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Title: Enhancing Women's Health with Dr. Shawn Tassone

Host: Kelly Cappasola

Special Guest: Dr. Shawn Tassone, MD, PhD, also known as America's holistic gynecologist

Dr. Shawn Tassone, America's Holistic Gynecologist - A headshot
Dr. Shawn Tassone, America's Holistic Gynecologist

Key Topics:

  • Women's Health Myths: Dr. Tassone addresses common myths about women's health, particularly the notion that hormone imbalances are non-existent. He emphasizes the importance of hormone testing and personalized treatment for women experiencing symptoms like fatigue, weight gain, and decreased libido.
  • Hormone Balance: The episode dives into the essentials of hormone balance, with Dr. Tassone explaining his comprehensive approach to treating hormonal issues through his SHINES protocol, which stands for Spiritual practice, Hormones, Infopharmaceuticals, Nutrition, Exercise, and Supplementation.
  • Omega-3s and Nutrition: Discussion on the role of Omega-3s in reducing inflammation and supporting overall health, especially for women dealing with hormonal fluctuations. Dr. Tassone highlights the effectiveness of algae-based Omega-3 supplements over fish oil for better absorption and fewer side effects.
  • Testing and Advocacy: Dr. Tassone encourages listeners to advocate for themselves when dealing with healthcare professionals. He stresses the importance of thorough testing, including for thyroid issues and hormonal imbalances, to better tailor treatment plans.

Additional Segment:

  • Tested by You Campaign: Corinna Bellizzi introduces the "Tested by You" campaign offering listeners a chance to verify their Omega-3 levels and experience the benefits firsthand. This segment promotes the campaign's potential to provide tangible, data-driven insights into how Omega-3 supplements can improve individual health metrics.

Conclusion:

  • The episode concludes with an invitation to the audience to learn more about Dr. Tassone's work and to participate in the Omega-3 testing campaign to gain a deeper understanding of their health.

Overall: This episode provides a comprehensive look at women's health issues with expert insights from Dr. Tassone, blending medical expertise with practical advice on nutrition and self-advocacy to empower listeners to take charge of their health.

Links Mentioned in This Episode:

Dr. Shawn Tassone, MD, PhD | America's Holistic Gynecologist Dispells Women's Health Myths & Discusses His SHINES Protocol

Corinna Bellizzi: Welcome to a bonus episode. I'm your host, Corinna Belizzi. Today, I am thrilled to bring you an interview that Dr. Shawn Tassone recorded on the Forever Young radio show. At the close of the interview with Dr. Tassone and Kelly Cappasola. I joined Kelly to talk about a unique offer that we have available for all of our listeners with the Tested by You campaign.

So stick around for that part because that unique offer could get you 100 in free tests to verify your omega 3 index. This is a pleasure to listen to as Dr. Tassone shines. He literally shares his shines protocol, which is all about helping women define their hormonal issues and ultimately walk towards better health.

Without further ado, here's that episode of forever young.

Kelly Cappasola: Hello everyone. So glad you could join us today right here on forever young. If it's the first time you've actually come across our show, whether it be on the traditional radio dial, Sirius XM or any of our wonderful podcast platforms, welcome.

We are so grateful to have you here each and every week. Uh, we show up so we can tell you what's going on, uh, in today's health world, uh, trends, hacks, different things you want to learn about, different things you want to avoid, just sharing great content each and every week with our very special guests who join us.

If you'd like to learn more about the show, it's very easy to do so. You can do that at forever young radio. com again, forever young radio. com. We have over 430 podcast episodes. Articles from A to Z. written from some great contributors, different sponsors that we deal with, and a lot from America's natural doctor, Dr.

Mark Stangler. So you can go ahead and learn more there. Now really excited today. We have a first time guest. I've heard a lot about this wonderful gentleman and we're going to cover a really great topic and that's really myths surrounding women's health. And we're going to do a highlight on hormones.

And again, that guest today is Shawn Tassone, MD, PhD, also known as America's holistic gynecologist. He's the first physician in the United States to be double board certified in obstetrics and gynecology by the American board of integrative medicine. He holds both a medical degree as well as a PhD in mind body medicine.

That's so awesome. I can't wait to talk to him more about that. He also hosts the podcast. Confessions of a male gynecologist, a really, really great show. I think there's a 30 plus episodes you can pick up off his website. We're going to go ahead and give you that as well as we get going. He is also a very well established author and his newest book, the hormone balance Bible can be found on Amazon and other outlets nationwide.

