Habits and Hustle - Episode 373: Blokes & Joi Wellness: Biomarker Testing, At-Home Hormone Optimization, and Proactive Health Management.

Episode Date: August 20, 2024

Feeling tired, foggy, and not quite yourself? You're not alone. In this episode of Habits & Hustle, I am joined by Josh and Katy, founders of Blokes and Joi - companies revolutionizing personalized health optimization. Their main message? Your health is in your hands, and knowledge is power. We discuss how most people have undiagnosed hormone imbalances or vitamin deficiencies that significantly impact the quality of life - yet conventional medicine often overlooks these issues. We dive into solutions such as at-home biomarker testing, hormone optimization, proactive health management, and tailored treatments. Overall, we go over the importance of getting the right tests and taking an individualized approach to hormone therapy, supplements, and peptides. Blokes & Joi is a leading pioneer in the health and wellness industry, utilizing data-driven insights, AI, and personalized solutions to optimize health and well-being. With a mission to evaluate the entire body and hormonal condition using biomarkers, Blokes & Joi is transforming the way individuals approach their health journey.  What We Discuss: (00:00) Personalized Medicine Startup Blokes and Joi (04:17) The Metabolic Health Awakening (15:15) Peptides and Hormones (21:27) Hormones and Weight Loss (28:32) Navigating Hormone Replacement Therapy Options (41:40) Optimizing Health With Precision Testing (53:59) The Power of Momentum and Hope (01:01:58) The Importance of Health and Hope …and more! Thank you to our sponsors: Magic Mind: Head over to www.magicmind.com/jen and use code Jen at checkout.  Find more from Jen:  Website: https://www.jennifercohen.com/ Instagram: @therealjencohen   Books: https://www.jennifercohen.com/books Speaking: https://www.jennifercohen.com/speaking-engagement Find more from Blokes & Joi Wellness: Website: https://blokes.co/ https://choosejoi.co/  Instagram: @getblokes @joiwomenswellness

Hi guys, it's Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits and Hustle. Crush it. So Josh and Katie, just like Madonna, are on the podcast today and they are the founders of Bloke's and Joy. Now here, we said before the podcast, is it called Bloke's and Joy? Joy and Bloke's, I know you guys are going to be merging companies. What do you call yourselves? We're two brands. Bloak's is obviously oriented towards men and then Joy is oriented towards females. We're going to have one URL, two social handles, just because we want to speak directly to the male and female consumer. Perfect. That's a great way to kind of just make it very concise.

So before we get into what you guys actually do, we're going to do a shot, a healthy shot. Like you said, it's like the Andy Cohen, but the healthy version. And these are called Magic Minds. And what this is great for is focus and productivity and just getting your mind like focused and like turned on. So we do a healthy shot here with everybody that we do live. So we do like a little cheers. Yep. Cheers to you, Josh, and to you.

To you. And just down the hatchet. I've had so many of these today. It's good. It's good, right? Yeah, it's really good. And I sound like a broken record, but I love the ingredients and it really does just kind of like focus my attention and I love the ingredients like I said.

So that's what we do here on Habits and Hustle. We get primed before we get into the nitty gritty. Close state. Yep, let's do it. Yeah, and since you guys are also health and wellness fanatics like me, we'll have a lot to talk about today. Let's do it. All right. So this is why I'm having Katie and Josh on the podcast because I have been using their,

I guess the company for a short time, just only a short time. But what they do is basically they come to your house, not them personally, but they have a nurse or a flambbotomist come take your blood and what they do is they take a very close analysis of 80 biomarkers, correct? 80 biomarkers? And they give you afterwards a very personalized and proactive approach to your health and your wellness in everything from women's health like hormones, peptides, anything longevity. And I love you guys. I think you guys are like super, peptides, anything longevity. And I've really loved, I love you guys.

I think you guys are like super down to earth, super cool. I love your company. I wanted people to know who you are and I wanted to hear your story and that's why you're here. So thank you for being here. Thank you so much. Thank you for having us. Yeah, you're welcome.

Yeah. And now that we had the shot and we're like super, you know, focused, Josh, why don't you start by explaining, because you're not a medical doctor nor are you, Katie. Explain why you even started going down the path of personalized medicine and why you even did blokes and joy in the first place. Yeah, I'll back up a little just to provide some context, but I've been in healthcare for 16 years, worked for a large medical advice company called Striker for about five of those years.

I was a spine rep and then I left Striker and I became an entrepreneur in healthcare. So this is my sweet spot. And then right before we started Bloak's and Joy, we had owned regenerative medicine clinics, i.e. stem cell clinics, and those were doing really well. And then something happened, which was COVID, and it changed the world,

and it changed our business dynamic completely. We shut down for a solid, probably 90 days, and then we slowly ramped back up. But during that process, it was a big come to Jesus moment for me, because Katie had told me not once, not twice, probably a hundred different times that she was gonna divorce me.

So that was really the start of blokes and joy. told me not once, not twice, probably 100 different times that she was going to divorce me. So that was really the start of blokes and joy. Wow. Blokes first. Wait, wait, wait. Not to be like a marriage therapist, but what exactly, why were you going to divorce Josh? When I married Josh, I was 35 and so my focus was to start a family. And as we know, as I think we talked about when you're 35,

it's a geriatric pregnancy, so you need to go. And right at that time, he was having issues. He had zero sex drive, like none. I would try everything that I could think of to get him interested, and he just wasn't. And ultimately, I was thinking, is it me? I've gained weight since we got married. I'm like, what's going on?

And of course, I like blame myself. But you know, that's the start of it. And we figured out what it was finally. But it took him a while and was way too hard to figure out. So. Yeah. Wow, OK. I had no sex drive.

I had no idea why. I also gained weight. And how old were you at this point? I was in my early 30s at this point. And there's some pretty big events that happened in this timeframe. But I was also just like a grinder when it came to work. I've lived a high stress, high income type jobs

where it was just constantly moving. I was taking doctors out all the time. So I was drinking lots of wine, eating lots of steaks, big, big meals. And I let my body go and that didn't help anything. I was 50 pounds heavier than what I am now. And my blood pressure was through the roof. My waist circumference was in the 40s.

