Breast Intentions

Peptides For Midlife Women, With Ben Pakulski: What's Real & What's Hype

• Season 2 • Episode 9

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Episode Summary

In this enlightening conversation, Nadine & Cynthia discuss the growing interest in peptides, particularly among women in midlife with Ben Pakulski. They explore what peptides are, their benefits, and the misconceptions surrounding their use. The discussion emphasizes the importance of lifestyle changes alongside peptide usage, safety considerations, and common mistakes people make when using them. The conversation concludes with practical advice for those considering peptides and the need for informed decision-making.

Takeaways

- Peptides have been around longer than most people think.
- There's a lot of confusion about what peptides actually do.
- Women in their 40s and 50s are increasingly interested in peptides.
- Lifestyle changes are crucial when using peptides.
- Many people take peptides without understanding their purpose.
- Peptides can help, but they are not a magic solution.
- It's important to know where your peptides come from.
- Not all peptides are safe or effective for everyone.
- Consulting with a knowledgeable practitioner is essential.
- Education about peptides is evolving and necessary for informed choices.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to the Podcast and Guest
00:56 Understanding Peptides: Basics and Benefits
03:52 Peptides vs. Traditional Medications
06:03 The Growing Interest in Peptides for Women
10:08 Regulatory Status and Historical Context of Peptides

Disclaimer

Breast Intentions is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. The content shared on this podcast is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Any views or opinions expressed by the hosts and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of any affiliated organizations. Always consult with a qualified healthcare provider for medical advice or concerns.

Resources & Mentions:

• Get in touch with the  Ben Pakulski on Instagram (@bpakfitness) or email him at bpakfitness@gmail.com

• Follow us on Instagram and Facebook (@breastintentionspodcast ) 

Connect With Us: Have a topic or guest suggestion? Email us at breastintentionspodcast@gmail.com

SPEAKER_00

I always think of teaching in terms of seasons of life. Like what if this is a thirty-day season or a ninety-day season? What's the most important thing we could fix now? And so uh you know, what's the biggest uh constraint if you think of like a category of constraints? Everyone has a bottleneck, maybe there's multiple bottlenecks. But so I would say you know, probably start with energy. Energy's not a problem, go the next one, maybe that's sleep. If you're sleeping well, great, go the next one, maybe that's tissue healing. That's going great, awesome, go to fat loss. You know, so fat loss is usually further down the continuum. People want to jump right into fat loss. It can be it can be useful, but if we fix all the other things, a healthy body wants to be lean. We say that, right? A healthy body wants to be very lean. Your body doesn't want to hold fat. It's gonna cause inflammation, it causes energy dysfunction. Like you don't want to no, your body doesn't want to be fat. Your body's fat because it's broken.

SPEAKER_03

Welcome to Breast Intentions, the podcast where we take off the bra of expectations and dive into honest, empowering conversations. We're your hosts, Nadine and Cynthia, two Canadian girls who swapped snow boots for flip flups in the Cayman Islands. This is your space to feel seen, supported, and a little less alone. So grab a cup of coffee or a glass of champagne and get ready for your weekly handful of truth, wellness, and empowerment. Welcome back to Breast Intentions. Today's guest is Ben Pikulski, former IFB pro and founder of Muscle Intelligence, now leading the conversation on cutting-edge health optimization. In this episode, we break down peptides through a female lens, what they are, how they work, and what women need to know before considering them.

SPEAKER_02

So on today's episode, we have Ben Pikolski from Muscle Intelligence. Welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you, ladies. I'm excited.

SPEAKER_02

Thanks for coming on. Um, I think that this is probably the one when I announced that we were gonna have you on the show and talking about peptides, this is the one time that I was completely flooded with messages and everyone wanting to learn about it. And not only is this show for women in midlife and um menopause, perimenopause, but I do think that there's gonna be a lot of guys that are gonna be listening and are also gonna benefit from this as well. But we'll try to keep it a little bit more um focused for women in midlife and just ask you a number of questions around that. But maybe the first thing that I can have you do is describe peptides because I think it's very, very confusing. And it's one of the conversations that I have with a lot of people where they're like, Do you even know what peptides mean?

SPEAKER_00

So, in the simplest explanation, there are signaling molecules, and signaling molecules that can elicit really specific signals inside the body. So sometimes when we take a hormone or we take a drug, which is often associated with a toxin, they have a very global impact. They can affect a lot of cells in the body, a lot of different systems in the body. Peptides are really short sequences of amino acids between two and 50 amino acids generally, and amino acids are just these microscopic building blocks of protein. And so between two and 50 amino acids in a specific order that can code for a very specific protein, a very specific thing in the body. And so many processes in the body are simply proteins that are either uh they're impacting cells in a specific way. And because they're so short, they can cross through these cell membranes and turn on different functions of a cell. That's really what it is. And they're sort of easy to categorize or simple to categorize, I think. But what people mistakenly do, as you, as you so eloquently said, is like they just broad stroke them. They're like, oh, all peptides. And you're like, well, it's really useful to like understand categorically what these things are supposed to do in the body, maybe a little bit about how they work, uh, and whether or not they're useful for you. Even like understanding how they're manufactured would probably surprise a lot of people and probably dissuade them from using it. So I'm happy we can we can discuss a little bit.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Now, one of the things that you said right at the very beginning is that unlike toxins like that are in medications and stuff, so it's it's no harm to your body as in like there's no toxins or anything in that.

