Are TikTok Health Hacks Harming Your Hormones?
Are viral health hacks like cortisol cocktails and “hormone-balancing foods” helping your wellness—or quietly misleading you?
In this special solo episode of Hormones, Metabolism, and You, Dr. Cassie Smith, a board-certified endocrinologist, dives into the truth behind some of the most popular viral wellness trends circulating on social media. From cortisol cocktails and fiber maxing to metabolism-boosting routines and “hormone-balancing foods,” Dr. Cassie breaks down the science (or lack thereof) behind these health fads and shares what really matters for your hormones, metabolism, and overall wellness.
This episode is your go-to guide to separating influencer hype from evidence-based care. If you’ve ever tried a TikTok health hack, this one’s for you.
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Guest info and links:
Dr. Cassie Smith is a board-certified endocrinologist and founder of Modern Endocrine. With a passion for combining traditional medicine with a root-cause, functional approach, Dr. Smith helps patients navigate complex hormone and metabolic issues. She’s committed to debunking misinformation online and empowering people with real tools that support their health.
Blog/Transcription:
0:00 [Music]
0:06 Hi friends. I’m so glad you’re here. Welcome to this week’s episode of Hormones, Metabolism, and You. This
0:13 week, we’re going to do something a little different. I’m going to talk to you about some viral trends I’m seeing.
0:18 So, if you’re someone who’s drinking adrenal cocktails or maybe fiber maxing, millions of women are doing this.
0:25 They’re following these viral trends that they see on Instagram because influencers are telling them to do it.
0:31 But this could actually be making your symptoms worse. It could be harming your health. It could be harming your
0:36 hormones. It could be making your gut health worse. And so I am Dr. Cassie Smith. I’m a board-certified
0:42 endocrinologist. And I’m going to talk to you today about these trends that I’m seeing in social media and some of the
0:48 misinformation that people are getting. I’m exposing the truth behind some viral trends that need to stop. So, I’m so
0:56 glad you decided to join me today. I want to start by talking about this
1:02 cortisol cocktail trend that we’ve all seen. So, if you’re somebody who’s drinking cortisol cocktails, let’s break
1:10 this down. Okay, so adrenal glands are very important. I love love love
1:16 supporting your adrenal gland. Your adrenal gland is very important for hormone metabolism, for weight, for
1:21 stress, all sorts of things. So, what I’ve seen on Instagram, people are toing
1:26 these cortisol cocktail trends, right? And so, what they say is like this is a colorful non-alcoholic drink. It usually
1:33 has like coconut water, citrus juice, maybe certain types of salts. It just
1:39 kind of depends. Um, and so people are saying, you know, this lowers your
1:45 stress hormones. So, if you drink these, they definitely lower your stress hormones. They’ll boost your energy.
1:51 They balance your adrenal function. I’ve seen that they treat adrenal fatigue.
1:56 And so all these things are kind of trending with these adrenal cocktails. So what are they? Is it true? So
2:02 basically, it’s some sort of electrolyte with some salt because we do know that
2:07 your blood pressure is very dependent on, you know, hydration and salt. And so
2:15 there is no scientific evidence that this drink actually has a purpose. So,
2:20 like a lot of these are just again random drinks that you put electrolytes
2:27 into and they’re supposed to make you feel better, right? So, what I’m going to tell you is that
2:34 nutrients like potassium and vitamin C, magnesium, they’re all very important for your adrenal function. That’s
2:40 usually what’s in these, like some sort of mix of of electrolytes that they’re selling you. But they typically are
2:47 obtained just fine through a natural balance of diet and hydration. Right?
