Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark - We’re Souping, Stewing, & Sobering Up | Gwyneth Paltrow’s Doctor Dr. Will Cole

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

Hollywood's favorite functional and integrative doctor, and host of The Art of Being Well, Dr. Will Cole, reveals the special protocol he gave to actress, Gwyneth Paltrow, why he bravely spoke up in favor of MAHA despite intense pushback among his peers, cortisol face, how studies in favor of alcohol are rigged, peptides, PCOS and a lot more!Thank you to our sponsors!Natural Sloth | Use code "ALEX" for 15% OFF Cozy Earth | Use code Alex for 40% OFF America's Christian Credit Union | Earn $100 bonus when you create a new account Dr. Will Cole, DNM, IFMCP, DCWebsite | drwillcole.comInstagram | @drwillcoleYouTube | @DrWillColeTikTok | @drwillcoleAlex ClarkInstagram | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@realalexclark⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@cultureapothecary⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@realalexclark⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@yoalexrapz⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@RealAlexClark⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcast | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠New 'Culture Apothecary' Merch OUT NOW! Glass tumblers, weekly wellness planners, hats, crewnecks and more. Use code "Alex Clark" for 10% OFF at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tpusamerch.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join the Cuteservatives Facebook group to connect with likeminded friends who love America and all things health and wellness! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join the CUTEservative Facebook Group!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to ‘Culture Apothecary’ on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. New episodes drop 6pm PST/ 9pm EST every Monday and Thursday.This show is made possible with generous donations from listeners who believe in our mission to heal a sick culture.You can support our show by leaving a tax deductible donation ⁠⁠HERE⁠⁠ or by subscribing to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@RealAlexClark⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube for FREE! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠This episode is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and is for informational purposes only. Consult your doctor with further questions.#cultureapothecary #alexclark #podcast  #health  #wellness

Were you hearing from celebrities that this election was the first time they were ever willing to vote conservatively based on the health issue alone? Absolutely. There's no diversity of thought. It's this monolithic group thing that I'm sick of, especially from a health and wellness and functional medicine space. When did the Democrats start raging for the machine? Not too long ago. The left was the crunchy wellness alternative thinking it's completely shifted. Dr. Will Cole is one of Hollywood's favorite doctors, specifically Gwiteth Falcons. which is how we got that viral interview of her discussing bone broth. He's been named one of the top 50 functional and integrative doctors in the nation and known for his expertise on thyroid issues, autoimmune conditions, and digestive problems. You also may know Dr. Will Cole is the host of The Art of Being Well podcast through Dear Media,

where he interviews A-list celebrities, thought leaders, and health experts on all matters of physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of health. We have that in common. He's also the New York Times best-selling. author of intuitive fasting, the inflammation spectrum, and gut feelings, healing the shame-fueled relationship between what you eat and how you feel. You are going to love this episode if I know you as well as I think I know you. Dr. Cole and I start off with a deep dive into the Maha movement behind the scenes, how his Hollywood friends in the health space were not very happy with him

for supporting health initiatives of the Trump administration. He also lays out the top labs you should be asking your doctor for why Christians have a biblical obligation to care about health if cortisol face is real and the top biohacking trends celebs are currently into. If you're listening for the first time, Culture Apothecary is completely donor funded. You can leave a tax deductible donation through the link in the show notes if you believe in our mission to heal us at culture. You can also leave a five-star review for free if you love the show. Please welcome Dr. Will Cole to Culture Apothecary. You're one of Hollywood's favorite doctors. And yet days before we're, the election, you decided to make a reel pointing out that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were the

top two biggest politicians funded by Big Pharma. You were getting dragged by your Hollywood clientele and friends. Your audience told you there's a time and place for this type of stuff. It wasn't now. This is a huge mistake. How dare you? You're a traitor. How did it feel to have such public famous friends berating you for this? When I made the post, I did it thought, I edited it myself, and I'm not even good at editing those reels. I was sitting in the Toronto airport. I just spoke about functional medicine, and I thought, you know what? It was on my heart. And I thought, you know, I have a unique voice in this space, and I wanted to speak truth to power in my own way. And the people that know me and know my heart know it's coming from a good place,

you know, and I want people to make the choice, whatever the choice they want. But for me to self-sum, censor in this important time was unacceptable for me. So I knew I was going to get pushback. Again, my true friends, my friends that know me, know this is what I've been talking about for years. Why can't we talk about those things? What was confusing me about your comment section, I was just bewildered by this. And I guess because I rarely get that because I'm like in this insulated bubble where everybody has like the same beliefs and views as me. And so I just, it's very rare that I like go outside of that and get hate like that. For you, it was.

so weird to me that they were like, well, this is important information. Yeah, we should know, but you shouldn't say it now. Yeah. Like, you shouldn't say it now when we're voting on this and, like, health is one of the biggest issues of the election. Like, what? This is the time and place. So I thought that was a weird critique. Yes. Well, it's, it's the most illiberal thing to basically want to censor people and then create this self-censorship. There's no diversity of thought. It's this monolithic group think that I'm sick of. I'm tired of, especially coming in our space from a health and wellness and functional medicine space, we've been subjugated so much by that Orwellian group think

that there's only one way. And when did the Democrats start raging for the machine? And I feel like that is the massive realignment that's happening. The Democratic Party has, they have ousted the working class people, and now they have ousted most of wellness because we have not changed. They have changed. So to me, I think talking about the fact that our politicians and both sides, right, I mentioned Mitt Romney on that same post, received millions and millions of dollars from pharmaceutical industries,

let alone all the other chemical industries and big food and big ag. They receive all this money. Why can't we talk about it? And yeah, and basically that was the scolding and reprimand I got from some of the people in Hollywood that love health and wellness. that's the cognitive dissonance I don't get. I know these people personally. They love health and wellness.

They eat air one. They go and they do all the wellnessy things, but yet there is this disconnect by we are now going to defend this system that just not too long ago, the left was the crunchy typical wellness alternative thinking. It's completely shifted. And as people don't have a home, That's why we have the largest group of independence ever in the United States because the left is completely not what it once was.

And so were celebrities not only calling you out on your post but also texting you personally asking you to remove it? Yeah. They were asking lightly. Like basically this is the wrong time. I agree with your mission. Did you say when is the right time? That would have been a great thing to say. I told them no, this is my perspective. I hear where you're coming from, trying to put myself in their shoes. I know they're so sold out for that machine. When someone's that devoted and tribal to that machine, I get it. I get why my post would ruffle your feathers.

But that's why I made the post to ruffle their feathers. Were you also getting celebrities texting you or privately messaging me like, dude, this is awesome. I agree. Like, keep going. There's a lot of people in Hollywood. And if you look at the electorate right now, you look at the, Beverly Hills and sections within Los Angeles, it went red.

