensity. You're going to see somebody like yourself, a very fit female, just maybe having a PR. That day you should accept the compliment I'm telling you.
Speaker 1:And then somebody like Will or Zach or Austin or Murphy I mean I know I'm leaving out others, so, ryan, I mean there's plenty of them. And then somebody like me that you know I was 305 for the bulk of my adult life and, in 2018, had just a what should have been a fantastic day, and everything in that day pointed to the fact that I was going to die young and that I was leading my family wrong, and so I got on this path. I lost the weight, but I look like a melted candle because I did it just all in that and then went to the gym did OK there, but it wasn't until I found CrossFit and Miles, I think you have the best saying.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you stole it from somebody or what, I don't even care. You say it's the heaviest door in Pleasant View is the door to CrossFit, and I think that's true for about the first 10 days and then after that, like you, want to be there.
Speaker 1:Like this is my busy time, and so you've probably noticed I've I've been absent and it stresses me out, um, but it's fantastic. And you learn to do things, not that you ever, I'm not saying you know some of the exercises I don't like doing that's with anything but I'm more capable as a dad, as a just a human. Um, all those things because of what we do absolutely.
Speaker 10:And I would say to those people that think it's a cult, I challenge you to come, come for like a week. Yeah, just show up show up and then let me know if you still think it's a cult. You know like give it a chance.
Speaker 1:You know, the other thing that I find interesting is the there's a different feel at different times of the day. You know, I'm usually either in the nine o'clock or the four 30.
Speaker 10:Same.
Speaker 1:Occasionally it'll be the six o'clock, but that's, that's if, like I, just there's no other way. I'm never at the 5am or the 6am.
Speaker 1:Nope, I don't function the 5 am or the 6 am. Nope, I don't function at that time. And I do get that because a couple people have been to multiple. They're like it's really kind of like almost systematic at 5 and 6 am. And my response was who's up for being lively in the life of the party at 5 and 6 am? Almost nobody. So if that's when you've got to get your workout in, it's not going to be as lively as the 9 am or the 4.30 or even the 6 o'clock.
Speaker 8:Right.
Speaker 1:Has health always been a big factor in your life, or was that just once you got here, or what did that look like?
Speaker 10:I don't think it really became a thing.
Speaker 10:Um for and I can speak on behalf of Will also- on this Um, both of us lost our fathers at a young age, so it it? It really puts life in perspective of how important health is. And I think at you know, once I got after I was 18, so I started running. Running is kind of where I started, and it was in my 20s when I started doing that, and I know he joined CrossFit after his dad was like, ok, we got to change. Things like nutrition is important, being active is very important, um, being stagnant is not acceptable and eating junk is not acceptable. You know, um moderation, we always say moderation in our, in our house, um, so, and now it's just, it's a way of life, like it's just our lifestyle, yeah, so well, and even Reese is in the youth program with, with, with Castle.
Speaker 10:Yes, she loves it when she, when she is able to go, and my two? They were in a summer. Crossfit program last year and they loved it. Oh, cool. And the boys, they, I mean they'll make up their own little wads at home. You know it's there and they love coming to the gym, you know, after we're done with our workouts and everyone's just stretched, lying on the floor. Oh, yeah. They like to jump on the machines and do things so great.
Speaker 1:So this one actually came up recently in my family, so I would love to know your take on this.
Speaker 10:Okay.
Speaker 1:So my mother-in-law is late 70s and she's not I would not say she is thin, but she's not heavy at all. Her mother lived well into her 80s and I'd had a conversation not too long ago with my wife and said hey, what if you recommended CrossFit to your mom? And she hesitated and I said here's why. You know, we all know Ms Pam kind of started things.
Speaker 1:So so, for anybody out there, uh, we both go to CrossFit wild things in Pleasant in Pleasant view, tennessee, and Ms Pam is an absolute rock star. She's in her early seventies, she has Parkinson's and her doctor told her that if she wanted to stay mobile to pretty much the end of her life, that she needed to go to CrossFit. And she was petrified but she did it. And now Miss Pam is just the rock star and has recruited like 10 other ladies, including your mom, which I know your mom is younger than than that, but, um, there's this following we've got like 10 or 12 ladies and I'll I'll let you explain because, since your mom is part of that group, you know the golden girls?
Speaker 10:Yeah, Um, so I you know I had been doing CrossFit, I think for two years and they do that. What is it Like on Black Friday? They do that special $40 membership for new members, or something.
Speaker 1:You can buy one for somebody else.
Speaker 10:Yes, so that's what I did for my mom for Christmas and she, you know, the first day she was like I don't even know what am I doing. You know, she was hesitant about it, but she did it and um, and now I mean I'm like so proud of her because she and she'll tell me she's like you, that was the best thing I could have ever done, like, thank you so much. And now she has, like she's, met amazing women, she feels better, um, she's, you know know, gotten stronger and she's made a best friend like she's.
Speaker 10:She's in las vegas with her best friend that she met from crossfit right now yeah, it's great, like that's amazing it's fantastic so, yeah, I'm I'm so grateful that she stuck through it and yeah yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1:So this thing that came up in our and so my wife brings it up to, her mom and somebody came out of left field and said you can't do that, it's a cult. So in your. So if somebody was to say that, just in into the ether, what would you respond to that?
Speaker 10:It's not the first time I've heard that I I don't view it as a cult. Um, it's a community, it's a family, it is and it's almost like you're bonded, going through the pain together, you know, and it doesn't matter, like if you're scaling, if you're RXing, it doesn't matter, we're all doing our own modification, we're all doing it together, yeah, and we all support each other.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 10:And I don't know. Like I don't want to go back to just an ordinary gym and do my own thing. Like that doesn't sound fun to me. Like I like being around people and also networking and knowing what's going on in people's lives, like I think that's. I think it's great, it's a family.
Speaker 1:So raising kids, how important is it? What is it? What are you teaching your kids and collectively, you and Will teaching your kids about health and what it means to be healthy?