Dr. T welcome to the show. So grateful for you to join me today.

Dr. Shawn Tassone: Hey, thank you. When you read all those things, it makes me sound actually interesting.

Kelly Cappasola: Hey, I had to edit it. There's even more interesting things about you that I didn't include. I'll sprinkle them in through our conversation today. But you know, I'm a big believer in when someone really cares about their patients and really cares about what they're doing, it makes it just a really fun thing to follow that and to share that with others.

Because you can tell in the last 20 years, you've helped 40, 000 plus women. And these are women struggling with things like fatigue, weight gain, decreased libido, and just not feeling as motivated as they once were because they're not feeling their best. But every time we have a new guest on Dr. Tassone, I like to ask really, what was your motivation?

Were you born? And then you're like, Whoa, this gynecologist is so nice. I want to become a gynecologist. Like, where, where were you in the mindset of how you ended up down this path?

Dr. Shawn Tassone: Well, I would hope that there is no man alive that is born and goes, I want to be a gynecologist. Um, I don't, I hope it doesn't happen that way.

I think, you know, for me, it's very multifaceted. I do hearken back to 21 years ago. I was kind of new, uh, into my actual And to be perfectly honest, there's a very superficial answer as to why I went into OBGYN. I, it just appealed to me because it's a very happy profession for the most part. You know, you're delivering babies, um, when you're 27 and you're deciding what you want to do for a living as a doctor, you think, Oh, I can do call forever.

I'm, I'm going to be young forever. And then you're in your forties and you're like, what the heck was I thinking? Cause I haven't slept in four days. But, um, I really liked the fact that it was multifaceted, their surgery, you're dealing with complex issues like diabetes and thyroid, and then you got pregnancy and it just was never boring and it tended to be a happier profession, I think on a deeper level and maybe somewhat metaphysically, I maybe it was prepping.

For my own future in the sense that my mom, when I was a second-year resident, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and, uh, I knew a lot about that disease process as a resident. Um, what I didn't plan on was that when my mom was going through the, The, the turmoils of chemotherapy and surgeries and all the things that go with that, I couldn't, I couldn't even help my own mom just feel better, you know, like just not feel horrible and just physically she, you know, she just felt miserable and she would call me crying and I'm an only child and I just, I just really just when she finally passed away about five years later at the young age of 56, I, I just.

I can't be a doctor and, and, and have somebody else's mom, I couldn't even help my own mom, you know, it's like, and so that really just pushed me to, to, to learn more and to do more and, and so I guess this book is because of that tragedy and I'm hopeful that I can reach other women so that they don't have to suffer.

Kelly Cappasola: Well, I think that's a great place of uh, really speaking from the heart and thank you for sharing that with us Uh goodness 40 000 women. I think you're doing pretty good. I think I think that's a low estimate, too I think you might have been creeping up to 50 000 at this point, but we will talk more throughout the day show on that.

And again, what is a great website for people to go and learn a little bit more? I know you have the clinic website and you have another one. What would be the one that you should recommend for people? Well, my

Dr. Shawn Tassone: favorite website is Instagram. I never thought I would say that, but, uh, I do, I do do a lot of engagement with people - patients every Saturday. I have a Q and A, I get probably 50 to 100 questions that I answer. And that's just my name, Sean Tess on MD on Instagram. If you really want to know more about me though, Tassone, T A S S O N E M D dot com.

Kelly Cappasola: And also on our weekly highlight page at forever young radio. com, we'll go ahead and put all of Dr. Tassone's handles and ways you can learn more. There's a really great hormone quiz. You can learn more that we're going to talk about when we come back more on your health.

Kelly Cappasola: Welcome back listeners. Again, having a wonderful conversation with our very special guest today, Dr. Sean Casson. MD, PhD, also known as America's Holistic Gynecologist. Again, if you want to learn more about him, it's super easy to do that at our weekly highlight page at foreveryoungradio. com. Also, don't forget to check out his newest book, The Hormone Balance Bible.

That can be found on Amazon and nationwide. You're seeing a lot of patients and I love that. You have your finger on the pulse of what's going on. You are hearing their chief complaints. You're helping them navigate through what they're dealing with. But what are a few myths about women's health that is being spun out there that you think maybe have very little merit?

Dr. Shawn Tassone: Well, I, I, I tend to believe that hormone, it's funny because a lot of my colleagues will, they really enjoy going out there and just shooting everything down. Like everything you do is, It's horrible and, and, and nothing you, nothing is, nothing is abnormal or normal. And the one myth that, that really is pervasive right now is that there is no such thing as hormone imbalance and there's no such thing.

