The Livy Method Podcast - Hormones & Weight Loss - Part 2 with Dr. Olinca Trejo - Spring 2025

Episode Date: June 5, 2025

In this episode, Dr. Olinca joins Gina to continue the conversation about hormones and what’s actually going on behind the scenes and why you might feel “off” even when you're doing all the right things. They break down the everyday impact of hormonal shifts (yes, they change daily!), how your brain and body are constantly communicating, and why stress might be the sneakiest culprit messing with your progress. Dr. Olinca explains how perimenopause isn’t a light switch, why progesterone is the first to dip (and what that means for your mood), and when hormone testing might actually be worth it. The takeaway? Forget balance—resilience is the name of the game. You’ll walk away with clarity, compassion, and a better understanding of where to focus: sleep, stress, and blood sugar. Simple, but powerful.Dr. Olinca is a licensed, board-certified Naturopathic Doctor in the province of Ontario. She also holds an honours degree in Kinesiology and has achieved her certification and internship in bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT).You can contact Dr. Olinca at [e-mail] find her on Instagram: @dr.olincaYou can find the full video hosted at:https://www.facebook.com/groups/livymethodspring2025To learn more about The Livy Method, visit livymethod.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm Gina Livi and welcome to the Livi Method Podcast. This is where you'll have access to all of the live streams from my 91 Day Weight Loss program. With a combination of daily lives, guest expert interviews, and member stories, there is something new almost every day. Miss the Morning Live? Want to relisten to one of our amazing guest experts? Well, this is the place.

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To learn some things. How do we help you feel less overwhelmed so you can continue on your journey? Keep believing in yourself and keep trusting the process. Just be patient. Dr. Olenke Trejo is back to, I wouldn't say finish up, the conversation that we started on Tuesday, because there's so much to talk about when it comes to hormones and hormones and weight loss. We could probably talk forever,

but we're gonna do our best to continue the conversation from Tuesday. If you missed it, you absolutely wanna go back, check it out. It's in the guides and the Facebook support group and also in the app. You can also download and listen by way of podcast. Hello, I am coming to you live on location. We are down in the city.

I always wanted to say that we are shooting some fun new videos for the program. But honestly, I'm here for this conversation. Hello. Hi. Hi. Good morning. It's so nice to see you. What what was your you know, you and I have had this conversation so many times before. What was your, what's your takeaway when you walk away from these conversations? Do you, do you say, Oh, I wish I would have talked about this or that was like, what's your thoughts on our conversation from Tuesday?

Yeah, honest to God, I always wish that I could have said all the things that I know. I wish I could just download my brain into a real fast podcast that lasts 40 minutes. You and I talk about this all the time. We've done this conversation what? Like six, maybe seven times. And every time it's just a little bit different and I remember something new or I want to give like a different tidbit or whatever it is. And I think it's so hard because hormones are so complex and because they have the role in weight and the weight loss resistance, right? As part of the weight loss resistance has been understudied, underfunded, and a lot

of the times honestly underplayed in medicine, right? Because we've always talked about calories in calories out. And you and I had this conversation on Tuesday backstage like only now our doctors like Dr. Wharton and obesity specialists being like you guys maybe there's something about cortisol that we don't know or you guys are something about dopamine that we don't know right so piecing it together and truly helping people understand that it's not just about the calories it's not just about well power and it's not your fault it's not something that because you know there's so much blame and shame, right?

And we'll be some medicine, which I know you talked to Dr. Wharton about yesterday. So I feel like this conversation for me always. I wanted to feel like this giant empowering hug that says like, it's not your fault. We're here for you. But like, let's get our shit together and like, let's work on this together. You know, let's go, because we got to go.. We got to just, you got to do the work.

And if you are dealing with any hormonal issues, for lack of a better term, there's no way around that. There's no way around it. You have to walk through the fire. You have to, you have to do the things you need to do to, to really help your body be as healthy as possible at the end of the day. I love the conversation with Dr. Sean Wharton. It was interesting. So many times he's like, I don't know. We don't know. We don't know. And because it is so individual, and that's what the Libby method is. So right now, I think we have 26,000 people doing the current program. If you're human, you have a body, the program's going to work for you, follow the food plan, all of that. But how do you make an individual to your needs is understanding what's going on in your body, not just physically, obviously, that's really

important hormones and whatnot, but also mentally, what's going on as well. So how do you want to get into it today? I know we have metabolism, fat storage, we want to talk about stress hormones, that's a big one. We also want to talk about hormones and aging. Am I missing anything there? No, I think that's probably a great start. We can start with, again, just like a quick summary about how hormones are going to impact your appetite, how full you are in your food choices.

If you didn't listen to that, go back to Tuesday, because we're gonna pool all of these together into some of the summaries that we're gonna do today with aging. And so why don't we just go into metabolism and fat storage? Is that cool? Yeah, let's go. Amazing, okay.

So I'm gonna talk about three main hormones that we get asked about all the time. The first one is gonna be thyroid. The second one is gonna be growth hormone, which is so interesting.. The first one is going to be thyroid. The second one is going to be growth hormone, which is so interesting. And the third one is going to be insulin, which is such a big player that then is going to feed into your stress response.

