EP 2: The most important hormone we aren't talking about with Dr. Anna Cabeca
Discovering the intricacy of the female body is a beautiful process. Our delicate hormonal balance affects all aspects of our health and wellbeing, from the condition of our skin to the quality of our sleep and sex lives. In this episode, I interview Dr. Anna Cabeca who is board certified in genealogy and obstetrics, integrative medicine, and anti-aging and regenerative medicine and who is also an authoritative voice in the realm of functional medicine, menopause, and women’s sexual health. Dr. Cabeca unpacks the three major hormones and how an increase or decrease in their levels affect us and explains how they can be managed and even optimized for healing. We get into the variables that affect the efficacy of oxytocin supplementation, the use of exogenous hormones such as melatonin, and the relationship between adiponectin and weight loss resistance. Turning our attention to her newly released book Keto-Green 16, Dr. Cabeca explains how her approach to the ketogenic diet differs from the mainstream understanding, highlighting her views on alkalizing foods, the need for digestive enzymes, consuming greens versus proteins, intermittent fasting, and much more.
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Key Points From This Episode:
- How Dr. Cabeca’s personal experience informed her approach to her OB-GYN practice.
- Three major hormones—insulin, cortisol, and oxytocin—and how the levels change with age.
- The impact of the stress hormone (cortisol) on other hormones and our health in general.
- An explanation of the role of oxytocin in the body and how it can be optimized for healing.
- The dangerous cortisol-oxytocin disconnect that occurs amid prolonged stress and trauma.
- Suggestions for the lifestyle practices that can help you regulate oxytocin and cortisol levels.
- The variables that can affect our physiological response to oxytocin supplementation.
- Advice about the correct use of exogenous melatonin: dosage, timing, and more.
- The relationship between adiponectin levels and weight gain in menopausal women.
- The four key markers that women need to pay attention to when it comes to their hormones.
- How Dr. Cabeca’s approach to the ketogenic diet differs from the traditional view.
- Distinguishing between foods that have an alkalizing effect versus those that are alkaline.
- The importance of increasing your digestive enzymes and not diluting them with liquids.
- The ideal amounts of protein versus greens in Dr. Cabeca’s approach to the keto-green diet.
- Guidelines around the best times to eat, intermittent fasting, and stabilizing your blood sugar.
- Caloric restriction versus fasting and how each affects our basal metabolic rate.
- Using metrics and tracking in a way that is non-dogmatic and serves your goals.
Tweetables:
“It takes more than hormones to fix our hormones. That’s where lifestyle medicine becomes really powerful.” — @AnnaCabeca [0:05:18]
“We really need to look at the major hormones and for me, those are insulin, cortisol, and oxytocin. Those three hormones are the most powerful hormones in our body, with oxytocin being the crowing hormone.” — @AnnaCabeca [0:05:57]
“It is our own activities and our perceptions and our lifestyle practices that increase our own natural oxytocin. We manage cortisol and do practices that increase oxytocin.” — @AnnaCabeca [0:18:25]
“Increasing your digestive enzymes is one of the key things that we need to do and focus on, especially as we get older.” — @AnnaCabeca [0:43:06]
“These low-calorie days that we have, destroy our metabolism. We are better to fast than eat small meals.” — @AnnaCabeca [0:59:42]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: