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Overcoming Tourette’s syndrome to help others with their mind, body, and spiritual walk · Cultural Wars | America Out Loud News

• 0:00
  Informed dissent, the intersection of healthcare and politics with Dr.
• 0:05
  Jeff Barkey, board certified primary care physician.
• 0:09
  And Dr.
• 0:10
  Mark McDonald, board certified child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist.
• 0:15
  All right.
• 0:16
  Welcome to another great episode of Informed Descent.
• 0:19
  I am once again flying solo.
• 0:21
  My co-host Mark McDonald is off in some faraway land.
• 0:25
  So while he's gone, I get to bring really interesting guests on the program.
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  And I got one for you today.
• 0:32
  And his name is Frank Tortorisi, Frank Tortarisi.
• 0:37
  It's a it's a mouthful.
• 0:38
  I'm not good at pronouncing names.
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  Frank, welcome to informed dissent.
• 0:43
  Thank you for having me.
• 0:44
  It's good to reconnect with you again.
• 0:45
  Absolutely.
• 0:46
  We did, I think it was maybe a year plus ago, maybe two years ago.
• 0:51
  Yeah.
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  It was an Instagram live or a Facebook.
• 0:54
  I don't really remember.
• 0:55
  Uh, and it got tons of views.
• 0:57
  And I was watching you recently.
• 1:00
  I'm like, ah, damn, I got to get that guy back on.
• 1:02
  He's doing some good stuff.
• 1:04
  So, first of all, you got a bunch of initials after your name.
• 1:06
  I'm not sure what they are.
• 1:08
  FDN and CFT.
• 1:10
  What's that?
• 1:11
  So functional diagnostic nutritionist.
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  It's a uh work that I've done through um Reed Davis, Dr.
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  Bill Wilcott.
• 1:19
  It's uh it's uh basically to help patients, clients, uh address stressors in their life, internal, external stressors.
• 1:27
  We do hormone testing, uh, gut microbiome, things of that nature.
• 1:31
  Uh, but I really try to focus more on the internal and external stressors.
• 1:35
  I mean, so many people are under such chronic stress, I'm sure as you know, in your line of work.
• 1:42
  Um, and I really try to get people to get more clarity on the um, how do you say the invisible stressors in their life, right?
• 1:51
  Everybody, when they think of stress, they think of bills, life, work, family.
• 1:56
  But what I try to get people to look at is what are you doing on a day-to-day basis that's causing stress internally with your food, supplements, your thoughts, lack of activity, uh, things of that nature.
• 2:08
  Because I think so many people, and I'm sure again, I think we can agree on this.
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  I think so many people, even when they think that they're eating, quote unquote healthy.
• 2:16
  Um, there, you know, it may not be what's right for their body type or what they need.
• 2:22
  Uh, right.
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  I know, like even for myself, uh, I was always the person that preached the holy grail of like everyone should be drinking a 32 ounce dark green juice every day and having a dark green salad every day.
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  And I lived like that.
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  I started doing that in June of 2000.
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  And it wasn't only until about five or six years ago that I really took the leap of faith after research of lectins and oxalates just to try it and see how my body responded.
• 2:48
  And it was like a night and day difference on just the inflammation that went down in my body.
• 2:53
  You mean you stop you stopped eating a lot of those vegetables, yeah, a lot of raw vegetables and so forth.
• 2:58
  Exactly.
• 2:59
  Yeah, better as a result.
• 3:01
  Oh, big time, better, less anxiety, uh, less inflammation.
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  Uh, it's just when I when I look at uh even just videos of myself from six, seven years ago, I just look so much more inflamed in my face, puffiness, you know.
• 3:15
  Uh so those are the things that I try to tell people.
• 3:18
  It's like on paper, it may be quote unquote a superfood, but it may not be the superfood for you.
• 3:23
  So that's that's really the work that I do as a functional diagnostic nutritionist.
• 3:27
  And the CFT is a certified fitness trainer.
• 3:29
  Uh, you know, I've been doing that since uh 1997, certified through the American Council of Exercise, uh, CrossFit as well.
• 3:36
  I've worked with that organization.
• 3:38
  Um, so you know, I try to combine um the mind, body, and soul for people because that's how I have to live.
• 3:45
  Uh, as I'm sure I know you know, but I don't know, obviously, there's probably a lot of new listeners, but I was uh vaccine injured when I was eight years old.
• 3:53
  So I've always had to be very health conscious throughout my life.
• 3:58
  Um, and you know, fitness was always a huge part.
• 4:01
  That's fitness is what brings me here, right?
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  Like that that was my that's how I got interested in health at such a young age.
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  I mean, I was 12, 13 years old.
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  That's when I really started exercising.
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  15, I did my first all natural bodybuilding contest.
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  So it's fitness has been a staple in my life.
• 4:18
  It's why I'm why I'm sane, I guess I'll say, you know.
• 4:23
  Um, so yeah, so I try to combine all of that, uh, the mind, body, soul, uh, with myself.
• 4:30
  Uh, everything that I teach is everything that I live.
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  I'm very, very much uh if I speak it, I live it.
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  I don't like to regurgitate out of books like uh that I think that it's a common thing with a lot of people in my line of work.
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  I really believe in living what you preach.
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  You practice what you preach.
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  Absolutely.
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  That's hard for a lot of people.
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  It it is.
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  It is.
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  Um, you know, I mean, funny that I'm wearing the shirt discipline.
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  I design the shirts discipline has no days off.
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  Uh, that's my slogan.
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  Um, it is hard for people, but you know, what I like to tell people is it's it's also hard being sick, you know.
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  And and we all have patterns and habits that we uh that we live by, right?
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  Whether you're living a discipline life or a lazy life, it's still a somewhat of a discipline to be lazy because you're following these patterns and habits every day.
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  We're all programmed, and that's what I try to tell people.
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  It's like rebooting the motherboard of the computer, if you will.
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  Um, I like to tell people when you work with me, you you gotta give me at least six to eight months to really brainwash you.
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  And I use that term jokingly, but I want to wash your brain.
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  I want to get you to see things differently.
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  I want, I want to break the patterns and habits.
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  If you're if you're sick, tired, weak, lethargic on, you know, four different types of meds for anxiety, depression, insomnia, whatever it may be.
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  There's there's a we have to take accountability into our actions, our patterns and habits as to maybe that's the reason why we got to this place.
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  So I really like to put the mirror in front of everybody's face because that's what I do to myself every day.
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  And I just think it's crucial for anybody that's interested in being healthy.
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  100%.
• 6:13
  Um what's the mechanism by which you work with people?
• 6:18
  Um, it's it's a step-by-step process, right?
• 6:21
  So I'm doing all virtual coaching.
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  Um, I do not, you know, most people come to me like, hey, do you have programs to sell?
• 6:28
  And I just find that in my line of work, that's a quick money grab because again, nothing is a one size fits all, right?
• 6:35
  Um, so what I tell people is like, you know, we start out by I have to meet you where you're at.
• 6:40
  So I really do a lot of intakes with with with potential clients, and then when I start working with them, I want to know about your patterns and habits.
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  I want to know about your health history, your family history, your home life, stress levels.
• 6:52
  And then I start taking that data, and I'll start trying to I use an app where they can plug in their uh MyFitness Pal and they start food logging.
• 7:00
  And they start food logging.
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  So I start there by really dissecting their patterns and habits with their food.
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  So I start there by really dissecting their patterns and habits with their food.
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  In the midst of that, we start doing workout sessions.
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  In the midst of that, we start doing workout sessions.
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  There's 60-minute workout Zoom sessions.
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  There's 60 minute workout Zoom sessions.
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  And you know, most people think like, oh God, I gotta bring a phone to a gym.