Speaker 10:Again, I think it's leading by example. They see, you know they, they, they see us, so they're going to mimic what we do. You know they, they, they see us, so they're going to mimic what we do. Um, they are intrigued by you know what? What foods are protein that make us stronger? You know, and I think that's awesome.
Speaker 10:Um, we, we approach it in just like a healthy way, like, hey, we're going to eat wholesome foods. Yes, occasionally we'll go get ice cream. You know, we're not gonna deprive them of sugar, but sugar in moderation. And um, you know, and the way we cook dinner, like the way we cook meals, the way we, we, we go the extra mile to make sure they have a nutritious breakfast. It's not pop tarts and, you know, chocolate milk, it's eggs and bacon, or sausage, or protein pancakes, like, um, and, and they know, they know the difference and they'll ask and I think that's great because they want to learn, they want to know and they and they see that go hand in hand with us in the gym and how it all works together. Um, but yeah, will and I are very much so on the same page with that, and just kind of. But yeah, will and I are very much so on the same page with that, and it just kind of leads me lead by example.
Speaker 1:I love that. Well, I think it's one of those things that I don't think is talked about enough, and I think sometimes parents are ashamed because they haven't done which I absolutely could be, but I also look at it like I'm willing to share that, I'm willing to go. You know, bud, I didn't know this when I was your age.
Speaker 2:And I should I should have.
Speaker 1:I should have, you know, I should have said what's you know, what makes me different, you know, and why am I not like others and those types of things. But I said, you know, I'm, I'm teaching you to take care of your body forever. I'm teaching you to take care of your body forever. And that's real important, that right now, while you're building the foundation for your body for the rest of your life, that it is solid. So, and to some degree I've created a little bit of a monster in that, you know, we'll go to the grocery store and he's like, can we, can we stop by Pop-Tarts? And I'm like, yes, we can go by Pop-Tarts.
Speaker 10:And he's like the new flavor has 76 carbs and I'm like, I know, buddy, he's like that's all sugar. I know, buddy, it only had three grams of protein, I know, but that's good. You know he's learning that's that's so valuable for for life. You know that's a lifestyle thing that will be ingrained in him forever.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I think CrossFit is too.
Speaker 10:Yeah. You know Um yeah it's part of the day, it's there's. No, I mean, I'm there every day.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 10:I have to be like that's my time for my for me it's like your sanity.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, yes, I need that.
Speaker 10:Yeah, um, and some of the some of the young ladies that you're mentoring are at CrossFit because, yes, and, and that's, I guess, again leading by example they see me going and committed to it and hey, I want to try that.
Speaker 1:And even some of their family members have joined. Yes, yes yes. That's cool. Which is?
Speaker 10:so awesome, so rewarding. Oh, it is, it's fantastic.
Speaker 1:We can eat so much healthier at home with the things that we know, we're putting on our food or in our food or we're cooking with. We have so much more control.
Speaker 7:Oh yeah, and you can eat. It's amazing how much your body can actually take in if it's clean, because it can process it instead of just holding on to everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now kind of along the way. I mean, obviously you're figuring out how you eat and live healthier, but there's kids in the mix too. So you've got a teenager Ethan's about to start driving and you know that looks way different than having a toddler around the house. So how does that kind of play into it?
Speaker 7:Yeah. So I mean the girl. I mean, you know, I nursed her until she was about, I guess, almost 15 months. She just kind of stopped, but we never I don't think she had processed food until she was almost two. I made everything for her, that girl. Now, you know, we go to the ballpark and someone gives her M&Ms and I'm over there like is it the end of 2026 yet, when they take all the food dyes out of all these things. So I don't have to like snarl my nose when someone hands her a bag of cheetos, I'm like oh, um, but for the most part we're very conscious on what goes into their bodies and, um, I mean, life is life and they're going to be around other kids. But like I don't allow um, no nickel by it, but I do not purchase sodas.
Speaker 1:We don't, we don't, we don't allow sodas at all.
Speaker 7:Big into poppy or Olipop or alternatives. If that's something they want, you know, I tell you then. Like, if you want a Dr Pepper, then you can order it when we got to eat or something, but just'm not gonna have those in the house for you just to drink on all all day long yeah, well, just the amount of sugar, oh it's, it's so much.
Speaker 7:And you know with her she's a big, she loves avocados. That's like her favorite food. Um, and I found applesauce and carrots like mixed together. Trader joe's has like organic pouches. I used to make all that stuff, um, but it kind of lets that go a little bit. I was like, okay, there's only so many things I can do, but, um, it's, it's very prominent in our, in their life too. Um, I would say they're I'm more like 90, 10, they're more like 80, 20 on. You know what's in and out and what's good and bad.
Speaker 1:Sure, Well, you know, I think part of it too, and I don't know if y'all do this or not, but you know, castle cooks a lot of his own stuff, Like when he comes home from from school, uh, before he goes to CrossFit, it's he makes a steak, and so he cooks a steak and has a steak before he goes to CrossFit. You know, Um and his friends, they're like you hey, he gets up and cooks his own breakfast too, Like he's 11. He can handle that.
Speaker 7:You know he needs to come show Ethan the ropes we can do that.
Speaker 1:But you know again, we, we teach our kids, hopefully, the best that we've learned. And you know, luckily we've both figured out that that health is a critical component to life and, um, uh, just trying to make sure that they make better decisions that we did.
Speaker 7:You just feel better, you think better, you make better choices if you're clear headed and don't have just junk all the time. Yep.
Speaker 1:When did you make that commitment? When did you make that turn and cause obviously you were fit, you're playing baseball. I mean real deal. We're not talking about just local little league. Like you, you, you went up the chain.
Speaker 9:Yes, I was in the top 1% um in the world at at baseball, especially in my position when I played Um. So, as a my goal as a athlete I was never. I wasn't always the biggest, strongest, fastest, so, but I would outwork you all day long, and that started in the gym. So my goal every time was obviously achieve certain levels of strength for the game. But I wanted to make a statement the first time we went to the locker room and I took my shirt off. I wanted them to know dang, that guy, that guy works right and I wanted them to remember me. So I always achieved that.
