00:00:09:24 - 00:00:19:10 Speaker 1 Hi, everyone. So welcome to everything hormones, adrenals, weight loss and trauma. And I am so excited to have JJ, one of my friends that I've known for a long time. 00:00:19:10 - 00:00:21:03 Speaker 2 Her long time friend. 00:00:21:19 - 00:00:32:22 Speaker 1 Buddy. We started this together back in the day and I want to really get down and dirty cause some of the questions that people have. I mean, so many of my audience is starting to ask, you know what? I know how. 00:00:32:22 - 00:00:33:03 Speaker 2 To. 00:00:34:05 - 00:00:54:08 Speaker 1 Chart everything. I know I need to have more exercise. I know I need to sleep more and things are still not moving and they're sick and tired of hearing the same thing because they know all that some of it isn't working for them. So how do we really help people understand there's other things that we need to do in addition to that to really help move the needle and also get healthier. 00:00:54:08 - 00:00:55:17 Speaker 1 It's not just about weight loss. 00:00:56:06 - 00:01:31:12 Speaker 2 Yeah, so some throw this big concept out there and it kind of comes from this like the current crazy statistics of 6.8% of the population now metabolically healthy. It's like every time you click on the link to go, what is it? It's like, how did it get worse in a month? And then, you know, the obesity statistics now at 43% and and I don't know Marcel I saw that that 60 Minutes after the interview and it made me insane talking that 50 to 85% of obese is genetics when at the turn of the 19th century it was 0.5%. 00:01:31:12 - 00:01:55:10 Speaker 2 I'm like, no, our genes didn't in 120 years have this major shift. So so I'm going to throw out an idea where and I think it's kind of obvious we're clearly doing this all wrong. And what if we are looking in the wrong direction? You know, we keep talking about trying to lose weight. And I would argue that that's actually the wrong thing to try to do. 00:01:57:04 - 00:02:23:03 Speaker 2 What we said is we need to focus totally on having really good quality muscle. Here's why. When you focus first on muscle and I'm really talking especially for women here, right, Because starting at 40, we lose 1% of our muscle mass a year, by the way, 2 to 4% strength, 6 to 10% power at the age of 60. 00:02:23:03 - 00:02:45:12 Speaker 2 That starts to double. That's if you're not doing anything. And if you're eating the typical diet where the woman's getting like 40 to 60 grams, pathetic of protein a day or following the RDA, which is really dumb, really does. So if you look at that and you go, all right, our metabolism, what what's going to dictate our metabolism? 00:02:45:12 - 00:03:06:22 Speaker 2 Well, one of the biggest things we can do to make a dent in our metabolism is how much muscle we have on, you know, also things like non exercise activity, thermogenesis, you know, not having your temperature the same in the house all the time, improving and creating more caloric deficit by doing things like eating more protein. Those things all work. 00:03:06:22 - 00:03:27:18 Speaker 2 But the very first step is stop trying to lose weight, because if you're trying to lose weight, the best way to lose weight is to sit on the couch and barely eat so that you lose as much muscle as possible because it's heavy and then you'll really damage your metabolism. And that's what I think is really gone on is this We haven't focused on the right thing. 00:03:27:18 - 00:03:54:07 Speaker 2 We're getting on a scale we're not looking at what our weights made up of. And if we just change the focus to how do we put on muscle that muscles metabolic Spanx that hold everything and tighter so we look better naked and it supports a better metabolism. Muscle is like a sponge. It's going to take the carbohydrates that you do eat and pull them into your muscles for stored energy for later rather than putting it on your belly and your butt. 00:03:54:20 - 00:04:16:17 Speaker 2 Right. And muscle. Then by doing that really helps us with blood sugar and insulin metabolism. So I come down to why don't we focus first there? Why don't we start to make mandatory that once or twice a year we're getting a DEXA scan so that we can see how much muscle we have where it is? Is it even what's going on with our body fat? 00:04:16:17 - 00:04:41:08 Speaker 2 Do we have visceral adipose tissue? And then when we're at home measuring and weighing, we're really looking at a bile pinch scale so we can see if we're adding muscle, which is a slow go. And if we're losing our waist along with it. And that's that is my whole focus now is what do we need to do if that's our focus, holding on to and putting on muscles we age so that we can play full out to 100. 00:04:41:08 - 00:04:55:20 Speaker 2 So we can be like you dancing your tushy off, right? You know, what do we need to do? And once you get to that, it's a very different focus and it feels so much more like something that you can actually control and make a dent in. 00:04:57:12 - 00:05:15:18 Speaker 1 So within that, though, what we see, I think in our female population, JJ is as so many people go crazy with it, so then they are working out for 3 hours, for hours at a time and then they're not seeing any results and they get all pissed off and well, you know, women are sick and tired of counting points, counting calories. 00:05:15:18 - 00:05:40:13 Speaker 1 And here's the thing. I thought it's so interesting. There was a news article on YouTube on the new diabetic medication, Semaglutide, which is -400 million. Again, reviews for 100 million views. And it's a medication that we use for diabetes. It's not meant it is now being used for weight loss. The problem is that most people that use it gain the weight. 00:05:40:13 - 00:05:45:13 Speaker 1 On the other side because they're eating so little and it also causes havoc with their blood sugars. 00:05:45:13 - 00:06:03:17 Speaker 2 Right. And because it's going to do the very thing that we're talking about, what's it going to do now? You're going to lose muscle again. And so what I would say is when you really look at what it takes to put muscle on, it's not 3 to 4 hours in the gym. It's not. And that's the cool thing. 00:06:04:01 - 00:06:29:24 Speaker 2 It's lifting heavy weights. It's lifting it's doing more than what you're used to because that's what you have to do for your muscle to grow and it's feeding your muscles well. So focusing protein first, which just in and of itself, if we start to look at your diet and you know what, let's put protein first at the focal point, let's make sure that you get at least 0.8 to 1 gram per pound of your target bodyweight divided between your meals with at least 30 grams at a meal. 00:06:30:05 - 00:06:53:02 Speaker 2 All of a sudden, just doing that, you'll be less hungry and it has a bigger thermic effect. You know, you've digestion is one of the key parts of your metabolism, 10 to 15%, but you have to have the amino acid to feed your muscles. In fact, there's research showing that if you didn't even exercise, but you bumped up your protein intake, you will improve your muscle mass. 00:06:53:03 - 00:07:14:22 Speaker 2 Now that isn't saying don't work out, but then you have the additive effect of lift heavy weights and eat protein. And by the way, I think every woman over 5050 plus should be taking creatine. I think it just should absolutely be a must. Like I'm on a mission to get everybody on creatine. And for any woman listening going, I don't want big muscles. 00:07:15:06 - 00:07:34:20 Speaker 2 The cool thing about weight training is if you start to see that you have more muscle than you want, which if you do, I will fall off my chair and be shocked because, you know, we are we're you know, we we just don't have that. We're not hairy men. We don't have the ability to build muscle like men do, and especially when we're 50 plus. 00:07:35:10 - 00:07:50:01 Speaker 2 But you can always back it off anyway. That fabulous, magical incident could happen for you. But when you put protein, creatine, and the right type of exercise together, along with great sleep magic. 00:07:50:19 - 00:07:52:02 Speaker 1 Know how much creating. 00:07:52:24 - 00:08:15:08 Speaker 2 So the recommendation is in, it really depends if you're plant based or not. If you're eating along your guidelines, then it's going to be somewhere into 3 to 5 grams. If someone's got it's a plant based diet, it might be five grams plus. But generally for women, 3 to 5 grams. And what you need to do is reach tissue saturation so it will start to work. 00:08:15:08 - 00:08:26:03 Speaker 2 So that could take a month if you were doing that. Or you could just do a little loading for a week, five days of five grams, four times a day, and then you'll have your tissue. 