So I was like the classic definition of metabolically unhealthy at that time. And coming from being an athlete, I played rugby at a high level, it didn't feel right, but it happened on such a slow period of time that I just kind of just let it fall to the wayside. And it took me a while to realize, almost like an alcoholic to some extent,

it took me a while to realize like, yeah, I don't have a sex drive. I haven't seen the inside of a gym and ages. I don't even care to. The only thing I can do is drink a shit ton of coffee to get through the day and just grind it out. And COVID was the first thing in a decade that slowed me down. That told me all that exterior stress that I was experiencing went away.

Like I didn't have a business. Like it was there, but there was nothing happening. I'm like, holy shit, my life feels pretty good. Like I actually want to go work out. I want to go do this. But at that time, the problem was too big and I needed to get help. And she was ultimately the catalyst that said,

dude, go get some help or I'm going to divorce you. I mean, this was, we were on the rocks and I have two, we were on the rocks and I have two, we have two beautiful kids. And the thing that we talk about is we also went through four miscarriages and Katie can dive into that. And it's something that I'm so passionate about as a man. And because you're rarely told as the woman's going through

that process that you're changing with it. And I mean, the first pregnancy, we ate all kinds of burgers, I got fat, I never lost it, got fatter again. You got fat. That's funny. Like that's, you know, it's they, I hear that all the time, right? Like it's not just the woman. You're also like, you're not even pregnant, but you're gaining all the weight, right?

Because yeah. And it's, it's not, it's not just the same. There's physical changes that are happening that are keeping up with your hormonal hormonal changes in particular, testosterone, estrogen, progesterone. There's even studies that show that prolactin and men change, but the test, oh, you bet. And while the women while the woman is totally totally, what study is this? And what do they exactly? I don't know the exact study, but the study is that the prolactin,

the little bit of data is that prolactin increases so the dad can be more alert, which is interesting, but testosterone levels drop, estrogen levels go up. And anytime that combo is happening and stress, cortisol, your stress is going up. For me, I was scared as hell to be a dad. I really was. We joke and we laugh that. I played the Phil Collins song, One More Night,

because I just wanted one more night by ourselves. And so I was a mental midget when it came to it. And then it ended up happening. I love that expression. It was the best thing. Bravo for admitting it. Thank you. I love that expression. such a... I was.

But... But hold on, my friend who's going to be here later, his saying is, the tallest midget, the tallest midget in the room is another expression I love. I'm going to use that one. A mental... Okay, sorry, that's amazing. Okay, go on. So I was...

I did not really think through that, and I also let my body go, but ultimately to wrap it up, I went and saw multiple physicians, internal med docs. I reached out to the doctors I knew because I have Rolodex of doctors, physician surgeons. And really the consensus was there's nothing wrong, you're normal, go back home and lose 10 pounds. It was really maybe the gist of it. Checked my blood, testosterone levels were looked at,

weren't even really brought into the equation. Now I- But they did check them. They did, but at that time I'm in my mid-30s and- What was your levels? Low 200s, which is literally the definition of hypogonadism, which is the true definition of low testosterone.

Right. For a man for sure. Right. For a 30 year, 30 mid 30 year old man, I should have been 700, 800, 900, maybe higher, but the reality was nobody addressed it. And I literally just sheer luck. I threw up kind of a, a hell Mary to my brother-in-law and my sister. I said, here's what's happening. Here's what's going on in our life.

I'm a piece of shit, you know, like that's ultimately what I came here. And I was told I was normal. And I was fortunate that I went and saw a guy. It was extremely inconvenient, but he got me on the right track. And that physical change happened. My mental, my mental fortitude changed, my mental drive changed, my physical like ability changed. Like I felt different. I had a sex drive, which like she was like, Jesus, chill out, you know? Really?

Yeah, totally. How long did it take to kind of get back to a normal baseline? 30 days to start feeling the changes, 30 days. 30 days, okay. But probably six months before I was like, wow, I'm in the zone. But within that 30 days, the entrepreneur in me said, Holy shit, if this is happening to me, a guy who's been in healthcare for 16 year at that time 13, 13 years, how many other people is this happening to? I was gaslit. How many other people are

being gaslit? We now know because we've been in this almost three years, there's a whole gaggle of people being gaslit. Our country is metabolically unhealthy and we are suffering and we are suffering from a preventative and proactive care standpoint and that's all we've become. So that's interesting to me because I do feel like there's been a real spike in overall like personalized medicine. Like a lot of companies are coming to the surface now who probably have kind of noticed the same things with preventative care and I guess regular MDs.

They're not concerned so much I feel with like the testosterone like overall like hormone levels even like when I go and my testosterone is like at like literally almost zero probably. And they're like, no, no, no, it's fine. You're a woman. It doesn't matter. You don't need it. And they don't even, it's very overlooked, very overlooked. And as a man, I'm surprised though, because I guess it happens with men as well when you

go to the doctor. But so your regular doctor is basically like just go home and lose weight. And then this other doctor from what you're saying, is he the one who puts you on like, was it like a shot of testosterone? What did he give you? Was it a cream? Was it a pellet? It was a cream. And you know, this is just my experience. This is not universal, but I did not do extremely well with the cream. I just felt it to be kind of a pain and a mess. And I was like, dude, I'm leaving you. And then he prescribed me an injection.

So I switched to injections and that was when things just clicked and started happening really quickly for me. What number were you at then? We went from 200 to- Well, I can tell you, I just got my labs done. I'm at 1,100 right now. 1,100? That is high.

No, our optimal range for men is 800 to 1,200 nanograms per deciliter. 1100 right now. 1100? That is high. Yeah. Now, our optimal range for men is 800 to 1200 nanograms per deciliter. You're going to fluctuate. And we do subcutaneous injections on most men. That's not always, but we do that mostly. And we do it bi-weekly, so twice a week. And your levels are going to be somewhere between. My levels probably within a week are 800 to 1200 on any given day.

Wow. So what's the difference between when you were at 200 versus what you are at 1100? What are the physical mental traits that you have now? I mean, I literally say it's like comparing a Ford Fiesta to a Ferrari. My body and my mind are all the sudden clicking. I all the sudden am in the driver's seat of a high-performance machine. I've never had a bigger appetite to work out. I've never had a bigger appetite to be prioritize my health, mental health and physical health. I've never had more

patience with my children, my wife. Oh God. Yeah. It gives you this edge to just want to live healthier and better. And you could do exactly what I do and not make those changes, but it gave me a cheat code to start making those changes and, and, and habits stacking with everything I've done. I've lost that 50 pounds. I've gotten stronger. Everything about my life has improved. And the beautiful thing is we

started this company selfishly for ourselves, but then we started changing and seeing so many other people were impacting. And it's just like a broken record. We are improving almost every life we touch. That's incredible. So then, you're talking about how you initially were in the stem cell space. That's no longer because stem cells, we were talking about this earlier. Are they illegal now in the US more or less? What is the protocol and what's the FDA? What is the current situation in the US for stem cells? Is that?