Yeah. They just can't talk about it. Not just Hollywood, but people in those Hollywood spaces, founders, CEOs, they cannot talk about these things on social media because the nuance and context is lost and you can't fully articulate on social media your position on these things. I actually didn't read many of the comments. Good. You're telling me that.

I knew that I got people talking. But I didn't go down that rabbit hole. It's not good for one's mental health. Were you hearing from celebrities that this election was the first time they were ever willing to vote conservatively based on the health issue alone? Absolutely. Wow. You know, the silent MAGA is really what was going on because, and I do think it's Bobby's shift into the conversation going from his own candidacy to being a part of this diverse coalition. I kept saying to people in the conservative space that are not in the health and wellness space,

I said, you guys are underestimating how big of a deal this endorsement is with RFK Jr. This is going to move the needle on so many moms that are in the middle or stuck when it comes to you voting for Trump. I was so excited about it. I was just like, this is going to be crazy. Like it's going to shock people. I really think this is going to be a huge factor in the election. One of the biggest indicators of this to me, like how big of a deal this was, was when we, when Callie Means, an RFK and me and the food babe and all these people testified at the Senate,

they had to turn people away. They had never had a public Senate hearing in the middle of the week where it was body-to-body packed, every seat filled, and they had an overflow room of moms and kids driving long distances to attend that hearing. That's how important this topic was to them. So I said, right here is a tangible real-life example of how important this issue is for voters. Yeah. We're saying it's the Democrats and the Republicans. It really is not that anymore. It's this. Well, that panel was nonpartisan.

Right. It's a diverse realignment of libertarians, independence, free thinkers and conservatives versus this machine. And that's why you had people like Dick Cheney and Torsen Kamala. That is crazy. People that the Democrats called a war criminal were happy to have his endorsement. It is the upside down. You and I are both in a lot of group chats with people who are in. in the Maha transition team.

So you and I are seeing different breaking daily happenings for this transition team for the new administration that the public doesn't necessarily see or no. What is your response to people that are in the health and wellness space doubting the Maha movement and how serious the new administration is about making these changes? I get the skepticism.

I totally get it. Because when you look at Trump's last term and brought in all those career politicians and a lot of lobbyists and neo-conservatives in, I understand why they would be skeptical of, yeah, really what's going to be different here. But you and I know the people that are involved with this, time will tell, time will ultimately tell. So I have a, I have overall highly optimistic, but I do have a sliver of anything's possible because there's some deep, dark, corrupt systems at play. And what's fully possible in four years with that amount of disturbed darkness? That's true. I completely get that. But I have

never been more hopeful of these independent thinkers that are going to do everything they can if they're given the opportunity to make change. So, yes, we're unprecedented times in the United States history. So, of course, people are going to be a little bit leery. And then some people want a good gotcha moment. They want to tell us in the Maha movement, look, see, he's fooled you. And he's going to dump Bobby just like he did last time. Okay, well, let me say something that I think is worth noting. Within 24 hours, it was like literally morning Wednesday after the election. President Trump had RFK Jr.

and multiple people on the Maha transition team at Mar-a Lago already starting conversations about, okay, now we won like, now let's start even more talking about. all the health stuff that we're going to be doing, what changes we're going to be making policy-wise, day one. He didn't even wait a full 24 hours before starting all of the like the Maha talks and having people in person to discuss it. I thought that was really promising. The second thing is that absolutely,

I think is one of the greatest things I've ever heard a politician do. President Trump is very, very unique in the way he thinks. He has admitted he talked about it on Rogan that he did make a mistake of allowing too many vultures. And, you know, he had this purpose of draining. the swamp and he was still new and didn't understand how the gauntlet worked and some of those people did infiltrate his administration. He regrets that's one of his biggest regrets. So what he did differently this time was he didn't wait to find out if he had won the election. He used his own money instead of government money to start his team of 5,000 people that are

going to be this transition team for the Trump administration, not allowing any lobbyist to infiltrate the Maha movement to start the turnover and this focus on health without any, you know, sharks getting into it. So he funded it himself so that then the lobbyists couldn't be like, well, this is government dollars. Like, I have to be involved. So he did this strategically to insulate the movement and make sure that Maha could be protected and that he could get things done. A politician has never, ever, ever, ever done that before it's unheard of. So that's a huge thing right there that he is showing immediately that he is willing to follow through on this. So yeah, fingers are crossed and you know it is only four years that we have so we're seeing what we can do what are

the top things you would like to see the new administration tackle when it comes to health i think proper education of the populace i think is as massive get special interests out and really provide diverse thoughts and opinions i don't think it has to be one way but to have more people with in functional medicine, talking and having a seat at the table, I would love that because there's a lot of great things that can come from that to talk about the foods they're eating, educating people about environmental toxins and having real thoughtful conversations from the top down and not just the ground up. I've been talking from the ground up for 15 plus years and it helps people on an individual basis. But I'm only one person, only so many hours in the day with telehealth

patients to have a sort of macro conversation would be beautiful. I mean, there's so much to tackle the things that we got pushed back within the wellness world when we talked about artificial food diets, we went to Kellogg's, was, y'all don't even eat Kellogg's. Why do you care? Just don't eat cereal. But I saw it as a larger public policy issue and educational issue, because there's a lot of people in middle America, which you and I are both from, they're not health aficionados. They are going and buying the things that they're marketed to

and the things that are flashy and colorful and the things they grew up with. And they're feeding their kids these things that are highly addicted. It was emblematic. The idea of fruit loops or artificially diet cereals as a whole was emblematic of our food system. And we were not out there saying like, if Kellogg's does this,

everybody should start giving their kids Kellogg's. You and I are not saying that. Obviously, the best case scenario is like you don't need it at all. But the point is is that we're acknowledging, okay, there are going to be families that are going to feed their kids this no matter what. So let's at least take some of the poison out. And the fact that many public schools, I mean, that's these kids that are underprivileged that don't have food at home. Almost all their food is coming from public school and almost all of it is infiltrated with artificial dye and. And that's interesting to me, the people that talk about accessibility and affordability and the underprud. The things we're talking about with the big food, it disproportionately hurts poor people. Yep. Harts minorities. Yep. Hurts inner city communities. Yes.

So this is the state of affairs. This is for everybody. This is not partisan. This is a human issue. What has been more controversial, publicly supporting Maha or having Gwyneth Paltrow talk about how she has bone broth for lunch on your podcast? It's a tie. Both are pissing people off.

