Origin's
The stories of our lives often define us. Listen to these interviews and learn how and why people navigate their lives.
Origin's
Dr. Jim Lewerenz's Journey to the Heart of Longevity and Functional Medicine
When Dr. Jim Lewerenz encountered his own health crisis, it led him down an uncharted path that would forever change his approach to medicine. Now, as we sit down with this pioneer in longevity and preventative health, you'll uncover the essential lifestyle choices and proactive strategies that could significantly extend not just your lifespan, but your health span. Our conversation with Dr. Lewerenz is a treasure trove of insight into functional medicine and its powerful impact on vitality, offering up personal stories of transformation and the critical need to shift our focus from symptom-treatment to root-cause resolution.
Sometimes, the simplest actions can lead to the most profound health benefits. This episode takes you through the heartwarming story of Pearl, a centenarian whose commitment to regular exercise exemplifies the undeniable connection between movement and longevity. We discuss the value of everyday activities, the surprising predictors of mortality, and how embracing the growth mindset can dramatically improve your well-being. And if you thought your genes were your destiny, think again. We dive into the exciting realm of genetic testing, illustrating how personalized healthcare and targeted interventions can empower us to sidestep our genetic predispositions.
Our health is intricately linked to the community and sense of purpose we cultivate throughout our lives. In our enlightening exchange, Dr. Lewerenz and I reflect on the profound influences of emotional well-being, the delicate balance of hormones, and the strength found in meaningful connections, whether we're 25 or 75. This episode is not just a conversation; it's a call to action—a reminder to nurture gratitude and hope as we look forward to future episodes that will continue to explore the vast landscape of health and longevity, all while sharing compelling stories that inspire a proactive approach to life. Join us on this journey, and let's strive for a future where each of us thrives.
Hey everybody, it's Brian Grenadier from the Origins Podcast and I'm here with Dr Jim Lorenz, and he is a longevity specialist. How are you, jim?
Speaker 2:Wonderful, great, thank you. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:It's my pleasure I'm going to go through your very, very long bio Talk about a man who has accomplished and does so much. You're a board certified family physician in family practice. You did your residency and family general practice and emergency medicine at Garden City Hospital, beaumont and Henry Ford Hospital. You've received a degree of osteopathic medicine at Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kirksville, missouri. You're an active staff physician at Beaumont Hospital, bottsford Hospital, st John Dr Lorenz is an assistant clinical professor at MSU, an active member of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Restorative Medicine, american Academy of Osteopathic Medicine, american Medical Association and American College of Osteopathic Physicians. Let me take a breath.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, get a drink of water. Sorry about that.
Speaker 1:Which means you are busy and do quite a bit. One of the reasons I wanted to interview you is simply because your focus is on longevity. So many doctors are, in my opinion, focused on okay, you're hurt, let's see what we can do to fix you. It would seem to me that a longevity specialist is focused on here's some areas you're deficient. Let's build those up so that the next 10, 20, 30 years you're good. Is that a very broad yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Actually it's a perfect 30,000 foot view that's exactly what I wanted to start off with, because in my business as a yoga teacher, I'm hearing people come in oh, I've got a back pain. I bend over and it was just. I just bent over. I can't imagine what I must have done to myself. And it wasn't the one bending over. It's the things you've been doing for six months before that, with bad posture, bad eating, bad sleep, bad shoes. It could be anything working its way up your spine and then that was the last straw that brought the camels back. And I look at my job as preventative medicine for people and that's what you're doing. And I wonder if you could just expand on that about what you do, why you got into this. What drives you?
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, actually what really brought me to this, ironically, and what you're asking me is really I had a personal experience. So I was doing ER and family practice, medicine and kind of mixing those, and I had a bunch of young kids and married and I was racing mountain bikes and doing a lot of other sports and kind of thinking I'm invincible and go, go, go, and you could say I'm slightly Type A in the sense of overachiever. But I started having some let's just call it health issues, medical issues, nothing major I was in my 30s so you know, and busy practice and doing family practice at the time and a little bit of ER. But what happened is is I just I had a kink in the armor, if you will, and I, but it didn't feel right, and some fatigue and, you know, mood stuff and pain. You mentioned things that didn't make a lot of sense, especially when you're young, you know, and bottom line was I, I, besides helping myself and trying to figure it out.
Speaker 2:Then I went to a few other physicians, you know, and got some insight into it friends, colleagues, you know, people I totally respect, very bright and all that and it was probably my first insight into really understanding that the medical model is broken and the reason is because months, months, months of this and kind of some, you know, lingering, suffering things and things that just didn't seem right. I was basically told, you know, by, you know, true visits with physicians that I respect and they respect me. But you know I was, you know, did some labs, did some testing, blah, blah, blah. But you know, basically you're fine, you know and you know you're not 20 anymore.