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  And you know, most people think, like, oh God, I got to bring a phone to a gym.
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  And that's not the case.
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  And that's not the case.
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  I mean, just to give everybody an idea, I have taught four to six hour seminars, literally just on body weight exercises.
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  I mean, just to give everybody an idea, I have taught four to six hour seminars, literally just on body weight exercises.
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  You'd be amazed at what you can do just with your body alone.
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  You'd be amazed at what you can do just with your body alone.
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  So a lot of my clients have bare essentials, a yoga mat, resistance bands, maybe some adjustable.
• 7:24
  So a lot of my clients have bare essentials, a yoga mat, resistance bands, maybe some adjustable dumbbells.
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  If they want a kettlebell or a medicine ball, like we're not, you know, my client is not trying to become a professional athlete.
• 7:37
  My company name is fit over farmer.
• 7:39
  So the goal here is to allow the client to live a life that's pharmaceutical free as best as possible.
• 7:45
  Um, so we we just like it's like peeling layers of the onion, right?
• 7:50
  We we we try, we we take those step-by-step process together of getting control of their patterns and habits.
• 7:57
  We do mindset coaching.
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  Why, you know, why are we doing and choosing the things that we're choosing to do every day?
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  Is there emotions behind that?
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  Are we emotional?
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  Are we doing things out of emotion?
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  Are we not sticking to our why?
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  That's a huge thing.
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  Most people, when they come to me, they're very motivated, they're very clear on what they want to accomplish by, you know, it's like that golden age saying, right about the gyms.
• 8:21
  You're you're you're a gym rat as well.
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  I see you posting videos of you working out.
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  What are the gyms look like in January compared to March?
• 8:28
  So true.
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  Right.
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  Right.
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  So that's that's where I have to keep people on track, and I have to bring them back to center.
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  Remember your why.
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  Why did you reach out to me in the first place?
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  You know, motivation is crap.
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  It's discipline that's going to really get you through those muddy waters.
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  We can all get motivated, motivated comes and goes, but discipline is a foundation.
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  And that's where I try to get people, not everybody's going to live like me.
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  Not everybody's going to live like you, but I try to meet people where they're at and get them to implement all of these philosophies that I've learned over the last 26 years of my life and studied.
• 9:06
  How do we piece this together to work for you?
• 9:09
  You are an individual.
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  So there's no to answer your question, there's no um strict guideline that I follow.
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  It's all about talking with the client, getting to know them.
• 9:22
  We do weekly, you know, two to three hours, two to three hours a week of talking with one another, workouts, the food coaching, the mindset coaching, the faith coaching is another huge part of what I do.
• 9:33
  Um, and then we just start fine-tuning it, fine-tuning it.
• 9:36
  I always tell the client, if if after six to eight months you feel like you still need me, then I haven't really completely have done my job.
• 9:45
  Now, there are a lot of people that I have clients that I've had for 12, 15 years till this day.
• 9:50
  And those are the people that tell me, like, Frank, if I did not have I I can do a lot of this stuff, but I know on a lot of days, if I did not have the appointment to do this workout with you, I just would not do it.
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  I'm not wired for that.
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  And that's okay.
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  I mean, there are the and these are people that are successful, entrepreneurs, business owners.
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  We all have our strengths and our weaknesses.
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  And that's what I try to get people to realize.
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  I mean, I've had coaches through my life, mindset coaches, faith-based coaches, like we all we all need a mentor in our life at some point, no matter who we are.
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  And I don't care how successful you are or how many accolades you have or what your resume says, um, we all have our strengths and our weaknesses.
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  And I think it takes a humble uh evolved person to recognize their strengths and their weaknesses and where their weaknesses are.
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  Try to see how you can fill in those gaps.
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  And if it requires you relying on somebody, that's okay because we all have to rely on someone at some point.
• 10:44
  It's hard to do everything on our own.
• 10:47
  Absolutely.
• 10:48
  So your sessions are all virtual, correct, like a Zoom type they're all, yeah, everything's done on Zoom.
• 10:54
  That's correct.
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  Yep.
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  So a a client can really be anywhere in the world or anywhere in the country.
• 10:59
  Anywhere, anywhere.
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  And that's and that's the beauty of it.
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  Because a lot of my clients, again, they're business owners, they travel.
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  Um, so nothing breaks up our momentum unless the client really is just like, look, I'm going away for a week with the family.
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  I just want a break.
• 11:12
  Cool.
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  But they're believe me, there are plenty that still, I mean, even if you're on family vacation, what's an hour out of your 24 hour day to like get a workout in?
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  Or if you're, you know, just get your mind right while you're on vacation because maybe you're with groups of other people.
• 11:26
  And like I just had a client recently, we did some coaching while they were away for Easter because she's really trying to cut the wine out.
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  And now that she's on vacation with her husband, her kid, they're went with other couples, the temptation was coming up.
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  So, you know, we that's a big thing that I try to focus on is the mindset coaching again, back to the why.
• 11:46
  We we all lose sight of our why.
• 11:48
  Why did we start this in the first place?
• 11:50
  So, so yeah, my clients are all over the world.
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  I'm juggling all different time zones.
• 11:54
  Uh, but you know, it's it's it's much better than what I was doing pre-COVID.
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  Pre-COVID, I was doing everything in person, client to client, showing up at their homes.
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  And this is just a much more effective way that I can do things.
• 12:09
  And and and I'm able to, you know, as as I'm sure you with your line of work, we're able to touch so much more people than just face to face, you know.
• 12:18
  That's one of the reasons why I started going on social media because I have a limited bandwidth to physically take care of patients in my brick and mortar's office.
• 12:27
  And so I wanted to be able to reach an influence a far broader audience.
• 12:32
  You mentioned I go to the gym.
• 12:34
  I do, and I think it's important for almost anyone with rare exception to have a trainer and a coach that helps them for a couple of reasons.
• 12:44
  One, if I'm paying somebody, I'm more likely gonna show up.
• 12:48
  It's not the motivation of me waking up in the morning feeling great about going to the gym.
• 12:52
  It's that I've paid for this session.
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  The trainer is counting on me being there, and so I'm more likely to actually go.
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  The second is, you know, I'm an old guy now in my 60s.
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  I don't really want to get hurt.
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  And I know when I'm working out, especially lifting weights.
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  If I have a coach there, they're watching me.
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  They can look at my form, they can correct me so I'm not doing anything stupid.
• 13:16
  And then, equally important, I never get as good of a workout if I'm working out on my own as I do with a coach who's pushing me to work a little harder, sees potential in me.
• 13:26
  Maybe that my natural laziness would go, I don't, I don't feel like doing another set.
• 13:32
  And so I've never tried to do a workout virtually.
• 13:36
  I imagine there are some unique challenges with doing that.
• 13:40
  Uh, you're right, you don't need to go to a gym to get a great workout.
• 13:43
  I've got a few dumbbells, kettlebells in my office, a TR TRX strap that I love.
• 13:48
  So, in between workouts, I will do that.
• 13:51
  Uh, what are some of the challenges you find with managing a virtual client and and uh online uh schedule?
• 13:58
  I have to be honest with you.
• 14:00
  Um, I don't, I don't I don't see any challenges.
• 14:00
  Um, I don't, I don't, I don't see any challenges.
• 14:02
  I mean, I again you're you're talking to somebody.
• 14:02
  I mean, I again you're you're talking to somebody, I've been training people since 1997.
• 14:04
  I've been training people since 1997.
• 14:07
  So it's all about how you communicate with the client, right?
• 14:07
  So it's all about how you communicate with the client, right?
• 14:11
  If I'm in person, yeah, I can grab your shoulders, be like, all right, you know, stand up tall, but but it's all the same, the same instruction virtually, right?