Speaker 9:And after baseball, um, I did that because I just worked hard. I didn't know a lot about it, but I worked hard and, um, and because I worked so hard and was so active, um, a lot of the bad habits I had weren't relevant. And then, after baseball happened, it was like a slow um I was. I did not eat good food, drank, didn't drink the right drinks, drank too much alcohol, um, and over the course of of time I put on like 50 pounds to the point where when I look at myself, I'm like God, I don't even know how my wife could be attracted to that. She probably wasn't. And um, you know, so it was. It was over time, it was like we want to get better. So it was a recommitment. And then I realized about the time that we were always getting it to good enough and then stopping. We never truly achieved goals in fitness and I realized that that was happening in my faith and happening at work and everything else. It was just like, well, the way you do anything is the way you do everything, that type of thing.
Speaker 9:And then we found out at 40 I mean, everybody knows the story about how we found out my daughter was coming, because we were trying forever and we're about to move on, and and literally like in the final, in the final stage of when we said if it happens, it happens, if it don't, it don't. That's when we found out she was coming and I was like you know, we're having she's, we're gonna be just about to be 41 when she comes, and I was like first of all I didn't know if I was when things would hurt. I didn't know if I was injured or if that's just how life is now, you know, and um, but I was like she ain't gonna have some old, old daddy and and I definitely ain't gonna be mistaken for her granddaddy when we go anywhere. So I was like you know, this is a great opportunity to level up, take everything in life to the next level, including our fitness, and go from that 80% that we always get good enough at and stop to that a hundred percent and um. So that changed.
Speaker 9:Literally like I'm drinking over here a kale tonic, a drink that I would never have touched 10 years ago. It looks disgusting but it's delicious, emmett is is proof that you guys healed right.
Speaker 1:Or in in the process of healing. You know, you know, I think it's a full-time endeavor as we get older, to make sure that we're putting our best physical self forward and taking care of that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, and being able to work on the healing and feel better in my own body also makes me a better mom. I mean thinking back to when I was at that peak desperation and just fresh off a loss with IVF my body wasn't healthy, I wasn't healthy, my mind wasn't healthy, and thinking about how exhausting it is to have a kid. Now I'm really glad that I took the effort to work on some of those foundational things because I'm able to be as patient as possible, more patient, more present. I'm able to be as patient as possible, more patient, more present. I'm able to enjoy the moments and not get stuck in that sadness cycle. So I think that's a really powerful thing of everybody. Everybody has their own journey and everybody has something different that will work for them, but to lean into that and listen to your body and it's worth the effort of trying to heal from a foundational aspect.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And so what were, what were some key things that that you did um, that that led to you guys being able to conceive?
Speaker 3:Um a lot of things Well.
Speaker 5:Jim, I just kept climbing up there but, uh, but no, it was a lot of different things. Um, you know we it was. It was a lot of different things. Um you know we it was. It was a lot of teamwork in order to do it, because teamwork to conceive well in addressing our our individual and our group.
Speaker 5:You know our couple of uh medical requirements in order to do that, um, you know. And then just one thing I want to highlight before I let Bree talk about all the really good stuff able to meet other people and hear stories, or the uh, the benefit from the Donovan and Bain's foundation where they paid for us to go get uh, stellate ganglia block and then, uh, brie wasn't able to get this, but as a part of that treatment, I was able to do ketamine therapy and in conjunction with that and uh, so you know, all these different uh organizations helping us and other people helping us and us also taking the time to to try to address some things really helped us out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, you know, I think globally, um, the ability to like fertility is a problem. It's a growing problem, uh, you know, and you could argue it's it's because of the chemicals, it's because of how we live our lives. I mean all types of things, even even just the, the way society views masculinity or classic feminine femininity. Um, you know, it is, uh, it's, it's very concerning, um, and so I think this is a great time and space, for there's a lot of people right now that are, you know, it is, it's very concerning, and so I think this is a great time and space, for there's a lot of people right now they're wondering are we going to be able to conceive? You know, they're still striking out, or they're still having those very taxing failures that hit so close to home.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean there's a lot to even unpack in there. Sure, I think the big thing with the growing in infertility there's a lot and are more are noticing blood sugar dysregulation and they talk about so. If we're going to talk about a strategy that actually can impact people's lives, knowing what's happening with your blood sugar whether it's insulin resistance or some people call it metabolic syndrome understanding it affects men and women and at the beginning it's just insulin resistance. It's the energy crashes, it's waking up at three in the morning, it's being a lot of people will say I'm hangry all the time.
Speaker 3:That's a blood sugar dysregulation and so people will not realize. They think it's a normal because so many people are going through it. I mean it's over 50% of the population now has either type two but diabetes or insulin resistance and they're both rooted in the same problem and with that long term it goes all the way to cardiovascular disease and heart attacks and strokes. I mean your blood sugar regulation impacts everything. Now people are talking about calling Alzheimer's type 3 diabetes because, again, it impacts your brain Like it's.
Speaker 3:every aspect of your body is impacted by that and a lot of men don't realize that that also impacts semen health, the morbidity, mortality, morphology the three things that are measured. It impacts erectile dysfunction. It impacts, just because the vascular, all the cardiovascular issues with men and so, as an actionable thing, that, like step one in a family trying to conceive, we're like what's your blood sugar doing? How are you? How are your energy management throughout the day? It can be easily talked about with macros. I think a lot of people it's more palatable to understand macros, but protein is a really big part of that and I mean I know that, like your journey and you going to a mainly animal-based diet. Um, that it's really powerful and what it does for your body. It has the building blocks needed but it also stops that blood sugar dysregulation, which infertility is the I mean male infertility is climbing as like one percent every year yeah, it's crazy, which is terrifying.
Speaker 3:And then you look into the situation, like how it's impacting women. So many women have pcos that's one of the most common um diagnoses with infertility in women and the heart and the root of that is blood sugar dysregulation and inflammation, which are two things that can be managed with managing your blood sugar.