00:08:26:03 - 00:08:27:22 Speaker 1 Four times a day. Wow. Okay. 00:08:28:07 - 00:08:58:03 Speaker 2 Yeah, that's just a tissue saturation five day plan. Once you've done that, it's 3 to 5 grams once a day. It's very simple. So like that to me is such an obvious. They're using it for sarcopenia as people age so that it's so it just makes a ton of sense to do that. So that is that now that plus collagen are two of the ones and I'm like everybody, everybody should be on these things. 00:08:59:04 - 00:09:21:13 Speaker 2 But you know what you measure and monitor, you can improve. And what I like about all this the most is and I'll give you a little personal story. As I started to do this, I really was pushing, like I said, really in test be the guinea pig. And my weight went up and I had to do this whole mental game and I went and got a DEXA and my body fat is extremely low. 00:09:21:13 - 00:09:46:14 Speaker 2 I've always had low body fat, but it was even, you know, it was actually the same body fat I had tested when I was 39, which is 14%, which for a woman's ridiculous. But I've always I mean naturally very that that is more my type like for a woman if you were 22% would be that's fantastic but it gives you you've got to realize as you're putting muscle on your weight may go up a little bit. 00:09:47:12 - 00:09:56:15 Speaker 2 And if your weight goes up because you put on muscle, that's fantastic because you'll actually work smaller sizes and you'll have a better metabolism. You'll burn more calories. 00:09:59:00 - 00:10:15:15 Speaker 1 And what about protein? JJ One of the things that I've seen in my practice clinically over the years is I had the hardest time getting vegetarians to be stabilized because their carbohydrate intake was so high and the amount of protein they just I couldn't get them to, you know, I know stabilize their health. 00:10:16:05 - 00:10:37:19 Speaker 2 There's no way for a vegan or vegetarian. I know this is not popular, but you know what? Having the misinformation is killing us. If we you know, if we are 6.8% of the population now metabolically healthy, if we've got 70% plus of the population overweight or obese, we have to we have to tell this is science is not a religion. 00:10:38:03 - 00:11:01:21 Speaker 2 And the deal is if you want to get 2.8 grams per pound of target body weight into your body and the same amount of chicken like, let's say you eat six ounces of chicken, you would have to eat four cups of quinoa to get that protein. There is no way as a vegan or vegetarian to get optimal protein without overloading your fat and carbs. 00:11:02:07 - 00:11:18:21 Speaker 2 And if I can think of the worst combination to put together, it's fat. The fat carb combination. That's the perfect combination of raise your blood sugar, raise your insulin, store that fat easily in your body, like who wants to do that? So the only way to work with someone and that's why I look at it with vegans and vegetarians. 00:11:18:21 - 00:11:40:02 Speaker 2 We're not saying don't eat plants. I think clean animal protein plus plants is the perfect combination because you've got right the proteins for for building blocks for your body and the plants for building blocks for your microbiome. So it's like the perfect combo. But for someone who's who's a vegan or vegetarian, I always dig into, why are we doing this? 00:11:40:02 - 00:12:03:15 Speaker 2 Is it a health reason or is it something that is a religious thing? If it's religious, hey, then we need to work on what we need to do here. But if it's you've been told somewhere along the line that this is the healthier thing, show me the research that that grass fed red meat steak is hurting you because the research I'm seeing actually is helping you minimize depression, have better mental health outcomes. 00:12:03:15 - 00:12:12:10 Speaker 2 Like, you know, show me that research because it is a bunch of chatter out there. That's not true. That's damaging everybody's metabolisms. 00:12:12:11 - 00:12:25:12 Speaker 1 Oh, my God. And more than that, I mean, if we look at some of the inflammatory cascades that go on with that amount of carbs that they have in their diet, and they're trying desperately to do that, and then they're hungry all the time and they're eating right. It just doesn't work. 00:12:25:12 - 00:12:41:16 Speaker 2 I know when I was in because like, you know how long we've been doing this, Like I've been doing this 40 plus years. So I've been my own guinea pig and I was a vegan. I was a vegetarian. I, I was going to be hospitalized when I was a vegan. They're like, we're either hospitalized new or go get a chicken. 00:12:41:16 - 00:12:44:07 Speaker 2 I'm like, I'll get the chicken. I'll do that. 00:12:44:07 - 00:12:54:23 Speaker 1 Oh, no. I mean, I was macrobiotic early in my life and I was I remember one time I was at the counter and somebody had a state and I just I couldn't stand it. So I went back and got an organic steak. It was like that was it for me. 00:12:54:23 - 00:13:17:16 Speaker 2 It was like, Ooh, I know, you know, but just think of even the fatty acid imbalances you're going to get when you're trying to get your omega threes from plants, but you're not going to get the EPA you need because you can't, you know, break it down to that and you're getting a lot of omega sixes. So you will be inflammatory. 00:13:17:16 - 00:13:39:02 Speaker 2 You'll have like too many carbs. There's just it's impossible to do unless you use protein powders. And then even with the protein powders, I don't know how you're getting things like carnitine. I don't know how you're getting the DHEA in EPA. What are you going to do now? Find algae, find protein powder, spike it with carnitine at some point. 00:13:39:02 - 00:13:51:19 Speaker 2 Aren't you scratching your head going, Why do I have to use all of these other things? You know, if I built a diet that if I have to supplement in order to get to the baseline nutritional needs I have, there's problem. 00:13:52:20 - 00:14:07:07 Speaker 1 Heads stone and you see it clinically in terms of things like cholesterol and blood sugars and things like that. You know, on the weight loss plan that I have, you know, about my patients, their hemoglobin in onesies come down to point sometimes at 12 weeks of their diet. Got it. 00:14:07:08 - 00:14:08:16 Speaker 2 That's the way you run. 00:14:08:17 - 00:14:15:22 Speaker 1 Screaming down and pressure. I mean but but it's what we're talking about. It's protein and vegetables. So it really works well in that regard. 00:14:16:08 - 00:14:34:17 Speaker 2 Yeah, it's I mean, research is clear, too. Like if you start with protein and vegetables, like eat the first, you'll get some healthy fats from the clean protein. You'll probably use them on the vegetables. And then at that point, you'll see if you need what what else you might need. But for most people, that's like to start there, you'll actually get full. 00:14:36:09 - 00:14:54:15 Speaker 1 Let's talk about something else. JJ And that is that, you know, a lot of women have unbelievable sugar cravings and also unbelievable cravings for carbohydrates. So let's kind of look at that and unwrap that because as you know, the food industry is very much oriented towards how to kind of get people to eat, whether one of anything. So they've got additives in that. 00:14:54:15 - 00:15:03:23 Speaker 1 They're really contribute to that. Let's talk about sugar first, because sugar has no redeeming factors. If it ever had to be FDA approved, it wouldn't because it has nothing in it. That's helpful, except it tastes good. 00:15:04:14 - 00:15:30:15 Speaker 2 Right? I remember when I wrote The Sugar Impact Diet, Marcel, my mom, we were going to Hawaii together and she said, Well, I was getting groceries ordered. And she goes, Well, I'm going to eat like while I'm there, so just get me orange juice, toast, white bread jam, cereal, skim milk. I'm like, Whoa. You know, she read my book, but she told me she's like, What? 00:15:30:17 - 00:16:05:01 Speaker 2 Huh? She said, Yeah, but we need sugar, right? I was like, Holy smokes. Like, this is what the the belief is out there. Wow. I think the reason we're craving is because we're not getting enough protein. Yeah, I think the reason we're craving is because we're eating these. I you know, I think we really need to distinguish I call them dirty processed foods because all food that we're eating, basically, unless you live on a farm, is processed, we want to make sure that we're not eating these foods that have been processed to turn us into craving monsters, which is what these things have. 00:16:05:01 - 00:16:27:03 Speaker 2 And, you know, it doesn't matter if it says Kido on it or whatever. Like we found this little Kido cereal that I literally have to measure out and let myself have because I left my own devices, I would eat the entire thing and it would be ridiculous. Too much healthy foods, unhealthy. These things are all designed to make you want to have more and more and more. 00:16:27:07 - 00:16:56:10 Speaker 2 So. Yeah, right. I mean, they don't and they mess your taste buds up because now something that should be sweet and should taste delicious. A blueberry, a blackberry, you know, an orange all of a sudden tastes bland because you're so used to all this, you know, ultra processed stuff that is built to make you just crave it. And you get duped by looking at these things because, you know, oh, my gosh, they made a candy bar healthy. 