Speaker 1:You know and you know, you know you're not super, which is what everyone wants to hear when they're 30.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly Exactly, and you know when you're, you know when you're thriving, when you feel great and you're like working hard and you're loving life and loving others and family and etc. It was like this is something's not right, you know. And so long story short, you know, is I was fortunate enough to get passed on and actually, sadly, I was told like maybe I needed an antidepressant, so an antidepressant for, by the way, fatigue, aches and pains, and you know, maybe you know apathy, which is like depression, but it's not, you know, my life was great, I was happy, I was, you know, there was nothing wrong and I wouldn't. The depression is extreme, but I would say apathy, you know. And long story short is what I eventually found somebody that I was referred to and this gentleman, which was interesting because he was actually had a Polish background and he was a family practice doc and he, he was listen, I don't really practice medicine, what I'm telling you, but I've gone to a few conferences and what you're telling me just sounds like, you know, you know that could help you. And he goes hey, I'm happy to have a cup of coffee with you. So I literally met him, you know, at a coffee shop and we sat down and I, you know just grateful to him because he kind of gave me a little insight into some things that were that were all, say, functional you know physiology but things that like they're not quote unquote diseases yet or you know that you can explain. So he led me to a, a group, and then that led me to a few other groups that were medical organizations like the American Academy of Anti-Aging and the Congress that is does a lot of world health, also AAMG, there's a bunch of these column, longevity, preventative, anti-aging, and.
Speaker 2:And so I went to this conference and to help myself. And when I went to this conference I was like within an hour I was blown away because we were talking about real physiology, real textbook medical stuff. And I'm in a room of, say, a thousand docs and medical practitioners and it was like I know this and I've learned it, but why aren't we doing anything with this? And so it was just a great, great mind opening. And then, of course, if you do something that helps yourself and you're empowered and passionate in that, so I essentially took it to my practice and I took it to my family practice at the time and just started applying some things that that I had learned.
Speaker 2:And then I actually went and did a whole two year fellowship. So I did a fellowship in what's called regenerative functional medicine and through University of South Florida, and so I had my practice and I did all that. But basically it is a concept and it's where I got the whole idea of I practice on this foundation of a six point model. But I basically got this concept and learned a lot of things that were really, I call it, where the rubber hits the road, where someone can now see me or or I. You know and I did this for myself that we improve your health. We improve, you know, our function, but we're also being mindful of being really preventive, you know. So I'm talking obviously very broad right now, but you know it's all great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what kind of got me into it. It just got me and I was truthfully fired up. I mean, this is, I know, 18, 20 years ago, but I just, I literally got fired up about it because all of a sudden, my practice wasn't just, you know, writing scripts, taking X-rays or sending them to get an MRI, or and, yeah, I would say, oh, you need to lose weight and oh, look at your cholesterol, and blah, blah, blah, but I was really making an impact in people's lives. And then it was just like, hey, yeah, I'm, I'm, this is what I'm doing.
Speaker 1:How did it feel to go from the kind of doctoring you were doing, which was standard, standard operating procedure in America, to this brand of doctoring where it sounds like you're you're really helping people and you're helping, you're teaching them how to help themselves, almost, which is just not what we do in America, you know Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Well, you know it's, it's I mean, it's so rewarding. So you know, obviously I'm really big on obviously making a difference and, you know, really doing something meaningful, I think, every. By the way, I want to say this I think every physician means well, whatever they're practicing, and they go in with the best intention, sure, and they go in with a lot of knowledge and a lot of background and a lot of science and all that, and all of that is very valid and real. Yeah, thank God, because we do have some of the most advanced, you know, care in the world.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:In fact, we keep people alive a lot longer probably than they should be.
Speaker 2:Because of because of our technology nowadays, you know, but we are 25th in the world in prevention and wellness. The US, yeah, we're. We don't look at that in that way. You know what I mean. So I do want to say, though, like these physicians and my colleagues out there, you know it's, it's not a knock about it, it's more of our, it's more of our approach is a broken model. It's a broken model, I think, and I think the rewarding part is when people can come in into your practice and other practitioners I have seven of them and when they come into our offices and they present something. It could be something as simple as fatigue or a autoimmune disease, or you know, you know pain or sleep or mood, or whatever it is. Using this kind of functional, if you will, physiologic, approach, it really, really, really impacts them, and that's just how we're rewarding. I mean, you can, you know, go home and and feel really good about what you're doing and you know what could be better. That's what life is right. That's phenomenal.
Speaker 2:I mean doing good stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I mean, and similarly, like you know, that even as a yogurt instructor, in business owner, there's days where Things are hard, you know, no matter what and matter what industry it, no matter what you do. But at the end of the day, when you're like, look, I helped this many people or I helped these people in this way, or Because of what I've learned, I actually spent time and listened to somebody and that that was more than that they needed than anything else. It's those moments, that that that make it so worthwhile. So it's, I feel, yeah, that's, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:So in in you know, society today, again, with the sort of a broken model of medicine and we could probably talk about this for hours, which we don't have time for. So I don't want to go down that rabbit hole necessarily. But if I came to you and said, okay, I'm, you know, average height, average weight, typical American diet, which typically sucks, what are five things I can do right now that I could start doing in my life to you know, knowing what's coming for me down the road when I'm 50, 60, 70, 80 that are typical, specifically probably cancer and all the other major diseases that we see at that age, what are things I can do right now to start, you know, not prepping, but to prevent or to be as healthy as possible for when this might come.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, so you know there's, there's some, there's some real low-lying fruit, okay, that you can do, but then I'm gonna tell you how to. What's them? What's, in my opinion, the most important thing? But there's low-lying fruit that obviously we should all be doing and and it's gonna sound so basic, like you don't need a physician to tell you this, but you know, if you're not moving and I don't care if you're 20, and you know these young people these days, you know and that's not me, you know, but you know that are basically on the couches and in video games and social media and on their phones and screen time is hours, you know a day it's not going anywhere. Good, so of course you gotta move, you can never stop moving, and it's a growth mindset in the sense of you know physically, but also mentally, and it's it's been proven in a concept I think you've heard of before the blue zones of the world and there's a book about it, and. But you gotta move and of course, the younger you are, obviously you should be doing more and obviously we're all gonna slow down as we age. But I mean, when you find a near, I'll call it centurion or somebody that lives close to a hundred or even 80s, in that, the healthy ones.