Speaker 5:Sure.
Speaker 3:So the good thing is, you can take action. You're not powerless, and I think a lot of people going through infertility and in the beginning or years into that journey, knowing that they're not powerless in that is is really powerful.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, you know people will do a lot of things in order to try to get over that, but at the same time, you almost have to just go. Okay, but are you willing to look at what you eat?
Speaker 3:It's hard. I mean, it's simple, it's simple, it's hard.
Speaker 1:Sure, absolutely. Yeah. Well, you know, I think everybody has to get to that point where they're sick of where they're at. You can't talk somebody into it. They're either ready or they're not.
Speaker 1:And actually a recent guest was just in the studio last week and if we back up to June, uh, this is uh, my best friend for 35 years and he's got, uh, a five-year-old and he's got a at that at that point, like a two month old.
Speaker 1:And you know, he admitted the other day that he couldn't get in, get in the floor and play with, play with his kids. He was the heaviest he'd ever been and I don't know ever in my lifetime that he'd ever been heavier than I was, but he was heavier than I was and I said, look, you know, get on this animal-based diet with me for 90 days. And he did it Every day. We sent each other the screenshot of our macros and he hasn't worked out not one time, which I wish I could talk him into that one. But, um, you know, he's down 35 pounds and he's like I can, I can get in the floor and play with my kids now, you know, and you could just see it beaming all over him, like you know, and and they went through, uh, ivf. They, you know, they struggled through trying to figure that out, that part out, and, you know, for probably two years and at the same time he was also, you know, probably the most unhealthy he had been in his adult life.
Speaker 3:So yeah, I'm so happy for him. That's a that's a big success.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I mean there are a lot of recent fairly recent studies that are really starting to support how important a protein-rich diet is and they're showing that you know, if all you do is change the amount of protein you're taking in to the appropriate amount or a high level especially if you're overweight or obese you will lose weight without changing anything else.
Speaker 3:Yeah, um even increasing your basic caloric consumption.
Speaker 5:Yeah, even, yeah, even with a caloric surplus surplus if it's comprised of protein, and then the muscle preserving effects of that, even if you're not working out, if you're getting the appropriate protein, and uh, and preserving muscle, and preferably building muscle, is so important. Uh, but yeah, I mean protein. Just changing that can have a huge impact on people's lives. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:You know, here's one of the things it's's. It's kind of one of those things every time you see somebody winning, yeah, you're kind of guilty by association. Again you're like, well, I know, jim, I can do that, yeah, and you know, um, I was 305. Oh, yeah, you know. So as I sit here today, I I'm what? 80, 90 pounds lighter.
Speaker 4:Yeah, why'd you beat by 15 pounds? I mean, we were the starting guard and tackle for the Tennessee Titans, I believe. With that kind of weight, that's right. I feel great, man. And it changes your whole outlook. It protects your confidence. It changes your energy outlook. Um, it protects your confidence. Uh, it changes your energy level. Um, you want to get out of bed and you want to take on the world again. And um, and it creeps up on you, man, you get those kids and in your thirties you gain 10 pounds. And your 40, you gain 10 pounds. And your late fours you gain another 20 pounds. And, um, it takes concerted effort to get it off.
Speaker 1:But you're not going to be any younger than you are today, so you might as well get started. Amen, brother.
Speaker 4:And I mean I want to say this because I mean I think it's really important to be transparent and I mean, if, if somebody wants to judge me for this, that's that's great. Um, but, but I also took um Monjaro and and it worked for me, and I was at a place where I, if they, if they had a poster child for insulin resistance, I was probably that guy. Yeah, diet, lifestyle, poor choices, and so that's what kickstarted it for me. Your audience has to do their homework and decide what works for them, but that is what started it for me.
Speaker 1:Well, I look at all things as tools that I can either choose to use or not.
Speaker 1:And I think it's just a poor decision in general to just go. Oh, I'm not going to listen to that. Yeah, you know. And so for me it's been all kinds of things, and you know I'm not shy about the fact that I'm willing to take a look at just about anything. Yeah, kinds of things, and you know I'm not shy about the fact that I'm willing to take a look at just about anything. Yeah, including going to Roatan, including going to Roatan having some stem cell therapy. But you know, I haven't done, I haven't gone that route. But it's not because I have any sort of feelings towards it. It's almost like I'm trying to save that tool for the end If I, if, if I hit a plateau that I can't get past, and so I'm trying to get to 185. Wow, that's where I'm trying to go and you know I've got, basically I got 30 to go. That's strong. I'm trying to get there before Christmas. That's my Christmas present to myself.
Speaker 4:You know, and it's water, I hear you, man, it's a lot of water, and not eating bread, I don't. I changed my whole. I don't eat before, before 12 o'clock, fasting. You know, I've been on this earth for 52 years and I didn't know that breakfast meant break a fast. Yeah, I mean, I didn't know that, because what do you tell your market? What that the most important meal of the day is what breakfast? Breakfast, we've been sold it. Yeah, I mean hook line and sinker, yeah, and so I don't, I don't eat, I haven't eaten anything all day.
Speaker 1:I ate a mint when I came in from the to the hit lab here, but that's it I don't eat until my last podcast is usually done and it's, you know, sometimes that's three or four o'clock just depends wow but you know, for me it's a mental clarity thing. I know I'm going to be faster, sharper with my mind. Yeah, if my body's not using that energy to burn, burn up something in my stomach, yep, so good for you. So, selfishly, I do that, amen. What does? What does your fasting schedule look like?
Speaker 7:Usually from like 1130 to 730 is when I try to eat. Um, I will say I fell off the wagon quite a bit in the last three or four months. Um, it was hard to get back after Christmas, the holidays, um, but when I'm, you know, dialed in and I'm fasting and know what my body needs to eat, um, my body, just it works, it's. It's it's not um rocket science, it's, it's just regular science.
Speaker 1:Now, do you do any multi-days, or is there anything else that you like to do Every?
