Latest / FitMitTuro Fitness Podcast / The Thyroid-Weight Connection: Dr. Derek Alessi Shares Natural Strategies for Optimization

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The Thyroid-Weight Connection: Dr. Derek Alessi Shares Natural Strategies for Optimization · FitMitTuro Fitness Podcast

• 1:08
  Turo Virta: Hi and welcome to fit me through fitness podcast.
• 1:10
  Turo Virta: Today's episode, I have amazing test as every week or sometimes I'm talking about myself, which is not so amazing. But now today, I'm very, very excited to have Dr Derek Alessi in my show.
• 1:26
  Turo Virta: So before we start, we I tell you what we are going to talk.
• 1:31
  Turo Virta: Welcome to my show, Doctor Derek, and if you don't mind, introduce yourself shortly, who you are, where you live and what you are doing.
• 1:41
  Unknown: Turo, thanks for having me on. I do appreciate it in terms of where I live and where I'm from. I'm from New York. In fact, I'm in upstate New York, Buffalo New York. My background is I'm an Exercise Scientist. So my PhD is in Exercise Science.
• 1:57
  Unknown: My master's degree is in nutrition. So I'm a nutritionist, but between you and me, I spend all day, every day, acting as a psychologist, which I have no formal training in whatsoever. So it's my joke, but at the same time, it's my reality. And the reason why, of course, is because so much of our lifestyle, so much of our fitness, so much of our health, is really governed by our behaviors. So working within an a population that's 45 years of age plus looking to feel better, lose weight, drop body fat, get stronger and have a quality of life. I think the mindset is super important, and I'm excited to talk to you more about that today.
• 2:36
  Turo Virta: Awesome. Yeah, that's, it's, I love to hear that introduction like it's, it's, I can I you can see it as this is a podcast, but I had a big smile on the face. Yes, I I, when you said that, that you are, you know, we are kind of health professionals, but it's more being like kind of mental codes and psychologists to talk about all kind of challenges, like, because nowadays, like when we are 2025 I have a feeling that that knowledge is not like, obviously, you have amazing knowledge. You have done all education. It helps. But nowadays, for what people are struggling the most is not the knowledge anymore. Like, there is not like it was, I don't know, I have the feeling like maybe 1020, years ago, it was the knowledge was like, kind of that there was no not so much internet, not good tools. You don't know, you didn't know, who do you believe, where to get the information. But now it have totally shifted.
• 3:39
  Unknown: Yeah, I couldn't agree more. So the analogy I like to give is kind of like a student getting a degree or getting an education in school. So if a student is looking to get an education, of course they want better grades, so they have to do the right classwork and homework. In our field, it would be like doing fitness and nutrition, but ultimately, you can't help any student who doesn't want to improve, and I think it's the same thing with their health and fitness. So especially in the United States, we have so many quick tricks. We want instant gratification. We don't want to necessarily go through the processes of changing our lifestyle. We want something and we want something quickly, and unfortunately, it often leads us down this terrible path of yo yoing so much and never really getting or attaining the Health and Fitness and Lifestyle that we want or deserve. So I think first and foremost, it starts with mindset. And I see that is something that's so desperately needed amongst so many people, especially in the United States, but worldwide, you always can improve your mindset?
• 4:48
  Turo Virta: Yeah, I I'm on so much on same pace, because I had a feeling like that now, like, if you look like social media, everything, like news, everything, it's it's so much like click you are like, if you look newspapers, ads, it's all about like, how to get quickest, fastest results. And then, you know, obviously, if you think like that, there is, there are two different commercials or apps. Other one is providing services like, let's say, like, what I'm what I'm offering, like that. It's kind of the balanced way of improving your health and life. And it's also honest marketing. It says that it's not, I'm not promising you results within a week, maybe not even in a month. It goes honest.
• 5:33
  Turo Virta: Truth is that real results, real change, it takes time. It takes weeks, it takes months. But if you think like, let's say, 12 months from now, where you are.
• 5:46
  Turo Virta: I think that if you are chasing, like you said, those quick fixes, getting everything, losing the fastest or the most amount of weight within the first 30 days, if you look results, if you look your where you are in 12 months from now, with that often, that slow approach is lot better and. Is so hard to convince people that it's actually your results are faster when you start a bit slower and with more sustainable methods.
• 6:16
  Unknown: Yeah, without question.
• 6:16
  Unknown: In fact, I couldn't agree more.
• 6:20
  Unknown: One of the one of the lines that I'll use with a lot of my private clients is I am less concerned with how much you weigh in the next 30 days, but more concerned about the next 30 years? Oh, yeah, right, because I don't want you to struggle with this. I don't want you to Yo yo, and I want you to have more success and control over your long term health. So that's super critical, super important.
• 6:41
  Unknown: Also too you made a good point.
• 6:45
  Unknown: Starting too fast, too soon.