2:52 The caveat to this is people with POTS. I see a lot of people with postural orthostatic tac tacocartic syndrome. You
2:58 need a lot more salt and sodium. So you may need a a lot more of a replacement. But still I don’t know that the adrenal
3:04 cocktail is something that you must have. Right? There’s no evidence that
3:10 consuming extra amounts beyond what your body needs provides additional benefits. So most people are not going to need
3:16 these excessive amounts of potassium, vitamin C, magnesium for their adrenal function. There’s no evidence that these
3:23 drinks meaningfully lower your cortisol levels. So that’s really important because cortisol is a direct reflection
3:29 of a hormone that’s made in your adrenal gland. And it is really significant if it’s high. And a lot of times that’s due
3:36 to stress. Whether it be your sleep schedule not being normal, you have internal stress from past trauma, all
3:43 the things you need to do, you’re dieting too much, you’re exercising too much, you’re holding yourself accountable for too many things. So,
3:50 your to-do list is always full and you’re not giving yourself credit for what you get done. So, all those things can increase your stress and your
3:56 cortisol. And this is something that you significantly need to work on because it does downstream affect your stomach. And
4:02 I see a lot of gut issues related to this. But these drinks do not lower your cortisol levels. Okay? And adrenal
4:08 fatigue, just so you know, is not recognized as a medical condition or illness. Although I truly believe that
4:15 adrenal fatigue is something that exists. Okay? I tell people a lot of times you have adrenal fatigue. Your
4:21 adrenal glands are stressed out. They are, you know, maxed out. And so there’s
4:26 not like an ICD10 code for this, but basically it’s, you know, you don’t necessarily have adrenal insufficiency.
4:32 You’re making some cortisol. your body’s just not making enough. And so, just keep in mind if somebody’s like trying
4:38 to sell you this on adrenal fatigue and different things like that, no, it’s it’s not a true medical diagnosis, but
4:44 it is something that I believe in and that we see. So, just be careful with that. And then also, the symptoms that
4:51 are attributed to adrenal fatigue sometimes can be better explained by other things. So, sometimes people are
4:56 just blaming your adrenal glands. I feel like adrenals are hot right now. like, oh, it’s your adrenal, like it used to
5:01 be your thyroid and your cortisol. But things like poor sleep, u mental health
5:06 conditions like stress, anxiety that are real conditions, can actually be a direct reflection of of gut issues.
5:13 Your, you know, anemas, low iron levels, which can cause your heart to beat really fast, can be blamed on adrenal
5:20 conditions, hypothyroidism. A lot of people have hypothyroidism and they
5:25 don’t realize it and they get, you know, it gets blamed on your adrenals. Same things with PCOS. I have there’s a whole
5:31 subset of PCOS patients that have adrenal PCOS and so you may have hormonal issues that somebody’s blaming
5:37 on your adrenal. So just keep in mind that sometimes your symptoms that are attributed to your adrenal gland can be
5:43 due to other things as well. So I just don’t want people relying on this remedy
5:48 instead of actually seeking proper medical advice. So again, brief recap of
5:54 cortisol cocktail. This trend, it can be harmful if you’re missing something else
5:59 that’s going on. Most of the time, you’re going to get the micronutrients that you need in a typical diet. So I
6:05 would just be cautious of people saying like you must have this. It will cure your adrenals. It will cure your, you
6:11 know, lower your cortisol level because the truth is that a drink is not going to lower your cortisol level. There are
6:18 multiple things you can do from a lifestyle perspective, a gut perspective, and things like that. There are supplements that help. I love
6:25 supplements that help support your adrenal gland that have good herbs in them to help with adrenal function. At
6:31 Modern Endocrine, we have one called adrenal assist. But if somebody is telling you on social media that this
6:36 drink is going to cure your cortisol issue, I would be very skeptical of
6:41 that, you know, particular person in general. Okay. So this trend is
6:47 promoting non-existent conditions. Sometimes these adrenal fatigue again this is not something that’s diagnosed.