Speaker 7:quarter. I'll do a three day. It's actually an 86 hour fast. Dana White did that. One man, I could fast for five days. I will say that second day is rough, the third day even, because, you know you, you don't eat anything. You can drink like electrolytestes there's a certain brand. You have to be very specific on which kind you take, because they could break your fast, sure, um. And then you can start incorporating like bone broth after 24 hours. I believe it is um man, it resets everything in your body and your mind, like it just oh, oh, I love doing those. I can't wait for my next one.
Speaker 1:I'm a big fan of those and, um you know, 2018 is when I started losing weight, and so I had been over 300 pounds for most of my adult life and, over the course of about 10 months, lost, uh, 85 pounds, and, knock on wood, I've kept, you know, the bulk of that off all pounds and, knock on wood, I've kept you know the bulk of that off all but about 10 pounds goes up and down, um, for six years.
Speaker 7:Wow, that's incredible.
Speaker 1:Almost seven years, yeah, and fasting was a big piece of that. I did a three day every week and I mean the, the weight just fell off. It was just. It was crazy.
Speaker 7:Your body is so incredibly smart.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 7:The cellular level of what fasting does to it. I mean, think about even the cave days they didn't eat like three meals a day, plus snacks. Like that's garbage, Like there's no way that that's right for you.
Speaker 1:We've been sold yeah.
Speaker 7:It's not. I mean you got all these convenient fast food places. Of course they're going to encourage you to have breakfast, lunch and dinner and late night snacks, like no, I mean most of the time I just eat. I try to get all of my nutrients and calories in three meals a day. Occasionally I'll have like a little protein stick or some you know nuts or whatever it is. But yeah, I mean you know the fasting is. People have never looked into that and I highly recommend If I got cancer tomorrow I would stop eating period for five to seven days.
Speaker 1:Instantly.
Speaker 7:Your body can go what? 40 days.
Speaker 1:Well, actually the longest. Obviously he was grossly overweight, but the longest recorded fast, I think, was 386 days.
Speaker 7:Dear Lord, but that's how much he had stored up over that time, it's. We just had this conversation at the baseball park, me and a couple of the dads, and one guy was like I'm going to come over here and just stand by y'all and get some wisdom, you know, and um, it's, fasting is fantastic. Um, there's a lot of people that will say no, yes, you need to make sure it works for your body and your type. Just, I can probably eat eggs, some people can't. You might can eat chicken, maybe I can't. Everyone is truly different, but there is a way to incorporate fasting somewhere somehow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I truly believe that. I think it's. If it's important enough to you, you'll figure it out.
Speaker 1:Um and you know, for me, it took until I was 40 years old in order for it to be important enough. It was like I had a wake up call that I couldn't ignore. Um, and I think everybody's got to figure that out and some people are just going to be like Nope, I'm over that, I'm done with that. Um, you know, we uh, we really don't drink alcohol. I mean, if I drink five or six drinks in a year, that's a busy year for me and it's not like Last night I cooked some enchiladas and I was craving a Corona.
Speaker 7:Well, I have Corona zero in my fridge, so I had my Corona. Someone said y'all, you know, it was actually Brad Lee's like man, y'all are partiers, y'all. I said, brad, you went on a cruise with us a year ago when we didn't no one had kids. Like that was the seven days for the year that we part, for the last three years that we've partied Nick's like, yeah, she just filled up our fridge with zero alcohol beer. Like agree, I mean mocktails. Like there's, that's becoming such a thing. You know, if you follow some of these doctors, what alcohol does to your brain. I mean it is a true poison. If you're trying to be the best version of yourself, it is a poison. Now, if you that's, you can handle it and that's you. That's to each their own.
Speaker 1:I'm not mad at anybody that chooses otherwise.
Speaker 1:No, and I mean I will admit, and if you me, you know I have a hard time saying- no to margaritas, but other than that, like it's just, it's become way less of something I like to do. Uh, so my, uh, my favorite doctor is regenerative doctor, dr Mike Meehan, and he's in Miami, but he's uh, he's coming up this this weekend to do a four part series and so, uh, he's got a couple of special operators. One of the things that they do. The clinic that he works at is, um, they have a great foundation where they uh help support our special operators Green Beret, special Forces, all those guys because a lot of those, when, when they get out of, can enjoy life and you know the retirement that they have earned be able to, you know, not have nearly as much pain. So Dr Mike's coming in and a couple of special operators are flying up with him and there's just so much that can be done.
Speaker 1:And two years ago he put me in contact with the Garm Clinic in Roatan Honduras. And, uh, two years ago he put me in contact with the Garm Clinic in Roatan Honduras and you know the it's not a secret, but the my past was I was over 300 pounds for most of my life and when I finally lost the weight, when I, about the year that I turned 40, my knees were toast and you just, you know it's that much damage. And they said you know you're going to need double knee replacement in the next 24 months. And I was looking for how do I not do that? How do I, how do I keep what I got? How do I fix it? And so had stem cell therapy there in Honduras and it's the best decision I've ever made by far.
Speaker 1:And if you'd asked me 60 days out, I would have said I wasted my money. But by day 75, I started having days with no pain and I was frustrated because I did a. I did an interview with Men's Health magazine just a few months ago and they left out the fact that it worked. So they asked where I went and what I did and all these things, but they did not include that by March I had it done in August and by March I had over a hundred days of no pain. And these days I go to CrossFit five days a week, hammer on them and no pain. Um, so there's all kinds of things that you can do and it's not it's not like we were raised knowing that food diets were bad for us, or what clean eating looked like or you know that we needed to work out, especially strength training. But now that we know it, we can't go back. We've got to make sure that we put it into, put it in place and keep doing it.
Speaker 8:That's interesting. I got hung outside an airplane. I was a toe jumper and it tore my bicep and my shoulder. That was the original injury, yeah, and I ended up having MRIs done on both and they ended up doing the other shoulder because he said there was something there to fix. But there was nothing left to fix on this one, just the army just PT'd me through it. Sure, and it's like you have substitution muscles. The other muscles kind of take over and get you through it until you beat those up on a bowling alley one day and then it just doesn't. So I've kind of settled into I won't hang ceiling fans or paint shutters for a living type of thing. But that's interesting. There's maybe something else out there.