• 6:45
  Unknown: Well, in school, if I was in first grade, grade one, and I want an education, I can't say, well, just give me 12th grade information or give me graduate school information. I might want it, but I'm not ready for it. So if I'm in a good school system, I will get challenged and pushed, but only as a first grader until I get to second grade and third grade and so on and so forth. And honestly, there is nothing different about that than there is about health and fitness, whether it's the fitness side, where you're trying to get into the gym and do more exercising, or even nutritionally especially here in the United States, we see people that say, Hey, I have these new year's resolutions. I'm going to eat perfectly the whole year.
• 7:31
  Unknown: Well, let's start the whole year is great, but let's start with just today. And if we can get through today, we could talk about tomorrow. So you have to progress with that over time too, and if you do so, you'll have a successful lifestyle.
• 7:46
  Turo Virta: Yeah, it was, that's it came like. Now this episode is coming out in beginning of January, and as we are recording, it's eight of January, and I was reading actually funny fact national Twitter's day, and that is January 10. So that is the average time where people who are make new year resolutions that they are quitting. So that tells, actually, pretty much about how those often for I would say, I think it was mentioned, like, it's like a 95% of people or something, and like, I can't remember now how many people are quitting by January 10. So that is, that is a pretty drastic or surprising number.
• 8:33
  Unknown: I saw the same thing.
• 8:33
  Unknown: Yeah, it's, it's mind boggling that 10 days into the new year, most people have either abandoned or quit altogether their goals, and they're already looking at 2026 Yeah, we're only we're only 10 days into the year. Now, when you look at that, in my opinion, I think a big part of it is it's great to have yearly goals, but most people, once again, that is too large. If you think about how to pull a year off, that's hard to do when you don't have any history or success of doing it, I would start with the day. Just go one day. Let's see if you can make some great changes and improvements today. And if you can, of course, we're going to look at tomorrow, and if you put enough of those together, next thing you know, you're moving through the year. You're moving through, really, your life with much better success.
• 9:23
  Turo Virta: Yeah, this is like, I'm curious to know your opinion where you are starting, like at this time. Because this is a topic, when, where most people are starting, like, when you start to like, what kind of goals you should be setting, which I let me if I start, how, what I think? What is my opinion? Like, I I believe, like at this time. Because, what is the reason that so many people are quitting around this time in, in the beginning of January, only 10 days in, in 2025 and there is like a 255 days left, or 355 days left. And I think that is that like goes to, like we talked earlier, knowledge is not the problem. And then there are so many things people know, or you know that you should be doing. You know you should be eating, well, you should be exercising, you should be walking, you should be sleeping.
• 10:15
  Turo Virta: Well, you should have do all these, like, maybe there's like a 10 different things, what you think, and then you heard that, okay, you should strength train three times a week. You should sleep eight hours per night. You should eat X amount of protein, you should have a certain amount of calories. You should do so many things. And if you haven't currently, if you are currently not doing any of those, it's so many new things. And there's you don't have to wonder that you end up quitting because, why people are quitting? Because it's getting overwhelming, and, uh, often why that is, then what is that overwhelm is causing?
• 10:54
  Turo Virta: Like, if you have 1000 things to do, how I would say 99,000 of people are reacting, they end up doing nothing. They just quit it. It's lot easier to stay where you are. And say that, okay, you know, time is not the right I can start. I start maybe next week, next month, next year, when situation is getting a bit easier, because, you know, things are happening in life.
• 11:16
  Turo Virta: There is a lot of stress.
• 11:18
  Turo Virta: Somebody's getting sick, yourself, family member, there is a busy period at work, whatever reason or or you just feel like that you don't have that willpower. And I feel like that is the most like kind of feeling guilt by ourselves like that you can't do everything, what you know you should be doing, and that is what is causing that most of the people are quitting.
• 11:45
  Unknown: Yeah, agreed. So I think a lot of people start with a goal. They'll say, I need to lose 20 pounds, 30 pounds, 50 pounds, 100 pounds. So we all start with goals, but you won't have long term success if you still picture yourself as the old person trying to do something that's unnatural. So my example for that whole thing is many people that come to see me will say, Oh, I'm not an exercise person. I'm not a person that diets. I'm not a person that wakes up early. I'm not that type of person.
• 12:17
  Unknown: However, I need to try a fitness program. I need to try a nutritional program. Okay, fine, that's where we all start.
• 12:26
  Unknown: However, you have to change the mindset. Turo, we have to get to the place in which, you know what? I am a fitness person. I am a healthy person. I'm a nutrition person. I always eat a good diet. I don't miss workouts. I always drink my water. I always prioritize sleep. I always make the right decisions. So when you make that change in your brain, when you change it in your mind, it makes it easier, because you start doing the thing that a healthy, fit person does. Once again, it's the same as school. I can't think I'm a bad student cramming for a test, because my grades are not going to reflect that for the long term, I have to convince myself, you know what?
• 13:11
  Unknown: Maybe I was a bad student before, but now I'm a good student. I'm becoming a great student, and I prioritize my classwork and my homework. I take it seriously. Grades are important to me, and I have the right behaviors. And guess what?
• 13:25
  Unknown: My grades go up. It's identical in school, in health and fitness, or really, for anything, for every discipline in life.