SPEAKER_00

No, so I'll say this I'm not anti-pharmacy. I've seen pharmacies do some amazing things, save people's lives, keep people alive for a very long time, and I'm not anti. What peptides are doing, it's simply a easily thought of as maybe a more natural pathway or more natural mechanism to elicit a really specific target. And and that's why that's useful and interesting, is because when we can specifically target a specific function, we can make specific changes. And so rather than because oftentimes you take a medicine or you take a drug or a hormone, you have some positive benefits and a whole bunch of side effects. And with these limited um functions of peptides, you can generally isolate and minimize the negative effect. To answer your question more specifically, peptides themselves aren't toxic. The things that they come with can very well potentially be toxic, especially in the current landscape of modern uh peptide therapy. Is I I can't, I'm guessing if I said I knew a percentage, but if I had to estimate, I'd say probably around 90% are coming out of China, maybe more. And those ones coming out of China, we can't know for sure if they've removed all the toxins that are for sure there when you produce these things. So these things are produced in in I think it's four different mechanistic ways. One of them is is derived from insects, one of them the two most interesting ones are, or the most common ones, are derived from insects, the other ones derived from E. coli. And so if they if they process these peptides that generate these peptides and they don't remove the toxins, you're also getting potentially things like um E. coli downstream byproducts like lipopolysaccharide, you're potentially getting heavy metals, potentially other toxins in there that you don't even know. So you may be getting the right peptide, but you could also be getting um some other things that you don't want.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. And that I I don't even remember if that's one of our questions, but I definitely do want to go down that route. Because when I was developing the questions, I was like the good, the bad, and the ugly, because there's just so much noise around peptides. And you were saying that you've been using peptide peptides since 2003.

SPEAKER_00

Three, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So they've been around a lot longer than what people think.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, they were just um a little bit more fringe, you know. And I was sort of that guy who was like looking for every advantage, looking to be at the tip of the spear in performance. And so I was willing to, you know, do a ton of research. That's really how my whole journey started, is like trying to find, you know, I hear about these obscure molecules that people are using. Like, certainly I'm not gonna inject them myself, but let me find out some research. You know, like, okay, this seems relatively safe. We still couldn't trust the sourcing nine times out of ten. But we could be like, oh, the molecule itself is generally safe. And I was ignorant to not understand the manufacturing processes. I'm like, well, it sounds like it's pretty good. I, if I'm honest, I was generally pretty great with not going so many people in my time were pulling things in from China, and I just wouldn't. For whatever reason, I just didn't believe in the quality standard, which is still to this day probably true. So um, yeah, it's a really big consideration. They've been around for a long time and they still haven't necessarily changed their manufacturing standards. I'll say this there's probably people over there doing extremely well, but I'm not sure. So um, and and just because it says, hey, there's a certificate of authenticity and a lab test that says it's clear of toxins, doesn't mean it's real, doesn't mean it's authentic. It could be, you know, in modern day, we can literally fake anything. So like we actually know it's good, it's difficult.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah. And that's another question I have coming up as well.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So then uh why are peptides right now becoming such a big topic of conversation for women in their 40s and 50s?

SPEAKER_00

Um two um real things that happen at the same time, two sort of uh perfect storms that happen at the same time. One, artificial intelligence has given us access to accelerated learning, specifically accelerated condensation of research. So I can take, just like you guys probably do, I can take one to five prompts in in GROC or Gemini or ChatGPT or whatever you use, and say, I know everything now, or very close to everything about a specific peptide. Whereas three years ago, that wasn't even an option. So accelerating, like looking at what's the human data on this, what is the the where are they in clinical trials, we can actually accelerate the learning process. So that's accelerated it. And also the advent of these GLP ones, or at least the proliferation of these GLP ones, where people are seeing crazy weight loss, it brings everyone's visual attention to um, like, oh, it must be a peptide, which is, you know, I think both of those at the same time being a perfect storm, as well as obviously huge numbers of media channels jumping onto it. So everyone's seeing the incredible benefits. And true, to be true, truthful, the benefits are remarkable, but it doesn't come without some potential downsides and risks. And it's important that people understand that and certainly know their sourcing, know their know their dosing, even understanding their genetics, because your genetics are going to play into what genes or sorry, excuse me, what molecules are gonna support you most effectively at the genetic level.

SPEAKER_03

Are GLP1 peptides?

SPEAKER_00

They are okay. They're all GLP1s are all peptides. Okay. Yep.

SPEAKER_02

So is that where it kind of started then? Yep.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I think it's five years ago. Yeah, five years ago, BPC 157 really started. That's the one I've heard of. Um, very, very prominent. TB500 started to become very prominent, epitalin started to become very prominent. So peptides have been researched since the 70s in Russia from a gentleman named Vladimir Kavinson. So he was sort of this pioneer in the space. And so after the Cold War, he was basically tasked with taking all these Russian soldiers who were basically on the verge of death and reviving them. So he discovered, he was probably not he didn't discover peptides, but he was probably the first person to perpetuate peptides for regenerative processes. So there's 50 years of data on peptides. These are not new, they've been around for a very long time. He primarily worked with really small doses of very specific peptide that can heal, let's say, your pineal gland or heal your thymus gland or regenerate specific tissues or lengthen telomeres. And so he's really, really targeted. I've been blessed to be able to talk with some of his lab assistants, and they do it extremely differently than we do here in the West. And I'm happy to talk about that as well. But generally they're doing almost like a homeopathic approach where they're taking really small doses really frequently over longer periods of time, because what they recognize is peptides are actually there to turn on certain genes, and they don't need a huge amount of signal to turn on that gene. And so again, I'm not uh, you know, certainly uh I didn't get to work with Dr. Kevinson, he recently passed away, but uh his research is very prominent from the 70s. Now, you could you could certainly make an argument that some of it may have not been real, some of it may be doctored, but some of the benefits of it of life extension, um, of like proliferation of reversal of disease, he's got some pretty remarkable uh research.

SPEAKER_02

So then why if it's been around for 50 years, did it never because it's not FDA approved, right?

SPEAKER_00

And some things are that's just what I've heard. Yeah, so some of some of the things are FDA approved and have been for years. I think you know, things like growth hormone uh precursors, growth hormone secretagogues and analogs have been around probably 15 or 20 years. They've been around a while. Um, but they didn't get huge amounts of of uh notoriety and publicity. They were more common in longevity clinics or or you know with longevity doctors, which have existed for 20 years. Um but it didn't become mainstream because I think people have an association with growth hormone, like, oh, because there was one study, I think there's only ever one, I could be wrong, that showed growth hormone can accelerate cancer growth. And so people are like, oh no, stay away from those. And and if I'm not mistaken, I could be wrong, but there was one study, I think it was like the 70s or something, where growth hormone accelerated um cancer growth and they shut down the study um because someone had, I think, stage four, three cancer went to stage four, something like that. It was like very obscure cancer um negative side effects. Again, I'm not a cancer doc nor am I a peptide expert, but um people should do the research to see if these growth hormone um peptides are actually because they work, but there could be some negative side effects.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, so uh kind of going towards like struggles and symptoms and like the the main um peptides that you were talking about, like the BPC157, like kind of like the common ones that are out there swimming around on social media and like that people have heard about.