Speaker 1:I was going to say I mean it'd be worth looking into. There's a lot of things they can do these days. In fact, I don't know if you either one of you felt follow Gary Brekka, but you know, gary's whole thing is that if you're alive today, that within the next five years of the medical advances that they're going to be experiencing with AI, that you shouldn't die or have um, you know where your lifespan and your health span don't line up anymore, that if you want, to fix it.
Speaker 8:You can. So I need to really get my act together for the next five years.
Speaker 1:Well, you know you want to be around Melissa's making sure she's going to be able to drive the cars. You know she still looks like she's 30. That's right, that's right.
Speaker 8:I got to keep my game up.
Speaker 1:That's 30. Yeah, that's right. That's right. I got to keep my game up. That's right. You guys have been on a health journey. Over the last few years. I've seen y'all have trimmed down and looking way more fit and healthy. What does health look like for you guys?
Speaker 2:Recently, health has been really important for me, as you know, trying to continuously, always develop my own mentality right and throughout, you know, corporate world and entrepreneurial world and the struggle and mentality that it takes to get through those and having resilience to get through those. I kind of neglected my health for a long time. Same here, I think some of us do most of us do so really just being able to get back consistent, starting slow, you know, utilizing my friends and network to be, have accountability partners and go and create group threads where it's like hey, I did this today, we did this today. Oh well, you're late, you know, you know stuff like that. So where?
Speaker 2:Um, that's that's the journey that we've been on recently, and we're trying to clean up the remainder of our lives right, with diet and exercise. You know stuff like that. So, um, I will say, though, what's kept Kayla and I both in shape, the way we are, is youth, sports and movement. We don't sit still for more than probably two hours a day, really, you know, and that's probably at 9 to 11 pm for the most part. So it's go, go, go all the time that's cool.
Speaker 1:Well, you can tell it's paying off For sure, and I look at it like we're investing in living longer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I too, though, and to that point is I have to, as I'm investing in myself. As you know, on an entrepreneurial base and you know, professionally I have to invest in my health again, to be the best example, because I let myself go there a while back, right, and then, now that Levi's getting old enough to where he's like oh well, I got to see dad do it before he wants to do it, and the same with Paisley right, and I got to be a better example wants to do it, and the same with Paisley right, and I got to be a better example. So that's where I've been, and we've made some tremendous strides recently, so I'm pretty excited.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, and I do think it's one of those things we have to lead. We can't just choose to tell them what to do, we have to lead them. And you know, I had gotten up to 305 and was miserable and you know, right before my 40th birthday, just had this rude awakening and it really it kind of culminated. There was a couple of things that went back to back, but the last thing that hit. Within a couple hours, three things hit and the last thing that hit was literally, uh, the Facebook notification popped up for the most liked picture of that year and it was castle eating a donut. And I was like, oh my God, I am, I'm leading my team in the wrong direction, I'm leaving my family in the wrong direction. I've got to fix this. Yeah, and uh, you know, knock on wood, that was 90 pounds ago.
Speaker 2:Um, and it's it's going to be a process for the rest of my life, but you know it's a journey, though, and that's why you're a leader to your family, to your son, to your wife, to your whole family, right, and especially in business as well. And that's just something that leaders surround themselves with, leaders, right, and you figure out a way to create a network that enhances your life, right, and contributes positively to your growth and development. And to your point. My wake-up moment was during baseball practice. I can't run a base, or run the whole bases, without dying physically, so you can't demonstrate drills and you can't help teach if kids can't watch you. Right, like we used to say this thing back in college right, you can't trust a fat strength coach, ain't that the truth?
Speaker 1:I mean, you can't take advice from them either. You can't Because you can't trust it.
Speaker 2:You can't, and that's why you got to lead by example and that's kind of mentality-wise, why you have to adopt that and let that be your standard. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Now, Dr Mike, you guys at Centener Wellness do a lot of different types of optimization. Somebody out there doesn't know what that means. What does that mean?
Speaker 11:Basically we're going to look at you, your goals and data, and basically get a as best we can and kind of a full snapshot of things going on with you from a history and physical standpoint, but also from a lab and uh other assessment related standpoint, whether that's gut health testing, heavy metal testing, um, wearable data, looking at your sleep, looking at your heart rate variability and kind of coming up with a comprehensive view of kind of where you are, and then that will also help us design a path or a blueprint to kind of move you in the direction that you're looking for.
Speaker 1:And in regard to that, I mean, what are? What are some of the things? I'm assuming we're talking about? Peptides and some therapies? Give me an idea of a few of the top things that you guys do there.
Speaker 11:Those are definitely parts of it. I think the biggest piece that isn't necessarily sexy or exciting is looking at lifestyle, looking at sleep, looking at recovery, looking at stress, stress management, looking at nutrition, um, looking at, you know, sunlight, you know, working on um, ideas and ways to help enhance um, your mental health and some of the other things. From that standpoint as well, those pieces are going to be important no matter what we do. And then, depending on what we see with your blood work or other forms of data, we can, you know, make adjustments, whether it would be supplementation, that could be oral, that could be, you know, subcutaneous injection, it could be IV.
Speaker 11:We can look at micronutrients, things like magnesium and some of the other things. From that standpoint. We can look at macronutrient needs. A lot of times we'll get what's called a resting metabolic rate, or an RMR, which will give us an idea about what your typical caloric needs are per day just to exist and live, and that will give myself and or our nutrition team opportunities to recommend specific nutrition, including your macronutrients, again, to try to meet your goals and desires and needs. And if there are deficiencies in hormones, we can definitely help to optimize those pieces, which can help pretty much any facet of life Again, be it your complexion, be it your hair growth, be it, again, your muscle mass, sometimes blood sugar control and some other things as well. So it's kind of an all hands on deck type approach, with the foundational pieces being the most important and then stacking some of the other parts on as you start building that solid foundation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and if somebody wants to work with you guys, correct me if I'm wrong it's the Centner Wellness Group there in Miami. Correct and best contact number is 305-602-5260. Yes, and is that something where they could maybe have a blood panel done here, send that to you and then come down for a visit, or do you offer telemed? What's the best way to work with you?