You love insulin. Growth hormone. I know. Well, I love insulin, but growth hormone is surprising to me. Okay. Yeah, okay, okay. Okay, so thyroid.

Everybody knows thyroid because as you're, when you're a baby and through childhood, it truly is critical for your brain development, but for your entire life, your thyroid is mainly responsible for controlling the speed of your metabolism. And it directly impacts weight and metabolism by controlling how your body burns calories, how it stores fat and how it manages energy, right? Surprisingly, and this is something that people forget about, but your thyroid also relates to muscle mass and thyroid hormones also help maintain some of that muscle mass and protein

turnover. And it also helps with almost like fluid retention or water retention, which is actually why one of the main symptoms of hypothyroidism outside of the weight fluctuations, it's actually that people feel really, really puffy. And why when we actually medicate people that have hypothyroidism, the vast majority of the weight that they lose is not actually fat, it's actually the water that they've been holding onto.

Okay, so thyroid is really interesting because thyroid is kind of like a little sponge that gets affected by everybody. I used to, you know this, when I first started working with you, I always used to say, I feel like thyroid is a conductor of all of the hormones. And I've very quickly changed my mind

and now I think it's cortisol. But thyroid is really interesting because it gets really hit by like stress, it gets hit by environmental toxins, it gets it gets hit by environmental toxins, it gets hit by lack of sleep. And the how it actually gets hit, it's not necessarily the production of your hormone that gets hit. It's the conversion of your inactive thyroid hormone, which is actually called T4, which is what most of us produce or the vast majority of what we produce into T3. And if you go back to the conversation that we had on Tuesday, we talked about how hormones

kind of work in like a key and lock system. And there's only one key that opens that one specific lock. And so you actually have two types of thyroid hormone, one that has like four little prongs, which is actually why it's called T4, and one that has three little prongs, which is called T3. The only one that fits into, which is called T3. The only one that fits into the locks is actually T3. However, your body in order to protect you produces mostly the T4. And then as the day goes on, it cleaves off one of the little iodide molecules so that then you get almost

like a slow steady stream of those keys that are going to open those locks so that you don't feel like you're having a panic attack all the time, right? And so that T4 to T3 process and the conversion into your active hormone gets really impacted by lack of sleep. It gets impacted by cortisol. It gets impacted by things like selenium and iodine and zinc and iron deficiency, which is actually why it's also really important that we talk about routine and why routine is so important for your body, but why variation in your diet, right? And making sure that you're not just eating just peanuts or just

almonds or just apples or just whatever, because your body actually needs a really wide range of these minerals especially for things like thyroid. Okay. Thyroid is, that's the one that everyone when they have a hard time losing weight would always go to. That's the problem. It's got to be my thyroid. It's got to be my thyroid when a lot of times, sometimes yes, it's obviously thyroid, but

even when it's thyroid, it's obviously thyroid, but it's even when it's thyroid, it's more complicated than just being your thyroid. Yeah. And you know, it's hard because and you're probably going to see this on the comments alone on Facebook, but the hard thing is, is that our screening tests are not great because we don't actually, as part of our guidelines, we don't actually screen for those T4 and T3, right? That what I was talking about, the active hormones, we actually screen for a hormone that comes from your brain that's called the thyroid stimulating hormone. That doesn't really give you the complete picture.

And then there's other conditions like when your body's actually attacking your own thyroid, which is called Hashimoto's, which is actually not uncommon. It's actually the number one cause of hypothyroidism, especially in women. And so the hard thing is, is that inflammation can play such a big role in two thyroid conditions. And I think the hardest thing as a clinician is honestly that suboptimal thyroid function, which is really truly the, on paper, it doesn't really

look like you have thyroid, but your symptoms look like they're textbook thyroid, can be impacted by so many things. And often when you take a step back and try to figure out like, why does it look like it's thyroid and it's not thyroid, it's actually a conversion issue. And it can literally be, it's just that thyroid is just trying to like keep up with like the cortisol and it's trying to keep up with the estrogen loss. And it's trying to keep up with the lifestyle choices. And it's trying to keep up with the fact that like, you trying to keep up with our lifestyle choices and it's trying to keep up with the fact that like, you know, your cell doesn't have iodine and all of these other things.

And so I do think that thyroid can play a role into it for sure because of your metabolism and it changes as we age and it changes so many things. But a lot of the times, honestly, thyroid is just trying to like, keep all of the balls juggling in the air. And it's actually not the thyroid, but it's everything else in the background that's indirectly impacting thyroid.

Okay, like thyroid is like central command. And it's trying to juggle all these other hormones and things that are going on. Yeah, and it's getting to juggle all the other hormones and things that are going on. Yeah. And it's getting affected by it. Okay. So what do we do about that? Because is this conversation for people who have Hashimoto's or thyroid issues, or is this conversation for people who may be dealing with all the other hormones and you're trying

to just get across how it's affecting your thyroid? Yeah. So the first thing is if you think that you have a thyroid condition and you've gone on chat GPT and Google, and you know somebody that has thyroid, you're like, I think this is me. Get tested. The first thing is getting tested.