Yeah. So, there's a whole big novel of guidelines to biologics and and regenerative medicines themselves fall under that. Okay. Where the line was drawn in the sand is umbilical cord tissue, umbilical cord blood, even though it's FDA approved for cancer, but it's really the lack of research that's in that. So anything that's coming from, you know, a scheduled c-section, which was happening, and I do believe in that side of the business, is really, if it's happening, it's gray or, you know, off limits area. But what it's done is it's created this vacuum for offshore clinics to

basically take MSCs, mesenchymal stem cells, culture them, grow them, expand them, and then throw them back in patients from a young umbilical cord. So you can still do autologous, which we talked about. It's coming from yourself. So bone marrow, fat, PRP, all that you can do right now in the United States with no problem. You can probably find a clinic within five miles from here offering it. Well, but you're not you're not in your current situation. You're not doing any of those anymore.

No, I mean, we're virtual. So, you know, we're licensed in all 50 states. And to be frank, I like this side of the business because as sexy as stem cells sound, you know, we are treating a much different demographic. You know, our sweet spot was 65, 67 years old. And you're treating a lot of people who suffer from osteoarthritis,

knees, hips, joints, and there's nothing wrong with that. But I love being on the preventative and proactive side of care. I think we can prevent people from going down that unhealthy route, that total sick care cycle. That's what I was going to ask you. So because let's just finish with your personal story. So then you went on testosterone. What other things have you done to help with your health?

Like, what else are you on right now? Yeah. It started with testosterone and you're still on it. Yeah, I'm a guinea pig for everything that we do and I love that. There's not a peptide I haven't tried. There's not, you know, there's everything that has been out in the market. I've tried it. Right now I'm on a growth hormone, so what's it called? So, Samorin. Oh, Samorin, Yeah. That's a peptide. Yeah. It's, and it's great for anti-aging. It's great for muscle.

It's great for energy. It's great for sleep. I take an AD, I take a nasal spray, I take an injection of it. You know, there's gut healing peptides that I take from time to time. And you know, that's really kind of my sweet spot in obviously TRT. And then I just dabble with things from time to time like glutathione, B12, anything that is going to give me a lift in life, I'm open to it. The peptides for me, I'm very curious about them because it's literally a 50-50 split. I have

people who, a lot of my friends, people who really believe that they've done wonders for them. Other people don't feel them at all. Some say that if you're prone to, like if you have cancer runs in your family, taking some oralin or any of these things can be actually harmful or dangerous. Like what is your take on all that stuff? I forgot about one peptide.

Yeah, go ahead. I do take terzepatide. So it's a- Is that a peptide though? It is a peptide. It is, yeah. It's a glucogen-like peptide GIP. So it's in- Is that a peptide though? It is a peptide. It's a glucogen-like peptide GIP. So it's in the peptide family. It's in the peptide family. Oh, you bet. So just so you know, GLP-1 is like the weight loss drug that's ozempic.

What he's talking about- what is it called again? So triseptide- Triseptide. Yeah, it's a compounded version of two FDA-approved drugs, Monjaro and ZetBound. And for me, it's been an absolute game changer. For how, how has it been a game changer? Well, I was a lot fatter, if you remember. Right, right, 50 pounds fatter actually.

50 pounds heavier. And it's given me the food freedom that I never had. And well, I didn't have for a long time, but there's so many other things that came with that. My BMI is down, my waist size went from a 40 to now I'm a 36. My blood pressure went from pretty high to in a very optimized state.

The other thing, when I started this company, my A1C levels were on paper, they were diabetic. I just got my blood done before I came here and I got the results just a couple days ago. My A1C is like in a almost a perfect position. So like so many things have improved with that. That's so interesting. A, I didn't realize that the GLP-1 was considered a peptide because I just put it under the category umbrella of like, you know, of a weight loss drug. But I mean, and we're going to get to you, Katie, in one second with the women's side because I have a hell of a lot of questions.

But what I'm interested in when you're doing so many things, right, when you're doing the testosterone, when you're doing all these peptides, how do you know which is working on what, right? Like that's the problem. Are you starting with one to see how far you get and then you're adding? How are you knowing what is working, what is not if you're doing so many things at once? Yeah, I've been at it a long time. My body is in a very optimal state of testosterone, so I know how my body feels from that.

I know how my body reacts and feels from some more than some of these can start. Well, I'm not to interrupt you, but I just want to make sure it's clear. So how long were you on testosterone before you incorporated some morelin or incorporated trizepatite? Right away. Oh, right away. So what I was going to say is some of these can be antagonists and some of them can work synergistically.

We would never try to put somebody on two different growth hormones because you're not going to know the difference. But the rule of thumb I have is like hormones are the foundation of your house. You got to have a healthy, you know, base to then add on to that. I got my levels pretty dialed in pretty quickly and then I could start adding on and, you know, putting in the fixtures and putting, you know, all the nice things that I think peptides can do. But I also had just a weight issue that I needed to address pretty quickly. And that getting my weight in line, I think inversely helped everything else. Yeah.

It's also, okay, so because that one that you were saying, the trisepatite, since it's a peptide, it works on, just so people understand, it works on two separate receptors, basically. So Ozempic and that GLP- it works on two separate receptors, basically. So, Ozempic and that GLP-1 works on one receptor. The Trizepatide works on two receptors, right? So technically, is it just way more effective than semiglutide, which is the... Yeah. It's... I don't know if it's way more is the right word and honestly, it's different for everybody. We'll have some people that'll switch and say, actually, I liked the semiglutide better. So it really depends and you might have to try both.

But the studies show that the trisepatide is up to 20% weight loss in a certain amount of time where the semiglutide is 14% to 15% weight loss. So there is a little bit more effectiveness there. But the biggest thing with trisepatide is that there's less side effects, which is a big deal. Less nausea, less acid reflux, that kind of stuff. So yeah, like just before you were on, I had Max Lugavere here and he was telling me someone in his family, we talked about this on the podcast, is on the semiglutide.