00:16:56:10 - 00:17:00:11 Speaker 2 It's like not a candy bar. And this type of. 00:17:00:23 - 00:17:02:04 Speaker 1 33 grams of sugar. 00:17:02:14 - 00:17:04:14 Speaker 2 Yeah, exactly right. It's still again. 00:17:04:15 - 00:17:18:06 Speaker 1 What do you suggest for people that are just craving it? You know, how do you how do you get people to really Because it is something that's a huge issue for women, especially when they have this are having periods that it's premenstrual or they're kind of shifting that dynamic and going to perimenopause. Yeah. 00:17:18:22 - 00:17:35:18 Speaker 2 Oh, my gosh. For those of you who are, you know, having periods, perimenopause, the light is so much better at the end of the tunnel. It's all I have to say. Like, it's so good. I who knew? My gosh, it's the way to go. 00:17:35:18 - 00:17:40:19 Speaker 1 What you see is what you get. You're not going up, down anymore. It's like steady as they go, though. 00:17:40:19 - 00:18:05:01 Speaker 2 Good. So, yeah, I really believe that we it really comes from food, but that we have to because it's it's an addiction. I mean, I love it. Mark Hyman called a sugar is our number one recreational drug of choice. And so in order to break that, you have to really focus on it. Now, I don't believe that you go cold turkey. 00:18:05:01 - 00:18:25:07 Speaker 2 I think that's it's just like, hey, I think I'm going to go keto after eating this high carb diet. No, you don't do that. Your body has to learn how to shift and become a hybrid. So I think the first thing that we do is add before we take away, get in the protein, get in the vegetables, and start to become aware of the different levels of sugar in food, you know, and start to downshift. 00:18:25:07 - 00:18:45:03 Speaker 2 I call my, you know, my red sugar impact foods, things like potato chips, the stuff we know we shouldn't be eating. What could we substitute in for that? Could we take a potato chip and maybe switch it to a C at a chip? Is that something you should be really eating a lot of? No, but it's way better than the potato chip to start. 00:18:45:14 - 00:19:11:19 Speaker 2 So we just start doing some downshifts and we do that for a week or two so that we used to having more protein. We get used to having more non-starchy vegetables who are fibers up, better blood sugar control, and then we downshift all the way into getting all the sugar out. Even I take our fructose out for a couple of weeks because I want people to just lose that ability that we build over time to get really good at transporting fructose the liver and making fat. 00:19:11:19 - 00:19:32:06 Speaker 2 I don't want to be good at making fat. I want to really that's not a skill I want to have, you know? So I want to be good at burning it, right? And so, yes, you can totally accomplish it and give yourself a couple of weeks to do it. It's like you can't go from eating, eating sugar. And I think people don't realize how much sugar sneaking into their diet. 00:19:32:06 - 00:20:06:20 Speaker 2 So it always starts first with that awareness, that monitoring to see which you can do with any of these tracking. You know, tracking apps are so great. I believe we all should take a week and just track just for awareness to know how much protein we're really getting in at meal, how much sugar is really happening just for the awareness, not as a long term thing because like, that's no way to live and you don't need to once you're done, just like I think it's great to wear a CGM, a continuous glucose monitor for a month to really start to go, Oh, shoot, when I eat at 9:00 at night, man, that messes up my 00:20:06:20 - 00:20:26:06 Speaker 2 morning, your blood sugar, you know. Well, yeah, my sleep is trashed, you know, So just so you can really connect the dots between your habits, between what you're eating and how you feel. And you're super empowered. Once you do that, then you're not like, I'm going to have a cheat day because, you know, like what it does. 00:20:26:06 - 00:20:44:24 Speaker 1 You know that for sure. So there's a couple of other things, too, that I noticed. Also, when people don't have enough sweetness emotionally in their lives, they also go for sugar. And when their neurotransmitters are in balance, that's the other time that I see people really craving sugar as well, because it's one of those quick fixes that helps increase serotonin temporarily. 00:20:45:09 - 00:21:01:12 Speaker 1 So I think you're you're right. You know, that combination of, you know, you can't stop cold turkey just doesn't work. But to be aware of how much you're getting in and what you can do about it really makes a big difference. And I think so many people need to learn about themselves and they don't know and sit back and go, Huh. 00:21:02:24 - 00:21:33:02 Speaker 2 I know. Treat yourself, become a scientist and take the shame out. Take the shame, take the desperation, all of the self-loathing. Lose that. Easier said than done. But if you approach this scientifically and go, All right, I'm just going to like now start to really see what works for me, what doesn't. It's a very different, different thing. And as you were talking about the sweetness thing, I was thinking back to a study that where they were giving women it was overweight and obese women. 00:21:33:02 - 00:22:00:01 Speaker 2 They were giving them five HTP to help with their depression, 100 milligrams three times a day, if my memory serves. And they were like, why are they losing weight? And because they were craving sugar anymore. Because all of a sudden their serotonin levels were where they needed to be. So, you know, I always I love what you do because you look at all of the different biological aspects so that stuff can get handled. 00:22:00:12 - 00:22:18:12 Speaker 2 You know, there's so much with your program that immediately gets handled, but someone that doesn't necessarily need to know all the science behind because you've already figured it all out for them. But the results are clear from just what like what you've managed to accomplish with this program. This is like, you know, this you get a Nobel Prize, right? 00:22:19:02 - 00:22:37:17 Speaker 2 In my humble point, but it's because you're addressing those things that that people have so much shame about because they feel like they're a bad person when they're, you know, just being their biology is off like their, you know, their biochemistry is off and it's not their fault, but they need to know it so they can get it fixed. 00:22:38:16 - 00:22:53:18 Speaker 1 I did a quiz with some of the recipients and I said, you know, I just want you over the next week, an hour a day, pay attention to how often you denigrate yourself so you don't want to have that much stress as I was just going on in my life. They said, okay, just for an hour, Write down how many times. 00:22:54:00 - 00:23:14:08 Speaker 1 Most of the women said 60 times. In that one hour they did once a week. So if you kind of multiply, that is how often we're denigrating ourselves or it's this or it's that or really so hard on ourselves that also changes in our neurotransmitters. It also changes our cortisol level. That contributes to all of what you're talking about and that inflammatory cascade as well. 00:23:14:08 - 00:23:20:16 Speaker 1 So we've got that on top of it as well. So we need to eat protein and change your diet. We need to change our thinking. 