• 13:36
  Turo Virta: Yeah, no, it's, it is, it is and but it's, it's still so funny, how, how we tend to take like, that mindset, like what you are like, because it's, it's, I feel like that. We, we talk ourselves out of doing something what we naturally, maybe we are not. It's, it's a new habit, something like that, you know. And what I, what I it just came to my mind like a conversation I had, actually, today morning with one of my clients. Okay, she started, she was one of the very few who actually started in late November, and now within, like, almost two months in, one and a half months in, she told me that she hasn't lost, like now she lost, initially a little bit way, but now during the Christmas time that she have gained everything back, and now she have to go to an extreme, like, a cleans diet. And I was like that, no, do, are you really sure? Like, because it's not, it's not like, you can, you can lose weight. It's not a, it's not a big magic. Like, even if it's, it's in a short term, you know, you just eat as little as possible. You cut all carbs out. You can go to sauna or or hot tub, sweating everything out. And scale is so in lower number. But understanding that this is not all, or in the extreme cases, like what I example, what I love to use is that to cut your one leg, one arm off, you know, you lose weight rapidly and instantly, but it's not going to make you feel better. It's not going to get you that feeling. What is that kind of that number on the scale, what you are aiming for?
• 15:21
  Turo Virta: What is that representing?
• 15:21
  Turo Virta: Because if you, let's say, your goal is like losing 20 pounds, 15 kilos, whatever. But if that, if you get even you get the 10th result you lose. It's, it's a great thing. But if that doesn't make you feel the way, how you think it should make you because it's, it's often, especially with the women, my experience is that it's coming that number on the scale, what they have, like, always are great. I don't say that they are bad, but that number is often it's representing something from the past, like it's the feeling what maybe you were in your 20. Or or 30s, you women, they they were able to fit into that one specific dress, what they still have in their closet for 20 years, but they haven't been fitting into it. And they were thinking, and they were they are remembering that time, how they felt that time. And now 20 years after, or 20 years after, you still think that when I reach that number on the scale, I will feel the same way, because that at the time I was feeling amazing, and that is, for me, what is causing actually those problems. Because it's not you.
• 16:40
  Turo Virta: Your situation is not the same at age of 45 or 50 than it was in your 20s.
• 16:48
  Unknown: Yeah, no doubt you have different factors as you age, and you have to do something that's appropriate for your age to to kind of continue on with your story. And I've been in that situation before myself.
• 16:56
  Unknown: When talking to a client, especially a client over 45 I'll say to them, I'm going to say something. You're going to think I'm crazy, but I'm going to say it anyway. Dropping body fat is really easy to do if you do the right things consistently. The reason why you haven't had success is because you haven't done these things consistently.
• 17:17
  Unknown: Now, if somebody's just starting off and they're brand new and they have a lower level of experience, and they're starting at the middle or end of November, we're trying to reinforce good habits, but because of the after Thanksgiving in the United States, into the holiday season, they're going to get more temptation than they would otherwise, and if your skill level is still very low, because this woman just started, she doesn't have The skills yet developed in order to navigate that properly. So she quickly came off, and then, of course, comes back with this reaction of, oh, I have to get radical.
• 17:53
  Unknown: This didn't work. I'm upset. I'm frustrated. I'm this, I'm that.
• 17:57
  Unknown: To your point you got to cut off an arm or a leg. No, you just have to take a step back and get better at the skill of nutrition. We didn't expect you to be perfect through Christmas season. It's it's a lot to expect from somebody brand new.
• 18:12
  Unknown: So it does take some time to build up the skill. If you're just learning to drive, I can't put you on a race track right away. It would be too much, too soon. In school, if you're in first grade, I can't give you 12th grade work. It's too much too soon. So let's first start with, don't be so hard on yourself. Let's take a step back. Let's build up your skill.
• 18:32
  Unknown: Next thing you know, you're going to be better at handling these situations. Now mind you, just for a little personal story for me, it started 35 years ago.
• 18:44
  Unknown: In fact, I wasn't going to be an exercise scientist or a nutritionist. I was going to dental school. And the reason why, of course, is because I was very heavy. I was 244, pounds of weight in the in in in high school. So I was very heavy, very young. So I've been doing this now for 35 years. In almost every decade I can look back and I've gotten better at being able to handle tougher times because I've practiced it long. So when people ask me, How long did it take until you were really good at controlling your own nutrition, they don't like the answer I give them, and that's probably nine to 10 years until I was really good at being able to control what I was eating.
• 19:28
  Unknown: Now, Turo, that didn't mean it took me nine to 10 years to see results. Oh my goodness. I built muscle, I dropped body fat, I got fit, I got in shape. I just wasn't good at handling it year round as a lifestyle until much later. So keep in mind, nutrition is only one part knowledge. And you already mentioned that knowledge is very available. It's not hidden anymore. Everybody can have access to that knowledge. So it starts with knowledge, but then it turns into the skill, the behavior, the habit, which does take time, so you have to allow yourself that time.
• 20:04
  Turo Virta: That's that's interesting. What? What is?
