Many women start hormonal birth control in their teens and continue for years or even decades. This can be a responsible decision, but most people don’t realize the long-term side effects and risks including infertility, reduced libido, weight gain, and even mood disorders. With all things birth control, there is no one-size-fits-all solution, but throwing a pill at the issue without weighing the options is surely a bad idea. On this week’s show, you’ll meet Dr. Jolene Brighten, a women’s hormone specialist who will help you make an informed decision about what’s right for you.

Listen & Learn: 

• How the Fertility Awareness Methods (FAMs) can be just as effective as hormonal options 
• Why the pill contributes to increased miscarriage rates and infertility later 
• How the pill can cause adrenal and thyroid problems 
• Why IUDs are back, and why you might try this old-school method 
• How the pill is often misused to treat irregular periods, PCOS, PMS, and acne

Links & Resources: 

• Dr. Brighten’s Site
  

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Dr. Jolene Brighten is a functional naturopathic medical doctor who focuses on women’s endocrine health. She’s an expert in Post-Birth Control Syndrome and the long-term side effects associated with hormonal contraceptives.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

• Yerba mate

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• Send me a voicemail here: Ask Lucas a Question
• Or write to us: podcast@yogabody.com 

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Did you know that 80 percent of generic drugs are manufactured in India or China, thousands of miles from the US FDA inspectors? When it comes to oversight, manufacturing safety, and transparency, it’s a huge problem when Big Brother is on the other side of the planet. Generic drugs offer consumers huge cost savings, but is safety and regulation the price we have to pay in order to afford our medicines? On this week’s show, you’ll meet an investigative journalist who uncovered the real problems with the generic medicine market.

Listen & Learn:

• Why you should be most concerned about medicines you take regularly
• How carcinogens, toxins, and even bacterial/viral infections are a real risk in manufacturing
• Why ‘surprise visits’ are impossible for non-US-based manufacturing facilities
• Why ‘first-to-file’ incentives encourage companies to cut corners
• How the Indian concept of Jugaad might be at odds with safety

Links & Resources:

• Katherine’s Site
  

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Katherine Eban is an investigative journalist and author. Her articles have won international attention and numerous awards appearing in Fortune, Vanity Fair, The New York Times, Self, The Nation, and The New York Observer. Her work has been featured on 60 Minutes, Nightline, and NPR. She is the author of Dangerous Doses and a new book, Bottle of Lies.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

• Raw Honey

Got Questions?

• Send me a voicemail here: Ask Lucas a Question
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I used to say, “I’m bad with names!” It wasn’t until my late 30s that I realized this was just an excuse for not learning how to remember names. Turns out, it’s not that hard. I’m not amazing, but I’m now pretty good and getting better all the time. My big secret? I put some effort into it.

My guest on this week’s show is a four-time USA memory champion. Here is a short list of his accomplishments:

• Memorized 217 names in 15 minutes
• Memorized 256 words in 15 minutes
• Memorized 907 digits in 30 minutes
• Memorized a deck of cards in < 41 seconds

Memory skills are more than party tricks. It is a way to train and harness the power of your mind through specific techniques that can spill over with benefits into every aspect of your life. This is a fun one.

Links & Resources:

• Nelson’s Website
• Nelson’s Youtube

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Nelson Dellis is a 4x USA Memory Champion and one of the leading memory experts in the world. He is a competitive memory athlete, memory consultant, published author, and keynote speaker. As a memory champion, mountaineer, and Alzheimer's disease activist, he preaches a lifestyle that combines fitness— both mental and physical—with proper diet and social involvement. He is the author of the book, Remember It!, and he founded a non-profit charity that aims to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer's. He has climbed numerous peaks around the world for this cause, including three times on Mount Everest.

Nelson has been featured on FOX's Superhumans, The TODAY Show, Fox and Friends, The Katie Couric Show, CNN.com, ABC Nightline, The Dr. Oz Show, The Science Channel, National Geographic, and SuperBrain China, among many other media outlets.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

• Sous Vide

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That glass of red wine after dinner soon turns into two or three. On Friday and Saturday, two or three often turns into a bottle or two. After a decade or more of drinking, it’s not uncommon to clock in 30+ drinks per week. It creeps up slowly, so it can almost go unnoticed. But your body, mind, and spirit notice, and it has a real impact. On this week’s show, you’ll meet a very successful executive who didn’t start drinking until her late 20s but quickly found herself living a lifestyle that she didn’t want as her trajectory.

Alcohol abuse comes in all sizes and shapes, and most people who drink fit the Center for Disease Control’s definition of excessive drinking. What does that mean for you? Maybe nothing. Maybe everything is going just great. Or maybe it means that you should reevaluate your relationship with alcohol and make sure you’re writing a story you’d like to author.

Listen & Learn:

• How 8 drinks per week (for women) and 15 drinks per week (for men) is classified as “excessive” by the CDC
• How the mind-body connection plays a role in pain, addiction, and substance abuse
• How alcohol is baked into adult life, professional life, and almost every culture on the planet
• Simple ways to rethink your alcohol relationship

Links & Resources:

• This Naked Mind

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Annie Grace grew up in a one-room log cabin without running water or electricity outside of Aspen, Colorado. By the age of 26, Annie was the youngest vice president in a multinational company, and her drinking career began in earnest. By 35, in a global C-level marketing role, she was responsible for marketing in 28 countries and drinking almost two bottles of wine a night. She left her executive role to write her book, This Naked Mind.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

• Cilantro

Got Questions?

• Send me a voicemail here: Ask Lucas a Question
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