MasterStroke with Monica Enand & Sejal Pietrzak

Anti-Aging Medicine with Dr. Anique Bryan - A $600 Billion Industry

• Dr. Anique Bryan Board Certified in Anti-Aging Medicine • Season 1 • Episode 20

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In today's episode of Masterstroke, we dive into the troubling decline in U.S. life expectancy and how society's view of aging affects us all. Hosts Monica and Sejal, along with Dr. Anique Bryan, a leading expert in anti-aging and regenerative medicine, uncover secrets to boosting your longevity and quality of life. 

Dr. Bryan explains that true anti-aging medicine is about more than just fighting the aging process. It’s set to become a $600 billion industry, focusing on preventative healthcare.

We explore the power of nutrition and supplements, the benefits of plant-based diets, and the importance of a healthy gut. Dr. Bryan shares weight management tips, from IV glutathione to monitoring nitric oxide levels. Tune in to learn the limitations of traditional diets and the benefits of a holistic, personalized approach to health. This episode is packed with tips to help you feel better, look great, and embrace aging with grace.





Georgianna Moreland - Executive Producer | Managing Editor;
Matt Stoker - Editor


Dr. Anique Bryan:

Right now in this country, we're facing what would be termed a metabolic crisis. We've got to get back to prevention.

Monica Enand:

I feel like we need to repeat what you just said that since 2014,. Everywhere in the world, life expectancy has been going up, but that since 2014,. Uniquely, in the United States of America, life expectancy is actually dropping relative to other countries.

Dr. Anique Bryan:

That is an actual statistics, which was, I mean, an eye-opener. It's shocking.

Georgianna Moreland:

This is Masterstroke with Monica Enid and Sejo Petrzak.

Monica Enand:

Welcome to Masterstroke. This episode of Masterstroke, we are talking about something that has been in the news lately and, frankly, Sejal, all my friends, I feel like I'm talking about it all the time. Maybe it's my age or is it. I don't know.

Sejal Pietrzak:

Well, it's so interesting and the topic is anti-aging and it has been such a hot topic everywhere and we're so excited to be talking about it. And maybe, maybe, it's our age, but frankly, I think even people in their 20s and 30s are thinking about, you know, how can they feel better, look great and stay looking young and feeling young even as they get older. So so I don't think it's just our age, I think it's everybody. I agree we are so excited to talk to Dr Anique Bryan, who is a family physician, board certified in anti-aging and regenerative medicine, and she has been practicing for over 30 years. She served on the faculty of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and practices with Miami International Cardiology Consultants. She's one of the two female physicians in the 17-member group and she holds a medical license in the US Virgin Islands. And we are so excited to talk to Dr Anique Bryan and it's just such a pleasure to have you on the show today, anique.

Dr. Anique Bryan:

Thank you, thank you so much for inviting me. I'm very, very happy to be here.

Sejal Pietrzak:

What is anti-aging medicine? So we always talk about what we can do to do a better job of feeling better, looking better, thinking about ourselves, you know, in terms of being younger, but even as we age, gracefully, what is anti-aging medicine?

Dr. Anique Bryan:

So there's a technical term for it. So anti-aging medicine is basically the application of advanced scientific and medical technologies for the early detection, prevention, treatment and reversal of age-related disorders and diseases. So that's really the technical definition of anti-aging medicine. However, you know, anti-aging medicine doesn't mean that we are against aging. Actually, what it does mean is that what we are focused on is longevity. So I tell my patients think of it more as a process where we are facilitating the natural process of getting older or aging, by using dietary and lifestyle modifications, along with supplements and exercise and movement, to improve the quality of life. So that's really what we're focused on, as opposed to being against getting old.