• 20:06
  Turo Virta: What? What what do you think this would have been for you?
• 20:09
  Turo Virta: The main habits, like, let's say, because it's not like, I don't like to promote like something being perfect, because, if you aim to be perfect, like somebody, one of my best coaches, or Jordan, say it said it once the perfection is actually being perfect is like being in a prison. Like, if you try to be perfect, that is like kind of being in a prison.
• 20:34
  Turo Virta: So it's rather you be 80% consistent and 20% little bit flexible, and especially allowing yourself to for times like holiday season, to enjoy, also life without thinking too much of fitness. But if you have like those skills, you have developed those skills, like your healthier habits, what you are able to do, even in your worst days. Because there is a huge difference for me if I think that, what is like, if I think back like for me, my background. Story is like I was professional ice hockey player and retired around the age of 30, and now being 43 it's it was until 30. Age of 30, I didn't pay attention. Okay? I was kind of thinking that I can outrain a bad diet. So it didn't matter.
• 21:23
  Turo Virta: And obviously I was working out two times a day, and so much that diet didn't matter that much. I was still relatively in good shape, but I was never feeling the same way as I do now. And if I think that I'm now I'm I'm not working out as hard as I was when I was in professional athlete but I do feel a lot better I am. I would say that I'm in better shape now than I was when I was a professional athlete. But obviously times have changed.
• 21:57
  Turo Virta: But what I think that now my habits, they are still not there where I maybe, maybe I still could be improving, and I hope I will improve in future, but even in the worst days now, the worst days are not that bad, as they were maybe 15 years ago. And that is, I think, is the key of that skill set, what you are, like you said, for you, it took nine to 10 years, and I can agree, for me, it have been more or less similar kind of journey.
• 22:26
  Turo Virta: And that time frame, obviously it's it's for every person different, you see results lot faster. But being building those new habits, and especially going away from old habits, that takes a lot longer than we would like.
• 22:44
  Unknown: Yeah, so I do agree there's no such thing as perfect. It's always about progressing and getting better also, too. I try to meet clients where they're at what level they're at, and if somebody's a professional athlete, Turo, I'm going to expect more from you, because honestly, your career, your training, your experience, has led you to a higher level.
• 23:06
  Unknown: Of course, you're going to pull off a higher level. But if I have somebody, and they're part of the general population, they're an office worker, they're an attorney, they're an accountant, they're a business person, I can't expect them to be an Olympic athlete. I don't know. I can't they didn't ask for that. They didn't ask to win a gold medal. They didn't ask for that. What they asked for is, how do I lose some weight?
• 23:30
  Unknown: How do I feel better? How do I look better? How do I start getting this under control?
• 23:34
  Unknown: Because it's important to me, so we do have to make some changes.
• 23:37
  Unknown: So yes, of course, I think there is some wiggle room. In fact, any diet that I put together for people is going to be some times in which it's not good nutrition. I think that should be built in as a strategy. Now, I don't think it should be something that you don't monitor and something that gets out of control, but it's got to be part of a sustainable strategy. So in other words, I'm a big fan of get making sure that the training is correct. The nutrition is correct. There is some supplementation to help and give convenience. And lastly, there has to be some type of accountability to a third party.
• 24:17
  Unknown: So all of those are in check. A person is going to improve no matter what.
• 24:26
  Turo Virta: And I think what you said like about Office, work group, being athlete, obviously, that is like, I think the biggest challenge is like, for someone like, say that somebody who is an athlete or or doing this for living, and often what we very compare ourselves like, if you, if you look like, you watch your social media, you see just professional fitness professionals, or some athletes or models or professional singers, who basically their job is to look good. And if you think that their priorities like held them their own, fitness is there, I would say maybe 123, in top five, in their priorities, in their life. And then there is coming someone who is just a office worker, having a family and their own fitness, own health and fitness is maybe their priority somewhere like maybe in the least, places like 1520, somewhere there a lot lower and to getting those priorities a bit higher, because I think in the end, it's to get those priorities bit higher.
• 25:31
  Turo Virta: Because if somebody is saying that, you know, I don't have time like, of course we have all same 24 hours, it says that it's not your as high priority as for somebody else who is it's, it's maybe top three priority. It's, it's their life is dedicated for their own health and fitness and looking good. It's, and it's then you compare yourself with that kind of person who has totally different priorities, different kind of way of living.
• 26:00
  Turo Virta: So that's not realistic. But when, when you start those kind of sitting, those. Priorities, what is possible for you, how much time you have available?
• 26:07
  Turo Virta: Because if you say that you don't have time at all, that it starts, I start discussing that that's not true, that it's, it's, if you have maybe you have one minute, maybe you have 10 seconds, maybe you have five minutes, maybe you have 30 minutes. It's about how much of a priority you have, like, because it's there are, honestly, like, obviously, we would love as a fitness coaches or or health professionals, that private it would be your top three priority. But that's not realistic. So setting those priorities and accepting that it's, it's, it's okay to not look somebody who is like, who have those own health and fitness priorities as simply a lot higher?