Speaker 11:Any or all of the above so we can get you set up and you can get your blood draws pretty much anywhere in the United States. Some of the other testing pieces use kits so we can send those out. So, for example, if we're doing some stool testing, we usually use a company called Genova that we can ship right to your house and you can do what you need to do there. Some tests like Dutch testing or other urine related tests, again you can do what you need to do there. Some tests like Dutch testing or other urine related tests, again you can do at home. Um, but you know, goal is to try to get all of those parts and pieces together and then have a good 60 to 90 minute conversation, whether it be a vital health or in person, to come up with the plan of attack that's going to work best for you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think one of the things that makes you guys different is not only is it the telehealth option, that is, you know a lot of remote services and the looking at the blood panel really trying to dial in those results, and you know obviously some peptide therapies but also if someone wants to go further than that, they can actually come to the facility and get some more in-depth therapies, for sure.
Speaker 11:Or EBO2, which is kind of ozone on steroids, which also can be very beneficial in kind of cleaning up toxins, cleaning up pathogens, cleaning up spike proteins, cleaning up things in relation to vaccines and just kind of giving you a bit of an oil change to some degree.
Speaker 11:Again, we've got multiple IVs which can be nutritional, which can be things like NAD, which can be of benefit in helping with mitochondrial health and function, things like methylene blue, which does similar things but also very good for brain and mental health. We've got other type of equipment that can be very good, kind of helping get you into that parasympathetic mode where you can rest, relax, digest. You know, we've got hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Um, we've got, uh, multiple other things, including post electrical magnetic field therapy that can be very good for recovery, think, you know, similar to what you do when you're earthing take your shoes off and walk on sand or walk on the earth, where you get electrons which can be very supportive and helpful for health. So, yes, there's a multitude of things that we have available in trying to help with, you know, longevity, healthspan, recovery. It's just a matter of trying to come up with a plan of attack that's going to work out best.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm going to ask about some peptides and if you will, just off the cuff, give me like one to ten, what? What do you think their, their rating is? So we'll, we'll do, we'll kind of recap on the the glp ones.
Speaker 11:uh, semiglutide, um I would probably say nine out of 10. Dependable on how you tolerate it, that, and you know again if it's incorporated in more of a comprehensive type program as opposed to just using it just as a sole weight loss agent, Absolutely, and team out there if you're, if you get, get connected with somebody that just says, yeah, fill out the form and we'll order it for you.
Speaker 1:That's really not what you're looking for when you're talking about health optimization. Optimization takes a look at your blood panels to make sure that it's not going to be a contradiction to where you are in your health journey. Um triseptide.
Speaker 11:Triseptide, probably 9.5 to 10. 10, typically fewer side effects associated with it and again, it has similar to some of the health benefits with multiple organ systems, including your brain, your heart, your kidneys, your liver, your joints, your gut and other areas probably that have yet to be discovered. Also have indication, believe it or not, for things like sleep apnea.
Speaker 1:So yeah, absolutely Um MOTC.
Speaker 11:I would say probably an eight, and the only reason I would give it a little bit lower is primarily due to the cost. Um, I think it is outstanding for optimizing, uh, mitochondrial health function. So those are the little powerhouses in your cells that are thought to be part of the reason that we age or that we have certain cell-related diseases. Some people think it is one of the major causes of things like autism and some other things too. And you know, motc, I think, can work great, I'd say. The only major downside to it is it is a little bit on the pricey side.
Speaker 1:Got it Um glutathione.
Speaker 11:Glutathione, again, is the master antioxidant that we have and is tied to multiple systems in relation to detoxification purposes and, or you know, recovery from you know things like exercise and other pieces too. So you know I think very important all the way around to optimize and enhance things and touch on what we looked at with you know laboratory studies. One of the markers we look at, which is an inflammatory marker called homocysteine, has a direct bearing and effect on your glutathione levels. So you know important to enhance and optimize that. The other ways we can hack it you can do glutathione IV, which works well. Another way to hack it is use an over-the-counter supplement called N-acetylcysteine or NAC, and this is the supplement. Comes in medication form too that can be used for people that have Tylenol overdoses and those sorts of things, but has the added benefit of helping with multiple body systems lungs, liver, but also when the body is metabolized in the glutathione. So relatively low cost with that and pretty high reward. Okay, um, some moreland, some moreland, you know, if you're looking at the growth hormone analogs, I would say some moreland to me is kind of on the lower end of benefit or efficacy. So the main ones that are used, some morelands, one um, cjc1295 and upper Moreland, which is a combination growth hormone analog, is probably the next step up from that, and then probably even a little bit higher on the list is a peptide called Tessa Moreland. And then there is an oral that was put on the band list that likely will be coming back, called MK six, seven, seven, which also can have a role too. So I would say if I was going to have a go to, I would look at CJC one, two, nine, five, nip and roll, and I would say both sexes typically tend to tolerate that well and can be very efficacious.
Speaker 11:Um can be taken anywhere from one to three times per day. Um can be Can be taken anywhere from one to three times per day, can be of benefit for the most part to help with sleep, although there are a subset of folks that will have a little bit of a paradoxical effect. So for those reasons we'll just take it during the day. But you know, very good for immune health function, very good for brain health, very good for recovery, and these aren't things that tend to get you jacked. So if that's your goal, that's probably not going to be your peptide, but these are things that allow you to go at it more frequently.
