Ep. 1048 | How to Live a Meaningful Life with Stanford Life Design Lab’s Dave Evans

and Dr. Sarah Hill explore the intricate science of women's menstrual cycles, hormonal changes, and how lifestyle choices impact fertility and well-being. Sarah Hill shares insights from her book 'The Period Brain' to empower women with knowledge about their bodies. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to The Period Brain 03:02 Understanding the Menstrual Cycle 06:00 The Role of Hormones in Attraction and Reproduction 09:11 Infertility and Sperm Quality 11:59 Ovulation and Its Indicators 15:11 Emotional Changes and PMS 17:48 Managing Hormonal Sensitivity 21:21 Understanding Women's Health Through Hormonal Phases 24:14 Listening to Your Body: The Key to Wellness 26:21 The Impact of Research on Women's Health 28:40 Tracking Hormones: Tools and Techniques 32:09 The Journey to Understanding Women's Bodies 37:40 Promoting Awareness and Support for Women's Health Sponsors:  LMNT OFFER: Right now, for my listeners LMNT is offering a free sample pack with any LMNT drink mix purchase at DrinkLMNT.com/FEELGOOD. That’s 8 single serving packets FREE with any LMNT any LMNT drink mix purchase. This deal is only available through my link so. Also try the new LMNT Sparkling — a bold, 16-ounce can of sparkling electrolyte water. FATTY15  OFFER:  Fatty15 is on a mission to replenish your C15 levels and restore your long-term health. You can get an additional 15% off their 90-day subscription Starter Kit by going to fatty15.com/KIMBERLY and using code KIMBERLY at checkout. Dr. Sarah Hill Resources:  Book:  THE PERIOD BRAIN: The New Science of Why We PMS and How to Fix It: A Manifesto for Women   Website: www.sarahehill.com Instagram: @sarahehillphd  Bio: Sarah E. Hill, Ph.D., is the author of This is Your Brain on Birth Control and an award-winning researcher who has spent most of her 20+ year career studying women, relationships, and health. In addition to having established an award-winning health and relationships lab at TCU, she has published nearly 100 academic research articles, is a sought-after public speaker, and sits on the scientific advisory boards for women's health companies such as Flo and 28 Wellness. Her research is regularly covered by national media, such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, and many others, and is regularly published in highly prestigious journals, including Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Psychoneuroendocrinology, Psychological Science, and Health Psychology.

This Episode Kimberly speaks with Self-Realization Fellowship’s (SRF) Sister Draupadi as they explore spiritual wisdom, the nature of fear, love, and friendship, and practical ways to live a fearless, loving, and spiritually connected life inspired by Paramahansa Yogananda's teachings. Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Connection 02:01 Spirituality vs. Religion 05:00 Understanding Fear and Its Impact 09:45 Overcoming Fear and Embracing Peace 14:39 The Nature of Attachment and Love 19:47 Navigating Relationships and Dependency 24:37 The Role of Compassion and Understanding 29:35 Cultivating Positive Qualities in Ourselves 38:05 The Golden Rule and Its Importance 38:35 Harnessing Willpower with Wisdom 40:01 Training the Mind and Cultivating Willpower 42:10 Listening to Inner Wisdom and Intuition 45:07 Meditation as a Tool for Clarity 51:57 Reconnecting with the Higher Self 54:51 The Pursuit of Lasting Happiness 01:00:32 The Role of Faith in Overcoming Challenges 01:09:28 Navigating Friendships and Setting Boundaries Sponsors FATTY15  OFFER:  Fatty15 is on a mission to replenish your C15 levels and restore your long-term health. You can get an additional 15% off their 90-day subscription Starter Kit by going to fatty15.com/KIMBERLY and using code KIMBERLY at checkout.   LMNT OFFER: Right now, for my listeners LMNT is offering a free sample pack with any LMNT drink mix purchase at DrinkLMNT.com/FEELGOOD. That’s 8 single serving packets FREE with any LMNT any LMNT drink mix purchase. This deal is only available through my link so. Also try the new LMNT Sparkling — a bold, 16-ounce can of sparkling electrolyte water.   Sister Draupardi Resources Books: The Spiritual Expression of Friendship by Paramahansa Yogananda & Solving the Mystery of Life by Paramahansa Yogananda.  Website: yogananda.org Bio: Sister Draupadi, whose name means spiritual ardor, has been a member of the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) monastic community, established by Paramahansa Yogananda, for more than 40 years. Currently she serves in a variety of capacities at the society’s international headquarters atop Mt. Washington in Los Angeles. In addition to her position as a secretary to SRF’s president, Sri Mrinalini Mata, she handles various responsibilities for the society’s sister organization in India, Yogoda Satsanga Society, and is involved in the training of nuns to lead spiritual retreats. Sister Draupadi has conducted inspirational services and led retreats at SRF meditation centers in the United States, as well as in Italy, Germany, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. She was born and raised in Fullerton, California, and studied at California State University before entering the Self-Realization Fellowship ashram in 1973.

This Episode In this engaging episode, Kimberly Snyder welcomes back Dan Buettner, the renowned author and researcher known for his work on Blue Zones—regions where people live significantly longer, healthier lives. The conversation begins with a nostalgic reflection on their past interactions, leading into a discussion about the natural lifestyle that characterizes Blue Zones. Dan emphasizes the importance of gentle, low-intensity physical activity, such as gardening and cooking, as opposed to the conventional gym workouts many associate with health. He shares insights from his latest research, highlighting that longevity is not about expensive supplements but rather about simple, whole food diets rich in beans, grains, and local fruits. Dan addresses common misconceptions about protein intake, particularly for plant-based diets, reassuring listeners that a well-rounded plant-based diet can provide all necessary nutrients. He also shares practical tips for incorporating Blue Zone principles into daily life, such as cooking at home to control ingredients and costs. The episode wraps up with a focus on finding purpose and community connection, which are vital components of longevity, encouraging listeners to engage in volunteer work or community activities to enhance their sense of purpose and well-being. Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Personal Reflections 03:07 The Blue Zones Lifestyle and Longevity 06:02 Plant-Based Diets and Nutritional Myths 08:58 Deliciousness and Cooking Techniques 12:07 Accessibility and Cost of Healthy Eating 15:06 Family and Community in Healthy Living 17:59 Culinary Traditions and Recipe Testing 21:04 Overcoming Cooking Barriers 22:27 Finding Purpose in Modern Society 27:06 Community Connections and Sharing 30:11 Eating Patterns and Intermittent Fasting 35:02 Protein Needs and Plant-Based Diets EPISODE SPONSORS: FATTY15 OFFER: Fatty15 is on a mission to replenish your C15 levels and restore your long-term health. You can get an additional 15% off their 90-day subscription Starter Kit by going to fatty15.com/KIMBERLY and using code KIMBERLY at checkout.   Solluna Feel Good Digestive Enzymes OFFER: Go to mysolluna.com and use the CODE: PODFAM15 for 15% off your entire order.   Dan Buettner Resources: Website: danbuettner.com Book: Blue Zones Kitchen: One Pot Meals: 100 Recipes to Live to 100 Social: IG: @danbuettner Podcast: The Dan Buettner Podcast Bio: Dan Buettner is an explorer, National Geographic Fellow, award-winning journalist, Netflix Host & Co-producer of the 3x Emmy Award winning: Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones, 5 x New York Times bestselling author, and 3 X Guinness World Record holder for distance cycling. Dan discovered the five places in the world—dubbed blue zones—where people lived the longest, healthiest lives and shared this information with the world. His books, The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest, Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way, The Blue Zones Solution: Eating and Living Like the World’s Healthiest People, and The Blue Zones of Happiness were all national bestsellers. SOLLUNA PRODUCT LINKS Glowing Greens Powder™ Feel Good SBO Probiotics Feel Good Detoxy Feel Good Digestive Enzymes Feel Good Starter Kit Feel Good Skincare KIMBERLY'S BOOKS Chilla Gorilla & Lanky Lemur Journey to the Heart The Beauty Detox Solution Beauty Detox Foods Beauty Detox Power Radical Beauty Recipes For Your Perfectly Imperfect Life You Are More Than You Think You Are OTHER PODCASTS YOU MAY ENJOY! How the Power Foods Diet helps with Weight Loss with Dr. Neal Barnard How Not to Age with New York Times best-selling author Dr. Michael Greger Simple Ways to Use the Power of Herbalism in Your Daily Life with Rachelle Robinette The Importance of Nitric Oxide and How to Optimize our Body’s Production of it with Dr. Nathan S. Bryan Heart Healthy, Plant-Based Eating with Dr. Jenneffer Pulapaka The Science of Longevity: Plaque Heart Scans, Cancer Screening, Glutathione & More with Dr. Julianna Lindsey   Transcript: Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (00:00.92) Dan, it's so great to have you back. Thank you so much for coming. I think this is the fourth time you've been on the show. Dan Buettner (00:08.527) I never feel like we've said enough and it's always such a great conversation. So glad to be back. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (00:16.814) Well, it's funny because it's early December as we record this. And a couple of days ago, Dan, I had a memory picture come up. You know how your phone feeds you these random pictures? It was from December 5th, 2019. And it was from your book launch party at Crossroads. And I was pregnant and I hadn't told anyone I was pregnant. But I remember when you signed my book, I told you. Dan Buettner (00:26.946) Yeah. Dan Buettner (00:35.475) my God, I remember that. Dan Buettner (00:45.222) I feel honored. And then I just kept it between me and my 800,000 Instagram followers. So we kept it really tight. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (00:55.21) Yeah, well, it's so I know you're in Miami and we were just chatting before the show about how since then, Dan, we've gotten this little piece of land and we grow cacao now on our farm. And how many times Dan we say as a family, I feel like I'm really living the Blue Zones lifestyle. the physical labor of working on the land. Here, you know, I try to go on walks every day to break up my work day before my kids come home from school. But just like I've seen in your Netflix series and in your books, I have a hand sawed down, I'm cutting scrub trees, I'm the trees to get the cacao pods. And there's something so Dan Buettner (01:28.715) I love it. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (01:33.802) natural and it feels like whole being health to be in the land and be in nature. And I know you've seen that in a lot of these incredible Blue Zones communities. Dan Buettner (01:44.719) Not only seeing it, the evidence backs it up. I mean, we tend to think the road to longevity is pumping iron going into the gym. But in these blue zones where people manifestly live about 10 years longer, they're doing exactly what you do. They're moving naturally all day long. It's gentle, low intensity physical activity. And it's the type of movement our ancestors have done for tens of thousands of years. It's a... It's cutting things, it's cooking things, it's making things with our hands, it's walking, it's gardening. These are the activities that have optimized the human condition, physically speaking, for millennia. they're the things science will tell you will do the best job of getting you to a healthy age 90 or maybe even 100. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (02:38.444) Yeah. Well, going back to how it's been a few books since I, you know, since that memory picture came up and are you finding Dan, as you continue to study the blue zones, even more is being uncovered? I mean, these incredible communities weren't trying, like you said, to create all this longevity. was really part of their natural way of living. Or are you going deeper into these tried and true principles such as in your New book which focuses on one-pot meals. Dan Buettner (03:13.271) I've spent most of the last. 20 years working with cities, we get paid by insurance companies to try to incorporate community-wide nudges and defaults that help people mindlessly do the things that we know ladder up to more good years of life. meanwhile, an 84 billion dollar annual anti-aging industry has popped up and that industry has failed to produce even one pill, supplement, peptide, Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (03:18.103) Yeah. Dan Buettner (03:45.703) stem cell, rapamycin metformin, none of them have been shown to stop reverse or even slow aging. So we're spending a lot of money experimenting on ourselves. Meanwhile, we know that eating a whole food, ideally plant-based diet is worth somewhere between 10 to 12 extra years of life expectancy. That's a meta-analysis that fouled over 10 million human beings for 30 years. So it's very hard to dispute them. By the way, that's peasant food. That's not super foods you see on the internet or, you know, some, some, Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (04:21.644) Yeah. Dan Buettner (04:26.389) expensive supplement regimen. It's eating things like beans and grains and fruit, by the way, wild fruits that grow near you. The native Hawaiian diet, which was largely tubers and root vegetables and some fish, but a lot of fruit, but poi and taro, these are the things that fueled the Hawaiian Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (04:52.865) Yes. Dan Buettner (04:54.265) people for so many years. when Captain Cook arrived in Hawaii three centuries ago, he described them as fit, with beautiful teeth and great health and vitality. And they were largely disease free until our great gift of infectious disease. Most of those diseases originated in animals and then left to humans. And then we brought them to Hawaiians. I try to look for the diets that we know have helped humans thrive for for millennia. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (05:32.95) I feel like I get some particular, I would say scrutiny, Dan, because I'm plant-based mom, and my kids have been plant-based since conception. And I'll say my older son, who's nine now, is actually the tallest child in his class. Both my kids are exceptionally healthy. We never really have to go to the doctor except for those obligatory yearly or bi-yearly, at this point, appointments. And yet so many... moms in passing will say, well, aren't you worried about your kids getting calcium or protein? And I say, you know, they're really thriving. And, you know, some of the recipes that I love in here echo how we eat lots of bean and veggie soup, lots of black bean burgers, mean, foods that are really simple, but I've, my personal experience is my kids are exceptionally healthy being plant-based. I don't know that's something that people have asked you about as well. Dan Buettner (06:32.205) all the time and they're under the mistaken idea. Well, we've been marketed the idea that to be healthy, our kids need more protein and that is code for animal protein. But as you point out, plant-based protein is much healthier for us. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (06:40.344) Bye. Dan Buettner (06:53.087) And as long as you're getting your protein or amino acids from a number of sources, beans and grains and other vegetables, you're getting a whole protein. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (07:02.615) Yes. Dan Buettner (07:04.783) So that's number one, but number two, we're under this mistaken impression that we need more protein. And the average American, if you look at the CDC website, the average American gets about twice as much protein as they need. yeah. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (07:22.27) No, it's crazy. Well, it's not just kids, Dan, as you know, it's being marketed as anti aging to have more protein. I mean, I have some of these longevity expert conversations and people are recommending a gram per body per pound of body weight like crazy numbers. And the only way people could achieve those is if they're focusing on protein bars and protein shakes, and now they're not having fiber. Now they're really not having whole foods. And it feels like, I don't know about you, but my first book was over 11 years ago now. And first there was this big discussion about protein, and then it felt like it died down, and now it feels huge again. It's like another big fad. Dan Buettner (08:07.0) Yeah. Well, we've seen it before. saw it with the Atkins diet and we saw it with the keto diet. You know, these diets get popular if they give permission for people to eat the crappy food they like to eat, which is bacon and sausage and hot dogs and hamburgers and, I can eat these and they're good for me. Well, people, people love to get permission to do naughty things. You know, what I've tried to do in the Blue Zone kitchen, Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (08:20.63) Right. Dan Buettner (08:37.809) cookbooks. We were maniacally focused on deliciousness and I find that if you can if you can lead with deliciousness. Some people care about the environment and the fact that eating animal-based products is somewhere between 20 to 30 percent of our carbon footprint. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (08:42.838) Yes. Dan Buettner (08:58.293) Some people care about animals, but it's single digit percentages. I know you have a real soft spot for the pain and suffering of other sentient creatures. Some people kind of care about their health, but they don't care about it that much when they're hungry at lunchtime. What people really care about is deliciousness, which is why in this one pot, Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (09:15.721) Right. Dan Buettner (09:20.591) cookbook that you have there, we reverse engineer deliciousness by working with Stanford to examine 650 recipes and find the patterns. What are the flavor combinations that make Americans go berserk and love? And it turns out it doesn't necessarily have to start with a piece of dead animal. It can just as easily start with a warm savory bowl of soup or a stew. what I learned, I'd say the biggest longevity secret I learned 20 years and studying people in the blue zones is how to make beans taste delicious. We're horrible at it in America. know, the Boston baked beans or refried beans are gross. But let me cook you a minestrone soup with cannellini beans and Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (09:51.18) Yeah. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (10:07.138) Wait. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (10:16.355) Mmm. Dan Buettner (10:17.391) lentils and garbanzo and slow cook them with herbs and spices and the right combination of other vegetables and finish it with a beautiful extra virgin olive oil and top it with some nice fatty avocado. You'll be loving me up all day long. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (10:36.254) You know, I found that really interesting, Dan, you talk about these spiky flavor combinations. Can you explain a little bit what you mean by that? Dan Buettner (10:43.543) Yes, yes. This dates back to an experiment done with Oreos. And it turns out that our developer for Blue Zone's Kitchen, you know, we have a line of frozen food called Blue Zone Kitchen. And so she was in charge of whatever multinational does Oreo cookies and they tried to market Oreo cookies in Asia and Asians didn't like them. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (11:13.452) Mmm. Dan Buettner (11:13.805) because Asians tend to like really soft. But in America, this combination of a slightly bitter, crunchy outside and this soft, gooey, comforting inside, it creates this tension or this spikiness which Americans like. So that's why in some of these stews we'll put a... crunchy topping on something that's warm and savory on the inside. Americans tend to like this, these extreme of mouthfeels, not necessarily flavors, but mouthfeels. so we try to incorporate, not all of our recipes have that, but I gave seven different flavor profiles, and then we went out into the world and found the most maniacally delicious recipes. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (11:42.966) Yes. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (12:07.746) They are delicious. I have to say, Dan, one of my favorite is the easy peasy falafel. My kids love falafel, but it's really hard to find baked. It's usually deep fried in crappy seed oil and making it is really easy. And it has that dichotomy, like you said, and it's also sort of mentioned that it's so much cheaper to eat at home and get much quality ingredients. We all know that food costs have gone up so much for all of us. And so what I love about this is it solves that solution of, like you said, tasty, but it's also a lot more inexpensive. You can get bean in bulk, you can get chickpeas in bulk, and then you're making your dollar really stretch. Dan Buettner (12:51.903) If every time you go out to eat in America, you consume about 300 more calories than you would if you ate at home, and those calories tend to be laden with ultra processed foods and more sodium and sugar. When you cook at home, you get to control the ingredients. And it's not only important to you, but it's important to your family who are just following what you provide. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (13:01.23) Mm. Dan Buettner (13:19.343) Most of the ingredients in the Blue Zone Kitchen cookbooks, or most of the recipes rather, cost under $3 a serving. And people think I don't have time. Well, we've overcome that time argument two ways. The first way, the easy way is everything can be cooked in one pot or one pan or one cookie sheet, or I love the Instapot. But the other thing is, so at Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (13:41.207) Yes. Dan Buettner (13:47.983) Even at my age, if I optimize my diet away from a standard American diet towards a Blue Zone type diet or the diet you eat, It's worth about six extra years of life expectancy. If I average that those six years back through the rest of my life, that's three extra hours a day that I can do whatever I want on average. Or I gain an extra three hours a day. And to take 20 minutes of those three hours and assemble in one of these Blue Zone Kitchen one-pot meals, push the button. in the morning and come back and have this savory, delicious, healthy, and cruelty free low carbon footprint, maniacally delicious meal. I'll take that deal all day long. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (14:36.472) Well, it's also simple and not counting all these numbers all the time. And it's, amazing, Dan, how complicated people try to make lifestyle and all these tests and things you're supposed to follow. I love it so much. The Blue Zones is, it just, there's this experiential joy, I would say. I'm in the kitchen making things and I don't have to count how many carbs. There's all this fiber. My kids are healthy, we're healthy, we have a lot of energy. And there's other parts of the lifestyle, like you said, having purpose and living in close connection with nature and gardening. And it just feels uncomplex and more joy comes through. It's hard to put into words. Dan Buettner (15:27.307) If you eat a whole food plant-based diet, you don't have to think. the piece, you know, if you're overweight and unhealthy in America, which is about 80 % of Americans, I don't blame them. Why? Because we are constantly pummeled with marketing messages telling us, first of all, selling us these processed foods. And then when we get sick, selling us these diets and these programs that you have to make it sound proprietary and difficult in order to sell it. It's very hard to sell somebody on the idea that beans and rice. There's a big study that was done in 1950 that prisoners in Puerto Rico were fed beans and rice for three years. They didn't lose any muscle mass. They didn't develop any cardiovascular risk. All these things that these protein enthusiasts will tell you never happened. All they ate was beans and rice, and there was a little oil put in there. And very rarely they had some other plants. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (16:06.99) You Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (16:17.582) Mmm. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (16:28.801) No. Dan Buettner (16:35.087) But they're cheap. You can get a pound of beans for a buck or $2 and a pound of rice for two bucks. you can make, add some spices to that. It's about 50 cents a meal. Nobody makes money off of that except your family saves. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (16:48.206) Mmm. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (16:52.398) I think it was your last book too, Dan, or maybe two books ago where your dad tested all the recipes. And I saw some parts of your interview recently with your parents, which is so beautiful. Thank you for sharing that with us. And it seems like they're such loving, centered people. Can you, and now they're, I think your dad's, they're both in their eighties. when you travel around the world to get the very best recipes as I've done, you can get kind of romance by these really exotic flavors, especially in Southeast Asia. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (17:59.542) yeah. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (18:03.512) Wow. Dan Buettner (18:24.802) these umami's and these miso and fermented tofu and that sort of thing. For me, seaweed tastes delicious. The reason I brought Roger Butener, who grew up on a farm in Minnesota, if he... Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (18:39.33) What kind of farm? Dan Buettner (18:41.185) Well, it was, was, they, no, they grew, there was almost a subsistence farm. They had a cow and a pig and some chickens and then the 10 acres of vegetables. But they, they mostly ate vegetables because meat that, you know, they needed the, the, the, the, the animal, for, for income. But, you know, they were so, they're very poor. My dad for Christmas got an orange, for example, he worked all Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (18:46.38) Okay. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (18:53.264) okay. Dan Buettner (19:11.149) summer and got a box of cracker jacks so that kind of gives you the idea but he was you grew up middle America I had him taste every recipe and if he gave it the thumbs down I could be pretty sure that most of America Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (19:21.015) Yeah. Dan Buettner (19:25.143) would say, this is too fancy for me. So I want these recipes to be right down the strike zone for Americans that, you know, if you live, that they'll be delicious for anybody and not too overpower. There's a few more kind of ambitious recipes in the book, but a lot of them are just, you know, Roger Buten approved. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (19:49.208) Well, you mentioned taste and we mentioned cost. And the other thing I want to mention, is when my kids love the Blue Zones burgers, is that they're also really, most of them are really easy to make and they don't take a lot of time because we all live such full lives. And I know for me as a working mom, I don't want to end my work day, pick my kids up, take them to chess class and swimming and then spend three hours in the kitchen. So I appreciate that you also made them accessible in terms of time. What you hear all the time is I don't have time. I can't afford to eat healthy. I can't afford to go to Whole Foods. You don't have to go to Whole Foods to eat healthy. I wouldn't mind if you do. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (21:04.098) Central. Yeah. Dan Buettner (21:29.101) I don't have the equipment, I don't have the know-how, and what I make isn't gonna taste delicious. So this book, the whole book is designed to overcome all five of those objections and make it easy, cheap, fast, and maniacally delicious. And it was an instant New York Times bestseller, I'm proud to say. And I appreciate you talking to me about it. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (21:34.669) Right. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (21:51.03) I saw. Congratulations. Dan Buettner (21:58.575) Because I know people listen to you are enlightened. People listen to Kimberly Schneider. They're soulful. They are way above average intelligence. They care about the planet. They care about other creatures. They care about their families. And they want to live with vitality and purpose. so I really appreciate having a chance to talk to all you listeners out there. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (22:27.884) Yes. Well, know, Dan, your philosophy of losing... Well... Dan Buettner (22:33.743) That was my mom calling me. Dali, she's 87. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (22:36.574) my gosh. the whole thing. my gosh. Well, I loved seeing, again, the clips. I loved seeing her face. And I think the reason people were so interested, and I was interested, Dan, is because you live with such purpose. And it's an unwavering focus on helping others and sharing this. And there's a curiosity, you know, where did this start? What was your family like? And even on page one in the intro, you talk about a cultural sense of purpose. And that's another aspect of the Blue Zones where elders feel loved and they feel included. So what do you think we can do as a modern society besides eating and sharing food to feel a little bit more of that purpose, Dan? Because obviously a lot of people are lonely. People are on social media, but not interacting as much with other humans. What are some things that you've seen? in your research that could be applied in simple ways in today's life. Dan Buettner (23:39.395) These are counterintuitive and they take some effort, but they make a difference. And I would start a simple self-exercise either with a piece of paper and a pen or a blank screen, four columns, first column, and you just very short phrases what your values are. I'm a feminist, I'm a liberal. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (24:02.318) Mmm. Dan Buettner (24:06.671) a conservative, I'm a Christian, whatever it is. I love animals, but what your values are. Second column, what I love to do, my passions. I love to be active. I love to travel. love to be with a certain type of person. Third column, what you're good at. I'm good at fixing things. I'm a good caretaker. I'm a good with the first idea. I'm good at dispute resolution. I care. I'm a good listener, whatever they are. So once you write those three columns, then you look, okay, how can I put this to work in my life? How can I put this into action? Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (24:50.275) Mmm. Dan Buettner (24:53.675) And for most Americans, it's not their job. Only about 30 % of Americans find purpose at work. So then you ask yourself, well, where can I put this to work? And one of the most counterintuitively powerful ways to do that is once you know your values, your strengths, your passions, volunteer. And for you or me, it might be the Humane Society walking dogs. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (25:13.613) Mmm. Dan Buettner (25:21.293) Because purpose that's not put to work is almost meaningless. know, in Kauai you have that kuleana. And the reason I love that word, it's the hybrid of both purpose and altruism. It's what's my responsibility. And it's almost always to the community. And people put their kuleana to work. They take care of the land. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (25:26.082) Mmm. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (25:39.246) Mmm. Dan Buettner (25:52.449) a child who needs to be looked after. so it says, well, I'm sorry, volunteering is just not for me. Another easy way to find purpose. Over 95 % of Americans were born into a religion, a faith-based community. You may have drifted away from it right now. And I don't care if it's Jewish or Muslim or Christian or Buddhist, but... Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (26:09.687) I know. Dan Buettner (26:21.561) force yourself to show up a month of Sundays and show up to a faith that might resonate with you. And that's a very easy way to find purpose. But the data is crystal clear that people who feel and can articulate their sense of purpose live about eight years longer. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (26:29.998) Mmm. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (26:41.9) Yeah. Dan Buettner (26:42.177) And once again, I can't make any money off of you by telling you that. And a marketer can't make any money off of you, but that's why you haven't heard of it. But if you look at at the, at the literature, the, the, the, the evidence for purpose is rock solid and pervasive. And, it also makes life richer. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (27:02.83) Yeah. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (27:06.626) It really does. And then you're even more motivated to eat well, I think, and live this life because you feel important just for being you, right? You're not just going to sit on the couch, I think, eat junk food when you don't care or when you're just trying to get through. You know what's cool, Dan, in Hawaii, something we do with our neighbors is we do trades. just organically. So we have over a million bees. So we give honey to our neighbors. One of our neighbors grows a lot of papayas. So he's like, here's papaya's back. And then we give honey to another neighbor who grows eggplants and sweet potatoes. And so there's this really beautiful connection that I think is also, I don't know, call it purpose or just connection with the community around when you can share. you know, it's not barter. We're just giving it out freely. But Dan Buettner (27:37.849) I love Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (27:57.11) Since we started doing that, feel even more fulfilled being on the land. Dan Buettner (28:03.979) I was there recently and somebody told me if you're not eating fruit in Hawaii, it's not because you don't have money, it's because you don't have friends. Because apparently everybody's got a fruit tree and they can't keep up with the mangoes and the papayas and the guavas and yeah. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (28:17.361) yeah. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (28:22.926) with guavas. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (31:06.03) Keeping with some of the research around intermittent fasting and also what we've been doing in our saloon community with just having a glowing green smoothie or waiting instead of having a lot of fat and protein. It's very different than eating breakfast like a king, which some people have said in the past. Can you talk a little bit about what you found in the Blue Zones about this? Dan Buettner (31:27.363) Well, I still think you should eat breakfast like a king just later in the day. The thing to remember in Blue Zones, for the most part, they're done eating by four or five. Yeah, or they don't even have dinner in some cases. But the Adventist template is a giant breakfast at 10 and a smaller but still substantive meal at four, kind of a liner. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (31:30.338) Mmm. Mmm. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (31:38.818) That was me. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (31:55.296) Yeah, that's Hawaii. Dan Buettner (31:55.983) But the point is... Yeah, that's pretty so that so the point is you have about 14 hours Where you have a de facto fast? So the problem with you know me living in Miami everybody goes to dinner at seven or eight o'clock So you're not done until eight or nine So in order to get that that time for your digestive system to rest. I'm not eating breakfast until 11 o'clock or something like that's usually a sardinian minestrone for me, but you know if you can manage Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (32:11.787) Yeah. Dan Buettner (32:27.697) to eat. I think the ideal for most of us is 12 to 14 hours and that follows a Blue Zone pattern and you know can shift it back or up depending on you know how you live because we want to make it easy for you otherwise you won't do it. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (32:46.998) Yeah. So it's interesting you talk about the minestrone soup for breakfast. I know a lot of the Blue Zones do eat savory foods in the morning. How do you eat, Dan? Do you rotate a couple of recipes that are your favorites and change up the veggies and the beans? Or are you someone that loves to keep trying new recipes at home? because I can be Dan Buettner (33:11.499) I'm kind of a one-pot guy, which is why. So, you know, there's a recipe in there. I think it's called Dan's Mastroni or Melisse Mastroni, but I make that, but. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (33:14.614) Yah. Dan Buettner (33:25.195) whatever vegetable has been sitting in my refrigerator and is starting to get to the sort of end of its life, I put that in there. And so the core ingredients are the same, but I start with them, start eating minestrone almost every single day. And it's a huge bowl. It doesn't have many calories, but it has about half the fiber I need for the day. And then mid afternoon, if I can avoid it, I won't eat anything. But often I'll eat a snack. And snack is I take, I'm a believer that some fermented food is good. So I have this coconut yogurt, and I put a bunch of berries in there and some omega-3 ground up chia seeds. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (34:19.692) Yeah. Dan Buettner (34:20.015) And then, live in Miami. I'm very social. I go out to dinner every night. I go out to dinner six nights a week. And it's always that tonight I'm going out, dinner reservation's at eight, 730. So it's just, at a certain point you gotta enjoy life too. And where I live in Miami, you're not gonna sit home and watch TV. It's too much fun. I go to the faena. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (34:31.064) Really? Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (34:35.918) wow. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (34:44.707) Wait. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (34:48.398) Yeah. that's so, it's fun. And you also get some, so much light and sunlight and you're outside and living the life. I can see the beautiful weather behind you. Dan Buettner (34:59.746) Yeah. It's gorgeous day today, actually. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (35:05.953) Well, guess, you again, just wrapping this up, because we get so many questions about the protein, Dan, is if people were to measure, people always say to me, well, you know, am I getting enough protein when I'm eating this way? And, you know, so many times I say, well, you don't have to hyper fixate on the numbers. But naturally, when you're eating beans, and you're eating whole grains, and you're eating fruit, and you're eating amino acid rich vegetables like kale, you're getting enough. protein, can assure people who are. Dan Buettner (35:36.175) if you're eating a bean and a grain, so a bean and a corn tortilla or a bean and rice or tofu is everything, you're getting enough. Now, the only caveat is when you get 65, 70, when you get older, your ability to absorb it diminishes some in that I would, I would. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (35:45.09) Yes. Dan Buettner (36:02.351) talk to my doctor about what the right amount of protein is for you. It's a little harder when you get older, but if you're under 70 and you're talking, listen to me right now, 100 % whole food plant-based diet, forget about it, you're getting enough protein. Whole food plant-based diet with beans and grains, you're good. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (36:17.569) Yes. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (36:21.612) Yes, and also you need more protein when you're pregnant, but that's also with certain recipes. Dan Buettner (36:26.541) Yes, and I'm past the age I can get pregnant. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (36:32.748) Well, Dan, thank you so much for chatting with us. Dan Buettner (36:34.895) I love you. You're so wonderful. Thank you very much. If people, I always really love to thank people for taking the time because there's lots of competition for people's time. And if they sat around and listened to us for... for 50 minutes, that's a gift. So thank you. If anybody has questions for me, I'm at Dan Butener on Instagram and I answer all my direct messages. And you do me a huge favor if you listen to the Dan Butener podcast or give one of our frozen Blue Zone kitchen meals a try, which are in just about every grocery store chain, know, major grocery store chain in the frozen food section. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (36:50.263) Yeah. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (37:06.626) enough. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (37:13.632) yeah. It's congratulations on that. I love the line. I've seen it everywhere. It sprouts at Whole Foods and also obviously makes it accessible for people. We're also going to link in the show notes, everyone, mysalooner.com to One Pot Meals, the Blue Zones kitchen book, which is out just a few months of all your recipe books, Dan, because I love One Pot Meals so much. think this is the one that I love the most. Dan Buettner (37:22.841) Target. Dan Buettner (37:40.751) you're such a sweetheart. Thank you. Thank you, Cameron. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (37:44.3) Well, thank you everyone so much. Yeah, thank you for coming. I mean, I could just ask, talk to you endlessly. I always learn more about the Blue Zones and I read all your books. So it's really amazing how it just keeps going deeper and deeper. Dan Buettner (38:00.163) Well, it's endlessly fascinating. Sometimes you go out in the world to discover, but sometimes you go in and the discovery is even richer. So that's what I'm doing now. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (38:07.914) Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you everyone for tuning in. again, the show notes, mysalooner.com will link to Dan's work, his Instagram, his new book, and I will put information about his Blue Zone's frozen meals otherwise and share this episode, please, with anyone that you think would benefit, which is my opinion, pretty much everyone. all trying to live healthier, longer, happier lives. We'll be back here in just a few days. Till then, take great care and sending you all so much love. Dan Buettner (38:43.789) Aloha. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (38:44.936) Ha!