• 26:51
  Unknown: Yeah, no, I agree. I think you could compare yourself only to yourself, and you shouldn't compare yourself to anybody else, otherwise you're always going to feel dissatisfied. So compare yourself to yourself even before I get into what kind of time frame, what kind of priority? A big question I'll ask a lot of people is, how can I help you?
• 27:12
  Unknown: So if you have if you have dieted before, if you have joined gyms before, if you've done surgery before, a lot of people are on different things, like GLP, one drugs, ozempic, we go, V Okay, you've done all these things before. How can I help you? How do you see me helping you? So I always want to try to get that answer from them. Oh, I need somebody to be accountable to I need somebody to set this up for me. I need somebody to make sure that I'm I'm learning and eating and doing the right things and building the right habits. Okay, very good. Now, what will that do for you? What will you get from that whole thing? Oh, I'll feel better. I'll have more energy. I'll sleep better. I'll be more productive at work. I'll be more energized throughout the day. I'll be more available and have more energy for my kids or my family. I'll be around for children or grandchildren. I'll live longer, I'll have a better quality of life. Okay, now we have the priority, which is good, so we've essentially gotten to it in a roundabout way, to make sure that we're doing the things that are important to them. Now, clearly, just like in school, I can't hope to improve my grades without spending any time. I can't go to the teacher. I want better grades, but I'm unwilling to do anything. I'm not going to spend any time studying. I'm not going to spend any time going to class. A teacher would say, Well, how could you possibly expect better grades? It's the same thing with fitness and nutrition in our body too. So we're now changing our priority based upon what our goals are, which is what I love, so that you do start making yourself a priority Now lastly, and I'm sure you've been in this position too, because I have a person will say, but I don't put myself first. I put my kids first. I put my business first.
• 29:06
  Unknown: I put my work first. I have to take care of my parents or something like that. One of the things that I'll stress is that putting yourself first isn't selfish, it's self care. And if you're not caring for yourself, you cannot care for anybody else. You cannot serve from an empty vessel. It's impossible.
• 29:30
  Unknown: So it's the same type of philosophy. If you're not putting something into yourself, you'll have nothing to give anyone.
• 29:38
  Turo Virta: Yeah, no, it's, it's, it's, it's one of the hardest things, like, if you you want to be the best possible version to your loved ones, but and then, you know, you feel like kind of guilt that you take time away from somebody else when you say that now it's time for me to take care of my own health. But actually, it is very selfish to not take that time and because, what it because for me, what it where it leads? It leads that you are not present with your family, with your loved ones. You don't have you don't so your best side, if you don't, if you are struggling yourself, how you can expect to be the best possible person of yourself to people or the most more important tasks?
• 30:29
  Unknown: Yeah, without question.
• 30:29
  Unknown: And I think also too some people say it as a defense excuse or defense mechanism. Now, if you said to me, I'm going to go brush my teeth, and I said, No, why would you spend time on yourself? That's selfish. I'm going to go take a shower. Now, don't take a shower. That's selfish. You're spending time with caring for yourself. Nobody would ever say that. Nobody would ever think that. Of course, you have to take care of yourself. Look, we all have a body. We all have to take care of it. We have to spend the right time. Everybody understands that. So if you really say, I, I'm, I'm not going to prioritize myself, because it's selfish. Honestly, nobody. Believes that. So you shouldn't believe it about yourself either, because you're just convincing yourself in the wrong direction that's not going to help. Instead, start doing the right things that will help self care, make the commitment work on improving yourself, even if you're not training like a professional athlete or an Olympic athlete, just spend the right amount of time that you need at your current level to start improving you.
• 31:32
  Turo Virta: That's That's very true. Other topic now what I wanted actually to talk with you now we have been talking about all kind of habits, which I like, I feel like that we could keep going and talking this another hour or two without any issues. But actually why I wanted to talk with you, because you have written several very amazing articles about possible problems. What could be like?
• 31:59
  Turo Virta: Because many people are struggling nowadays. There are terror problems. There are like, somebody who can sleep and, and I want to talk about the Turo health, and what is, what are, could you explain shortly, like, what is, what it, what it, what is, first of all, to write, and what it, what it, what function it has in our body and how it's affecting us.
• 32:28
  Unknown: Yeah, so the thyroid is one of those very misunderstood glands in the body, especially in the United States. Many people, when they come to see me will be in a state of what's called hypothyroidism, or the thyroid is slowed down and not producing the right amount of hormone or TSH hormone properly.
• 32:47
  Unknown: Now, many people will start by saying, because my thyroid is hypo or low activity, that's why I'm gaining weight, and once again, I'm always referring to the United States, because that's what I that's where I live, and that's what I know that doctors enjoy that because they can medicate it quite easily. However, it's usually the situation that it didn't start with the thyroid. It started with poor habits that caused the thyroid to start under regulating the habits of gaining body fat. So the more body fat you start accumulating.
