[00:00:00] Dr. Taz: Many women are told their symptoms are normal, unexplained in their [00:00:05] head are a normal part of aging. But the truth is that most [00:00:10] research that's done today did not ever include women to begin with [00:00:15] cycling hormones, stress physiology, and long-term symptom pattern. [00:00:20] We're largely ignored and that gap still affects how women are [00:00:25] treated.
[00:00:25] Dr. Taz: Today. In this episode, I wanna explain where science fell short and why [00:00:30] integrative medicine became necessary. Hi everyone. It's Dr. Taz. Before we get into [00:00:35] today's episode. I just wanna pause and say thank you. Your [00:00:40] messages, your shares, your stories are, the reason we make Whole Plus every [00:00:45] conversation here is about connecting the science, the intuition, and everyday [00:00:50] life together so you can feel more like yourself.
[00:00:52] Dr. Taz: Again, if you haven't already hit [00:00:55] that subscribe or follow button, it helps us reach more people who need this. All right, [00:01:00] let's begin. All right. If you've been watching and listening to Whole [00:01:05] Plus, then you may have an inkling about our approach to medicine and [00:01:10] health. It really is very much about the holistic approach, right?
[00:01:13] Dr. Taz: About taking into account [00:01:15] all five bodies, the physical, mental, emotional, energetic, your community body, [00:01:20] and how they all play in the sandbox together. But I've gotta get something off my chest [00:01:25] today, guys, in this episode. And that's simply because I am fatigued. [00:01:30] I am tired of what I'm gonna call bro science or bro [00:01:35] wellness, or science posturing, whatever we wanna call it, with [00:01:40] people saying that things aren't real or worthwhile unless they have [00:01:45] randomized clinical control studies to follow them.
[00:01:48] Dr. Taz: And here's the problem [00:01:50] with all of that. Much of it is funded. Much of it looks [00:01:55] at women in particular, in isolated silos with isolated [00:02:00] symptoms, and it's simply not. How the body works [00:02:05] On this episode today, I wanna talk a little bit about how women and women's health [00:02:10] is not being represented or served well in the current model of [00:02:15] medicine and why.
[00:02:16] Dr. Taz: Evidence-based holistic medicine that brings in both [00:02:20] a functional and integrative approach is the future for women to thrive. [00:02:25] I don't need to postulate or go on and on about the importance of women, [00:02:30] right? I feel like I've written about it, I've talked about it and painted [00:02:35] that scenario where we as women really play an important role in [00:02:40] society.
[00:02:40] Dr. Taz: We're the center of a family. We are the center of communities, [00:02:45] and now we are productive, self-determining, and we [00:02:50] honestly are driving what our communities will and won't do. I think as [00:02:55] I do this episode today, many of you may be in agreement that we are watching the [00:03:00] patriarchy fall. I don't want you to take that comment [00:03:05] as a comment of, I don't like men, or I don't respect men, or any of those things I do, [00:03:10] but what I have a problem with is when we apply [00:03:15] models, whether they're of medicine or learning or whatever it is that [00:03:20] really work for men.
[00:03:21] Dr. Taz: With their chemistry and physiology and brain and cultural [00:03:25] constructs to women. We have done women an incredible [00:03:30] disservice here is what I'm talking about. We have moved from the [00:03:35] era of the weakened and unempowered women. The hysterical woman. The woman who [00:03:40] could not think for herself and needed a male to speak for her.
[00:03:44] Dr. Taz: To the woman of [00:03:45] today who is honestly stressed and getting burned out very [00:03:50] easily and trying to pull a lot of levers all at the same time. [00:03:55] And the equation is not working. The math to use a cliche is [00:04:00] simply not math. And there are multiple reasons why, but [00:04:05] some of that reasoning or some of that gap that women experience [00:04:10] today, and I say women by the way, but I also mean are girls and our teens and our very [00:04:15] young women in their early twenties.
[00:04:17] Dr. Taz: Some of what they are experiencing today [00:04:20] is simply because they are being dismissed. Or told that symptoms are in their head. [00:04:25] Their labs are normal, they're fine. They're just getting old. This [00:04:30] happens, these very sort of lackadaisical, you know, comments [00:04:35] thrown back at them. I was in this conversation with a patient re recently who is saying, [00:04:40] I think people say these things when they just don't have an answer.
[00:04:44] Dr. Taz: Probably what we [00:04:45] should all be saying, myself included, is, I don't know. We haven't discovered that yet. We haven't [00:04:50] explored that yet. I didn't think about that quite yet. But instead we say, [00:04:55] it's not true. It's not real. It's in your head. Or maybe even the [00:05:00] worst of all, you're just getting old. So again, there's so many amazing [00:05:05] women like really driving change when it comes to women's health and women's [00:05:10] healthcare.