Do not take supplements or anything you see online without actually trying to figure out if it's thyroid or not, because not all supplements are safe, right? And your thyroid, honest to God, can get really impacted by the wrong things at the wrong time. The third thing is sometimes if your thyroid on paper looks great, it's not that it's not thyroid, it's just that it's probably honestly a bunch of other things. And whether you have Hashimoto's, whether you're not, you know, your thyroid

is soft postpartum, whether or not it looks like thyroid, but it's not. A lot of the lifestyle things that we're trying to teach you in this program, like adequate sleep, like stress reduction, like not starving your body, not going through long periods of fasting, not overdoing cardio, not getting a lot of the variety, especially when it comes to things like nuts and seeds that carry a lot of minerals is so important, right? Because it, and also

making sure honestly that you're, you're trying to, because I always think about just like you said, the command center, I think of thyroid as like the great balancer. And I just want you to think about your thyroid as like, okay, if it looks and feels like it's my thyroid, but my paperwork is like perfect and my TSH, which is your screening test, looks really good. It probably is not the thyroid and I need to look at cortisol. I need to look at all of the things in the program. And so whether or not you're taking medication or whether or not you think that it's your thyroid, this program is for you.

Okay, love that. Cause so many people like have thyroid issues. Am I going to be able to lose weight? Of course you'll be able to lose weight. Thyroid medication can help if you have a thyroid issue, but there's so many other things that you can do. I just want to just provide clarity because you said don't go taking supplements.

You're talking thyroid supplements. Yes, thank you for clarifying that. So the reason why I say that is because a lot of thyroid supplements have a lot of iodine. And iodine can be very, very, very tricky, especially if you have Hashimoto's disease. And it can actually, it can be a bomb that goes off for a lot of conditions.

And so I'm always very careful with thyroid supplements unless I fully understand the picture and you should be as well. Okay. I think thyroid feeds into like menopause. Not that I want to spend a lot of time talking about menopause because this conversation is for everyone, but that's one of the things that doctors do test if you are presenting with menopause symptoms, just to kind of rule that out, right? Yeah.

And you know what? Hypothyroidism is actually significantly more common in women than it is in men. Depending as to what data you look at, one in every four women or about one in every five women across the globe will have a thyroid condition at some point in their lives. And it usually goes off during periods of tremendous stress physically, mentally or emotionally, like postpartum, like you know perimenopause, things like that. And so it's actually, it's a really great starting point if you start feeling like something's off and I don't know why things have changed to actually get your clinician to run a TSH minimum. So one in five women, what about men?

The data on men is a little bit closer to about one, depending, again, as to what data you look at, one in like eight, one in 10. And so actually, it is a lot more common in women than it is in men, for sure. OK, does it present differently for men? Like I can't imagine men walking around being like, oh, I have thyroid issues.

Yeah, it usually honestly in men, I mean, in both of us, it does present often as like fatigue, difficulty losing weight or tremendous weight gain. That's really, really fast. That you're retaining a lot of water. A lot of the times, honestly, it's also the like eyebrow loss of the lateral third. So it's almost like the end right here of the eyebrows. Yes. Talk to me. You know, what is, I hear people

talking about lack of hair on your toes. Oh, you want some, I have plenty. But yeah, 100%, yeah, you actually end up getting like a bunch of hair loss. Everywhere you're, because your metabolism slows down, also things like your digestion slows down, right? So some people will come in and say, I just, I am terribly constipated. I'm doing everything I can, and I can't lose weight, and I'm losing a hair, and I feel really tired, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And it actually, that can be one of the main symptoms for women. Wow. Okay. Where are we going next with this conversation? And again, I do want to remind people this is an awareness conversation, but the emphasis on how important it is

and to understand there's a lot of factors factoring into your ability for your body to focus on fat loss, but we're also addressing a lot of those just by naturally following the Libby method itself and focusing on things like your stress and your sleep and moving your body and all of that, of course having conversations. This is also about empowering you to go and have more informed conversations with your healthcare providers as well. Okay, where do we go next? Growth hormone, just real quick.

Because growth hormone, especially because we're gonna talk about aging, growth hormone is so interesting. So as the name implies, growth hormone is actually released by your your pituitary at really early, like in really big amounts, up until the age of about 30 to help you with height, help you with bone and help you with like muscle growth.

And growth hormone really also just, it also helps with fat loss. It also helps with muscle growth and it also helps with metabolism because it's almost like it's best friends with thyroid. And it kind of like boosts the thyroid function as well. And so the interesting thing about growth hormone is that growth hormone starts declining significantly

after about the age of 30. And in your 40s and in your 50s, there's this giant drop, right? And so in your 50s, your growth hormone levels may only be about 20 to maybe 30% of what they were when you were really, really young. And in women, especially after menopause with a decline in estrogen, right? And again, we're going to have this conversation in depth in the menopause add-on.