Speaker 2:And I, literally I have a hundred and two-year-old patient I saw just a couple weeks ago. I have a couple hundred year olds here, see her twice a year. That's how. And she still, and I would say this her name's pearl, I pearls the sweetest, sweetest lady. Her daughter brings her in who's in her 70s, by the way and and and she brings her in. But what's funny is is I said so hey, how you doing, are you still? She has a walker, but what does she do? She goes Yep, I still get up and out of my chair and that's like her exercise 10 times a day and I try to. I count every time. I go up and down the hall in the house and I do that 40 times a day at a hundred and two years old.
Speaker 2:So it's just, you know, movement is so key pretty good and it sounds pretty like okay, of course, but so many people don't do it. You know me, and I mean.
Speaker 1:And is there yeah, and so do you. Have a look, all right. So if you're in your 50s, you should be moving this way. If you're in your 60s, this way. Is there like a nothing?
Speaker 2:But the point is this is there? What I mean is there's no script. Okay, because if you have somebody that's had a and I'll call it a long runway of health, meaning they've been doing exercise and moving and working out and playing sports and doing yoga and doing all these things and they're who knows, 20s, 30s and they've done this, their their runways a lot longer and much more preventative. I hate to say it, but they're gonna get a bigger impact right into their longevity and health. So of course, that person can do a lot more as they age if they stay pretty consistent. But even the person like and I have this my well, I'll tell you a story my own mom at 82 she's better at 82 than at 72 and we did some things that helped her lose weight, helped her move her body, etc. Well, she's still at 82, is Swimming three days a week and when the weather is good and or she's in a place like Florida that she can walk, she's walking.
Speaker 2:You know, going on, you know mile or two walker would have you and she was active. But when she was younger, in her 30s, but she kind of got into midlife stuff where she was very inactive and gained some significant weight. Yeah, you know, but just, but it couldn't be that. But you know, I also have patients that see me that, you know, are mid to late 60s and even early 70s and they're lifting weights three days a week and they're, you know, going on long walks and they will get on a peloton and they'll go do yoga, and you know, a few days a week. So it's just the. It sounds so simple but to say, oh, I need a pill or I need ozempic, just a drug for weight loss, you know yeah.
Speaker 1:Here significantly reduces your bone density, and there's a whole nother problem with that. Especially as an aging woman who has osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and all that. It sounds like it's a real mixed bag. Well, it's there's.
Speaker 2:There's benefits to improving insulin resistance and losing weight. Yeah, and you know we can get into that.
Speaker 1:That's a whole, not that's a whole nother story.
Speaker 2:But what my point, my point is, is that you know, it's just something so simple and people, even in my practice that are Coming here for help, I go. Well, how much you exercise or how much you going on, you know, and sometimes we do have to literally start. I have a patient that lost over 150 pounds and I'd love her to death. She said. This is what she said to me. After it was about a year and a half, two years into it and she's came in and she was literally, I Mean a half her size and she goes I lost you and I go, you lost me. I didn't get it and she goes. She met my weight. She lost like now I'm, more than 150 pounds, but her point was like I got rid of you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome. So how often you know, and what did?
Speaker 2:she do. No, I just wanted to okay, sorry.
Speaker 2:She do. No, no, no, no. She. This is all. She was an accountant and worked at home and all she did was obviously we guided her and diet and so like that, but all she did is she started walking a block a day, and then two blocks a day and then three blocks a day. She was over 300 pounds.
Speaker 2:So my point is it just depends out where you're at in your spectrum of health. But if there's two things I can share and this has been proven in several studies but there's two things that actually have been proven to be the number one and number two predictors of mortality, so of death, it's not diabetes, it's not, you know, your genetics, you know, you know. It's not your heart. In heart disease you have a high blood pressure. It's none of those, it's actually.
Speaker 2:Number one is called VO2 max. Vo2 max is actually a respiratory like test that you can see how essentially you, you, you are in cardiovascular shape. Okay, basically, the better cardiovascular shape, the longer and healthier you're going to live, okay. Well, what does that take? It takes movement, yeah. Second, the second one, believe it or not, is mass muscle and bone, because as we age, we all get what we call sarcopenic. So even if you're doing the right thing, we all get skinnier, lose muscle, lose bone, obviously, and what you work with wonderfully with people is flexibility and strength and all that too, you know. Obviously flexibility in that matters, but muscle mass and muscle and bone mass really matter as we age, especially as we get into our, like you know, 70s, 80s, you know that.