[00:05:11] Dr. Taz: But I think the answer to this gap is [00:05:15] understanding that women, especially, although everybody will benefit, women need a [00:05:20] holistic approach to their health. Women can no longer be told to [00:05:25] biohack to push harder, to eat less, to work out more, to pump the [00:05:30] protein. All of that is leading to anxiety, fatigue, [00:05:35] inflammation, hormone chaos, and so much more.
[00:05:39] Dr. Taz: I really [00:05:40] want to help all of you understand why women are getting burned out, [00:05:45] why all of these hacks and trends and one-off solutions are simply [00:05:50] not working because quite honestly, the future of women's health. Actually the [00:05:55] present day of women's health is holistic. And until we all agree [00:06:00] to take this holistic approach, especially when we think about women, we are [00:06:05] not going to move the needle.
[00:06:07] Dr. Taz: I sit right now at a cultural point, [00:06:10] inflection point where everyone is doing a couple of things. Maybe you are too. [00:06:15] Everyone is running towards HRT. IVF peptide [00:06:20] therapy and GLP ones. I bet if you go and Google those four terms right now, [00:06:25] SEO is outta control. Lots of search volume around them, right? Guess what you won't [00:06:30] find?
[00:06:30] Dr. Taz: You won't find these other words attached to it, the holistic [00:06:35] approach to X, Y, and Z. How to think about these things in context [00:06:40] with personalization. I can go through each and every one of those and talk about the [00:06:45] pitfalls. In the HRT world, it's patches for everyone and pills. You know, you get your estrogen patch, you get your [00:06:50] progesterone pill, boom, you're done.
[00:06:52] Dr. Taz: Well, what about the people that can't metabolize that [00:06:55] or don't have good gut health, or don't have good liver health, or have chronic inflammation? [00:07:00] What are they doing with all those hormones? Again, those are bandaids that get them [00:07:05] maybe 50% of the way there, but at some point, every bandaid starts to work against [00:07:10] you if you don't get to the root of the why.
[00:07:12] Dr. Taz: Again, a classic example, we can talk [00:07:15] about GLP ones, right? You have to have a holistic approach to a GLP one. Why? [00:07:20] Because if you overdo it and lose muscle along with fat, then at the end of [00:07:25] the day you are simply sacrificing. Your metabolic rate and you are [00:07:30] impacting everything from skin, hair, joint, and so much more [00:07:35] when it comes to your overall health.
[00:07:36] Dr. Taz: These are examples where we as women, if we continue to [00:07:40] think in this very linear sort of way about our health, that [00:07:45] this one thing is gonna take care of everything when we are [00:07:50] constantly. Going to be chasing outcomes and healing journeys, because [00:07:55] all wins will be for the short term. So again, I want to help us understand in [00:08:00] this episode how we need to be thinking about our health, what bro science is getting [00:08:05] wrong, and how we need new voices when it comes to women's health and health in general, [00:08:10] and how evidence-based holistic medicine is the future of health, [00:08:15] especially in the face of technology and ai.
[00:08:18] Dr. Taz: I'm still frustrated, [00:08:20] guys. I still talk to people all the time and all the innovation is about AI [00:08:25] tools that are gonna be protocoled out and sort of, uh, streamlined, right? [00:08:30] They're gonna make us more efficient as practitioners. Absolutely. They're gonna [00:08:35] maybe provide the information at our fingertips, so we are not going in like hunting 20 [00:08:40] different journals or looking at all the different clinical trials.
[00:08:43] Dr. Taz: Yay, that's a check mark. [00:08:45] But they're not going to be able to think about you as the woman [00:08:50] in the center of this equation and how this all intersects and interacts with her. [00:08:55] Here are the things that bro, science gets wrong, and I don't really know another word for it, [00:09:00] so that's the word I'm gonna use for it.
[00:09:01] Dr. Taz: It stresses optimization, [00:09:05] overregulation, it stresses intensity over recovery. It talks a [00:09:10] lot about calorie restriction, whether it's intermittent fasting, whether it's cycle [00:09:15] fasting, five, two, whatever, all these different things. It sort of negates [00:09:20] the power of your intuition and if you've listened to some of the X.