They're probably the same people. It's probably pissing the same people off. That was like the funniest thing to me. Why did you get into functional medicine? Was it because you are smart or because you were sick? I would say a bit of both. I would say a bit of both. So I grew up in a household that really revered health and wellness. My dad was a bodybuilder in the 80s and 90s. I thought it was normal to have your dad like lubed up in baby oil, the purple Speedo. My mom with those big camcorders in the 90s, you know, like filming them. But it turns out. it's not normal. We grew up in that sort of world of going to the health food store and we went to the local farmer. This is western Pennsylvania and like get the raw mill. So that was a formative time of

my life of seeing, okay, this is how we ate at home and then these are, this is how my friends ate at school. And then at a certain point, I kind of owned it for myself and I made my family look like the standard of American eater because I kind of got not obsessive about it, but really immersed in, It wasn't called biohacking then. This is the 90s. But I just wanted to optimize how I felt and read about the latest superfoods and herbs and research out there. It was not, like, we did not have the options we have now. My first job was at the finish line selling shoes.

You remember that? Of course. Still around, I'm sure. But I'd use my paycheck to go to the health food store and buy all these latest herbs and things that I'd be reading about. What a king. This is like, my whole audience is like, this is the man I want. Like in their early 20s, like that's who they're looking for. Yeah, I was that guy, man.

In my sort of immersion in that world of nutrition, I kind of was experimented with a more plant-based diet. And I noticed over the years I felt great at first. And I think that's a testament to what serves you now on your journey isn't what you always have to do, nor should we find our identity in any tribalism within wellness or anything, right? Be a free thinker and be okay to pivot and evolve as you learn more. But I noticed my digestion, my fatigue was coming up and I was eating these otherwise healthy whole foods.

So I really doubled down into learning about functional medicine. I got formally trained in this at the Southern California University of Health Sciences, which is kind of a big integrative medicine school where there's MDs and DOs and DCs and acupuncturists, all kind of learning their craft. So it's a mix of experimentation on myself with wellness and then, wanting to learn about it as well. I'm here to discuss your husband's feet. Now, if you're lucky enough to have a partner with a set of feet that could clear a room,

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who actually has their life together. What are some of the new wellness trends that you're seeing celebrities do? I have to know all of them. Celebrities are like the rest of us, right? And we put them on this pedestal, like they know everything. And they don't.

They really don't. They are curious just like the rest of us and most of them aren't living and breathing wellness. So they're really like any one of my other telehealth patients. I know that's probably super boring. But what I would say is the things that they're asking me about. I mean, they love the biohacking gadgets. They love a good cold plunge.

They love the saunas. Experimenting with contrast therapy between cold and hot, hyperbaric oxygen therapy. They love ozone. That was another thing that got us in trouble with that. conversation with Gwyneth Paltrow on my podcast. We were talking about rectal ozone. And it irritated the crap out of, well, that's a bad pun here.

It's not to say that. I didn't mean to say that. But no pun intended. But we were talking about all these wellness things that her and I just love to do. And she's the real deal. I mean, she is the real deal. I'd love her so much. Is she actually really healthy?

She's actually really healthy. She walks the walk. Yes. She walks the walk. She is, whether the world pays attention or not, she's an authentic, amazing human being. So I do not put her in that category at all in all of that Hollywood stuff. She's a free thinker. She's an independent thinker.

I was actually told this, not by Gwenith, but by other people in Hollywood, they said, I would never vote for Donald Trump, but I won't be upset if he gets in. Yeah. So that's an interesting thing. It's like, okay, you won't vote for him, but you see this maha movement. I know what you think. they're going to be okay with it. So I think a lot of people feel like that. But anyways, back to your question. Well, I want to know about rectal ozone or whatever. I want you to tell me what it is.

Because I don't know. I don't even know. Yeah. So ozone has an extra oxygen molecule and it's highly reactive and it acts as almost an antimicrobial, natural antimicrobial. So clinically, I deal a lot with patients that have mold toxicity, chronic Lyme, a lot of gut health issues, a lot of inflammatory problems. Your gut is where 75% of your immune system is. So There's different ways to do ozone. There's rectal insufflation, which is what we were talking about in that conversation. But where do you do that? You can go to like a health clinic or you can DIY with your own ozone machine as well.

And it's really simple. Once you have proper instruction and oversight and it's done appropriately, obviously, with a doctor's guidance. But it's a fantastic tool for when it's clinically needed. And what does it do for the body? It's modulating the immune system. It's pruning any opportunistic and pathogenic bacteria, any yeast and fungal overgrowth. So a lot of people have these biotoxin issues, bacteria, virus, and mold and other issues. A lot of people that have SIBO, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, which is one of the leading causes of IBS, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic constipation, bloating. People that have a lot of these food sensitivities are because of imbalances in their gut microbiome. Now, I'm not saying, your first thing is to go get rectal ozone, but it is a tool for people that are kind of stuck at a plateau and bring it in. But there's also blood. You could do IV ozone.

Yeah, those are the main ones. I would say IV ozone and rectal insufflation are the two most common ones. What are like the cool new superfoods that everybody's buzzing about? I think that a lot of it's coming back to the basics. I think we're actually seeing the pendulum swing. Like a real food, well-rounded diet. Yes. Yeah.

Because, yes, of course, there's innovative thing. I mean, we can talk about postbiotics. I do think is one area of interest for a lot of wellness nerds and people within Hollywood that have interest in this. What's that? I've never heard of it. We have prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics. Let's talk about all of them. Yeah, please.

So prebiotics are basically fiber. So it's the foods we have that are fiber rich, like fruits and vegetables. you can get supplements, like prebiotic supplements. And that's what Olipop is, is a prebiotic. Yes, exactly. Because it has fiber in it. So it's food that is food for your microbiome. So the microbiome for people that don't know,

most people I'm sure that listen to your pod do, but it's the term for the trillions of bacteria in our gut, depending on the study that you look at, we have upwards of 100 trillion bacteria. And we have, to put that in context, about 30 trillion human cells. So we are exponentially more, bacteria than human. And we are what our microbiome eats. It's where 75% of your immune system,

95% of serotonin, our happier neurotransmitter, 50% of dopamine is made in the gut. All of this has made in the gut. Hippocrates said this thousands of years ago. All disease begins in the gut, and now research is just catching up with good old Hippocrates. Prebiotics are the food. So the more diverse your fiber intake, it's associated in the scientific literature with more diverse microbiome, all these, this is your gut garden, your microbiome metropolis, there's these neighborhoods of beneficial probiotics. The probiotics are the beneficial bacteria, most people know. The paribiotics are actually dead probiotics, but have a balancing effect without the sort of die-off Herksheimer responses that some people can have. So they seem to have similar benefits and maybe some unique

benefits, parbiotics, even different than the probiotics. The postbiotics are the products of the probiotics. So the postbiotics are called the end products of bacterial fermentation. So the probiotic, all the good bacteria ferment the fiber, the prebiotics, and make postbiotics. But your brain needs postbiotics, your immune system needs something called mitophagy, which is mitochondrial recycling and renewal, which we need for cellular energy. There's a lot of metabolic and brain and sort of health span longevity research centered around postbiotics. So buterate is one postbiotic.