• 14:11
  If I'm in person, yeah, I can grab your shoulders, be like, all right, you know, stand up tall, but but it's all the same, the same instruction virtually, right?
• 14:20
  Like I know, I know the human body, how it's supposed to function.
• 14:20
  Like I know I know the human body, how it's supposed to function.
• 14:23
  So, you know, and that's and I'm glad you brought that up because I'm I'm predicting that my line of
• 14:23
  So, you know, and that's and I'm glad you brought that up because I'm I'm predicting that my line of work, the fitness industry, where us people that coach people from a fitness level, we're going to see a boom, a surge of people looking for trainers more because right now, so many people are trying to do it on their own.
• 14:44
  So many people are going to Chat GPT and having Chat GPT write workouts for them.
• 14:48
  But to your point, um, we don't want to get injured.
• 14:51
  That's the whole point.
• 14:52
  I want to kick your ass in a workout.
• 14:54
  I want you to have muscle soreness, but I don't want you to be crippled the next day with joint pain, shoulder pain, elbow pain, knee pain.
• 15:01
  That's not what we want.
• 15:02
  And working out is all about angles, right?
• 15:05
  Like, here's the best analogy because I'm sitting here.
• 15:07
  But it's like a person who's doing a bicep curl.
• 15:10
  What happens when we do the bicep curl?
• 15:12
  As a person gets fatigued, they start swinging.
• 15:14
  They start swinging, the elbows come up.
• 15:17
  Sometimes the traps come up.
• 15:19
  And don't you know?
• 15:20
  Like sometimes you see people they're they they look fit, but when they're standing, they're they're kind of like this.
• 15:24
  They're posture, right?
• 15:26
  They're very trap dominant.
• 15:27
  Chest is concave.
• 15:29
  Like, you know, if I'm training you and we're doing bicep curls, all right, Dr.
• 15:31
  Bargay, like stand up, chest upright, shoulders back, elbows above the hips, squeeze the biceps.
• 15:38
  I want you to grab those dumbbells and grip them tight as if you're trying to bend them with your grip.
• 15:42
  So we're activating the forearms, the bicep tendons, not that you're just doing the curl.
• 15:47
  And then I coach them, empty your mind, focus your mind to your muscles, squeeze that muscle.
• 15:52
  I want you to squeeze your tricep as well as you're doing that bicep curl, activate everything.
• 15:56
  So I I don't experience any, you know, I had a point in my career where I was training a couple of amateur boxers that were turning pro.
• 16:05
  That's a different story, right?
• 16:08
  But for people who are my demographic of people who are interested in longevity, uh living a life fit over pharma.
• 16:15
  Um, it's it's you know, I don't have to be there in person in the flesh.
• 16:19
  Like we're accomplishing everything that I was accomplishing in person for those types of clients, as I'm doing virtually now, because I can see everything.
• 16:27
  When we, if they have their tablet or their phone, I can see them from head to toe.
• 16:31
  I have them stand sideways on certain movements.
• 16:34
  Let me see your form.
• 16:34
  I want to see your spine, your shoulders, your neck, your your chin up.
• 16:38
  Like, so it's all a matter of just coaching them through every movement.
• 16:42
  Of course, I can't spot them, but again, I'm not, I don't advocate ego lifting.
• 16:48
  And what I mean by that, even for myself, uh, I'll be I'll be 48 this July.
• 16:53
  So I'm in that same mindset.
• 16:55
  I don't want to get injured.
• 16:56
  And I've been like this for a long time because I've been into longevity for a long time.
• 16:59
  The whole meathead mentality in me went away a long time ago when I was when I was a kid.
• 17:05
  Um, so I still like to say I'm all about volume when I'm training.
• 17:09
  I do not ego lift, I do not lift heavy, right?
• 17:13
  So for me myself, and this is what I try to get clients up to par with.
• 17:17
  I'll have one week where each body part, I'm hitting 200 reps per body part, the next week 300 reps, the next week 400 reps, sometimes 500 reps, and then I cycle back down.
• 17:28
  Obviously, on those 200 rep days, I'm going a little heavier, but I'm still doing sets of 25.
• 17:34
  Like I believe in high volume.
• 17:36
  I want a body that's functioning.
• 17:38
  I don't want to fatigue right away.
• 17:40
  A lot of the the ego lifting power lifters, there's no endurance in their muscle tissue because they're just lifting one rep, three rep maxes, which is great for strength.
• 17:49
  But again, that's not my that's not my client.
• 17:52
  That's not my passion.
• 17:53
  My passion is to for you to call me be like, hey, Frank, I just went on a hike with friends and I killed it.
• 17:58
  Like my family and I went kayaking and I couldn't believe how much my arms they didn't fatigue.
• 18:03
  I had endurance.
• 18:04
  Like I'm about lifestyle.
• 18:06
  So again, if I was training somebody for strength, of course I'd have to be there to spot them if they're trying to go for like a one rep max or a three rep max, right?
• 18:16
  But when we're talking bodyweight exercises, kettlebells, fluid movements, flexibility, mobility, strength training at the same time, functional movements, it's it's it works whether it's in person or or on Zoom.
• 18:28
  There's no issues whatsoever.
• 18:30
  Your sessions are one hour and how do you typically recommend somebody work with you?
• 18:36
  I tell everybody, you know, uh anywhere from two to four days a week to meet with me.
• 18:41
  And then, you know, they have to fill in the gaps a little bit.
• 18:43
  Obviously, recovery is very important as well.
• 18:45
  So even there are there, I do have a few clients that they just like to be active seven days a week.
• 18:51
  And that's fine.
• 18:51
  So if they're working with me three, you know, two, three, four days a week on those other days, some, you know, maybe some yoga, gyrotonics, pilates, but you have to focus on the recovery because one that's the one thing that I try to get to people's mindset too.
• 19:07
  It's like when we're doing any kind of, you know, body weight training, resist any form of resistance training.
• 19:13
  The reason why the muscle fatigues is because we're tearing muscle tissue.
• 19:17
  That's what we're doing when we're working out is we're tearing into those muscle fibers, lactic acid is building up.
• 19:22
  So if you do not put the proper nutrition in after and give it adequate time to recover before you hit that again, you're not going to see those results that you're looking for either.
• 19:31
  You're going to overtrain.
• 19:33
  So, so there's there's a there's a uh happy medium with it all.
• 19:37
  So I train people anywhere from two to four days per week.
• 19:41
  And then on the other days, some some clients just hit those three or four days with me, and then the other days they're just resting, maybe stretching, doing some, you know, compression boots, they do ice bats, they do infrared saunas.
• 19:52
  Like I, you know, we try to again not everyone's the same.
• 19:56
  I know, even for me myself, I train four to five days a week, and I need a good two to three days a week of just complete rest because again, I'm hitting high volume, right?
• 20:05
  Um, but then there's also the other protocols of reducing the inflammation with the ice bats, which I'm a huge advocate of cold, deliberate cold exposure, long periods of fasting, reducing inflammation.
• 20:15
  So there's all these different types of techniques that I try to mold towards you, the individual of how it works for your lifestyle, your workflow, your family flow, and just how you want to live your life.
• 20:26
  You mentioned your online profile is fit over pharma.
• 20:30
  How long have you had that name?
• 20:32
  How'd you come up with it?
• 20:33
  That's funny, you know.
• 20:35
  Um, that's a newer name, actually.
• 20:36
  That hit me like about two and a half years ago.
• 20:39
  Uh, I was just I was working out one day, and you know, I'm always trying to come up with content, right?
• 20:45
  You know, as you were content creators as well, you know, and I was doing an L sit, um, which is just like a gymnast move.