Um, there's no reason to do hormone testing and I really feel like that is such a, I mean, first of all, I wrote a 500 page book called the Hormone Balance Bible. So if there is no such thing as hormone imbalance, I'm screwed. Um, I just wasted five years of my life. Um, but I think it really, what it does is it gaslights women and we know that that's pervasive in, in medicine right now.

But yes, hormones fluctuate all the time. And, and when doctors say that, there's a partial kernel of truth there that it's hard to know, but if you do know when the, where she is in her cycle, and you draw the blood, you know what they should be, and you also can look at her symptoms, and the other thing is that you're told, This isn't necessarily a myth, but it's a, you're told this all the time.

Oh, your hormones, they'll, they'll finally acquiesce and they'll draw your levels. And then they'll say, everything's normal. You're fine. You're just 40 and you're getting older. Well, we don't say that to men. We don't tell men, Oh, you're just getting older. We, we've helped them. But for women, for some reason, you're just getting older.

And so that's a myth. You're not just getting older, you know, you need to be your best advocate. And if you don't feel right. Then keep pushing, be your own advocate and push harder.

Kelly Cappasola: You even referenced in your book, The Hormone Balance Bible, that four out of five women will face life altering hormonal imbalances and at times different conditions that can wreak havoc on the physical and mental health.

So if they're being, you know, kind of dismissed and saying, Oh, you know, this is my number one pet peeve. When somebody goes, Hey, Kelly, add my thyroid check. I don't think I have a problem. It looks normal. OK, well, what did they look at? When they only look at one component, TSH, I mean, that's an incredible disservice.

T3, T4, all of those things are very, very important components. So, um, you know, I think there's a lot of skirting around at time and that's why women are told, Hey, this is just a part of life. We're all going to go through the change. You may get hot flashes. You may not. That's not really a good health plan in place as they're suffering sleepless nights, you know, not feeling their best and being told, you know, adrenal dysfunction or adrenal fatigue has no merit.

Where do you stand on that?

Dr. Shawn Tassone: Well, I think what happens, and this is part of the issue too, doctors will often say, well, adrenal fatigue isn't a diagnosis. Okay. Well, that's true. There is no diagnosis for it. However, does that mean that if you're. Cortisol levels are on the low normal side that you wouldn't have symptoms?

No. So what the problem is, is my colleagues are getting hung up on the words. So, we often talk about also something called estrogen dominance, where maybe your estrogen levels are high compared to your progesterone levels. It's not a technical diagnosis. However, it can cause symptoms. Breast tenderness, heavy periods, painful periods, weight gain, irritability.

I mean, it can cause problems, but we don't have a technical diagnosis. So, that's where we're getting hung up.

Kelly Cappasola: Yeah. And I love that you say that because I think that's a perfect explanation. And again, you're seeing these people, you're dealing with them each and every day. You know, one component, I know we're really focusing on a women's health show, but I find it very interesting that women seem to have more hormone disruption than men, like women have more thyroid issues.

You don't generally hear a large group of men dealing with that. Again, women go through men, menopause, men go through andropause, and there has been, I'm sure, dips in testosterone with all of the plastics and different chemicals in our food supply. But why do you think women tend to have more hormonal challenges than men?

Dr. Shawn Tassone: Well, women have more fluctuations in their hormones. Men, you know, we don't cycle. Um, we, we make fun of women who cycle and we, we, we have sitcoms that make fun of women who cycle. And I remember when my mom was going through perimenopause. As a teenager, I remember saying one day, and I never said it again, um, did you take your pill today?

Um, and I immediately ran out of the house because of the look I got. But, um, but we don't have those fluctuations. Men tend to just be fairly steady, and our estrogen levels, we do have estrogen, are really low. And, and they don't really fluctuate. But women are constantly, Influx and and sometimes they're very sensitive to that flux that that movement in their cycles.

And that's the other thing, whereas some women may be fine with the fluctuations, other women are very, very ultra sensitive to those fluctuations. And that's why you get PMS and PMDD and an anxiety and insomnia. Men don't usually suffer from those things. And then you have the increase in autoimmune diseases like Hashimoto's and rheumatoid arthritis.

And we think that that might even be related to. To the fact that y'all have estrogen and that the fluctuations of those hormones. So women are probably 80 to 90 percent more likely to have an autoimmune disorder than a man.