But because of the loss of estrogen, that can also blunt the growth hormone secretion, which actually is part of the reason as to why it can become really, really, really hard to build more of that muscle mass and break some of that fat, right? As we start, like not just aging, but going through that perimenopausal transition. And the most fascinating thing about growth hormone and why I wanted to talk about today is because there's so many ways in which you can actually play into the growth hormone that you have regardless as to how old you are. One of the only benefits of being a woman,

honest to God, through aging is that women tend to have a faster growth hormone peak when they do high intensity exercise than men do. And so in women, when you're doing like HIIT training or sprints or something like that, like an all out effort, we actually see that growth hormone starts peaking within 20 to 30 minutes. Whereas for men, it actually takes closer to about 40 to 60 minutes to actually peak that growth hormone release. Okay, so minutes to actually peak that growth hormone release. Okay, so less is more for us. Yeah, and so especially for women, right?

And you know, all this, like Dr. Stacey Simms, and like all of these people that actually talk about that perimenopausal transition and the all out effort and how we should be exercising and things like that, they're like, girls, you don't need to be doing like 45 minutes of like all out cardio. Like it is efficient, sprints, like, well, you know. I used to do like 90 minutes of like all out cardio, like it is efficient sprints. Like, well, you know, I used to do like 90 minutes, like just, that was just my spin class or my step stair climber or my aerobics class.

And then I would follow it up with weights afterwards. Yeah. And so this is where now the research is heading saying like, nah, you need to be doing a high intensity, shorter intervals, right? And you need to be doing high intensity, shorter intervals, right? And you need to be engaging all like the large groups like your thighs, your hip, like things like that to try and get that growth hormone peak. And that growth hormone is going to stay elevated for about an hour to two after that workout, which is actually why you know, whenever I can, I encourage patients to actually work out around their meals or around their snacks so that you can actually fuel your body properly without,

you know, like a protein shake or something else that's extra, that's not necessarily real food. But with like you have your workout and then you have your lunch within an hour to two, because you want to be able to maximize that protein synthesis that kind of grows those muscles with that protein and also refueling those stores in your muscles that actually give you the power that are carbohydrate driven, right? Which is actually why we don't cut out carbs people. Yes, it's also why it's great to start your day with a nice high protein breakfast, not that you can't still have carbohydrates and or if you choose not to have your day with a nice high protein breakfast, not that you can't still have carbohydrates. Or if you choose not to have your breakfast, regardless, we're replenishing with that fruit

snack in the morning to replenish those glycogen stores as quickly as possible, which of course, as your metabolism starts to increase and whatnot, and we start to make changes to the food plan, then you can start adding a protein and fat to that, but we're not there yet. So anyway, I digress. Okay. Okay. So this is why I think growth hormone is cool because honestly, I think that playing into

and understanding your hormones and maximizing them and using them to your advantage because your hormones are your friends is so important. And that's why I love this conversation. So anyway, insulin, this is your favorite one. I know, I know. Okay, so insulin. Insulin is released by an organ that's called your pancreas and it

promotes the absorption and the storage of glucose in your muscle, in your liver, and in your fat for energy right now or for later use, right? And so truly what happens is that when you eat something, your body is going to break down whatever it is that you're eating into tiny little chunks of sugar that we call glucose. And so then the moment that your body senses that breakdown and that absorption of glucose, your pancreas is going to be like, oh God, I'm up. And it's going to release that hormone insulin. And that insulin is going to tell your cells in the muscle and your liver and later in your fat to be like, girls open up, I've got some glucose and your cells are like, hello. And then they open up, they take up some of that glucose and then your blood sugar drops

right on that glucose drops in your bloodstream. And that's in a normal, healthy, insulin sensitive person. I just want to talk about this because people will like talk about insulin spikes and glorify insulin spikes. It's normal for your insulin to to to spike. Like I don't want to there's just so much people are afraid of an insulin spike. Like your insulin rises so that everything can open up and then take it in and then your it's normal. I, I'm not talking like you have a whole tub of ice cream, of course, I guess, you know, I just want to just say that out loud, because I think people hear like

insulin spikes and oh, my God, and this is why I can't have fruit. And this is why, you know, I'm having no carbs. And yeah, yeah, you that's your body needs carbohydrates, energy foods, yes, it will go up, but then your blood sugar will also come down. And that's how it's supposed to work. Exactly. The problem is that the average North American is very sedentary, and also ends up overeating a lot of carbohydrates beyond their physiological needs, right. And a lot of the processed foods that again, they're highly palatable, palatable, and really processed, which is why, you know, we were chatting about dopamine on Tuesday. It actually puts a lot of strain on your body because what happens is that if

you're sedentary and you're not using up the glucose that's stored up right in your muscles or in your liver, legitimately when you get that glucose in your bloodstream because you've eaten something and the insulin is spiking saying like okay you guys open up I've got some your cells are going to be like great like I've got nowhere to put it like I'm good I'm not opening up like I am good right and so the interesting thing about that is then that the the less open up, the more there's going to be in your bloodstream just building up and building up and building up and your

body doesn't like that. Right. And so then your pancreas as a result is like, maybe they didn't, maybe they didn't hear me. Like maybe, maybe I didn't speak loudly enough. And so it releases more and more and more and more. And so like it's just shouting at the cells like, hello. And your cells are like, I don't, I don't really know what to tell you. Like it's just shouting at the cells like, hello. And your cells are like,

I don't really know what to tell you. Like I've got nowhere left. And so what then your body does as a compensatory mechanism, it says like, well, I don't wanna live in a high glucose state because it's gonna damage me. So it actually gets that glucose and puts it around then organs like your liver

and stores it as fat, usually viscerally, right? Like in your abdomen. And it kind of just like locks it up. And so the hard thing about that is that then, we always talk about this, but your body really truly, it just wants to survive. And it loves fat because fat is a, when the bear comes and I have no food around, this is what I'm going to break into.

