The Livy Method Podcast - Supplements with Dr. Paul Hrkal - Winter 2026

Episode Date: January 20, 2026

In this episode, Gina is joined by Dr. Paul Hrkal to talk all things supplements, what’s worth taking, what’s not, and how they actually support weight loss in the context of The Livy Method. It��s not about magic pills or fat-burning fads. Instead, Dr. Paul breaks down how foundational supplements like vitamin D, magnesium, and omega-3s play a role in helping the body function at its best, especially when it’s working hard to release fat. The conversation touches on common deficiencies, the importance of digestion, and why supplements are meant to complement, not replace, the work you’re already doing on The Program.Where to find Dr. Paul:Instagram: @drpaulhrkalwww.paulhrkalnd.com If you are in the Fall 2025 Support Group, you can check out the full video here:https://www.facebook.com/groups/livymethodwinter2026To learn more about The Livy Method, visit livymethod.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm Gina Livy and welcome to the Livy Method podcast. This is where you'll have access to all of the live streams for 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 re-listen to one of our amazing guest experts? Well, this is the place. This podcast is hosted on ACAST, but it's available on all podcast platforms, including the one you're listening to right now, Spotify, Apple, and Amazon music. We're focusing on sustainable habits, not quick-fixing.

Is it an opportunity to get curious? We're here, help people get to their health goals. One piece of time, we build and build and build. I'm just, hi, Paul, I'm just looking at our app and our new AI, and I just wrote it in vitamin D. And I was like, what's it telling me? So we're talking supplements today. Can they help you lose weight in which ones?

Of course they can. Probably not in the way people think, but we wouldn't waste their time and talk about them if they weren't actually valuable and useful to add in. All of the information today that I'm going to be talking about with these supplements is in our book. We did a revamp supplement post. It talks about minimum recommended. It talks about food sources. Anything else we're probably going to discuss here or you can discuss later with your own health care provider at the end of the day. Hi. Hi. Hey, morning. I was talking the other day on the live and I was getting confused between what I'd already told people and the segment that I did with you the other day and was talking a bit about supplements.

I was thinking about this segment today. And, you know, we can go through each one and why it's important and what people need to know. But, you know, I don't know that that's the direction we need to go. I want to ask you, how do supplements help people lose weight? You know, I think that this is probably one of the big questions that any skeptic is thinking is that, hold on, I'm here talking about weight loss. And I'm used to, maybe from previous experience, that, you know, the weight loss clinic was saying, hey, you got to take these injections, you got to take all these expensive powders and supplements.

So I kind of want everybody, first of all, before I answer that question is to leave all those preconceived notions at the door. You know, I think the program that you've created, Gina, is not supplement-centric. It's not some magic bullet potion thing that you need to do. So I think when you look at supplements, in the way that I look at them in my practice is that they are tools, they are building blocks in order for your body to function better. So right off the top, I'm going to say there is no supplement that's talked about in this program. That is a fat burner.

That is some sort of like magic, let's burn this weight off. Now, even though there's a lot of stuff you can buy online, especially in the U.S., where there really is, it is the wildwe. best when it comes to any sort of supplement, making a lot of different claims. Yeah. That's not the same in Canada. But the reality is that the researchers doesn't support that. If it did, Dr. Oz would be a billionaire because he talked about raspberry ketones before

there was like one animal model study on it and said it was supposed to weight, help you lose weight. Anyways, we know that bad. It was a fad. It didn't work. But it flew off the shelves for a couple, you know, for a couple months. So we look at it as how do you support your body's journey through a weight loss process, a diet base, a lifestyle base weight loss plan. And it's basically your body is going to be hydrating.

So we have to give it extra minerals to properly function. You're going to support your body's normal elimination pathways through your digestive system, through your liver. Now, I'm going to use a dirty word here, detox. I think we talk about that. You know, you and I... I say all the job. We vibe.

We're good. But for all the skeptics out there, I'm like, oh, no, he's a naturopath. Talking about detox, is he also going to throw in adrenal fatigue and candida cleanses? Don't forget your detox tea. Yeah, exactly. No, we're not talking about that. We're talking about what your body does every second of the day. It's normally eliminating.

And honestly, the crappy lifestyle that so many of us, us, including sometimes for periods of time, myself, when you're stressed out, you're not feeding yourself properly, you're not sleeping well, our body's own elimination system needs a little TLC. And so that's where we're just trying to give your body nutrition. So the foundations is diet and supplements come in to support that, Gina. So the foundational supplements are things like vitamin D for proper immune function, proper inflammation regulation, omega-3s for also immune function.