And yes, they've lost like 15 pounds in two months, but they're like so exhausted that they literally can't get up. It's like the worst like side effect. So like, yeah, you might be thinner, but if you have like a bad quality of life, it's not that great, right? So like, I think you and I were talking about this a little bit last night even, Katie,

but I was told not by Max, this is now not about Max, but like Dr. Mary, what was that? Dr. Mary Claire Haver. Yes, Mary Claire Haver. She was telling me on the podcast that women who are now on hormones, when they add a semi-glutide or a GLP-1 drug or a peptide, they're losing up to 30% belly fat now. It's 30% more effective. Yeah, 30% more effective.

Yeah, 30% more effective. I think I saw that study that she posted as well. For sure, and it makes sense. I mean, because that study that she posted as well. For sure. And it makes sense. I mean, because when we think of hormones, they're like the foundation. So there's nothing that's going to... If you don't have hormones or if your hormones are declining like they do in perimenopause and menopause, there's nothing, there's no supplement lifestyle change magic pill that

will do what your hormones do. So your hormones are just an important part of everyday life and function and vitality. So it makes sense that they work together. And part of the reason, honestly, especially if you add in testosterone, is that you're able to build and maintain more lean muscle mass, which we know is so important for losing weight and doing it the right way and being able to keep it off. So if you combine those things and do the right dosing, like we talked about visco,

lower and slower, you're not trying to like... The point is not to starve yourself and eat. You still need to eat three meals a day. So if there's something going on where you're like, I don't feel like eating, you're taking too high of a dose. You're taking too much, right. The thing that to me it's designed to do is to create better habits. So this is the thing though, right?

I think what's happened is a lot of times people are not doing it for the right... They're jumping right into taking it. They're not using it as a last resort. And so they're not learning behavioral change. So they're not learning these new habits. And they're not incorporating the diet, the exercise, they're just taking the drug and then losing weight and then not really, like they're not adopting all the other things. I think it's a different story when you're doing all the right things and then you add

this up to supplement what you're doing already It's a whole different ballgame, right? Yeah, but what I was gonna say because I want to ask you about all the like the hormones and I find it interesting because women no matter like there's been such a Fear factor in women getting on testosterone or because they feel like nervous that they're gonna gain weight that they're gonna bloat I'm one of those women, by the way. I'm not just talking for a friend, I'm talking for myself because of all these like things I've heard for so many years, right? I'm going to grow facial hair, I'm going to have rage, I'm going to do this. And it's always been like a male driven hormone that we think it is. Even with all the research

and studies coming out that it's actually not necessarily true. Are you on testosterone? I am. It's one of the first things that I did on my journey. You did. And it made a big difference, right? Huge difference.

So this is interesting because I have a lot of people and a lot of friends I know who it changed their life. It gave them energy. It gave them like it helped them with lean muscle, it helped them with all the things that you don't even know that you're really lacking. Brain fog, inflammation. Right. All these things that, I mean, I hate to say it, but like when you're in your 40s, it's like these things start to like very quickly decline. Not quickly, I should say

that's not true. Slowly decline that you don't even know that it's happening. So that's what kind of, that's what tricks your brain. You're like, it can't be that. It must be that I'm just like super tired or I'm overworked or it's my kids or you don't know what's wrong. And so it's always the last thing that people check or they go to the doctor and they're like, oh, you're fine. Even though you have a 10 testosterone, you're fine.

Well it's normal. It's normal. It's normal. So why is that? Why do they you're fine. Well it's normal. It's normal. It's normal. So why is that? Why do they... Yeah, your hat, fuck normal. Why are doctors not comfortable or why do they not address or attack this hormone problem like regular MDs?

I don't understand it. I'll tell you why. Okay, tell me. They're not trained that way. I will tell you that only one in five OBGYNs are trained in menopause care. So four out of five women will go to their OBGYN and be told they're fine, they're normal. They get gaslit. They say, I want to check my hormones.

I mean, I literally hear this every day from women who say, I want to know this or that number and they get denied, whether it's because insurance doesn't cover it or the doctor doesn't think it's necessary. They're denied this information and told maybe you're... They're not listened to. We don't feel listened to. It's not because the doctor is bad or they don't care. It's literally because that's not how they're trained. There's no menopause care in OB-GYN.

And so this makes me so angry because even though there's a movement, which I think is fantastic for women in menopause, right now, we- Or even perimenopause, right? Yeah, same category. Yeah, same category. Yeah. Like we're getting more loud about it, which is fantastic. We know that we don't have to suffer in silence anymore. We know that there are options. So it's and I feel like we're at the beginning of it. But I still feel like we're doing a lot of it wrong. Because I see women every day that are are coming to us fearful and they're confused. Yeah, because there's just not enough information out there. And there are experts in the space who are very well well credentialed and who know a lot and who treat people and they're saying different

things. Yeah. And they're saying things that are confusing and scaring women. And so one thing that I would like to see changed is how we approach this. Like you've mentioned several times that you're scared of the testosterone. And you know, fear is just a lack of information. So really what we need to do is educate women in a way that's not scary, in a way that's not confusing.

And we need to realize that there's not just one way to do things. Because this is like my main point that I hear all the time is all these conflicting statements from people. Like one example I'll give you is, you know, no one should do hormone pellets, pellet therapy. Yeah. I think I'm the one who was actually, I said, yeah, I've heard a lot of like, a lot of, most people I know, I've had a few friends who are on them and they really like them,

it's worked for them. Majority of people I know don't like them because they over testosterone you. They give you too much. So if you do have too much, there's no way to back it out. It's stuck in your body for what, three months or four months? Exactly. So you can't control the amount. And then people then have way too much in them. That's the problem. And I totally agree with that statement. We don't do pellets and we don't recommend them.

If someone comes to me and says, what should I do? I would say, here are all your options. And I'd say the pros and cons of each. But what I don't like is that we're scaring women and saying, you can never do this. Because the thing is, it does work for some women. I have a really good friend that I work with. And she will tell you that it saved her life. Yeah, I have a really great friend also who thinks it's the best thing that's ever happened to her.