Monica Enand:

I'm really glad to hear you say that, anique. I just have to say I think especially women but all people have been sold sort of a bill of goods when it comes to aging. Because I feel, because I feel like I'm really happy with how I look and feel as I'm aging, but I don't want to reverse it, I don't want to not age. I'm actually a much happier person in my 50s than I was, frankly, in my 20s or 30s. I had so much that I feel so much wiser, I feel so much more sort of, I guess, comfortable in my own skin and I'm I'm like, I have to say this movement of women kind of embracing their gray hair and not coloring their hair, like I have several friends who have done that and I think it just looks powerful and awesome and lovely.

Monica Enand:

So in terms of I'm really glad to hear you say that because in terms of looks, I think how we age is a very natural, beautiful process. But I agree with you know, wanting to feel healthy, capable, athletic, be able to do, enjoy kind of a full life, and I see people at older ages now enjoying a much more full life than we ever, I think, saw when I was younger and looking at older ages now enjoying a much more full life than we ever, I think, saw when I was younger. And looking at older people, I think I read that the Anti-Edging Academy was founded 32 years ago. Is that correct? That is correct, yeah, I have to say. I also read, and it blew my mind, that this industry is expected to exceed $600 billion in the next few years.

Dr. Anique Bryan:

Yes.

Monica Enand:

You know, for Sejal and I, who look at businesses all the time and talk about the size of the market and the TAM, the addressable market, you know this is a huge industry, supplements to aesthetics, to I mean to everything, yeah.

Monica Enand:

And I don't know how to feel about that. Like, is that a good thing? I think it is. On the one hand, I feel like, oh well, as you described like medical school was how do we treat these diseases? And now like, maybe this anti-aging approach is OK, instead of just talking about treating diseases after they've happened, we're trying to be more preventative and proactive about it. Do you think that tide is turning in the United States because of all this investment? You know?

Dr. Anique Bryan:

I would hope that it is. I would hope that it is. I mean, I've been practicing for 30 years, which, when I say it out loud, seems like a long time, but not really.

Monica Enand:

You started when you were five. We know I started when I was five. He was one of those Doogie Howser types, Exactly.

Dr. Anique Bryan:

And I've seen the changes come along, but I still know that a lot of my colleagues are practicing very traditionally and there's nothing wrong with that. They're saving lives and they are dedicated to helping people, and this is just the place that I have carved out where I think I can do the most for my patients.

Dr. Anique Bryan:

I have you know, just to give you a little background. My mother passed away at age 71 from an extremely rare cancer pelvic angiosarcoma. She I mean, it was one of those things where it just came out of nowhere very poor life expectancy and she was what I considered one of the healthiest people that I knew. She was not overweight, she never smoked, she barely drank. She was very conscious about what she ate. She always ate her vegetables. That's how she raised us. And yet she got this horrific cancer and was dead in less than a year. This horrific cancer and was dead in less than a year.

Dr. Anique Bryan:

And at the same time that she was battling her illness, my daughter, who was 13 years old at the time, developed thyroid cancer right when she was going through puberty and had to have her thyroid removed. You know, by God's grace it was a highly curable form of cancer, but just unusual to find thyroid cancer in a 13-year-old. So, needless to say, that got me, you know, stopping and just thinking about what on earth happened in our family. There was no genetic predisposition for either situation. We thought that we were eating healthy. We thought I mean I'm not going to tell you I didn't go through the drive-thru with my kids when they were little, of course, but we thought we were doing everything okay. So this is when I turned the tables in my practice and I thought you know what, if this can happen to us, it can happen to anybody. I'm very thankful that my daughter is now almost 28 years old, has been cancer free, she just had a baby of her own who's very healthy and happy and doing well, thank you. And with all of this, my mother's mother lived till she was 106 and just passed away six years ago so, and all of my mother's siblings were alive until earlier this year, all in their 80s. So, again, we don't have control over everything, right? All you can do is you can do the best that you possibly can for yourself and for your family, and so my goal is to make sure that people have the information, that they have the tools that they need.