Again, both of those don't have any evidence to say, hey, listen, I'm going to lose weight. I'm going to burn fat. But when you look at the evidence, and there is a lot of human and animal clinical evidence showing that omega-3s help regulate inflammation, promote the resolution of inflammation, and address things like insulin sensitivity, reducing certain values like triglycerides, which are related to metabolic syndrome and metabolic issues. So we are trying to get after the deeper issue with the cell.

supplements and they are supporting your journey. Yeah, it's kind of like if you took any one of these, if you had just had a friend who wasn't doing the program and they took any one of these things in combinations, not necessarily going to help them lose weight, but in combination with doing a program like this and if you have deficiencies. Okay, let's start with Omega 3 because you and I had a conversation about this just the other day. I think there are three like three that are so foundational that if you're, are deficient in them, they can really hinder how your body function.

The one is the omega-3 because we're not eating enough fish in our diet or other omega-3 sources, most of us anyway. Vitamin D, obviously, for obvious reasons, you can go into why. Behind magnesium is another big one. Let's start with omega-3 and how that can help people lose weight. Or maybe if they're deficient in them, how it hinders the body's ability to focus on fat loss. I like that you said deficiencies because, you know, I think we have to highlight the

importance, the reality that the three that you mentioned, especially, there are some most common deficiencies, even in the Western world in the supermarket culture. So each one is a little bit of a different story. So I'm just going to give everybody a little snapshot here. Omega-3s, really the only main source of omega-3s is going to be fish. And a lot of people don't eat fish for a whole bunch of reasons, primarily because of accessibility. but also because it's actually quite contaminated.

Our waters are really not healthy at this point. And so that's one of the issues. And then also the other big one, and this is where I think it kind of gets overlooked, is that the supermarket diet that we have where everything can last a nuclear winner on the shelves is full of these commercial kind of oils that are great, For stability, however, they're really good for, they're really bad for inflammation and the function of ourselves. And any fat that you eat gets incorporated into that layer around yourselves. And so you're kind of as healthy as that as those types of fats.

And so just think about it. Just pick up any food product that is in a box or a can. And you'll look at it and there's vegetable oil. And when you actually look at it, that's like soybean, cottonseed oil, safflower oil. and these are rich in what are called omega-6s. Now, omega-6s are more in the pro-inflammatory category, and they compete with omega-3s in the body. When you have lots of omega-3s, you can regulate inflammation well.

When you have lots of omega-6s, which our diet for every one omega-3, there's like 20 or more omega-6s, where the historical ratio, Gina was kind of like five, six, somewhere in there of omega-6s to omega-3s. So a much better ratio, and that ratio really dictates a lot of inflammation. And we know we're going to talk about inflammation in future sessions. It is really one of the underlying processes that is driving why a person is overweight and why it's difficult for weight to come off. Yeah.

And like Dr. Paul just mentioned, we're going to go through those reasons why your weight might be slower to move. Not that it's impossible, not that you can't lose weight, but reasons why it might be slower. And inflammation is a big one. And the rest kind of lead to inflammation, right? Then there's gut issues, food sensitivities, whatnot, what's going on in your microbiome, hormones or another one that lead to sensitivity. So what's the other one? What's the other one to you?

We talked about dysbiosis. We talked about food sensitivities. We talked about inflammation and hormones. Yeah. Yeah. So when it comes to your diet, right, 40% of your diet, carbohydrates, energy foods, 30% protein, making sure you're getting enough protein in, and 30% fats. We're not afraid of fat.

A lot of people from dieting are afraid of fat. And, you know, when it comes to omega-6s, you know, they're okay fats, saturated fats, okay fats. If you're getting enough of your really good fats, like they're only negative three. So it's really, it's not about vilifying certain oils. It's just really making sure you're getting the right balance. That's what Dr. Paul's talking about. It's so easy to get those omega-6s, those saturated fats and all the things that we are

we are consuming and not as easy to get your omega-3. Also, without enough good fat coming in, your body is reluctant to let go with that. Your body needs fat. It's not like your fat is sitting there doing nothing. No, great. Yeah, your body factors in your fat. So you do need fat in your diet. Can you test for you?