• 20:53
  You're on the bars and your body's literally like an L.
• 20:55
  It's an ab exercise.
• 20:57
  Um, and I don't know.
• 20:58
  I just I heard that in my head.
• 21:00
  My head.
• 21:00
  I don't know what it was.
• 21:00
  I don't know what it was.
• 21:01
  You know, I'm working out, and whenever I work out, I'm listening to more like praise music or just you know, sermons or just I'm going to a meditative space.
• 21:01
  You know, I'm working out, and whenever I work out, I'm listening to more like praise music or just you know, sermons, or just I'm going to a meditative space, and you know, we all have mental chatter, right?
• 21:10
  And, you know, we all have mental chatter, right?
• 21:13
  And I was literally just doing an L sit and I heard the words fit over pharma in my head and I wrote it down right away.
• 21:13
  And I was literally just doing an L Cit and I heard the words fit over pharma in my head, and I wrote it down right away.
• 21:18
  And I just kind of sat on it for a little bit because prior to that, it was just my name.
• 21:18
  And I just kind of sat on it for a little bit because prior to that, it was just my name, Frank Tortarici.com was my website, and that's just what I went by, just my name.
• 21:22
  Frank Tortoricci.com was my website, and that's just what I went by, just my name.
• 21:27
  And then I heard that, and I just started playing with it.
• 21:27
  And then I heard that and I just started playing with it and I and I
• 21:29
  And I and I love like, you know, I'm a trainer, so you know, you think of it a person who's fit over pharma.
• 21:35
  But I really saw it as how do I get people to fit themselves?
• 21:40
  I saw like a like a uh uh an illustration in my head of like a person fitting like at the top of a pyramid over pharma not being under pharmaceuticals, kind of like I saw that in my head, and that's just kind of an I marinated on that for a little bit, and I was like, you know what?
• 21:56
  I'm going with that.
• 21:57
  I like it.
• 21:57
  And I ran it by some people, and they thought it was catchy and they liked the play on the words of the fit over pharma and uh that the rest is history.
• 22:05
  I read a uh statistic recently that uh about 70% of the US population are on at least one prescription drug, and the older you get the more.
• 22:18
  And something like the average the uh the average number of drugs that a six-year-old is on is like four or five or something ridiculous like that.
• 22:29
  It's tragic.
• 22:30
  It's tragic.
• 22:31
  You know, I mean it is why how have we how have we successfully taught a generation that the answer to that which ails them is a prescription drug?
• 22:42
  Well, you know, again, coming up from my health history of Tourette syndrome, I had a lot of medication shoved down my throat as a kid, and I never felt good on them.
• 22:52
  I never ever felt good on them.
• 22:54
  And I knew that there was something wrong about that.
• 22:57
  And then once I started going down the rabbit hole of what you know, health and how miraculous the human body is and how it can heal if you give give it what it needs and what it can do.
• 23:07
  I mean, I still suffer from Tourette syndrome.
• 23:09
  You'll see me looking off and my neck and all that, but it's not like what I was when I was a child.
• 23:15
  Um, so why that is it's programming.
• 23:19
  I mean, that's why people like you need to be protected at all costs by any means necessary, because people with an M and D at the end of their name to speak the way that you speak and do what you do.
• 23:28
  You are you are a disciple of of God.
• 23:30
  You are you are you are leading the charge when it comes to that.
• 23:33
  So I I applaud people like you that do what you do.
• 23:35
  We I just wish there was more of you.
• 23:38
  Well, thank you.
• 23:38
  You're you're very sweet, but you know, the reality is the MD degree gives me a level of credibility in the public.
• 23:45
  Uh the MD degree is not representative of a level of knowledge in any way, shape, or form.
• 23:53
  I've had to relearn almost everything I've learned in medical school to be able to speak the way I do to patients and on social media.
• 24:00
  It has nothing to do with the MD degree.
• 24:02
  The degree just simply opens doors that might not otherwise be open, but it certainly did not train me to uh to learn the knowledge that I know now.
• 24:11
  I've had to relearn it from people like you and others.
• 24:14
  You know, it's interesting.
• 24:15
  I I didn't even know what Instagram was not too many years ago, and now there are some incredible health influencers on Instagram that I learned from and help me do research and go down rabbit holes to explore things that I otherwise wouldn't know.
• 24:32
  Yeah.
• 24:33
  Yeah, and that's exactly.
• 24:35
  And that's that to answer your question.
• 24:37
  That's where we've gone wrong, right?
• 24:39
  There's so many people in the medical field that take this egotistical stance though, like what they learned in medical school as being the holy grail.
• 24:47
  And you know, let's let's let's face it.
• 24:50
  I mean, the medical, the studies, the things that are in the medical books.
• 24:54
  I mean, who's funding a lot of those studies?
• 24:56
  Where is that all coming from?
• 24:57
  And who's that coming through?
• 24:59
  So if you if you I just look at it like people like you are truly passionate about health, which is why, like, like you said, you had to unlearn and and then learn, right?
• 25:10
  Whereas I think a lot of people just do this for a job, right?
• 25:14
  It's it's it's they they their learning stops after they're done with medical school, and they just stay stuck in this archaic way of thinking.
• 25:21
  And people like you are a gem, you know what I mean?
• 25:24
  Diamond in the rough that that continue to learn and keep your ear to the to the source of the pulse of everything, you know.
• 25:29
  Well, well, thank you.
• 25:30
  We could probably talk for hours uh about what the work it is that you do and and that I do.
• 25:34
  We're gonna take a quick break.
• 25:36
  And uh, when we come back, a few things I want to talk about, Frank.
• 25:40
  I want to talk about the role of peptides.
• 25:42
  You mentioned cold plunges.
• 25:44
  What do you think about that?
• 25:45
  Saunas, you talked earlier when you opened about that.
• 25:49
  You order labs.
• 25:50
  Uh, and then I also want to talk to you about the role of supplements.
• 25:54
  So we'll be back in just a minute.
• 25:55
  Cool.
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• 28:14
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• 28:14
  Well, did you see Google quietly updated its AI principles removing its pledge not to use AI for weapons or surveillance?
• 28:24
  A promise they agreed to in 2018.
• 28:24
  A promise they agreed to in 2018.
• 28:26
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• 28:26
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• 28:39
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• 28:55
  All right.
• 28:56
  We are back with Frank Tortoicie.
• 28:59
  Uh, he is a functional uh diagnostic nutrition certified person, FDN, as well as a trainer, does all his work virtually.
• 29:11
  You can find him at fit over pharma on Instagram and on Facebook.
• 29:17
  And we're talking all things health and uh, et cetera.
• 29:20
  You mentioned something to me, uh, Frank, that arguably is and not arguably, I think is more important than going to the gym and pumping iron and exercising and so forth, and that is having mental fitness.
• 29:34
  Correct.
• 29:35
  Uh, I went to a yoga class not long ago, and uh the yoga instructor said something like, you can't have a healthy body without a healthy mind.
• 29:45
  And you mentioned you help train people how to get their mind fit as well as their body fit.
• 29:52
  How do you do that?
• 29:54
  Um, well, how do I do that?
• 29:58
  You know, in my in my line of work, uh you you get to know people on such a personal level, right?
• 30:04
  Um, you get to know their doubts, their fears, their worries, their strengths, their weaknesses.
• 30:09
  Um, so there has to be that level of trust.
• 30:12
  I think that's where it starts.
• 30:13
  So that's how I'm able to do that.
• 30:14
  And I think you can understand this too, doing what you do.
• 30:19
  Because we put ourselves out there and we put out video content and we're talking all the time.
• 30:23
  When people reach out to us, I think there's that barrier that's been broken where they feel like they know us already.
