Nature's Ingredients, Science-Optimized w/ Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.

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Robert Beltran is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons holding a doctorate degrees in both medicine and pharmacy with an extensive background in biological sciences from UC San Francisco. After a successful 30-year surgical career, Dr. Beltran experienced a life-changing personal health crisis that led him down an unexpected path, one that became what he calls the most rewarding experience of his professional life. Over the past decade, he's been researching and developing supplement formulations that blend ancient herbal wisdom with modern scientific rigor. Transforming health through science-driven nutraceuticals, his company, Recommend, focuses on cognitive function and sexual wellness, areas where Dr. Beltran believes conventional medicine is falling short.

What makes his story compelling isn't just his medical credentials, but his willingness to challenge the pharmaceutical status quo after experience both of its benefits and its limitations firsthand. Welcome, Dr. Robert.

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: Thank you very much, Richard. I really appreciate the opportunity to be in your show. I'm excited and I'm honored. Thank you. I'm delighted you're here.

TalkToMeGuy: I would like to start. Did you ever practice as a pharmacist in any way or were you just right into surgery and you took pharmacy because you knew later in life you needed, or because you really just wanted to know how that part of the medical world worked?

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: I did practice as a pharmacist when I was in school. I worked. I had a job. I was at UC San Francisco. I had a job in San Mateo at a Longs pharmacy on Beauvais Square. And then they also, in the summer, the one free summer I had while I was in school, they allowed me to work in Fresno, California also. So I did practice as a pharmacist, as an intern pharmacist.

I enjoyed it. I did get accepted to medical school the third year of my pharmacy curriculum. And I just decided I really want that degree. I'm so close to it. So my fourth year of pharmacy school and my first year of medical school were intertwined, if you will. Wow.

TalkToMeGuy: That's a lot of study.

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: 26 units that first summer. Wow.

TalkToMeGuy: And working as a pharmacist. And did you have an opportunity to work in a compounding pharmacy?

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: Oh yeah, we did some compounding. We did a lot of compounding in the labs when I was in pharmacy school. And then we also, some of the pharmacists I worked with, did compound some of the products that we released to the public. Wow. Wow.

TalkToMeGuy: Well, you are just a toolbox of skills. It's impressive.

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: You see San Francisco is a very, very special place. I just am so thankful and so fortunate to have had an opportunity to have learned in those unbelievable educational classrooms.

TalkToMeGuy: Yes, San Francisco, it's impressive. As we were talking backstage, I grew up in the Monterey Peninsula in Carmel. And San Francisco was always truly like something out of Wizard of Oz when I would go to San Francisco for some reason. It was just always, it seemed like it was just filled with people who were not only creatives, but really going out there to do something, whether it was in film or food or medical leading thought or just, you know, creative juices were always flowing in San Francisco.

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: Yeah, I lived there for six years, 1973, 1979. And it definitely was the most transformative experience that I had in my lifetime. Yes.

TalkToMeGuy: Yeah. And what a nice place to have to live. What was your, what was your gateway to Chinese herbs?

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: Well, you know, you alluded to the fact that at 58 and a half, my career direction changed. I, that was at a time when I was really at the top of my game as a surgeon, you know, most if not all of my financial considerations had alleviated.

I could focus and concentrate on becoming the best surgeon I could be. I had a very, very busy practice. In fact, in the 31 and a half years that I practiced as a surgeon, I performed over 14,000 surgeries. So I had a great career. But nonetheless, when it when it when I had my injury and found myself no longer a surgeon. It kind of reverted me back to a lot of the insecurities I had as a kid.

I think I alluded to you when we talked previously that I grew up with PTSD and I understand the manifestations of PTSD so well, anxiety, fear, low self esteem, low self confident, poor self image. And, and, and when I started moving up the ladder, educationally, all these things started resolving. And when I became a surgeon and developed a prominent in Orange County, I felt like a whole different person, you know, I've left that part of me behind.

Unfortunately, when I did have my injury at 58 and a half, and I no longer was a surgeon. A lot of those insecurities came back to haunt me. I didn't realize how important it was toward my ego and my confidence and self esteem to have that title as a prominent surgeon in Orange County. And so, with that, having lost my career as a surgeon, and becoming addicted to oxy cotton from all the surgeries I had in the short period of time. It was a very, very dark moment in my life. A lot of despair, a lot of darkness, a lot of depression. And I found myself in a place I'd never been before.

TalkToMeGuy: And how did the Chinese herbs help pull you out of that? Was that an associate or was that stuff that you had been studying about sort of on the side?

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: They were the doctors treating me, you know, I'm very honest with them. And they wanted to put me, of course, on antidepressants. Mood stabilizers and sedatives to control the symptoms I was having. And I just wasn't going to go that route. I knew too much about pharmaceuticals.

All of the medications in those categories I just mentioned, they all cause brain sedation, impere cognition, impere your motivation, and alter your personality. So I just wasn't going to open that door. And those close to me had a good understanding of how antiform is utical I was, despite the fact that I was at the forefront of western medicine. And so there was this one gentleman who was a colleague of mine, and he was of Chinese descent, and he had had some training in Chinese herbal medicine. And he suggested that I do some herbs. And he referred me to a marketplace in Irvine, California, which has a large Asian population. I went there. One of the ladies working there said she had been a pharmacist in China. She was tremendously educated, very knowledgeable about the herbs. I ended up getting a packet that consisted of five herbs.