Dr. Anique Bryan:

Okay, if you can just start somewhere, okay, what can you start with? Can you start with the four supplements? Can you start with your probiotic, your vitamin D, your anti-inflammatory and your multi? Great, let's start with with that. What can you start by changing? Let's look at your numbers. Let's look at your labs. Let's look at your, your vitamins. Let's look at what nutritional deficiencies do you have in your body? Where are your hormones? That's another thing that I address for men and women. By you know, we look at um bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, because also our hormones have a lot to do with our ability to metabolize and lose weight, and you know, not just the symptoms of menopause and so forth. So we look at all of those and say, okay, what's happening with you? Where can we start focusing on changing what needs to be changed in your nutrition?

Dr. Anique Bryan:

Are you exercising or are you not? Are you in a stressful life? What are the things that you're doing to create balance, to decrease your stress? Right? Are you meditating? Are you exercising? Are you taking vacations? Do you have quality time with your family? Do you meditate? Do you pray? We don't have to change everything all at once, but what we need to do is start just breaking those things down one by one, individually, because the goal is to not just live long. The goal is to live healthy, happy, with your brain intact, being able to move around, having a sense of community. All of those things is what we want if we're going to live till we're 100. You don't want to live alone, in isolation, you know not being able to take care of yourself. That does happen. But whatever we can do to put people on the right path, that's really my goal well.

Monica Enand:

Thank you for sharing all of that with us and I you know I have to say, like hearing about your mom and your daughter, it really sheds a lot of light. Like we always talk about people's why, like why do they want to do things? And it sounds like you've set up a life and a practice for your patients with a strong, motivating personal why for why you feel that I mean it comes through in your passion and hearing you talk about what you're trying to do for your patients.

Sejal Pietrzak:

Yeah, I agree completely. It's wonderful that your daughter has come through it all and now is living a very healthy life with a healthy baby, and I'm sure she's following all of these, you know, all the guidance and advice and the practices around nutrition and exercise and everything else that you talk about. It makes you realize you can't control everything, but you got to control what you can control, right, and do the best you can do. We talk about controlling what you can control in a different episode and that is just so true in everything in life, right, absolutely, absolutely. Everything in life, right, absolutely.

Monica Enand:

So you know I'm not a big medicine person. I actually try to avoid medicines at all costs and I try really hard to get everything I need through my diet or I hope that I eat a healthy diet and get all the things I need. But I'm wondering you talked about nutrition and supplements. What's their role in preventing disease and having a healthy long life?

Dr. Anique Bryan:

Right? So that is a great question because actually, nutrition is everything, and I will tell you, in medical school we are really trained to focus on. We learn about normal physiology and anatomy, and then we learn about pathophysiology, or what goes wrong in the body and how disease happens, and then we focus our entire careers on treating the disease. And there's this missing part where we really, as physicians, need to go back to focusing on nutrition, because everything that we need to heal our bodies is found in the food that we eat, but I'm talking about plants mainly. So people who have plant based diets are really getting a lot of nutrients and antioxidants that we don't get Because the food in the United States is so processed right, our food is so processed.

Dr. Anique Bryan:

It's not like people who live in blue zones, where I always used to say if you're growing the food in your backyard and you know what's in the soil and you know what's in the air, you're probably getting a lot healthier than if you go down to your store and just pick up a pack of whatever, right? So what this has to do with is education, when we focus on looking at dietary intake and I'm not just talking about calories, I'm talking about? What are you eating? When are you eating it? How much of it are you eating? Why are you eating it? What is the emotion behind all of that? Because it's not just about getting the nutrients in. It's also about how our body is going to process those nutrients. And that is where we're starting to talk a lot more, too, about the gut microbiome, because you can eat a lot of healthy food, but if you don't have the right setup in your gut, if your gut is not healthy, you're not going to be able to absorb those nutrients and the rest of you is not going to be healthy either. A healthy gut equals a healthy everything else, and this is really the research that we've been hearing about in the last couple of decades.