You can test for omega-3. Yeah, you can. It's called the omega-spo. Yeah, and that's how we know that a lot of people, even the quote-unquote, healthiest athletes don't have adequate levels of omega-3. And so there's a percentage. So if you're below 4% of omega-3s in your cell, you have a higher risk for cardiovascular disease.

You have a high-work for things like age-related cognitive decline and dementia. So it's been connected to major things like all causes of death, which is like literally the most like holy grail of things that researchers look at. It's called all-cause mortality. And so the lower your omega-3 score, the higher the risk there is. And then if you get up to over eight, which is the ideal ratio, again, you'll never be 100% omega-3s. I want to make sure people understand.

It's about creating the right balance that our body's physiology ideally will run on. And if you've gone through periods of time where you've eaten a lot of processed foods, that ratio is shifted. And now you're predisposed at the cellular level to create more inflammation, genome. Yeah. And so we keep coming back to that. That's kind of that really key process. And so of course if you eat a healthier diet, you're going to turn off the tap of those inflammatory

types of food molecules. And part of that is these fats and these omega-3s come in and they counterbalance that. Let me give you one. And you know what, I really pride myself on being evidence-based. Let me give you one little tidbit of evidence. So I present on brain injuries and concussions and brain health a lot. And so there's this one study that looked at can omega-3? threes and omega-6 is in diet influence headaches.

Headaches are one of the most common symptoms in the world that people suffer from. And they set up two groups and they set up one group that just said, listen, I want you just to cut out the crappy fats, cut out the omega-6 fats. So eat a low omega-6 diet. So think of like the fried things, the chips, all the stuff that we want to eliminate. Ultra-process foods set it by the way. And then the other group, Gina, said you have to do the same thing, but we added omega-3s in their diet.

The group that did both the omega-3s and lowering the omega-6s had all the benefits on reducing the amount of days they have with a headache per month, the amount of hours per day substantially went down. So it's really about having both of those good fats increase and the bad fats decrease that you really start getting the magic happen. So this is why omega-3s coming into a diet that you're talking about. I think it's so therapeutic. I mean, and that is it.

I had someone, someone's in the comments talking about, can you just ask Dr. Paul about fatty liver? And, you know, we just posted the other day about different types of health issues that people have, diabetes, thyroid issues, going through menopause. I mean, you know, these foundational supplements are beneficial, you know, I would imagine with everybody.

But this is where you're doing a program like the living method and focus, I'm not just healthy foods, but managing stress, trying to get sleep, moving your body. They can have a massive impact. It occurred to me that maybe people with fatty liver would be afraid to add in something like omega-3. Yeah, absolutely it would. I mean, fatty liver is a massive epidemic, Gina. I know you heard about it.

Obviously, the first place that if you have an excessive calories ever in the past, the first place you're going to kind of start dumping that extra fat is around your liver. And then there's the expansion into what's called the visceral adiposity or the VAT, the VAT, the VAT. This is the most dangerous type of fat, the one that's linked to a lot of the health issues. And so I think as a person loses weight, their fatty liver generally improves because you're eliminating fat around your waist. You're limiting fat inside of your abdominal organs, around your organs. But there also is a huge connection to alcohol. There's also a huge connection to processed foods.

There's a specific type of sugar called fructose. And that's the one that's found in the high fructose corn syrup, the glucose fructose, all the really ultraprose foods. and that is extremely toxic to your liver, especially when you take a higher amount. So again, I know people on the diet, they're not eating that now anymore. But it takes a while to detoxify all those old things that we used to do back in the day. Yeah. And so omega-3s, vitamin D, magnesium, B vitamins, these all have beneficial effects on helping your liver do its job better.

Because ultimately, fatty liver is also very inflammatory to the body. it also is very connected to the digestive system. In fact, the liver is the part of the digestive tract, right? You get stuff absorbed and it has to filter everything that comes out of your gut, almost everything. Yeah. And that is a big job, especially when we have not taken care of it. Okay, I want to go in through, quickly go through some of the foundational. Again, more information in the book.

You can Google it in the AI. You can ask me, but then I want to ask, I want to leave time to ask you about GLP, supplements. What's the deal on that? Creatine supplements and anything else that you might actually think would be beneficial. So let's go through vitamin D. Everyone always talks about vitamin D. Does it have to have K? What's the big deal? Why? Just quickly, why would it help us and anything that we need to worry about or think about when it comes to D? And testing. Test it's the most common deficiency really in the kind of Western hemisphere in the northern climates. If you're not getting, you know, Sun, which is the main way that your body makes vitamin D, you have to supplement.