It's a short-cham fatty acid. Things like urolithin A. There's different types of urolithins that are postbiotics. The problem is the human microbiome is kind of decimated. It's not where it once was. And that's one of the main reasons why we're seeing such an epidemic rise of autoimmune and chronic health problems. So eating food, like our ancestors would have eaten food and made.

these naturally. But now because we don't have these important bacteria that we once had because of, again, this larger connection to nature with soil microbiome, we aren't able to produce the postbiotics like we used to. So supplementing with postbiotics can have some benefits. Now, some of us will make the postbiotics naturally, like butyrate, we'll make buterate. But some of these other compounds like urolithin, they're finding that the human microbiome, there's a broad swath of us that aren't able to make it naturally anymore because of what we're facing. One of the things causing problems,

correct me if I'm wrong, is that we're stripping our gut from like any good bacteria whatsoever. We're just totally like wiping everything out. And so that's why a lot of people really find raw milk beneficial and find it really good for them. Yeah.

I get so much hate from the mainstream media for being a conservative talking about raw milk, like I'm some kind of extremist. This was exclusively a crunchy, liberal Hollywood thing. Raw milk has been legal in California for forever. They're getting it at the grocery store. This is a whole thing.

there. In the Whole Food stores, whatever, going to your farm like that. It's such a California thing to drink raw milk. So my question is, how long have you been like this celebrity favorite doctor? Isn't it weird to you? Weren't your clients always doing this? And all of a sudden they're trying to say that this is some fringe health thing? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, this is not a conservative thing. And this is part why I'm saying it's maddening to watch this realignment. Because all of these human things that were very much embraced by the crunchy, liberal, Southern California, you could say that as a cliche, but anyone that was interested in sort of that that counterculture was typically on the left. Absolutely. We're sipping that raw goat's milk

and raw cow's milk for decades. The fact that this has been politicized is a media issue, not an actual human person issue, because, yeah, it is ridiculous. There's people on all sides drinking raw milk in California. If you didn't know, now you know. I love that. Gwyneth Paltrow has credited you with being her health guru. What did you advise her to start doing that has really become a huge game changer for her health? Obviously, I predicate this on patient confidentiality and like I love her as a person too. But all the things, she's been very open though.

Yeah, she shared the stuff herself. Exactly. I'm not like breaking any confidentiality. She's talked about some podcasts and the forward of my book and all of that stuff. She had COVID early on, and the world didn't know that. And it was just one of the, like, every time a celebrity got COVID, it was like breaking news. Like, I remember Tom Hanks was like stranded in Australia with COVID. And it was like, do you remember that crazy time?

Yep. It was just shocking that everybody, you know, those were the headlines at that time. But she wrote an op ad on Goop talking about how she had long COVID. And she had a lot of brain fog and fatigue. and just never really bounced back. And I was seeing more and more of that of just regular everyday telehealth patients. I mean, to be clear, 99% of my patients are just normal working class, middle class people. I mean, nurses, school teachers, entrepreneurs, interestingly engineers.

Was working with her the reason you got connected to all these other people in Hollywood? She introduced me to a lot of people. Yeah, I would say definitely. She's like a great connector of friends. for sure. And so she was going through what we now call long COVID. She just wasn't bouncing back. So we didn't know a lot about the mechanisms of long COVID or long haulers, right? And now there's a lot of research looking at, there's a broad swath of people who had COVID did not recover and it triggered some sort of inflammatory problem. Some people have, get diagnosed with pots,

postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or dysodonomia. It's a type of, with dysotididomia. It's a dysregulation of the neuroendocrine axis, the intersection between your nervous system and your hormones. So things like brain fog, fatigue, migraines, people like Gwyneth were seeing these dysregulation of the nervous system and the hormones early on. We didn't have a name for it. People were saying long COVID, I think, but now we know the mechanism that, and it's actually not that different from other viruses. I mean, Epstein-Barr virus can trigger autoimmune problems. Other biotoxins like mold can trigger autoimmune problems. This novel virus, COVID wasn't much different in that way, is that it triggered problems, they were recovering.

So for her and other people that are going through some sort of inflammatory problem, whether it's triggered by a virus or stress or trauma, whatever the case may be, a lot of it is centered at the beginning of improving their gut health because it's such a powerful modulator of our body. And so we focused a lot on soups and stews, things that are easy to digest, kind of like a proverbial siesta for your gut. Like if your gut's stressed out, a siesta? Yeah, like a reprieve. A siesta for your gut. I love it. Like so I prescribed some brothing, some souping, and that's what got us in trouble on the podcast. I don't even understand the controversy about like I drink bone broth. Is it just because it got out of the

wellness circles? And so like the regular average person that's not into this is like, Like, what is bone broth? Like, they never even heard of it and thought that was a weird thing. Or what? Because I just, everybody drinks bone broth. So I just didn't understand that. It was a lot of the power of editing on social media

because it made it look like she was like only existing on. On like a robin's saliva, bone broth and the wind of my ancestors. I'm like that was my lunch. Exactly, exactly. It's some bark off of the tree, low lectin bark, of course. But yes, that was the headlines that Gwyneth only, she only existed on bone broth. They like made it look like almost like disordered eating. Exactly.

People are addicted to being offended. They're addicted to being triggered. And we have, I mean, talk about privilege. It's the ultimate privilege to be so offended about every freaking thing you see in social media. Forget like hiring you as they're like physical health doctor person. They need to hire you for like counselor, life coach. A lot of my job is that. It is like, what's your relationship with life itself?

Some other things we did. We talked about the rectal ozone. Ozone therapy can be a game changer, different supplementation with dysodotidomia, with pots, vertigo, anxiety, heart palpitations can be a part of it for many people. So we have to bring in things like phosphatidolone or PC. It's a phospholipid. And dosing it pretty high can be very much a great. modulator for the nervous system. So we did that. We brought in things like magnesium,

pretty basic stuff, optimizing nutrient deficiencies like vitamin D and magnesium. Iron deficiency is another common thing that we see in a lot of people that she was dealing with as well. So we had to optimize things like iron. So a lot of basic stuff and then some out of the box things as well. But, you know, it's really not controversial. The fact that these things are controversial says more about our culture than us. Once upon a time in a peaceful kingdom surrounded by lush forests and sparkling rivers, there lived a kind and gentle princess named Serafina.

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in 100% viscous bamboo and comfort, just like seraphina's. CozyEarth.com slash Alex, code Alex for 40% off. Sleep like a princess. If a young mom comes to you, who is already health conscious, and she's saying, like, Dr. Cole, I am so burnt out. I am so stressed. What would your protocol be? It depends on where she's at.