6:53 I do think it is something in in medicine that we do see and that we help support your adrenal adrenal glands. Um
7:01 but they are making a lot of assumptions and just statements about cortisol like
7:07 oh this drink will lower your cortisol. And while the ingredients aren’t harmful, there’s no scientific basis
7:13 that the claimed benefits are actually happening, that your cortisol is actually coming down. The real concern is that people that are experiencing
7:20 like anxiety, fatigue. My concern is like if you have anxiety, you have fatigue, you’re stressed out, you may be
7:26 delaying proper medical evaluation because you’re relying on this remedy, right? instead of addressing the
7:32 underlying cause, which could be your thyroid, it could be diabetes, it could be mental health issues, it could just
7:37 be stress, it could be gut issues. So, just keep that in mind when you’re
7:43 seeing these viral things about adrenal cocktails. The next thing I want to talk to you guys about is fiber maxing,
7:49 right? So, tons of people are talking about maxing out the amount of amount of fiber on Instagram. I even do fiber
7:55 videos, but it’s in a context, okay? So, not everyone fits in the same box. And people who are pushing like 50 grams of
8:02 fiber, just all the fiber you can get. Fiber does help you feel full. That is true. Fiber feeds good bacteria in your
8:09 gut. That is also true. If you are not eating any fiber and then you go to
8:15 eating a ton of fiber, you are going to feel miserable. Okay? You have to get your body used to this fiber. And so I
8:22 see these reels where it’s like, you know, wanting you to build your meals and build your snacks around all these
8:29 fiber richch foods. And they’re telling you to eat all these fruits and vegetables and beans and lentils and seeds and nuts and whole grains and get
8:35 50 grams of fiber and, you know, add functional fiber supplements like psyllium husk and all those things are
8:42 great if we’re doing it in a organized fashion, right? But anything that’s
8:48 exceeding about 35 grams of fiber a day, not super beneficial and probably could
8:55 hurt you long term. So, do I think everyone should have 30 to 35 gram of fiber a day? Yes. If you can tolerate
9:01 40, great. But like, do you need to eat 70 and 80 g of fiber? You don’t. And like I said, if you’re eating a very
9:08 little amount, what happens is you’re going to start feeding some bacteria that could cause some symptoms and make
9:14 you not feel great. So people are saying like all the influencer influencers that
9:20 I’m seeing on social media, this improves your gut health, which it can because again we’re feeding the right
9:25 bacteria. It boosts your metabolism. It can make you feel full longer. So I’ll give you that partially. It aids in
9:32 weight loss. I guess if you feel full longer, it could help with weight loss.
9:37 Improves digestion. If your digestion system is working okay and you already
9:43 can tolerate fiber, then adding some more definitely could improve your digestion, it balances hormones. I don’t
9:51 know that I can get behind that in any way other than if it is trying to help your gut, right? So, anytime we fix our
9:58 gut, it can balance our hormones, but fiber in particular on its own probably not going to move the needle in our gut
10:05 all the way. So, it’s helpful, but it’s not like the end all beall. And that’s what I’m trying to get you guys to
10:10 understand is like some people are on social media just like you must do this. This is the only way you’re going to fix things. I think that’s a little
10:17 dangerous. And then that it regulates your blood sugars. So what I will tell you from scientific research is that
10:23 fiber does regulate your blood sugar. It slows down digestion and it improves glucose spikes. So when you have fiber,
10:30 it kind of cross links in your stomach when you eat it. I tell my patients to try to eat fiber first so that it’s kind
10:35 of laid down. It’s kind of like a blanket in your stomach. Then when you eat your protein, but most notably your
10:41 carbs, which spike your blood sugar, your sugar doesn’t leave and go into your bloodstream as quickly because of
10:46 the cross- linked fiber in your stomach. So it will lower your blood sugar. That’s 100% true. It protects your heart
10:54 from u they say it’s like healthy heart food because it helps bind up cholesterol. It does boost digestion and
11:01 support healthy gut microbiome. And it does feed our gut, but we just have to be careful of feeding our gut slowly so
11:08 we’re not like overfeeding and getting really bad symptoms if we were having no fiber. And it does promote satiety. So
11:14 it helps with weight management. All these things are true. What I’m telling you is though, you have to increase
11:19 fiber gradually to avoid bloating, gas, and abdominal discomfort. So if you are somebody who’s seen all these viral Tik
11:25 Tok trends and you’re like, “Oh, I’m pushing my fiber and I’m bloated all the time.” Well, then we need to know first
11:31 of all, how much fiber are you eating? How much were you eating? Did we go too quickly? The other really common thing
11:37 with fiber or with bloating is maybe we’re not chewing our food um and swallowing slowly too. So, something to
11:43 to keep in mind. Do not substitute um this like if you have IBS, if you
11:51 have SIBO, if you have diverticulitis, again, if you’re on a really really low fiber diet, you don’t want to just throw
11:57 all this fiber into your diet. It can actually make your symptoms worse. So, it’s not suitable for people with IBS,
12:04 SIBO, diverticulitis, and people who are eating like basically no fiber. We have to work on that at a slower pace. Too
12:12 much too fast again causes diarrhea, constipation, vice versa, nausea, and then 40 to 50
12:19 grams daily without gradual increase causes GI symptoms. So my reaction to this generally is just that fiber is
12:28 good. There are good things about it. But if you’re like one of these people that have seen this rare social media
12:34 health trend that’s like, “Oh my gosh, we must have, you know, excessive amounts of fiber.” Just be careful
12:40 because adequate fiber intake does support your metabolic health. It helps your blood sugar. It helps you with
12:46 weight. It can indirectly benefit your hormone balance through fixing your gut.