There really isn't a great food source of vitamin D. Now, you might see on cartons like fortified with vitamin D, but what you don't realize is that that's the really inferior form of vitamin D. It's called vitamin D2. Yeah. Supplements are vitamin D3, Gina. And that's the form that your body is actually good at absorbing and using. So those are, you're not getting that for your milk products.

That is really meant that is put there to prevent what's called. rickets, which is like absolute extreme low levels of vitamin D that causes bone issues. But we still need adequate levels. I tested in almost all my patients. And I find that it can be suboptimal or even deficient quite often. Sometimes people have absorption problems, Gina. That's me. They're taking supplements.

They don't actually get benefits. And this is why, you know, go get tested. If your family doctor is pushing back on you because I hear it all the time, well, you know what? I don't test for vitamin D because, well, everyone's deficient. And then, you know, the first response should be is like, okay, so what are, what are my levels at? Should I be taking a thousand I use like Health Canada recommends as a maintenance? Or am I really low and maybe I need a higher level?

So my recommendation is go get tested. Okay. Work with somebody that actually is able to kind of guide you in that because it's so good at regulating inflammation and regulating the immune system. And last final point, especially for people that are overweight and maybe looking to optimize their nutrition, vitamin D is a very common deficiency, but it's even more deficient in people that are obese and overweight. It has to do with, again, the dilution of fat in the actual adipose tissue and possibly even higher levels of inflammation where the vitamin D is being used. So there's an inflammation connection there. So I think there's a greater need for people that actually need to lose weight to supplement with vitamin D because they need more.

Okay, great. I want to move on to calm magnesium, which I love taking at night, obviously. I have the calm at bedtime and I've got my magnesium bisclacinate to add in. But before we go any further, what about timing of supplements? I know in the information that we posted in the book and in the group and in the app today, there's sort of recommended timing. But can we just like take a handful and just like really, how bad would it be for us to just take them all at the same time? Yeah.

I had a patient yesterday that did the living program in the past, you know, had some good success. And, you know, after a while, you kind of just be like, you know what, I'm just going to take this massive handful and just stuff it. my face in the morning. And the reality is that a lot of supplements are very safe. However, there are some things that you can do to optimize absorption. So, for example, vitamin D, omega-3s, they're fat. So they should be taking with other fats that help absorb them. So you want to take them with meals.

Where something like magnesium, you can take it before bed and you're not with food. You should be stopping eating after six or seven o'clock. And that's great absorption, actually. So minerals in general, you want to take away. you could take it in the morning or evening. Magnesium is not a sedative. It's not going to make you pass out. A lot of people think, oh, my gosh, I can't take it in the morning because I'm going to be sleeping.

It is generally very well tolerated. But again, if you're on medications or if you sometimes are very sensitive to supplements, you know, always talk to a supplement literate provider. And that usually is a naturopathic doctor because most medical doctors kind of know the basics, but they don't really know how to optimize your nutrient levels. And so that's the way you can really double check, especially if you're wondering, hmm, is this right for me? Or maybe I've tried this in the past and I didn't feel the greatest. You know, listen to your body on that. And then you can optimize the timing.

Okay. Magnesium. We like, this is so beneficial. I mean, it's the most commonly prescribed supplement in my practice. Like I use a ton of magnesium. I use like four or five different types of magnesium. Yeah. Really great for muscle function. Again, I'm going to use that word inflammation. There's research showing it helps with that. decreases spasticity and so muscle tightness and improves things like pain. So I think in general, and I forgot a big one actually totally is moving your stools. So a lot of people with like chronic constipation, they may be on gLP ones and their stomach is slowed down. They're a little sluggish.

magnesium could be kind of a little helpful for that. So overall, a really, really essential mineral for everyday function. however it's again not really easy to get it in diet. Calcium, you can get through dairy products. Magnesium, pumpkin seeds really is your best bet, some green leafy vegetables. But even there are minerals, Gina, even though they're found in plants, there also are a lot of other substances like, for example, oxalates and spinach that bind up minerals. So while there is magnesium and iron in spinach, you just don't get a good absorption of it. So that's where, you know, supplementation really comes in.