I was very hesitant at first, Richard. I'm going to tell you, it's not like I went home and started taking them. I think I sat on them for two to three weeks and I finally said I need something. I am so emotionally stagnant and depleted and lethargic emotionally and physically. I can't get myself going. I was very desperate to be honest with you.

So I finally said I have nothing to lose. I'm going to start taking these and within three weeks, my life changed dramatically. All of my physical and mental energy, mental clarity, mental focus, it all returned in a big, big way. And I was so thankful for that.

TalkToMeGuy: Having been in, we talked backstage before the show that I'm an herbalist and having driven to San Francisco a number of three or four times a year to go pick up Chinese formulae, Chinese not only formulations, but also raw product to make my own decoctions. Because all the years of having the herb store, I would make a decoction, which is a stew or a soup, where you take the herbs and you boil them down and then you add more liquid and then you boil them down and you add more liquid and you boil them down. I did them in the traditional way in that ceramic pot, the classic ceramic pot. And my fellow owners would always go like, oh, what are you cooking now? What is that? Because it's pretty gnarly looking. And sometimes you had to, you know, when you'd go to the herb store and once the herbs, once they got accustomed to like this, you know, kind of chubby white guy coming to the herb store and the herbalist being happy to see me.

Once they got past that, you know, they might send you home with some things that looked like there were bugs in there or, you know, just stuff. I mean, it's a very different way of thinking, a very open, brilliant way of thinking. And I drank decoctions every day for years, just as a sort of a healthy, tonic lifestyle.

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: You were ahead of your time, Richard. You were ahead of your time.

TalkToMeGuy: And I just, I wish I was still doing it today, but my roommate would kill me. Because the smell of a decoction is really pretty aggressive. But it's the packets that you're getting. I've also had those kind of grinding packets. And again, the taste is assertive. But once you start getting that sort of earthy benefit, the grounding effect, I think also. And that exact thing, suddenly you feel like the light bulb goes off and you see suddenly, not only are you feeling better, you just use everything you described. It's a wonderful world.

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: But it's not for you to think of. It's a world that I'm really happy to be in. I feel like at Recomnd nutrition, we are at the forefront. And the reason is, is because of my background. And I'm not trying to pat myself on the back.

I'm being realistic. I think having the extensive science background that I have, especially in biological sciences, the doctor degrees in pharmacy and medicine gave me an understanding of the pharmacology, the pharmacokinetics, the pharmacodynamics, and obviously the clinical medicine considerations and applications. And then we were able to work with some people that were involved with that supply us our products to create very potent ingredients out of small volumes by creating fractional components. I'm missing out on the word that I don't want, but you know, just we concentrated the the ingredients extracts. We create four to one eight to one 10 to 120 to one extracts. And that really allowed us to take it to a whole new level.

TalkToMeGuy: Wow. Boy, would I like to be walking around your lab. I'd be licking my fingers. Well, and that gives you so much power to, you know, I haven't had your products. I should have thought about it and had gotten some products before we did the show. But knowing what I know about not just the herbs, but also when you start when you hand them off to somebody such as yourself, who as you said has the pharmacological pharmacological knowledge, and then combine that with making extracts and combine that into other things. It is really like a decoction only without the nasty smell in an easily delivered form in a nice looking bottle. And that's I think a brilliant approach.

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: You know, we have to study and utilize these things and find out which components were complementary with each other. But more importantly, which components were synergistic with each other. And we were able to determine that. And yeah, I'm really happy with where we're at. Our clear focus product is going to be the healthy alternative to energy drinks, at all, and other amphetamine products. And the reason I think it has a chance to really, really create some noise is because it's safe. And these other products I mentioned, the energy drinks, the Adderall, they create major swings in your blood pressure and heart rate. In the short term, that can be dangerous because it can cause cardiac arrhythmias. In the long term, it can be extremely dangerous because it can it results in heart enlargement or cardiomegaly. It results in heart need of the arteries or arterial sclerosis. And then that effect is that is that you're going to have early onset and this is not my words. These are studies that have already been done. Early onset cardiovascular disease associated with a higher incidence of stroke, heart attack and deep pain thrombosis.

TalkToMeGuy: Well, I also, again, coming from the healthcare practitioner view, and just a cranky old guy. I think there are that somebody that drinks and the energy, you know, like I feel amazing.

Yeah, for an hour. And I think there are adrenal stressors. So in the long term effect, I mean, there are other kinds of stressors, you know, much more about what they are the stressors of, but just as somebody who's watched people do Red Bulls or I'll pick on Red Bull. And the yes, you feel great for an hour, but then you crash from that.

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: And if you do, it's really interesting because not only do you crash, but your body becomes tolerant and you need more and more and more. And as you increase the amount of these type of products, whether it be coffee, caffeine from Red Bull and other energy drinks, or the amphetamine from from at all.