12:51 But we just have to make sure that we do it in steps and that we’re not giving it to people who it could harm. So the it
12:58 just kind of oversimplifies this. I feel like this trend on social where it’s like just eat all the fiber. oversimplifying a complex metabolic
13:06 process and it can lead to focusing solely on fiber and ignoring other important micronutrients for metabolic
13:12 health like your protein, like your vegetables, you know, f uh polyphenols,
13:18 things like that. So, this maxing mentality could lead to excessive intake causing GI symptoms. And so, again, key
13:25 is gradual balance implementation with fiber. I love fiber. We have a fiber
13:31 supplement. I really like it. It’s called gut fuel. But again, don’t go from 10 grams of fiber to 40. You will
13:37 be bloated. Your stomach will hurt. And if you have SIBO, which a lot of my patients do, you’re going to feel way
13:43 worse and then you’re going to get flustered because you’re like, I’m eating all this fiber. I’m doing what I’m told and I feel worse. So, that’s
13:50 another one that I think is really important that you just kind of bear in mind um and and take with a grain of
13:56 salt or just make sure that you’re doing correctly. Another really like viral
14:01 thing I’ve seen recently on social media which could potentially harm people is
14:07 this metabolism boosting morning routine. Okay. And so and I may put some of these links in the show notes so you
14:13 can see some of these things. But you know some people are like oh there’s this four-step morning routine this like
14:19 get up and glow get up and go like you must do this right. And the most common ones I’ve seen are like hydrate
14:25 immediately. Drink warm water with lemon. Um, sometimes throw some salt in there and then like move your body,
14:31 right? 10 to 15 minutes of light exercise, yoga, stretching, dancing, whatever. Black coffee with a twist. So,
14:38 people are telling you like put these supplements in there. Java burn, different things, different sorts of
14:44 powder, MTC oil to like light up your metabolism and then delay breakfast. So,
14:49 intermittent fast until midm morning. These are kind of like when I look at all of them, like these are the most
14:54 common things that people are like, okay, do this, right? So, hydrate, move your body, drink coffee, you can put
15:00 things in it to help boost your metabolism, and then skip breakfast. So, they say that if you do this, most of
15:06 the people that I’ve seen, that it boosts your metabolism for the entire day. You burn excess fat, you increase
15:12 mental clarity, you improve energy, support weight loss, yada yada yada.
15:17 Right? Okay. So, here’s my caveat. This is really going to depend on your age,
15:22 your current health situation, your adrenal function, your thyroid function, right? So, a lot of things go into this.
15:30 So, the concerning aspect of this is that there’s like heavy promotion on
15:35 certain things when they don’t even know what’s going on with you because everyone is is different, right? So,
15:41 morning hydration does help kickstart cellular function and metabolism. Ideally, warm water. You can have cold
15:48 water, but warm water is a little more beneficial. The thought with lemonine water is to help with alkalizing
15:55 environment. So, some women are very alkaline, especially if you’re having a lot of issues with your skin and acne.
16:00 So, like adding some some different like acidic things, you know, could
16:06 potentially help with the lemon. Also, just getting like your digestive system going is is the thought with the lemon.