So obviously, we could take a full health history and contacts and labs, because a lot of people are coming in and feeling like that. They're feeling wired and tired, anxious, and exhausted, health history will lift that all off the paper and really find out her bio-individuality. Because you could look at the superficial level of it, fatigue, you know, anxiety, brain fog. You could have 100 people going through that. And what's driving it for one person may not be an issue for the next person. So labs can look at the pieces of the puzzle of what's going on.

So maybe for one person, it's low thyroid function. maybe it's an underconversion of the thyroid hormones. Maybe it's an autoimmune condition against the thyroid or Hashimoto's disease. Maybe there's dysregulation of the neuroendocrine axis probably is. There's some low-hanging fruits that are going to be applicable to most of these people. But once you look at labs, there are things that you, I mean, that's why you're running the labs. You're looking at things that you wouldn't know just from a health history. And what are the labs people should be asking to get?

If they've never done this before, they've never had any labs done, what should they ask? So if you've never done labs, most of these, you can actually ask your PCP or just your GP, not going to the Paltrow, your general practitioner in this case, to run these labs. We run these labs for people around the world. People don't know my day job is still looking at labs for a living. Yes, I have the podcast and the books and all of the other stuff, but my 10 hours a day are telehealth patients.

So we run labs for people around the world. Anyways, so whether we run it or you get someone locally to run it, some labs that I'd recommend would be fasting glucose. It's estimated that 93% of the United States isn't going to have normal labs in this area. Only about 7% of the United States is metabolically healthy. So they're not going to check these boxes of optimal. So fasting glucose, we went under 90. Most people, the fasting glucose isn't. We want the A1C, which is your three-month average of your blood sugar, to be under 5.7, being kind of loose there. But under 5.7 is a good place. Triglycerides or circulating fat, it's kind of like a metabolic Paul Revere. You know, and Paul Revere,

he actually didn't say this, but something similar to the British are coming. The British are coming. Triclycerides is saying diabetes is coming. If you see triglycerides above 100, your body's giving you a clue. The body's starting to store blood sugar as circulating fat, so it's actually stored blood sugar. The body's beautiful. It has these brilliant compensatory mechanisms to try to bring blood sugar down because it's toxic, but it's unsustainable. So your body's giving you this great grace period of saying, let's do something. So you can catch metabolic issues four to 10 years prior to someone being. So this is not like fear mongering. This is like being empowered with saying, what's my body telling me so I can have agency on my health and start moving my health

in the positive direction? So triglycerides, we went under 100. So the body is metabolically healthy in that way. HDL or good cholesterol, we want to be above 59. You can look at what's called the triglyceride H.T.L. High triglycerides would be an indication of insulin resistance. The body cannot regulate the blood sugar appropriately, which doubles the risk of anxiety and depression, which doubles things like brain fog, which makes it difficult to lose weight. All these things that we think are just, you know, me getting older or, you know, I'm just stressed out. There's so much medical gaslighting systemically for people and there's so much personal gaslighting because they think, I'm just a busy mom. Well, because most of America is dealing with this issue, so then we're just told, like, this is normal.

Yeah. And that's the problem. This is, the health is like in the toilet. And then we're just told because it's so common that it's normal. And that's the medical gaslighting component coming in that we're not supposed to be feeling dog tired at 25 years old all the time. No, there's so many people I see in their 20s and 30s and 40s that are going through these issues. And they just settle for it. They're just living off of caffeine and sugar just to get through the.

the day, but they don't realize that these things are overwhelmingly healable, reversible, dealable with, but you have to do something different to see something different. I would also recommend running inflammation tests, high sensitivity, C-reactive protein. We went under one. Homocysteine, we went to be under seven. Inflammation is the commonality between just about every health problem. You're going to see those numbers off, not optimal if you're going through inflammatory problems. So those are some basic labs. Ferritin is another one that a lot of women have low ferretin. It's your biomarker for stored iron.

The optimal ferretin level that we want in functional medicine for hormone health, for optimal energy, for optimal focus, so you don't feel wired and tired is about 80. I can't tell you. It is rare to see optimal ferretin levels. And not just ferretin, but a whole iron series to rule out iron deficiency or at least lower suboptimal iron levels, to be at least a component of why somebody's fatigued and exhausted and irritable. So those are some basic, basic labs. And then in functional medicine, we get a little bit more granular with looking at gut health, looking at environmental toxins, looking at more

comprehensive hormone tests, like the Dutch test. So the basic labs that I just said are good starting points if you've never read labs. But I would, when it's appropriate, recommend these other test as well. You brought up inflammation and that's a buzzword we hear all the time like your body is inflamed. You might be dealing with inflammation. Inflammation isn't good. What is inflammation in the body? So inflammation is, it is a nebulous term. Like what is it? We kind of know it's not good. But God made inflammation. It's not a bad thing. It's a product of the immune system. It fights off viruses. It heals wounds. It kills bacteria. It's our defense system. So healthy measured appropriate inflammation levels are needed. But it's dysregulation of the immune system, chronic inflammation,

that is this forest fire that burns in perpetuity. That's the issue. It's the commonality between metabolic problems, hormone signaling issues, digestive problems, of course, musculoskeletal issues, food sensitivities. Two, there's a whole field of research called the cytokine model of cognitive function. It's cytokines are pro-inflinflation. It's, cytokines are pro-inflammatory cells. Our brains are inflamed. Our brains are inflamed, neuroinflammation. So things like anxiety and depression and brain fog and fatigue are not like just abstract

conceptual things. They are inflammatory in nature is what the new science shows. Oh, you mean lexapro isn't the cure that we just don't have a lexapro deficiency? Yeah, shocking. Shocking. And I've seen some people postulate in that space that say, well, okay, the people that did see benefits from SSRI. well, A, there's the placebo effect.

We can talk about that. That pisses people off when I talk about that research. But is it possible that for people to have mild to moderate depression, are antidepressants acting like a mild anti-inflammatory? Like, is that the mechanism of action? So some psychiatrists have seen talk about, okay, is this how it's working? It's not actually through serotonin re-uptake. Is it modulating the gut brain axis and lowering inflammation in a positive

of way where you do see some people that are like, yeah, I've noticed it a difference in my life when I've been on this drug. Now, my job would be long term, okay, why do you have this problem in the first place? Because it's not an antidepressant deficiency. So let's actually get whatever is going on. Is it environmental toxins that are causing these issues? Is it a poor vagal tone? Is it unresolved trauma? Is it unhealthy gut? Or is it hormone dysregulation? Whatever it may be, that's where labs in health history will tell us. But going back to the placebo point, I'm not saying they're faking it or it's it's a bad thing. This is the power of mind over matter.

It's the power of suggestion, which I think it's beautiful to look what the human body can do with the power of suggestion. When I talk about the research around SSRIs and the research is clear. And what does the research say about SSRIs? People that have mild to moderate depression, SSRIs, antidepressants, work about the same as a sugar pill, about the same as a placebo drug, with a lot of other potential side effects as well. These medications have. So it's not being anti-antadipressant. It's saying, like, we would ask this question for all different types of health problems. What's your most effective option that causes you the least amount of side effects?