You are, you're right. There's always a crash involved. There's always a need for more and more. And that is not what happens with our products. Our products create a sustained boost of energy that will last for basically most of the day. And then what that does also is it's healthy. It promotes our products promote ongoing physiological processes that are healthy for your well being improving the micro circulation promoting neurogenesis replenishing your brain neural transmitters and optimizing their functionality. So, you know, we're kind of a hidden seeker right now, but I think the words going to get out because our products are unbelievably effective in terms of the benefits they provide. They're safe. And I alluded to a few minutes ago, they promote ongoing good health because of the physiological processes that they stimulate that affect every part of our bodies. Right.

TalkToMeGuy: Well, and from as I was wandering around your site, looking at material. I was able to eventually find a label like, well, I did this on all the main three products. And what I saw, I just made a couple of notes on like the clear focus. You know, I noticed that you have Ashwagandha, Jin Singh and Lion's mane and even herper'sine. But the first three I consider tonics long term beneficial effect.

So you've actually fooled people. I mean, this in a greatest way into taking tonics because they're getting immediate, you know, they feel clarity, they feel better. And they're going to, in my view, they're going to do nothing but continue to feel better and have all those long term beneficial effects of just those three alone are beneficial along with everything else that you in. And you have your sort of matrix foundational everything that you're doing. I mean, I think they're, they're amazing formulations. I don't completely understand them because I'm not a pharmacist, but I understand them from somebody who is in the world of herbs forever. And I think it's really great.

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: You know, the other thing Richard that we've noticed, because we've been doing this now for five years is that as people can, you know, we our products need to be taken as a daily supplement. And as people continue to take these, the benefits get better and better and better. And where we've noticed this the most is in the realm of male enjoyment of the benefits of fulfillment and pleasures of intimacy.

The men that are involved were involved in our studies and the feedback I can continue to get is that I can't believe that the experiences I'm having keep getting better as I continue to take the products. And we know why that's happening and I alluded to it already earlier. The Michael circulation throughout our body is improving on an ongoing basis. We're promoting neurogenesis, which is a restoration of replacement of old and damaged neural tissue. And we're replenishing and optimizing the functionality of the brain neural transmitters. And one of the areas that's important in terms of perceived perception of pleasure is the stimulation of their dopaminergic receptors that we have throughout our brain. They are so important in how we perceive pleasurable experiences in our life. So we definitely unlock something very important, very special. And I'm just real excited about the results that I'm seeing and the feedback that I'm receiving.

TalkToMeGuy: I bet, you know, that's another formula that I poked around it. I see a lot of people trending with tongue cat alley, but I don't see it in the kind of formulation that you are creating because you have there that you really are a form you later. I don't know if you're working with an herbalist, but it I mean with with your finally using your pharmaceutical knowledge, not finally, but I mean really using it to create these kinds of turning it toward good versus many pharmacists who think that. Well, this is a twofold thought in statement. We sit we've become a culture of take a pill feel better. But the idea is that usually the pill that they're giving you is something that's going to make you feel better for a couple of hours or half a day or stop the pain or do something. But again, no long term beneficial effect.

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: Well, I'm glad you brought it up because we are a culture of take a pill feel better take a liquid, a tonic or this drink that I've made and feel better.

Whatever it is, there's all kind of recommendations coming in emotion. Most of it now is from social media. People have these have a have a very distorted view of who the experts are and who they can trust. And they're getting a lot of deceptive misleading and in a lot of cases outright fabricated information from social media. And I think they've lost sight of who the experts really are as it pertains to your health and wellness. And when when when I consider that your health and wellness should always be your number one priority.

I don't care how old you are 18 or 80. That should always be our number one priority. And we have to make take this seriously and make sure that the people that we're listening to and receive an advice from come to an understanding or at least consider the fact do they understand the science. Do they understand the pharmacology if that's applicable. Do they understand the clinical medical considerations and applications. Do they understand the side effects of these things that they're recommending to the public. And do they have the background that gives them a right to can to speak as if they're experts as it pertains to these very important issues around our health and our wellness. And I really have a real problem with some of the things I see on social media. Because as I said earlier there's so misleading deceptive and I just feel for the public in that regard and I'm going to do everything I can to change that narrative. Yeah.

TalkToMeGuy: In in researching the for the show I listen and read a lot of different materials so I never know my source necessarily. But I in researching with a show for some reason the phrase first do no harm came to mind out of I don't know I was thinking about something and it wandered in. And so I went to look in the Hippocratic oath that physicians take because I thought it first do no harm was in that Hippocratic oath and the more I read and the more I researched it was like no that it was it's not in there. It's implied as an agreement but it's not really in the Hippocratic oath and and what made what attracted me to want to do a show with you is because I really from everything I read and heard about you is that you really seem like a doctor who took a Hippocratic oath that did have first do no harm in there. You seem very oriented toward first do no harm and particularly with the products that you're producing now. They're very much beneficials and there's not a downside.

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: You know Richard when I first put my team together and decided we were going to we were going to go to market. After I received my wife's blessings. I told my team our products are going to meet these four criteria or we're not moving forward. One is they have to be safe. There can be no significant anything above negligible or minimal side effects were done.

We're not going to move forward. Number two they have to have very significantly discernible benefits subjectively and objectively. I said I told my team one of the problems that this industry has is way too many products out there where people are not able to notice any kind of benefit either subjectively or objectively. So they're asking themselves and we should be asking ourselves does it really have a benefit.