Dr. Anique Bryan:

Again, this is not something that we focused on. We didn't even learn about the gut microbiome in medical school. There was no such thing. You know, your intestine had bacteria in it. That's how you broke down waste material and it exited your body. It was never talked about in a beneficial way. So again we're getting back to what is it that your body is lacking, what is it that you need to replace, and where do the nutrients come from in order to be able to do that, and each person is different. This is really not a one-size-fit-all. This is a customized type of approach to taking care of patients.

Monica Enand:

And for most people. I understand what you're saying about not one-size-fits-all. It's very customized, but for the most people like, if you're trying to work, let's say, for instance, on gut microbiome, is it like eat kimchi and drink kombucha, or is it like you need to take a probiotic Like which, like I'm trying to figure out, can I do everything by having, let's say, I could somehow have a perfect diet for me? Could I do everything? Or do I need to take? Are there just supplements that you think everybody kind of, or most people, need to take?

Dr. Anique Bryan:

I usually recommend a minimum of four supplements because, to be honest, I mean, you could have a wheelbarrow full of supplements and you would just be taking them all day long. But really, if you're talking about the person who just doesn't know where to begin, the first thing to do is to start getting your gut healthy. Okay, so there's detoxification. That can happen before you restore, but before we even get to that, you can go out and buy probiotics. Number one, so I usually recommend probiotics be live, which means that they need to be refrigerated, and that's step. Number one is start taking a probiotic. Now can you drink your probiotics in kombucha? Absolutely, and it's a matter of preference. I actually prefer to take a capsule than to drink my probiotics, but there are some people who it's the reverse, so it doesn't really matter, as long as you do what is going to be best for you and you're going to stick with it.

Dr. Anique Bryan:

The second one is vitamin D. So vitamin D is essential for all these metabolic pathways in the body that actually help boost your immunity. So you want to get your immune system healthy. You take vitamin D and, by the way, 95% of our immune system is well maybe not up to 95, but at least over 80% of our immune system is also in the lining of our intestine. So if you get your gut right with your probiotics and then you add vitamin D, you're also boosting your immunity. Okay, then a great multivitamin. Okay, broad spectrum, something with no fillers. And then I usually say add an anti-inflammatory either turmeric or omega-3, depending on you know whether you need the omega-3 to lower your cholesterol as well and your triglycerides, but something that's anti-inflammatory. So between those four supplements, that's a great start.

Sejal Pietrzak:

So is there certain times of the day and does anybody ever talk about, you know, taking certain things together and how does that help or hurt, or what should you do there?

Dr. Anique Bryan:

Right. So that's also a great question. Well, again, it depends on what you're taking. So and I split mine up because I think it's, you know, easier to swallow you know fewer pills at a time. Let's say you're taking six pills a day. You know just two with breakfast, two with lunch, two with dinner, if that's what your eating regimen is like. Sometimes taking anti-inflammatories at bedtime can be beneficial. Your body's resting at night, your liver has a chance to metabolize them and, you know, let them start working overnight. So, again, it's a matter of preference. Some people feel more energized when they take their vitamins, so taking them in the daytime is better, because sometimes people are too stimulated at night. So it's a very individual process.

Monica Enand:

So for the anti-medicine girls out there like myself, does this anti-aging approach that you work with your patients on? Does it eliminate the need for pharmaceuticals?

Dr. Anique Bryan:

Sometimes you need to have them. All disease processes are caused by three processes at the cellular level. So we have inflammation, oxidative stress and autoimmune dysfunction, and so we talked a little bit about the oxidative stress and the inflammation, and just to add that you know cancer, the disease of cancer and all kinds of cancers have to do with all of those processes you know going wrong and also a lot of stress on the tissues, and then genes get turned on, oncogenes get turned on, that start replicating and that's where the cancer takes off. So that's an extremely oversimplified explanation, but it has to do again with the anti-aging approach to dealing with those disease processes. And then the last one would be autoimmune dysfunction.