• 30:28
  I mean, how many times have you heard that from somebody, right?
• 30:30
  Like, I feel like I know you already, right?
• 30:31
  Well, they do actually.
• 30:32
  They do know I don't know them, but they know me.
• 30:34
  I try to be as authentic as I can.
• 30:36
  Exactly.
• 30:37
  Exactly.
• 30:38
  So that that sets the tone right there.
• 30:40
  That's like the foundational work of it.
• 30:42
  Uh, you have to have that trust, right?
• 30:44
  Um, and then I'm just real with people.
• 30:48
  Uh, I I, you know, as as a person that lives with Tourette syndrome, there's a lot of emotional highs and lows in my life.
• 30:55
  Like what, you know, I'm I'm I'm pretty authentic in that sense.
• 30:59
  I try to make it clear to people that I'm not this uh this uh God realized individual who has no issues.
• 31:06
  I have a lot of I you know, I deal I deal with my demons, let's put it that way.
• 31:10
  And I think anyone who says that they don't deal with things is not being authentic because we're all human, we're all human beings, and we all have emotional highs and lows, and I deal with my crap, believe me.
• 31:21
  Yes, uh, so be because of that, um I I feel like people feel comfortable with opening up to me.
• 31:29
  And then that's the work that we do because you know, growing up with Tourette syndrome and living with it, there's always a lot of mental chatter.
• 31:38
  You're not good enough, like you can't do that.
• 31:39
  That's the that's the Tourette mine.
• 31:41
  And then there's my true self of like everything's possible, like I can do this.
• 31:46
  Like, how you know, that's a whole analogy, right?
• 31:48
  The devil and the angel on the shoulder, right?
• 31:50
  We see those illustrations, right?
• 31:52
  We all have for me, my devil is the Tourette's, right?
• 31:54
  It's it's it's it's the voice that that just tries to tear me down.
• 31:58
  You're not good enough.
• 31:59
  You know, there's a lot of days I'm in a lot of physical pain.
• 32:01
  If I'm sitting here doing a lot of talking, working, uh, you know, there's there's a lot of physical distress with Tourette.
• 32:07
  So it causes it, it can cause you to go down into that hole for yourself.
• 32:12
  So because I'm in constantly fight mode with with things like that, that's what gives me the ability to help.
• 32:19
  I feel help other people.
• 32:20
  And because I've been doing this for nearly three decades, I feel like I understand people at such a level when they speak to me.
• 32:27
  I can start to like make sense.
• 32:29
  I can go there.
• 32:30
  I mean, there was a period in my life when I was living in Los Angeles, I dabbled with acting and did method method acting.
• 32:36
  So I can go there.
• 32:38
  Like I have the ability to hear, hear people kind of step into their space and and and try to navigate through that.
• 32:46
  And I'm and I'm constantly learning, right?
• 32:47
  Like I said, I'm always reading self-help book, listening to it, my faith in Christ.
• 32:53
  Um, I'm I'm I'm always aware of this of all this that's going on.
• 32:59
  So because of that, I'm always a work in progress, right?
• 33:02
  I know like I think, you know, I as you I think I get that vibe from you.
• 33:06
  Like I when it comes to like your health and you know, your faith, like we've spoke a little bit, it's a never-ending process, right?
• 33:13
  You're never like, okay, I got this now.
• 33:15
  I don't need to, I don't need to, I don't need to study any more of this anymore.
• 33:17
  Right.
• 33:17
  Yeah.
• 33:18
  Yeah.
• 33:18
  I I know everything now.
• 33:20
  I'm done.
• 33:21
  Yeah.
• 33:21
  Yeah.
• 33:22
  Um, I'm I'm I'm humble in that in that sense that like I'm always a student first.
• 33:26
  And because I'm always a student, that enables me to help people more and touch people more and get to work with them on a deeper rooted level because I'm always in the trenches with myself.
• 33:37
  And because of that, I can go into the trenches with you.
• 33:40
  I'm a big believer in that saying in when we choose things that are hard in our day-to-day basis, our life becomes easier.
• 33:52
  And if we choose any, if we choose to do things that are easy all the time and we just don't want to deal, then when life throws us a curveball, it's gonna crush us.
• 33:59
  So I'm a big believer in like it's it's like it's like a muscle.
• 34:03
  We gotta just keep strengthening, strengthening, strengthening.
• 34:06
  So we have to be able to like look at our crap.
• 34:08
  We have to be able to do that 6 a.m.
• 34:11
  workout.
• 34:12
  We have to be willing to go into an ice bath.
• 34:14
  We have to be willing to fast for long periods of time.
• 34:17
  We must feel uncomfortable situations in our life in order to be able to overcome them for ourselves, but in the and also in what I do, I feel like that helps me to understand and relate to other people as well.
• 34:30
  And that's how I'm able to really help get into their psyche and help them to become a better version of themselves.
• 34:36
  What role has your faith played in both your recovery from Tourette's and the work you do with clients?
• 34:43
  It's it's it's everything.
• 34:45
  I mean, um, you know, there's always emotional highs and lows with life, especially when you're self-employed and I'm a husband and I'm a father, and there's there's there's there's uh there's responsibilities, there's challenges.
• 34:58
  And you know, I was I was raised Catholic uh through my childhood, but then through my teenage years and into my 20s and 30s, I really went through the um just spirituality, quantum physics.
• 35:00
  I was raised Catholic through my childhood.
• 35:04
  But then through my teenage years and into my 20s and 30s, I really went through the um just spirituality, quantum physics.
• 35:13
  I was really into like, you know, uh, when I was 16 years old, I had a friend who was was was a was actually from Taiwan.
• 35:13
  I was really into like, you know, uh, when I was 16 years old, I had a friend who was was was a was actually from Taiwan.
• 35:19
  He was a Buddhist, started giving me books on Buddhism.
• 35:19
  He was a Buddhist, started giving me books on Buddhism.
• 35:22
  So I just really started diving into more of the self help and coming into self, stilling the mind, meditation.
• 35:22
  So I just really started diving into more of the self-help and coming into self, stilling the mind, meditation.
• 35:29
  Um,
• 35:29
  Um, but my wife, who is a Christian, uh, I met her in 2008, and she always said to me that like, you know, um, she never forced it on me, but she always made it like she always said that she wanted she feels like her mission was to bring me back to Christ, no matter what.
• 35:46
  Like it was her mission.
• 35:48
  Uh-huh.
• 35:48
  Um, so since 2008, it's been a slow progression, but I have to say it was during COVID.
• 35:56
  Uh I remember this, like it was yesterday.
• 35:58
  It was during COVID.
• 35:59
  We were still living in Los Angeles, all the gyms were closed down.
• 36:02
  I was working out in the garage.
• 36:04
  And again, I'm listening at this point.
• 36:07
  I'm listening to to faith-based stuff.
• 36:10
  Um, and I just like had this like download of like, wow, like because in the spiritual world, there's no recognition of darkness versus light.
• 36:21
  It's all about like your true self and your ego.
• 36:25
  Okay, like with with like the self-help, you know, when you read like a big uh I still listen to him too is uh Reverend Michael Beckwith, he's the founder of the Agape Spiritual Center.
• 36:35
  He actually christened my son.
• 36:36
  So I I still like I love Reverend Michael's teachings because he he it's non-denominational.
• 36:42
  So he'll he mainly pulls from like the Bible, but then he'll preach, you know, pull stuff from the Quran and and the you know, all different there's there's all kinds of people worshiping there, which is a beautiful thing.
• 36:54
  But what I realized during COVID, what brought me back full center to to Christ.
• 37:00
  Um, and then I was recently baptized uh last July on my birthday.
• 37:04
  Me, my son and I were baptized together on my birthday.
