Episode Details

TOMORROW (1/23) AT 11AM ET WE WILL HOST OUR LIVESTREAM FOR THE WEEK - (LINK). IT WILL BE A PART II OF CLAUDE FOR HEALTHCARE (AND OTHER FOOD IS HEALTH RABBIT HOLES).

Preamble

This is a completely transparent recording and post. Some of our readers love it when we get real, others prefer to stick to our pieces about restructuring healthcare. If you prefer the latter, you should skip this one.

Here’s the thing, I’m not just obsessed with redesigning 3 industries simultaneously, I’m also a 53 year old woman, and anyone with basic science knowledge knows what that generally entails. I’ve also determined that on this Food Is Health crusade, if my own willingness to be vulnerable and open to being an N of 1 experiment for others is helpful, then I’m in. So here goes, this one is going to be FUN.

I highly recommend you watch or listen to the recording as my quick summary below does not give the energy of this one justice. Dr. Robert Ferguson is truly a gem!

A Little Background

If you’ve been following my “Claude for Healthcare” journey (still in process - note I’m looking for a few docs to join me to weigh-in on the findings either via livestream or pre-recorded), you know I’ve been on a deep dive into my own health - particularly my brain health. We have a family history of brain health issues that is accompanied by premature and mismanged hormones. After everything I’ve learned about the connection between hormones and brain health, I can’t ignore this for myself.

I don’t want an end of life with Dementia if I can prevent it.

So a few weeks ago, I put up a LinkedIn post saying I was ready to start HRT. I’d asked friends who they were seeing, compiled a list, and found that only one provider even met my basic criteria. When I looked them up? They were also a Botox clinic. A MedSpa.

Nothing wrong with that business model. But it wasn’t the right fit for me.

Then Robert Ferguson responded to my post with words that stopped me: “I wish you’d asked me first.”

Robert is a clinical nutritionist with 31 years in practice. He’s worked with thousands of women navigating perimenopause and menopause - using food. His mother survived breast cancer and he believes they were connected to hormonal therapies of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. That personal history drives his work.

I immediately took him up on his offer. Here’s the thing: I’m not in crisis mode. My symptoms are manageable. I’m lucky. But I know that the hormonal dysregulation happening in my body isn’t healthy for my systems long-term.

So we to kick things off, Robert, Carter Williams and I recorded a conversation, here are the highlights.

The Foundation Nobody’s Talking About

Robert’s approach starts with something most doctors skip entirely: inflammation.

“All chronic disease - all of it - the base for all is inflammation,” he told us. I’m not here to validate, but based on all that I’ve learned, I tend to agree and Carter is in the same camp.

Robert’s been having this conversation with OBGYNs from Harvard and Stanford. Now he has them on board. And he pointed us to Dr. Artemis Simopoulos, a 92-year-old endocrinologist and nutrition researcher who is the most cited physician in the world on inflammation and lifestyle.

In some ways this is the core thesis of Food Is Health and We spend so much time chasing hormone levels without addressing why the body can’t regulate those hormones properly. Robert’s argument is that if we fix the root cause - inflammation - he body can do what it’s designed to do.

Carter summed it up