SPEAKER_01

Yep.

SPEAKER_02

What like what does a woman benefit from like when using them? Like, why would a woman use them?

SPEAKER_00

So I think a better way to frame it, Nadine, is like coming back to sort of what you said before is like looking at symptoms. So like what symptoms do women experience, say post-35, post-40, pre-menopause, perimenopause? Well, many women will complain of loss of energy, many will complain of fat loss, fat gain, many will many women will complain of like loss of skin quality, maybe like uh wrinkles or skin thinning, um, hormones degrading, things like this, poor sleep. Um, you know, these things are all specifically addressable with peptides. So we start with the the energy equation. So energy is influenced by many things in the body. Hormones are a really big lever, uh, but hormones can come with some other side effects, and they're pretty touchy. You know, women's they're obviously very cyclical. So we can specifically address where 95% of the energy comes from the body, which is the mitochondria, and we can say, hey, are your mitochondria working really well? And so, what does mitochondria working well mean? When we're young, we have tons of energy, the body can produce energy really, really quickly. As we age, the mitochondria become sluggish, they become uh dysfunctional, they die. So, one of the primary focuses of everyone of any age should be like, what am I actually doing to optimize my mitochondrial function? So, mitochondria are responsible for about 95, 90 to 95% of the energy in the body. So, if your mitochondria are dysfunctional over time, you're going to feel more sluggish, you're going to have lower hormone function, you're probably starting to start to become inflamed because mitochondria can also process inflammation. So, everyone, if you're going to do anything from this conversation, like take action on a mitochondrial protocol to ultimately start producing more energy per unit time. And so peptides can support that. They don't solve it by any stretch. That's what I want it to do. No, but they're a mechanistic benefit. So when you think of like mitochondrial energy production, there's multiple steps in this chain, there's multiple steps in the continuum that need to be supported and optimized. And there's a lot of really important stuff you can do. So mitochondria, the the most important thing, two most important things I would say, are exercise, specifically movement and light exposure. So if you're not moving well and your light exposure is crap because you're getting blue light 16 hours a day, you're going to feel bad. So, like, and if hormones are bad, yeah, but hormones are downstream. So the thing to think of it is hormones are like multiple steps down the continuum. They're at the end of the road. The thing that's at the beginning of the road is mitochondrial function. So mitochondria are going to drive energy production, which can drive hormone, can drive cellular function. And if the mitochondria aren't working well, then we have to fix that because it's more that's more of the root cause, whereas low horn hormones is more of the downstream symptom. So movement, light exposure, fasting, uh diet high in polyphenols, those are like primary, primary as far as mitochondrial function, whereas like you know, other things can be much for the downstream.

SPEAKER_02

I'll I I'll let you now uh one of the things, and this is uh probably my favorite post that you had made, is you can't just go and use peptides if you are not doing the work on your end, from a nutrition side, from an exercise side. And to be honest, I've like they're prominent down here. And um the amount of people that I can tell you, and it's probably seen you know, in North America and stuff like that too, but um one people don't actually know the reason for why they're just tak why they're taking it. They just they have girlfriends that are doing it, and it's called like this glow one that's like super popular. And um so one, they they actually don't know why they're taking it, they just heard it's really good, but they actually don't know what it's doing. Um, and two, they're also not doing anything to better themselves.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_02

And it's huge right now.

SPEAKER_00

So let's talk about that a little bit. So there are definitely peptides that if you just take those and do nothing else, you can see improvements. So that's how this gets perpetuated, right? So with your GLPs, they'll suppress appetite. Most people overeat. So there's no question that taking GLPs, whether it be a Zempic or Tosepertide or Rhodotrutide, and those are the sort of three stages of GLPs, um, you will eat less for sure. And if you just eat less, well, maybe you'll have better mitochondrial function because the mitochondria they can become sluggish, mitochondria become sluggish if you overeat and certainly overeat bad food. Mitochondria get a lot of uh reaction, reactive oxygen species, which sort of slows down their function. So you get rid of some of that, you get rid of some of the inflammation. Like, I just feel like I have more energy. So just taking them can have some positive benefit, but it can also have some negative benefit. So there's always trade-offs on the glow side. Just taking glow alone, to be honest, will benefit some people, at least in the beginning. I don't necessarily think those three there's so there's three molecules in there. One is BPC157, one is TB500, and one is GHK and copper, GHKCU. And I wouldn't necessarily, I don't really believe taking those three together is a good idea. I think BPC is really specific to tissue healing. If I wanted to heal a joint uh issue or I have just overall sort of soreness and achingness in my joints, that can be really useful for a specific amount of time. And then TB500 can be really specific for healing muscle tissues. So you may notice you get less muscle aches after you work out or you know, less overall muscle pain. TB500 can be very useful for that. But there's a different frequency of administration and a different dose. And then the GHK, to be honest, I think if I if I'm gonna take any peptide for the rest of my life, GHK might be it. Um, but it I don't wouldn't necessarily take BPC and TB500 all the time, right? So those things I don't think globally, you know, speaking with broad strokes, they should be taken together. You should understand how to dose them. I get why people do, because one injection is better than three. Uh but you could take them less frequently. So I think that's uh and and GHK also can be taken topically. So that's an interesting thing to look at too.

SPEAKER_02

Like a gel or something like that?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, they make them like into creams and lotions. In fact, I guarantee some of the meta some of the creams you guys are taking already have them. They just call them copper cut tri copper tripeptide. Yep.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, so is it like the lotion that you put on your face and they say it's like it has peptides in it?