Is it really doing anything special for me in our body. Is it worth the time and investment that I'm putting into this. Number three they have to promote ongoing as I alluded to earlier. They have to stimulate is the logical processes in the body that I know are vital to improving and optimizing our health and well being on an ongoing basis. And number four something extremely important to me partly because of the alluded to earlier. The things I suffered from as I was growing up. They had to alleviate minimize or reduce stress in a very obvious manner. So those are the criteria we established before we were going to allow our products to go into the marketplace.

TalkToMeGuy: And I believe I haven't taken them yet but from everything I've read it certainly seems like that because I think stress. I think the two things that really get us are our total what I call total toxic load which means exposure to the environment from glyphosate to you know plastics. So our total toxic load and the other thing is stress. I think stress and as you said I know somewhere in here I've got a note about you talking about you know Western medicine really doesn't one of the reasons you started this companies because what I call Western medicine doesn't really address that other than oh you're stressed out take his annex take a downer. Call it you know call it a fancy name but it's a downer. It's just dulling your system so you're not as anxious.

You're exactly right. You're really looking for long term. Like you say you can take these for life. If you if you so choose and they're going to do nothing but have benefit to you. They're not doing.

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: We've been able to return Richard as you know we kind of bring it in the anti aging consideration which is such a big consideration now we feel that we're in the forefront of not only improving and optimizing our health on an ongoing basis our general health and well being but also from an anti aging or longevity perspective because of the fact and I've alluded to this twice now because of the fact that our products stimulate very important and vital physiological processes that are so important as we progress through life the improved micro circulation restoration of old and damaged neural tissue keeping our brain neural transmitters optimal. And when you take these indicates and we know that our products work at the cellular level they we have ingredients that stimulate intracellular metabolism and energy by by stimuli by promoting ATP in the mitochondria.

We improve the structural integrity of every tissue we have in our body whether it be muscle long bones or collagen because of the plentiful amino acids that we have in our body and as you know the amino acids are the building blocks for every structure we have in our body amino acids form protein and then proteins form all of our structures and and then of course the stimulation of the process is the physiological processes I've already discussed so we're very we're very happy we feel that we're at the forefront as I said earlier we're hidden secret but I think once the word gets out people are going to be very interested in the health and wellness considerations that were propagating forward.

TalkToMeGuy: Well and I've done a bunch of shows with Susan Bratton who's a sexpert. And we've talked a lot about I use this I came up with this term on show we did a little while ago that Leo labio as a biomarker of health. So, really is with the men's formula. Yes men are noticing that their libido is improving. And it makes me chuckle because they don't know that it's not a little blue pill libido. This is your body is functioning better and you're having a benefit to your libido because your body is functioning better.

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: There's been numerous studies that have demonstrated that a healthy and fulfilling life of intimacy is associated with significantly improved emotional mental physical and spiritual wellness that's been so well documented. So we need to emphasize the importance of having a healthy intimate life.

It's just so vital to our well being. And in terms of the products we created. I want to give you a idea of how potent how significant the benefits are. You know, none of us will disagree that see Alice Viagra and all the other five possible diasterecine hibberters were so important as it pertains to men's sexual wellness. It just they were game changers. Well we had a lot of men who came into our studies that were taken either by Agra see Alice or whatever it was they were taken in that realm by possible diasterecine hibberters. And we asked to establish a baseline of their benefits and that baseline consisted of try to give yourself and I a marker one to 10 if you will, of the intensity and duration of your male climax.

And then after two months after six months after a year. Give us another comparison. On the low side, the men who started taking our product and stayed in the study and continued to take it over an extended period of time, all said that at a minimum. They were noticing a five fold improvement in the benefits that I alluded to already how we made that measurement of intimacy. So I think that I hope that gives you an idea of how potent how significant the benefits that are that our male product provides are.

I don't think you know I've read the medical literature Richard I've read the lay public literature. I've read the competitor literature and some of those competitors off there are formidable, but none of them are achieving what men taking our product are achieving. So I'm very pleased to say that.

TalkToMeGuy: And I'm suspecting that with the lady plus formula. I didn't see any of this there maybe it's in the literature that I haven't quite read yet. I'm I'm suspecting again by you having some tonics in there that one of the effects that the women may be noticing is particularly when the sort of what I will call a menopausal crowd. The pre and post menopausal or in menopause the hormone imbalance women, whether it's again back to total toxic load in the environment and estrogen mimickers in the environment because one of the we all everybody yells about micro plastics but they forget that my plastics in the in the environment are also estrogen mimickers so that throws women off as well. So I'm suspecting that women may be commenting or observing that they're either their cycle is smoother. Or if they're in menopause or approaching menopause, it may not be as radical as their, as their older best friend who's already been through it. Is that observable. Have you have you done the same kind of pre and post with women.

TRobert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: You know before we put that formulation together. I did some pretty extensive research. And what I discovered was that for women to have enjoyment during intimacy. Two considerations had to be improved, if you will. One was, they had to be in the mood. Hello, I'm Dan.

How are you doing? In other words, their libido had to be stimulated. Right.

And number two. They had the feel good. So we took that all into account when we put our lady formulation together. So not only does it improve libido. It improved the benefits, the enjoyment, the fulfillment, The pleasures of intimacy, but it has a past array of other benefits. Number one, it improves digestion and improves the health of the gas, the intestinal tract. And of course, along with that, it improves the gut brain access, which is an extremely important bi-directional pathway that I think most people who are already are becoming familiar with. Number two, it has anti-inflammatory and pain management because of the turmeric. It stimulates brain function and cognitive improvement.