And for some people, medications are going to check that box and they need to be on that. For a lot of people, that question's never asked, really, in the conventional model. How do you explain people that say, like, well, my antidepressants saved my life? Like, that's what finally cured me. I believe that that's true for people. And the question is, why and how is it? Is it the power of suggestion? Is it modulating the gut-brain axis and inflammation in a positive way?

And I would just say there are a lot more effective ways to lower inflammation without any side effects. And one of the main side effects is your body becoming completely reliant and addicted to those drugs. And it is one of the hardest things to get off. Absolutely. It is severe withdrawal. And the fact that general practitioners, PCPs are prescribing these things, it's very irresponsible in my opinion because these people are given this. They're not told the potential side effects.

They're just, they're desperate and they're stuck on these medications. It's very hard to titrate down. Well, and one of the most shocking side effects of SSRIs that people don't realize is that within a matter of days of taking it, you could have permanent sexual. dysfunction. And no one is telling people this when they're being prescribed them, especially teenagers who then are going into their 20s and being like, I don't know, I don't feel anything towards anyone, same sex, opposite sex, nothing.

I'm like numb. You've people that are like never experiencing orgasm, like just crazy dysfunction in the genital area. And that is one of the main side effects of SSRIs that nobody talks about. We're going to look back in this time. I hope I'm being optimistic here and really hopefully learn from our collective insanity as a culture. That's my hope. Is that, and that's why podcasts like yours and mine are so controversial sometimes because the democratization of health information, the decentralization of health information, you have massive industries that are used to being the narrative makers and the gatekeepers.

and we're living in the new age, and we've seen that. Now, the people, I mean, our parents' generation, our grandparents, if a guy with a white coat said to take it, they just did what they were told. But now you have more, you have a growing, informed populace that are demanding more for their health. So I love it. This sort of free exchange of ideas is a great thing

where people can have informed consent, but to have informed consent of the pros and the cons, and you can make the choice that you want, yourself and maybe for that person, they want to take the antidepressant. Fantastic. But you should know what are the potential side effects, what's the relative risks, and are there other options? Same with birth control, too. Same with birth control, exactly. Radicalize me on alcohol. Oh, man. The research is clear. The healthiest amount of alcohol is none. And then people always say, Dr. Cole, what about the varitrol? Dr. Cole, what about the wine? A lot of that,

Your listeners should know this. Most of the research that says that are, shocker, funded by the alcohol industry. No, wait, I didn't even, wait, Dr. Cole, like, I even know this about all the studies and I didn't even think about what the wine, too. Wait, the stuff telling you like a glass of wine at dinner is so beneficial. That's also fake?

Yes, that's fake. Well, let's not say fake. Let's say overblown and cherry-picked. Oh, my gosh. Overblown. I have to be careful when I ask you freaking doctors to radicalize me on things because my world is never going to be the same. Look, and I know most people aren't going to be puritanical teetotelers like me and just live that sober life. So I'm a pragmatist as a clinician.

So like the least offensive would be like an organic, low alcohol, biodynamic, regenerative wine. But it's not because of the alcohol that it's healthy. It's like in spite of the alcohol. So I'm not, it's not a health food. But yes, I mean, even small, like small amounts of alcohol are associated with changes in the brain. They're shrinking sizes, parts of the brain that are... Permanently or temporarily? Temporarily, but the longer you're chronic, more chronic you are, the more lasting that damage can be.

But the body has an amazing capacity to regenerate. And yeah, these are not just conceptual abstract things. These are things that we can quantify on labs and measure. on imaging studies. Is there a potential to heal gluten sensitivities? Yes, absolutely. So it's on the table. And is it the gluten or is it what we've done to it? I think it's more what we've done to it because we've hybridized it. We've sprayed it with herbicides and pesticides. We're not properly preparing it like our ancestors would have. So there's a lot of nuance and context to that conversation instead of just saying like gluten equals the devil. I don't think that. I think it's another example of

men, humankind, pretending to be God and doing things in a way that we think are going to yield better profits, but ends up hurting human health. So gluten is definitely a gateway food that triggers a lot of food sensitivities because of what we've done to it. Like the analogy that I use here is like a bucket. That's your bio-individual. Everybody's different capacity to handle stressors. So some people have big buckets, some people have smaller buckets. The big bucket people are like, God bless you. Like you can smoke and drink and not eat the best foods. And then we look at them and like, wow, you are a unicorn. People can just do that, right? But they're going to, their buckets is going to overflow at some point, but probably later on in life. But you see more and more people

that have smaller buckets, but the bucket is being over, being filled to capacity earlier and earlier in our age of modernity. So the foods we're eating or not eating environmental toxins, chronic stress, and unresolved, these are the things that fill up that bucket. And when that bucket overflows, that's where symptoms ensue. So gluten's part of that, but it's not the everything, right? So when you empty the bucket with all the other factors, environmental toxins, stress, trauma, nutrient deficiencies, hormone imbalances, then the gluten's not going to, and I say the gluten containing grains like wheat, rye, barley, spelt, oat. it's not going to cause the bucket to overflow because you have so much more resilience.

The human microbiome, the human body doesn't have much resilience today. So I don't think it's like one thing and saying, well, let's demonize that. Let's empty the dang bucket so you have some, you can live life and not stress about these otherwise fine foods. And you can get better for you options for most of these things, like an organic, artisanal sourdough, ancient grain bread that has gluten in it is going to, behave in the body completely different than your average piece of white bread. This new year, you can make a powerful difference, and it's as easy as switching your checking

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why we're seeing these epidemic rises of health issues. They call it an evolutionary mismatch. It's sort of the science way of saying it. The majority of our genetics haven't changed in thousands of years, but yet our world has changed so much in such a finite period of time, all the things we talked about. Our DNA and our microbiome, it's living in a brave new world.

And these genetic predispositions that have been lying dormant for thousands of years are being awoken like never before and triggered like never before because of this, what science would call an epigenetic genetic mismatch. That in a Bible-based or spiritual language, it's humans pretending to be God.