So the three things we just talked about, which I would definitely consider the foundational or fabulous five, really don't have great dietary sources, which is why I think supplements play a really key role here. So con-magnizant, and people are like, oh, it gives me diarrhea. You're probably taking way too much, although it is normal to have on the bowel movements on the looser side when your weight is moving. Just adjust the dose, right? And those all have sort of minimal recommended doses if you have real deficient.

deficiencies, definitely get them tested. Speak to someone like Dr. Paul. You know, they can recommend the proper doses and whatnot for you. It is not a poop. It does help support detox and bowel movements. It draws water into the bells, but it's not a sleep aid. Helps when you take it at night, calm the body, whatnot, but you can take it during the day, like you said, not going to fall asleep. Or you can try the dysclosinate, which is, this is a hot one that everyone's talk about with menopause. Yeah, because the glycine adds an additional benefit. So like magnesium is attached to something else. Like omega-3s don't have that. It's just straight omega-3s. vitamin D, it's just straight vitamin D, but magnesium is a mineral and you have to attach it to

something that, you know, we're not going to get into the chemistry, but then the additional benefit of that glycine, I think also is therapeutic. Again, dosing it throughout the day, if people struggle with some of those loose stools and maybe it causes a little too much of whatever that they're looking for, break it up. You don't have to take two scoops of it before bed and have a huge blowout in the morning. Break it up. Well, what would cause absorption, absorption issues. Yeah, there's a bunch. So one of the first ones is any sort of digestive surgery or procedure bans, any of those things,

it's well known in these surgical kind of like issues that deficiencies happen. In fact, gallbladder removal? Gull bladder removal is more so for fat absorption because you need it. So that's like omega-3s and vitamin D. So yes, that's a good point. But I'm talking about just in general nutrients. Crohn's colitis, or if you have inflammation of the gut, if you have chronic diarrhea, maybe that's an IBS-related thing.

That's a huge one. Certain medications, Gina, are well-known. For example, acid-blocking medications literally have a black box warning saying, if you take it for too long, it will cause magnesium deficiency that may or may not be reversible. Almost to the point that, you know, these medications are actually, they're adding magnesium to these medications, which is like bare minimal. but we can do better on that. So, I mean, I just listed a few off the top of my head, but you need more because

you're stressed out and you're detoxing and you're doing your weight loss program. Your medications you might be on currently or in the past are depleting them. Any gut issues are causing absorption problems. And then finally, there's a genetic reason that some people just don't absorb things like B12 and vitamin D very well. And how do we know that? Maybe we test once and then you try again after supplementary. and the levels don't change.

Well, this is a reason that maybe we have to up the dose or maybe you have to try a different type. This is what I do with my patients. I guide them through kind of personalizing and curating their plan. B complex. I also take a B12, but B complex? Yeah, so B12's in there.

Your B vitamins are a family. And they often have a lot of overlapping functions. So, you know, if you were to look them up in a textbook, they would say, help support metabolism, whatever that vaguely means. But we always want to know how do we support energy function. When I hear metabolism, I hear ability to produce energy for your body cells to function. And this is important for repairing things.

This is important for detoxification. This is important for every single function of your cell. So B vitamins are very broad spectrum. But I will tell you, clinically speaking, B vitamins are a common deficiency. You can test for B6. You can test for B1 and B2. and B12, but most often B12 is the one that most doctors will test for. And if it's low, it's an easy fix.

We have to bring those levels up. But again, there's a lot of things that block the absorption of B vitamins. There's a lot of things like deplete B vitamins. Like, for example, metformin, the most common diabetes medication is well known to the bleed B12. So this is an example of a medication induced deficiency. So there's a lot of benefits to using a Bcom. to support your kind of weight loss journey.

Oh, you mentioned, you mentioned metformin, which obviously people use to manage diabetes. Managed diabetes. Yeah. What about, so this brings me to a ZemPEC and GLP1 is the weight loss medication. So obviously we have a lot of people, more and more people now taking them to help them on their weight loss journey. What vitamins, minerals would they need to be concerned about making sure that they get in? Would you just be the same? It's a great, no, it's a great question.

So I do have a whole, I've combed the research and I've looked at, you know, what are the most common things that affect people that are taking this class of medications? Yeah. And one of the biggest ones, Gina, is that their digestive system slows down. And this is actually kind of like one of the built-in kind of like effects is that you're not going to want to eat as much. Yeah. But that also leads to, you know, kind of eating less food and that may lead to deficiencies in some people that are already on the borderline. So if you're somebody that's a little older, or if somebody that's a little older, for somebody that's taking multiple medication, not just OZempic or Wagovi or, you know, any one of these semaglutide meds.