SPEAKER_00

Yep. Well, hold on. Don't don't don't broadstroke because because you know, because they can say peptides and it's not the right peptide. It usually is called copper, copper tripeptide.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, when Nadine and I were first talking about having you on and having this conversation, I didn't know much about peptides. And I said, Well, I think I like I've heard about it in skincare. Like I think like you can do microneedling and have peptides.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_03

Is that different?

SPEAKER_00

No, so well, so maybe the answer is maybe. I'm not sure what pet so remember peptides are not. Right. There's there's an infinite number of potential peptides. Anywhere between two and fifty amino acids, and it could be literally an infinite number. So you have to be like, well, which peptide is it? Because if it's GHKCU or just GHK without the copper, you can actually get great benefit from it. That one's got tons of research behind it. Whereas BPC is also very useful. Um, I'm not sure if it you through you if it's useful topically. Some people are trying it topically, but I don't know that it's got great evidence there. Uh TB500 on the other hand wouldn't be useful at all topically. So you have to sort of look at um the the length of the peptide chain.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. So I know someone that is use I actually don't know what he's using, but um I think he has like a shoulder issue and he injects it into like the shoulder area, which I'm assuming.

SPEAKER_00

BPC157. Okay, that's what it is.

SPEAKER_03

Are the injections, all of them?

SPEAKER_00

So BPC is also an oral. So if anyone has gut um dysfunction, BPC is an incredible healer for leaky gut. So it has it has fantastic oral availability. Um so BPC can be taken both by injection and orally. Uh I I generally believe in it, uh, actually for both. I generally believe in it for amazing tissue healing quality and amazing gut healing quality. It's naturally derived from the human uh gut, super healthy, may you know, may have some side effects, long-term use seems to have some potential negative effects. But generally the protocol is gonna be uh depending, if there's an acute injury four to five days at a slightly higher dose, or if it's a chronic thing, you can do it for three to four weeks at a slightly lower dose. But taking it longer than that, I I would generally say is probably not a good idea.

unknown

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

So no matter if you have a sore shoulder and something going on, you can inject there, or you're gonna take the BPC 157 orally, you still have to do the work.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Well, you can't you can't have a shitty diet and like take BPC.

SPEAKER_00

So if you're taking BPC orally, the question is, well, why do I need to take it orally? Chances are you have leaky gut. Why do you have leaky gut? Because you're eating some bad foods, maybe you're drinking alcohol, maybe you're taking pharmaceuticals. If you keep doing doing those things, it's not gonna change. Yeah, you can't, it's not, it's not a it's not a band-aid.

SPEAKER_02

And I think that that's like that's really what I'm trying to get at, like even with this this podcast, is yes, that there's there's benefits in all of this like with peptides, but like you said, even in that one post, you have to do the work. Like it's not something, and I guess in a way, it's kind of like you know, for some people with the GLPs, it's something to do with the work. Can it help you do the work?

SPEAKER_00

Like not right, that's what I was gonna go.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. So the first thing I do with all my clients now, and I strongly suggest you guys do this too, is like run their genes, and and when you start to understand a little bit of genetics, you start to see there's absolutely predispositions for overeating, there's predispositions for impulsivity. And if someone has really um high high predisposition to overeat or be impulsive, they're gonna have a really hard time adhering to a diet. Some people just shame people and go, Well, you have bad. Bad appetite control or you have bad discipline. I don't think it's the truth. I think everyone experiences it very differently. So someone who's got, you know, what we'll call high obesity genes, like a frequent number of obesity genes, is going to have a predisposition to overeating foods. It's very common. Now, that doesn't mean that they get a free pass and like, oh, sorry, it it's like there's no discipline involved. There still is discipline involved. But giving someone that little bit of a head start to make them recognize, like, and I've had clients say this, they're like, man, I didn't realize how much I thought about food before taking these things. You're like, okay, so it's you know, there's a very wide variability. And so, yes, if someone is is thinking about food chronically, if they're chronically snacking, like what you what you and I don't recognize is there's people out there who finish eating meal one and then start immediately thinking what they're gonna eat for meal two. And you're like, the rest of us go out and do work and we have a purpose and we you know do things that are social, maybe, but people who have obesity challenges, one, their signals are dysfunctional in their brain. They may have obesity genes, which basically means they don't feel satiated, which maybe means their mouth palate is different than yours and mine. You're like, gosh, that's a lot of strikes against you. And so, especially when they become addicted to hyperpalatable foods, which makes it worse. So, again, there's a long conversation. So if you're eating, you know, hyperpalatable foods, which basically means you know, processed foods, high sugar, high fat, high salt. If you're eating those things consistently, your brain is being hijacked constantly, and you're gonna want to eat more and more and more and more. If you switch to natural foods, maybe GLPs help you do that uh in a short amount of time. Now all of a sudden you're like, oh, I I've developed an appreciation for real foods. I no longer feel like because most people are eating to medicate themselves, right? They're like, I feel terrible because hyperpology foods make me feel good. I get a big peak, and then boom, I crash. And after I crash, now I'm thinking about it.

SPEAKER_03

Also, like the guilt, like the guilt with it, like I want to eat healthy. I want next time I'm going to. But then for some reason you don't. Maybe there's a plot luck at work or somebody's birthday, and you're like, okay, next time, next time. So I think the change of the it can help change the mindset to then that's okay.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, uh, it'll it'll let you not do it. It'll let you not be impulsive. I don't know if it's gonna change your mindset because what generally will happen is as soon as people go back and they stop it, your your environment is gonna determine your outcomes, right? So if you're someone who's constantly got cookies in the house, you got pizza in the house, you got junk food in the house, if you're hungry, you're gonna eat it. And so what it allows you to do is like one, change your body, get you to the point where you feel confident and capable, two, make some lifestyle changes if and and when you're ready to make those changes. And if you're like, hey, I'm gonna take all these things out of my house and they're just not there. Now when you're hungry, you're reaching for carrots and celery instead of you're reaching for donuts and cookies. And unfortunately, that's just the way it's gotta be. And people need some guide, you know, you guys do this stuff, they need some guidelines around like some rules. Like, hey, I I can eat all the cookies I want on Sundays, but Monday to Saturday, I'm gonna keep it super clean. Something as simple as that, you know. Uh again, that's maybe not an example for everybody, but um, giving people the opportunity to win in the beginning, uh peptides can do that.

unknown

Okay.