Speaker 1:Got it All right, so moving, every day, so moving.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, movement. And then you know another simple thing and is just what we put in our mouth. You know, I mean, and it sounds so obvious, but you know, so many people want this magic supplement or vitamin or whatever. And you're talking to the supplement king. I mean, I make supplement products, I use things here because they have real impact in people's health and can get them well. But you got to eat, right. Yeah, you know, you got to eat real food.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and now you know, with the way food is in America, it's like food. Like you know, michael Pollan's got some good work out there. There's a bunch of people out there who are like exposing the food industry for what it is. And if you're eating fast food, you're you know you got one foot on the banana peel, one foot in the grave. I mean it's just, it's not good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, correct, correct, absolutely yeah. And then you know, and then another, you know, simple, you know thing too. And again, these are, these are some of the. Again you ask five kind of, or you know few, and if you have 10, that's fine.
Speaker 1:I mean, you know, five is the leasier to swallow.
Speaker 2:Yeah Right, right, but you know is is in this. Hey, you do this. I mean you're, you're the expert in this. Okay, is sweating.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know. Come into the studio, what do they do? They sweat Usually a lot.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Exactly. You know, I've been there and then I'm dripping.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and what's the benefit of sweating Like what does that do for you?
Speaker 2:It's just that when you sweat, you know you're truly detoxifying, you know you're eliminating, you know, environmental toxins, you're actually getting rid of things that cause, like what we call endocrine disruptors, that are in our foods and they're in, you know, the air and pollutants and that. And just so many people don't do things. I even have many patients that you know lift weights, you know, and that's great, don't be wrong. I just told you keeping mass is so important with aging, but they, like, they don't really sweat much. They don't, you know, get on a bike or a treadmill or do yoga or, you know, do much that they're actually sweating.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and probably very little cardio as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Exactly, Exactly. So it's just something so simple that when you sweat, you eliminate. You know we are the filter. Technically it's our liver and our fat, but we are the filter. So the world is a you know much more toxic place and in the fishbowl we're in the fishbowl. The fishbowl is the same size, yeah, with more people and junk in it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and we don't have a real good filtering system anymore. Yeah, exactly so. All right, so moving what we eat, and then I'm assuming that somebody in your office helps with specific diets for specific needs and so forth and so on, and it's goal setting and whatever Sweating. What's number four?
Speaker 2:Well, you know, probably number four I would say, you know, and again thinking of real impactful things, is that seeing a practitioner, whether it's a physician, whether it's a, you know, a nurse practitioner, a chiropractor, you know health coach or whatever, because there's no wrong, but seeing somebody that has, you know, you're your best interest to listen first and to guide you and give you some insight, objectively, though. Objectively, and doing that sooner, like now, is never too early. Yesterday, you know, is never too early, and the reason is I get this question asked occasionally, you know, because I do longevity. We're called Longevity Health Institute.
Speaker 2:You know, like some people get a concept that I see older people or people that are just concerned about living long. Well, you know, we have a wellness concept. So of course, everybody wants to live long and thrive and, and you know, be healthy in their later, you know, decades. But really we do a lot of functional approaches to health in general and wellness, and we'll see 20 year olds, we'll see teens, we'll see 30 year olds. But the sooner you take a approach that you're looking at true metrics, true data points, real science I believe I am a scientist, a doctor, so it's not just, you know, talk is real data, points that you can track and metrics you can follow, because, if you're blessed enough, you're going to age.
Speaker 2:Right, you know you're going to age, you're going to be here and you're going to age right Tracking things I find so important and in my 25 years like I'll go back personally I do this, even in my own labs and stuff, but I do this with patients even that are doing wonderful. You know where we have solved goals and we're really working on just prevention now and like where are you at? And everybody gets insulin resistant, meaning everybody. If you're here, you're going towards diabetes, Okay.
Speaker 1:This has been studied the minute we're born.
Speaker 2:We get micro vascular changes the minute we're born, meaning we get vascular changes in our bodies from even in childhood. It doesn't happen when you're just 30, 40, 50, 60. Okay, it's a very slow process. So when you seek wellness objective, you know metrics and numbers, labs, opinions about your true health and I have a approach, a systems approach, I could share with you. But the when you do that, you know whether you're good or not. You may get the blessing and get hey, you're doing great, see you next year. But you're able to really track where you're at and where where things are going, so you can really head them off. And one of the biggest concepts that I'll say is is this like the runway to avoid a crash? Or, you know, if you can see far out, just like the Titanic? Titanic, you know the Titanic had trouble, right, because not that it didn't know icebergs weren't there. They didn't have enough foresight or distance to avoid them, right, you know. So if you can see like Whoa these things are changing your comments.
Speaker 2:Sooner than later you're going to have much better health span and go into your later decades, you know. You know healthier and thriving, and you know because you know it's me sound a little negative or dark, but Diane's easy.
Speaker 1:Well, in a way again, you know so many times I've heard somebody say to me well, I'll stop smoking when I get cancer, I'll I'll stop eating, you know, drinking Mountain Dews and Ding Dongs when you know I get diabetes. And by then the damage is done and then you're already in trouble and what you're saying is all right. We can help you prevent that diagnosis from the serious conversation with your doctor. Let's have it now and prevent all that stuff from happening or whatever they're going towards. I heard that there's a and I heard that you do this and it's sort of a genetic test. There's like five or six genetic markers testing for that and they can kind of give you a like a preview of what you're, what's not working for you genetically. You can use nutritionals and vitamins and sources to boost that part of your system. To then head off other things is you're nodding and you're nodding and you're going yes, 100%, yes. So tell me about that, because that to me is fascinating.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, yeah, so so, and this is maybe a, you know you said something that's so key and that for the individual, you know it's, you know it's working or it's not working, and so you know, because we are very individualized, you know what I mean. And then I firmly believe this and this is we do a personalized approach with every single person. Okay, and you know, I have this model, the six point model. That's kind of I call it the foundation of your health. You know, and I think that's a really important model. That's kind of I call it the foundation of your health. You know, and in this deep dive of these six points are so key.