[00:09:23] Dr. Taz: That have come on the show [00:09:25] recently. Many of us are talking about this female power of intuition where we already [00:09:30] know what we are supposed to be eating or how we're supposed to be moving if [00:09:35] we took the second to kind of get centered and stabilize. Right? I'm [00:09:40] sure you guys all agree with me. Further, the scientific [00:09:45] method in bro science treats hormones as isolated little molecules [00:09:50] that are associated with maybe our ovaries or our uterus or our thyroid and such, [00:09:55] but not as overall power molecules that are [00:10:00] influencing our brain, our gut, our bones, our muscles, our heart, and so much more.[00:10:05]
[00:10:06] Dr. Taz: All of these ways of thinking are working against women [00:10:10] today, and now women are running around. We are spending money on [00:10:15] all kinds of appointments, different specialists, different treatments and medications and [00:10:20] IVs and God knows what, but the integration of that information, [00:10:25] you guys have to be thinking about that or you sometimes you're simply doing [00:10:30] too much.
[00:10:31] Dr. Taz: These are questions that you guys ask me all the time. [00:10:35] Bro. Science is also ignoring your life stage, your stress load, your [00:10:40] nervous system issues, and your regulation. And then what and [00:10:45] where, and how you have lived with trauma or [00:10:50] stress or familial disruption. Right? And I could take it [00:10:55] a step further, and we talked about this, but I could take it a step further.
[00:10:59] Dr. Taz: For women in [00:11:00] particular, that matriarchal lineage, right? The history [00:11:05] of your mothers and your grandmothers and your great-grandmothers is critical [00:11:10] to your health today. Are you carrying their trauma? Are you carrying their. [00:11:15] Tendency to certain nutrient deficiencies. How did they eat? Should you be eating like that [00:11:20] today?
[00:11:20] Dr. Taz: What were their needs? These are all questions we need to be asking when we're in the [00:11:25] exam room, and you should be asking yourself, I need you guys to understand that what [00:11:30] works for a 25 or 30-year-old male nervous system is [00:11:35] not gonna work for a 35 or 40-year-old female. These are [00:11:40] different bodies with different chemistry and different stories.
[00:11:44] Dr. Taz: Take this [00:11:45] example for just a moment. The UN Development Program, the UNDP, uh, [00:11:50] actually did a study that indicated that close to 90% of the people in the [00:11:55] world, this is global. This is not just us. This is around the world. 90% of [00:12:00] people globally hold at least one bias against women, [00:12:05] and a lot of those biases might be in things like economics or education or, or even [00:12:10] politics, right?
[00:12:10] Dr. Taz: We've seen that right here in the us. They're also around health [00:12:15] and medicine and how we take care of ourselves. So that means, as a woman, [00:12:20] we are already disadvantaged entering into that exam room or that hospital, [00:12:25] right? We are already sort of being put on a checkerboard in a particular [00:12:30] place. Now imagine you have postulator of science or science [00:12:35] spouts, or bro science or whatever we're gonna call it.
[00:12:37] Dr. Taz: Come into that room. [00:12:40] They're already biased against you. So until you have somebody, male or female, [00:12:45] right, that can listen to your story and wind that story together, then [00:12:50] we're disadvantaged. Many women fall into this as well, right? We have adopted, for [00:12:55] whatever reason, sort of the metrics by which the world measures our success, [00:13:00] including success in the exam room.
[00:13:02] Dr. Taz: So many women today. Tell my [00:13:05] patients that this is not real. This is not gonna work, this can't be happening. This is not [00:13:10] quote unquote, evidence-based. I kind of wanna call my female [00:13:15] colleagues out on that. How dare you dismiss how a woman [00:13:20] feels or what may be working for her just because you don't have a [00:13:25] male research study to back that up.
[00:13:28] Dr. Taz: Women were not in [00:13:30] research guys. They were not in research until the 1970s, and it's only in the last [00:13:35] couple of years with all the advocacy, amazing people have been doing that. We've got more [00:13:40] research dollars wished. By the way, were also taken away recently by the current administration. [00:13:45] So bottom line, without getting into the politics of this, you need to [00:13:50] understand that we don't have the evidence for women's [00:13:55] health.
[00:13:55] Dr. Taz: It's not there. 'cause the studies aren't real themselves. They're [00:14:00] flawed or they're not designed to think about women in systems. [00:14:05] Instead, they think about women as isolated symptomology and it's not how our [00:14:10] bodies work, honestly. They don't work for men or children either, but especially for women that are [00:14:15] hormonally driven and that have different life stages with different demands.[00:14:20]
[00:14:20] Dr. Taz: This system is not working. And that's a part of what really [00:14:25] drives me in making holistic medicine the medicine of the future. And when I [00:14:30] say that, I'm not talking about, okay, we all are woo woo and just doing herbs and [00:14:35] supplements and things like that. No, it's a combined approach. It's taking the literature of the past [00:14:40] from Ayurveda and Chinese medicine and nutrition and merging it with the technology and the [00:14:45] information of today and of the future.