However, those times never really come, right? And so then your body just starts locking up those stores and it makes it really, really, really, really hard for you to lose that visceral fat. Because eventually as you start moving and you start changing things, your muscle cells will start giving up that glucose, but your body is going to be like, nah, you can't take this, that's all fat. And so then it's really, really hard with insulin resistance to actually access that extra fuel that's stored around your liver and around your abdomen, because it's almost that locked up energy that your body won't let go of. It's time for today's podcast sponsor and this is a company that I can feel good about. It's Bombas.

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just go to bombus.ca slash Livy, use the code Livy, L-I-V-Y at checkout for 20% off your first purchase. Again, that's bombus.ca slash Livy. And don't forget to use the Livy discount. I just saw a Karen was like, what happens with insulin resistance? And we just like good timing, because there you go. There you have it, that's what happens. So there's a couple of things going on here and this is why the conversation about making sure that you are maintaining and building that muscle mass

is just becoming so important as they realize that insulin resistance is a real thing. Like you go back five years ago, people are like, oh, that's pseudoscience, it's quackery, that's not a thing. And now we know insulin resistance is a thing. And the problem is, is that if you don't have that muscle mass Because your body is storing that when you're when you eat your carbohydrates breaks down into glycogen your body stores that in your liver

In your muscle and in your fat and if you don't have that muscle mass to pull it in It's gonna go and store it in your fat. This is also why That that midsection fat especially in menause, can't be dieted off. It's not something you can starve and deprive and eat less and exercise more of. You have to address your hormones. You have to address why your body is feeling a need to store that in the first place.

And so that's why it's not just as simple as what, you know, let me starve myself and let me do abs. And that's not that's not going to do it for you. Yeah. And this is also part of the reason as to why when you're doing extreme diets, which you know, we're trying to unlearn here, when you're doing extreme diets, you actually will give up your muscle mass, like your body is a compensatory mechanism, will give up muscle mass and it will hold on to the fat

as much as it can, right? And how many times have we all done extreme diets and you're like, I lost weight everywhere, but like the belly didn't go. And the reason why the belly didn't go is because you've actually now overstressed your body. And if insulin resistance was an issue, if your insulin was high to begin with,

then legitimately all you did was lower your metabolism and now told your body that you're like, oh no, now you need to slow everything down and burn less fuel and crave more food and do that. And now even when we tried to fix it, because you're starting off with less muscle mass, you guys, there's not enough cells to actually take up that glucose. And so we have, like, you can't diet it off. You have to lifestyle this off. Yeah, you have to lifestyle it off. I

love that. You have to lifestyle it off. You know, I think it's because fat loss, if you carrying excess weight is unhealthy for your causes inflammation. So just by simply, you know losing fat you make your body healthier. But people are only now realizing the muscle mass that is lost along with it. This is really important for any of our members who are taking any of the glp ones or Having gastric or anything that causes them to lose weight quickly. This is why you're hearing eat the protein, eat the protein. It's not like you need more. You just need to enough. And then also make sure you're maintaining that muscle mass. And this is the problem.

You're getting 53% of people who start taking GLP-1s come off them within a year. 72% within two years. They do not have a fix for sustainability Which is why they're now starting to suggest you lose the weight get off the medication gain some back and take it again and I can only Imagine how problematic that's gonna be for people because when they gain that weight back and they will without these types of lifestyle changes It's that's gonna be a real problem because you're not going to have that muscle mass when it comes to you being able to maintain and sustain your weight. So this is why you've got to start

lifting those weights, you have to start addressing your stress and your sleep. This is why it's really like big picture, really big pitch so much more than what you eat in one. Okay. Love it. Okay. Cortisol, my favorite. Okay. You know, I know the stress hormone. And I, you know, I feel like cortisol has had a moment,

especially in like social media and things like that for like a while. And then there was this like anti-cortisol, anti-exercise movement. So I honestly want to talk about cortisol because I want to clear this up. Don't drink coffee on an empty stomach. Don't get your heart rate up. Don't exercise. Don't whatever. Wear your weighted vest. Eat your protein. Oh my god. I know. I know.