Kelly Cappasola: And have you seen in the 20 years you've been in practice in the last maybe five years, have you seen a big uptick in autoimmune conditions?

Dr. Shawn Tassone: Yes, um, you could make the argument that maybe because I'm looking, I'm finding, but, um, the reality is, I think maybe we're not looking, so we're not finding them as well on the other side, and what I tend to do now is when I, like, let's say I have a woman come in for a hormone evaluation, one of the things I routinely check for now that I didn't probably five years ago is Hashimoto's, so I'll check for thyroid peroxidase antibodies, and I have women come in all the time who have a normal TSH, Like you just mentioned, but their free T3, which is their active thyroid hormone is, I, I look at normal as this.

I have, I always speak in analogies because I think it makes, it connects better. And if you look at lab values, it's like a house. Okay, it could be normal. You're in the house. And now I say you're in the house, but you're laying on the floor in the basement. Now you might feel better. In the middle on the main floor, but you're in the basement.

And to tell somebody that's a normal feeling is, is just wrong. And so then I'll look at their thyroid peroxidase antibodies and their antibodies are through the roof, which means they have this inflammation in their thyroid that hasn't affected the way that their brain talks to their thyroid. So their TSH is normal, but their actual hormones are in the basement and they have all this inflammation in their thyroid gland and we're just telling them, they're fine.

You know, it's like, go ahead, you're fine. And she's like, no, I'm not fine. And so usually by the time a patient finds me, I'm probably her fifth doctor. Um, and it's because we're not doing our jobs.

Kelly Cappasola: And I love that you test. I mean, tests don't guess, you know, it's like, otherwise you're shooting a shotgun at an ant trying to decide, okay, it could be this, it could be that.

And I can tell that you really, when you sit down with your patient, really want to know that like their past, what's going on. You know, what are some of the symptoms that you're dealing with? You almost become like an investigator of health, which is awesome. And that's probably why you're their fifth doctor and final doctor.

But at the end of it, I think it's, um, interesting that most people will say, Oh, they just tested my estrogen. Doesn't things like progesterone or DHEA, what are some other things that you're maybe looking at, um, to maybe see if that woman during menopause or even before has higher testosterone at times more than maybe her husband even has.

Dr. Shawn Tassone: I just saw a lady, um, about an hour ago, uh, whose testosterone, I don't know if this is bad for me or her, but her testosterone is actually higher than mine. Wow. And it's because she's on a pellet, um, which is a completely other tragic thing that is being done to women, but, uh, she's on a hormone pellet.

But when I look at, um, estrogen. progesterone, uh, testosterone, and not just total testosterone, but what's called a free testosterone, which is active in the body. Uh, sex hormone binding globulin, which can affect your, um, testosterone levels. For thyroid, it's a thyroid stimulating hormone, a free T3, a free T4.

Those are the two thyroid hormones. Uh, thyroid peroxidase antibodies, DHEA, like you just mentioned. Um, vitamin D is super important. The only, uh, hormone that's a little bit tricky. to test at times is cortisol.

Dr. Shawn Tassone: Cortisol isn't a great thing to test via blood. Usually you want to kind of come at that with saliva or urine.

And I have a whole episode on my podcast about testing because it's a, it's a topic in and of itself. But, and that's a, that's, I would consider that a basic panel. Um, and then if something's off, I'll go a little bit deeper. Like if a woman had say really high testosterone, but she wasn't on say pellet medication, well, why would it be so high?

She could have PCOS. She could have, um, an ovarian tumor. Uh, I just had a lady the other day whose husband was putting on his androgel on his stomach and then he would have sex with her and he'd sweat all over the place and he was giving her all his testosterone. So, it is kind of like CSI for hormones.

You do sometimes have to do some investigations.

Kelly Cappasola: Yeah. But I do like that you go into those protocols. Testing is a very important equation. And when we come back from the break, I want to pick your brain on a few different things, especially on the hormone replacement, get your view on the pellets, uh, and then talk a little bit more about things.

Maybe you like to incorporate. I know you're a fan of Omega threes. I know you're a fan of Maka. So I kind of want to talk to you about that. So listeners learn more about our very special guests. Again, you can do that on the weekly highlight show. page at forever young radio dot com. We'll be right back after the break.

Kelly Cappasola: Welcome back, listeners. Again, having a very eye opening conversation with new friend of the show, and I hope he'll continue to come back. Dr. Sean Tassone, again, you can learn more about him and his wonderful practice and even take a quiz that he has on his website, tassonemd. com, t a s s o n e m d. com.