SPEAKER_03

And some could potentially give more energy. Is that what you were saying? So then they're wanting to go exercise more and they're wanting to do these things.

SPEAKER_00

So the first thing by suppressing frequent eating, so people become addicted to eating because uh food gives them energy. If you've ever felt like super tired and like eat a little bit, like I feel I feel energized. So people who are chronically tired can overeat because food is an instant energy source. Well, so too is the sun, and so too is movement. But getting started can be hard because food is easy. So we can get people off of frequent food dosing and get them eating, you know, a couple regular meals a day. And that fasting in between meals, or that fasting in between days, actually can clean up the mitochondria and that can give you more energy, and that can give you a little bit more um sort of residual sort of reserve to start going and moving. That's one side of the equation. The other side of the equation is mitochondrial optimization, which is there's some specific peptides for that, which those produce energy. So we can actually take peptides to kickstart mitochondria, which is very interesting. Um, so and then there's also the sleep equation, because I know a lot of women as they age, they get hot, they don't sleep. Well, there's other things we can take, specific peptides for sleep. So we can take growth hormone peptides, we can take deep sleep-inducing peptide, Vene, we could talk about all those, if that's a category you guys want to help people support, is because these things do work. They're not they're not um gonna solve all problems, but they can certainly help move you in the right direction, at least put you on the right trajectory.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. Now let's say a woman is using peptides. What does a timeline look like for someone who is using peptides? Like, you know, we're gonna start the glow one or something like that. Like, do you use it forever? Or when do you know when to stop? Or like as soon as you stop, does it so as soon as it stops, does everything stop as well?

SPEAKER_00

No, I think it'll be I think it'll be a gradual up upslope and then a gradual decline in general. Um, which same with GLPs, like GLPs can stay in your system for a few weeks, and then once they're gone, your appetite's gonna come back just like it was before. So you have to develop some lifestyle habits that allow you to not go back. So, yeah, the answer is every peptide can work differently. Um, some of them actually heal. So, as an example, there's a peptide called SS-31, which can actually heal the mitochondria. So, long-term SS31, I think, is a miraculous thing. It's amazing for people who have heart disease, amazing for people who have heart attacks. There's a ton of research around that. Uh remarkable peptide. It's a bit tricky because the dosages are pretty are pretty high, so it's pretty cost prohibitive. Um, but to do it for three months, you know, daily administration, we'll see remarkable shifts, or data has seen remarkable shifts. Research has seen remarkable shifts in like healing heart tissue that's damaged from heart attacks and healing mitochondria. So mitochondria as they age, they sort of become leaky. And when they become leaky, they don't produce energy really well. And so these SS31 can sort of put the building blocks back in place so you can start using them, the mitochondria more effectively and produce energy better, sort of more effectively.

unknown

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

My last question before I hand it over to Cynthia is um what do peptides not do that social media is kind of feeding people that they do do?

SPEAKER_00

Solve all your problems. I think a good way to think of it is uh 1080 10. So what that means is the first 10% is gonna be you can support, right? So you can support the first 10%. So if someone needs a kickstart, the first 10%, like I can give you a GRP to suppress your appetite, I can give you a G to improve or a MOTC to improve your energy, I can give you an SS31 to help mitochondrial um regeneration. And then the 80% used. The 80% in the middle has got to be like you gotta put in some work, you gotta you gotta use that time to create shift. And the peptides can also come in and support the last 10%. And this is where you see these super high achievers being like, and I went from 10% to 4%. Like, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, we can do that. We can we can take we can extend uh maybe extend longevity, we can maybe extend life by healing tissues, we can extend telomeres, but it's not gonna you're not you're not gonna extend telomeres for someone who's 50 pounds overweight. It's I mean to maybe, but you're not gonna get the same overall benefit. So 10, 80, 10 is a good way to think about it.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, that's okay. That's helpful. So this all sounds amazing and like I'm I I want to take all of them, but probably shouldn't. Um how do we know? How do we know which ones we should be taking or I guess the the real answer is talk to your doctor, right?

SPEAKER_00

And but unfortunately, doctors generally aren't up to speed on these things, so that's why people are looking at internet experts or you know, quote unquote experts, like, hey, what should I take? And they're just throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. So the unfortunate reality is there's not a huge number of experts yet on these peptides. So again, so I sort of started down this path of like understanding mechanisms. So we have, let's say we have some peptides that can heal tissues. We brought those up, PPC157, TV 500, GHKCU. Those can heal. And and then you're then you're asking, well, what's the risk to a war? Like how much am I gonna uh how much are you gonna benefit to how much am I potentially risking? Is it gonna be have a negative side effect? Those three generally have a pretty great safety profile. And they're really good for healing the skin, they're really good for healing the muscles, they're really good for healing the tendons, they're really good for healing the vascular tissue. So we're talking healing. If you're saying, you know, I walk around every day and I've got joint pain and my muscles are really hurt, and you know, I feel like my my skin is starting to sag, you're like, well, I should probably start there. And you know, if that's the biggest challenge you're trying to solve. And then you're like, you know, I'm really tired. Like, okay, well, let's solve the mitochondrial challenge. And so, like, mitochondria is I think most people should start at the base with the mitochondrial optimization because energy is is upstream of everything. Energy is the root of all challenges, most challenges in the body. So if you're really uh lethargic, you're tired, you don't have the energy to train, you know, you have low hormones, mitochondrial optimization can help. But it's it's multifactorial. It's not ever just I would never say, hey, just take this peptide and all your mitochondrial challenges are gonna be better. There must be exercise, there must be light exposure, there probably is some supplements, you know. There's just sleep optimization, there's probably some fasting. So when we talk about mitochondrial optimization, it's this multifactorial approach. Never just say, oh, just take this peptide, everything's gonna be better, it doesn't work. Um and then so then we can go to like hormone optimization, and we could say, well, we can certainly optimize for men, you can optimize testosterone, you can optimize growth hormones, but certainly for women as well. And then those those similar those hormones also have benefits of fat loss. So there's specific things that you can take to increase fat loss. That's really interesting because a lot of people as we age start to want to keep start to accumulate fat we want to lose. So um, I would think sort of mechanistically, and and I always think of teaching in terms of seasons of life. Like what if this is a 30-day season or a 90-day season? What's the most important thing we could fix now? And so uh, you know, what's the biggest constraint if you think of the category of constraints? Everyone has a bottleneck, maybe there's multiple bottlenecks. But so I would say you know, probably start with energy. If energy is not a problem, go the next one, maybe that's sleep. If you're sleeping well, great, go the next one, maybe that's tissue healing. If that's going great, awesome, go to fat loss. You know, so fat loss is usually further down the continuum. People want to jump right into fat loss.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