16:12 So, a lot of people are like, I don’t like lemon. Okay, drink water. That’s fine. hydration. Perfect. Light morning
16:19 exercise can elevate metabolism like can increase your metabolic rate for hours
16:25 and improve circulation. So, I do like that part of this routine, too. I’m a huge avid proponent of moving your body
16:32 in the morning. Black coffee, it can increase your metabolism, right? It’s
16:37 caffeine. So, that is true. And intermittent fasting for 12 to 16 hours has been shown beneficial for metabolic
16:43 health and insulin sensitivity in certain people. So if you have adrenal
16:49 dysfunction and you’re really stressed, you’re in the ludial phase of your cycle, different things are going on,
16:55 then intermittent fasting is not always best for you. So, just know that because
17:00 you know an influencer is saying you should intermittent fast for 16 hours every day, you should probably talk with
17:05 your doctor, assuming you have a good functional medicine doctor that understands these things because fasting
17:12 is not always great for everyone. So, that’s where I’m like, and sometimes if you want to fast, that’s perfect. I tell
17:18 a lot of my patients, let’s eat in the morning so our body’s not super stressed and our cortisol awakening response
17:24 isn’t like way higher than it already is. and let’s stop eating at like 2 3
17:29 4:00. Like I would rather you not eat later in the day. Give your body time to digest itself. Give your, you know, your
17:35 digestive fire time to calm down before we go to bed and then light that fire back up in the morning. So, you just
17:41 have to be careful with these like routines that people are saying like, “Oh, everyone needs to follow this because it might not be what’s best for
17:48 for your body.” I also don’t love the heavy promotion of like different things sometimes to put in your coffee. Like,
17:53 I’ve seen one with Java Burn. It’s an unregulated product. I’m not really sure what’s in it, but like if they’re like,
17:59 “Oh, you must put this in your coffee.” You know, sometimes it’s like MTC oil, different things like that. And there
18:05 are differing opinions on MTC oil. Some people swear it’s great. It’s good for ketosis. It’s good for your brain. It
18:11 does break down into other things, though. So, there is another school of thought where MTC is maybe not the best.
18:17 So, just keep that in mind. There is oversimplified claims in a lot of these things about metab metabolism boosting.
18:24 So, what I don’t want is somebody to hear this and just think, “Oh, I can do this, but then for the rest of the day, I can eat whatever I want. I don’t
18:30 really have to pay attention. Yeah, I’ll have part of that cookie because I did this thing this morning to boost my metabolism.” Right? So, I think that’s
18:36 just it’s a little oversimplified. And then the pink salt, like I I hear a lot of people say like put pink salt in your
18:42 water in the morning. And from an endocrinology perspective, like there’s not a lot of data for that either. Could
18:48 you use some salt, you know, if you’re dehydrated or if you have POTS? Sure. But I’m just saying like you don’t have
18:54 to. So the routine has several evidence-based elements. The one we just
19:00 talked through that can support metabolic health. Hydration, movement, strategic meal planning. The routine I
19:07 gave you in particular doesn’t mean everyone’s meal planning needs to be like that. Again, we talked about maybe having breakfast and cut it off at 4.
19:14 Especially if you’re somebody who wakes up in that sympathetic fight orflight state. Your body is already stressed.
19:20 not giving it food for several hours is not making that any better. There are claims I feel like that are understated
19:28 um to kind of help sell this, right? So, just be careful with that. Again, I told
19:35 you like if they’re hammering a specific supplement that you should take like the Java Burn one that I saw, just know that
19:41 sometimes these things aren’t regulated. So, make sure you do your dil due diligence on that. The metabolic boost
19:47 from these activities is moderate and temporary. And so keep that in mind, too, because this doesn’t mean you get
19:53 to eat and do whatever you want all day long because it’s not like this dramatic fat burning transformation that they
19:59 imply. And so I don’t want people overeating or or just leaning on that too much and not doing what they need to
20:05 do and then expecting something that they don’t get. So I don’t want you to think, oh, if I do this, I don’t have to
20:10 do my walking, do my yoga, do my weightlifting, and I can’t have that cookie cuz then you’re going to be in trouble. And the intermittent fasting,
20:17 like I told you, it’s not for everyone. So, depends on what’s going on with you, depends on how stressed out your
20:23 adrenals are. So, just make sure that you’re working with somebody before you just take this viral trend about a
20:28 morning, you know, a morning boosting fat routine and do it. So, that’s all I
20:35 would say about that trend. The other trend, the next trend, so hormone
20:40 balancing food for women. So, you know, I’ve seen some things like these are the six hormone balancing foods every woman
20:46 should eat. And if you, you know, are hearing this trend and you are eating these six hormones, chances are it’s not
20:54 working. Because if there were six foods that every woman could eat to stay in shape, then nobody would be overweight.
21:00 And so, let’s just kind of break this down and see. And like maybe you’re even harming yourself. You know, just like with the um fiber one that we talked
21:07 about, sometimes you can overdo things. And so let’s talk about this like you must eat these foods for you know better
21:15 period, better skin, better mood. Again, if there were six foods that we could all eat, women to have the best skin,
21:21 the best mood, no pain with our periods, we would have figured this out hundreds of years ago and we would all be eating
21:26 these foods. But the claims that I see people make are like, “Hey, these foods provide natural, you know, support for
21:34 hormonal harmony and period relief and mood stability and gut and skin health and they promise you better skin and
21:40 stable mood and pain-free periods and they say that like these foods are your natural support system. Now, while
21:48 certain foods do support overall hormonal health, I completely agree with that. By providing essential nutrients,
21:54 the claims made here are very oversimpl simplistic and sometimes they’re
21:59 exaggerated. So, there’s not a single food or a group of foods that can guarantee that you will have painfree
22:06 periods. If there were, again, we would all know and we would all do it, right?
22:11 And there are dramatic hormonal changes between myself, the next person who has a menstrual cycle. Like we all have
22:17 different cycles, right? Hormonal balance is very complex. It’s influenced by multiple things including your
22:23 genetics, your stress, which changes every month, your sleep, which can change every month, your overall diet
22:29 plan, your gut is huge, and I think that is a lot of times the missing link in a
22:35 lot of people with really significant hormonal issues. And you can see that a
22:40 lot of times with advanced testing. So at Modern Endocrine, we do Dutch testing and there’s an organic acid on that test
22:46 that will tell us if the problem is your gut, at which point we do gut testing and we fix it and we fix it like we
22:53 figure it out. But you have to figure I mean you have to keep all these things in mind and then also look for
22:58 underlying medical causes too and conditions, right? If somebody has fibroids, if somebody has PCOS, like we
23:04 need to make sure we’re not missing things too. So I don’t want somebody to watch this and think, “Oh well, my
23:09 period is really heavy. I’ll just eat these six foods and like not seek treatment again, right? So, you just
23:15 have to kind of take these things, you know, for what they are. And that’s why
23:20 I wanted to do this podcast. So, the concept of hormone balancing food is a huge marketing term right now. There’s,
23:27 you know, a lot of stuff floating around about this. A balanced diet rich in
23:34 nutrients supports your endocrine function. 100% I agree with that. These posts often oversell the importance of a
23:41 specific food and then they can delay you actually getting proper treatment for something like PCOS like we talked
23:47 about indometriosis, thyroid disorder, etc. So, your focus should be on your overall dietary pattern rather than a
23:53 magical individual food. So, that’s just kind of my caveat with these viral posts
23:58 like these are the six things you must eat. Now, if somebody wants to get on there and say, “Hey, these are six things that could help and or that I
24:05 recommend you eat,” that’s different. So, I’m not saying that like nobody should post this. I’m just saying be careful about what you see and hear. If
24:13 they’re like, “These are the only six foods you should eat every month.” Just like this is the only morning routine you should do. I would be very lerary of
24:19 that. That’s all I’m saying. The next thing I want to talk to you guys about is pink salt. So, if you are somebody
24:25 who is just like, “Oh, I must have pink salt um you know, for weight loss, pink salt for energy, pink salt for
24:31 hydration.” I’ve seen a lot of stuff with pink salt recently. And to be honest with you, my question is like,
24:37 does this pink salt have iodine? That’s really important, too, y’all. So, if you don’t have enough iodine in your body,
24:43 it affects your thyroid function and your immune function. So, we check iodine levels at Modern Endocrine. Fun
24:48 fact, if you don’t have enough iodine, you literally cannot make thyroid hormone from your thyroid, even if your
24:53 brain tells you to, because iodine is the backbone of T4 and T3, which are your thyroid hormones. Iodine also,
25:01 there’s a big role in it, we think, with cancer. There’s actually some studies right now with iodine and breast cancer.