00:23:20:16 - 00:23:48:12 Speaker 2 To yes, well, clearly we need to change our thinking. And honestly, I look back at like now that I'm almost coming up on two years of meditating with Dr. Jo, like, I'm I'm now, what, 22 months into this whole thing, you really can break the habit of being yourself and you really can change a lot of those things, which is amazing. 00:23:48:12 - 00:24:08:18 Speaker 2 And I think it first starts, I had this great this was really funny. Marcel I had a bariatric doctor who told me and I was his I was his nutritionist. Okay, So I'm the nutritionist for this bariatric doctor helping him because he is obese. You cannot make this up. Okay? So he's obese, but he has a bariatric practice. 00:24:08:18 - 00:24:26:04 Speaker 2 And he tells me he goes, you know, I have a thing that I use and if the patient will do it, it works 100% of the time. And I'm like, well, why would we make this mandatory? And I'm like, Well, what is this thing that you do? And he goes, She he said, I have them take a picture of the body they really would love to have. 00:24:27:13 - 00:24:49:05 Speaker 2 That is their ideal, right? And I think that's an important thing, not society's ideal, like what would be best for them to put their face on it and carry it around because you have to believe it, right? So it's just everything's created twice first in your mind's eye and you start living as if because you're seeing yourself there already, right? 00:24:49:05 - 00:25:05:04 Speaker 2 And seeing is believing. And so the obvious question is all did why aren't you doing that for yourself? But, you know, it's such a thing because we have to be able to really believe that we can be there. And, you know, it's one. 00:25:05:04 - 00:25:23:10 Speaker 1 Of the things I've done JJ for forever is I have oftentimes take a picture, you know, on their phone or whatever what they used to look like. And then I have them take a picture with their own head of that person and put in their journal and look at it every single day, because that is exactly right. You know, as we think so goes our life. 00:25:23:20 - 00:25:34:21 Speaker 2 Yeah. And of course, that picture that they used to look like was the picture that they didn't like either. Right? Right, right. I mean, that's the that's the funny part. Are you kidding? Yeah. 00:25:35:10 - 00:25:44:07 Speaker 1 So it's really looking at it now from the perspective of, Oh, okay. That's what I want to embrace now in myself. And it's so, so we know that science now as well. 00:25:44:17 - 00:26:08:04 Speaker 2 But what, if any, wasted strength? What if we embraced energy? What if we like what if we started focusing on metrics that we can very clearly impact and we know that if we impact those, it will fix the rest. You know, if we fix our blood sugar, if we fix our sleep, if we if we build that muscle mass, so much stuff fixes. 00:26:08:18 - 00:26:32:01 Speaker 1 Oh, absolutely. And, you know, my big thing is always in our heads, you know what we're thinking and our stories, you know, if we don't deal with that story, at some point, our story goes with us. And one of the chapters in my life in my book was our issues are in our tissues. And that's a huge part of what we're talking about today as well, is understanding all those dynamics about where you are and all of those pieces make up you and you're a unique you. 00:26:32:17 - 00:26:52:11 Speaker 1 And then we just have to help people figure out how do we unravel that together with the sugar, with the protein, with the creatine, with all of that stuff, because we can all, as we age, get even healthier. You know, we know we know that more than ever before. And the notion for menopausal women is kind of like, oh my God, you're over, Michelle, good luck. 00:26:52:11 - 00:26:55:14 Speaker 1 It's like, Oh my God, that is so passé. It's just not true anymore. 00:26:55:15 - 00:27:10:10 Speaker 2 Women know. It's like you're in the best phase of your life, You know, Game on is, is my statement on all this stuff. I was like, God, if someone had told me what this would be like, I would have just fast forwarded over to here. You know? 00:27:12:03 - 00:27:24:12 Speaker 1 Okay, that's a great note to live on. So anything else that you want to tell? The only thing they did is, you know, breaking pieces of information, breaking news that you have that you want to let people know about because people are going to get tired of the old. 00:27:25:09 - 00:27:50:17 Speaker 2 Yes. Well, I will tell you, I don't know if you know this, but I am about to turn 60. Yay. I know. And so I've been training for it. And I am happy to say that I am actually healthier, fitter, more energetic, like everything is better here than it was turning 50. Certainly turning 40, certainly turning 30, like all of it. 00:27:51:06 - 00:28:14:08 Speaker 2 So I've just decided that I'm going to be a poster child woman for what is possible because I feel like so much out there portraying women again, you know? Oh, they're there over the hill, not like, oh, they're they're rocking it. And and I'll leave you with this. I went to the Grammys a couple of years ago, and we didn't know where we were going, that it was like the women's year. 00:28:14:08 - 00:28:41:24 Speaker 2 And so it was a bunch of bunch of friends you would know. And we were watching this whole thing with Dolly Parton and J.Lo and Diana Ross, who was doing your 70th birthday party and everyone was singing to her and she was in a ball gown. I mean, it was absolutely fabulous. Dolly Parton was killing it. And we just looked at this and went, we have so much time, right? 00:28:42:00 - 00:28:59:11 Speaker 2 Like, what if those years, 50 plus were really the years that were going to be your best years? You're most productive years, your most fun years, you're most purpose driven years. And I think it's really four up for us just to decide and choose that they are. 00:29:00:22 - 00:29:13:22 Speaker 1 But it's also up to us that are in the field. JJ To be mentors that, you know, one of the big things that I have in my life is I got to walk my talk. If I don't look the part, if I don't behave the inside enough to look at me, I have no business. 00:29:13:22 - 00:29:20:00 Speaker 2 Talking to people. And you've always done that. You always have, right? 00:29:22:01 - 00:29:22:13 Speaker 2 Yeah. 00:29:23:01 - 00:29:32:04 Speaker 1 So, JD, if they want to learn more about you, where do they go and how can they learn more about your program? Listen, I'm amazing things that you do and have done that for years. 00:29:32:13 - 00:29:51:12 Speaker 2 So. JJ Virgin dot com. I created something fun to you because I feel like, you know, you hear all these things, you're like, Oh, so I created a roadmap that's like, start here and it just takes you through the process and that's JJ Virgin icon, forward slash roadmap. So an easy thing if you're looking at like what's step one? 00:29:53:01 - 00:29:56:09 Speaker 1 Okay, awesome. And you have books. What about the books? How many. 00:29:56:18 - 00:30:15:06 Speaker 2 Books? And by the New books coming out next year, just pop it to drop it right now, Virgin Diet, Sugar Impact Diet are the two most important ones. I really feel like, you know, everyone's got to figure out their hidden food intolerances. What's great on your program is that you pull all those things out so we don't have to worry about them, right? 00:30:15:16 - 00:30:34:08 Speaker 2 Because if you are inflamed, it actually interferes with your body's ability to build muscle. It shuts down muscle protein synthesis. So inflammation has so many things that it wreaks havoc on. But that's one of the ways it wreaks havoc on your havoc on your metabolism. And as we know, like the biggest source of inflammation is going to come from. 00:30:34:08 - 00:30:35:10 Speaker 2 What's the end of your fork? 00:30:36:03 - 00:30:47:19 Speaker 1 Yeah. Oh, my God. Absolutely. Awesome. Well, thank you. Thank you, my dearest friend. And we will let you know when we're going to put this up and we'll let the world know, because I think it's important information. 00:30:48:13 - 00:30:53:13 Speaker 2 Thank you. Thank you, honey. When. When were you on my podcast last? We should bring you back on, too. 00:30:53:18 - 00:30:59:14 Speaker 1 I think that I have a time or I think I'm in the couch one. I'm not yet. If I'm not, I'll reach out and we'll do it. 00:30:59:16 - 00:31:01:02 Speaker 2 Yes, please. Pretty please. 