It can be it can be useful, but if we fix all the other things, a healthy body wants to be lean. We'll say that, right? A healthy body wants to be very lean. Your body doesn't want to hold fat, it's cause inflammation, make it causes energy dysfunction. Like you don't want to, no, your body doesn't want to be fat. Your body's fat because it's broken.

SPEAKER_03

Are there people who shouldn't even consider this? Like who should not even consider using peptides at all?

SPEAKER_00

I'd say I'd say like 90% of people shouldn't considering peptides because the source of them is really bad.

SPEAKER_02

So unless you have oh yeah, let's talk about that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, unless you have a really reliable source, it's extremely again, I don't know of sourcing. I'm not I'm not testing every batch. But if there's a website called FINRIC, you guys should check out F-I-N-R-I-C-K. FINRIC. They do they post their testing, they test a lot of companies. You can send your stuff there, and you can literally see, hey, sometimes it's got what it says in it and sometimes it doesn't. So there's two considerations. One is does it have what it says on the label? So I'm taking redotrutide, does it actually have retotrutite in it? And how much? So if it says 10 milligrams retotrutide, it should have 10 milligrams retotrutide. Now there's a there's a there's a consideration of degradation over time, because if this was made in 2022 and it's 2026, there's going to be less. That's normal. Right. Um there's a degradation with over time. But in the other side of the equation is, well, what else is coming with it? So is there some other toxins or heavy metals or things that I don't want to put in my body that are there that you know could potentially cause other issues, and and which, by the way, is extremely common. Extremely common. Not only is it common, it's remarkably common, not only is it common to like see the the side or see the toxins present in the tests, it's also common to see people who have side effects from taking peptides.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, that's what I was gonna ask. So are there risks to you know not having it from a reputable source or not or from huge, huge, and and here's the truth.

SPEAKER_00

Like we could get sick. There's even a risk of taking it from reputable sources because I know people who are taking it from a compounding pharmacy in the US and still getting sick. Still getting poison. And you're like, so um, yeah, the answer is for sure. And so be how you have to be very cautious on your sourcing. And the the big biggest mistake is so I'll give you an example. Uh I have a price list of uh peptides from China. If I want to import them from China, I have people all the time like, oh look, I import from China, check out my price list. It's like let's get I'm not gonna say what product, but let's say product A in China cost me $7 a bottle. Here it costs me $140 a bottle. You're like, well, um, it makes sense why people are gonna go to China or they're gonna be like, oh, I can, you know, if I'm paying $7 and I'm distributing this stuff, I can sell it for $25, $30, $50, and I'm making tons of money, I'm happy. And but if you're getting the one that's made in North America and the cost at the manufacturing level is $140, now they're selling it for $300. So now you're comparing a $50 product against a $300 product in your brain, you're like, oh, these are exactly the same, but they're not. They're probably not. Like, how do you know? So I I'd say like be super cautious. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. Well now, since you brought up cost, what like I've obviously we've heard that GLP ones are expensive, they're not cheap by it at any for by any way by any means. Um is it similar for the other peptides?

SPEAKER_00

It's a pretty wide variety. Is it? Okay. Yeah, I'd say GLPs are more expensive because you're obviously paying for the pharmaceutical marketing. You know, they they pay billions of dollars to get these things processed. Right. Um, so it's gonna be more expensive for sure. But and and you know, like the US versus Canada, for example, Canada's Azempic, I think, is 200 bucks, two 220, something like that for I forget how many milligrams, maybe two milligrams. Whereas in the US, that same thing will cost you $1200, so it's five to six times. Oh, okay. And so you're like, well, that's huge. So like you know, what's expensive? Uh yeah, it'll be different. Um, but yeah, other peptides are similar depending where you're getting them from.

SPEAKER_02

Where are the majority of people in North America, like Canada and the US, uh, getting the um the peptides from? Like they're getting them from the doctor, or they're ordering them themselves?

SPEAKER_00

Online, you can find for research use only websites. Um so if you if you're doing your your research on yourself, quote unquote, um, you can technically buy them, it's not illegal. So that's how that happens. So these people are, you know, again, I'm not all suppliers, but a lot of them are importing from China. It's very common. Like, like I said, some things from China are fantastic, some things are not. You're rolling the dice. Um people purchase them.

SPEAKER_02

There are companies in the US that are making them as well.

SPEAKER_00

There are.

SPEAKER_02

And so if you get them from them, you're just paying a premium for it.

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

I see.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But you also can't overly guarantee the quality, no matter where you're getting it from.

SPEAKER_00

Compounding pharmacies are interesting. So they're privately owned, but they're they're they're constantly um inspected by the FDA. So they're constantly being audited, they're constantly being inspected. So as long as they're being inspected, they're following the guidelines. However, in the last five to seven years, uh I can't know how many, maybe three or four compounding pharmacies have been shut down for malpractice, meaning they weren't doing because the because the extraction of these toxins are is expensive. So they just don't do it. Like, ah, it's okay, push it out, throw it a batch. You know, and all the time you'll see recalls, like even on things that are super common, like testosterone gets recalled all the time. Like, hey, there's E. coli in there, don't use it, you're gonna get really sick. Like, there's recalls constantly from these different compounding pharmacies, then they get investigated by the FDA and get shut down. So even if it's reputable, you're like, are you still kind of like, do you actually trust this company, or are they trying to cut corners?

unknown

Right.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Right, yeah. So common mistake would be you know, not I guess not knowing where your peptides are coming from. Are there other common mistakes as well?