Dr. Anique Bryan:

Diabetes is the number one example of that. And so right now in this country, we're facing what would be termed a metabolic crisis, where you know diabetes and obesity and how we process food and eliminate waste. Just about 40% of Americans are now at risk for developing some sort of metabolic disorder, namely diabetes or obesity. So this is really a crisis in this country and because of that, if you look at the statistics, the life expectancy for people in the US Americans has declined compared to the rest of the world since 2014, strictly because of those metabolic disorders. Medication pharmaceuticals definitely has a place for that, but we've got to get back to prevention.

Monica Enand:

I feel like we need to repeat what you just said that since 2014,. Like, let me understand what you said that everywhere in the world, life expectancy has been going up, but that since 2014,. Uniquely in the United States of America, life expectancy is actually dropping relative to other countries. Is that correct, did I?

Dr. Anique Bryan:

understand you. Yes, that was a statistic that was presented at our conference, our annual Congress. That is an actual statistics which was, I mean, an eye opener, shocking, yeah. Yeah, because you know, I see my patients and I do have a very lovely cross population of people. I kind of have a primary care practice and anti aging practice within a practice which is cardiovascular, and so my patients are unique and I would think that, you know, looking at them, a lot of them are living longer. I have, you know, several 90 year olds, 80 year olds, you know a couple that are close to 100. And so I'm thinking, well, we're not doing too badly. But when you hear the statistic like this, where I'm thinking, okay, so we're not doing enough, we're not addressing the issue the way that we really should, the way that, and as patients because I'm a patient also we need to be taking accountability for our health in a way that we have never before.

Dr. Anique Bryan:

Genetics does play a role. I mean there are people who are genetically predisposed. I see it all the time. I counsel patients, all the time I see that their hemoglobin A1C marker, which is how we follow diabetes risk and monitor diabetes, is going up. And they are saying you know well everybody's diabetic in my family, so you know it seems like I'm just headed that way, but they don't understand, they don't have to. That you know a family history can start somewhere, but it can also change with them. That you know a family history can start somewhere, but it can also change with them.

Sejal Pietrzak:

And that is where I think people need to be empowered to feel that what they're doing on a daily basis is preventative, anti-aging, preventing disease. I'm just trying to understand the impact of how much we eat out at restaurants or we do takeout now.

Dr. Anique Bryan:

Yes, and that's because of the life that we live. Right, everybody's busy.

Monica Enand:

And I think it's really important to acknowledge privilege and the role privilege has in this. I don't know that it's very easy. I mean it's not about. I don't think it's about willpower in that case, I don't think it's about. I think it's structurally and systemically. I don't think it's about willpower ever actually. Right, yeah, willpower is like a big misnomer. Right, it's a big misnomer. Why?

Dr. Anique Bryan:

do you say that? What do you mean? Okay, so yeah, well, that's complicated when it comes to eating. I mean it's tough. I mean there are some people who just they think about food all the time. I mean it's just that their brain just thinks about food all the time. You know how we were raised. When we were little kids. What culture you come from you got to eat everything that's on your plate. What culture you come from you got to eat everything that's on your plate. You don't throw anything away. There's a lot that goes into our relationships with food, and everybody has a relationship with food. Some people overeat when they're stressed, some people can't swallow anything and they're vomiting, and so I agree with your point on the socioeconomic.

Dr. Anique Bryan:

But what I tell my patients, who maybe don't have a lot of those options with you know, buying stuff that's, you know, organic and it's because it is expensive, is, you know what. Make it simple for yourself. Bake your chicken instead of frying it. You know, stick it in the oven, you know, instead of you know, giving the kids, you know, whatever, candy or whatever, let's start introducing fruit to them. Fruit is sugar, right, they're going to burn it off. They're going to go outside. Give them an apple, give them some, you know, some grapes, you know. Try to make it simple. So, yes, I think that the little things that patients can feel empowered to do, based on their situation, is what is going to help them to continue those good habits. But if you don't feel like you can, you know, buy anything organic, so then why bother? Then it's going to be harder to start and even more difficult to continue you've talked about glutathione as well.