00:31:01:11 - 00:31:02:19 Speaker 1 Okay, we'll do it. All right. 00:31:03:02 - 00:31:03:19 Speaker 2 Thank you. 00:31:05:16 - 00:31:15:04 Speaker 1 Hi, everyone. So welcome to everything. Hormones, adrenals, weight loss and trauma. And I am so excited to have JJ, one of my friends that I've known for a long time. 00:31:15:05 - 00:31:18:00 Speaker 2 I was like, long time friend and buddy. 00:31:18:00 - 00:31:28:14 Speaker 1 We started this together back in the day and I want to really get down and dirty cause some of the questions that people have. I mean, so many of my audience is starting to ask, you know what? I know how. 00:31:28:14 - 00:31:28:20 Speaker 2 To. 00:31:29:22 - 00:31:50:00 Speaker 1 Chart everything. I know I need to have more exercise. I know I need to sleep more and things are still not moving and they're sick and tired of hearing the same thing because they know all that some of it isn't working for them. So how do we really help people understand there's other things that we need to do in addition to that to really help move the needle and also get healthier. 00:31:50:00 - 00:31:51:09 Speaker 1 It's not just about weight loss. 00:31:51:23 - 00:32:27:04 Speaker 2 Yeah, so some throw this big concept out there and it kind of comes from this like the current crazy statistics of 6.8% of the population now metabolically healthy. It's like every time you click on the link to go, what is it? It's like, how did it get worse in a month? And then, you know, the obesity statistics now at 43% and and I don't know Marcel I saw that that 60 Minutes after the interview and it made me insane talking that 50 to 85% of obese is genetics when at the turn of the 19th century it was 0.5%. 00:32:27:04 - 00:33:02:01 Speaker 2 I'm like, no, our genes didn't in 120 years have this major shift. So so I'm going to throw out an idea where and I think it's kind of obvious we're clearly doing this all wrong. And what if we are looking in the wrong direction? You know, we keep talking about trying to lose weight. And I would argue that that's actually the wrong thing to try to do what we said is we need to focus totally on having really good quality muscle. 00:33:02:02 - 00:33:32:04 Speaker 2 Here's why. When you focus first on muscle and I'm really talking especially for women here, right, Because starting at 40, we lose 1% of our muscle mass a year by the way, 2 to 4% strength, 6 to 10% power at the age of 60. That starts to double. That's if you're not doing anything. And if you're eating the typical diet where the woman's getting like 40 to 60 grams, pathetic of protein a day or following the RDA, which is really dumb, it really does. 00:33:32:10 - 00:34:01:14 Speaker 2 So if you look at that and you go, All right, our metabolism, what what's going to dictate our metabolism? Well, one of the biggest things we can do to make a dent in our metabolism is how much muscle we have on, you know, also things like non exercise activity, thermogenesis, you know, not having your temperature the same in the house all the time, improving, creating more caloric deficit by doing things like eating more protein. 00:34:01:14 - 00:34:23:10 Speaker 2 Those things all work. But the very first step is stop trying to lose weight, because if you're trying to lose weight, the best way to lose weight is to sit on the couch and barely eat so that you lose as much muscle as possible because it's heavy and then you'll really damage your metabolism. And that's what I think is really gone on is this We haven't focused on the right thing. 00:34:23:10 - 00:34:49:24 Speaker 2 We're getting on a scale we're not looking at what our weights made up of. And if we just change the focus to how do we put on muscle that muscles metabolic Spanx that hold everything and tighter so we look better naked and it supports a better metabolism. Muscle is like a sponge. It's going to take the carbohydrates that you do eat and pull them into your muscles for stored energy for later rather than putting it on your belly and your butt. 00:34:50:12 - 00:35:12:09 Speaker 2 Right. And muscle. Then by doing that really helps us with blood sugar and insulin metabolism. So I come down to why don't we focus first there? Why don't we start to make mandatory that once or twice a year we're getting a DEXA scan so that we can see how much muscle we have where it is? Is it even what's going on with our body fat? 00:35:12:09 - 00:35:40:16 Speaker 2 Do we have visceral adipose tissue? And then when we're at home measuring and weighing, we're really looking at a bile pinch scale so we can see if we're adding muscle, which is a slow go, and if we're losing our waist along with it. And that's that is my whole focus now is what do we need to do if that's our focus, holding on to and putting on muscles we age so that we can play full out to 100, so we can be like you dancing your tushy off right? 00:35:41:09 - 00:35:51:12 Speaker 2 You know, what do we need to do? And once you get to that, it's a very different focus and it feels so much more like something that you can actually control, make a dent in. 00:35:53:03 - 00:36:11:10 Speaker 1 So within that though, what we see, I think, in our female population. JJ As so many people go crazy with that, so then they are working out for 3 hours, 4 hours at a time and then they're not seeing any results and they get all pissed off and well, you know, women are sick and tired of counting points, counting calories. 00:36:11:10 - 00:36:41:05 Speaker 1 And here's the thing I thought so interesting. There was a news article on YouTube on the new diabetic medication, Semaglutide, which is an antagonist 400 million again, reviews for 100 million views. And it's a medication that we use for diabetes. It's not meant it is now being used for weight loss. The problem is that most people that use it gain the weight on the other side because they're eating so little and it also causes havoc with their blood sugars. 00:36:41:05 - 00:36:59:09 Speaker 2 Right. And because it's going to do the very thing that we're talking about, what's it going to do now? You're going to lose muscle again. And so what I would say is when you really look at what it takes to put muscle on, it's not 3 to 4 hours in the gym. It's not. And that's the cool thing. 00:36:59:18 - 00:37:25:16 Speaker 2 It's lifting heavy weights. It's lifting it's doing more than what you're used to because that's what you have to do for your muscle to grow. And it's feeding your muscles well. So focusing protein first, which just in and of itself, if we started to look at your diet and you know what, let's put protein first at the focal point, let's make sure that you get at least 0.8 to 1 gram per pound of your target bodyweight divided between your meals with at least 30 grams at a meal. 00:37:25:22 - 00:37:48:19 Speaker 2 All of a sudden just doing that, you'll be less hungry and it has a bigger thermic effect. You know, you've digestion is one of the key parts of your metabolism, 10 to 15%. But you have to have the amino acid to feed your muscles. In fact, there's research showing that if you didn't even exercise but you bumped up your protein intake, you will improve your muscle mass. 00:37:48:20 - 00:38:10:14 Speaker 2 Now that isn't saying don't work out, but then you have the added effect of lift heavy weights and eat protein. And by the way, I think everyone woman over 5050 plus should be taking creatine. I think it just should absolutely be a must. Like I'm on a mission to get everybody on creatine. And for any woman listening going, I don't want big muscles. 00:38:10:23 - 00:38:30:12 Speaker 2 The cool thing about weight training is if you start to see that you have more muscle than you want, which if you do, I will fall off my chair and be shocked because, you know, we are we're you know, we we just don't have that. We're not hairy men. We don't have the ability to build muscle like men do, and especially when we're 50 plus. 00:38:31:02 - 00:38:45:18 Speaker 2 But you can always back it off anyway. That fabulous magical incident could happen for you. But when you put protein, creatine, and the right type of exercise together, along with great sleep magic. 00:38:46:08 - 00:38:47:19 Speaker 1 Yeah. How much creating. 