SPEAKER_00

Like taking too much or yeah, so yeah, dosing these things can be a little tricky. So most people who aren't familiar with because what basically you're sent a sterile water and then a vial with some lifelized powder. You have to take some of the sterile water, put it into the lifelized powder in the right amount, and then take out the right amount and inject it. And so there's a large number of people, competent people, who have way overdosed and had some serious side effects. Um very, very competent people, very experienced people make mistakes. So it's um yeah, it's a challenge.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, that would be intimidating for me for sure.

SPEAKER_00

Right. There's a million videos online of people showing you how to do it. Right. So but there's still like uh, you know, some people are still easy to make a mistake. Totally. You just not pay attention, you know, messing around with something else.

SPEAKER_03

And is it possible to take the wrong ones together?

SPEAKER_00

Um It's a good question. I've I've never seen anyone have a negative effect from mixing them together, but you could certainly, for example, some of these are very importantly taken in the morning, and some of them are very importantly taken at night, and that could easily be flipped. Oh, so you maybe take something in the morning or in the evening that's gonna keep you awake, and that's that's a bit of a problem. That's common. Yep.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. Um could it backfire or could there be unwanted side effects if if they're used in a the wrong time in a woman's hormonal cycle? Do women's hormones play a role?

SPEAKER_00

Women's hormones play a role in everything. Um to answer that question specifically, I'm probably not the right person. I'm not an expert in hormones, nor I'm an expert in peptides. So I would say um find someone. And these listen, these people exist. They're not they're not common, but they exist. People who are experts in women's physiology, women's hormones, and peptides, um, they exist, especially in the last couple of years. People are learning. Um, again, I don't know any, but they they certainly exist.

SPEAKER_03

Are there questions we should ask or we could ask um like our doctor or practitioner to know if you know we're in safe, ethical hands?

SPEAKER_00

Uh yeah, where are they getting the information from?

SPEAKER_02

And and that's the thing too, even just like with doctors that you see, doctors down here, um, they're all learning as well.

SPEAKER_00

Yep, and they're all learning from ChatGPT, which is uh very biased and very wrong a lot of the time. So you're like, so if you're not reading the research papers, and and listen, even if you are reading the research papers, a lot of these research papers are not in humans, they're in animals. So you have to know that. You're like a lot of these things are done in mice. I'm like, okay, well, it works in a mouse. Is it gonna work in a human? Correlation is high, but it doesn't mean that the results are gonna be the same. So these ones that are FDA approved, like your GLP ones, um, you know, they have tons of human data as well. So you, you know, you're more safe when there's human data. Um, but many of these pep many of these doctors are like, you know, they're they're they're learning the same way you are, right? They're like watching somebody on Instagram and in a 15-second reel and be like, oh, now I'm an expert in this peptide. And you're like, well, how does that interact with this one? Because you have to know mechanism as well, right? So every hormone acts on a really specific pathway in the body. And there's going to be interactions. Generally, they're they're not um because peptides are really quick acting in the body, generally, they're generally in for a very short amount of time. We can probably comfortably say there's unless you're taking a bunch of peptides at the same time, there's probably not huge likelihood of interaction, although there could very well be some. You have to understand mechanistically what's happening as well. So, like at a cellular level, what's actually happening?

SPEAKER_02

This is such good information.

SPEAKER_00

I know it's fascinating.

SPEAKER_02

Everyone needs to hear this stuff.

SPEAKER_00

So, but everyone doesn't want to hear this. You know what they want? They want, tell me the protocol. Yeah, like give me the protocol.

SPEAKER_03

Tell me what to take, and I'll just go. I've got the secret protocols.

SPEAKER_00

I'll share them with you guys just afterwards. Kidding.

SPEAKER_03

Um just though.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. So, well, it's real. Because, you know, it's funny, I got sent something this morning from this guy who's you know an influencer in the space, and he's basically giving away all his protocols for free. And I think that's very helpful in on on one side, and on the other side, very challenging. Because like everyone wants the protocol. And I mean, I give guys protocols all the time. I'm like, oh, here, this is what this, you know, I've taken a lot of courses and read a lot of books, and like, here's what this doctor is suggesting. And and there's some really amazing. Um I've been doing peptide conferences, I think, 2018 or 19. Um, and there's some really useful protocols. But then you look at Dr. Cavinson, who's the godfather of peptides, and then you look at Dr. Seeds, who's sort of sort of the modern leader in peptides, and they're saying really different things. And you're like, well, how do we know? You know? Um, so that's sort of the way we look at it. It's like the answer is probably somewhere in the middle, or maybe not at all, but uh always comparing and contrasting what the experts are saying. And you know, these people have been doing it for a very long time, so we we tend to put some trust in what they're talking about.

SPEAKER_03

So if you had to give a midlife woman one grounded, non-hyped piece of advice about peptides, what would you want them to understand before even saying yes or no?

SPEAKER_00

Umly use it if it's going to enable the action that will change your life or the activity that will change your lives as an example. If you tend to overeat and you're like, you know what, I'm gonna eat myself to death, I'm gonna I'm way overweight, I'm I'm on the verge of diabetes and heart attack. Well then, you know, maybe GLP makes sense only if it's gonna enable you to not eat and to move. And so you have to know what the linchpin, I always talk about the linchpin um uh sort of activity is or action is. And so for many people, the linchpin is well, like don't eat as much. Like maybe you can fast a little bit and then move because move not eating is not enough, right? So generally what happens when people don't eat is they lose weight, but they keep all of their intramuscular and visceral fat. So intramuscular fat is like that marbling. Like you see like a wagyu beef, but marbling, that stuff is terrible for your body. And the stuff in and around your organs, that stuff is the visceral fat is terrible for your body. So if I just don't eat, I'll lose, I'll lose some fat, I'll lose some muscle, but all that marbling still stays there, all that visceral fat still stays there. And if I'm not moving, ideally, not just walking, ideally exercise in the gym, ideally, you know, doing something more intense, I'm still gonna have all that marbling, I'm still gonna have all that visceral fat. So you're gonna be a smaller, equally as unhealthy, equally as sick version of yourself. That's not good. So you have to find the the maybe the peptide or maybe the activity or the the whatever it is, the protocol that will enable the linchpin, which is almost always exercise, sunlight, less food, right? Eliminate snacking from your life. Snacking should is not is not a this is perpetuated by bodybuilders. Snacking is not a normal, I mean it's not abnormal, but it's not a needed activity. People snack because they're bored, do people snack because it gives them energy temporarily? Like just eliminate it. Probably easier said than done.