[00:14:46] Dr. Taz: Right. That's what gives you an evidence-based [00:14:50] approach to this particular discipline of medicine. And evidence-based, by the way, is not [00:14:55] just about research studies, it's also about what we see in the exam room. Clinical [00:15:00] experience is evidence-based. And for women, your story [00:15:05] matters and it's important for you to acknowledge.
[00:15:08] Dr. Taz: That this is a piece of your [00:15:10] puzzle. So remember that when you are headed out, seeing your doctors, [00:15:15] evaluating your information, looking at your labs, being told your labs are normal, normal [00:15:20] for who is always the question, is it really normal for you? [00:15:25] Anyhow, getting off my soapbox there, but all of this, as we look further and more [00:15:30] deeply into it, I'm gonna throw more statistics at you.
[00:15:33] Dr. Taz: And then we're gonna talk a little bit more about burnout in [00:15:35] women and what we need to be thinking about to get away from sort of this like, bro, [00:15:40] science. Science spouting culture. Right? And I like science, by the way. I was trained in the scientific [00:15:45] method. I believe in it, but it's almost like anything, right?
[00:15:48] Dr. Taz: If you believe in things [00:15:50] blindly and don't acknowledge that there are other forces at play [00:15:55] in our lives as human beings, then you're narrow-minded at the end of the day. It's [00:16:00] no different than somebody grounding down in a belief that maybe they got from [00:16:05] who, who knows where, right? Maybe from their parents or their community or [00:16:10] wherever else.
[00:16:10] Dr. Taz: Grounding down and refusing to hear any other perspective [00:16:15] or opinion. And we gotta change this. We've gotta widen the toolbox. We've gotta think about this [00:16:20] differently. A recent analysis from the World Economic Forum and [00:16:25] McKinsey Health Institute revealed gender-based health disparities with [00:16:30] significant socio-economic implications.
[00:16:32] Dr. Taz: They found that women experienced [00:16:35] 25% more years in poor health than men, resulting in an annual loss of [00:16:40] 75 million years due to premature mortality and morbidity. [00:16:45] Notably, and I'm still quoting here, sex specific Conditions, endometriosis, [00:16:50] PCOS, menopause contribute to approximately 5% [00:16:55] of the women's health burden, while 56% account for health conditions that [00:17:00] affect or manifest differently in women, not the same differently in [00:17:05] women than men.
[00:17:06] Dr. Taz: Further compounded by inadequate research [00:17:10] or limited sex specific data collection. Guys, that's World Economic [00:17:15] Forum. That's McKinsey Health. That's not Dr. Taz. I'm getting these stats right out of [00:17:20] the journals. So all of this to say what do we do when it comes to [00:17:25] women? And women's health and the information we're receiving day in [00:17:30] and day out.
[00:17:31] Dr. Taz: Well, this is where I want us to think together through this kind of [00:17:35] collaboratively, right? I know all of you can't come into the practice where we practice this and we follow this. [00:17:40] You know, I have my private community as an option as well to kind of like, you know, help [00:17:45] everybody develop these tools.
[00:17:46] Dr. Taz: But let's do some of this like right now, and one of the things I'd [00:17:50] like all of you to do is to first identify. Where you are in the health spectrum, [00:17:55] are you energized and vital, ready to get through your day? Or are [00:18:00] you experiencing high functioning burnout and exhaustion [00:18:05] where you are having to power through rather than to power up?[00:18:10]
[00:18:10] Dr. Taz: That's a question to ask yourself, and maybe if you're somewhere where you can take notes, jot it [00:18:15] down, where are you powering through or powering up and just write it down so that you can [00:18:20] come back to it. I think the second thing you need to do is identify the [00:18:25] most prevalent symptom you're experiencing.
[00:18:27] Dr. Taz: In fact, I challenge my patients with [00:18:30] this, like, what is the symptom that is interfering with your quality of life before you [00:18:35] even get to the condition? Is it fatigue? That's a common one. Energy is something that [00:18:40] so many people come in complaining about, but they can't really put their [00:18:45] finger on it. That energy deficit may look like brain fog.
[00:18:49] Dr. Taz: It may look like [00:18:50] muscle weakness. It may look like poor exercise recovery. It may simply look like not being [00:18:55] able to get through your day or sleeping eight to nine hours a night and still [00:19:00] waking up tired, grumpy, and exhausted. That [00:19:05] energy deficit could look like a loss of libido, a desire to stop [00:19:10] socializing, but identify where you are with energy and where [00:19:15] is that energy deficit showing up in your life?