• 37:08
  Beautiful.
• 37:08
  Um together, which was which was which was amazing.
• 37:12
  But what I realized baptized just a couple of weeks ago.
• 37:15
  Ah, really?
• 37:16
  Yeah.
• 37:17
  Awesome.
• 37:18
  That's amazing.
• 37:19
  That's amazing.
• 37:20
  Congrats.
• 37:21
  Um so what I realized during COVID was like, wow, this really is like darkness versus light right now.
• 37:30
  Like we are living in times where if we don't recognize the darkness, like this is dark.
• 37:37
  Like this is when like everything was shutting and LA was getting like turning into Gotham City by the millisecond, you know.
• 37:45
  Um, and then you know, that that was it, right?
• 37:49
  Like March, that was like March 2020.
• 37:51
  By July 2020, we were out of there.
• 37:53
  Like we we rented out our house, we got out of there, eventually we sold it.
• 37:57
  Um, but it was through that process of 2020, 2021, 2022, where I really just started like getting more and more and and what I just found and what I tell people, because I'm not I'm not a religious person.
• 38:10
  There's a lot of things within the religion of Christianity say that like I don't agree with.
• 38:15
  Um, but when it comes to the the spirit of Jesus Christ and like his presence when I call on it and like I I feel his presence that that power, it's it's it's a power that's like no other, and like it it brings me to tears.
• 38:30
  I get goosebumps, you know, and I really connect to that.
• 38:33
  I heard a pastor at Mariner's church where I go to in Irvine here in Southern California say, and I'm paraphrasing the goal here of Christianity is not to have a relationship with the church or even your pastor.
• 38:46
  The goal of Christianity is for you as an individual to have a relationship with God.
• 38:51
  I thought that was really powerful.
• 38:53
  Not that I don't like going to church, I do.
• 38:55
  Not that I don't like the worship music at church, it's great.
• 38:59
  Not that I don't think our pastor is a very gifted speaker and teacher.
• 39:03
  He is uh, but my role, my job is not to develop that relationship at the exclusion of the most important relationship, and that's my relationship, my direct relationship with God.
• 39:16
  He wants a personal relationship with each one of us.
• 39:19
  And if it's helpful going to a church and learning from a pastor, so be it.
• 39:24
  But that's not the goal.
• 39:26
  No, and and you know, like I try to, you know, my son, you know, he's gonna be eight in July.
• 39:32
  So he's at a point now where I mean I've always tried to speak to him like an adult, you know, like I've always tried to do that.
• 39:38
  And my wife too, we always tried to be very aware of that.
• 39:41
  But it's it's it's about the practicing, right?
• 39:45
  Like, I know so many people that can quote every Bible scripture under the sun, and then you look at some of their look, we're all flawed.
• 39:51
  I'm I I do things that I shouldn't do at times too.
• 39:54
  We're humans.
• 39:55
  Uh, but that's to me, that's what it's all about.
• 39:58
  Every day is church, right?
• 40:00
  Every day is the opportunity uh to to express our our our our highest version of ourself, and even during times like this, um, you know it it's such it we're we're in such tribal times, right?
• 40:15
  Uh, my team versus yours.
• 40:17
  We think this, you think that red team versus blue team.
• 40:21
  And because I have no political party affiliation, um, I just feel like it's it's it's it's it's a goal of mine to and that's what I liked about Charlie Kirk's work.
• 40:33
  I just want to have dialogue with people.
• 40:35
  I don't care who you are, like the day we stop having dialogue is is when we self-destruct as a as as a human species.
• 40:42
  You know, talk you talk about that a lot.
• 40:44
  You have your own podcast called the uh un what's it called The Overstood Human Podcast.
• 40:49
  The overstood human podcast.
• 40:52
  Yeah.
• 40:52
  How do people find that?
• 40:53
  You're on I think that's on Spotify, YouTube, Rumble, and X.
• 40:58
  The understood human podcast, overstood.
• 41:01
  The overstood human podcast.
• 41:02
  Yeah, very good.
• 41:03
  I I love the work you do.
• 41:05
  And in the show notes, we're gonna post links to your Instagram, Facebook, website, podcast while I'm thinking about it.
• 41:13
  Please, you know, text or email that to me, and I will uh I will send that to our engineers uh along with that.
• 41:19
  You had mentioned a little bit ago, you talked a few times about ice bass cold plunges.
• 41:24
  Yep.
• 41:24
  Uh how do you do that and what role do you think it plays?
• 41:28
  And do you think it's equally good for men as it is for women?
• 41:33
  I think nothing is a one-size-fits-all to answer that part.
• 41:37
  I do know a lot of women that thrive with ice baths.
• 41:41
  And you know, there's there's not nothing is equal.
• 41:44
  Let's just put it that way.
• 41:45
  Okay.
• 41:46
  Um it could be it could be good for some and and not good for others.
• 41:51
  And when it's not good for others, I just what I've seen over my years of coaching people with it, it's because they haven't trained their body for that kind of stress yet.
• 42:00
  Of stress yet.
• 42:00
  You can't just jump into like my my ice bath is set it.
• 42:01
  You can't just jump into like my my ice bath is set at I have a Morosco forge, um, which you know, not a shameless plug in, but they by far the best ice baths.
• 42:04
  I have a Morasco Forge, um, which you know, not a shameless plug in, but they by far the best ice baths.
• 42:11
  Anyone looking for ice baths, they are like the Rolls Royce of ice baths.
• 42:11
  Anyone looking for ice baths, they are like the Rolls Royce of ice baths.
• 42:14
  I live in the desert.
• 42:14
  I live in the desert.
• 42:15
  We hit 115 degrees, and that thing sits comfortably at 32 degrees all year round.
• 42:15
  We hit 115 degrees, and that thing sits comfortably at 32 degrees all year round.
• 42:19
  32 is what you is already going.
• 42:19
  32 is what you is already going.
• 42:22
  Yeah.
• 42:22
  Yeah, so you know, my feeling about uh cold plunges, and I think it can be an effective tool for many, not all, is that it's not the first tool.
• 42:22
  So you know, my feeling about uh cold plunges, and I think it can be an effective tool for many, not all, is that it's not the first tool.
• 42:30
  If you're not eating healthy and you're not working out, and you're not taking care of yourself, and you think hopping in a cold plunge is going to be an answer for you.
• 42:38
  I I think you're mistaken.
• 42:39
  If you're doing a lot of the foundational things and you want to take it to the next level and reducing inflammation and so forth, then I think a cold plunge can be an effective tool.
• 42:49
  Absolutely 100%.
• 42:50
  And that's that's where things like that get a bad rap is you have all these weekend warriors that just try these things, and then they may have a bad exposure.
• 42:58
  I did cold showers for a good at least two and a half years before I even attempted to go into like cold, cold water where I saw even like not even ice in it, just like maybe 40 degree water, you know, let alone 32, you know.
• 43:13
  Like you gotta how cold is a cold shower.
• 43:15
  I don't even know.
• 43:16
  Maybe I don't even know, but I mean, you know, it it was cold.
• 43:20
  I I love hot, hot showers.
• 43:22
  So that's what I always coach people on.
• 43:23
  Take hot showers as hot as you can stand, then turn that diet, you know, just do the contrast, right?
• 43:27
  Start getting acclimated to that.
• 43:29
  Here's the thing.
• 43:30
  Um, and and the the um his name is Dr.
• 43:34
  Tom Seeger, he's a PhD, he's the head of this Morosco Forge.
• 43:37
  They uh they have a great website, they have he has a blog on there.
• 43:41
  Um you I think you'd find interesting, he's a brilliant mind.
• 43:44
  I think you'd find a lot of interest in speaking with him too because he has a lot of knowledge on this.