And it has, as I alluded to earlier, it has structural, it improves the structural integrity of all our structures. And what a lot of women are noticing because of the improvement in their collagen, strengthening of their collagen, they're getting a lot of compliments from people. Your complexion looks so much better. Your skin texture, you just have a healthy glow.

And then the women themselves and a lot of men also, from our feedback, is that they're noticing that their fine wrinkling is improving. So these are all important considerations. And then of course, we put products in there to improve lubrication for women. And then you alluded to also about the compromising symptoms that can occur when women are premenopausal or menopausal. And we've addressed that also with some of the products that we put in into that formulation. So of all the products that we created so far to three, I think the Lady Plus is the one I am most pleased with because of the vast array of benefits that it has for women.

TalkToMeGuy: Well, and from back in your bio, I mean, I almost used a bad word. The pharmaceutical industry has nothing for this. I mean, they pretend they do, but mostly it's anti-exaggeration, medications or something like that, or, oh, here try taking some estrogen. Maybe you need to take testosterone. Let's try this.

Let's try that. But it's not really giving them long-term beneficial effects. And I think also because you're also what I would term jiggling the microbiome in the greatest of ways, they're getting that other benefit to their skin. You're making the whole lady formula. I mean, they're all like this, but I'm talking about the lady formula. It's really a whole food, in a sense, product. Now, it's not a food, but I mean, in terms of nutritive to the whole system, the operational system that makes women, which has come to us.

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: I understand the pharmaceutical industry very well because I was within it and learned and studied and had the opportunity to do a lot of laboratory work. And the pharmaceutical industry has a very narrow view of the clinical medical applications and considerations.

In other words, they don't have a team of people, if you will, that I think work together that have the background, the extensive background in science, the understanding of pharmacology and the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics and the clinical medical considerations to be able to understand that they're not completely helping our patients with the products they're formulating. You know, our body, I've come to the firm belief that our bodies were not made to digest, process, metabolize synthetic products in a natural, healthy and physiological manner. And the effects are not consistent or predictable. And that's why we have so many side effects.

So much, they cause so many of them cause dependency and, of course, addiction and death. And we've just grown to accept that, oh, that's just the way it is. That's just the way it is. Despite the fact that the second highest number of deaths is iatrogenic, i.e. those caused by the services of the health mistakes the health providers make or their response, their abnormal response to a pharmaceutical product that they're given, we've just grown to accept it. And I didn't accept it.

I always found that problematic as I went through my schooling, as I went through my training, as I evolved in my practice. I just said, this is unacceptable. There are way too many side effects that former surgical products have. And as an individual, I just said, I'll be damned if I'm going to take that product.

I'm just not going to deal with those side effects. And I really think that's the mindset the public has to have. And now we have people in the pharmaceutical industry, such as myself, that have the understanding, the knowledge, the vision to create products that have unbelievable benefits without side effects.

TalkToMeGuy: It was actually Andrew Weil. I was a lecturer by Andrew Weil, the alternative thinking MD. And it was actually at his lecture that he informed us that in his view of all of his years of research and at his school, that there are no side effects. They're all just effects. Period. That they're just effects. There's something when we say that... I'm not arguing with you.

I'm just saying this is his view. Is that when we use it, we sort of diminish or it's a lot. Well, you may have the side effect of it's not a side effect. It's an effect. They all are effects. Some of them are not good effects. That's what a side effect is.

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: I mean, he's absolutely right. In my mind, if you have a drug that helps you, but it also compromises you, at best at the 50-50 proposition, right? Yeah.

TalkToMeGuy: I'm not going to take that in gambling odds. I sure am not going to take it in a medication, but that's me. That's for sure. I have to throw in a question from chat. Are HRT types of therapies safe for women over 60 if they initiate them at 59? And do you have recommendations? I do, but I'll ask you that question.

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: I didn't quite understand the question. Can you repeat that, Richard, please?

TalkToMeGuy: Are HRT types of therapies safe for women over 60 if they initiate them at 59?

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: You know, you're talking about hormone replacement therapy. I like that. I think women should start considering about hormonal balance before they start thinking about secondary hormonal replacement therapy. I have a real problem. Let me just take it from the realm. And it's primarily men, but there are some women doing it also. Testosterone replacement therapy clinics, they're propagating everywhere. The use of testosterone is an epidemic. And you have all these people, primarily non-physicians, who are talking about it on social media, like it has so many unbelievably positive benefits, and they never ever discuss the side effects. The testosterone have benefits, absolutely tremendous benefits. Increased muscle mass, strength, muscle tone, increased libido, increased ability to enjoy the benefits of fulfillment and pleasures of intimacy, stimulates your cognition and brain power.

And, you know, a lot of other benefits. But everyone who takes this, especially long term and long term redefined in numerous studies, 12 to 18 months, you're going to have a reversal of fortune. And that reversal of fortune is going to be very dramatic. And I'm not saying it can occur. I'm saying it's going to occur because you are affecting in a very dramatic way and in some cases, completely shutting off two very important neural pathways.

The hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis, which is so responsible for a healthy response to stress, and our hypothalamic-pituitary gonadal axis, which stimulates the production of testosterone. So what happens? You keep taking this stuff. Pretty soon you shut off these pathways and for the hypothalamic-pituitary gonadal one, you stop making testosterone and you lose your libido and you lose your ability to enjoy the fulfillment of sex. And they increase your dosage and then you're dealing with all these other manifestations or side effects or whatever you want to call them that pertain to testosterone use. You start getting a receding hairline, getting the hair pertubent to the forehead, rounding the face because of all the enlargement of all the facial muscles. All your youthful features are lost.

You have a paradoxical loss of your libido and inability to enjoy the pleasures of intimacy, your complexion changes, and you just don't look like the same person. And a lot of these guys, they overdo it to the point where their muscular development looks distorted instead of healthy. Our product has all the benefits of testosterone replacement, not as dramatic as testosterone as it pertains to muscle growth, but you do definitely see increased muscle tone, increased muscle strength, and increased muscle math, but it's in a healthy and natural manner. And the reason is, is because we have numerous ingredients in our product, whether it be tonkata li, makarut, hutaya superba, epidemian, sagittatum that stimulate the production of testosterone in our testicles. And they also, and this is a very important consideration, they also increase the free testosterone in our bodies, which is the active testosterone, because naturally we have two types of testosterone. We have free testosterone, which is about 33%, 30% of the testosterone we have in our body, and the rest of it is bound to circulating proteins.

And it's inactive. Well, the products we have, free testosterone from the circulating proteins and stimulate the growth and stimulate the production in our testicles. And then that effect is we have a healthy amount of free testosterone and create all the benefits and then some of testosterone replacement therapy. And I can tell you, without any hesitation and without any deception, that the improved libido and more importantly, the enjoyment of the benefits, the fulfillment and pleasures of intimacy are significantly greater with our man plus product as they are with those who are taking testosterone for those very same reasons. So I think women, you get back to your question, to consider taking our products and think of it, we're going to balance our hormones, as opposed to having someone say, we're going to give you some replacement therapy and we'll see what the net effect is.

TalkToMeGuy: And so you're saying that the formulation of the lady plus is going to help women's bodies work more efficiently or effectively so that they will, the free testosterone they have in their system will be more available for them to utilize? Exactly.

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: In a natural, healthy and physiological manner. That is such an important consideration. Let me repeat that in a natural, healthy and physiological manner.

TalkToMeGuy: You're such a radical. It's so not Western medicine. I can't believe that you have the pharmaceutical knowledge and the medical knowledge and you were a surgeon for 30 years. And here you are saying, let's help the body do. I have for a long time said, given the opportunity, the body will heal itself. I've been saying that for years and I believe that to be true.

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: And it's such an important consideration. I love it.

TalkToMeGuy: Feel free to use that because it's just, it's so true. I mean, that's what you just said. You used bigger words, but that's what you just said. Given the opportunity, the body will heal itself.

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: Let's do that in a more optimal manner.

TalkToMeGuy.: Yeah. Wow. Wow. I have a question here that I don't know that we can answer now. This is kind of deep, but you'll know what it's saying. Can lady formula be taken by people with heterozygous factor V laden?

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: You know, I'm sorry. I missed a question or I didn't quite understand it. Can you repeat that, Richard?

TalkToMeGuy: Can the lady formula be taken by people with heterozygous factor V laden?

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: You know, I can't answer that question. I really can't. I wish I could. It's probably something I should look into, but I cannot answer that question in a manner that I can give you what I consider to be an educated, knowledgeable response. Okay.

TalkToMeGuy: I'll write that down and I'll email it to you. It's actually form factor V, not factor V, but I'll still email it to you. Makes your blood too thick. Okay. I'll write that down.

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: One thing I can tell you as we're discussing various forms of our baseline health is that one thing we've noticed is that men who are in good, very good, and men and women, I should say, good, very good, excellent physical condition are experiencing the benefits to a significantly greater degree than people who are not healthy or are not in good health, I should say. And you know, we recommend a holistic approach when you're taking our products. We want our patients to exercise on a daily basis, trying to exercise vigorously at least three to four days out of the week, if possible.

Number two, we advise our patients to meditate, meditate or practice mindfulness for 15 to 45 minutes every day if possible. Eat healthy. Live a healthy lifestyle. Try to get your BMI, your body mass index to 28 or below. And I won't get into details of eating healthy.

That's a discussion all in of itself. But we have recommendations for our patients. And the whole idea with the BMI is that if you're at 28 or above, you're considered obese. And along with obesity, it's been well demonstrated that you're going to have, be on the fast track to developing diabetes, hypertension, and of course, cardiovascular disease in a higher and earlier incidence of stroke, mild cardio and partial heart attack and deep pain thrombosis.

So these are considerations that the public has to take seriously. Anybody who suggests, oh, my pilt is all you need. My elixir is all you need. My exercise is all you need. I would shut those people off immediately. You and I both know that the ticket to good health, optimal health, and well-being is a holistic approach.

TalkToMeGuy: All right, we were talking backstage a little before the show and my grandmother lived to be 106. And the audience keeps hearing about her because she lived to be 106.