Unless you are like training for I don't know a triple marathon and like not eating anything. Chances are like your exercise whatever you're doing is amazing for you. Like, stress is good. There's like, there's a good stress and then there's like the bad stress. You need stress. It's your recovery from your stress that's the problem, not the stress. Anyway, okay, go. I digress. No, this is perfect. This is perfect. So listen, cortisol is one of the most beautiful hormones. It truly is because it has this like optimal biorhythm that helps you maintain your daily activities, like your sleep and wake cycle. Right. Like everybody talks about melatonin.

We talked about this in the sleep conversations. I can make it really brief, but everybody focuses on melatonin. But truly the hormone that dictates that wake and sleep cycle is cortisol. It's not really melatonin. And so cortisol is actually what is helping you wake up in the morning with daylight. And then it gets really, really low and it's allowing that melatonin to increase right at night. So it allows us to have that biorhythm and it also allows us to respond to stress, right? And the reason why it does that is because

if you see I always I don't know why I have against bears like bears are great maybe I'll use the tiger this time but when you see a tiger in the wild that's about to eat you your body goes into like oh my god I'm gonna get eaten and legitimately your body will release adrenaline and you know what adrenaline feels like adrenaline actually exactly you gotta run you know you're gonna divert all of your energy and your blood flow into parts of your body that allow you to see better, to run better, to think better, right? Fast. However, adrenaline is very short-lived and when adrenaline burns off, then cortisol kind of peaks in, right? Because cortisol is also that stress hormone that doesn't really get you into

like, the birth is coming right now, but gets you more into like, the birth is gonna come, the birth is gonna come, I just know it, I just know it, I just know it. And so cortisol is beautiful when it helps you wake up and feel alert and go through your day to day, but problems can arise with cortisol when you get too much cortisol because you're chronically

stressed out or because you're over-exercising or because you're seeing light at the wrong time or also when you produce too little of it, right? Or when you have the wrong levels of cortisol at the wrong time. And so in a normal person, you get, oh, no, I shouldn't say normal. Everybody's normal. In a healthy biorhythm of cortisol, your cortisol is really high in the morning and then it drops off through the day

and then melatonin increases. However, what happens is that because of stress response in the wild, just like any other mammal, was supposed to be short-lived, acute. There's a beginning, you see the bear, there's a middle, you run away from the bear, there's an end, you made it to safety hopefully, otherwise you got eaten. You know, and then the cortisol, the stress ends.

However, as you always talk about, in our 2025 over glorifying busy-ness lives that we deal with right now, where you're getting bombarded with social media and 30,000 things that you're doing and also 30,000 things that you're doing and also 30,000 things that you should be doing and you're not doing, like wearing the weighted vest and the protein. Your core is like, you have no chance.

Legitimately, your body is like the bear, the tiger, the bear, the tiger, the bear. You're getting bombarded with all of these things. It's almost like your stress response can never really shut off because there's no beginning, no middle, and then no end. There's just the beginning and middle, and beginning and middle, and, no middle, and then no end. There's just a beginning and middle, a beginning and middle, a beginning and middle, a beginning and middle. And so it's not that stress is a bad thing. It's that getting stuck in that stress response and not finishing it off and

not letting your body go to a, I ran away from a bear and now I'm safe and now I can close off that stress response. That's where the problem arises. Yeah. Is that chronic stress? I was just talking to Ruth. Um, Kate, who's doing the research behind Olivia method and she went away. She was just in Malaga, Spain, actually sharing some of the research from our,

from maintenance, which is really exciting, but, um, she's just like, no, I went there and I just came back and I lost weight and And that is that, yes, it's more active. Yes, it's eating more good nutrient rich foods. But the biggest change is the change in stress, the change in stress. And it's like we live in this chronic state of stress. And I think people really don't understand like driving your car is stressful. All the things you need to think about how your brain is stimulated, going to the grocery store, being around people, what do I need?

What do I need? Like there's it's just people think, oh, because I'm not, oh my God, I'm so stressed and having a freaking mental breakdown that they're not stressed because that's how we gauge our stress is like, oh, I'm not having a breakdown, so I'm fine. And again, all of these pieces are really, this conversation is to stress the importance of making sure you are not just moving your body, but focus on building muscle mass that you really are are really this conversation is to stress the importance of making sure you are not just moving your body but focus on building muscle mass that you really are trying to make an effort to get that sleep that you really understand the impact that stress has on you because all of these things are are impacting

your hormones. Yeah and you know what I think that the reason why I think now cortisol is having a moment in medicine and even, you know, in obesity medicine, when people are starting to talk about like, listen, it might not be a tumor that's producing too much cortisol or not adrenal failure, but like there probably is something to do with stress. And like, how do we deal with it? Is because when you're stressed out, right, as a response to stress, when you see a bear that's about to eat you, your body naturally is going to release a bunch of sugar to be

like, run. And so that release in sugar is going to stimulate the pancreas to release insulin, right? That then later is going to have an impact in things like your appetite, your cravings, your metabolism, your muscle mass, your weight. And so you can understand how then cortisol actually feeds into things like insulin resistance. Also, if your cortisol is really, really high, guess what's happening to your sleep? Instead of having that bio circadian rhythm, right, where your cortisol is really high in the morning and then it drops off at night, your brain legitimately wants to survive. Exactly. So at night you're like, is it better? Is it better? Is it better?