And functional medicine is just a returning to our roots. It's a remembering of our roots. Nothing, the Bible says, nothing new under the sun. This is nothing. new. I talked about all the things Hippocrates, said, thousands of years ago in Greece. Let food be thy medicine and medicine thy food. All disease begins in the gut. It is the height of modern hubris to think that we are amazing, right? We are not amazing. The way we're doing life is insane. We spend more on health care than any industrialized nation, yet we have the most chronic

disease, the shortest lifespan. We make up of what, four to seven percent, something like that, of the world's population, yet we are responsible. for 70% of pharmaceutical profits. And we're at 60th when it comes to life expectancy of all nations. This is insanity. So as someone of deep faith, I completely see it as us returning and decreasing that mismatch, decreasing that mismatch between that chasm between genetics and epigenetics. And people that are on that wavelength get it.

they realize that so much of what we're facing as a society today is deeply spiritual. And actually the physical stuff is just the 1%. It's like the ramifications consequences of the further we get away from God, then we start having all of these problems in God's design. What do you say to people that are like, okay, I'm a Christian. And because of my Christian faith, I don't understand like the obsession with all the health stuff and eating clean food and not toxic food and organic and all that because like we're going to die anyway. And I know I'm going to heaven.

So like, why does it matter? Well, the Bible says our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. So let's just start there. I mean, our body is a gift from God, if you believe that, like I do. How are we? And even further, Christians believe that God actually dwells in us. Quit feeding God so much crap. Like, how are you going to be a good steward of what you've been given?

And I see so many people, believers, unbelievers, doesn't matter. But people that have potential, people that are created for a purpose, kept back from the things that they were created for because they aren't living their full potential. They feel like crap. They're irritable. They're tired. They're fatigue. They feel uncomfortable in their body. They're not living their full life.

So that sort of nihilistic viewpoint that I do see sometimes in the church, which I find disturbing. We should be leaders in this. And thanks to you, honestly. Your voice waking up people of faith, it's powerful because I go to church on Sunday and I'm looking at the food that they serve. And no shame. I want people to have the choice to do it. But we should have some healthy options there for people who want it.

Like we should be leaders in this. The fact that the church is no different when it comes to chronic disease. Yeah, we're like we're supposed to be set apart from the world, right? We're supposed to be the example. And that's one area I think the church is really falling short is that we're not doing that when it comes to physical health. If you saw yourself as a valuable creation that's worthy of wellness, if you saw yourself like a high-end car, whatever, a Lamborghini, right, a Maserati, how are you going to fuel yourself when you're a Maserati? Where are you going to park? You're probably going to give it a good car wash every week. People need to see themselves as a valuable creation and take a decount because so much of it, I think, is a lack of self-worth.

and they kind of spiritualize their poor self-worth. And they justify it and say, well, I'm going to go to heaven anyways. I'll just meet them sooner. That is a horrible way to think. Like, you are here for a purpose. Live it out. Is cortisol face, which is all over TikTok, a real thing? So cortisol face, is it a real thing?

Probably not, like, just because someone has a puffy face doesn't mean they have a cortisol face. But the topic is a real thing. And it has to do what's called the hypothalic pituitary adrenal axis. So the communication line between your nervous system, your brain, and your endocrine system, your hormones. So, yeah, we have an epidemic rise of people that are wired and tired, anxious and exhausted. So. But also you could just be fat. You also could have, yeah, you also could just be fat too. But that's implicated in that too, right? I know, but they have to go get the testing done because they're just like, oh, your face is round in fat, like, oh, you just have high cortisol. I don't even know. I think it's a euphemism for the same

thing, right? Because people have dysregulated cortisol, yet weight loss resistance is going to be an issue. So I think it's just TikTok's way of renaming something that is like, yeah, you have messed up hormones. We know that. What are the worst things somebody struggling with autoimmunity could do? I would say bring in acts of stillness in your life. Like stressing about healthy foods isn't good for your health. So bringing in healthy boundaries with yourself, healthy boundaries with foods that don't love you back and healthy boundaries with technology. I think there's this great to be informed, but we as consumers need to have discernment on when it's time to put the phone down, time to not binge more podcasts because more information can create stress and anxiety and

it creates this epidemic rise that I've seen within wellness of orthorexia, which is disordered eating around healthy foods. So we all have different, back to that bioindividuality, ability to handle information. So more isn't always better for somebody's stress and anxious. So someone that has autoimmune conditions, the nervous system and the immune system is dysregulated. So bringing in things like breathwork, meditation, grounding practices, getting out in nature, somatic practices. It's not going to be the only tool, but I see it as fertile ground for the things that I would want to do within functional medicine to actually make good use. of it because if somebody's in that frenetic fight or flight stressed state, the hypervigilant state,

your gut isn't going to be where we want it to be. We need proper vagal tone. So it's not going to be just one thing, but if you're talking about the first thing, I would say start recalibrating your relationship with your body and food. And then the second thing I would say is support gut health, powerful modulator. Like back to those soups and stews that I talked about earlier. Give your body like that like a some some siesta time what is the beauty industry getting wrong about collagen powder i saw online that you take holy main oh religiously it's my that made my day when i saw that that is my ogey number one favorite like beauty wellness no way i have used it for years it is phenomenal i concocted that at my telehealth clinic by myself and worked with jena on that and uh jennicavello she's the uh

Founder of Agent and Tour. Yeah, Agent and Tor, and I helped develop the supplements, the supplements with Jenna. And it was a great collaborative process and has marine collagen and pearl powder. And I am a massive fan of it because I clinically, I help a lot of people with gut health problems and autoimmune problems. There's a lot of proteins that are going to be really irritated to people that have food sensitivities and digestive problems. But collagen is a great source of protein that will be the building blocks for your healthy hair, healthy skin, healthy nails, and healthy gut health as well. So I'm a massive fan of it, but it's not the only type of protein.

You're going to have to use food as medicine there to get all the essential amino acids. So it's certainly not the only type of protein source I would recommend. But the modern Western diet is deeply deficient in collagenic rich foods, which is another reason why I recommend things like bone broth and organ meats and other things that are collagen rich. The supplement is doing just that. It's supplementing a nutrient-dense diet, hopefully. Because this is the thing that takes people back when they look at the price of Holy Main. It's like unbelievably expensive.

I understand that. Why Holy Main at that price point versus something I can pick some collagen powder at Whole Foods? It's like mass produce. It's like, you know, 25 bucks. Yeah. Well, you get what you pay for in most cases, right? I heard it said because it's like the it thing in L.A. like to go to Air One and get Holy Main and it's like it sells out all the time.

Someone said it was the Hermes of Marine collagen. 100%. I would say, yeah. I would say Agent Atour, Holy Main collagen powder is like the Rolls Royce of collagen powder. What it is is a lot of the collagen companies will fluff up with things like vegetable oil and you are not getting the density. So it's fluffier. It fills up the carton.

but it is a shell of what it can be in its pure form. And we're getting wild caught. We're getting regenerative, sustainable sources of marine collagen as well. And it has the pearl powder. And pearl powder is very expensive. So the combination of high-quality marine collagen from wild-caught fish and the pearl powder, which has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years. It's the combination of those two.

Yeah. And I'm not sponsored. By the way, I have no sponsorship thing with Agent and Tor or Holy Maine. You should get on that. Literally even. Yeah. Well, Jenna, I think is coming on. I think Jenna's going to come on at some point.