00:38:48:16 - 00:39:11:00 Speaker 2 So the recommendation is in. It really depends if you're plant based or not. If you're eating along your guidelines, then it's going to be somewhere into 3 to 5 grams. If someone's got it's a plant based diet, it might be five grams plus. But generally for women, 3 to 5 grams. And what you need to do is reach tissue saturation so it will start to work. 00:39:11:00 - 00:39:21:21 Speaker 2 So that could take a month if you were doing that, or you could just do a little loading for a week, five days of five grams, four times a day, and then you'll have your tissue. 00:39:21:21 - 00:39:23:14 Speaker 1 Four times a day. Wow. Okay. 00:39:23:24 - 00:39:53:20 Speaker 2 Yeah, that's just a tissue saturation five day plan. Once you've done that, it's 3 to 5 grams once a day. It's very simple. So like that to me is such an obvious. They're using it for sarcopenia as people age so that it's so it just makes a ton of sense to do that. So that is that now that plus collagen are two of the ones and I'm like everybody, everybody should be on these things. 00:39:54:21 - 00:40:17:05 Speaker 2 But you know what you measure and monitor, you can improve. And what I like about all this the most is and I'll give you a little personal story. As I started to do this, I really was pushing, like I said, really in test be the guinea pig. And my weight went up and I had to do this whole mental game and I went and got a DEXA and my body fat is extremely low. 00:40:17:05 - 00:40:42:06 Speaker 2 I've always had low body fat, but it was even, you know, it was actually the same body fat I had tested when I was 39, which is 14%, which for a woman's ridiculous. But I've always I mean naturally very that that is more my type like for a woman if you were 22% would be that's fantastic but it gives you you've got to realize as you're putting muscle on your weight may go up a little bit. 00:40:43:04 - 00:40:52:07 Speaker 2 And if your weight goes up because you put on muscle, that's fantastic because you'll actually work smaller sizes and you'll have a better metabolism. You'll burn more calories. 00:40:54:17 - 00:41:11:07 Speaker 1 And what about protein? JJ One of the things that I've seen in my practice clinically over the years is I had the hardest time getting vegetarians to be stabilized because their carbohydrate intake was so high and the amount of protein, they just I couldn't get them to, you know, I know, stabilize their health. 00:41:11:22 - 00:41:33:14 Speaker 2 There's no way for a vegan or vegetarian. I know this is not popular, but you know what? Having the misinformation is killing us. If we you know, if we are 6.8% of the population are now metabolically healthy. If we've got 70% plus of the population overweight or obese, we have to we have to tell this is science is not a religion. 00:41:33:20 - 00:41:57:13 Speaker 2 And the deal is if you want to get 2.8 grams per pound of target body weight into your body and the same amount of chicken like, let's say you eat six ounces of chicken, you would have to eat four cups of quinoa to get that protein. There is no way as a vegan or vegetarian in to get optimal protein without overloading your fat and carbs. 00:41:57:24 - 00:42:14:13 Speaker 2 And if I can think of the worst combination to put together, it's fat. The fat carb combination. That's the perfect combination of raise your blood sugar, raise your insulin, store that fat easily in your body, like who wants to do that? So the only way to work with someone and that's why I look at it with vegans and vegetarians. 00:42:14:13 - 00:42:35:19 Speaker 2 We're not saying don't eat plants. I think clean animal protein plus plants is the perfect combination because you've got right the proteins for for building blocks for your body and the plants for building blocks for your microbiome. So it's like the perfect combo. But for someone who's who's a vegan or vegetarian, I always dig into, why are we doing this? 00:42:35:19 - 00:42:59:07 Speaker 2 Is it a health reason or is it something that is a religious thing? If it's religious, hey, then we need to work on what we need to do here. But if it's you've been told somewhere along the line that this is the healthier thing, show me the research that that grass fed red meat steak is hurting you because the research I'm seeing actually is helping you minimize depression, have better mental health outcomes. 00:42:59:07 - 00:43:08:02 Speaker 2 Like, you know, show me that research because it is a bunch of chatter out there. That's not true. That's damaging everybody's metabolisms. 00:43:08:03 - 00:43:21:04 Speaker 1 Oh, my God. And more than that, I mean, if we look at some of the inflammatory cascades that go on with that amount of carbs that they have in their diet, and they're trying desperately to do that, and then they're hungry all the time or they're eating right, It just doesn't work. 00:43:21:04 - 00:43:37:08 Speaker 2 I know when I was in B, as I you know, how long we've been doing this, like I've been doing this for 40 plus years, so I've been my own guinea pig and I was a vegan. I was a vegetarian. I, I was going to be hospitalized when I was a vegan. They're like, we're either hospitalized new or go get a chicken. 00:43:37:08 - 00:43:40:05 Speaker 2 I'm like, I'll get the chicken. I'll do that. Oh, no. 00:43:40:16 - 00:43:50:15 Speaker 1 I mean, I was macrobiotic sick early in my my life. And I was I remember one time I was at the counter and somebody had a state and I just I couldn't stand it. So I went back and got an organic steak. It was like that was it for me. 00:43:50:15 - 00:44:13:08 Speaker 2 It was like, good. Ooh, I know, you know, But just think of even the fatty acid imbalances you're going to get when you're trying to get your omega threes from plants, but you're not going to get the EPA you need because you can't, you know, break it down to that and you're getting a lot of omega sixes. So you will be inflammatory. 00:44:13:08 - 00:44:34:19 Speaker 2 You'll have like too many carbs. There's just it's impossible to do unless you use protein powders. And then even with the protein powders, I don't know how you're getting things like carnitine. I don't know how you're getting the DHEA in EPA. What are you going to do now? Find algae, find protein powder spike spiked with carnitine at some point. 00:44:34:19 - 00:44:47:11 Speaker 2 Aren't you scratching your head going, Why do I have to use all of these other things? You know, if I built a diet that if I have to supplement in order to get to the baseline nutritional needs I have, there's problem. 00:44:48:03 - 00:45:02:24 Speaker 1 Oh, hands down. And you see it clinically in terms of things like cholesterol and blood sugars and things like that. You know, on the weight loss plan that I have, you know, about my patients, their hemoglobin in one onesies come down two point sometimes in 12 weeks. If their guy got it. 00:45:03:00 - 00:45:04:08 Speaker 2 That's the way you run. 00:45:04:09 - 00:45:11:14 Speaker 1 Screaming down And the pressure I mean but but it's what we're talking about. It's protein and vegetables. So it really works well. Well, in that regard. 00:45:12:00 - 00:45:29:08 Speaker 2 Yeah. It's I mean, research is clear, too. Like if you start with protein and vegetables, like eat the first, you'll get some healthy fats from the clean protein. You'll probably use them on the vegetables. And then at that point, you'll see if you need what what else you might need. But for most people that's like just start there. 