Or when you naturally are starting to increase that cortisol at three to four o'clock in the morning so that you can wake up at seven with a really nice level of cortisol, you wake up and you wake up so alert feeling like, is it right here? And that's also a cortisol-driven phenomenon, right? And then that, if you go back to the sleep conversation, you know that that's going to impact like your ghrelin, which is your hormone, like your hunger hormone. We talked on Tuesday about like NPY, right? Like neuropeptide Y and how through a period of stress,

that actually is the main hormone that dries up your appetite for carbohydrates. Like this is why we always talk about your hormones are this beautiful orchestra and they all have to work together. And why I've changed my mind on the thyroid being the conductor and why I think now it's actually cortisol for all of us. Well too high cortisol causes like your body to feel any distor fat, too low cortisol. It's interesting I was at the Canadian, one of the Canadian obesity conference, or, and I can't remember his name, but he also just finished a course,

so he's an MD and also an obesity specialist, and also just finished a course in functional medicine. And he was sitting there on a panel and he was talking about the impact of cortisol. And people were like, oh yeah, like Addison's and this and that, and he's like, no, no, no, no, no. It's not what I'm talking about because they're all thinking like major medical issues. He's like, oh, I'm talking to everyday stress. This is something that we're not factoring in and how it impacts and elevates our cortisol levels and messes with that. So it really is, it really is a thing. How do men process stress differently? Because I always say that when men

carry in that midsection, I'm always like, it's not a beer belly. To me, every man that I've ever helped, it was always high stress, doesn't sleep great, falls asleep fast, but doesn't feel rested in the morning and goes long periods of time without eating, which is just a recipe for this big fat storing like storage center right here. Is it beyond just, I mean, women get that stick midsection beyond just the physical, how does stress impact men differently from women? Yeah, you know what?

This is actually a very interesting conversation because, and it's a little bit complex because there hasn't been a lot of research on women, so surprised to nobody, but on truly like how cortisol responses like differ. There's some research actually in rats and we know that female rats in at least the research tend to be more sensitive to cortisol and also higher cortisol responders. And it's interesting because we do know actually in mental health research, right, in comorbidities that we have, that women are nearly twice as likely as men to be diagnosed with anxiety disorder.

And so in a lot of the research that I've read, actually, when it comes to burnout, we talk about how men primarily will feel this like decreased sense of like accomplishment when you start burning out, whereas for women, it comes from like almost like emotional exhaustion, if that makes sense. And there's a really fascinating book that I love that's called Burnout, and it actually talks about how perhaps there's that there's like a genetic predisposition to that because women have been the caregivers, right? And you have children, you know that your connection to your children is very physiologically different than your children's dad was. You could probably feel

when they were turning over in their crib and then their dad probably woke up and the woman like, oh my God, you got up like that's so weird. Like I slept like a baby. Just because you have that like physiological connection to them, right? And so there's also this theory about how women tend to have more of that human caregiver syndrome than men carry and that tends to have a lot more

of that emotional mental burden that also increases your cortisol than men. And in perimenopause and through hormone changes, actually, we do physiologically see these giant spikes in cortisol that perhaps could be because, you know, you're being sandwiched by the stress of like, you have kids that are getting older,

you have parents that are getting older, you have new kids, like all of these different things, but it also could just be a physiological reaction because your hormones are changing so quickly. And cortisol as a master conductor, that's a very close friend to your steroid hormones like estrogen and progesterone and testosterone, trying to keep up with these hormone changes, right,

that are happening through pregnancy, through delivery, through perimenopause, you actually start seeing these fluctuations just as your body's way of honest to God keeping you alive. Yeah. I love how, and I think this is why this conversation of menopause has exploded, is just now understanding that most of the research that has been done has been done on men or women. We get the rats, I guess. It's the rats. Is that so many studies on rats? I don't know. I know. But we do. I mean, the studies that we do have in women that actually just look at how that center in your brain that's called the amygdala fires right? Fires when you see stressful, stressful responses or even just

foods that you really, really love, right? Women's amygdala tend to overfire a lot more than men's. And so I, honest to God, you guys, I think that we're just starting to tap into the why's in the house of all of these hormones and how they affect us physically, mentally and emotionally. Well, that's what, I mean, basically that's what Dr. Sean Wharton is talking about, right? We're just trying to figure this out. I mean, that's the difference between functional medicine and your doctor who's like trying to figure out what's going on with you and what they can prescribe to help you. And that's that disconnect.

That's that disconnect there, right? I know you've had it on your list to talk about hormones and aging, just being cognizant of time. What do you want to say about that? Honestly, I wanted it to be, and I hope that when I was talking about growth hormone, you got the sense that I want this conversation to be empowering.

And I don't want it to be that, well, I'm old. My hormones don't work. I don't want to do this anymore. Since you brought up growth hormone, is this about working with your own hormones? They exist and we're not trying to balance them because you can't balance your hormones, but there is a way of producing more growth hormone,

more, less, I guess there's a way of producing less cortisol, where you'd want less cortisol, you'd want less insulin, you would want more GLP-1, right? That's what this is about, understanding what they are and how they play a role, and then how to facilitate either more production or less production.