Again we have that link directly from our weekly highlight page at foreveryoungradio. com. Now in your business, you deal a lot with hormone replacement, and I think there's been a lot in the marketplace where people been reading articles and they talk about certain things. Um, you know, they're worried and they're fearful.

Is this going to give me a potential issue with breast cancer? Or should I not take this? Cause I have a history of cancer or even things controversial like pellets. Is all hormone replacement created equal or are there ones that you even avoid?

Dr. Shawn Tassone: No, they're not all created equal. Um, the typical ways to replace hormones currently are pills, capsules, which have been around forever.

Topical creams or patches. Occasionally I've seen women on vaginal creams or suppositories. Sublingual tablets. Um, and as you mentioned, pellets, I, and even now I'm seeing on some women that are getting injections instead of pellets, like subcutaneous injections. So there's, it runs the gamut. I am more of a believer in topical, topical hormones, and even sublingual tablets.

Maybe less than 5 percent of my patients are actually on a, uh, a capsule. Um, and then pellets I am, uh, fervently, adamantly opposed to, and I, anybody that follows me for more than five minutes on Instagram will, will know that.

Kelly Cappasola: I was going to ask you in another direction, How often, like you practice both, there's a place for pharmaceutical, there's a place for nutraceutical.

Obviously, if I get hit by a car and you bring me an omega three, I'm going to be a little angry. Um, you know, but at the end of the day, I take an omega three every single day, especially with my Hashimoto's. I do some fasting in the morning. It just works better for me. Uh, but I have a very demanding job.

So the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning. Is I make sure I'm taking my Orlo nutrition, my omega three. But for people who are coming into your office and you're marrying the two pharmaceutical and nutraceutical, what are some of the other supplements that you maybe like to recommend? I know in previous that you really like standalone formulas for the most part, like things like maca, but tell us a little bit more about that.

Dr. Shawn Tassone: So a lot of the things on the market now is that area of nutraceuticals and supplements is a multi billion dollar industry. And you're on Facebook for more than 10 minutes. You're going to get bombarded with ads about every product that solves every problem you've ever had. The problem that I have with some of these proprietary formulas, if you look at them, it's like.

35 ingredients. And I just, I don't know which of those ingredients is actually working or maybe none of them are working or maybe it's two of them. So when I, when I tend to recommend supplements, I'm kind of a whole ingredient person. So like you mentioned, Maca, I, there's a lot of Maca out there and it's in a lot of things.

I just like Maca. I just, if we're going to use Maca, let's use Maca. If we're going to use Omega threes, let's just use an Omega three. Let's not put a ton of stuff in it. Um, like lavender or whatever, you know, I mean, I'm a big fan of magnesium. Uh, there's different types of magnesium. I like magnesium glycinate.

There's different kinds of magnesium, uh, vitamin D, you know, you can find vitamin D and a lot of women take too much sometimes vitamin D because it's in four of the supplements that they're taking. And so that's the other thing is a lot of people are taking supplements that overlap and you're getting too much of one thing.

And so I really, I'm kind of more of a single ingredient type person.

Kelly Cappasola: So again, so maca, if you would use that, would that be again for somebody who is post menopausal if they're dealing with hot flashes? What would be some of the recommendations on why you would say, Hey, try maca?

Dr. Shawn Tassone: So analogy again, I kind of look at hormones as being tiles, like on your bathroom wall and maca is kind of the grout that holds things together.

Maca has a, we don't know the exact mechanism of action with maca. We do know that it has the ability to bring things. To make things work better. It's not necessarily going to change your levels. It just takes, it makes things next level. So it may help with hot flashes, sleep, uh, irritability, um, drive, desire.

And, and the thing about maca that's fascinating, there's 13 different phenotypes. There's black, red, orange, there's different kinds of maca and maca. When you buy it in a powdered form, a lot of women will come in and say, Oh, I take that, but I put it in my shake. The problem is I don't know what's in it.

Um, I don't, it's all ground up and it's powdered, so I don't know exactly what's in that. And if there's maca that works for men's health, there's maca that's perimenopausal, there's menopausal, there's PCOS. And, and we know this because of the studies that have been done by certain companies on these. So I like to use different formulas of maca for different problems because they work differently.