Speaker 2:One of them, what you're bringing up, is genetics. Now, the funny thing is most people in America have a concept that genetics are everything. The crazy part is is that only 14% of disease is expressed genetically, so meaning you have much bigger chance in your epigenetics, other influences in your lifestyle and in your behaviors and things like this. And genetics, they're huge, huge, huge when you know them, that you can use them to your advantage. But also they're not a death sentence, they're not the end point. Like I have this gene because technically and we see this in the office where we've discovered a gene or a mutation and somebody has a disease and they had no idea, okay, but it developed and it caused something, okay, and that was there with them since birth but the epigenetics influenced it, okay.
Speaker 2:But yes, one of our points, of our six point model is genes, genetics and usually later, once we've solved some problems and people feeling well, we do a lot of genetic testing. In fact we actually do a full sequence, all your genetic sequence, so we can look at all these rare diseases and conditions and they just help us like make sure we head off things if needed. We do that actually we do genetic DNA methylation tests to where we actually tests DNA from cancer and cancer cells, their methylation products and essentially their signals. If somebody has in a early, early stage cancer without a tumor, so it's like in the real. So basically, if we were diagnosing and caught them, it'd be stage zero called or one which is basically completely curable.
Speaker 1:Right, right which is amazing, and I've heard too like people with autoimmune issues or sort of asymptom. They've got these weird symptoms and there isn't a specific cause, but they've got this thing or chronic fatigue, auto limes, a bunch of these other things, that fibromyalgia where, from some of this genetic testing, you can go all right well, this is what's deficient and we can do something about it, rather than you seeing suffering the rest of your life, which is a very different kind of medicine than is traditionally practiced.
Speaker 2:I think it's fascinating personally, yeah, yeah, don't correct it and that's exactly what you do and you can do and we do, and there's many genetic companies that are out there now and technology's amazing to where it's really really finite and really can make a big difference. One of the tests that we do and that's out there is from a company called True Diagnostic that we do that actually, we test your DNA telomers.
Speaker 2:So, it's a little bit like what you're seeing and we can see what we call their biologic age or their true age, and we can also see what is happening in them genetically from intrinsic or extrinsic, so epigenetic influences.
Speaker 2:And then we can test them yearly. So we'll use things and there is things, believe it or not, that are scientific, and things that we use that actually protect your DNA so that you can keep on having replication of DNA and keeping you in your cells and your tissue and that more youthful. Okay, but it's not just about like what. The concept why I always find is interesting is lay. People will think that well, you mean, you keep your DNA. Good, you're just gonna look better, you know, or you'll? You know, yeah, like I won't age. What you have to understand is that when you're aging and your DNA is breaking down and it's not able to replicate, you get what we call senescent cells, and senescence actually then leads to essentially bad cellular debris that leads to cancer and pre-cancerous conditions.
Speaker 1:Got it.
Speaker 2:And things also that influence your immune system. So you get these bad rogue cells and then you get a you know, unopposed to a weakened immune response, which we see a lot. This with viruses and all of a sudden somebody's developing cancer or a degenerative disease or what have you. But yeah, genetics nowadays are amazing. But I do wanna stress this is that genetics are one of our six points in our model and what you brought up. Yeah, we can test what meds work the best, what nutrient deficiencies work the best for you, what diets, all these types of things, okay, and what we can.
Speaker 2:What is really kind of exciting when someone makes a change and that can be as simple as using a supplement, or they've lost, hey, we're gonna go on a weight loss program in exercise program, or we use some really advanced things that have been shown in science to extend life, like NAD or nicotinamide, adenosine, diarabicide or even metformin, which is a drug for diabetes. Long story short is is we can test that DNA, that age pace, and see that they're actually improving in one year. So it's like we know we're on track and some people don't respond exactly the same. So if I put everybody on NAD doesn't mean that they all get younger, right.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying. Some people have a more robust response than others. You know what I mean. That's what I mean by we're all individualized and it's, but it's wonderful that we have that ability to do those tests.
Speaker 1:That's phenomenal. I mean, it's so much more predictive where you can say, look, this is the road you're going down. If you make no changes, this is where you're heading. Is that what you want? And you can do it with sort of real, fact-based information rather than well, you kind of look like this, you kind of look like that. I mean, I've known, you know, people who on the outside look very healthy and there are a mess inside, and I've known people who are overweight and they don't look healthy at all and their blood pressure is fine, their sugar is fine, their you know, it's pretty amazing to see how that goes on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can't judge a book by its cover.
Speaker 1:You know that I'm saying and you really can't.
Speaker 2:And you know, the only thing is in something like with weight or something like that. I always say, you know, and this is I've said this to loved ones and relatives that, like you know, need to lose some weight and I just care, so I've you know. Hey, listen, I'm not their doctor, but listen, I love you and I want you here. You know, right Is you? Don't see big, big people, you know, in their 80s and 90s often?