Sejal Pietrzak:

Can you talk a little bit about that? And and you know this is one this is a new sort of supplement that I've recently heard about, um, but I don't know much about it. Can you maybe share a little bit about what it does in the body and and why it's beneficial? As we think about longevity, feeling good, being healthy, glutathione is.

Dr. Anique Bryan:

It's actually an amazing little element, because what it is is it's an extremely potent antioxidant, right? So antioxidant is basically battling anything that could cause damage in a cell at the microscopic level, right? So we actually have glutathione and we create glutathione in our bodies, but as a supplement. What it is doing is it's enhancing that.

Dr. Anique Bryan:

So a lot of the times you're hearing about glutathione, you can take glutathione, but it's really best given, in my experience, iv, right?

Dr. Anique Bryan:

So you get IV glutathione and a lot of people notice that when they get it, they get this burst of energy afterwards, right, because that's because your cells have all this additional energy and they're able to metabolize. And you know, I don't know how we can bottle it and drink it, maybe otherwise, but it is really turning out to be something that is an excellent additive and something that I'm starting to do in my own practice because of the benefits. You know you can't give it all the time, but you know everything that we can do. The other thing is, you know, checking for nitric oxide levels in the body, because that's something that can build up and anything that wears down our cells at a microscopic level is what's hurting us and anything that we can do to build up those cells at a microscopic level is what's hurting us, and anything that we can do to build up those cells at a microscopic level is what's going to benefit us.

Sejal Pietrzak:

So everything you've said, I've thought to myself oh, we can get this test and you get this blood test to see how you're doing on your various vitamin levels and your glutathione or your nitric oxide. I think you said but how do you find? You said, a lot of doctors don't necessarily practice this way, and how do you find a Dr Anique in our town? You know, wherever you live?

Dr. Anique Bryan:

Right, exactly, so the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine actually has a directory for all of their doctors who have become board certified and are registered, and so that would be probably the best way to do it. They're also called the A4M because it's the American Academy of Anti-Aging, right? So it's called the A4M and you can go to a4mcom and there's a directory, or you can contact them directly and they can help you find a doctor who specializes in anti aging in your area, and is this usually covered by insurance?

Dr. Anique Bryan:

A lot of the testing is not so. The saliva testing, for instance, is not so. What a lot of physicians do is we have partnerships with specialty labs and not all of them will take insurances. It just depends on your state, it depends on your insurance plan and some of it is out of pocket, so you just have to see when you go what are the options available pocket, so you just have to see when you go what are the options available.

Sejal Pietrzak:

You talked about the country having obesity and diabetes, but in general, even if there's not a notion of obesity, there's also very much a focus in the country and everywhere around weight management. How do these supplements, or just overall everything that you suggest, help on the weight management side?

Dr. Anique Bryan:

I use the term weight management because I think weight loss adds so much stress when we talk about losing weight, if it's five pounds, 10 pounds, 40 pounds, and diet the word diet to me means dep, you know, deprive yourself of right. So you deprive yourself of food. So I tell my patients listen, diets don't work. Okay, and I use that term very generically. So there are many different plans and there are many different approaches. So again, I look at a patient. They'll come in and tell me you know I need to lose, you know I want to lose 20 pounds. I don't feel well, I can't get around. We look at all. You know what's going on with them, with their vital signs, with their labs. Are they diabetic? Do they have a thyroid condition? We look at everything and see if there's anything that might be interfering with their obvious ability to lose weight. Then we start looking at dietary-wise, what are they eating? Like I said, what are they eating? Like I said, what are they eating? When are they eating, how often, why? And start looking at where the deficiencies are to then add the supplements. So again, this gets back to gut health. Right, if your gut is not healthy, you can try and lose weight all you want. It's not going to happen.