And black maca has a different component. If you grow it in a different part of Peru, then Then red maca. It's really fascinating how it works. And unfortunately, a big Chinese company came in about five years ago and bought a lot of the mock on the market and they pulverized it and they mixed it with a bunch of other stuff.

And, and that's what's in the shakes. And then, uh, an amazing company came in after that happened and they bought the land so that that can't happen again and they pay the farmers a fair wage. And so I just really like to do a lot of the research on that end of things and, and work with companies that I share visions with that I think make the most sense.

Quality, um, spiritually based is sustainable products.

Kelly Cappasola: How are you integrating things like Omega threes into your office, uh, for certain patients may be dealing with, um, you know, heavy flows or horrible premenstrual, uh, issues.

Dr. Shawn Tassone: Well, Omega 3s are in my top three. I think everybody should be on them. And I used to do fish oil, um, and then, you know, the common complaints of burping, and, um, some people didn't like the idea of fish.

And I was kind of getting a little bit worried about the sustainability and things like that, which is why I eventually found Orlo and the algae based products. But the thing with Omega 3s is, We just don't get enough of them. We get too much omega six in our diet. And then the, the food that we eat eats eats poorly.

So like cows, they have too much omega six and, and so, but omega six, you know, because it works on prostaglandins and those are chemicals in the body that actually we use to induce labor. Um, when your prostaglandins are high, you contract really hard. It's a vasodilator. So you bleed more and those women tend to have heavy, painful periods.

Well. Simply by upping omega 3s, you can shift the prostaglandin production, not only down, but over to a different type of prostaglandin that doesn't cause all those problems. So I have young girls that come in, 14, 16, that have been put on birth control pills, and because that's obviously the answer to everything, um, And when we take them off and I put them on these prostaglandin inhibitors, like high doses of omega 3s, it's like, amazing.

And not only is it helping with their periods, it helps with acne, it helps with thyroid, insulin resistance, I mean, the inflammation, the anti inflammatory aspects, I mean, it's just huge.

Kelly Cappasola: I love Orlo because of that polar lipid. I mean, three times better absorption rate than general fish oil. In the next segment, we're going to talk a little bit more about that because again, I think testing that component, you know, we talk about how important testing is at your office and being able to understand, I think a lot of people are walking around not really understanding what their omega three ratios are within the body.

Dr. Shawn Tassone: I mean, I, I would probably be guilty of that too. And, uh, because of, um, Because of companies like Orlo, I'm starting to do that testing with my own patients and starting to do it in a way where we're testing them prior to and then we're testing them after three months. So I'm really excited to kind of see those results because I think that's what Women want to, you know, they, they want to know the stuff that they're, I can show them their hormones.

I can show them that the levels are changing and they know how they feel. But with omega threes, the testing has always been iffy and, and this is really great because we can offer it now just in the office.

Kelly Cappasola: And again, Dr. Tesson, I appreciate you so much and I really want people to go to your website and do the hormone mapping quiz.

It's really easy to understand. Tell us a little bit more about SHINES before we have to say goodbye to you.

Dr. Shawn Tassone: So the SHINES protocol just came, you know, when you write a book, um, and you come up with a problem, you have to have a way to fix it. That's the basic. And what I did was I wanted to come up with a multifaceted approach because that's how I have kind of evolved over the last 15 years.

And so what I did was, and you have to have a snappy moniker because that's how people remember things. So shines means spiritual practice. Uh, and a spiritual practice can be something like walking, journaling, um, going out in the sun. And, and they're different for all of these. I have 12 different hormone imbalance archetypes.

The H is for hormones, which is pretty self explanatory. The I is for emphasuticals. And emphasuticals is just a fancy way of saying energetic transfer to the body. So essential oils, Reiki, um, you know, healing touch, different, uh, acupuncture, things like that. The N is nutrition. The E is exercise and the final S is supplementation.

And five of those six things are things you can do on your own. The hormones, you obviously need a physician, but the other five are just self care things. And, and the book has a different science protocol for each of the 12 archetypes. And. It's not something you have to buy per se, the supplements maybe, but it's really just things that you can do on your own.

And if you feel like you want to add hormones, that's when you can see a healthcare provider.

Kelly Cappasola: Tassonemd. com. T A S S O N E M D. com. Again, we have that link directly from our weekly highlight page at foreveryoungradio. com. Dr. Tasson, really, really appreciate our time today. Hope you'll come back.

Dr. Shawn Tassone: Uh, most definitely.

Anytime.