[00:19:18] Dr. Taz: High functioning [00:19:20] women experiencing burnout always have an energy deficit. It just [00:19:25] looks different patient to patient, and that's rule number one. Rule number two [00:19:30] is, again, the biggest issue that brings women into the clinic, but I'm [00:19:35] trying to get you guys to identify this before it becomes like a big issue, right?[00:19:40]
[00:19:40] Dr. Taz: If your weight is changing, if there are differences in your digestive health or [00:19:45] in your hormones, that's a call. That's a battle cry to start to [00:19:50] really own your health. And I don't care if your labs are normal. I don't care if [00:19:55] you're told everything is fine. I take that as a challenge. So does my team.[00:20:00]
[00:20:00] Dr. Taz: Well, let's figure this out. And if we're not able to identify it in lab layer [00:20:05] one, maybe we need to go to lab layer two, or we simply need to track a little [00:20:10] bit better. I've literally found hormone shifts in women by [00:20:15] looking at their hormones over the course of six months to a year. Right? That way we can [00:20:20] understand what's happening.
[00:20:20] Dr. Taz: Just yesterday we identified because we're tracking [00:20:25] hormone levels, the fact that a patient of ours was in a late ovulatory phase, [00:20:30] having an estrogen spike at days 18 or 19 of her cycle, which [00:20:35] she's now finally able to identify. Her forties having struggled [00:20:40] with infertility all through her thirties.
[00:20:42] Dr. Taz: Again, I wish we could have rewound, [00:20:45] right? And had had been with her in her early to mid thirties. So these are the [00:20:50] ways that women's health is being underserved in these comments that are made and in this [00:20:55] submission. I don't even know if that's a word, but I just made it up. But in this submission [00:21:00] of many of her symptoms and her, uh, sort of the sort of blanket [00:21:05] statement of we can't check this or we can't check that, and we, you know, it's normal, therefore it's [00:21:10] okay.
[00:21:10] Dr. Taz: Don't accept that, you know, if you're a woman out there. Don't accept that [00:21:15] normal is the end of the story. It's sort of a call to action if you're not [00:21:20] feeling a hundred percent to jump in and to dive deeper. One of the [00:21:25] things that we understand too about women is that our female stress response is very different.
[00:21:29] Dr. Taz: [00:21:30] We have more cortisol, hyperresponsiveness, and cortisol sensitivity. [00:21:35] Here's why not 'cause we're weak. Okay? I know someone might wanna tell us that we are [00:21:40] maybe weaker. It is not because we're weak. Women have cortisol [00:21:45] sensitivity because we are more perceptive and intuitive and [00:21:50] receptive to our environment.
[00:21:52] Dr. Taz: We feel things before we know them. [00:21:55] We sense them before we can say them. And that is [00:22:00] actually both our greatest strength and also our greatest downfall. [00:22:05] It's the reason that people may call us crazy and we can't verbalize it, but we [00:22:10] know and we are right. If that's you, I want you to own that. [00:22:15] That is something that is a part of the empowerment of women in the model of medicine [00:22:20] today.
[00:22:20] Dr. Taz: Own what you feel, what you can't say. [00:22:25] Understand that that is information too. And for us on the other side of the [00:22:30] table, the exam room table or the camera, we should be listening and [00:22:35] processing and sensing, and then agreeing to go down this [00:22:40] journey with you so that we can make it a reality. I can tell you guys so many stories of [00:22:45] which of where this has, you know, been real.
[00:22:48] Dr. Taz: I've had patients come in [00:22:50] and know something was wrong. They knew something was wrong in their [00:22:55] relationships or their marriages, and they were told they were crazy or it was in [00:23:00] their head. And so they came to me saying, I have. I don't know why [00:23:05] I have anxiety. I need Xanax or Klonopin or an anxiety medication.
[00:23:09] Dr. Taz: [00:23:10] And as we dug and as we explored and as we tried to figure out what was going on, [00:23:15] my intuitive sense knew that something was wrong there. Right? But [00:23:20] as a physician wanting to help somebody at this stage of life that they were in, I wrote those [00:23:25] prescriptions and sure enough. 18 months later, the truth revealed [00:23:30] itself, and oftentimes this has happened multiple times, but those women [00:23:35] found themselves in a position where it was time to call it quits on that relationship for different reasons.
[00:23:39] Dr. Taz: [00:23:40] So everything that was happening was not in their head, and they were not making it up. They [00:23:45] were knowing. And sensing before they could say it and put their finger on [00:23:50] it. And that's the power of being female. And that's the piece that a [00:23:55] randomized control study cannot quantify and cannot express. And [00:24:00] why we have always been dismissed as the hysterical female or the weaker one, or [00:24:05] now the one that's just maybe raging for no reason.