Week’s Episode Special Guest: Rachel Swanson Episode Summary In this episode, Kimberly interviews Rachel Swanson and they discuss the holistic approach to fertility and health, emphasizing the importance of understanding the body's natural intelligence. They explore the impact of technology and medical guidance on fertility, the empowerment of women in their reproductive journeys, and the significance of microbiomes in overall health. The discussion also covers metabolic health, methylation, environmental factors, and the importance of heart coherence in managing stress and enhancing fertility outcomes. Sponsors: EPISODE SPONSORS: FATTY15 OFFER: Fatty15 is on a mission to replenish your C15 levels and restore your long-term health. You can get an additional 15% off their 90-day subscription Starter Kit by going to fatty15.com/KIMBERLY and using code KIMBERLY at checkout.   DETOXY OFFER: Go to mysolluna.com and use the CODE: PODFAM15 for 15% off your entire order.   Rachel Swanson Resources: Book: Trying! A Science-Backed Plan to Optimize Your Fertility Website: https://www.rachelswanson.com/ Chapters 00:00 Holistic Approach to Fertility and Health 02:49 The Role of Technology and Medical Guidance in Fertility 06:05 Empowerment and Support for Women 08:57 Microbiomes: Oral and Vaginal Health 12:06 Metabolic Health and Its Impact on Fertility 14:51 Methylation and Gene Expression 17:55 Environmental Factors and Consumer Choices 20:43 The Importance of Heart Coherence and Stress Management 23:55 Conclusion and Call to Action SOLLUNA PRODUCT LINKS Glowing Greens Powder™ Feel Good SBO Probiotics Feel Good Detoxy Feel Good Digestive Enzymes Feel Good Starter Kit Feel Good Skincare KIMBERLY'S BOOKS Chilla Gorilla & Lanky Lemur Journey to the Heart The Beauty Detox Solution Beauty Detox Foods Beauty Detox Power Radical Beauty Recipes For Your Perfectly Imperfect Life You Are More Than You Think You Are OTHER PODCASTS YOU MAY ENJOY! Wellness Insights: How to Listen to Your Body for Nutritional Guidance How the Power Foods Diet helps with Weight Loss with Dr. Neal Barnard EP. 877 How Not to Age with New York Times best-selling author Dr. Michael Greger How to eat to reduce anxiety with Harvard nutritional psychiatrist Dr. Uma Naidoo Powered and Distributed by: PodcastOne Transcript:  Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (00:01.063)Rachel, thank you so much for coming on today. Rachel (00:04.948)It is such an honor to be here with you. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (00:08.457)Well, I’m really excited to talk about your book, which is about fertility on the cover, but I really feel like it’s this larger plan for health and vitality. And I really appreciate you talking about that because I think it’s easy to, in all ways, our society always likes to take a fragmented approach. Let me just deal with this back pain or just sleep or just exercise versus you know, what we’re so about in our community, which is the holistic lifestyle. So what’s gonna help your, you know, overall lifestyle is going to support your fertility. And even if you’re not specifically ready to have a baby yet, just learning about some of these modalities can be helpful for other things and for later. Rachel (00:57.876)Exactly right. mean, I couldn’t have said it myself. And I guess just to, you know, to open the conversation, I mean, this could go so many different directions with what you’ve just said. But I guess, you know, from just what I’m experiencing, too, I mean, everything that you said, right, it sounds very intuitive in that sense, and it will definitely be intuitive to your community. But kind of what I’m seeing as the lay of the land and in clinic, especially, it’s like when it comes to fertility, we’re witnessing this. extraordinary tech advancement. have the AI accelerating discovery. We have multi-millions being injected into making procedures better. But Kimberly, what I find, at the same time, the guidance that we’re giving women about optimizing their own biology feels like prehistoric. I mean, it’s just there’s nothing proactive about it. There’s nothing personalized about it. so I just think that the reality is it’s become this, this topic has become this over medicalized conversation. And it’s like women are feeling behind, we’re always racing against the clock, right? I know probably someone listening to this right now will probably know that exact feeling. so it’s just, the decisions that are being made are like to start a family and to come into one’s full self. It’s like this. frantic energy when it should be coming from a state of like this abundant energy, right? This is one of the most powerful transitions a woman has and she’s like being stripped of the empowerment. So that’s ultimately why I wrote the book and why I gave it that framework that you just so eloquently spoke about because look, women deserve to understand how to leverage their body’s natural intelligence to optimize reproductive outcomes. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (02:49.041)Yes. Well, I can say for myself that years before I even thought about having kids, I was starting to work on healing my gut health and find holistic tools for anxiety and meditation. And it wasn’t with the specific idea that it would help me get pregnant later. It was really this holistic approach, but you know, I’m really grateful and thankfully for me when I did go to have kids, it happened, you know, nearly on the, pretty much on the first try. And so what I see today is so many people unable to sleep, which is a natural function. So many people unable to poop, which is a natural function. And now we’re seeing, I mean, I read some of these numbers about, you know, IVF in your twenties. And there’s a lot of these influencers documenting their journey. They try a little bit and then it doesn’t work. And I wonder how much people are looking more deeply at some of the things we’ll talk about today, oral microbiome, vaginal microbiome, just so many factors that could help. Rachel (04:04.462)Totally, you know, and I think there’s so many biological hurdles that we’re kind of imposing on ourselves through our diet and lifestyle choices. And, you know, that’s making it harder to conceive. But if we take a step back, you know, that’s also setting us up for a more complicated pregnancy and having a lesser quality health span and a shorter lifespan. And so it kind of gets back to this point of what you do now. It’s, yes, you may not even think about, it’s setting you up for fertility or setting you up for success, but that’s exactly what it’s doing. And so, yes, to your point, if we don’t look at this deeper picture, how do we have the opportunity to kind of intervene and change the entire trajectory with what occurs afterwards? Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (04:51.31)Rachel, are you a mom? Rachel (04:53.486)I’m not a mom. Right now I’m a mom to two amazing cats and hundreds of clients, it seems like. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (05:01.065)It’s really interesting. Can you tell us a little bit about being drawn to this journey? Because I’ve met some Ayurvedic doulas, several that aren’t moms as well, and their whole focus is taking care of these newborn infants and cooking for moms. And some of them have said, I feel like this is my calling. I mean, it’s really interesting. You write with such passion and you obviously… really heartfelt and wanting to support. you want it? mean, if I could ask these personal questions because I’ve always been in being a mom one day or do you feel like your service is to help women in this way? Rachel (05:32.534)Of course you can, I have an open book. Rachel (05:42.99)I absolutely will have a family one day. ideally, it will be with my child. But I see family in sort of a very different sense. I see it as people that we want to spend our entire lives with and figure out together our purpose and passion while we’re on this planet. And for a lot of people, that can look different than just having one’s own biological kids. But look, of course, I Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (05:52.434)Yeah. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (06:07.325)Yes. Rachel (06:10.848)totally anticipate that being my path that I’ll go down, right, to have my own biological children. It hasn’t happened yet, but I can’t wait for it to happen. until then, I just think I do not need to be a mom in order to support other moms and support them getting pregnant. And I just felt in practice what I was seeing is women coming in and it’s like. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (06:29.616)Yes. Rachel (06:37.358)They were given fragmented advice. They were given such symptom-focused reactive advice from their doctors. And again, it’s like, see this as going into motherhood. I want women to sort of be the full embodiment of themselves, not in this constricted, restricted sense where they’re making all these changes from a place of fear. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (06:59.785)Right. Rachel (06:59.918)Right? So again, so that’s actually where the really the passion comes from. And also because like I get fired up knowing that what our conventional sort of, you know, medical system sets them up with, which is from a diet and lifestyle standpoint, nothing. It’s kind of like do whatever you you want, right? Especially if you’re going to be going under, you know, IVF or doing similar procedures of that matter. It’s like we’re we’re taught that, you know, nothing. nothing really matters. What we do sort of outside the clinic when it’s the exact opposite. I have over 400 studies proving that in the book. That’s why I was so passionate about it. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (07:35.262)Yeah. Well, I think it’s nice to have the research to back up what we intuitively know when you go deep, deep, which is, most of all, life is a miracle. The fact that our bodies work and do all these things, we’re blinking our eyes, our hair’s growing, our liver is detoxing, our skin’s regenerating, babies are being created, it’s all a miracle. And there’s this beautiful reverence that we can have for it. And to your point, I think the lifestyle helps. to make it just more easeful for us to get out of the way, for the miracles to happen. We’re not doing it. We don’t have to make it happen. Sometimes it just feels like everything feels so forced and masculine and hardened and linear. And even if we’re, whatever pathway we’re going down, I think it’s really important to, you know, remember the miracle that this all is and soften into that. Rachel (08:35.148)You know, it’s, I love everything that you just said, and it really kind of speaks volumes. And I think it actually even speaks to the work that you do and that you help women and couples with, especially with your new book too. think that’s why this kind of blends, this conversation too, I so appreciate it because it blends so synergistically together, right? Because we’re saying the same things. We’re just kind of giving different. tools and frameworks for how to approach it and they all blend together. think it’s fantastic and that’s actually why I was looking forward to having this conversation because of that. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (09:13.885)Beautiful. So let’s get into some specifics, Rachel. And I love all the different topics you talk about in your book. So for example, in our community, we talk a lot about gut microbiome. So we know we have amazing SBO probiotics that are clinically researched. We are large, or not everyone. I am plant-based. My kids are. A lot of our community eats largely plant-based. My husband is an omnivore. But I’m really interested how you talk about the microbiome throughout, specifically the oral, if we could start there, and then the vaginal microbiome. So a couple of weeks ago, I had an interesting podcast with Dr. Nathan Bryan. I don’t know you’re familiar with him. He’s an expert. So I’m reading the section here and I said, hey, this is the second time I’m reading this in a few weeks, talking about the correlation between mouthwash and blood pressure. Rachel (09:50.764)Yeah. Rachel (09:57.942)Yes I am. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (10:11.719)And I was reading this in the kitchen and our beloved housekeeper, Ms. Elena, who’s from Guatemala. said, Ms. Elena, have you gotten off the mouthwash yet? She’s like, the scope? And I’m like, yes, you have to stop. And she has blood pressure issues. And she’s like, you know, when I was growing up in Guatemala, we didn’t have all these products and all this stuff, right? It’s just, we’ve gotten so away from nature. We feel we have to sanitize everything. And as you and Dr. Brian talk about, it has huge implications for our oral microbiome. Just mouthwash, fluoride toothpaste. Rachel (10:46.12)So true. I’m so glad you kind of you segue this into the conversation because yes, I mean, just just that one study alone about the mouthwash and how, yes, it’s like we’re going to this over sanitization of all of these ecosystems that are actually there, you know, supporting us. But we’re like trying to wipe it all out, which is which is crazy. Right. So but yes, to your point that that one particular study, I mean, think about it. You’re literally stripping away. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (10:55.208)Yeah. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (11:07.709)What? Rachel (11:15.618)the bacteria that’s going to help convert the nitrates and food into nitric oxide for your body. And we’re just wiping it out with all of our products, including our mouthwash. That’s why in a week, if someone uses mouthwash twice per day, it significantly increases their blood pressure. It’s just wild. Thank you for passing the message to your housekeeper and to everyone you know. It’s amazing what these little microbes can do. And so I, in the book, how it’s related to fertility is that I just see this, think of it as a Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (11:21.416)Yes. Rachel (11:45.25)you know, a reproductive relevant ecosystem, if you will. So if there’s dysbiosis in the mouth, just think of that as having, you’re having like a, it’s like a power imbalance among the microbes living there. If that’s coupled with inflammation that really sets the stage for what is periodontal disease, that’s actually what can spell trouble for the rest of the body and in other places besides the mouth. And so. I talk about it in the context of fertility, but you’ll also hear about it in the context of other diseases. It’s also associated with cancer. It’s associated with neurodegenerative disease. It’s associated with heart disease. So again, it’s like, yes, I’m zooming in and putting all the research behind how it relates to fertility and how it relates to optimizing reproductive function. But I just want everyone to know that everything that you and I are going to talk about today and everything that’s in the book. It has so much relevance outside of fertility, doesn’t it? Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (12:42.121)I’m laughing Rachel because it is so hard to get my sons to brush their teeth. And I had the Pokemon toothbrush that they love. We are a fluoride free family. I love that bokeh, alpha hydroxy appetite. have kids flavors. So I make their toothpaste taste as good as possible. I don’t know what it is. Rachel (12:57.376)You had everything. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (13:11.005)what kids don’t like to brush their teeth. Rachel (13:14.508)Nope, not at all. almost have to, you know, it has to be sort of a state where like they are so happy, but also like willing to stand still or sit still for two seconds, right? But it’s like, you could only do the best you can as mom, which is getting all of these amazing, you know, toothbrushes and basically everything you can, but in the most natural way, just to, you know, get a little swipe here and there, right? Get like one tooth floss, but yeah, I get it. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (13:24.852)my god. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (13:41.661)Well, on the other hand, I’m happy to say my kids drink the Glowing Green Smoothie. I took a picture yesterday of my younger son eating his large strands. We cut it in certain way of his kale salad. So it’s really great to start your kids young, I think, not to get off track here as much as possible with these simple plant-based foods. And even if I have a lot of moms writing in that their kids are struggling, We also have a lot of family-friendly recipes, Rachel, because my older one starts to get into foods that taste good, other sorts of treats, but there really is such amazing creative ways to bring it back. So back to your point, this is a whole lifestyle. It’s for fertility, it’s for families, it’s for just us being healthy in general, all these factors, oral microbiome, not to get off track, and also… vaginal microbiome, which I love that you talk about this. I love that you talk about products, the types of things that we’re using with our periods. I just did a full reset, Rachel, only organic underwear, because you start reading about the pesticides and cotton, right? Like the off gassing. So tell us a little bit about, you know, how these products and chemicals and Rachel (14:56.22)amazing. Well done. Yeah. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (15:09.659)other ways in which we affect our vaginal microbiome and how we can support it. Rachel (15:14.256)I can’t wait. But I guess to seal up the little present of the oral microbiome, you know, I just have to I have to say, look at also all the other things that you’re doing, you know, with your children and the diet that they have. Remember, diet is the lever, like the biggest leverage point for for a healthy oral microbiome. You know, when I did my clinical rotations for my license, it was so cool. One of the rotations that we did was at. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (15:30.322)Yes. Rachel (15:40.532)NYU School of Pediatric Dentistry, which was like wild that we were even able to have that rotation. And so basically what I was seeing every single day are like, my God, these poor like little kids coming in mouthfuls of cavities. you know, it’s because, you know, their parents were giving them soda all day long, or they were falling asleep with like a little juice bottle that was like rotting out their teeth and having so much candy. So I just think like, I know sometimes the biggest struggle will feel like brushing someone’s teeth, but look at how much you’re doing. And that’s really kind of controlling the oral environment. It really kind of comes down to diet. So, okay, next to the next present, this reproductive relevant ecosystem. Yeah, yeah, definitely. So, it’s the vaginal microbiome. there is newer research on this sort of, again, Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (16:21.457)Yeah. Thank you for. Rachel (16:36.148)ecosystem that no one’s really talking about, but it has major implications for fertility outcomes. this is where for us women, signs and symptoms are our opportunity to kind of listen to what the body is telling us, right? We just have to be receptive to that communication. So a lot of women, luckily, they know if they’re experiencing something that’s abnormal, right? Or they’re having reoccurring symptoms. This is our way, this is our body telling us, like, it could use a little assistance, right? There could. Yes, yeast infections, bacterial vaginosis, these type of infections. And all I could say like, look, there might be like a little, you know, hostile takeover situation happening among these microbes. And lucky for us, we can measure that now at home with like a DIY swab kit. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (17:08.617)When you say symptoms, do you mean yeast infections specifically? Rachel (17:31.886)right, that we can send back to the lab. It’s amazing. And I guess to just kind of bring this back to a bigger picture, you know, if I were giving getting IVF, but I was having, you reoccurring symptoms for years where I was kind of in and out of the OB-GYN, having to take my antibiotics, this and that, I would sure as heck, you know, do a $200 test kit before spending tens of thousands of dollars on IVF, considering there are certain community state types. It’s called that influence IVF success. Do you see how wild this is? How we can do so much to optimize our own ecosystem, but we aren’t. We’re just kind of, to your earlier point, 10 minutes ago, it’s like we’re not really kind of trying to discover any deeper root causes or anything of that nature. But anyway, I find this really fascinating. And to your point, the products that we’re using, and I love how you just kind of did like an overhaul of all the undergarments. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (18:15.375)Right. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (18:20.194)It is. Rachel (18:28.31)A lot of the products that we’re using, unfortunately, I think of it as kind of, in a way, running interference on our bodies’ natural intelligence, right? So what can happen is that all of the products that we’re using, like douching and all these cleansing products, it can strip out the protective species. And what happens is that really sets the stage for more opportunistic bacteria to kind of take hold and cause problems. So yeah, it’s all about this conscious. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (18:36.851)Yo. Rachel (18:58.222)consumerism really, it’s like all the products that we’re putting in and around that area. mean, heck, we can put estrogen cream and other hormone creams to get absorbed. Like how could we not think that’s happening with all the other products that we’re putting down there, right? Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (19:13.843)Well, so it’s funny that you say that word, douching. Rachel, I’m sorry, it’s a funny word. Is it still popular? Rachel (19:24.266)There’s a lot more people that do it than you think. mean, so much so it’s even mentioned in some of these scientific articles of what potentially can strip away bacteria. think you and I are so fortunate that we kind of almost live in these bubbles where it’s just like. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (19:29.683)Really? Rachel (19:46.454)We couldn’t think of doing that. And it’s like our entire community is like, we already know that we shouldn’t be stripping away all of this beneficial bacteria. But yeah, I mean, all of this is still very, very popular. I mean, just go into any CVS, look at all just the cleansing products there is, right? It’s nice. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (20:00.446)Right. Well, the good news is this saves money, right? Get rid of the mouthwash, sweep the fluoride free, toothpaste, do not douche, straight up. And then, you know, some of the things you talk about in here, go fragrance free in soaps, body care products, be careful of chemicals in your period products. I use a cup, but if you’re using tampons, make sure that they’re, you know, Rachel (20:08.065)Hahaha Yeah. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (20:34.073)I mean, there’s some crazy stuff in cotton, which I’ve read about recently, which is why I switched to organic underwear, lubricants you talk about, and of course, taking care of our gut microbiome with diet probiotics and so on. Rachel (20:42.125)Yeah. Rachel (20:48.404)Exactly. And I guess one about the the period products, I know we we like automatically our mind jumps to tampons, pads, these sort of things. And, gosh, I actually really hate saying this because I’m so like pro innovation, right. And it was products that help women out. But I kind of think about like all of these brands that are doing this this underwear that like helps to like absorb the blood right during the menstrual cycle. And in reality, like think of how that’s Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (21:13.852)Yeah. Rachel (21:17.134)possible, like think about how many chemicals that takes to be able to do that. So a lot of these period products unfortunately have a lot of the forever chemicals, the PFAS and like that. And so yeah, it’s a lot. And I think that was kind of a lesser known fact and it definitely surprised me as well. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (21:27.943)Mmm. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (21:37.501)Well, what do you think about cups? Because it makes sense to me, environmentally, I just wash it out. Rachel (21:44.182)Yeah, yep. So that’s seen as kind of the, you know, one of the best options in that category, right, of all the options that we do have. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (21:52.679)Yeah. Okay. All right. So let’s, let’s move on, Rachel. Let’s talk about, I love, you know, metabolic health again, back to our overall vitality body composition. And can you speak a little bit how this is related to our overall health and our ability to do natural functions such as get pregnant and have babies. Rachel (22:18.036)Yeah, absolutely. Metabolic health, think, well, to take a step back before we kind of dive too clinical into what this means, I like to think of it as, you know, it just has to do with the flow of energy through our system, right? I mean, that’s what it’s all about. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (22:33.147)Yeah, but under our spells, our prana, essentially. Rachel (22:37.28)Yeah, thank you for that. So when there’s an imbalance here with our metabolic health, clinically we call that metabolic dysfunction. It’s basically an energetic blockage in our body and it really can interfere with our goal of getting pregnant. I’ll give you just a few examples of what the research has found. Metabolic dysfunction, you know, that can impact egg quality, sperm quality, embryo quality. It can interfere with hormones, the hormonal communication, which influences our monthly cycles, including ovulation, of course, which is necessary to get pregnant. It impacts our chances of conceiving. It impacts our chances of IVF. It can increase complications in our pregnancy. And this also, this conversation also applies to men as well, right? So there, if they have metabolic health or whether they have metabolic dysfunction, this can impact our ability to get pregnant as well as complications we can experience during pregnancy, which is wild. So why do I bring this up? Again, maybe this doesn’t really apply to a lot of your community members. Maybe it does, but let’s look at the country. And in terms of the country stats, know, one in 10 people approximately. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (23:34.889)Yeah. Rachel (23:51.498)in this country are defined as metabolically healthy, which means I’m like, hey, Kimberly, 90 % of us might have this opportunity to optimize our body in a way that’s going to get us closer to our goal. So there’s a few biomarkers that I speak about in the book that kind of tells us, hey, how is this system functioning? How is energy flowing through our body? And I specifically talk about blood sugar, like knowing your fasting blood sugar, also knowing your Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (23:59.945)Yeah. Rachel (24:21.102)HbA1c, which is like a three month report card of your blood sugar and knowing your insulin levels. The reason I just I think insulin is so gosh darn important is because, you know, insulin resistance means our cells aren’t responding properly to this hormone, right, as it should. This is what underlies PCOS, which for goodness sakes is the number one cause of anovulatory infertility globally. Right. So that’s what Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (24:26.983)Mm. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (24:44.04)What? Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (24:48.777)It’s growing too, right Rachel? Is it not going up? Rachel (24:50.824)Yes. So that’s why I actually take this so seriously in the book. And I’m like, we can nourish ourselves in a way that can facilitate better energy production in our body. And of course, there’s the entire chapter on it. There’s action plans, there’s everything and how to personalize it for your body. But that’s kind of just, again, the lay of the land and kind of what we’re dealing with and the opportunity. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (24:56.445)Yeah. Rachel (25:17.816)that we have to optimize our physiology in our favor. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (25:22.065)And you also talk about that in regards to methylation, gene selection. And that also is a larger topic around lifestyle, how we eat. Can you touch on methylation briefly? Rachel (25:34.286)my gosh, you bet it is. So methylation, think of this as the process by which your choices, like your food choices, your thoughts, your environment, your stress levels, it essentially can think of it like speaking to your DNA. So we can’t change the genomic sequencing, but we can change how DNA is expressed, which is heritable. That means it’s passed out to your child. And so we can actively create this internal environment. that’s full of vitality and that we can literally pass this vitality down to our child. Think about the health crisis, our children, and teens who are involved in too. I just think we have a responsibility here and that starts with preconception health. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (26:07.271)Yes. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (26:18.791)You know, it also, I really think, includes heart coherence, Rachel. Think about the difference when you’re in your heart and you’re connected to yourself, to your partner, to others. You’re less likely to eat crappy food. You have these loving thoughts. There’s all the research about heart coherence as well with the hormonal balance and just the energy opening up. So that part too, I think, preparing for preconception is making sure you create stability in your environment. you work through certain things. No one’s gonna be in a, you it doesn’t have to be perfect, but I think all of this is part of that totality. Rachel (26:58.124)You know what, Kimberly, this is why we need you here on this planet. We need your work and we need your books because for goodness sake, I mean, that’s it’s such a cornerstone of what we’re trying to accomplish here. And if we don’t put in the work with exactly what you’re describing, everything else is going to seem so much harder again. So, I mean, I guess I guess I’m here shouting out your book because it’s like everyone can take those little moments for themselves and Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (27:18.258)You Rachel (27:26.382)put their physiology in a better place, right? That is kind of what’s most surprising to me. I know in the book we talk about, say, like the environmental chemicals as an example, right? And all of these stressors in the environment. But here, what you’re talking about, I’m like, this is actually the most underrepresented topic when it comes to of toxic, is toxins in general, because it’s like. How are we speaking to ourselves? How much stress are we dealing with? What are our self-limiting beliefs, right? So on and so forth. I think we could talk about it now or just on that subject alone. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (27:55.113)It’s. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (28:02.429)I feel like heart and head can work together, right? Knowing the facts, knowing the research, feeling confident that you’re doing everything for your oral microbiome, for methylation, and it’s important to have that knowledge. And then I think it’s also important to marry it with your heart being in it because as we know, stress can really affect fertility and outcomes and stress affects us in our life overall. So I’m really glad you take such a holistic approach to Rachel. Rachel (28:32.896)Yeah, it’s this is this what it’s it’s all about. You know, I always speak to the science. Obviously, the book is crazy evidence based and so many citations. But look, again, this is just validating this kind of like this ancient wisdom to the intelligence that you’re speaking about right now. Right. It’s just kind of, you know, putting evidence behind it. But we all of this, we know it to be true. Right. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (28:58.909)Yes, we’re all a miracle. The fact that we’re here. And sometimes again, I think we move away from that and there’s so much fear and panic and anxiety if you start to get too much down the rabbit hole on Google or social media feeds. So, I really appreciate you bringing your wisdom, but also your heart, The through line I always say of our guests and our show, and I can really tell as I’m reviewing all these books, is the authenticity and wanting to help. And obviously you really do have so much love in your heart to want to support other women. And it comes through in the book, it comes through in the way, the clarity and also the succinctness, I will say, with which you write. Because, you know, people are pretty busy and You you say a lot in a readable book, and I think that’s really important to offer people as well. Rachel (30:01.902)I mean, Kimberly, if I told you, like, I don’t even want to admit how many years that took in order to do that and how many rewrites. I mean, it’s almost embarrassing when I think about it. So you saying that is like the biggest compliment for me. Because again, over three years, like rewriting, rewriting to just kind of, you know, get this message so succinctly, having women being able to optimize their physiology in a way that’s, you know, actionable. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (30:12.403)No. Rachel (30:31.79)You know, not just woo woo, but like really also putting evidence behind everything again that your book talks about. It’s amazing. It’s this sort of synergistic energy that we can bring to help lift up other women. So thank you so much for having this conversation. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (30:47.817)Well, thank you so much, Rachel. And I had to say, I’m looking forward to when you do become a mom, because you are going to be this living embodiment of all this work and all your teachings as well, when it’s meant to happen at perfect divine timing. Share with us, Rachel, where we can get your book, Trying a Science-Based Plan. Rachel (31:01.87)Thank you. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (31:12.861)to optimize your fertility and I’m smiling because it’s science-based, but there’s so much heart in it. Your work where we can find out more about you, your book, your work and so on. Rachel (31:23.648)Yes, my gosh, so please pre-order the book. It’s on Amazon. It’s there waiting for you. And you can find out more information on my website, rachelswanson.com. My Instagram is at Rachel’sRx. I’m going to be getting a lot more social with this book launch, because I’m used to being behind the scenes, right, in clinic, kind of one-to-one care. But I’ll be coming out of the woodworks more. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (31:42.418)Yes. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (31:46.781)So amazing. Well, the world needs your heart, Rachel, and congratulations on your first book. Thank you so much for sharing your, again, your wisdom and your heart. Thank you everyone so much for tuning in. I encourage you to share this episode with anyone that you know that is trying to conceive, that is looking to optimize their health and wellness as you heard today. This isn’t just about fertility, but whole body well-being. think all the information we talked about with the microbiome and the oral microbiome could really help so many people. So please share the show. Our show notes will be at mysaloona.com where we will link directly to Rachel’s book and her work, as well as other articles and shows I think you would enjoy. We will be back here in just a few days. I’ll also see you on social at underscore Kimberly Snyder. Till then take great care and sending you all so much love.  