So I don't like that we're shaming those women or we're scaring women into going like, if I do this, then what's going to happen? I think women are smart, we're smart consumers. I think we should know what all the options are and then you choose what's right for you. And again, I wouldn't recommend pellets, but I also think the way we're shaming and scaring women is honestly just scaring them away from getting help and treatment. True. But I will say there's a lot of people who are just like money grabbing. And a pellet is let's say 600 bucks 700 bucks And it's a very easy thing

You can churn out like I know doctors who are like a functional medicine doctor and they're like churning and burning there come in here I'll give you a pellet next up It's like a cattle call and he's putting in like 50 of these things in a day without giving people options or a lot of times like people you've got to say to the Me or consumer like if I don't know any better and my doctor is telling me to go get or do a pellet and I don't know that there's a different option such as a cream or the, what do you call it, or the injection and he's only telling me about a pellet and then I do it and it's way too

much testosterone, then I'm going to be like really sick and unhappy, right? Yes. Okay. I am so glad you brought this up. Right. Because this is my other point of what I think we're scaring women on. I've heard that a lot. Pellets are expensive and it's just a money grab. And I'm not arguing, I don't know. I'm sure they do make a lot of money on that. They are trained like the pellet makers literally came out and said, we're going to train these people to do this. And you know, this is the retail price and this is what they make. So yes, they are making money on that. But I still think that's like a fricking scare tactic

to say, don't do this because they're just making money on it. True. Here's my, here's my real hot take on this. If I can just get on my soapbox. Yeah, go ahead. Everybody is making money. Yeah, it's true. If you're a doctor selling supplements, you're gonna make money. If you're a doctor seeing patients, you're gonna make money. If you're a hospital, a clinic, you need to make money.

We need to make money to pay the bills and keep the lights on. 100%. If you're a speaker or an influencer, you need to make money. So I feel like level the playing field on who's making money. Money. Because we all need to. We all. I feel like level the playing field on like who's making money because we all need to. True, but the thing is, like, I guess my issue is when people come in without any information

and they have no knowledge and someone says to you, this is the only way to do it, that's a problem. That is a huge problem. That's what I'm saying. We need to educate women to say there's a lot of options. Yes. That's a problem. That is a huge problem. That's what I'm saying. We need to educate women to say there's a lot of options. Right. Here's one option, here's two options, here's three.

And I think if someone's a beginner, I think it's very irresponsible to go from zero to 60 and put somebody on a pellet. If they've never done it before and they're like nervous and scared, then you're going to like shoot them up with 300, you know, whatever CCs, whatever they're like nervous and scared, then you're going to like shoot them up with 300, you know, whatever CCs, whatever they're measured in. Like maybe like go slow and see how they react and respond. So like to me, there's a lot of quacks out there. That's why you got to be very discerning of who you're getting your information from.

Well, the pellet people are probably just those are people who are only trained in pellets, right? And I think the issue you're talking about is an access issue because I think the pellet people were trained early on from the pellet makers to do this. No, I'm not. I mean, really. And so this is like one of our first options to get testosterone as women. And so a lot of people have done that. So it's really more about access.

But now that we're having, we have more options. We're one of them and there are a handful of other really great telehealth companies that are providing other options for people. You know, one thing I was going to say is OBGYNs or gynecologists or whatever, they are prescribing creams though for people. But you have to be proactive. Like I said to my doctor, I have low testosterone, she wasn't going to do anything. And she's like, okay, I'll give you a cream. Now the

truth is those creams, I'm going to be honest, you might as well put Nivea cream on. It's like the same thing. They're very benign. They're not really going to do anything. You're not going to jack up your lean muscle mass and get brain acuteness from the cream. It's like a very entry-level thing. That would be a beginner move, right? Yeah. And it depends on how you absorb it. It could be great for some women. It could be great. I'm just saying, why do doctors then put you on cream, but they won't prescribe an injection? That they will not do to women. It's not true because that's not how we operate. Not you. I'm saying, like, I'm saying if I went to my OBGYN.

Well, I just think it's a lack of education. I mean, this has become such a niche and specialized field. It would be like me going to a urologist for my knee issue when I should be going to see an orthopedic person. I think there has to be a little bit of ownership in the patient's hand too. One of the things that we say all the time is you have to own your journey. We're going to help you, we're going to guide you, we're going to make sure it's safe,

but you still got to do the other work. You still got to eat well, you still got to prioritize sleep, prioritize your stress. You got to do the right things. The same thing happens when you're embarking on this journey to optimize your hormones. You maybe shouldn't just go to the one doctor, you should maybe go to two or three and do some research on your own and know that there's some other options. I've been in this business a long time. We were talking about these pellet people. Some of these doctors might believe that is the best option for their patients and that's why they're only offering it. We like to

put the consumer in the driver's seat because we know when we do that, we're going to have better outcomes. We're going to have better results because they're owning that journey and we're going to nudge them and help them and guide them down that pathway. To me, the injection way is a better way of controlling whatever you're putting yourself. It's because you got to take these injections. How often are you taking it? Like, does a test off twice a week? We usually split dose, so we do it twice a week, yeah. And then you, I would imagine, Joy, you created this because of all the women's health issues

that are become important to you. You wanted to do the same thing that Josh did on the bloke side, but for women, right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I wasn't paying attention when Josh started blokes. I was trying to just have babies. I was like, all right. So that's, I mean, that's why we are two, basically right now we're two different brands is because he started blokes first. And then, and then later on I went through, you know, a really tough five, six years of trying to have a family. Looking back now, I'm like, oh my God, I six years of trying to have a family. Looking back now, I'm like, oh my God, I was so naive as to how that process was going

to go. It was just much harder on me than I knew it could be. We had... In what ways would you say? We had a bunch of miscarriages. Our first baby was so traumatic for us both because she had just a genetic fatal defect. So we were kind of forced with this horrible situation I never thought I would be in where it's like your baby's not gonna

make it makes me cry just to think about it so we were basically forced to to end it early and that was one of the hardest things I've ever done and we and we had experienced that not that not the trisomy but we had experienced that, not the trisomy, but we had experienced that three more times. And I was- There was three more miscarriages after that. There was three more miscarriages. But I will tell you-

I'm so sorry for you. Thank you, yeah. I've never seen her in probably anything more dedicated to one thing. And that time period, it was just about having babies. Yeah. Like our life was literally consumed by it. And I think to some extent, because of that trauma, it was just physically and mentally really hard on our relationship, obviously us individually. And

you know, she was diving in and I was diving out. physically we were both going through these crazy hormonal changes, physical changes and it was just a gnarly experience. And I can tell you from an outsider looking at her, she just got done breastfeeding our son Rowdy and was like, holy shit. For me, there was a little bit of vindication because she didn't have a sex drive at that point. I was like, yo, I told, like, it wasn't just me. I didn't think you were unattractive. Yeah. And she was like, oh, this is how it feels. Now I get it. Yeah. I'm good. I don't need it now. So, you know, by the way, before you started taking your testosterone, like, what was your level?