[00:24:08] Dr. Taz: All of this is [00:24:10] important. These are all important things to understand. The second part of [00:24:15] why women experience health differently, beyond all the things we've already talked [00:24:20] about is that the crosstalk between our hormones, our immune system and our gut [00:24:25] is very profound, and I think it's something that gets missed over and over again.
[00:24:29] Dr. Taz: I [00:24:30] talk a lot in practice and even on here about. Triangles, right? I have this [00:24:35] visual in my head all the time of how each of you have a personal triangle. I'm [00:24:40] always trying to figure it out what are the corners of that triangle that are driving a particular [00:24:45] process? And when we dial into that triangle, right?
[00:24:47] Dr. Taz: To give you an example, someone who might've [00:24:50] developed autoimmune disease or someone who might've developed a LS or someone who's now [00:24:55] developed PCOS or endometriosis or infertility. Whatever it is, you name it. When we [00:25:00] draw those triangles out, we usually have hormones as one causative factor in [00:25:05] one corner of that triangle.
[00:25:06] Dr. Taz: And again, that hormone story is going to be different for each [00:25:10] and every person. But the other corners of the triangle are what we have to figure [00:25:15] out because hormones, again, don't exist in isolation. They're communicating, so they [00:25:20] communicate with the gut. There's a gut hormone connection, both communicate with the immune system.
[00:25:24] Dr. Taz: [00:25:25] There's a gut immune connection and a hormone immune connection. And when those three corners of the triangle get [00:25:30] together, right, and start to have coffee and decide they want to work [00:25:35] against each other because they can't communicate, what does that look like in your body? [00:25:40] That is inflammation. And as that inflammation and that immune reactivity [00:25:45] progresses, that turns into chronic disease, and that becomes something I've talked about [00:25:50] before.
[00:25:50] Dr. Taz: Chronic inflammatory response syndrome, which again, now looks [00:25:55] like chronic fatigue or an unnamed autoimmune disease of some [00:26:00] kind. Sometimes it, uh, gets named as EBV or Mycoplasma or Lyme or all these [00:26:05] things. But at its core, at its essence, it's inflammation [00:26:10] because the hormone, the gut and the immune system are not communicating cohesively and [00:26:15] driving the inflammatory process again.
[00:26:17] Dr. Taz: So again, it's like understanding that women, [00:26:20] men are vulnerable too, but women in particular are very [00:26:25] vulnerable to this crosstalk. Next women hold stress differently. You [00:26:30] know, we don't compartmentalize, you know, we treat everything maybe because of [00:26:35] our, you know, sort of innate evolutionary propensity [00:26:40] to nurture and to grow things right?
[00:26:43] Dr. Taz: A lot of us treat [00:26:45] everything like it's our child. It is important to us. We can't let it go. We can't go [00:26:50] put it in a box, especially when we have to perform. And sort of a male dominated [00:26:55] linear setting where certain check boxes have to be met. [00:27:00] Unfortunately, we can't let go of things. I saw this when, you know, in the early days of [00:27:05] running our practices where my husband started a practice and I started a practice too, right?
[00:27:09] Dr. Taz: I would [00:27:10] obsess I was up till nine or 10 o'clock at night, either obsessing about a patient, [00:27:15] obsessing about a process or an operational issue. Obsessing, obsessing. Obsessing, right? [00:27:20] I could not let it go. Maybe to my detriment and the detriment of my family to be a [00:27:25] hundred percent honest, whereas he could come home.
[00:27:28] Dr. Taz: He was done. Hands [00:27:30] washed, done, move on. So there was a fundamental difference between how [00:27:35] we process the stress we were both experiencing in our respective [00:27:40] environments. And I am here to tell you, in observing women's sense and [00:27:45] myself, that we just process stress differently. And so for us, a big [00:27:50] part of our health equation and understanding how to advocate for our health is to [00:27:55] be able to have those stress guardrails in place.
[00:27:58] Dr. Taz: And again, go back to [00:28:00] we are intuitive. We know before we can say we feel before we can get our hands on it. [00:28:05] Knowing that that is us, how do we protect that and how do we nurture it [00:28:10] as a superpower rather than cowering from it or seeing it as a weakness. [00:28:15] And lastly, sort of connected to the same theme is that women have a [00:28:20] tremendous need for safety.