Kelly Cappasola: Listeners, stay with us. We're going to be joined by Karina Valizzi, a good friend of the show, and she's going to tell us the benefits and why we would want to test.

Kelly Cappasola: Welcome back listeners again. What a wonderful conversation we just had with Dr. Tassone. I wanted to invite on Karina Balizzi again from Orlo Nutrition. We have done a couple of shows together and many shows together over the last 20 years. But again, I wanted to bring you on, Karina, because this Tested by You campaign is one of the only things I've ever heard about out there that you're doing with the combination of Orlo Nutrition.

Let's talk about that. So how are you doing, Karina?

Corinna Bellizzi: Fantastic. I just sat here like in the peanut gallery listening to your conversation with Dr. Tassone and I just can't get enough of him. So I listened to his podcast, Confessions of a Male Gynecologist. I've had him on my shows and it's just such a treat to hear his, his knowledge, his breadth of understanding of women's health.

Kelly Cappasola: Listeners can learn more and watch that podcast episode or listen to it that you did with Dr. Tassone at orlonutrition. com. Again, that's O R L O nutrition. com. Click the podcast button and you can learn more. Now, Karina, I think it's interesting. You know, we talked about some supplements that he likes to recommend to his patients.

Again, omega 3s in his top three. particularly he uses or low nutrition because he's moved away from the fish and sees the benefit of using a polar lipid and an algae form. But again, you and I have been in the health industry 20 plus years, and I think many people dealt the effectiveness of supplements, vitamins, and.

Even alternative nutrition. That's what has made me so excited about this tested by you campaign that offers people an opportunity to test the effectiveness of not only omega threes, but how Orlo's omega 3 soft gel pills are absorbed in the bodies. Let's talk a little bit more about that. What is this great new thing that tested by you campaign?

If I know you right, you spearheaded this whole thing.

Corinna Bellizzi: Well, we certainly started talking about it months ago. Um, but this is also in connection with a research study that we're presently undertaking, where we're doing a direct comparison between our algae and a fish oil of the same exact concentration.

We know what the results are going to be, but they're not in yet. So we Didn't feel like waiting. So this tested by you campaign is simply a way to help people understand today what their baseline omega 3 is, but then also how much more they can improve over the course of just four months. So within the first six months of their new subscription to this tested by you campaign, they can see what their baseline is.

And they can see what their baseline They can get that result right out the gates. And then four months later, they can have a new result that can show them not only will they have experienced a health change, they would have felt different. They also will see directly in the numbers how this impacted their health.

They'll have something tangible to latch on to. And I think this is so critical because as. Well, you could call me an Omega three evangelist if you want. That's what my husband does. But the reality is that we see so many different health implications that gets solved by getting your Omega threes to the right index level.

Dr. Shawn Tassone: Right.

Corinna Bellizzi: And what we're aiming to do is help people get to that ideal 8 percent and so if we can show them at zero and then it. For months, how they're doing, they can make an adjustment to their lifestyle from there. Even if they haven't quite reached where they want to be, they can see where they started.

They can see where they're going. And overall, this is like a hundred dollar value to the individual who's taking part in this campaign. In addition to the discount that they get on the product.

Kelly Cappasola: Now, why is Orlo the first supplement brand to offer this test? Is it because you actually believe in your product and you, you know, you know what you're doing out there or what?

Because I don't see a lot of other companies being so brazen to be like, Hey, take our products for four months, take the test and see where you're at. I mean, that's a pretty bold statement.

Corinna Bellizzi: Yeah, I mean, the, the confidence level, let's just say is very, very high that they will see measurable results and that they'll keep taking the product.

We already see the individuals who've come on to be our loyal subscribers have said things to us like, Hey, I've never had this happen before, but my dry eye complaints are gone. I've tried. I've tried fish oil. I've tried other omegas and I always had these persistent problems. My eyes would be dry and scratchy and itchy.

They would hurt. I started your product and on day four, my complaints are gone. These are the sorts of things that we hear from the customers who take our products. And so I just want to be clear with everyone. When you take an active omega three, that's in the polar lipid form. It's got EPA, it's got DHA.

These are the direct omega threes that all of your cells in your body need to thrive. That is what's going to make the difference. Biggest difference for you, you'll feel a difference. and you'll also see it come out in the results. And what's so critical about this too, is that when people get to that ideal, let's say 8 percent saturation in all their cells, which they can see when they take the omega 3 index test, I, sorry for the mic noise, I just shook the test in my hand here.