So I basically, after all of that, I was in my early 40s when I had my second child and I felt horrible, looked horrible. I had no energy to take care of them. And that's when I was like, well, what do I do now? Because I also felt very abandoned. If you look at how many appointments and how much help I had to get pregnant, to stay pregnant, to have my babies, and then after that it was like, you're good, have a nice life. And I was like, I'm actually not good. And where do I get help? So I went through the men's side, I went through the program.

I did this huge deep dive lab. I started looking at my thyroid, doing my hormones, and testosterone was one of the first therapies I got on. And it just helped start getting me motivated, start going, working out in the gym. I felt like I was getting stronger and that was exciting. It's a good kick in the butt to get something started. Yeah. Brain fog too, by the way.

Because I knew there was one time when I was like, there's no way I could go back to work. Just with how my brain felt after kids and going through all that, I was like, I can't do a simple math equation. So it helped lift that brain fog for me, which was fantastic. By the way, girl, wait, because even though it's going to happen again, I was saying, I think also as the kids get older, your brain fog doesn't get any better actually. Trust me, I can't do a math equation for my... I cannot do third grade math to save my life, honestly. And my brain fog is just terrible.

All right. Well, why don't we get you on a little bit of testosterone? I know. I have to just bite the bullet with this testosterone because I know that it could be a real game changer with the hormones. It could be. It very well could be. And let me tell you this, if you don't like it, then you can say it's not for me and get off it. Exactly. Well, that's why the injections I feel are very important. By the way, I urge everybody here, and I talk about this, funnily enough, I was posting about this today, completely coincidentally that you guys were coming on, but I think it's so important for

people to get their blood panel checked, like regularly, because your, what do you call it? Your hormone levels, everything changes all the time, and people don't know what they don't know. So people should be getting that what? What do you think? Like every four to six months, people should get this stuff checked?

I think if you're not on treatments, it should be no less than twice a year, and it should be more complete Panels not just the onesies and twosies that we see so much at a primary care internal med doc. Talk about that What's the to tell people because I yeah, I think it's people don't know what they don't know I mean I have a little bit of insider knowledge because I've been in the lab space for a long time as well Yeah, and and there's something called reactive based testing and And what happens is you come in, you have a symptom, the doctor goes, I'm gonna test you for these two markers.

And then you come back, you see the doctor and then they go, you know what, it's off, we're gonna test you for this marker. So you're never getting that whole picture. One thing that we believe in is if we're gonna treat and if we're gonna diagnose, it's kind of this, test don't guess mentality. So even our most baseline panels

still coming equipped with 40 biomarkers. So we can make a really good deep dive into your health by looking at a ton of different biomarkers asking the right questions, and that just puts you on a war path to just get healthier. So- What do you get with 80? What are you checking for with a panel

with 80 biomarkers? Versus 40 biomarkers. It's just more depth, but you know for our 40 biomarker We're still doing you know, call it light hormones. Okay, no major inflammatory markers. No, no stress markers We're getting your cbc's we're getting your meta your complete metabolic panel, but as you go, we're adding thyroid, we're adding inflammation. Full thyroid panel. Full thyroid. We're adding inflammatory markers like C-reactive protein, cortisol.

We're adding APO-B, important heart markers to really then deep dive in. And I say you're starting to get into that more longevity space. You're starting to get way ahead of reacting. You're getting in a very proactive state when you start adding more markers. So talk about more than, okay, so obviously we kind of covered hormones and being on top of your health in that way, right?

Like getting them checked, seeing where you're low, if you're deficient, how you could supplement for them. What else can people be looking for for optimizing their health and their longevity besides just hormones? So I know you have with Joy, do you guys have a say like what's similar, what's different? So pretty similar panels. There's a few markers here or there between sexes, but they're very… On the women's side, what's added or or subtracted because I mean we're all in this 80 biomarkers we're probably all checking the same stuff correct yeah I mean the prostate for yeah there's a PSA that's that's really it I mean well that's a big one though isn't it yeah no totally and and and you know they're there what I will tell you is very

similar approach this is this is a human thing This isn't a male-female thing. I was gonna say, this is a, yeah. And the reality is we just analyze markers differently depending on the male or the female. Right, right. And some have more of an emphasis. Like testosterone levels for a female is gonna be completely different

than an optimal range for a man. Right. The same with progesterone, the same with estrogen. But there's some universal markers that you just wanna be in a healthy range. like A1C and C-reactive protein. Right. And it's an art and it's a science. So let's say, so walk me through this.

So people get their 80 biomarkers checked and then the nurse goes home. Then you guys put together a very preventative, proactive plan for the person. What else is there besides like testosterone, peptides? What else is provided as options? Supplements, like what kind of supplements, like how also are you guys optimizing people's health? You want me to go? Yeah. One of the things that was important- Oh, by the way, besides the estrogen cream, we're going to get to that face cream in a second. It's a real treat for you ladies.

Amen. I think one of the things that was very important for us as a company was to create an ecosystem for everyone. I think that labs are the foundation to creating a healthier life. It's just such a great deep dive into your health at what's going on at that time and Outside of the hormones outside of the peptides outside of the GLP one agonist We we've developed this algorithm called smart supplements where we're taking your biomarkers and you'll see this as as you evolve in our process But we're gonna address your supplements through your deficiencies. We're going to

we're going to give you a supplement pack that's solely designed for your nutrition nutrition and biomarker deficiencies that are going to be very precise and how they're actually addressing your issues. Beautiful thing about it comes in a nice pack has your name on it. So it's extremely personalized. So I like to, you know, I've always had a love-hate relationship with the supplement space just because it's always been the Wild Wild West coming from medical. And this was our way of saying, you know what, if we're going to treat you, we're going to

treat you with precision when it comes to supplementation. So what kind of supplements are people are the options? Like what are the things that you've noticed now that people are usually very deficient in? Probably the most common is vitamin D. Vitamin D. Still, like, still. Oh my god.