Week’s Episode Special Guest: Dr. Amy Killen Summary: In this enlightening conversation, Dr. Amy Killen discusses the evolving landscape of wellness technologies and supplements, focusing on collagen, hormone replacement therapy, and the importance of ovarian health. She emphasizes the connection between inner health and outer beauty, particularly skin and hair health, while also addressing the role of lifestyle factors such as diet, stress, and sleep. The discussion extends to the potential benefits of peptides, the impact of sugar and caffeine on health, and the significance of melatonin for sleep. Dr. Killen empowers listeners to take control of their health and well-being through informed choices and lifestyle adjustments. About Dr. Amy Killen A leading longevity and regenerative physician, entrepreneur, speaker, clinical practice owner, author, and frequent media guest, Dr. Killen has become an outspoken advocate for empowering people to look and feel their best by combining lifestyle modification, integrative medicine, body-identical hormones, peptides, and regenerative therapies. Dr. Killen, a former emergency physician, has firsthand experience with the bureaucratic obstacles that can delay critical treatments from reaching patients. Driven by a passion for healthcare innovation, she is dedicated to making effective yet underutilized diagnostics and treatments widely accessible. Dr. Killen is committed to transforming healthcare through entrepreneurship, education, and patient empowerment. She is also the founder and CEO of the Human Optimization Project (HOP), a longevity-focused supplement company dedicated to providing women with unique, science-backed products designed for convenience and effectiveness. These easy-to-use, portable solutions target aging at the cellular level. Additionally, Dr. Killen is the co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Humanaut Health, a cutting-edge longevity clinic franchise. Humanaut Health combines hormone therapy, peptides, regenerative medicine, lifestyle medicine, and advanced diagnostics to deliver a tech-enabled, proactive approach to health optimization. In her Utah-based practice, Docere Clinics, Dr. Killen and her colleague, Dr. Harry Adelson, pioneered the Full Body Stem Cell Makeover, one of the most innovative regenerative procedures currently available. Guest Resources: Website: www.dramykillen.com, Hopbox.life Social: @Dr.AmyBKillen Episode Sponsors: FATTY15 OFFER: Fatty15 is on a mission to replenish your C15 levels and restore your long-term health. You can get an additional 15% off their 90-day subscription Starter Kit by going to fatty15.com/KIMBERLY and using code KIMBERLY at checkout. USE LINK: fatty15.com/KIMBERLY GLOWING GREENS POWDER OFFER: Go to mysolluna.com and use the CODE: PODFAM15 for 15% off your entire order. USE LINK: mysolluna.com CODE: PODFAM15 for 15% off your entire order. Episode Chapters 00:00 The Rise of Wellness Technologies 03:03 Collagen: The Controversial Supplement 05:58 Skin Health and Inner Wellness 09:04 Hormone Replacement Therapy: A Deeper Dive 11:51 Understanding Testosterone in Women 15:07 The Role of Ovarian Health 17:57 Peptides: The New Frontier 20:45 Sugar and Women's Health 23:50 Caffeine: Friend or Foe? 26:50 Melatonin: The Sleep Hormone 29:44 Hair Health: Addressing Hair Loss 32:47 Empowerment Through Knowledge SOLLUNA PRODUCT LINKS Glowing Greens Powder™ Feel Good SBO Probiotics Feel Good Detoxy Feel Good Digestive Enzymes Feel Good Starter Kit Feel Good Skincare KIMBERLY'S BOOKS Chilla Gorilla & Lanky Lemur Journey to the Heart The Beauty Detox Solution Beauty Detox Foods Beauty Detox Power Radical Beauty Recipes For Your Perfectly Imperfect Life You Are More Than You Think You Are OTHER PODCASTS YOU MAY ENJOY! Wellness Insights: How to Listen to Your Body for Nutritional Guidance How the Power Foods Diet helps with Weight Loss with Dr. Neal Barnard EP. 877 How Not to Age with New York Times best-selling author Dr. Michael Greger How to eat to reduce anxiety with Harvard nutritional psychiatrist Dr. Uma Naidoo Powered and Distributed by: PodcastOne Transcript: Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (00:01.226) Dr. Amy, thank you so much for joining us here today from Utah, right? Amy Killen MD (00:05.902) Yes, yes, I'm in Salt Lake City, Utah. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (00:08.534) It's amazing how connected we can be wherever we are. I was thinking about, I've been excited to talk to you for a couple of weeks. I feel like this is such an exciting time for all the new technologies and wellness products and wellness modalities. But there's also so much confusion out there about what works and what doesn't and what people should be spending money on. So it's exciting, but it's also an interesting time, isn't it? Amy Killen MD (00:40.32) It is. It is. hard to know what's good and what's not sometimes. There's so many options out there these days. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (00:46.87) And I know you speak to many subjects, but I want to start with one supplement, which we've all seen that just blew up, which is collagen. And I always was, I suspected something was going on with it, Amy, because it just sort of seemed a little strange. And I didn't know if we would actually do anything to eat collagen. It was sort of like this idea, you have to eat hair to grow better hair versus nutrients that support it. I read a really interesting article you wrote about how the research seemed promising and then more started to become uncovered. Can you share a little bit about your findings? Amy Killen MD (01:27.342) Yeah, collagen is one of those things I've kind of changed my mind about. And I don't think it's bad by any means. I think it has purposes. I think it's still probably good for, especially for joints and like musculoskeletal health. But I have changed my opinions about collagen for skin health in that I don't think we have as much data as we thought we did. So there were a series of studies over the last couple of decades on collagen for skin health and... The short version is the initial kind of meta-analyses where they bring all the studies together from like 2021, 2023 were very promising. And it seemed like, you know, taking collagen in orally as a powder or drink or whatever, you know, could actually improve skin hydration and elasticity and make people look a little bit fresher. And so, you know, I'd been recommending collagen for years based on all of those initial studies. But a new study, our review article came out in 2025 that basically, you made me little bit weary about those early results. What they did was they took all those initial studies and they categorized them by who was funding the study. So if it was industry funded, if it was the college and company was funding it, it went in one bucket. If it was not industry funded, it went another bucket. And they found that all the studies essentially that had good results were industry funded. And if you looked, took those off the table, then collagen did not seem to really improve skin health. So it's still, I think the jury is still out. Like we still have more to learn, but at this point, I'm not a hundred percent convinced that collagen is the panacea we thought it was for skin. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (03:03.476) Right. And in your work, Dr. Amy, I know, you know, so many of us want to look good, like you mentioned, people want to look fresh, they want their skin to look good, they want their hair to look good. But also on a deeper level, and I've always believed this, your skin and your hair and these outer markers, if you will, for beauty do have relevance to your inner health, your organ health, what's going on in the cellular level. Can you speak to that as well? Amy Killen MD (03:33.218) Yeah, absolutely. think the skin is just one more visible marker of health in general. So absolutely, I think the foundation is always going to be the same things that make us healthy, know, clean diet, exercise, sleep, you know, all those kinds of things. For skin, getting some sort of protection from UV light, especially in the skin that's exposed to UV light over and over again is important for aging, for slowing down aging. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (03:52.907) Yeah. Amy Killen MD (03:57.09) But we always want to start from the inside, but as a sort of midlife woman, I also am very, conscious of like, what else can I do besides live healthy? Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (04:07.092) Yes. And what else would you say if someone wants to go beyond collagen? Like you said, might be great for joint health, but the reasons people, a lot of people were buying those products was because they wanted to improve skin elasticity. So beyond healthy diet, what have you seen that actually does have merit? Amy Killen MD (04:21.388) Yeah. Amy Killen MD (04:26.104) I mean, the biggest things that we know work, we know that sunblock works. So like, like a mineral sunblock, like zinc oxide or titanium dioxide. It sits on top of the skin, doesn't get really absorbed into the skin. And you know, I think that that's really important as just put it on every day before you go outside. I'm a big fan of the sun, but I also think we have to protect the, especially the face and neck and those areas. So that definitely works. Yeah. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (04:32.444) huh. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (04:47.189) I'm laughing because I just came from Hawaii. I'm like always trying to wear a hat because to be honest, Amy, you know, I try with the sunscreen. I put it on the face, but you know, the hat is always in my, our farm cars. So I try to keep that consistent. Amy Killen MD (05:01.612) Yeah. And you know, mean, some sun is healthy. Like we know that some sun exposure is very important for overall health. know the population that gets sun tend to have lower risks of diabetes and multiple cancers and heart disease and all kinds of things. So some sun is important. It is also one of the biggest drivers of aging in the skin. So the other thing I really like, I think that retinoids have a lot of evidence behind them. They're one of the best studied. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (05:05.762) Yes. Amy Killen MD (05:28.438) ingredients for skin health. And that's like retinols or a treatinol and retinoids and things like that. And you can get those over the counter or you can get prescriptions for stronger ones, but we know those work. And then good antioxidants applied topically to the skin as well as taken orally can also be helpful. Like astaxanthin, for instance, it's a great, it can be taken orally and it has great skin benefits and also some sun protection benefits actually. And you can also apply it topically. So things like astaxanthin, vitamin C, vitamin E. Some of those have really good research for both oral and topical applications for skin. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (06:03.562) And he still holds, Dr. Amy, that if we're trying to get pregnant, if we are pregnant, we should avoid retinoids. Amy Killen MD (06:10.86) Yeah, avoid retinoids, especially the stronger ones. Always talk to your doctor before you're taking anything, certainly orally. I don't know about what the research is right now on the weaker topical retinols when you're pregnant, but I would definitely talk to your doctor first. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (06:27.328) There's also a lot of conversation around hormone replacement therapy these days. There's a lot of conversation, menopause, perimenopause. Is one of the benefits, because I've heard different things of taking hormones, can that improve your skin and bone health as well? Amy Killen MD (06:45.326) Yeah, absolutely. we lose... So women during perimenopause, which you know is about five to 10 years before menopause, and it can start as early as 35 or so and still be normal, perimenopause, estrogen and progesterone start to go down. And estrogen especially is very important for your skin. It helps your body to maintain the collagen in your skin. In fact, when you go through menopause, you lose 30 % of your collagen in your body system-wide. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (06:55.54) Yeah. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (07:04.758) Mmm. Amy Killen MD (07:15.552) it just drops off a cliff because it loses the estrogen signal that is required to keep the collagen in the tissue. replacing estrogen whenever it's time to do that, usually it's late perimenopause or early menopause, can really help to preserve skin elasticity and hydration and structure and all of those things. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (07:15.552) Wow. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (07:36.426) What if you're in your 30s and you don't have any of these symptoms yet? You you still get your period every 28 days and your moods are stabilized, you're sleeping well, you don't have hot flashes. When would be a signal that says, hey, you might want to explore these hormone replacement options? Amy Killen MD (07:56.206) know, if you're in your thirties and you're feeling good and your cycles are good, you're, probably good. Like you don't necessarily have to go do anything at that point. In general, it's usually people when they get a little closer to the forties or when you're starting to have symptoms, like you're all of sudden, you can't sleep at night, especially like the two weeks before your period, or you're really irritable or you're having really bad PMS pain or symptoms. Um, there's a lot of different kinds of symptoms often in the, in the weeks before your period that will signify that, that progesterone is starting to go down and that you might. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (08:03.285) Yeah. Amy Killen MD (08:25.826) want to talk to your doctor about replacing that. That's the first hormone we usually replace. Or other changes, libido changes, weight changes. There's so many different things that can happen during that timeframe. But if you feel great and everything is going as scheduled, then you don't necessarily have to worry about your hormones in your 30s. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (08:39.574) Thank Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (08:43.126) But by 40s and 50s, it's something to explore. Amy Killen MD (08:47.862) Yeah, usually, I I recommend at least talking to your doctor about hormone optimization therapy once you get close to menopause because these hormones have so many long-term health benefits. So not even just treating symptoms, but also preventing osteoporosis or preventing dementia or heart disease or some of these things that are more common in women and especially become common after you lose estrogen and the protection of that. even if you're not having symptoms, Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (09:06.193) Bye. Amy Killen MD (09:14.818) you know, by mid forties or so, I would recommend talking to your doctor about kind of game planning, how you're going to approach hormones later on. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (09:22.848) Well, maybe some women would need a different doctor or a more specialized hormone doctor because, you know, some doctors don't seem to know that much about this, the general practitioner. With a sigh. Amy Killen MD (09:32.726) Yes. know, unfortunately doctors, yes, doctors I know it's so frustrating. Doctors only receive about like less than two hours in the U.S. less than two hours of training in menopause throughout their entire medical career. Now OBGYNs may get a little bit more and I think we're starting to see more awareness around this. But like when I went through and most doctors went through, we didn't talk about menopause. We didn't talk about replacing hormones. And so most doctors that are out there just haven't had the education. And unless they've taken it upon themselves to take courses and go through programs, they just really don't know that much about what really happens during these transition periods for women and why it's so important to talk about them. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (10:19.254) What are some of the questions someone should ask a potential doctor? What should they look for? Because again, that becomes confusing. And I've also seen Dr. Amy people giving advice and then you look a little deeper and they're chiropractors or there's something that is not there. They still are a doctor, but something that's unrelated. But maybe they did do the courses. So who knows? I don't know. Amy Killen MD (10:36.28) Yeah. Amy Killen MD (10:41.378) Yeah. Yeah. think that, you know, making sure that you have a medical provider who is able to prescribe drugs in general is important. You chiropractors can't prescribe most drugs. So they're going to be, they'll have a, they have a toolkit that they can use, which a lot of them are very smart and very informed, but their toolkit is not going to include prescribing hormones. So sometimes that will bias them a little bit. Like they'll, they'll, they'll say, well, you shouldn't do hormones because X, Y, and Z, but part of it is cause they can't prescribe hormones. But I would say, talk to doctors and ask them what their experience is prescribing these body identical or bioidentical hormones, which is what we want, and how open they are to it. And are they offering it to most of their patients, or is it just a small number of patients who take it? Are they trying to not just treat symptoms, but also prevent future diseases with these hormones? I think it's also important. And also, talk to your friends if you have people, other friends in the space who have gone to doctors and get recommendations from them, because it can be really hard. It can be hard to find a good doctor, I think. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (11:45.408) Do you think that with telehealth now, you can meet with a doctor online, you can send in blood work, it sort of opens up the field, doesn't it? Amy Killen MD (11:54.55) It does. think it's definitely getting easier. And, one of my companies is Humanaut Health and we have in-person clinics and then we're building out the telehealth as well. And we do hormones and longevity medicine, but there are a number of other companies that just do telehealth and they do a great job. And I think that, I do think that there's more availability of these services, but they are usually cash pay. Like you're not usually using insurance to pay for these. And so obviously that's not going to work for everybody. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (12:22.464) Right. So going back to the hormones for a moment, testosterone is something that we usually hear for men, know, replacing their testosterone as they age as well. What about for women? This is an interesting topic. Amy Killen MD (12:34.971) you Yeah, yeah, you know, it's interesting. Women actually have more testosterone in their bodies than they do estrogen. When they're younger, like when you have before menopause and really even after menopause, we make more testosterone and we have more testosterone in our bodies at any given point than we do estrogen. And yet. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (12:55.446) after you start getting your period or pre-mences. Amy Killen MD (13:00.202) once, yeah, once, once like from puberty on your body's making testosterone and you know, we think of testosterone as being a male hormone, but it's really just a human hormone. We all have it. We all need it. And so absolutely. think that, you know, offering it as, you know, replacing it in women can be important. Not all women will need testosterone replacement. Some people continue to make it and it's testosterone is a little different than estrogen and progesterone because it doesn't like fall off a cliff at. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (13:03.818) Wow. Amy Killen MD (13:29.782) at menopause. Your body still makes testosterone even as you age, but you're just making less and less each year. So it's similar to men. You just make less and less and less as you get older. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (13:40.16) So once you get on that train of hormone replacement therapy, how often would you have to get checked to see if the dosages need to be tweaked or how you continue? Because it sounds like there's changes that progress. Amy Killen MD (13:51.672) Yeah. Amy Killen MD (13:57.366) Yeah, you know, and yeah, so usually I recommend patients get seen every three months in the beginning and get lab work done and see your medical provider every three months. And especially in those early months, you're going to have some adjustments to these medications because there's not a single, you know, no, no one dose is going to work for everyone. And there are different ways to take the hormones that you can take them as a pill or a patch or a cream or a trochee under your tongue. There's all these different methods. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (14:03.724) wow. Amy Killen MD (14:24.054) and each one has pros and cons and each one works differently in different people. So there's a lot of kind of adjusting and tweaking that happens during the first three, six, nine, 10 months or so that you're on hormones. But then once you get on something where you feel good and your levels are pretty steady, then you can space your visits out a little bit more if you want to. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (14:45.482) What do you think, Dr. Amy, about our grandmothers and our great grandmothers that went through menopause? I just think about my grandma in the Philippines. I don't, I mean, people didn't talk about it as much, but she didn't seem to complain that much about it. Do you think with microplastics and pollution, it's harder on our hormones and shifts, or do you think women just didn't discuss their challenges as much because they didn't have the technology? Yeah. Amy Killen MD (15:12.386) Yeah, I think that's a great question. I don't know the answer for sure. I know that we're not going into menopause earlier necessarily. Like we do know that like endocrine disruptors and microplastics and toxins in the environment can affect our ovaries. And people who have a lot of exposure to those things can go into menopause earlier by about two and a half to three years. So that is a problem, but like population wide, we're not necessarily going in earlier than, you know, our grandmothers did. But Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (15:31.51) Hmm. Amy Killen MD (15:41.73) whether or not they had as severe a symptoms, I don't know. I think that they probably were just really tough and they just didn't talk about it. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (15:49.522) Right. Now speaking of ovarian health, which is also another issue, fertility is an issue. Just so many issues now that I feel like in the last 10 years are being talked about. People are doing IVF in their 20s. What's going on with our ovaries? Amy Killen MD (16:09.678) You know, the ovaries are really the pacemaker of our female body in terms of determining how quickly you age and kind of how well you age. you know, we don't talk a lot about ovarian health, but the ovaries are much more than just a reproductive organ. So certainly we need them to ovulate and have eggs and to make babies. But because you're making these hormones, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone in the ovaries, as well as, you know, 40 or so other chemicals that are being made, the ovaries kind of decide how quickly the rest of your body is going to age. And it's interesting, but I think, you know, as far as fertility goes, you know, there are, think a lot of it is environmental. A lot of it is, you know, the, the endotoxins and the, the liquid disruptors. And I also think that the lifestyle is a big part of it. We know that stress, for instance, has a very direct result on ovarian health and ovarian function, sleep, diet, exercise, you know, all the things that we know are important. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (16:43.168) Wow. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (16:51.798) controls. Amy Killen MD (17:07.392) All of those are sending messages to the ovaries to help the ovaries decide, you know, kind of how healthy they could be and then whether to ovulate or not. And so there's a lot of things that go into it, but the ovaries are very receptive to everything that you're doing in your life, better or worse, to make yourself healthier. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (17:27.092) that interesting. I wonder what traditional Chinese medicine says, the emotions associated with the ovaries because, livers, anger and spleen is sadness, but I've never heard that about ovaries being an indicator of your overall aging. That's so interesting. Amy Killen MD (17:43.148) Yeah, I don't know either. I don't know much about the Chinese medicine, but I think that we haven't paid enough respect to the ovaries over the last, you know, hundreds of years. And finally, researchers are saying, this is really important for how women age, not just fertility, but also how we age. So I think that they'll finally get some respect and we're studying them, but it's about time. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (18:04.022) So something as simple as respecting circadian rhythms and wearing blue-light blocking glasses and things like optimizing your sleep can really help ovarian health. Amy Killen MD (18:14.594) Yeah, Overe, you know, when you, the ovaries are really interesting. know, every month you release one egg, right? But what people don't know is that up to a thousand other eggs start to develop throughout the month. And the only one is chosen to ovulate to get released. But the other ones, all the other 500 or thousand eggs that started to mature, those will die. So basically every month you're losing up to a thousand or so of these very precious eggs, which is horrible. I know. And then when you run out of eggs, that's when you hit menopause. And so the question that researchers are asking is, can we slow down the rate that we're losing these eggs? Can we have fewer of these precious eggs start to develop? we're testing drugs, like people are testing drugs like rapamycin. How does lifestyle affect this? Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (18:43.151) It's like a fish with all the eggs, you know. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (18:50.88) Right? Amy Killen MD (19:07.462) because once the eggs start to, whenever they die in the ovaries, it's called atresia, they start to release these inflammatory signals. And so it makes all the ovary, like all the rest of the ovary becomes like a less hospitable place to the future eggs. So there's a lot of things that are happening in the ovaries that are reflective of health. Some of it's just genetics, but there's a lot also reflective of your health. And so we know that we can move some levers with the ovaries, but we don't have control over genetics, obviously. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (19:35.99) Oh, it's interesting again, back to my grandmother from the Philippines who lived in a very rural existence and she had healthy babies, Amy, to 48. Right. that was, started at 18, had a few, took a big break, went back to school and started at 36, I believe, and had six more. Amy Killen MD (19:45.666) Wow, that's amazing. Amy Killen MD (19:56.462) How many she have total? Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (19:58.089) She had eight, but one died in infant mortality. Was it very, very early on. But NAD, I read some interesting research about how that can help with ovarian health. What's your opinion on that? Amy Killen MD (20:03.224) Wow. Amy Killen MD (20:14.626) Yeah, there are some animal studies that NAD precursors like NMN or NR might be helpful in improving ovarian health, as well as some of the other kind of longevity supplements that are out there. Some of the antioxidants may be helpful in reducing the oxidative stress in the ovaries and help as well. Melatonin is another one that's been studied and has some good animal research for it, as well as like DHEA, which is another oral hormone that we can take. So there's a lot of animal data. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of human data yet that these are particularly healthy for us long-term for ovarian health. We just don't know. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (20:53.386) Now this is a big question Amy, and I know it's individual and it's complex, but another big trend out there is peptides. And it seems like when you go down that rabbit hole, there's so many. And for the person that's like, I want this and I want this, then you can suddenly start taking all these different peptides. I am not as well versed. I don't take peptides myself right now, but wow, I have friends that are taking all sorts of things. Amy Killen MD (21:21.773) Yeah. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (21:22.634) Can they counteract? Do we need all these different peptides? Do they work? I mean, I'm sure that research is also ongoing. Amy Killen MD (21:29.526) Yeah, mean, peptides is a whole category of these molecules that are essentially just short proteins. So a peptide is just like a few amino acids long. So it's a very short protein strand. And most of the ones that are talked about widely are also made by your own body. you know, essentially can we replace some of these peptides that they all do very different things and they all, you know, will bind to receptors and have very direct actions in the body. And I guess the short version is there are, there's hundreds, maybe, Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (21:57.334) Yeah. Amy Killen MD (21:58.488) thousands of peptides out there and they all do different things. Most of the research on most of the peptides is primarily in animals, although certainly, know, peptides like the GLP-1s, which is Ozempic, you know, and Monjaro, those are peptides. And those, of course, have really good strong human data on them at this point. So I think peptides are fascinating. We use them a lot at Humanoid, but you also do want to have a medical provider who understands them because there's so many of them, like you said. They can have interactions. are some of them you want to cycle. You you use, do them for four or six weeks and then you stop them for a period of time. Some of them you can do every day. So it's, it's a whole thing that you want to have someone that really knows what they're doing. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (22:42.442) And also you still wanna maintain the healthy lifestyle habits. Like we said, you still need a healthy diet, you still need to exercise, you still need to sleep. It's not like a magic needle. Amy Killen MD (22:52.064) It is not. Yeah, it's all always start with the foundational stuff. I think of peptides as being, you know, like an icing on the cake or maybe it's the sprinkles on the icing on the cake hormones or the icing and the peptides are more like sprinkles. But so, you know, those things can be helpful in situations, but that's not the thing you reach for first when you're looking for help. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (23:11.03) Right, right. It's like the layer, layers up. Can you talk a little bit about sugar, Dr. Amy? We hear a lot about sugar for different aspects of health, but specifically for women's health, ovarian health, of the hormones, some of the topics we've been discussing so far. Refined. Amy Killen MD (23:15.533) Yeah. Amy Killen MD (23:31.918) Yeah, I I think that keeping your blood sugar in a healthy range is very important for longevity. We know that. Certainly simple carbohydrates and actual sugar, like table sugar, if you get too much of it can affect your blood sugar and can cause problems down the line with more rapid aging of all different parts of your body, your ovaries, your blood vessels, your brain. So maintaining a healthy blood sugar is really important. I don't want people, I don't like the idea that we shouldn't have any sugar. I mean, I think that that's a little crazy that, you know, to say that all sugar is bad all the time, but it's like anything else. you, know, moderation is important. know, knowing how sugar affects you specifically is important. Tracking it potentially, like putting on a glucose monitor can be really helpful or at least getting blood work, you know, every three to six months and making sure that your markers of insulin sensitivity and resistance are in a healthy range. So certainly follow it, but you know, I like a dessert at night if I'm Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (24:03.413) Yeah Amy Killen MD (24:27.648) if I've been pretty good all day, you just don't want to go overboard with those things. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (24:32.574) Yeah, I mean, we were just in Hawaii. As I mentioned, I love fruit. We're eating papayas off the tree and guavas, but in a fiber-filled form, not the juice, with the whole fruit. And that feels really good in the body as well. Amy Killen MD (24:40.194) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Fruit, think, is amazing. Certainly, you could do too much of it, but it's really hard to get too much fruit. Unless you're diabetic, most people are not eating too much fruit. I'm not worried about that. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (24:57.354) Bradley fruit and fiber, because another big trend with protein, Dr. Amy, I see a lot of people just having protein bars and protein shakes. We need protein, but there's so much, you know, unprocessed foods that can come with that. And then people aren't as focused on fiber. Amy Killen MD (25:07.501) Yeah. Amy Killen MD (25:18.146) Yeah, I think protein and fiber, especially as I get older, know, as I get closer to 50, which is like next month, I start thinking more and more about, you know, how I need to be eating every day. Like how much protein am I getting? How much fiber am I getting? Like those are the two things that I really pay attention to for myself and my patients, especially midlife kind of and older women, because fiber we know is important in so much as far as disease prevention, cancer, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and then protein we know is important for building muscle and maintaining muscle. And that's one of those things that your body doesn't store those amino acids in any form except for your muscles. So if you're not eating the protein, then you can break down your muscles, which is obviously not what we want. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (25:52.086) right. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (25:59.638) What do you think of amino acid supplements? Amy Killen MD (26:02.83) I think that they're fine. think that, you know, getting amino acids either from like an amino acid supplement, it's an option. I don't think it's any better necessarily than just getting it from, you know, a steak. But certainly if you need to, if you can't get enough from food, I think that supplementing is a fine option. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (26:19.446) How bad is caffeine for, I keep saying ovarian health because I loved how you made that a central point and for women in general. Amy Killen MD (26:28.833) Yeah. You know, I don't, a good question. I don't know if I've seen much published on caffeine for ovarian health. I think I'm a fan of caffeine. I don't think it's bad. I think certainly you can do too much and maybe there's, you know, don't want to do it, you know, after 2 PM or so, depending on how quickly you process it. Some of us are fast processors and some people are slow processors. It's good to know that, but I think that caffeine has its place, but we probably shouldn't overindulge too much. And certainly if you're Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (26:43.027) you Amy Killen MD (26:58.35) If you're taking a lot of caffeine because you're just super exhausted and you can't get through the day and all of that, it's good to know, like, well, why are you so tired? And get back to what's actually going on versus just drinking a lot of Red Bulls. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (27:11.222) Well, I only started drinking coffee a few years ago because as you and I were chatting, we started to grow cacao and we visited some farms around and the coffee is grown there and I just fell in love with the plant. It's very strong. And then sometimes I read things about how it can affect just your overall your adrenals and your body's functioning. So I'm cognizant of it. But I also think it's a very powerful plant. Amy Killen MD (27:24.077) Yeah. Amy Killen MD (27:38.936) Yeah, I think that I like coffee, I like cacao, I think that caffeine has its place. I don't have any concerns about it for most people, but certainly if you have high blood pressure, if you do have adrenal problems, if you have problems sleeping, there are some cases where you want to limit or get rid of caffeine, but for most people, I think it's perfectly fine and certainly can be helpful. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (28:01.418) Well, so on the flip side, we see a lot of supplements now with melatonin. And I know you had mentioned that earlier. And again, I've read some conflicting things. Certainly these brands are saying it's okay to take. know people that take it regularly and then some saying, you know, watch out, you don't want to take melatonin too often because then your body will produce it. What do you, what do you think about that? Amy Killen MD (28:20.888) Yeah. Yeah, think that melatonin, it can be helpful for sleep, but it's also a very strong antioxidant, which is probably why it was helpful in some of those animal ovarian aging studies. And I do think it has a place in it for some people. Not everyone responds well to melatonin. Some people, it makes them more wired. Some people has no effect in terms of sleep. And of course, the dosing is all over the map. mean, some people fall asleep and can't wake up at 0.5 milligrams. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (28:42.677) Hmm. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (28:52.054) my gosh. Amy Killen MD (28:52.108) Some people take a hundred milligrams and it has no effect. And so there's a very wide dosing range. I don't worry as much as some people do about, you know, if you don't, if you take too much, then you won't make your own. I certainly if you take a hundred milligrams a day, you probably won't be making your own, but I'm treating mostly women who are kind of midlife women. And one of the hormones that really goes down as you get older is your ability to make melatonin. And so your body's not making as much as it was, which is part of the reasons that older people have a hard time sleeping. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (29:16.414) Amy Killen MD (29:21.976) So I think that replacing that, if it's helpful for them, I think it's great. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (29:26.682) that's great to know because some of these products or mints or powders have five milligrams, which seems like a sort of a hefty amount if you're not being prescribed melatonin. Amy Killen MD (29:33.39) Yeah. Amy Killen MD (29:40.686) Well, first of all, a lot of the over-the-counter products, as you know, they've done tests and especially melatonin, that many of the over-the-counter melatonins don't have any melatonin in them or they have a very small amount. So it is important to get it from a good source, a company that you or your doctor trust. But I tell patients, start with something like 0.5 or 1 milligrams and then just kind of march up a little bit. I tend to stay less than 10 milligrams from most people unless I'm Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (29:52.246) crazy. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (30:08.694) We're not. Yeah. Amy Killen MD (30:09.814) Once I'm doing some kind of like strong antioxidant protocol with them. And if it's just for sleep, usually I stay, you know, less than 10 for most people, but you'll find kind of a sweet spot. Like it's, very personal. Some people, you know, three milligrams is perfect. Four is, you know, is not, and two is not. Like you really have to kind of experiment. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (30:27.86) Wow. Finally, Amy, it's like asking an encyclopedia for questions. I blast questions at you all day, but we started talking about collagen skin health. I this is really going to, I think, the vulnerable side of women because we want to continue to look good and we know it's correlated with our inner health. But the other part is hair. And there's so much hair loss nowadays, hair thinning. hair breakage, hair not growing. I see so many articles about hair. And I also looked at some of these top hair selling supplements. And a lot of them are essentially, know, multivitamins to an extent with some other ingredients in them. But can you tell us a little bit about why you think this, first of all, the phenomenon of why women are experiencing so much hair loss and hair thinning? Amy Killen MD (31:22.37) Yeah, and I don't know if it's more than it was in previous generations or not. Again, it may just be an awareness that we talk about it more, but we do know that about 50 % of women in midlife will notice hair loss, hair shedding. So half of people, half of women will notice hair loss just from midlife. A lot of it's hormone changes. Estrogen is very good for your hair. And so when estrogen starts to go down, then the hair follicles change. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (31:34.72) Mmm. Amy Killen MD (31:49.262) and you're more likely to lose those follicles and to enter kind of a dormant hair phase. So estrogen loss is very bad for hair, but also progesterone and testosterone have roles in hair. Cortisol is also horrible for your hair. You when you have very high cortisol for very long, because you're stressed out and you're dealing with your multiple to-do lists and you know, all of these things, that is definitely something that will cause hair loss over time. All the environmental, all the... chemicals and toxins and things in the environment is bad for hair. Like all the things that are bad for us is your hair follicles are very sensitive to those things. And so they, yeah, so they're like little barometers to kind of what's happening in your personal life, your physical life and the environmental life. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (32:25.206) much. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (32:34.314) So do you think it's more macro though, again, the diet, the stress, the sleep versus people spending a lot of money on these specific hair growth supplements? Amy Killen MD (32:45.838) think it's both. tell my, I do, I treat a lot of hair loss and I tell my patients, if you really want to regrow hair, you have to like throw the kitchen sink at it. It is not just one thing. So maybe we're doing topical minoxidil, which you can get over the counter. Maybe we're doing an oral minoxidil, which is a prescription. Maybe we're doing red light therapy caps, which do work and can be really effective. Maybe we're doing injections with like PRP or stem cells or regenerative. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (32:56.042) Mmm. Amy Killen MD (33:15.502) you know, things like that in the office every so often. Plus we're working on lifestyle, plus we're working on, you know, making sure they're getting clean, clean diet and blocking certain hormones and things. So there's a lot of things that can go into it. And there's lots of different causes of hair loss too. So figuring out what's the reason, you know, with testing and with a good history and even a scalp biopsy, if you have a dermatologist and then going down how to treat it. know it's a lot. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (33:18.666) Wow. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (33:38.159) my gosh. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (33:42.198) And also, I'm just thinking breakage, taking care of your, mean, for me, it's the basics, getting less sun, washing the salt water out because otherwise the ends get more split and break, which I guess is for any human. Amy Killen MD (33:47.553) Yeah. Amy Killen MD (33:52.054) Mm-hmm. Amy Killen MD (33:56.344) Yeah, totally. Yeah. And the sun, like you mentioned, the sun, is not great for your skin over time is also the same, also not great for your hair follicle. causing the UV damage, causing oxidative stress, and it's essentially causing DNA damage in the cells around the hair follicle, just like it does in your skin. the sun is causing this damage. And if you don't repair it by either wearing sunblocks and hats and then taking maybe antioxidants or applying them. then that can cause hair loss as well. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (34:29.094) Well, thank you so much, Dr. Amy, for sharing about so many different topics. As soon as I ask you a question, there's right there the information, the knowledge, right there to share. Is there anything I didn't ask you or we didn't cover that you feel might benefit our community today? Amy Killen MD (34:50.09) think the main message I like to tell people is that we have, all of us have so much more control over how we age, how we feel, our health, than we sometimes think that we do. And I think in the old days, used to kind of, we used to think that our doctors were gonna keep us healthy, and now we understand that we have to keep ourselves healthy and our doctors are there just to kind of help guide and to be a resource if things go really bad, but it's really on us to stay up on. keeping ourselves healthy and staying up on the knowledge. I hope it's empowering, not stressful, but we do have a lot of control. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (35:26.102) Well, I think it's really empowering how you kept going back to these lifestyle basics, which definitely are in our control, and then saying, OK, well, then we can think about peptides or hormone replacement therapy or things on top. But the basics are tried and true. We'll support our hormonal health, our ovarian health, our bone health. And I think that's really empowering. And then to take the time to learn about other modalities if we feel called. Amy Killen MD (35:38.424) Yeah. Amy Killen MD (35:48.813) Yeah. Amy Killen MD (35:54.83) Absolutely, basics are still the basics. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (35:57.78) Well, Dr. Amy, where can we find out more about your work and keep connected to you? Amy Killen MD (36:05.838) So I have a website which is dramikillen.com, K-I-L-L-E-N. And then I'm also very active on both Instagram and Substack. I do articles every week on Substack and then I do a fair number of posting on Instagram. So it's dramikillen on those areas. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (36:23.016) Amazing. Well, thank you again so much for sharing your wisdom with us. We really appreciate you coming on. Amy Killen MD (36:28.802) Thank you, this was super fun. Have a good day. Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (36:30.614) And everyone, thank you so much for logging on today and listening or watching. I really encourage you to share this interview with anyone that you think would benefit, another woman in your life, a colleague, a friend, because all of this is meant to empower, as Dr. Amy said, and the more we share with each other, the more we can support each other. We're on our show notes at mysaloon.com. We will link directly to Dr. Amy's handles. website. So please check that out. We'll also link to other articles and shows I think you would enjoy. be back here in a few days. I'll also see you on Instagram at underscore Kimberly Snyder. Till then, take great care and sending you all so much love.

Summary In this conversation, Kimberly and Michael Hoeppner discuss the concept of the 'confidence trap' in communication, emphasizing that confidence can be fleeting and often leads to self-critique. He advocates for focusing on communication behaviors rather than chasing confidence, suggesting that this approach can lead to more effective speaking and personal development. About Michael Hoeppner Michael Hoeppner is the Founder and CEO of GK Training, a firm dedicated to giving individuals, companies, and organizations the communication skills to reach their highest goals in work and life. He has worked with some of the world’s most influential companies and leaders, across a wide range of industries, universities, and professional sectors. His corporate clients include: three of the top eight financial firms in the world, 45 of the AmLaw 100, and multinational tech, pharma, and food and beverage companies. He teaches his unique approach to communication at Columbia Business School, in both the MBA and PhD programs. Resources Website: michaelchadhoeppner.com Book: Don't Say Um: How to Communicate Effectively to Live a Better Life Company: GK Training Episode Sponsors  FATTY15 OFFER: Fatty15 is on a mission to replenish your C15 levels and restore your long-term health. You can get an additional 15% off their 90-day subscription Starter Kit by going to fatty15.com/KIMBERLY and using code KIMBERLY at checkout. SBO PROBIOTICS OFFER: Go to mysolluna.com and use the CODE: PODFAM15 for 15% off your entire order.  SOLLUNA PRODUCT LINKS Glowing Greens Powder Feel Good SBO Probiotics Feel Good Detoxy Feel Good Digestive Enzymes Feel Good Starter Kit Feel Good Skincare OTHER PODCASTS YOU MAY ENJOY! How to Believe in Your Self Worth with Jamie Kern Lima How to Raise Your Standards In Your Love Life with Matthew Hussey How to Eat to Beat Your Diet with New York Times best selling author Dr. William Li The issues with consuming vegetable and seed oils with Dr. Catherine Shanahan How the Power Foods Diet helps with Weight Loss with Dr. Neal Barnard How Not to Age with New York Times best-selling author Dr. Michael Greger How to eat to reduce anxiety with Harvard nutritional psychiatrist Dr. Uma Naidoo How to Optimize Your Metabolic Health with Dr. Casey Means