But, like, that is the best collagen powder out there. So I don't care. It's been written about in vogue like 1,700 times. So there you go. I mean, it's like the collagen powder of the stars. You have an intermittent fasting trick that helps people burn fat at double speed. What is that? Do I?

I don't know. This is what some. outlet wrote up about you like a week ago. I love the headlines, right? The headlines are amazing. You're like, what is that? So what they probably were talking about is another thing that we, I utilize with all of our telehealth patients is cyclical intermittent fasting.

So intermittent fasting, there's a lot of myths and misconceptions about that. And the nuance and context is lost because people say, women can't fast. But I would say, well, who is she? Because not all women are the same. if you haven't learned anything in this conversation, know that, is that, is she going through PCOS? Does she have insulin resistance? Does she have weight loss resistance and metabolic issues? Fasting is going to behave very differently to her than if she doesn't have those issues and she has low thyroid issues and she's under stress. So it's how you use these tools within medicine.

Paracelsis, one of the fathers of modern medicine, we talked about Hippocrates. He was, Paracelsis was the father of toxicology in Switzerland in the late 14th. hundreds, early 1500s, he called fasting the physician within, which I think is a beautiful, eloquent way of putting it. It's this inner doctor. And all cultures around the world use fasting. I mean, Bible and Judaism fasting, you look at Tishbaav and Yom Kippur fasting. You look at Islam, Ramadan fasting. You look at every culture around the world. Fasting was used for both meditation, spiritual purposes, and a medicine. And again, back to the church thing, like, yeah, churches will do fasting here and there. But I think it should be talked about more

as like a tool that was used to enable us to be more refined spiritually and physically. But I digress. How many kids do you have? Two. What are the biggest health mistakes parents are making today. Newsflash for all the parents out there. Your kid only can eat at home what you buy them. So I hear, I mean, look, when your kid has a driver's license, like my son now drives, pray for me. That's a bit different. But your kids at home, I see, Dr. Telehealth patients, he'll be like, yeah, he's having this, they're having this, this, this, this, where are they getting that? You're buying it for them. And then they're afraid of a. who they ta. Like, they'll have a revolution and they'll be overthrown as parent by starting to make

swaps. Yeah, well, my kid won't eat dinner then if I don't get them this. Like, they're not going to starve. So it's, look, make it age appropriate. I'm not saying it's going to happen overnight, but start making swaps, get them bought in. Because when you start making it age appropriate and say, this isn't about weight. Like, do not shame them. Do not demonize. I wouldn't even demonize other families that are choosing differently than you because it creates a sort of negative thing versus it being so positive. It's about we love and respect our body so much that we want to nourish it with things that love us back. So this isn't about the sort of dieting mentality of like restriction and punishing and shaming. This is about self-respect and avoiding things that

don't love us back is a form of self-respect. So I would say first thing is just like slowly or quickly, depending on how gung-ho you are, but just make swaps. I posted this the other day. We have made our kids and our own breakfasts dessert. We made their snacks dessert. I think that that's a massive thing. Look at the amount of grams of added sugar and junk food that the kids are consuming. Even the healthier for you versions of it, look at the grams of added sugar. Kids are having way too much sugar. Your loaf of bread, your mayonnaise, your deli meat, it's all filled with sugar. Yeah. And then I would say another massive thing, this is not fully connected to food, but I would say that allowing technology to parent our kids and they're being marketed to

on a daily basis and the things they got to buy at Target and they've just got to buy. It's because they're being marketed to. So we need to be a little bit more not just concerned about the foods our kids are consuming, but what's the content they're consuming on a daily basis? If you could give one remedy to heal a sick culture physically, mentally, or spiritually, what would it be? It's a big one. It's an abstract one. But get closer to nature. Whatever that looks like, whatever you're talking about, it could be how we're doing farming. It could be how we're eating, how we're treating each other, how we're doing community, all of these things. things, I think, is that largely a disconnect from creation of which we're intimately part of.

People need to stop acting like little gods and realize we're a part of creation. And I think that will solve a lot of problems. And then on the minutiae, like, what does that look like? I would say, Maya Angelou said, I always think of her quote. She said, when you know better, you do better. And at least hopefully, right? At least hopefully. I think there's a growing amount of people, a culture, that they know better now.

And it's our choice. It's our opportunity to do better. Tell us about your podcast, The Art of Being Well. Yeah, it's called The Art of Being Well. There's two episodes a week at this point, which is a lot of work. How many weekdays? I'm doing two days. It's a lot.

Yep. Look, I'm thankful. I'm so thankful and blessed. But, yeah, it's a lot of work. It's a lot of work. So two days a week, and I'm doing it in between patients, too. That's really crazy. Now that's even crazier for you, you're doing today's week. Patient, patient, patient, patient.

So it's like, that's how I do it. But yeah, I love it. It's a great opportunity to talk to people like you. And, yeah, just connect with friends. Honestly, most of the people I have in the podcast are just friends of mine in the space that I get to catch up with for an hour or so. So it's, yeah, they can get it anywhere podcasts or listen to. And how can people work with you if they're wanting, you know, your expertise when it comes to their health?

Yeah, thanks. Everything's at Dr.will.com. I mean, they've become a patient consultation pages there. We have many, like my heart and passion for this is to make functional medicine accessible, affordable for everybody. So we talk about the celebrities and all of that. But the reality is the sacred responsibility it is for me to be a part of somebody's health journey. It's the most important thing professionally, at least, for me. So, yeah, I love what I get to do.

So they can learn about it there. And what's your Instagram? At Dr. Will Coop, where I piss people off on the regular. He said, I'll lie. Okay, so I have to tell you, like, I mean, I'm always asked, like, what's your favorite episode and stuff? And I'm always, like, you know, depends on the month. Like, this is my new favorite episode right now. This was such a good interview.

And now I'm like, I mean, I had to because of time purposes. I just scrap, like, two pages of questions. I still had way more stuff I wanted to talk to you about. So that means we have to do a part two. Let's do it. Thank you so much for coming on Culture Apothecary. Don't forget to listen to Dr. Will's interview with me on his show. the art of being well. I was not expecting it to get that political. I mean, I feel like the entire

conversation was basically about politics and this intersection of health and conservatism and the truth about like what the maha movement is planning behind the scenes that him and I kind of know from insider information. So that's like a really good political tea episode. And we get into some other controversial stuff as well. But brave man like with his pretty like neutral platform, just like diving in with me as a guest. I really respect it, and so I hope you support and thumbs up that episode for him and subscribe to his show. Culture Apothecary drops new episodes every Monday and Thursday at 6 p.m. Pacific, 9 p.m. Eastern. We are available anywhere you get your podcast and Real Alex Clark on YouTube.

Don't forget to leave a five-star review if you love this episode. I'm Alex Clark, and this is Culture Apothecary.