You know, so obviously your digestive system is a big priority. You know, so in general, I would say it's like multi-nutrients, multivitamins, B complex, magnesium helps move the stools. Ginger is a great anti-inflammatory herb that has what are called pro-kinetic properties, which means it helps move the digestive system, you know, I just want to mention one thing because we have people listening from all over the world. Yeah.

In Canada, we have a very kind of regulated natural health product. It's actually one of the most regulated in the world. And that's a double-edged sword, you know, because it really limits the crap that you can find. And a lot of times these like companies that are kind of adulterating supplements and throwing nothing in there. for lacing it with medications, it's unsafe. But in the U.S., you can actually find supplements that claim that they boost GLP1.

You can actually find probiotics, which we talk about on our kind of foundational supplement piece as well. But, you know, there's these, I'm going to call them like premature claims. So yes, supporting gut function and supporting some of the products that these little bacteria in our guts make may have some. boosting effect on GLP1, but it does not work the same as actually the medication. So I just want to make sure people understand just because it says GLP1 on a supplement does not mean it works anything like OZumping necessarily. So I think we're way too early to actually say that. I'm a huge

believer in the gut microbiome. You know, Gina, this is like what I breathe every single day. however, I also know what I can say by the research and what we shouldn't say. And so that's one of them. Okay, yeah, because people, you see them all the time, right? This works like a GLP1. GLP1 being a hormone. We're going to talk more about hormones because, you know, we have to have the conversation, not just menopause, all the hormones in your body.

What about leptin? Because this is the next thing. I was just at the obesity conference in Atlanta recently. And the next thing is maintenance medications that are based on leptin. Leptin is all hormones that makes you feel like you've had enough. So anything there, anything to help us with appetite. I mean, we don't want to suppress appetite. That's the thing, right?

We want to be in tune to when we are actually hungry. What about appetite, food noise? Anything that would natural that would help. I got to ask. Yeah. Well, JLP ones definitely suppress appetite. They definitely get that food noise. So they do that for sure.

And I mean, you and I had a great conversation on Friday. we kind of got into this a little bit where it's like, what's the future here? You know, because I really see GLP-1s as tools, but they really have, it's a double-edged sword, you know, we've talked about this a lot. You know, so what are some natural things that might address leptin? Honestly, from it, I look at it as much from a dietary perspective as I do from a supplement perspective. First of all, a lot of everyone that's fallen in the Levitin already is doing a better job at sensitizing

a leptin. Yeah. There's something called leptin resistance. I'm going to talk about insulin resistance, Gina, when we talk about hormones. So I know you're going to ask me about that. So I'm going to save that for that conversation. But I think there's another hormone called leptin, which is our kind of like, I feel full. So if you're somebody that you eat and then within five minutes, you're like, that cover looks

pretty good for me to go like rummaging through and like finding something else to eat, something like little sweet, something else. If you're not, if you eat a meal and you. you still want to eat right after, even though you know you are satisfied, that's a leptin resistance issue. And so good fats, Gina, specifically good fats like omega-3s in general, but even dietary fats, they're going to help improve that satiety after you eat, and it's going to help starting to resensitize leptin to these receptors. So I think that's a really, really, really, really important piece. Do you have some supplements I use in my practice?

I don't want to say them because people are going to like Dr. Osme and say, I'm going to go buy this thing and it's like a left there's distance. You know what? I'm resisting because I honestly think it's not appropriate just to say, hey, this is the one thing that's going to sensitize leptin. Yeah. Do the diet and not take the shortcuts because the shortcuts really don't work. I actually don't recommend any sort of like metabolism more like supportive things because there's a couple nutrients that do that a little bit more. more, you know, you've mentioned things like berbering, right? Yeah.

You know, before, right? So I don't give them straight up. I actually say, you got to like fix up some of these underlying inflammation things. And then I give it to them. And that's what actually works long term. Yeah. Not say, hey, here's a supplement that's going to help you lose weight. Come see me in three months.

And we're not going to really change any of the underlying things. They're going to come back and they say, well, you know, this is not going to work, Dr. Paul, because I didn't really do anything to change why that leptin is resistant. and why the insulin is resistant. Yeah, well, that's like if you just, your friend just took these supplements, they're not going to have the same impact. It's really the, the changes that you're made, the lifestyle changes that you're making while following and doing the program.

And then some of these, if you are deficient, are again, affecting how your body functions on the most basic level. Yeah, because then there's, this is like calories in versus calories out, eat less, exercise more, lose weight, great, and then you just end up gaining it back, right? So you have to make these sustainable lifestyle choices. But weight loss is more complicated than that. It is the food choices.