[00:28:23] Dr. Taz: I want you guys to think about that. [00:28:25] A woman's need for safety often overrides every other decision she [00:28:30] makes. It may influence the career you choose, or the partner you [00:28:35] have, or where you choose, decide to live. We have that innate need for [00:28:40] safety. Here's where it's coming from. It's evolutionary. We needed home and [00:28:45] grounding, right, because we were getting ready to procreate and start a family.
[00:28:49] Dr. Taz: Who wants to be [00:28:50] wandering the world or who wants to be jumping off bridges? When you're maybe about to get [00:28:55] pregnant. So that need for safety is hardwired into our [00:29:00] DNA. Some of us may be more, you know, uh, willing to take risks than others. You know, that's [00:29:05] gonna vary as is all behavior across the spectrum.
[00:29:08] Dr. Taz: But fundamentally, if [00:29:10] we get down to it, that's who we are and we need to embrace it and understand it. [00:29:15] So what does that mean for our health? Right? You're like, Dr. Tass, where are you going with this? [00:29:20] What it means for our health is that when our safety is threatened. [00:29:25] Whether it's our physical safety, our emotional safety, our mental [00:29:30] safety, or even the safety of our communities or political worlds or [00:29:35] governments or the world at large.
[00:29:37] Dr. Taz: When safety is threatened, our cortisol [00:29:40] hyperresponsiveness goes out of control because we can feel that and sense [00:29:45] that way before there's actually sometimes manifestation of that. [00:29:50] So helping women feel safe is a part of a clinician's responsibility, [00:29:55] and that means providing both the chemistry and the lifestyle tools and the [00:30:00] nutrition to encourage safety in our human bodies.
[00:30:03] Dr. Taz: The idea of safety in [00:30:05] women's health is also connected to the importance of rhythms in women's health. [00:30:10] So again, because of this fundamental hormonal rhythm and the [00:30:15] changing life stages, right? I write about that in the hormone shift about all the different stages women go [00:30:20] through, you know, through their lives, kind of tied to the hormones, right?
[00:30:23] Dr. Taz: So we talked about the teens to [00:30:25] twenties, to thirties, to like perimenopause and menopause, and then post menopause. Those [00:30:30] were all very specific stages of a woman's life, and each stage was [00:30:35] associated with different challenges. Hormonal, you know, uh, [00:30:40] imbalances, strengths, weaknesses, nutritional needs, all of that stuff.
[00:30:43] Dr. Taz: It's all there. You can check [00:30:45] that book out. But one of the things I didn't talk about in that book that part of me [00:30:50] wishes I would, but we can in the future, is that while the hormonal rhythm is critical for [00:30:55] women's health, right, that hormonal rhythm is responsive to all the other [00:31:00] rhythms in a woman's body.
[00:31:02] Dr. Taz: 'cause we are not just driven by one rhythm. [00:31:05] It's not just the hormones. We are also driven by the rhythm of cortisol and our [00:31:10] nervous system, right? So what our serotonin, dopamine, all of those neurotransmitters are [00:31:15] doing. They're on a rhythm as well, and our circadian rhythm and what that's doing. [00:31:20] Like when melatonin is produced, you know when, when we fall asleep, when we wake up, [00:31:25] that's another rhythm that we're sort of, it's very important for us to pay attention to.
[00:31:29] Dr. Taz: There's [00:31:30] a digestive rhythm for women that's critical to follow. When we eat [00:31:35] erratically, it's a bigger deal for us than it is for men because that rhythm [00:31:40] is something that if we don't follow, it's cortisol producing and stress inducing at the [00:31:45] same time. So all these rhythms kind of overlap on each other.
[00:31:48] Dr. Taz: If you wanna think about it, [00:31:50] like, almost like one rhythm sitting on top of another and then influencing each other. It's almost like [00:31:55] a, i, I kind of have a visual of a ball of yarn, right? So we've got rhythm number one is [00:32:00] circadian rhythm. Number two is food rhythm. Number three is, uh, daylight, right? [00:32:05] Light sensitivity, rhythm Number four, it's hormones, right?
[00:32:08] Dr. Taz: All of this is working together [00:32:10] to determine women's health. And so when we have disruption, because we are not safe. [00:32:15] And we are not grounded. And all those rhythms start to fall apart. We forget to [00:32:20] eat, we forget to sleep. We forget, like, oh, I need daylight today. Oh, I didn't get any fresh air. [00:32:25] Oh, I didn't move.
[00:32:26] Dr. Taz: When all of those rhythms are starting to be disrupted, over [00:32:30] time, women's health is compromised and fundamentally it's compromised [00:32:35] because we no longer feel safe in our bodies. And that lack of safety in turn leads [00:32:40] to chronic inflammation, immune dysfunction, hormone imbalances, and so much more. [00:32:45] A woman's body, I want you to remember this.