Um, That's a specific point at which we see all cause mortality just kind of drop off a cliff. And it's not to say that any particular product is going to help you get there, but this is what really strong longterm research like the Framingham study out of the Boston area show. It's That when people get to an ideal level of 8 percent omega three, they just see fewer health complaints, less need for medication.

And really, I think that's a thing that we need to ingrain into our understanding that we don't have a deficiency in these drugs that we're being given. We have an insufficiency of the right nutrition. We have an insufficiency in our activity levels that we need to address because we have a more sedentary life.

So we get these things, right? We get better sleep, we get better nutrition and we get better activity levels than our health can soar. And we can live a long, full health span so that as Dr. Maroon likes to say, he's going to die young as old as possible. That's my goal too.

Kelly Cappasola: And again, I just need to be honest.

I've taken fish oil for years and I never really felt anything, but I knew I needed it right. All the 20, 000 plus studies on PubMed, I started taking Orlo within days. I felt. just clearer, just less stress, just feeling better and feeling more focused. And that was something I was really, really needing as approaching, you know, my fifties and my body's changing, you know, I'm going through all these different changes, but even coming out of the pandemic, just dealing with the brain fog of just all the stress that people were dealing with.

Yeah. And you know,

Corinna Bellizzi: I think this drives home the point, you know, it's like a polar lipid, it's shape is different. And the shape of the polar lipids head itself helps it get into your cells. It's how your cells actually construct their cellular membranes anyway. They'll have a polar head and then they'll have the hydroscopic tails, right?

And those face inward, but then enable traffic of nutrient across your cells and elimination of toxins. And so if you're not getting fats in a form that you can absorb. Into your cells than that other product that might be a little less expensive. It's essentially wasted. And so how much of the things that you invest in when it comes to your health is absorbed is absolutely critical.

And so when we say up to three times better absorbed than fish oil, there's other things that come with that. You don't have the fishy burp. You don't have the digestive distress. It can sometimes accompany it. You can take it with or without food and still get really great absorption. So it doesn't matter the time of day.

You know, I just tell people to take it when you will remember to take it. And that can mean just taking your beautiful glass bottle of Orlo and leaving it right there on your bathroom counter. And then the soft gels themselves are even colored with chlorophyllin, which is. Of course, from algae because we thought of everything, but ultimately it means that the material inside is protected.

It's not going to oxidize. It won't go fishy. It doesn't start from fish anyways, but omegas can oxidize. And often even when algae oils oxidize, they'll start to smell fishy. We haven't seen that happen with our product at all.

Kelly Cappasola: What can consumers do? Say they've never used Orlo. They want to do the test.

What is the best method of action for that?

Corinna Bellizzi: So here's the deal. Our test is offered as part of a subscription. So you get 15 percent off every day on the test, but I want to be able to give a little extra juice to your listeners. And so we're going to honor a slightly extra discount to Pull you up to that typical 20 percent for that first shipment.

So you'll get the 50 value of the Omega three index basic test, along with your first two months subscription that includes that beautiful starter kit bottle. That's made of mirror on violet glass and long with your two months supply. And then as part of the subscription, you'll get another shipment. Um, that's in between just two months later.

And then that third shipment. Third shipment after your fourth month will include your second test. You want to be sure to take your test right away when you receive them and you need to take your omega threes every day so that you're sure that you can get the best results possible.

Kelly Cappasola: The test results are based on the omega three index.

So that's the actual absorption and what One cells, not just from the stomach or the blood. So that's really, really great. Karina. I love that you put this together, but again, I hope you'll take this opportunity at Orlo nutrition. That's O R L O nutrition. com. Again, that code is test forever. That will get you that great discount on additional 5 percent off the subscribe and save totaling 20 percent all in combination.

So you can learn more again at Orlo nutrition. com. Again, that code is TEST4EVER. Karina, thank you so much for the introduction to Dr. Tassone. What a wonderful interview. I really enjoyed speaking to him. And again, thank you for all you do for our listeners out there so they can get a better understanding on where they're at with their levels of omega 3s and providing a very good algae form of omega 3 via Orlo.

Oh, thank you so much,

Corinna Bellizzi: Kelly. Together we can create a better future. This is awesome. So just go to those tested by you pages. And I just want to remind everyone, you can choose Omega 3, DHA, or prenatal DHA, whichever Omega 3 you want to be a part of this campaign.

Kelly Cappasola: That does it for our show today. Have a happy and healthy week.

And we'll catch you next time right here on Forever Young.