Yeah. I don't think we're getting the sun that we used to. Vitamin D is a huge one. Is it because people are wearing sunscreen as well? Sunscreen, sunglasses, covering up, I think so, yeah. We're inside a hallway. And there's things that lower it You know like there's women are on birth control pill for decades and there's medications

Antibiotics and all that kind of stuff can lower your vitamin and some minerals staring at your phone constantly has you know There's all kinds of you know things that kind of mess with our natural You know production of vitamin D and all the vitamins. Yeah, I think, and then there's a whole slew, but that's the one that we found some research that says like 40% of Americans, what we see coming in our clinic is probably closer to 90% of people are deficient.

I'm deficient, I'm getting on a prescription version of vitamin D. Really? Yeah, I had a clinical consult before I came here and they're like, dude, this is just, it's ongoing. You got to treat it. And I've been treating it with supplements, but now I'm going to get on a prescription version of it that's a little stronger and it's a once a week capsule versus daily.

And hopefully it improves. Really? Yep. So can you guys give that type of prescription for... Wow, by the way. Sure. Okay, what other, give me some other supplements that you... What do you think of this idea of, what do you call it, when supplements are, there's a specific word for it, methylated?

Methylated. Yeah, methylated supplements. Do you know what this is? Yeah. I mean, I think there's something like 40% of people have that MTFHR gene mutation. So it's harder for them to metabolize some of those supplements. So if you give them the methylated version, then it's better for them to be able to actually use it.

It's really B12 that is the primary focus on that one. It's B12. Yeah. And then how do you know if someone needs methylated? Got to get a test for it. Yeah. Do you access for that too? There's a genetic test for it. Yeah, do you guys test for that too? There's a genetic test for it.

Yeah, genetic testing. Correct, yeah. I mean, we have not brought out genetic testing. We've been slow on it. It's a crowded space. I think it's a great way to look under the hood and I've done genetic testing on myself and I think there's merit to it,

but to truly optimize, I think you really need to focus on your blood work. Yeah. What else would you say are other things that are you... Because that estrogen cream, I'm serious. It does change the texture of your... Your face looks amazing. I know you have great genetics, but can you

tell people about this cream? Because I'm telling you, I want this cream. I'm not being paid to say this, guys. I swear. I am going to send you this cream, because I honestly really do believe in it. We've come out with this. It has a couple of different power ingredients.

One is GHK copper peptide, and that's very regenerative for your cellular turnover. People use it actually on scars and stretch marks. It's that healing. And then it also contains estrogen, and it's the estriol is the form of estrogen that it contains because we know estrogen really helps with our collagen production. A crazy stat is that women lose something like, I said, 30% of their skin firmness in the first five years of menopause because of that loss of estrogen.

Yeah. So it contains those two things and then a couple other little vitamins in there. And there was one month where I had three random people, not of different patients and friends, text me and say that it's time for my Botox and I don't need it. Like it's extended my time in between Botox. So I love it. That's the only thing that I really use and will't need it. Like it's extended my time if it's really. So I love it. That's the only thing that I really use and will always use it and I'm going to send it to you. No, it's amazing.

So okay, so then besides, so you supplement, so vitamin D, what was it? Okay, you said how about omega-3s? How about like all the basics? Besides the basics though, what else can you supplement that people could be deficient in? I mean, so the the formulary that is coming from the smart supplements is somewhere around 45 different supplements. And there's the basics and then you can get ashwagandha, tangata li, DHEA, all kinds of different things. Yeah. And really, the beauty is we're not driving the ship. Like, we have a software that helps us drive it and then we look at the biomarkers and we say, oh, your DHE is low. Well, that's

what we should be supplementing with. The reality is people are coming with more than we can even put in that pill pack. So you just start with the most important. But it's really interesting because I told you I had a love-hate relationship with supplementation. We have seen firsthand changes of people who are not ready to get in the hormones, not ready to get in the peptides. We have an influencer who works with us. His name's Cold Plunge Cam and he's been very honest and open. What's his name?

His IG name is Cold Plunge Cam. Yeah, his name's Cameron LaVar. What's his name? No, what's his... Cold Plunge Cam. Cold Plunge Cam. Yeah. Is that the same one you saw? Okay. Yeah. Okay.

I think I saw it today actually. So it's remarkable. So I tell this because he was like the awakening for me with this because he's like, I'm not ready for that. I'm still in my 30s. But I am going through some really, really gnarly mental health issues. And he's been dealing with this for his whole life, honestly.

And I think there was a lot of issues as a child in terms of his diagnosis that he's realizing and he's trying to address it naturally and he's trying to get off SSRI. So I got a text from him on, I think Sunday. He's like, he just randomly said, hey dude, thank you. Thank you for encouraging me to get blood work. Thank you for encouraging me to get blood work. Thank you for encouraging me to address this

with supplementation. And he's now officially off all his medications. Really, just by supplementing? That and obviously cold plunging and lifestyle adjustments. He's worked very hard. You can follow his journey because he obviously advises no one to just get off him. No, it's been a journey

It's a huge journey. He works very hard at it, but it's a first time, you know His words and I'll kind of paraphrase it but he was in the driver's seat He was pushing back on his doctors and saying no no, I want to go this route. It's time. Yeah, and I have help I'm looking at my biomarkers differently. It was funny, he went to his parents and he's like, oh my God, my DHEA is so bad. And you can address that easily through supplementation. And he went to his parents and his parents like, yeah, we've always had low DHEA. And he's like, hello? Like, I've been struggling with mental health issues my whole life. And you haven't told me like some of the things that

genetically could improve just by supplementation. So the power of that is powerful. Like it's precise supplementation is extremely powerful. Yeah, no, I totally agree with that because I guess again, I keep on saying this, but people just don't know what they don't know. And if they haven't been taught to take these things more seriously, they just think it's not that important, right? And so I think that the idea of being preventative is so important for people. And also, like you said earlier, be your own boss, take initiative. Don't just rely on what someone tells you. You have to be your own advocate, especially, unfortunately, especially in America, like the healthcare system here is very broken, very broken and a lot of people are very sick

and are unable to have proper care. It just is what it is. It's tough. It's so complicated and also it's so complicated. Yeah. Really our system is set up. There's a lot of good about the system and it's set up. Where? Because honestly, I don't know where. There's a lot of good about the system and it's set up.