• 33:25
  Unknown: And mind you, this happens over weeks, months, years, even decades. We start accumulating body fat, we start developing more resistance on the body. And as that happens naturally, our thyroid has to work harder and harder to keep up with it. And then eventually, because of the resistance of the body fat, we start getting it where it's not communicating effectively, therefore having hypothyroidism, which is the majority of the problems that we see now, a person will say, but I can't lose any weight because of it not true if you start by changing your behaviors and dropping your body fat. Turo, what we're often seeing is a reregulation of the thyroid, where even if a person has been medicated and medicated for years with thyroid medicine, they'll notice all of a sudden it starts up regulating. They could start taking less medication, so they're starting to reduce it, and hopefully we get to a stage in which it's even eliminated. So in practicing for 30 years, I have seen dozens countless stories of a person that has been medicated for thyroid, 1015, 20 years or more, in which it can be reversed. I'm not going to say overnight, but within 10 to 12 months, I've seen a total reversal. In 10 to 12 months for something like that, in my opinion, is rather quick. So I think that has to be addressed.
• 34:50
  Unknown: We give too much importance that it's causing fat gain. We give too little importance that the fat gain has caused the problem with it, and that is the major problem that I'm seeing here for a lot of people that are 45 years of age plus looking to get fit.
• 35:04
  Turo Virta: And what are, what are your tips, or what you would say for someone who has problems with their thyroid, like, what are like, a natural ways without, like, what steps do you take with the clients who are having issues with thyroid?
• 35:23
  Turo Virta: Well, you
• 35:24
  Unknown: know, I love the question. And also, too, I'm the founder of a supplement company called strength genesis.com.
• 35:31
  Unknown: However, as much as I would love to say you just need a supplement, I'm going to say what you really need to start with is dropping body fat. What I would do is to not take any medicine. I would start by doing your strength training three days per week or more, I would start by eating a balanced diet that lowers blood sugar and lowers your insulin. In the process of doing so with consistency, you'll drop body fat and you'll notice your thyroid up regulate. Now, if you said to me, what natural things could you take in order to improve it? It's. What many people think I would start by doing some simple things, of like taking a very good quality fish oil. So at stray Genesis, we do produce a fish oil that's pharmaceutical grade, molecularly distilled, which basically mimics prescription fish oil. It helps all the cells in the body repair thyroid, being a major organ and being a very big part of it. But it doesn't stop there. It improves the thyroid, it improves the brain, it improves the heart. It also helps drop body fat. So now I'm doing the right behaviors.
• 36:41
  Unknown: I'm eating properly, I'm taking a very high quality fish oil. We have something called omega three at strength genesis.com, that does that, and now I'm getting it better. Lastly, I would make sure that I'm not taking in many Omega six, high inflammatory fats we get that when we have processed foods. So if we're having processed foods that are high in soybean oil, canola oil, margarine, Crisco shortening, seed oil, all of those are going to cause more inflammation, which is not good for any gland or organ in the body, including the thyroid. So the Omega three fat from the fish oil will help. But also, too, I would start cooking in either extra virgin olive oil, if it's low temperature, below 350 degrees, or if it's higher temperature, I would switch to something called Australian macadamia nut oil, which, over the last 10 years I probably have sold more of that than anything else. It's even stronger in Omega three properties than olive oil, holds up to extreme high heat, well over 515 degrees. Lastly, tastes like butter, so it's delicious.
• 37:49
  Unknown: So when you're cooking protein, when you're cooking chicken and fish and Turkey and beef and pork and eggs and vegetables, it tastes nutty and buttery, and it's giving you a power packed version of Omega three and nine fats, which is what will counteract the inflammation from the Omega six fats. So all of those things will improve thyroid, but it won't stop there. It'll be all the organs of the body.
• 38:15
  Turo Virta: And what is the like I was, I'm I'm always like, I always love to say that supplements I personally I take also omega three, always I take creatine, I take protein, power.
• 38:26
  Turo Virta: Those are three supplements I take daily. But what if, for someone was I, I still think like that, I I would love to have, like to take supplements as little as possible. So what is amount of Omega three like you would need to get daily doses, like, if it's like a fish oil, or if it's like, if you want to take it from natural sources, like fatty fish or something, what? What is, how much a person like, obviously depends, probably like, how much you wait and stuff like that.
• 39:00
  Turo Virta: But what are like? Some general recommendations
• 39:04
  Unknown: when it comes to fatty acids. Currently in the United States, we have an imbalance in ratio. So it's recommended that we have a one to one ratio of omega three nine fats, which are good fats, to omega six fats. So that would be the goal. One to One. Currently in the United States, we're one to 16. That's how I balanced we are. So if we started taking more of the good fats, like the prescription strength, pharmaceutical grade fish oil or the macadamia nut oil, we could take it. We could take it for a long time to try to correct the ratios. But yes, it does go based upon body weight. So with our fish oil supplement, with the Omega three, it goes based upon how much a person weighs. So we're looking at about 5000 grams of fish oil. But the fish oil is all harvested, cold processed.