25:06 So there are toxic hallides that get into our body and this is kind of off topic but broomemide chloride and um
25:14 broomemide chloride iodide fluoride fluoride is the other one. This is why like I hate fluid fluoride and so do a
25:20 lot of dentists. So these toxic hallides, so chloride, broomemide, fluoride, they can get into your body,
25:27 set on cells, and then start cells like mutating cells, and then when that happens, you can develop cancer. So the
25:33 cool thing about iodine is it can kind of help like push these off of cell receptors so that you don’t make cancer.
25:38 And so that’s where this like research right now is coming in with iodine and breast cancer. But my point with all of
25:44 that, the pink salt, so you iodine a lot of times we get from salt. You can get it from fresh seafood, but if you live
25:50 in Oklahoma like I do, this time of the year, we’re not really getting a whole lot of fresh seafood. So, a lot of
25:55 people have to supplement iodine unless they get it from salt. So, I’m not and a lot of these like salts that are on
26:01 TikTok right now that we’re supposed to be, you know, everyone loves, there’s no iodine in it. So, iodine is actually
26:07 important. But this pink salt tip for weight loss that I’ve seen going around is like, okay, in the morning you take
26:13 pink Himalayan sea salt, you put water, you put lemon, you put honey, and you drink it. And allegedly, it’s going to
26:20 like boost your metabolism. It’s going to reduce bloating. It’s going to accelerate fat loss. Um, what else? Oh,
26:27 and it gives you like minerals, I think, was the other thing that it was it was saying like, okay, you get all these
26:32 minerals. So, here’s my here’s my problem with that. So this is an example
26:37 again of social media overselling a simple ingredient, right? Pink salt. Himalayan pink salt contains trace
26:44 minerals. Fact, the amount are negligible and they they won’t be
26:50 meaningful for metabolism or weight loss. I mean, you can’t eat enough of it. So that’s one of my problems. The
26:56 lemon and honey add some vitamin C and natural sugar. That’s a fact. But this
27:01 combination has no proven weight loss benefit. And I would even argue that the
27:07 honey could negate weight loss because honey has a lot of calories. It’s got a lot of sugar. And you don’t want people
27:13 thinking, “Oh, I can just put honey in everything cuz it’s good for you, right? That’s going to negate your weight loss because you’re having three and four
27:20 tablespoons of honey a day. That’s a lot of calories that a lot of people are not accounting for, right?” And so, and then
27:26 plus they’re thinking, “Oh, well, this boosted my metabolism in the morning, so I can walk less. I can eat more.” Not
27:31 true. So this perceived benefit is likely due to the increased hydration or
27:37 placebo effect that you know people may get from having this this drink in the morning. But in people with
27:43 hypertension, you have you have to be a little bit careful as well. Adding salt and sugar to water can increase your
27:49 blood pressure. So sugar increases blood pressure as can excessive amounts of salt. Allegedly, I will tell you that I
27:56 feel like sugar increases your blood pressure far more than salt. And so again, this is just a trend that
28:02 exemplifies how social media takes very basic ingredients. They can create these unrealistic expectations. They create
28:08 unrealistic expectations around hydration and weight loss. And then if you’re following this viral trend, you’re like, “Oh, well, I had my salty
28:14 water this morning with lemon and honey. I don’t have to drink as much water for the rest of the day. Oh, I don’t need to go on that extra walk or, you know, do
28:21 what I was going to do from an exercise perspective because I have a boosted metabolism.” And it’s just unrealistic expectations in my opinion. So, if you
28:28 want to drink water with salt and honey and lemon every morning, by all means, do it. Account for it whenever you are
28:35 tracking your calories and by no means let that be an excuse to not do the exercise you’re supposed to do or eat how you’re supposed to. So, that would
28:42 be my take on that. The other thing I want to talk to you
28:47 guys about that I’ve seen recently, so I’m not sure if you guys have seen this cougar puberty thing going around on