00:45:29:08 - 00:45:30:09 Speaker 2 You'll actually get full. 00:45:32:01 - 00:45:51:09 Speaker 1 Let's talk about something else. JJ And that is that, you know, a lot of women have unbelievable sugar cravings and also unbelievable cravings for carbohydrates. So let's kind of look at that and unwrap that because as you know, the food industry is very much oriented towards how to kind of get people to eat, whether one of anything. So they've got additives in it that really contribute to that. 00:45:51:11 - 00:45:59:15 Speaker 1 Let's talk about sugar first, because sugar has no redeeming factors. If it ever had to be FDA approved, it wouldn't because it has nothing in it. That's helpful, except it tastes good. 00:46:00:06 - 00:46:26:06 Speaker 2 Right? I remember when I wrote The Sugar Impact Diet, Marcel, my mom, we were going to Hawaii together and she said, Well, I was getting groceries ordered. And she goes, Well, I'm going to eat like while I'm there, so just get me orange juice, toast, white bread, jam, cereal, skim milk. I'm like, Whoa. You know, she read my book, but she told me she's like, What? 00:46:26:08 - 00:47:00:18 Speaker 2 Huh? She said, Yeah, but we need sugar, right? I was like, Holy smokes. Like, this is what the the belief is out there. Wow. I think the reason we're craving is because we're not getting enough protein. Yeah, I think the reason we're craving is because we're eating these. I you know, I think we really need to distinguish I call them dirty processed foods because all food that we're eating, basically, unless you live on a farm, is processed, we want to make sure that we're not eating these foods that have been processed to turn us into craving monsters, which is what these things have. 00:47:00:18 - 00:47:23:08 Speaker 2 And, you know, it doesn't matter if it says kiddo wanted or whatever, like we found this little Kido cereal that I literally have to measure out, let myself have because I left my own devices, I would eat the entire thing and it would be ridiculous. Too much healthy foods, unhealthy. These things are all designed to make you want to have more and more and more so. 00:47:23:22 - 00:47:52:02 Speaker 2 Yeah, right. I mean, they don't and they mess your taste buds up because now something that should be sweet and should taste delicious, a blueberry, a blackberry, you know, an orange all of a sudden taste bland because you're so used to all this, you know, ultra processed stuff that is built to make you just crave it and you get duped by looking at these things because, you know, oh, my gosh, they made a candy bar healthy. 00:47:52:02 - 00:47:56:01 Speaker 2 It's like not the candy bar. The right. And there's 25 grams. 00:47:56:15 - 00:47:57:21 Speaker 1 33 grams of sugar. 00:47:58:06 - 00:48:00:07 Speaker 2 Yeah, exactly right. It's still again. 00:48:00:07 - 00:48:13:23 Speaker 1 What do you suggest for people that are just craving it? You know, how do you how do you get people to really? Because it is something that's a huge issue for women, especially when they have this are having periods that is premenstrual or they're kind of shifting that dynamic and going to perimenopause. Yeah. 00:48:14:14 - 00:48:31:10 Speaker 2 Oh, my gosh. For those of you who are, you know, having periods, perimenopause, the light is so much better at the end of the tunnel. It's all I have to say. Like, it's so good. I know. Who knew? My gosh, it's the way to go. 00:48:31:10 - 00:48:36:11 Speaker 1 What you see is what you get. You're not going up and down anymore. It's like steady as they go, though. 00:48:36:11 - 00:49:00:18 Speaker 2 Good. So, yeah, I really believe that we it really comes from food, but that we have to because it's it's an addiction. I mean, I love it. Mark Hyman called a sugar is our number one recreational drug of choice. And so in order to break that, you have to really focus on it. Now, I don't believe that you go cold turkey. 00:49:00:18 - 00:49:21:00 Speaker 2 I think that's it's just like, hey, I think I'm going to go keto after eating this high carb diet. No, you don't do that. Your body has to learn how to shift and become a hybrid. So I think the first thing that we do is add before we take away, get in the protein, get in the vegetables, and start to become aware of the different levels of sugar in food, you know, and start to downshift. 00:49:21:00 - 00:49:40:20 Speaker 2 I call my, you know, my red sugar impact foods, things like potato chips, the stuff we know we shouldn't be eating. What could we substitute in for that? Could we take a potato chip and maybe switch it to a C at a chip? Is that something you should be really eating a lot of? No, but it's way better than the potato chip to start. 00:49:41:06 - 00:50:07:11 Speaker 2 So we just start doing some downshifts and we do that for a week or two so that we get used having more protein, we get used to having more non-starchy vegetables who are fibers up, better blood sugar control. And then we downshift all the way into getting all the sugar out. Even I take our fructose out for a couple of weeks because I want people to just lose that ability that we build over time to get really good at transporting fructose the liver and making fat. 00:50:07:11 - 00:50:27:23 Speaker 2 I don't want to be good at making fat. I want to really that's not a skill I want to have, you know? So I want to be good at burning it, right? And so, yes, you can totally accomplish it and give yourself a couple of weeks to do it. It's like you can't go from eating, eating sugar. And I think people don't realize how much sugar sneaking into their diet. 00:50:27:23 - 00:51:02:12 Speaker 2 So it always starts first with that awareness, that monitoring to see which you can do with any of these tracking. You know, tracking apps are so great. I believe we all should take a week and just track just for awareness to know how much protein we're really getting in at meal, how much sugar is really happening just for the awareness, not as a long term thing because like, that's no way to live and you don't need to once you're done, just like I think it's great to wear a CGM, a continuous glucose monitor for a month to really start to go, Oh, shoot, when I eat at 9:00 at night, man, that messes up my 00:51:02:12 - 00:51:03:13 Speaker 2 morning blood sugar. 00:51:03:22 - 00:51:04:19 Speaker 1 And I grew. 00:51:04:20 - 00:51:22:11 Speaker 2 Up, Yeah, my sleep is trashed, you know, So just so you can really connect the dots between your habits, between what you're eating and, how you feel, and you're super empowered. Once you do that, then you're not like, I'm going to have a cheat day because, you know, like what it does, you know. 00:51:22:22 - 00:51:40:16 Speaker 1 That for sure. So there's a couple of other things, too, that I noticed. Also, when people don't have enough sweetness emotionally in their lives, they also go for sugar. And when their neurotransmitters are imbalanced, that's the other time that I see people really craving sugar as well, because it's one of those quick fixes that helps increase serotonin temporarily. 00:51:41:01 - 00:51:57:04 Speaker 1 So I think you're you're right. You know, that combination of know you can't stop cold turkey just doesn't work. But to be aware of how much you're getting in and what you can do about it really makes a big difference. And I think so many people need to learn about themselves and they don't know and sit back and go, Huh. 00:51:58:16 - 00:52:28:19 Speaker 2 I know. Treat yourself, become a scientist and take the shame out. Take the shame, take the desperation, all of the self-loathing. Lose that. Easier said than done. But if you approach this scientifically and go, All right, I'm just going to like now start to really see what works for me, what doesn't. It's a very different, different thing. And as you were talking about the sweetness thing, I was thinking back to a study that where they were giving women it was overweight and obese women. 00:52:28:19 - 00:52:55:18 Speaker 2 They were giving them five HTP to help with their depression, 100 milligrams three times a day, if my memory serves. And they were like, why are they losing weight? And because they were craving sugar anymore. Because all of a sudden their serotonin levels were where they needed to be. So, you know, I always I love what you do because you look at all of the different biological aspects so that stuff can get handled. 00:52:56:04 - 00:53:14:04 Speaker 2 You know, there's so much with your program that immediately gets handled, but someone that doesn't necessarily need to know all the science behind because you've already figured it all out for them. But the results are clear from just what like what you've managed to accomplish with this program. This is like, you know, this you get a Nobel Prize, right? 00:53:14:19 - 00:53:33:09 Speaker 2 In my humble point, but it's because you're addressing those things that that people have so much shame about because they feel like they're a bad person when they're, you know, just being their biology is off like their, you know, their biochemistry is off and it's not their fault, but they need to know it so they can get it fixed. 00:53:34:08 - 00:53:49:10 Speaker 1 I did a quiz with some of the recipients and I said, you know, I just want you over the next week, an hour a day, pay attention to how often you denigrate yourself so you don't want to have that much stress as I was just going on in my life. They said, okay, just for an hour, Write down how many times. 