• 39:58
  Unknown: So cold processing, which is what the pharmaceutical company started doing, preserves the good omega three fats from the fish oil. Unfortunately, most people in the supplement industry heat up the fish and ruin the oil. Therefore they don't get the Omega threes and nines that they really want. So it always has to be cold, processed, molecularly distilled. Just means the toxins has been taken out of it, and it's pharmaceutical and certified grade, saying that it does those two things. If a person weighs under 100 pounds, I would recommend taking one of those capsules a day. If they were between 100 and 150 pounds, I would take two a day. 150 to 300 pounds, three a day, and over 200 pounds, four a day or more at four a day, they were up to 5000 milligrams of that good fish oil. And lastly, it should be higher in DHA than EPA in terms of the essential fats that you're getting from it. Once again, a very long explanation to this whole thing. But if you increase your good fats to it based upon your. Body weight, it will do nothing but benefit the quality of your life, your health, your fitness. And get this, it will help you drop body fat.
• 41:15
  Turo Virta: Is there any anything else, like omega threes or or any anything else you would add for thyroid? Still how to improve it, like what?
• 41:27
  Unknown: Yeah, so it's interesting, you did mention that you were taking creatine as well. So creatine is something that athletes have known about for over 30 years. So athletes, bodybuilders, people that spent a lot of time in gyms, knew about it for a long time, but now we're seeing it part of the general population as well. I'm seeing it amongst older people, and if you're not taking it, you should be taking it, but all of the new research is on two things that shock people, and that is diabetes and dementia.
• 41:53
  Unknown: So the effects are very beneficial for anybody that's diabetic or has dementia, because it does increase several things. It increases muscle tissue, it increases your your bone mass as well. And lastly, it does so without increasing blood glucose level. So it's been very powerful the study to keep your blood sugar level stable that also has benefits to the thyroid as well. So we see an up regulation of thyroid or TSH hormone as well as other factors, when a person starts taking creatine. Now for years, I've tried to encourage people to take it in powdered form, which is probably the standard that athletes and bodybuilders have done for a long time. If you have an older population, they might start with it, but the compliance of them taking it in powder isn't that high so recently, and we're really excited about this. A month ago, we released it in a gummy form that's also sugar free. So we have a sugar free creatine chew.
• 42:57
  Unknown: It tastes like a starburst candy, but it's there's no sugar in it. It won't increase your blood sugar levels. And we're looking to get about five grams of creatine in a day for an adult, which would be four of those gummies. So if you take that, yes, it can help up regulate your thyroid. It can help stimulate growth hormone, which is good to help build muscle and good for your balance, good for your stabilization, prevent against dementia. That would be a supplement I would certainly take if I was over the age of 4045, years of age? Yeah.
• 43:29
  Turo Virta: No, that is, that is something like, what I, what I what I heard, too, or what I have been reading for recent studies that creating there is all the time, and it's, it's the most researched supplement.
• 43:39
  Turo Virta: There's all the time coming, even new studies and with the possible benefits of, of especially kind of dementia, that kind of things, because it has been like, it's still like, I think in fitness and health, it's, it's kind of, it has a reputation, like a muscle building supplement, and if somebody is like it, you know, but I don't like women over 35 that who still might be scared that, you know, I don't want to end up looking like a body builder. And that is like, which is, by the way, it's not, not the case, like, how, how, what I feel like creating. It does help your IT boost your training. It boosts your strength training.
• 44:23
  Turo Virta: But it's not like, and obviously it gains, it stores little bit water in your muscle. So probably, like you will, at least for me, it was in the beginning, like I gained, like most people, they you gain little bit scale weight of doing it because, as you know, it's it stores little bit water, but it stores in a right place. It doesn't store water in your belly fat or something. It starts stores a little bit water in your muscle. So basically it your muscles only look a bit better. But it's not that you start suddenly looking like a body builder, but and it's how it helps in boost your training performance is like that you are maybe able to do maybe one, two repetitions more what you were able to do before. But it doesn't change too much. It just helps with with the training performance, but especially those health benefits, like you mentioned, dementia, all other things, what which are kind of relatively new in in a sport, in health and fitness feed and all the time. Like you said, new studies are coming out.
• 45:35
  Unknown: Yeah, no doubt about it, it will not build a ton of muscle fast just by taking it.
• 45:38
  Unknown: There is no risk of that in whatsoever. So I've heard the same thing that you have a woman especially might say, or even sometimes a man would say, but I don't want to build that kind of muscle. Honestly. We're not talking about the same thing.
• 45:54
  Unknown: We're talking about the improved ability of having some strength and some muscle as your aging, because you're naturally losing it. We are not talking about anabolic steroids here. We're talking about creatine. Which you're going to get from your protein sources. Anyway, we're just getting it into concentrated format so there is no risk whatsoever of that happening. Yes, it is the most studied and safest supplement of all time. There is virtually no known side effects of it. Your body will eliminate any high levels of it. It's a great thing to be adding to your program.
• 46:32
  Unknown: Now we were talking a little bit off the air, if a person said, Well, I'm going to take creatine, but I'm not going to exercise or I'm not going to eat better, it's not going to work by itself. It doesn't work itself just by taking these creatine shoes. It's not going to do magic for you. You still need to do the right things, but if you do the right things, it will help even more. So. So yes, we're going to encourage the right behavior. We're going to encourage the right exercise, and then take it and it will give you even better benefits.