It is calories in a sense, but it's more so where those calories are coming from than it is about your digestive system. It's about your hormones. It's about your issues and associations. It's so complex. So just this is one area that you can help. Okay. We are kind of out of time, but I want to do like a rapid fire maybe on something like digestive bitters. How can they help?

We do have a lot of people with gallbladder removal because when people lose a lot of weight, they tend to have to have their gallbladder removed. Digested bitters can help. Anything else you suggest? I just combine two things here. Digested bitters are beneficial for everybody. Sum it all up, Paul, it's 30 seconds on five supplements.

Let's rapid fire through them because I know what those supplements are. Digestibir. I really am a big fan because it's helping your body produce its own digestive enzymes, its own stomach acid, its own things like the bios salts that come out of the gallbladder. So a lot of people sometimes have trouble digesting fats after they've cut out the, you know, they've had their gallbladder removed. And this can help produce some of those things like lipase, which comes from the pancreas that will break down fats. It'll give you less digested stress. So taking that before you eat, before each one of your meals, that's

what they're recommended on the labeled doses and some great herbs that are, you know, you have to taste the bitters. You have to actually taste it to get those full benefits. So I do really, really like bitters. I actually like them better than digestive enzymes, even though I do think there's a role for them. But it's kind of like one step closer to like a food. It's kind of like between a food. Like if you eat lettuce and radiccio and arugula, they have naturally kind of like bitter principles. That's a food. Then you have bitters in the middle, which is like a herb. And then you have digestive enzymes over here. Yes. I think they all play a role and we ultimately want to get to food base. Okay. Okay. Yeah. No, I said next. Go ahead.

Even I take these. Like I take all of these and I don't need to lose weight because they're just so great for your health. Probiotic. I know we need a whole session on probiotics. We'll talk more about this next. You know, let's save that for the gut section because I'm in the middle of like I'm creating a probiotic line. I'm doing a whole bunch of like research on probiotics right now.

I lectured in Europe twice last year on the gut brain access. Like this is like my gym. I love it. And I think that that's a huge future of where a lot of personalized medicine is going. Because we're actually more bug than we. We are cell, human cells. We have 10 times the amount of bacteria in our bodies and we have cells. Let that think in for a sec.

Yeah, I just got goosebumps there for you. We don't talk fiber. We do not, we do not talk enough about fiber. I mean, obviously people are eating, you know, nutrient rich foods, but, you know, fiber is hard to get in your diet, fiber beneficial. Yeah, so fiber is the umbrella term. I would say it's like essential. And we are fiber deficient, especially here in North America.

you get fiber from whole grains, you get fiber from plants, plant-based foods, fruits, and vegetables especially. And then within fiber, there is the insoluble. So that's like the cilium husk. And that can help kind of give bulk. A lot of people find that very beneficial. And that's like the main ingredient in metamusole, which has been around for decades. And then there's the insoluble fiber.

And that's kind of like the prebiotic. And there's a ton of research coming out on the benefits of prebiotics. However, I will tell you, there's a lot of. there's a lot of prebiotic supplements out there everyone knows about probiotics less people know about prebiotics but basically prebiotics are fiber but a lot of people if they have gut issues gina like ibs they take fiber for some of them they're like oh my gosh i can go to the bathroom for some of them like i'm so bloated i feel like i'm like 12 months pregnant it made me feel a lot worse like civil right small intestine yeah have you heard of this gina where like some people find

a lot of benefit and some people are like oh yeah healing over with fiber. Yeah. Yeah. And that's because of what I'm going to talk about in our kind of underlying root causes of inability to lose weight. There's a term called dysbiosis. That's the imbalance of the gut microbiome. And when you have too many of the not so nice bacteria, which can kind of outcompete your good ones, you will now ferment that fiber and create more gas and more bloating. So there's a stepwise system that needs to be put in place to correct that before we can go and start supplementing with that. And, and, you know, The reality is, is that some people respond really well. And if you don't, then you may have this issue going on. Same can happen with probiotics, maybe to a bit lesser degree, but you can have the opposite effect. It says reliefs, gas and bloating on the last side, and you get more of it. And that's confusing for a lot of people.

And they say, forget all that. No, you still want to eat fibers to fuel your good bacteria because the bacteria in your guts ferment the fiber and produce all these great things. But if you have bad bacteria, it's going to ferment them. and produce the not so nice things. So let's create that garden. I like that weed and feed approach. Weed that garden out and then let's put the good stuff back in.