• 43:47
  They do a lot of studies on it.
• 43:50
  Um but what they have found testosterone gets a pretty significant spike when you pre-cool, when you do an ice bath before you work out now.
• 44:02
  For for the longest time, right?
• 44:04
  Ice baths have been used by athletes for recovery post training.
• 44:08
  Yes, now, which is good to reduce the inflammation, but if we're looking to build lean muscle mass, um, there's a lot of uh it's just a night and day experience when you pre-cool.
• 44:22
  I I can't drink any pre-workout stuff because of the tourette's.
• 44:25
  I cannot have caffeine.
• 44:26
  Caffeine is like the devil to me.
• 44:28
  I can't go anywhere near it.
• 44:30
  So I do a I do about a three and a half minute ice bath.
• 44:34
  I work out at home.
• 44:35
  I have a whole home gym in my garage that I built.
• 44:38
  So I literally ice bath, get out, dry off right into my workout.
• 44:42
  The difference you feel, because again, of course, you're of course your cortisol levels are are raised coming out of an ice bath, but the the endurance that you feel in the muscle tissue when exercising after an ice bath is phenomenal.
• 44:56
  And I've played with it, where like I did a few workouts where I did not do the ice bath pre-workout, and it was it was it was just a night and day difference on what you feel.
• 45:08
  Um, so you're able to get a lot more volume in, hence the reason probably why they're seeing significant testosterone.
• 45:15
  Here Andrew Huberman has touched on this a few times on his podcast.
• 45:17
  They've cited Dr.
• 45:18
  Tom Seeger's work, uh Rogan.
• 45:22
  So it's been it's been spoken with.
• 45:24
  I think that what's his name?
• 45:25
  Dr.
• 45:25
  Ben, uh can't think of his last name, but the bald bald head guy.
• 45:28
  Uh, he's like a biohacker.
• 45:30
  Um, anyway, I'm drawing a blank on his name.
• 45:33
  But anyway, they're they're finding that within the within the biohacking community, scientific community, pre pre-cooling has a lot to do with testosterone.
• 45:41
  And then, of course, once you get out, right?
• 45:43
  Your brown fat is activated, you're in this thermogenic process for hours after doing the ice bath.
• 45:49
  But here's the coolest thing that I have found with cold exposure.
• 45:53
  I always tell people the ice bath to me is what Mr.
• 45:57
  Miyagi was to the karate kid.
• 45:59
  And what I mean by that, ice on ice off, I hate it.
• 46:05
  I I train again four to five days a week, every day before I train, I have to do that ice bath.
• 46:10
  There's literally not one day that I want to go into that ice bath.
• 46:14
  I hate it, I hate it.
• 46:16
  Like, who would like that?
• 46:17
  It's it's it's uncomfortable, it sucks.
• 46:19
  I hate it, right?
• 46:20
  I have to, I mean, I'll literally stand over it and like, all right, I gotta get my mind right.
• 46:25
  Like, so it's it's a forced meditation, right?
• 46:28
  And then when you get into it, what I have found, because what happens is it's like you're training your brain now.
• 46:35
  When you get into this cold water, your brain is learning, okay, trauma.
• 46:41
  I have to breathe through this, right?
• 46:43
  Because if you go into that ice bath and you sit down, all of a sudden you're like, oh, oh god, you're done within 10 seconds, yeah, you're out of there.
• 46:50
  That's it, it's over.
• 46:52
  Forget it.
• 46:52
  If you learn how to control your breathing in it, like I always tell people, like, for me, I found this method that like I'll stand in it for like maybe 30 seconds to 45 seconds, get a little acclimated, and then I'll take a few deep breaths, and then as I start lowering my body, and now I'm in now.
• 47:12
  I'm fully submerged.
• 47:13
  Now I'm in a ice bath too.
• 47:15
  I'm sorry, does your wife ice bath?
• 47:17
  She does, she does not as frequently as me.
• 47:20
  I have the OC, I'm the one with the OCD in the family.
• 47:22
  She'll do it, but um, but but it's it's all about the breathing.
• 47:27
  So now I notice that when life gets stressful.
• 47:30
  If I get uh, you know, something happens, get a call that I'm not expecting.
• 47:35
  Your brain is like stress, breathe, breathe.
• 47:40
  And that's part of the work I do with people too, is restorative breathing to reduce cortisol levels.
• 47:46
  Because when I tell people, take three deep aggressive breaths and tell me what you feel in your lungs, right?
• 47:52
  They're like, Oh my god, like so many people are walking around, they're not even breathing, right?
• 47:57
  We're panic breathing all day long.
• 47:58
  Yeah, gotta go here, gotta do this, gotta do that.
• 48:01
  Uh-uh, uh like oxygen, right?
• 48:04
  We could live without food, we could live without water for days upon, but you're not gonna live without oxygen very long.
• 48:10
  So if we're not breathing adequately, that could be very well the epicenter of a lot of disease in the body, stress, anxiety, depression.
• 48:19
  Like, we must oxygenate our blood.
• 48:21
  So the the cold therapy has just been such a phenomenal practice for me, and I notice people who are open to it.
• 48:29
  There are a lot of people I train that just like I I'm not doing that.
• 48:31
  And I'm like, okay, like I'm not, I'm not here to, you know, this is this is about you, not me.
• 48:37
  But the ones that are open to it that even maybe just even do the cold showers, they're like, Frank, like I just uh it's actually I hate it, but it's addicting, you know.
• 48:45
  Like I that's a good starting point for somebody that isn't cold plunging is a cold shower.
• 48:50
  Yeah, it's the way it's the way to go because you take your shower and normal, and then before you get out, you turn it on, ideally as cold as it goes.
• 48:58
  Uh have some sort of stopwatch clock, start with maybe just 30 seconds, work your way up to about three minutes, and then rinse and then rinse and repeat.
• 49:00
  Stop watch clock, start with maybe just 30 seconds, work your way up to about three minutes, and then rent and then rinse and repeat.
• 49:06
  That's it.
• 49:06
  That's it.
• 49:07
  And for you women out there, just for beauty tips, it works amazing wonders for collagen production.
• 49:07
  And for you women out there, just for beauty tips, it works amazing wonders for collagen production.
• 49:12
  Your hair feels softer, your skin feels softer.
• 49:12
  Your hair feels softer, your skin feels softer.
• 49:15
  Uh, because again, you're you're stimulating so much more blood flow when you get out of cold water, you're red.
• 49:15
  Uh, because again, you're you're stimulating so much more blood flow when you get out of cold water, you're red.
• 49:20
  All the capillaries, right?
• 49:20
  All the capillaries, right?
• 49:21
  Blood is flowing.
• 49:21
  Blood is flowing.
• 49:23
  Um, so it's it's it's a it's an amazing.
• 49:23
  Um, so it's it's it's a it's an amazing.
• 49:25
  I mean, there they're there are like you know, my wife's into what.
• 49:25
  I mean, there are like you know, my wife's into women, they're into beauty, but there's even a lot of beauty influencers that are big on just doing ice face plunges for this for the skin and for tightening up the skin.
• 49:37
  Sure, it works.
• 49:39
  You mentioned when we first started that part of the work you do with clients is ordering functional labs.
• 49:43
  What kind of things do you order and how do you order those?
• 49:46
  Well, it's just through a company called uh Biohealth Labs.
• 49:49
  It's through through through this uh Dr.
• 49:50
  Bill Wilcott, and it's did their their saliva, saliva tests, and then we'll get like morning, it's all about the cortisol patterns.
• 49:58
  That's all I really test.
• 49:59
  I can do other ones, but I don't get so caught up in the lab testing.
• 50:02
  I'll do the basic, I want to see the cortisol patterns.