That's pretty awesome. And one of the reasons was, well, she came, this was so long ago, she died in the late 60s, but she came across America in a wagon and it wasn't a tour choice. I mean, she was, you know, and one of the things that they did when she came from Michigan to Utah and she and my grandfather unintentionally their entire lives ate organically. They didn't know what that meant. They didn't know what the word meant.

They didn't need to understand that. And that's because they grew their own food. They produce their own manure. They used the manure from their cows. They never used any pesticides because why would they? Really back in the 40s and 50s, pesticides weren't that radical yet.

And they just ate organically. He lived a fairly rich life. And so did she. She lived, you know, much longer and she was, she was active until she was 98. When she was out front on a winter day, sweeping ice off the, you know, sidewalk and fell and broke her hip. But that was when she was 98.

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: She was way ahead of her time. If all people do is stay active and eat healthy, they're definitely going to improve their health and well-being and their longevity. We're just adding to that equation with the things we're recommending. Yeah.

TalkToMeGuy : Yes. Well, that was the thing that surprised me about, I forget what the name of the book was, where they talked about zones, blue zones and all sorts of zones. The bottom line is was, for instance, the men in Sardinia, an island off of Italy, lived the longest. They're the bluest of zones. And, and this is not political. This is just because the person making the map covered the healthy zones with a blue marker. That's really why they're called blue zone. And the men in Sardinia lived a long life, but the men in Sardinia go out and walk their sheep up and down hills all day long every day and eat what they're growing. And they live for a long, healthy time. They live into their nineties is a norm. Not as like, oh, he lived a 90. It's like, he didn't make a hundred.

What's wrong with him? But I mean, it's, it's about that. It's that part of the lifestyle where you're active. And it doesn't mean you have to go out and do marathons. Just as you said, go out and go for a walk. Go into nature.

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: So walking up, walking up those hills, you know, that's a, that's a, that's a vigorous workout. That's a vigorous exercise. Yeah. What, what's so good about exercise, the reason it improves your micro circulation on an ongoing basis, which is so vital, so important. And it floods your body within dolphins, which are our bodies natural opioids and feel good neural transmitter, specifically dopamine, serotonin and GABA. So we have this, this sense of well-being and health and, and, and vitality after a good workout. And it's because of our flooding of bodies flooded with endorphins and neural transmitters. And the same thing happens, not to the same magnitude, but the same thing happens when we meditate. And that's why these things are so important and so vital as part of our, our daily ritual. If we want to improve and optimize our health and well-being.

TalkToMeGuy: Yes. I have no argument in there. I want to, I want to take a couple of minutes and ask you about a foundation that you started called holistic healing for heroes to help veterans. But you see this is addressing a much bigger crisis. And where do you see this movement going? And what would you, what would it take to shift how America approaches mental health? Do you think?

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: Yes, you know, I just feel like our veterans, they, they give so much for all of us. I think the, you know, the reason our country is so great is because of our veterans and the ability for us to have our freedoms and our democracies.

So I really, I really have so much compassion, so much appreciation, so much love for all of them. My dad was in World War II. He served in the South Pacific.

My brother served in Vietnam. So I'm very thankful and I have so much respect and admiration for both of them. I grew up very poor and so I have a lot of compassion for anyone who has had the overcome adversity.

I understand how much more work, how much more commitment, how much more dedication you have to put into your life. And for these people who are veterans who lay down their lives for two, four years or more and dedicate themselves to protecting our freedoms, I can't say enough. I mean, I don't even have words to express the gratitude I have for these, these kind of people, men and women.

They're the backbone of our country. And so when I started seeing the benefits, the mental benefits, the energy benefits, the improvement of my mental and physical energy, the improvement in my clarity, focus, and cognition, and all with a sense of calmness and mood balance. And primarily that was because of the ashwagandha, the altheaning, the makarut that we had in our products. I said, you know, I think this can really help a lot of the veterans, especially the ones that have very overt symptoms of PTSD. And that was the first thing we did when we started to move forward with this as a business is we were going to do our products as part of a non-profit to help our veterans and other people who found themselves lost and living on the streets, homelessness, drug addiction, just doing my best to help people in these categories of life. They had to deal with so many hardships and obstacles.

So that's how our holistic healing for heroes came to be. And that's still a very big and important component of my mindset. As we move forward with this, we just haven't, we want to establish our products in the marketplace. And then we want to propagate that, that non-profit to help the veterans, to help the homeless, to help those who are addicted in a big, big way. So I'm very committed to that. And I'm glad you brought that up, Richard.

TalkToMeGuy: That's really great. I'm, I've done a lot of work with soldiers in various health arenas. And I'm completely, I'm an old hippie. I'm completely anti-war, but I'm also completely pro-soldier because of the same things that, everything that you just said. And I used to go to an event in Northern California called the Emerald Cup. This is before there was medical cannabis. And it was a cannabis event where you could go, you had actually, you did, there was medical, that's right, you had to have a medical card to get in. And one of my favorite lectures was the one where they would have a panel of medical experts and they'd be talking to people who had questions about all the early days.

I mean, this was just when medical was becoming, happening. And the longest line would always be veterans. And they would be these crusty, mostly old guys, a lot of Vietnam vets and younger vets from other wars. And they would come in and their, their complaint was, and boy, did they spell a, man, they could string a bunch of words together.