[00:32:47] Dr. Taz: A woman's body does not [00:32:50] respond to force. Women don't get better when they biohack or [00:32:55] optimize or calorie restrict, or work out excessively. [00:33:00] Women get better when they're safe. When their nervous system [00:33:05] relaxes and takes a deep breath and everything starts to line back out, this is [00:33:10] something you may have noticed on your own right.
[00:33:12] Dr. Taz: I notice it. I go on vacation, I lose weight. I feel [00:33:15] great. Everything corrects. In my early days when I had PCOS and had lost the majority of my [00:33:20] hair, I took a three week vacation for the first time in probably 15 years. Guess what? Every [00:33:25] single piece of hair came back. But of course, the minute I reentered my stressful life, it all [00:33:30] fell out again.
[00:33:31] Dr. Taz: So safety isn't, is [00:33:35] critical for women's health to establish hormone balance and establish all these other things. This is [00:33:40] why a holistic approach to health matters and the future of women's health has to be [00:33:45] holistic because we have to understand where all of these different bodies are intersecting, [00:33:50] where all these different rhythms are playing together, and what we really need to [00:33:55] pull on.
[00:33:55] Dr. Taz: To get somebody feeling better and feeling safe, and we can't do [00:34:00] that. Looking at one lab value or one system. We have [00:34:05] to do that with a holistic whole body approach, the five body approach. And when we take [00:34:10] that approach in, we can set women on a healing journey so that they are [00:34:15] not powering up or powering through or fighting, you know, their [00:34:20] own chemistry.
[00:34:21] Dr. Taz: They're actually owning their own powers and they're actually [00:34:25] more aware of what they need. They kind of need us less. And [00:34:30] that's what evidence-based Holistic Medicine for Women is all about. It's about measuring [00:34:35] and listening and tracking and understanding, and then putting a [00:34:40] pin on where to begin and what the next steps need to be.
[00:34:43] Dr. Taz: And that's what we do [00:34:45] day in and day out at Whole Plus. I think many of us as women, both as women [00:34:50] practitioners and as female patients are just tired. We're [00:34:55] tired of the trending and the hacking and what I'm calling bro science. The [00:35:00] science spouting, and we've all played along for a while, right? Because [00:35:05] we do wanna have standards and we do wanna have boxes to live between.
[00:35:08] Dr. Taz: We don't wanna make stuff [00:35:10] up. Who wants to do that? We want to understand that there's more to [00:35:15] healing, especially as a woman, than one solution, and that it needs to be [00:35:20] well-rounded and well thought of. And we need providers that are going to [00:35:25] do the work to personalize a care plan for you. So the future of women's [00:35:30] health is holistic and it is evidence-based, and the two don't live apart from each [00:35:35] other.
[00:35:36] Dr. Taz: What it's not is more science spouting and bro science [00:35:40] with men telling us what to do, how to live, what to eat, how to [00:35:45] sleep, and what hormones to take. So if you've been watching the show and listening to [00:35:50] the show, I hope you'll walk away with at least knowing. What to start [00:35:55] or where to start, especially if you're a woman or if you know a woman that is struggling, share [00:36:00] this episode with her because hopefully she'll take one little pearl out of this and [00:36:05] understand that it's not in her head and she's not making this up, and that the healthcare that she [00:36:10] may be receiving today is simply not meeting her where she needs to be.[00:36:15]
[00:36:15] Dr. Taz: For everybody else. Remember, as women, we wanna continue to [00:36:20] advocate not only for ourselves, but for our families as well. So if you sense [00:36:25] and feel and are aware that somebody in your family is also at risk, [00:36:30] maybe not getting the care that they deserve as a child or as a senior as a partner, [00:36:35] well let's advocate for them too.
[00:36:37] Dr. Taz: And at the end of the day. We are [00:36:40] only as healthy as the family units in the communities that we live in, so we're kind of in this [00:36:45] together. All right, I'll get off my soapbox. I hope that this made sense and I hope [00:36:50] that if you're a woman listening, this has been helpful to you. Remember, I post new episodes every [00:36:55] week.
[00:36:55] Dr. Taz: Don't forget to subscribe and if there's a topic that you really wanna hear about, [00:37:00] please reach out to me. We are always trying to push this envelope. Further ahead before you [00:37:05] go. Remember, healing doesn't happen all at once. It happens in moments. If [00:37:10] today's episode gave you one of those moments, subscribe and keep learning with me.
[00:37:14] Dr. Taz: The [00:37:15] next video is right here and it picks up right where this one left off.