00:53:49:17 - 00:54:10:00 Speaker 1 Most of the women said 60 times. In that one hour they did once a week. So if you kind of multiply, that is how often we're denigrating ourselves or it's this or it's that or really so hard on ourselves that also changes in our transformative, that also changes our cortisol level, that contributes to on what you're talking about and that inflammatory cascade as well. 00:54:10:00 - 00:54:16:08 Speaker 1 So we've got that on top of it as well. So we need to eat protein and change your diet. We need to change our thinking. 00:54:16:08 - 00:54:44:04 Speaker 2 To yes well, clearly we need to change our thinking. And honestly, I look back at like now that I'm almost coming up on two years of meditating with Dr. Jo, like I'm I'm now, what, 22 months into this whole thing, you really can break the habit of being yourself and you really can change a lot of those things, which is amazing. 00:54:44:04 - 00:55:10:02 Speaker 2 And I think it first starts, I had this great this really funny. Marcel I had a bariatric doctor who told me and I was his I was his nutritionist. Okay, So I'm the nutritionist for this bariatric doctor helping him because he is obese. You cannot make this up. Okay. So he's obese, but he has a bariatric practice. And he tells me he goes, you know, I have a thing that I use and if the patient will do it, it works 100% of the time. 00:55:10:02 - 00:55:37:20 Speaker 2 And I'm like, well, why would we make this mandatory? And I'm like, Well, what is this thing that you do? And he goes, She he said, I have them take a picture of the body they really would love to have. That is their ideal, right? And I think that's an important thing, not society's ideal, like what would be best for them to put their face on it and carry it around because you have to believe it, right? 00:55:37:22 - 00:55:58:11 Speaker 2 So it's just everything's created twice first in your mind's eye and you start living as if because you're seeing yourself there already. Right. And seeing is believing. And so the obvious question is all did why aren't you doing that for yourself? But, you know, it's such a thing because we have to able to really believe that we can be there. 00:55:59:13 - 00:56:00:17 Speaker 2 And you know, it's. 00:56:00:17 - 00:56:17:06 Speaker 1 One of the things I've done JJ for forever is I have oftentimes take a picture, you know, on their phone or whatever what they used to look like. And then I have them take a picture with their own head of that person and put in their journal and look at it every single day, because that is exactly right. 00:56:17:06 - 00:56:19:02 Speaker 1 You know, as we think so goes our life. 00:56:19:12 - 00:56:29:14 Speaker 2 Yeah. And of course, that picture that they used to look like was the picture that they didn't like either. Right? Right, right. I mean, that's the that's the funny part. Are you kidding? 00:56:30:05 - 00:56:39:24 Speaker 1 Yeah. So it's really looking at it now from the perspective of, Oh, okay. That's what I want to embrace now in myself. And it's so, so we know that we're science now as well. 00:56:40:09 - 00:57:03:21 Speaker 2 But what, if any, grace, strength? What if we embraced energy? What if we like? What if we started focusing on metrics that we can very clearly impact and we know that if we impact those, it fix the rest. You know, if we fix our blood sugar, if we fix our sleep, if we if we build that muscle mass, so much stuff fixes. 00:57:04:10 - 00:57:27:18 Speaker 1 Oh, absolutely. And, you know, my big thing is always in our heads, you know what we're thinking and our stories, you know, if we don't deal with that story, at some point, our story goes with us. And one of the chapters of my life in my book was our issues are in our tissues. And that's a huge part of what we're talking about today as well, is understanding all those dynamics about where you are and all of those pieces make up you and you're a unique you. 00:57:28:09 - 00:57:48:03 Speaker 1 And then we just have to help people figure out how do we unravel that together with the sugar, with the protein, with the creatine, with all of that stuff, because we can all, as we age, get even healthier. You know, we know we know that more than ever before. And the notion for menopausal women is kind of like, oh my God, you're over, Michelle, good luck. 00:57:48:03 - 00:57:51:06 Speaker 1 It's like, Oh my God, that is so passé. It's just not true anymore. 00:57:51:07 - 00:58:06:02 Speaker 2 Women know it's like you're in the best phase of your life, You know, Game on is, is my statement on all this stuff. I was like, God, if someone had told me what this would be like, I would have just fast forwarded over to here, you know? 00:58:07:18 - 00:58:20:04 Speaker 1 Okay, that's a great note to live on. So anything else that you want to tell? The only thing they did is, you know, breaking pieces of information, breaking news that you have that you want to let people know about because people are going to get tired of the old. 00:58:21:01 - 00:58:46:09 Speaker 2 Yes. Well, I will tell you, I don't know if you know this, but I am about to turn 60. Yes. Yeah, I know. And so I've been training for it and I am happy to say that I am actually healthier, fitter, more energetic, like everything is better here than it was turning 50. Certainly turning 40, certainly turning 30, like all of it. 00:58:46:23 - 00:59:10:00 Speaker 2 So I've just decided that I'm going to be a poster child, woman for what is possible because I feel like so much out there portraying women again, you know? Oh, they're there over the hill, not like, oh, they're they're rocking it. And and I'll leave you with this. I went to the Grammys a couple of years ago, and we didn't know where we were going, that it was like the women's year. 00:59:10:00 - 00:59:37:16 Speaker 2 And so it was a bunch of bunch of friends you would know. And we were watching this whole thing with Dolly Parton and J.Lo and Diana Ross, who was doing your 70th birthday party and everyone was singing to her and she was in a ball gown. I mean, it was absolutely fabulous. Dolly Parton was killing it. And we just looked at this and went, We have so much time, right? 00:59:37:17 - 00:59:55:03 Speaker 2 Like, what if those years 50 plus were really the years that were going to be your best years, your most productive years, your most fun years, You're most purpose driven years. And I think it's really four up for us just to decide and choose that they are. 00:59:56:14 - 01:00:10:23 Speaker 1 But it's also up to us that are in the field. JJ To be, you know, one of the big things that I have in my life is I got to walk my talk. If I don't look the part, if I don't behave the part inside enough to look at me, I have no business talking to people. 01:00:11:04 - 01:00:18:05 Speaker 2 And you've always done that. You always have. Yeah. 01:00:18:18 - 01:00:27:21 Speaker 1 So, JD, if they want to learn more about you, where do they go and how can they learn more about your program is an amazing things that you do and have done that for years. 01:00:28:05 - 01:00:47:04 Speaker 2 So. JJ Virgin dot com. I created something fun to you because I feel like, you know, you hear all these things, you're like, Oh, so I created a roadmap that's like, start here and it just takes you through the process and that's JJ Virgin icon, forward slash roadmap. So an easy thing if you're looking at like what one. 01:00:48:18 - 01:00:52:01 Speaker 1 Okay, awesome. And you have books. What about the books? How many. 01:00:52:10 - 01:00:55:14 Speaker 2 Books? And by the new books coming out next year. 01:00:56:16 - 01:00:56:24 Speaker 1 Just. 01:00:57:00 - 01:01:17:05 Speaker 2 Pop it to drop it right now. Virgin Diet, Sugar Impact Diet are the two most important ones. I really feel like, you know, everyone's got to figure out their hidden food intolerances. What's great on your program is that you pull all those things out so we don't have to worry about them, right? Because if you are inflamed, it actually interferes with your body's ability to build muscle. 01:01:17:05 - 01:01:31:02 Speaker 2 It shuts down muscle protein synthesis. So inflammation has so many things that it wreaks havoc on, but that's one of the ways it wreaks havoc on your havoc on your metabolism. And as we know, like the biggest source of inflammation is going to come from. What's the end of your fork? 01:01:31:18 - 01:01:43:11 Speaker 1 Yeah. Oh, my God. Absolutely. Awesome. Well, thank you. Thank you, my dearest friend. And we will let you know when we're going to put this up and we'll let the world know, because I think it's important information. 01:01:44:05 - 01:01:45:04 Speaker 2 Thank you. Thank you, honey.