But we'll talk more about that next time if you found that a little confusing. Yeah, I mean, it's way too early to tell if things are working or not working for you just by going by the scale. You should be noticing if you're making all these lifestyle changes, feeling better, sleeping better, pooping better. For the most part, you should notice things happening. But there are a certain subset of people that have a harder time than others. And this is where we are going to talk later on. program the next couple of weeks about reasons why that might be and things that you can do to

help. Some include supplementation, but it's really about those foundational ones, the omega-3, the vitamin D, the magnesium for sure. Okay, that is really our time. I got Amanda Thic coming on. She talks about fitness. I'm going to ask her take on creatine because this is like so big in the menopause world right now. Your thoughts on creatine? Yeah, I like it. The more I find out about it, the more I look at research, I think the more beneficial it is. But here's a couple of key things. You get creatine through eating animal meat. That's where creatine stored.

It's stored in your muscles. So when you supplement creatine, you don't need to be a bodybuilder to get the benefits of it. I think that's kind of where all the research is coming out now because creatine is also used as an energy source for yourselves, including your brain cells. Right. to people that, especially vegans and vegetarians, I know there's some of them out there that are listening, they are deficient in creatine because they just don't get into their diet and they really are going to benefit. One final point about the dose. A lot of studies will show it's either five grams, which is the one you picked up, for example, every single supplement will say kind of five grams of creatine monohydrate and your muscles will suck all that stuff up. You don't really get the brain benefits until you go to a higher.

dose. So if you're looking to get the benefits to get in your brain, your muscles are greedy for it. It will take it all up until you get up to about 20 grams of creatine. That's what the research shows. And you kind of have to do that consistently. And then you'll get the energy benefits. Then you're going to get the focus benefits, especially when you get a crappy night's sleep, especially when you're stressed out, Gina. You know what's so interesting about that? Because we had that conversation another day where people, but I think it's all about as soon as they go for higher doses, this is where their weight goes up because their body really retains the water, they start to notice their difference in their, this is where with any of these supplements, you want to add in and work your way up if you

know that you have a bit of a sensitivity to them. Yeah. This is like that nuance that I understand people like, oh, you got to take creatine and they start taking in a lot of people are like, I don't know what's the difference, you know, but because if you're an omnivore, you're eating, you're getting a little bit, maybe you're not massively deficient. And you're looking, you've been told on Instagram saying it boosts your brain function after metapause. Okay, yeah, it does, but the dose is not right. And so if a perfect example of you really have to kind of personalize what you're doing. And so we're giving people building blocks.

We're giving people information. But if you want to like level up and you're trying to figure out the next, that's where I think you need to get that personalized TLC. Yes. Okay. Speaking of, you're going to be back. I know, but people always ask where to find you, where to reach out to you. You can follow him on the Instagram.

where you share some great tips and you can find out what's going on and waiting for Jody to put up the key. There we are. Dr. Paul Hercl on Instagram. You can also reach out to him. And his team, Google me. Google him. You can go to his website, Paul Herklen-D.com. That's H-R-K-A-L. I didn't spell it wrong. For those of you listening on our podcast, I'm excited. I want to hear more about this probiotic. And I know you got some omega-3 stuff going on. So we'll talk about that next time. Again, this is an awareness conversation, y'all, right?

It's an awareness conversation. There's information in writing in the group, in the app. You can use the AI in terms of doses. I'm recommended. Anything that you need to know about that, it's all in there. As always, Dr. Paul, not enough time. Ah, well, we squeezed out an extra 15 minutes than we thought. And I probably got to talk for another four hours on, you know,

creatine, magnesium. I always feel like I'm rushing when it comes about this. But there's just so much info. To be fair, sometimes some people might feel like it's drinking out of fire hose. And I hope that those people can really just, there's a lot of resources.

It's not for a lack of resources. If you're into the supplement game, start slowly, get your, there's a reason why there's foundational things. There's a reason why it's not take 20 at the same time. You don't have to take any of these if you don't want to. You can work with the healthcare provider to find out which ones you really want to take, or you can dive headfirst and go all in

because you've done it before, and a lot of people find that they feel great. So there's a little bit of something for everybody here. All right. Sounds good. On that note, thanks, everyone joining us, Lava, or listening after the fact, have a great day. See you next time, all, thanks.