Where? Because honestly, I don't know where. And I love that you're saying that. I think it's a known thing, isn't it? It is a known thing. I'll tell you, well, I saw a Harris study recently that said 70% of Americans think the healthcare system has failed them. So it's a very real thing.

But what they're good at is emergency medicine, you got a broken bone, you need a surgery. Urgent care. You have a diagnosis, you want treatment. So it's something has happened, you want them there. You just said it right there, if something has happened already. But not if something has not happened and you want to be on top of your ship. That's the problem. And that's what we're trying to fix.

We're trying to be before that something happens. And I also think it's, you know, obviously it's not just us. There's a huge, you know, new boom of like the at home things and the customers that are giving you data, like all that data tells you something and gives you options of what to do. Like now you're informed. The next step is you take care of it. Yeah.

Well, you need to have, I mean, you have to be, you have to like take initiative and execute on it. Like one thing is knowledge, but then if you have knowledge and don't do anything about it, what good is it for you, right? That's the bottom line. You have to do something with that knowledge. There's a lot of people who are aware and they don't want to take that initiative.

And I think just taking the first step in this journey can be pretty powerful. And especially, I think one of the things that people are misinterpreting or not understanding about the GOP1 category, Ozempic, Majora, is for the first time, these people are all of a sudden getting a little bit of confidence in pepping their stuff

about their diet and about their lifestyle and about having like I told you that food freedom that they haven't had in years. I mean, if you've been obese for 10 years or more or even a year, that's been a chronic condition that has been ingrained in your lifestyle. That is hard. And if all of a sudden you got this little cheat code, doesn't mean it's going to get you all the way there. You still got to play the game. But if you got that little cheat code, all of a sudden you have just a little edge to live a healthier

life. I also think that it gives you a little hope. And hope can take you very far in life. Very, very far. And if you see, like I always talk about about this that if you actually just see a glimmer that something can be different and hope That can take you further than anything else, right? So if they see themselves getting a little bit stronger or like a little bit like lighter It will maybe put something in their head like they want to continue it was like it will help them Do the next do the next move which is why I think it could be a huge game changer. And it quiets your brain from all the things.

Like you and I, Katie were talking this last night. Like I said, we said that I'm not to talk with the nauseam, but like it's one thing to take, you can, anybody can like OD on something or take too much, right? Because this idea is more is more, right? But if someone just like uses it properly, I think that there could be a lot of advantages for it really, right? But you have to know. And I think it's important for people to know that like, be very conscientious, be like, do your research, know that like, you should be very discerning who you trust.

Like, do your research, know who the good ones are, who the bad ones are, you know, talk to your friends and find out because there's so much information on Instagram now and TikTok. That's where people are getting their information from, right? So like know who your influences, like the people that you're looking at, like what are their, like, you know, like who they are. I think that makes a big difference. I will tell you, we, so when we are doing a GLP-1 for someone, we'll have monthly follow-ups with a coach.

So we'll pair someone with them so that they do a virtual call, they check in, say, how are you doing? And, you know, that's where we guide them on like, you need to eat. If you're not eating, we need to lower your dose. If you're having any side effects, we lower your dose. And if you're doing great, you don't always need to increase it. If you're doing great, just stay there because it's slow and steady. I was going to say, did your body acclimate to this stuff? Do you have to increase it eventually or does your body just like...

It really depends on the case. You can. If you have like a ton of weight to lose, then yeah, probably you're going to be titrating up. But if you don't and you're like slowly losing, then there's no need to like up the dose. What if you're not losing, you're just maintaining or like on the semi-glutide, this is just like a side question. What would happen if you're staying on the same dose?

Does your appetite just like come back slowly and you start gaining weight again because your body now is so adapted to that amount? No, I think, I mean, so peptides in general are very regenerative. And so what it's… Right, you called it a peptide before. I called it a weight loss drug or a weight loss. It's in the category. Yeah, it's called all of those things.

But so the point of it is it's called all of those things. So the point of it is it is helping with your metabolic health. And so that's also why you drill in, it's so important for the protein and the lifting weights to keep that muscle so that when you titrate down or get off it, that your muscle is there to then keep you processing your food and burning the, you know, your fuel. And the hope, like I said earlier, like it's, it allows you that food freedom to create better habits. Yeah. And, you know, imagine your body and mind on a six month journey of something

where you've started creating that stuff. It, the, the, the momentum is, is with you and. You know, everything in life is momentum. Your husband and I talked about, I think we are a company that provides momentum. Yeah, that's a great- I truly do. By the way, that's exactly what I was just gonna say.

My husband talked to you about this? Yeah, we talked last night. About this? We were just talking about the power of momentum. Yes, he stole my line. Just kidding. We talked about a lot last night. I know, I'm just teasing you.

But I truly believe that in health. Like if you've been unhealthy and all of a sudden you get a taste of feeling good. Totally agree. How powerful is that? That's why I think that these things, it's the most powerful thing. That's why it's like, I think, again, hope.

Anything that gets you to a place of action where there's momentum, because nothing happens with no momentum, like inertia. It's very, very, very important. My whole life is based around momentum. So that's why I could not agree with you more. These chairs, by the way, are so uncomfortable. I'm actually enjoying them.

Oh my God, I'm so uncomfortable. We have to wrap this podcast. My God. Okay, Josh, Katie, blokes, Joy, Joy, blokes. You guys are so great. I'm so glad I got to meet you guys. Us too. And you guys are awesome. And everyone, go get labs. It's very important for your health, your preventative care, just where you are. Health is wealth. And if you don't have your

health, you have nothing. You can't do anything. You can't be there for and like if you don't have your health you have nothing you can't do anything You can't be there for your kids your family your work like it's to me It's such a it's it's something that is so overlooked and so under indexed but the most important thing that we have It's unbelievable. Yeah, so glad we met you and your husband We have been on cloud nine after that dinner We have been on Cloud9 after that dinner. It was so much fun. It was a great time. I agree.

We feel the same way about you guys. That's why I'm so glad that we just got to do this podcast on these uncomfortable chairs. But thank you. And go with your IG or give everyone like the… Yeah, Joy is spelled J-O-I, by the way. And on Instagram, we're Joy Women's Wellness. And then our website is ChooseJoy.co. Bloakes is at get Bloakes, B-O-L-K-E-S.

My daughter always makes fun of me when I say that. And then Bloakes.co, super simple. Love it. Thank you guys. Thank you. Bye. Thank you.