Speaker 11:So growth hormone even is not something that tends to get you jacked. So think Barry Bonds when he was using all the things he was using. It tends to work very well for bones. It tends to work very well for bones, tendons, ligaments and or recovery for those type issues. It's not going to make a significant dent into muscle mass maybe a little bit, but those are more where you're looking at things like testosterone or some of the other potential anabolics from that standpoint. But I think go-to peptides in my opinion for multiple things, including post-surgical care, including cumulative brain trauma, including immune system dysfunction and including bone health-related issues. So osteopenia, osteoporosis, for sure, these would be some of the things I would jump on quickly, along with some of the other hormones, including testosterone, estradiol, progesterone, dhea, et cetera.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and some of those are very inexpensive supplements that you can order yourself, no problem. Dhea, vitamin D. Some sunlight going for a walk.
Speaker 11:Resistance training for sure, and we've chatted at times about some myths and osteopenia. Osteoporosis care, in my opinion, is not very well done in our country at this stage and the reason is there's not really anybody that embraces it and wants to do it. Orthopedists will deal with the side effect issues, but usually after you've broken something or have some type of compression injury. Let's say, endocrinology is not awesome at doing it either Primary care, family docs not well-versed in treatments and some of the other things. So you know, definite assessment and there's multiple ways to do that, whether it would be with dexabody, composition scanning, there are some blood tests that can be of benefit Urine or blood and telopeptide, which is a blood test which is not expensive, can give you an idea if you are shedding and or breaking down bone more readily than you should be, and oftentimes it's very good to compare to yourself. Labcorp and Quest will come and it'll show you a very nice graph if you check it on multiple times.
Speaker 11:But I think one of the misnomers that we have is you know, we tell people that have this issue, you know, don't do much, don't do anything. You know that's exactly so. You know this is where things like vibration plate therapy can be very good. Vibration plate therapy can be very good. Isometric contractions can be great because you're not necessarily moving the joint through a motion but you are putting a stress through it which is very good for getting the bone to remodel and some of the other things. And then you know, as areas start to stabilize you can start adding some resistance training pretty readily and pretty quickly. So I think also very important from that standpoint as well.
Speaker 1:I love it Um.
Speaker 11:PRP. So you know, I would say you know, prp is probably a nine. In my opinion. It's got multiple uses and utilities, be it from an orthopedic related standpoint, a sexual health related standpoint, with the P shot, o shot, the aesthetic standpoint the aesthetic standpoint and really good if made properly.
Speaker 11:Again, the number of platelets is the most important piece. That has been shown over and over and over again to be the best indicator for success. And again, you're looking at anywhere from six to 12 times what your platelets in your body. So if you look at a CBC or complete blood count, platelets is one of the things that's checked. You know optimal levels depends, but at least normal levels are in the 150 to 400,000 range. So if you concentrate that by six to 12 times you get a pretty good number. So that's the bigger key. So again, we take a lot of blood you know 120 to 180 MLs and then we concentrate it down by spinning it two different times in a centrifuge which really super concentrates the platelets and then we can put it into pretty much any tissue.
Speaker 11:The good part is is some of the platelet poor plasma, which is the stuff that's on the top that kind of looks like urine, can be very helpful too. So it used to be that we just make the PRP and we'd toss everything else. That's right. Now we're keeping the platelet poor plasma because it's been shown to be very helpful. Uh contains multiple growth factors. We can even use it to you know uh, make your own exosomes, and or you know a fibrin type solution that can be very helpful for multiple things. And then it is indicated, and has much better efficacy, for muscle tear. So if you have a hamstring injury or if you have a muscle tear, say in your elbow, toward the lateral epicondyle or anything like that, injecting the platelet-poor plasma actually got people faster back to let me say again, back to play, faster than using PRP. So, yeah, I mean, it's got utility and multiple body systems and pretty well studied and you know anything from discs to joints to soft tissues and anything in between.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I love it and thank you for sharing because, again, there's a lot of people out there that would love to know but don't quite know what to look for and you know they're not sure who to listen to on TikTok or Instagram or wherever that is. But you know you came to regenerative medicine through path of being an ortho for, you know, quite some time and then, you know, dabbled a little bit in regenerative medicine and then went fully in and these days you're on the forefront, as far as I'm concerned, of really cutting edge therapies and helping people optimize.
Speaker 11:Yeah, I mean those are, those are the goals, those are the goals and it's, it's fun and it's a good mental exercise for me as far as this, adding things to my armamentarium and my toolbox. But you know, the the data is is pretty clear that they are helpful. Type interventions in the right patient, right population and, you know again, don't help everybody. But the vast majority of times, if you do it appropriately and target it with either ultrasound or fluoroscopy or x-ray guidance, you're going to have a pretty good outcome typically, no matter what you use.
Speaker 1:Again, that's the Centner Wellness Center in Miami, dr Mike Meehan. Dr Mike, thank you so much for joining us this week in the studio my pleasure. Thank you, jim, absolutely. I can tell you me personally. Dr Mike has helped me over the last four or five years. I am absolutely stronger than I was in my 30s here, almost at 50 years old, and those of you that know my story I spent most of my adult life above 300 pounds and these days I'm roughly 90 pounds lighter than that. So again, be concerned today with how you are going to perform and interact with others in your last decade and get to it again. Thank you for tuning into the charge forward podcast and look up Dr Mike at the Centner Wellness Center in Miami Take care Team if you're out there, if you're wondering like what should I be doing in order to ensure that my lifespan and my health span are very similar?
Speaker 1:What I mean by that is you don't want to be part of that population that is ever growing. That means that somebody else is going to have to take care of you in your last decade, and nobody wants that. But how do you avoid it? Well, you avoid it by early intervention, by doing some maintenance on your own and these types of things. They're not covered by insurance, but neither is maintenance on your car.
Speaker 1:So I would encourage you to look at it like that how do I make sure that I can live on my own, that I can be independent and not dependent upon others for my transportation, for my mobility in my last decade, and that is going to start wherever you are now? So there's no such thing as too young. So if you're 50 right now, great. If you're 60 right now, great. Start as soon as possible. It could be as simple as taking a walk. It could be as simple as taking a walk. It could be as simple as getting some sunshine, but it can also be as involved as you are willing to be in the pursuit of your own optimized health.