I can't say. And they would be enraged by the fact that the VA would be threatening to take away their medication if they didn't stop using cannabis. And they were like, you, take a string of bad words from any movie you can imagine about you. Oh boy, it was bad, that, you know, I have been managing my PTSD since Vietnam. What the blank are you telling me?

You're going to take away my pain medication or my, you know, whatever. And they were just trying to maintain their, they, they learned how to maintain a sort of enhanced calm, their PTSD calm, their structural pain that they were still in. And it was just, it was always festive because they were so willing to express themselves in quite a salty manner.

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: You know, I hope you invite me back someday and, and we should make the whole subject the benefits of cannabis. If cannabis is utilized properly, it has tremendous benefits, especially in the realm of allowing us to relax, to diminish our anxiety. It's a tremendous sleep aid.

It has tremendous benefits in terms of helping us expand our thinking and expand our thinking in a manner where we learn so much more about ourselves than we otherwise would. So I'm a big supporter of people who utilize cannabis, but it has to be utilized, as I said earlier, in an appropriate manner. That's not abused. Yeah.

TalkToMeGuy: And are you a fan of CBD as well, the CBD side of cannabis, or are actually the hemp derived, possibly hemp derived CBD?

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: You know, I am not as familiar with the benefits from CBD as I am with cannabis. Okay.

TalkToMeGuy: Yeah, we can do a show about that. I've interviewed a bunch of people talking about the THC side and also a number of people about the CBD side. And I see benefits from both. And plus hemp itself is an amazing food.

The hemp seed is high protein, nothing but good, great fats, great oils. So that's a whole different show. Yeah, we'll pencil that in because I'd be happy to do a show from with your perspective on cannabis. I can't believe that we're at the point where I ask you about where would you like people to find out about more about your work and where you would like to find information about the products?

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: Well, I think the best is our website. Our website is recommend.com. And we don't spell recommend in the standard manner. I have some young people on my team and they said, you know, let's spell it differently. You know, because the reason we use the word recommend is because doctors use that nonstop, of course, when they're interacting with their patients.

So we spell it R-E-C-O-M-N-D. And their thinking was, hey, it's different. It's not recommend. We don't have to deal with all these hurdles and obstacles. But more importantly, it's forward thinking. It's novel. And so that's what we wanted to put forth to the public. So recommend.com. And we have tremendous information. And I've written some very, very informative blogs on a lot of different topics that pertain to health and wellness, pertain to very important issues that are at the forefront of what's going on in medicine right now.

Let me just give you a quick example. NAD plus is a big deal. People are taking it in droves. And the concern I have is I've read all the studies that have been put forth. And there is not a single clinical study that's been conducted by medical scientists and overseen by physicians that has demonstrated either a subjective or an objective benefit from NAD plus. Does it have benefits? Of course, it has a very important stimulation of our metabolism and energy inside ourselves. But there are a lot of other products that accomplish that.

Also, we have products in our formulations that do that. And then this whole thing of DNA analysis and genetic expression, there are people that have taken the information that's out there and they're running with it in a very misleading manner. They're basically creating their own narrative from the data that's out there. And once again, the science of DNA analysis of genetic marking and understanding and understanding genetic expression is now well established. But the scientists themselves who have conducted these studies will say, we're not sure if methylation of DNA is helpful or not. And the reason we're not sure is because there's so many other factors, external and internal, that can affect the messaging of our genetic, that can affect genetic expression that we can't say with confidence when we're another at this point, if this is effective. And yet, these people who are promoting this and it's all over social media now, are acting as if it's the panacea of improving and optimizing your health and your longevity.

And that's just not the case. And then the last thing I want to say is anybody and everybody who's taking or is thinking of taking testosterone, you better take a real serious look at the side effects because you are going to have a day of reckoning. You are going to have a reversal of fortune a year. I want you to remember my name and my face when that happens because I did everything I could to try to warn you.

TalkToMeGuy: I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing at the attitude. I like it so much. I couldn't agree more. We couldn't be more different points of origin, but we come to the same place of like, it's back to the Hippocratic oath that I still think has it in there somewhere. I'm going to find that version that has that do no harm. Let's start there with everything that we take. Do no harm.

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: If you prioritize your health and wellness, if it's your number one priority, as it should be for all of us, whether we're 18 or 80, you will do your homework. You will do your research before you put things into your system. Mike drop.

TalkToMeGuy: That's it. Yes. Do some research. I will close by saying the thing for me about DNA, all this DNA, pre-cogs almost like, oh, look, I know everything about my DNA. Therefore, I can make myself different. They're talking about genetic potential that you have to supposedly somehow there's a magic wand that you're going to change your gene pool. Really?

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: Not proven. The potentials there, you alluded to. There's no if ands or buts. This is exciting stuff. It might be unbelievably helpful down the road. We're not there yet. It works in progress. Yeah. Yeah.

TalkToMeGuy: Yeah. I'm stopping now. We could go on to a whole other conversation, but that's going to be another show. Thank you so much, Doctor. That was a great, great conversation.

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: No, thank you, Richard. I really am thankful. I'm really excited. I'm really honored to have been on your show. Thank you very much.

TalkToMeGuy: Thank you. All right, everybody. Have a great rest of the week and we'll see you next week. Bye-bye.

Robert Beltran, MD, Pharma D.: Thank you.