Speaker 2:you know, no, and if they're in their 70s they're not moving well and they got probably a list of meds and all that stuff. So you know, so, even if they're testing when they're young and they're, you know, but they're really overweight, you know, looks good, you know, you still, you know there's some things that are.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, especially that age where your muscle mass is depleted and your bone structures, you know, your bones are basically thinning and, yeah, supporting all that weight is very, very challenging and it's sad.
Speaker 2:But but I mean you brought up. You said something that just reminded me of somebody. Yeah, yeah, that literally, you know, not too long ago, pretty young guy you know referred from his dad. He's like 35 and so they've been business together and father and son, kind of kind of really good guys.
Speaker 2:And long story short is usually if somebody's got family history and stuff you know we will deep dive into. You know we always set goals, you know. So we always are focused on why they're here You're tired, you can't sleep, you can't have sex or you have low libido or you're mood, like I said, or you got an autoimmune disease or gut stuff. I mean, gosh, everybody's got gut stuff we're dealing with and diet stuff. But I always, if there's risks or in a man especially, get close to 40 or definitely 45 and above, I'll get a CT calcium score, which is this looks at the arteries inside for calcium. It gives us risks assessment for and this guy was very big and so we talked about we're gonna work on his weight and so at that and he's motivated to get healthier in that.
Speaker 2:And long story short is I don't know if I wanted to do that, that calcium score. I said you'd be surprised. I said I don't. I go and, by the way, if I see a tiny bit of calcium, little bit of early disease. Like I explained earlier, you're young, we have a long runway. We can see that iceberg okay. So we know what to do and how to operate and how to manage it and how to look ahead. In fact, actually there's great nutraceuticals and diets in that that can actually reverse calcium deposits and inflammation in the arteries and help the endothelium with the artery. Long story short is his labs he's not even close to insulin resistant or diabetic and his calcium score was zero. It was perfect. But is it gonna be like that at 60? Probably not. But at 30, I think he was like 38 or something like that mid 30s. But long story short is it's scary to some people but the reality is, information can really help us.
Speaker 1:And seeing your practitioner is gonna do that. Do you have a fifth? Do you have a fifth thing to go? There's one more thing I want people to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, well, I'm really really really big on mindset and outlook and it's not easy for everybody at all because especially stress and hard times and tough times and Michigan weather and the winter.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's just depressing great days.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, but literally, whether it's doing things like simple as reading positive things or uplifting things or having some practices, whether it's meditation or yoga, that you're thinking of beautiful things and that, but your mind, the most conversations you'll ever have with yourself, ever, ever, ever, excuse me in the world is what I meant to say, but are between your ears, in your head, and so if you're thinking it and you're overthinking it or you're processing it, I hope to God that it's positive stuff, because positive energy and mood and thoughts I see it here for 25 years and I've seen in my life all the time go to good things and positive things and health, by the way, and bad, and we get in these. We all have these times and stresses and days, but trying to really uplift your and be around people and around community, that's uplifting and positive and cultivating. That, I think, is just it's not brought up enough or not given enough validity. But I see it actually in a medical practice how the difference can be.
Speaker 1:Yeah, one of the things about the Blue Zones was community. Is that one of these besides the foods they ate, the exercise they got, the geography they lived in and the minerals in the water and all these other the Mediterranean diet and olive oil and whatever it was community Community was the one constant that, no matter where they lived in the world, they had that thing. And I feel like when we are now more isolated as a result of at home working, not having to go in the office, a post COVID work life situation where we're more isolated. One, I feel like that's a big detriment. Two, I know this like if I'm at home and I'm working all day long on my computer and doing whatever I eat more, I'm like oh yeah, I'm an apple and orange. Oh, there's some leftover chocolate. Well, I have to have some of that. You know it's like nonstop and I would imagine that in the next, from 2021 to 2020, till the end of the century, we're gonna see a lot of just a big down slide.
Speaker 1:I think in mental health, I think in physical health, even though you can exercise at home now more than you ever could, with online this and online that, but you don't have the community. The community gets you out of your house. Typically, and I don't think in online community, although it may be supportive, there isn't that interaction, there isn't that feel, even the sound of our voice through this my understanding is it's only getting about 70%. You don't get the full range of emotion and intonation and expression, and certainly not by texting at all. And I think that and it sounds- silly, but you can't touch them.
Speaker 2:I mean you can't whether it's a shake, a hand or a hug or whatever I mean. And there's a place obviously in it. There's some connection, but, like you said, it's not. We need community, we need to cultivate that, and always and in every age, because as you get older, usually your pod gets smaller, unfortunately, unless you're intentional about that or fortunate enough about that. But it's so important and in this, by the way, in this concept or in this thing, and it's part of, by the way, it's one of my six points, one of my health wheels, if you will, that we work on is the mind-body connection and the stress effects of that. But with aging and you don't have to, by the way, be when I say aging, you don't have to be 70, 80 aging, I mean 50, 60,. You can never retire.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:What I mean by that is of course you can retire from a job and you can have, if you're blessed enough to have the financial wherewith and bandwidth to like your good. But you, everybody women too, by the way we all have to have purpose Meaning it's not just meaning if a woman is somewhat of a house engineer or they've taken care of the kids or their husband and done that kind of thing is. As that trickles away because of life and kids get bigger and all that, there needs to be purpose. Okay, and I will tell you and this is like you said, actionable things five of them. Maybe this is fifth or sixth, I lost count, but it's just, it's part of that community thing. You've got a purpose, you're doing something, even if it's only three days a week, or what have you. You're in a community, whether it's the business you're doing or your passion that you got into or that kind of thing. And especially for a man, because we're hunter-gatherers, it's so important.