Dr. Anique Bryan:

And then, of course, there are pharmaceuticals. We know that, and what I tell patients is I use the pharmaceuticals as a tool. Okay, they're not, for me, something that patients should look at. Long-term, you're not going to be doing, you know, glp-1 agonist injections forever. You're not going to take a stimulant forever. But if you need to get over that hump, along with everything else you're doing, here's another tool that can help you get a jumpstart, and so we do. We use those. It could be a pill, it could be an injection once a week, it just depends. And then the goal is to not need that tool anymore, for you to be able to start looking at yourself and knowing okay, do I need to do intermittent fasting in order to maintain my weight? What is working for me and I have found that for most people, the way they used to lose weight or maintain their weight 10 years ago is not necessarily what's going to work for them now.

Monica Enand:

I'm really glad to hear that entire answer to that question because I think you know we at my age, our age I think we're all about the same age we grew up with diet culture in America and really that toxic diet culture really hasn't been good for people, you know it. I think the idea of restriction, as you said, like restricting, doesn't work in the long term. And when I say I don't believe willpower is a thing, sejal, I think what I mean is it's not a personal failing and, like, you can't view it as your own personal failing. And I like hearing I mean I'm glad to hear from Dr Bryan that when you say your gut biome is incredibly important because you can try to say you can do all you want and try to lose weight, but you're not going to if you don't, it's not your own personal failing, it's not you don't have enough willpower, you're lazy, you gave in. I mean it's not all that Like. I think it's important that people don't feel that way, because it's not a healthy approach to getting healthy, because it adds a lot of stress, and we've talked, you know, we've talked today about the role stress has in your life and in disease.

Monica Enand:

I also think you know, no conversation is complete without, especially right now, without a conversation about semi-glutides, and so I'm glad to hear that you, you know I really it was good to hear your answer to that Like, what role does it have? It's not a long-term. I've always wondered, like is it? Do people believe that that is a long-term? I've always wondered, like, do people believe that that is a long-term answer? And, you know, do we know the side effects of that? Or how productive it's so new that, like how do we know about long-term effects? So I don't know. Maybe I didn't have a question in there, maybe I was just talking, sorry.

Sejal Pietrzak:

No, it's really great to reiterate so much of that, because it really does help.

Dr. Anique Bryan:

And, to your point, semaglutide has been used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes for years. It's the dosing that's different when we're helping people lose weight and it's those higher doses that I caution my patients about if they're not diabetic. If you're not diabetic and you're on these high doses of this medication for long periods of time, that's where the gray area comes in. So again, you know, I encourage my patients to look at it as a tool. Okay, what are the tools? Let's get a little toolbox out. You want to.

Dr. Anique Bryan:

Your goal is to go from X pounds to Y pounds. What are the little tools that we're going to use in your toolbox to help you achieve that goal? And how are we going to do it and what do we need to tweak? And again, it's an evolution in process because sometimes, like I said, what used to work doesn't, and some people may find that intermittent fasting is great for them and other people struggle to do it. So it's really again looking at the tools and focusing on giving the patient what they need so that, when it's time for them to do it on their own, they know what tools to pull out and what to use.

Monica Enand:

We could actually talk about this all day. We have so many things we could cover, but I really appreciate all that we have covered. Dr Bryan, thank you so much for being here today and sharing all your wisdom and knowledge and your purpose, which clearly is a really great life passion that you have. I feel like your patients are very lucky to have you.

Sejal Pietrzak:

Yes, thank you so much, dr Bryan. It has been an amazing session. I've learned so much, so many things that now I'm thinking about okay, what am I making for dinner tonight, what am I going to be eating today, and how am I changing the way I'm looking at nutrition for myself and my family? So, thank you so much. Thank you for being on the show, thank you.

Dr. Anique Bryan:

Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

Monica Enand:

Absolutely Well. Thank you so much, Sejal, and thank you to our executive producer, Georgiana Moreland.

Georgianna Moreland:

Thank you for listening today. We would love for you to follow and subscribe. Monica and Sejal would love to hear from you. You can text us directly from the link in the show notes of this episode. You can also find us on the LinkedIn page at Masterstroke Podcast with Monica Enid and Sejo Petrzak. Until next time.