Would that be correct in saying that? Yeah, and you know, I think that, like I said on Tuesday, for me, it's so critical for people to understand that there isn't a supplement that's going to balance out your hormones, right? There is, a lot of the times, there isn't a test that's going to tell you, as much as like they're expensive and beautiful,

they're so fun to do. It's not gonna show you all of your hormones at the same time. We have so many of them. But it is in the non-sexy, small, routine things that you need to do and engage in consistently, right? That actually help you balance out your hormones. Yes, there is medication when you need it.

And like, yes, supplements can optimize some of the work that you're doing, but truly, like, there isn't a supplement that's going to take the place of you not growing your muscles, or you not moving your body, right, or you not sleeping, or you not doing all of these things. And so for us, it's so important that you understand the whys and the hows so that you feel encouraged and you stay consistent, because this truly has to be a lifestyle.

This is why I always tell you, this is not a diet. This is a lifestyle and this is why the maintenance of all of these small non-sexy things, like being really protective of your sleep or doing your exercise snacks of, you know, the like 10 squats every two hours or whatever, that's what they actually work and they work long term and do they work really, really fast? A lot of the times they don't and that's okay because

your hormones, it's not, you know, and I've said this in different podcasts, but it's not that like all of a sudden you start exercising and your body's like, oh my God, amazing. This is like so fun. Why haven't we done this for 40 years? It's like, girl, you got like 40 years of like catching up to do and I'm not saying that you're going to be working to work, you know, in your 80s to be like, Oh, finally, I'm reaping the benefits. But this is where I think that the patience and the kindness and the compassion with your body and where you've been and where you're at and where you want to go is so important and why consistency is so much more important than intensity. Yeah, because every day we are getting older and we want to age beautifully, gracefully

with strength and confidence. We want to feel calm and comfortable in our bodies. And a lot of these hormone things that we're talking about insulin resistance, there there's more research talking about how that affects your brain with Alzheimer's, dementia, we want to have we don't just want to look good. We want to have strength to be able to lift things and carry things and be able to be independent. We don't just want to get old. We want to grow old and still be able to live our lives in all the best ways and, and really addressing these hormones is really the foundation of that you take the weight loss part aside. It's, it's, that's, that's what's important. We all want to, yeah,

lose weight and feel good and look good and fit our ass into our jeans. But the end of the day, we want to live long, healthy lives. So I agree with you. This is more of a lifestyle program than it is a diet. I don't give a fuck what you call it. Just be here. Just be here with us. Whatever you want to call it, but just be here with us. How do you want to round out this conversation today? Which I'm so grateful for, by the way. I mean, it never gets old. It never gets old. One of my favorite quotes that I've shared before is something that actually one of my

professors from kinesiology, like 150 years ago said to me. And he always said, you know, wellness is not a state of being, it's a state of action. And I think it is so important for us to understand that we have the power to live really healthy, strong, happy lives. And it's in the small choices that you make every day that are either working towards or away from your goals. And everybody has bad days. And everybody thinks that they fall off the wagon.

There's no wagons here, you guys, that we fall off of. We just keep going. And we keep going. And you know better. You do better, right? And so I truly hope that everything that we do here is to empower you and inject you with hope that things are, there's so many more things that are important than the number that you see on the scale. And you know, when we talk about like your why and finding out your why,

it truly never is, oh, because I want to fit into the genes that I fit into three years ago, right? It's usually because I want to run after my grandchildren. Like I just want to be able to like walk without having shortness of breath for longer than like 20 steps. And so focus on that and just do your, the small consistent things that are going to help you to get there. Just be patient. I love that. That you got to bring it. Just get t-shirts.

Just be patient, Dr. Alinkatry. I love that you said there's no wagons. And it occurred to me, we're always talking about how we're on the road and we're driving. We're all walking. And sometimes you're running. Sometimes you're walking, wearing your weighted vest. Sometimes you're just like, I don't know, copping a squat and shooting out. Sometimes you stop to like shoot, like do your shoelaces up, like, you know, because

you're like, I'm gonna just sit and like watch the birds go by. Smell the roses along the way. I love that. I love you. Thank you so much for your time. Again, I can't wait to have this conversation 10 more times, 100 more times, if we're lucky enough to do so. Thanks everyone for joining us live. I know you got some good tidbits and takeaways. Thanks again, as always, Dr. Alinka Trejo.

You can find her over on Instagram at doctor.olinka. You can also reach out to her by sending an email to info at doctoralo.linka. You can also reach out to her by sending an email to info at doctoro.linka.com. I know so many people end up sending me emails or running to them, oh my God, I'm working with Dr. Olinga. It's a game changer. I feel so honored, I feel so privileged.

I feel honored and privileged that you spent the time sharing your information with us because I know you really believe in people trying to make change in all the right ways. So thank you so much. I love you. I don't want this conversation to end, but we got to go. Thanks everyone.

Thanks guys. ["Dreams of a New World"]