Speaker 1:I mean the prefrontal cortex, for a man needs this you know, yeah, if I don't have, like, I do my job and I run the studio and I teach. But if I don't have a goal like I'm going on a backpacking trip, I'm going hiking one of the things that I love. That makes me feel manly, for lack of a better term. I feel like I'm just working my ass off for nothing and I don't like that feeling. I end up burning out faster. I don't feel motivated.
Speaker 1:But an interesting story is I have an uncle who I mean I told you the story privately, but when he was 70, he decided he wanted to create a camp for kids with cancer. He was involved early on in the Ronald McDonald houses years ago and in the construction and building of them. He was in the building business right after World War II. And so at 70, he says I'm going to do this thing and he put a board of directors together. He had land in Montana. He had a 10,000 acre ranch which is gorgeous, and he dedicated like 100 acres or 90 acres for the camp, and right in the hillside it's gorgeous. And so at the age of 80, the kids started coming. He died at 90, just fell asleep one night, didn't wake up, next to his wife at camp Like I'll sign up for that. Any day of the week People go I'm too old for whatever. No, you're not. No, you're not. I mean that gave him a purpose.
Speaker 2:Yeah no, no, no, yeah. When I have a patient and I've had just the last year a handful of them that have been like, yeah, I sold my company and they were fortunate enough to retire or yeah, I just, I think I'm going to take a retirement out of this business or whatever. I literally because usually I've known them for a while, they're sharing things in the room with me and we're always having some banter just about life a bit, and they go and I'm like the first thing, I think they're shocked. Sometimes I'm like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What do you mean? You're retiring? Oh, we got to have a talk.
Speaker 1:Yeah. How many people do you know who, at 65, retire and they're dead by 68? Yeah, the majority of them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know Absolutely, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And it I don't know if it was always from health problems, it was just lack of motivation.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, I think it's. I think there's a lot to be said, you know, about that intention and about the purpose. And again, I think, for a man, especially in how our brains operate, I think kind of you can say this somewhat, you know, even with women, but in a different way, because women, I believe, and I think it's been proven, they're nurturers and that means a lot to them.
Speaker 2:By the way, it doesn't mean they aren't driven and run a business and are Right, we're not being ages sexist or gender no, no, no, no, no, no, but it's like, but really what fills them and is meaningful to them okay, and is really like is nurturing and loving and caring for their children, their pet or their husband or their what have you and you know, and again, some of these things fall out as we age, meaning the children move away or grow up. You know, and you know that kind of thing and you know us husbands get like a lot of barnacles on us and we're grumpy and old. No, you know, but the point is that you know them having you know again community, but also like something that's nurturing and they're putting into something.
Speaker 1:Right? Well, they're still fulfilling their purpose. So if I'm not out there, you know hunting, killing the beast, bringing it back to you know, to support my family. Well, what am I doing? I feel like I've got nothing. If my wife says to me I'm not feeling connected to you, she feels like she has nothing, even though we both have a lot in our lives and it's, you know, it is the Mars, venus whole thing and how we're just wired differently. I totally, totally agree with you on that one and I think maybe that's why women live longer too. I mean, there's, there's, they can still create purpose without it being a money earning endeavor or a status earning endeavor, because it's more nurturing. Again, in general.
Speaker 1:Yet for me, for, like, I'm terrified of the day I wake up and go I don't have a job. Yeah right, that's my great, that's my biggest nightmare. I have these nightmares reoccurring. I wake up, I wake up in the morning in the dream and I'm like I don't have a job, what am I going to do? And I wake up and sweating in a panic I go okay, I have a job. I have a job, I'll be okay.
Speaker 2:Exactly, yeah, and that's how attached.
Speaker 1:That's just how attached, you know, we tend to be to these things.
Speaker 2:We do and actually I think what's as you, as you age and stuff, and you kind of develop, your call it your true self, or you get to know your true self. You know it can be a job and it can be like just some hobby or something, but yeah, just some, some drive, you know, I mean some thing that's making you get excited. Still, you know and do and go and be actionable. Because when people lose that, you know, you know often what happens is they start to slowly lose that community to which we were talking about. And you know, and we're worse at it, you know, men, for whatever reason, there's a lot of reasons women connect more and they're, yeah, and we isolate more and are stoic.
Speaker 2:And you know, like I said, you know I call it that we grow barnacles and get grumpy. Yeah, you're right, I also when that, when that happens, I also, which is part of my six point, while I always say get your hormones tested.
Speaker 1:There you go Now. I used to have a ski group that we would go every year to go skiing and there were some most of them were usually older but one or two of them were my age and it was like eight or 10 of us that would go different place out West every year and for I think 10 years, 12 years, we went someplace skiing and I can't tell you how much I miss those trips. That the group broke apart and we never reformed a new one, just to be together and hang out with the guys, and you know it was. It was. I miss that dearly. Interesting the low. I'm kind of an introvert even though my job is very extroverted. Like for that hour or two I'm in the class, I'm really extroverted and I got to go home and hide in a cave for a little while. But I do miss that sense of bonding that thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah well, we all have a cross to bear. I mean meaning internally, like where we're like. Okay, you know you know, hey, you're, you're, hey, recognizing that, knowing that so that you, as you age, you develop and you maintain a community is, like, you know, some form of that is so important because a lot of people won't have that reflection, you know, they won't know their true self in that way in there. You know, I mean. So you know, absolutely, you know it's awesome, it's awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah well, we're closing in on an hour. Is there any last minute things you want to put out there? Is there anything else you want to say? If nothing for health and so forth, then I'd love to know how do people find you? If they like what they heard today, they want you to be their doctor. How does that work?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Well, one last closing thing before I put a shameless plug is not shameless.