• 50:06
  Um, and then from there, I take that data and then I start taking their logs, their stress levels, their day-to-day activities, and I help them start piecing the dots together because again, as you know, stress is such an important thing when it comes to hormone health, right?
• 50:22
  I'm I'm looking to help people age gracefully.
• 50:25
  I don't promote the use.
• 50:27
  I know there's a and this is a whole other topic, and you mentioned it, but I'm not a big advocate of promoting the use of hormone therapy, uh peptides.
• 50:36
  I do it has its place.
• 50:38
  Testosterone.
• 50:38
  I think for for certain individuals, it definitely has its place, but I just feel like so many people are jumping on it now that are not really prime candidates for that stuff yet.
• 50:49
  Yeah, I agree.
• 50:50
  I think the foundation needs to be there before you start playing around with a lot of those things.
• 50:54
  Yeah, most people that are taking peptides or testosterone or growth hormone or other things, don't have a solid foundation and they're just wasting their money.
• 51:04
  They're wasting their money, and I just think too, you know, it it it's a gray area, you know.
• 51:10
  Uh, in the sense of we don't know, we don't know the long-term effects of like say a person taking peptides for seven years straight, right?
• 51:21
  We we don't know that.
• 51:23
  And what worries me about that stuff, even with the hormones, like I I know I I've seen great things with like bioidentical hormones for people.
• 51:32
  Um, but here's where I have the issue.
• 51:34
  I feel like a lot of doctors that prescribe these things are not testing regularly enough the person's blood to make sure that they're not in the red, their estrogen is not too high for a woman, the testosterone is not too high for a male, like and and anyone that I know that's taking this stuff when it comes to say, let's say hormones, they're not taking the recommended dosages there, especially the men, they're upping it a little bit, you know.
• 51:57
  They're like, I got a better workout.
• 51:59
  So, you know, you know, you're it look, I feel like it's just again, I'm a I grew up, I I grew up in the fitness industry in in the early 90s, and you know, I'm born in 78.
• 52:10
  So I started working out at 13.
• 52:12
  So the early, early 90s, I'm in the gym, and the conversations I used to hear from like all the juice heads in the gym is now like a socially accepted conversation for people just to like start enhancing themselves.
• 52:23
  What what do you think the most important intervention that most people can institute that would make the biggest difference?
• 52:31
  Discipline.
• 52:33
  Discipline.
• 52:34
  There's there's there's no shortcuts, right?
• 52:36
  It's like if you if you if you take hormone therapy and then you like you take hormone therapy, then you stop.
• 52:42
  What happens, right?
• 52:43
  We all know what happens, right?
• 52:45
  Things plummet peptides, like look at the GLP ones.
• 52:48
  People are losing weight once they come off of it.
• 52:49
  If they haven't done so much damage already to their metabolism, I mean, I know there's there's been uh intestinal issues with people where the food's not even bad.
• 52:59
  I mean, that's a whole nother conversation.
• 53:00
  But really, the gist of it is people have even if they're doing it right, once they stop, if they haven't made the right necessary changes, the weight comes back, right?
• 53:08
  So that that's that's the problem I have.
• 53:10
  Like to your point, if we're not fixing the foundation here, you're just getting a quick fix, and that quick fix comes with you have to understand the risk and reward with that, I guess is what I'm getting at.
• 53:20
  And you have to be willing to to you mention you also help people with gut health.
• 53:25
  How do you go about doing that?
• 53:26
  Are there tests that you use?
• 53:27
  Do you order like a GI map?
• 53:29
  What do you do to help them with gut health?
• 53:31
  No, I mean, we we could do we could do a gut microbiome with a stool sample.
• 53:35
  Again, I don't I just find like I I'm not a big promoter of like I try to stay in my lane.
• 53:43
  Let's put it that way, right?
• 53:44
  I'm more about lifestyle, right?
• 53:46
  So I get basic numbers of things, but my goal is to maybe, you know, I would leave that more up to somebody like you, or like, you know, like that that that's that's more your lane, more of the diagnostic testing.
• 53:58
  I try to make sense of their habits and patterns, right?
• 54:02
  Like more in that sense, and and and work in coordinates with somebody like yourself, diag really diving into that area more of the diagnosing because I'm not a medical professional, so I don't claim to treat cure or diagnose anything.
• 54:15
  Yeah, I can treat cure and diagnose bad lifestyle habits and patterns, and that's what I really put the focal point on.
• 54:21
  So when it comes to the gut, it's like, you know, are you eating a diet high in in glyphosate?
• 54:26
  Are you eating refined carbohydrates?
• 54:29
  Are you eating processed sugars?
• 54:31
  Are you, you know, all of those types?
• 54:33
  Are you dehydrated?
• 54:34
  What are you eating right before bed?
• 54:36
  Are you taking maybe, you know, what let's look at your supplements?
• 54:39
  Let's look at the ingredients in there.
• 54:40
  Are there irritants in that that could be inflaming your gut?
• 54:43
  So it's more of that stuff that I that I try to look at for the client because that's more of my lane.
• 54:48
  If somebody wants to get a hold of you and work with you, I saw a post uh maybe a couple of weeks ago that you do have a couple spots open, you're very limited who you take on as clients.
• 54:58
  You only want to take people that want to work with you, uh, that are motivated to work with you.
• 55:03
  How does somebody get a hold of you if they're interested?
• 55:06
  Uh, just go to fit over pharma.
• 55:08
  It's ph a r m a fitover pharma.com.
• 55:12
  Um, and then just shoot me a message.
• 55:14
  Uh, there's my have my my own my my line as well.
• 55:17
  The numbers, I can give you all the information.
• 55:19
  The numbers 323, 839, 0868.
• 55:22
  I'll give you everything.
• 55:22
  They can get a hold of me just directly through phone.
• 55:25
  Um, but I always tell people, please do not reach out to me if you are not truly sick and tired of being sick and tired.
• 55:34
  I have no magic pill, I have no magic answer.
• 55:36
  My business thrives off of helping you succeed at this.
• 55:41
  So I'm not looking to just take on somebody and hold their hand.
• 55:44
  Then in uh two months, they're like, this is not working.
• 55:46
  You have to be in this with the mindset of like I'm in it to win it.
• 55:49
  Like I'm I I refuse to go the other way, you know.
• 55:54
  There has to be that mentality there, else none of this will work.
• 55:56
  There's there's no magic here.
• 55:58
  It's pure discipline, and then I can help you put those pieces of the puzzle together.
• 56:00
  And then I can help you put those pieces of the puzzle together.
• 56:04
  But without discipline, nothing I teach you will work.
• 56:04
  But without discipline, nothing I teach you will work.
• 56:08
  Discipline has no days off.
• 56:08
  Discipline has no days off.
• 56:10
  Yeah.
• 56:10
  Yeah.
• 56:10
  Frank.
• 56:10
  Frank, Frank, thank you for joining us on informed dissent.
• 56:11
  Frank, thank you for joining us on Informed Descent.
• 56:14
  We're just at it just about out of time.
• 56:14
  We're just at it just about out of time.
• 56:16
  We'll have to do this again.
• 56:16
  We'll have to do this again.
• 56:17
  You're a wealth of information, and uh, I appreciate the work you do.
• 56:17
  You're a wealth of information, and uh, I appreciate the work you do.
• 56:21
  So thank you so much for joining.
• 56:21
  So thank you so much for joining.
• 56:23
  Thank you.
• 56:23
  Thank you, you've been listening to Informed Descent with Dr.
• 56:33
  Jeff Barkey, board certified primary care physician, and Dr.
• 56:37
  Mark McDonald, board certified child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist.
• 56:43
  Informed dissent, the intersection of healthcare and politics.