• 47:03
  Turo Virta: Yeah, exactly because these are this always like, you don't need necessarily, supplement.
• 47:09
  Turo Virta: Supplements like creatine. Like correct me, if I'm wrong, I think it's pretty a high number to get same amount of creatine.
• 47:18
  Turo Virta: Like you said, it's you can get it from you get it all the time from your natural foods, but especially if you don't eat a lot of meat products, you don't get it naturally that much. It's very hard to get like, depending on meat. But you have to eat like, a half kilo, 500 grams of meat to get that same amount of five grams of creatine per day.
• 47:38
  Turo Virta: And if you are not like, I'm not the big meat eater, I eat maybe two, three times a week at most meat, some weeks it's maybe once in a week. So it's not, it's not too much. So naturally, I don't get it that much. And for me, it, it have been very, very helpful. So, so it's, it's all these supplements, like official creatine. You can get them through your diet, or you are getting them. But what is the difference is that they make.
• 48:10
  Turo Virta: They can post that one, two, 3% of total performance, but all only by taking them, taking supplements without the work.
• 48:21
  Turo Virta: You don't you don't get a lot of benefits. Yeah,
• 48:28
  Unknown: it's not going to work with no training program and a bad diet, you still need to do the right things. If you go back in time Turo, we basically only had two choices when it came to food. So our ancient ancestors, our cavemen, passed, they could fish or they could hunt. So they were taking in a lot of protein, they were taking in a lot of fats. We were talking about the omega three fats. I talked about the cold, processed fish oil.
• 48:55
  Unknown: Our ancestors were getting the Omega fats because the animals they were eating were all grass fed, so it's higher level of Omega three. But the fish they were eating also, too were wild caught in the United States, we're not eating as much wild caught. We're eating more farm raised, which doesn't have the same amount. You mentioned creatine once again, if you only could fish or hunt. Agriculture didn't come until much later. So for the first 2.7 million years of human evolution, you only could fish or hunt. So your creatine levels were high, your fatty acid levels were high, which was a good thing. Your protein was high, which is a good thing. Your carbohydrates were very low. You might be able to eat a plant or a shrub. You couldn't live on it, but you could eat it to hold you over until you could fish or hunt.
• 49:43
  Unknown: And diet wasn't a problem. We were we were evolving. We were we were developing. Good things were happening now, especially in today's modern society. It's anything but that. We're not taking in too many great sources of protein, we're not taking in too many great fats. We're not taking in creating the way our ancestors used to. Our meat quality is not as high, our fish quality is not as high, and we're not having the abundance that we used to have back then.
• 50:11
  Unknown: We're having more Ultra processed foods. So all of that plays a big role, and that's why supplements, done right, can make all the difference in the world in not just helping somebody lose body fat. That's the easy part. Yeah, you can take some supplements and help you drop body fat, but ultimately, how to affect your health, to feel better, to look better and to be healthier for the long term. That's why it's so exciting,
• 50:36
  Turo Virta: awesome. Time is going so quickly, and as I know, I think we could keep talking for hours, but as I want to keep this episode short for anything, anyone who is just about to start their journey to finalize what we just talked what action steps, what we thought like for building habits, right finding, rights implementation, what? Two steps you take. Derek, I
• 51:10
  Unknown: would say a couple things, and you already mentioned it before. I do like to give a lot of information and provide the real knowledge that people do need in order to take and change their behaviors. I have a lot of those articles and videos at strength genesis.com which is once again our natural, sustainable supplement company, all with the highest quality supplements you can get so you can go to strength genesis.com, it starts with your behaviors.
• 51:35
  Unknown: You want to do the right training at least three or more times per week. You want to have the right nutrition, not perfect, but you do want to balance your proteins, good fats and low sugar or low glycemic carbs with your diet. And you want to do it consistently. And if you did that, you would see that great things would happen to your health, to your fitness, to your energy, to your body fat, but also to your life. So once again, if you want more information on those things in more strength. Genesis, com,
• 52:09
  Turo Virta: yeah, and I will, I will put that link to sono so you can check it out there. So anything else where people can beside your website? Do you have any social media or something where, if somebody want to reach out email, you feel free to share everything. How people can reach out to you over what is the best place to connect with you?
• 52:31
  Unknown: Yeah, no doubt. So also too, you could find this on Facebook, in Instagram, at shrink Genesis, and feel free to send a message in either way.
• 52:39
  Unknown: You can DM you can connect with us that way. And also, too, if you want to send me a message, you could go to strength, genesis.com, and you'll find my email in there, in which you can also send in questions. I'll be happy to get back to you.
• 52:54
  Turo Virta: Awesome. Thank you so much for coming to my show talking with this, I think, very, very timely, persist topics. So thank you so much. Dr Ray, Derek
• 53:09
  Unknown: Turo, thanks for having me on. This was a lot of fun today. I really enjoyed it.
• 53:12
  Turo Virta: Yeah, me too. Thank you so much. Okay.