Speaker 1:I mean the number of people you can help this way. It's worth my while every second of it, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you the but? But because I touched upon it and it's so key and I think when it came out of my mouth, I'm like, oh, I wish I would have said a little bit more about this, but this is so key is hormones. So it's one of our six points that are model. People always think weird about hormones. They hear that word, they think of just sex hormones or they just think of like, oh, hormones are bad, they cause cancer, which is a big fallacy, and like thinking back from like the 60s and 70s.
Speaker 2:And when we say hormones, by the way, I mean we're talking everything from insulin to testosterone, to estrogen, to thyroid, to their adrenal hormones, to growth. There's tons of hormones. Okay, we have over 200 hormones in our body. Okay, pregnant alone. I can go on and on. Melatonin is a hormone. People don't need to realize that. You know, long story short is is you can easily evaluate your hormones and whether you're 30, 40, you know it doesn't matter. You don't have to be in menopause because hormones are the signallers of every cell. So you know. I said you come in and we always have goals. You know your hate. And no one comes in and I go. I'm going to make you young, right?
Speaker 1:We say I mean that's not the thing.
Speaker 2:Oh, what do you got? Okay, don't worry, I'm going to make you young, it doesn't work that way.
Speaker 1:It doesn't work that way. What we?
Speaker 2:do is like what do you hear? For I mean no different. Oh, I'm tired, I'm at the back hurts. Oh, my winter, Okay, I don't care if you're 30 or 60. You need your hormones tested because they're signallers to every cell in there so strong, and every hormone has a receptor for another hormone on it, meaning they all are very intricate, so when one's off, another can be. You know an issue, and if you don't appreciate that and you don't get a reflection on that, you know or at least have some awareness of it. Man, you can definitely age and be miserable and have a lot of symptomology and it and why I'm kind of pressing this is it so often gets overlooked, you know, and not to go off in the weeds here, but yeah, I literally this week had a poor guy and he was 40 years old, Four months ago lost his 37 year old wife to cancer and he was a new patient.
Speaker 2:So I just had to call me the other day about some labs to say, hey, man, we're going to get you on this and get you on the right road, and this is a whole nother topic. But he had a testosterone like he was 90. And he'd been seeing somebody that didn't even look at his hormones ever and I was like no wonder you're miserable, depressed and pain. His wife, of course died, but he has been obviously before all that. He had been having medical and health issues for four years and no one even looked. We don't know if you don't look, you know and so like, oh you're back hurts, oh you're depressed, oh you got aches, oh you're fatigued, oh your mood's bad. Well, you got to look, you know, and they're huge. So you know that, that's that's just. I wanted to share that because it's it's something that gets overlooked all the time, by the way, in women and in men, even men.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that I, you know, at 59, I probably see the doctor much more regularly than I ever have, but I don't recall ever having my hormones tested or have it even be suggested, you know because you've got five minutes and he's got 50 other people waiting and, by the way, your cholesterol looks good and your sugar is fine.
Speaker 2:And, by the way, he looked up and down at you and your blood pressure is fine. Hey, you look pretty good. Oh, you got a yoga studio, brian, I'll see you next year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, pretty much, you have the blessing.
Speaker 2:I call it. You know you're awesome, awesome.
Speaker 1:How do people find you? What's your, what's your best ways of being reached?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so well, you know our practices, named longevity health Institute, we're in Bingham Farms on Telegraph, just just south of Bloomfield, and we're in Rochester Hills. You can look us up, obviously Longevity Health Institute Inccom. And you know we have I have seven practitioners and other you know, pas, nurse practitioners, another doctor with me. You know we want to help everybody so we have a few different models. You know I do subscription based, like concierge stuff, and we have many options here. We do take insurance.
Speaker 2:But we also have models where when people need more or want more, you know they have more time and more access and literally down to like I have patients and you know some on this wall behind me that you know have my cell phone and you know. But I mean we're here to help everyone and to do this deep dive into the six point model. And in my practitioners, by the way, are highly trained and with me for years and I'm blessed with them because they're amazing and do good stuff and have great hearts and ironically, a lot of them are like ICU, hospital run. And you know cardiology this my doctor with me was working with a cardiologist for years and you know they are seeing that they saw the light. You know, like hey, they did some training and saw the light and you know I was fortunate enough to cross pass with them and go. Like hey, you know there's a paradigm shift here in medicine and I want to be part of it.
Speaker 1:Mm, hmm, that's phenomenal. I love it. I love it All right, amazing. Well, we'll cut it off now. It's been about an hour. Thank you for your time. I know it's limited and hopefully we can do one of these again and get more into the weeds on some other topics that maybe are worth getting into the weeds on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, amen Anything.
Speaker 1:All right, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Take good care. All right, take care Bye.