SPEAKER_03

Right. And that's so that's true for any of the peptides, like if it's I know one that will give me more energy. Again, moving, getting sunlight, all those like if that will help me.

SPEAKER_00

I don't want a broad stroke. So because like I can tell you that if you took mod C, so it's M O T S C, MOT C, um 50% or 60% of people see a significant benefit. Forty to 50% of people see no benefit. And so you're like, well, you could take that, and it may give you some more energy, and you may feel temporarily better. Um, but then if you don't take it the next day, then you're not gonna get that same benefit. So you're like, well, is that the right one for you? So I think it takes a lot of um a lot of nuance and experience to truly understand. Like, I don't want a broad stroke and say this one's gonna give you more energy, therefore you should take it. Don't do that. Right. Yeah, don't do that.

SPEAKER_03

No, this is and this is great, Ben, because I think a lot of people think of it as this will give me more energy. This will give me X, Y, Z. And I think that we've shown today that it's more there's more to it. It's not just a simple take a shot or take a pill and you and you're good.

SPEAKER_00

Two things that I advise your listeners to do, go to you or someone, genetics and blood work, even a urine analysis, maybe a stool analysis. So we do what we call a seven-part diagnostic. And what that allows us to do is understand what game we're playing, right? So what that means is if I look at your genetics, I see, hey, how is that expressing in your current blood work? How's that expressing in your current urinalysis? How's that expressing in your gut? How's that expressing in your sleep and stress? And then I could say, okay, based on all this data, this is the linchpin, this is the thing that's constraining you. There's probably one, two, or three things that are your biggest constraints. And maybe it's appetite control, and maybe it's the predisposition to uh store fat, and maybe it's really bad sleep. Um, but we're gonna find those things and we're gonna say, this is the one, two, or three things that are most important to you, and we're gonna address that specific thing. Because if we address the constraint, generally everything else starts to get easier. But you can't do that by guessing. Three to five years ago, we would we would do, we would have really educated guess guesses, right? Like we didn't really have good genetic data, it kind of sucked. The lab work we had was good, but it's getting exponentially better. Now we've got AI to process these things. We get so much more focused on what's truly important. We get so many more data points to be like, oh, for you and ID, it's this specific thing that's going to be your constraint, or it's going to be the thing that kills you long term. Let's address this thing.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And that allows us to be really focused. I call it precision performance, right? So our all of our protocols are based around precision. It's not just like everyone should be taking vitamin D or everyone should be taking your lithium A. I'm like, I'm not sure if you should be taking it. Let's look at what you what's happening inside your body today.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, that's very helpful.

SPEAKER_02

Now, last question. How do people contact you? And well, can anyone contact you?

SPEAKER_00

No one can jump on a phone call. So we don't look at everybody. Um Okay. Yeah. So if you go to muscleintelligence.com slash apply A P P L Y, um, jump on a phone call, talk to somebody on my team, and and very least you'll leave there with with some action items on how to be more effective in your decision making. So we don't, it's in a sales call, we get on, it's like an information call. We're gonna learn everything about you, and uh like what do you what do you need to do? What do you want to do? Sometimes it's really simple, sometimes it's very obvious, uh, sometimes it's way more complex, in which case we either can help or we we upgrade uh to somebody else. At very least, you're gonna you're gonna leave with some direction. We always say, like, here we're gonna see if we can help you if we can, well, you know how we can. If we can't, we'll refer you to someone who can. We sort of like to stay in our lane. Um, as I said, we work with men over 40 who are high performers. Um that's primarily the the focus. And as I said, also sort of off-air that that ends up evolving into working with their wives as well. Uh and now they're parents sometimes. But yeah, yeah, it's it's uh it's really rewarding, to be honest, to know that people um trust us with their with their and I don't want to say health, because health is not I don't I don't prescribe health, I don't diagnose health, but it's always performance. Like I want you to perform well, and performance means you have the energy, you have the vitality, you have the recovery to do things you want to do, right? I I'm really inspired by people who live their most authentic life, which means like I gotta wake up every day feeling inspired, I gotta wake up every day feeling energized, feeling focused. And so a lot of our coaching is really just like helping guys drive the car faster, so to speak, instead of um getting injured or or having some limitations.

SPEAKER_02

Right. That's awesome. This has been so enlightening. Um, it's something that I've actually, and like I've said when I post it as well, I have I have no understanding of peptides. Um it's something that I've seen. Um it's just something I haven't had the time to really learn about. And again, where do I go to really learn about it too?

SPEAKER_00

It's a full-time job, right? It's it's like you need a you need a master's degree um or a PhD in peptides. And like it just it's you know hours and hours a day. But like I said, I've been doing for such a long time. But I still study it for one to two hours a day.

SPEAKER_03

Because it's evolving it, yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Well, thank you for coming on. Thank you. Taking the time. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_03

We appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00

Appreciate you, ladies.

SPEAKER_03

Thanks for joining us on Breast Intentions. We hope you felt seen, supported, and maybe had a few laughs along the way. Don't forget to share, subscribe, rate, and review us. Your support keeps the conversation alive. Follow us on social media for more insights, behind the scenes fun, and updates on future episodes. Got a topic you want us to dive into? We'd love to hear from you. Remember, life's too short for bad bras, toxic relationships, and kale you don't actually like. So until next time, stay bold and keep your best intentions exactly where they belong. Front and center. Now go crush midlife, or at least today's to do list. Cheers.