28:54 Instagram and social media, but basically people are like trying to rebrand Perry menopause and call it cougar
29:01 puberty, which is kind of interesting. And so I just want to talk about that really fast. I It makes perry menopause
29:08 sound more empowering, I guess, which I’m all about because pmenopause is no joke. Neither is menopause. It’s
29:14 supposed to help women talk more openly about it, which I also love because I think that women have been silenced
29:19 about menopause and permenopause for far too long. I want you to be open about it. You know, I want it to be
29:25 empowering. I want to be able to educate people about this. It reframes a negative into a positive. Love all of
29:31 that. Okay. While you know talking about this though in in talking about
29:36 pmenopause is very important. This rebranding kind of has some mixed implications in my opinion. So it does
29:44 encourage us to talk about this more openly but I feel like cougar puberty kind of has this like negative just vibe
29:52 to it connotation and just I don’t know it’s just it’s interesting. And so I
29:58 feel like, you know, women are dealing with a lot of these hormonal fluctuations, mood changes, sleep
30:03 disturbances, metabolic changes, all sorts of stuff. So the focus should be on educating us about these symptoms and
30:11 treatment options and making sure you know what questions to ask your doctors and what to expect. And when you have symptoms, understand why you’re having
30:17 them. It’s not in your head. You’re not crazy. and help provide you with good evaluations and evidence-based
30:25 treatments, not just catchy phrases. So, while cougar puberty seems interesting,
30:33 um I hope that you know, you’re also following the viral trends where we really are trying to educate people and
30:39 let you know what’s expected from pmenopause. And I think there’s a lot of people out there that do a good job with that. We try to do it on our page. But
30:48 definitely watch for those things and then make sure that when you are looking at this data or listening to these
30:54 trends or these, you know, these viral Tik Toks, viral Instagram posts that it’s coming from somebody who you trust
31:01 because again, you don’t want somebody oversimplifying some of these symptoms of menopause or saying like, “Oh, when
31:07 you can’t sleep, just drink this tea.” You know, I mean, there’s so many reasons you can’t sleep during menopause. And so you would not you
31:14 would want to make sure you’re not delaying care because you’re drinking a tea. So just make sure that if you are
31:20 going through pmenopause or menopause and you’re having symptoms that are debilitating to you to seek some help
31:26 with a provider, there’s so many of us now that understand this. Get some lab work done and figure out how to best get
31:32 you through this time in your life because it’s it’s not meant to be miserable. At least I feel like it shouldn’t be. It’s a it’s a chapter of
31:39 our life that we get through. But it can be very empowering if done correctly. So
31:44 just find the right provider to help you get through that because there are, you know, treatments to all sorts of
31:50 symptoms and education is key. The last viral Tik Tok that I want to talk to you
31:56 guys about today is PCOS, weight loss content. So PCOS is very near and dear
32:02 to my heart. I struggled with it for a long time, still do. I have a whole chapter in my book dedicated to PCOS. I
32:09 see people who struggle with this every single day. There’s lots of people on TikTok now talking about PCOS, multiple
32:15 accounts where they’re trying to tell you that PCOS causes this uncontrollable rapid weight gain that’s not your fault.
32:22 Now, what are the facts about that? Does PCOS cause weight gain? For sure, it increases your risk to gain weight. Is
32:30 it uncontrollable? Usually not. Like, it is controllable. There are ways to manage and treat PCOS.
32:36 There’s tons of accounts out there that teach you how to do that and show you how people lose weight. And so, while
32:42 weight gain is not your fault, I also don’t want you to think that like, oh, I have PCOS, there’s no hope for me. I’m
32:48 not even going to try. Right? So, PCOS does make weight loss tricky because it’s a metabolic issue. weight gain with
32:55 PCOS, you know, is it does happen, but it is controllable and it can be your
33:03 fault if you’re not educating yourself and doing the things that you need to do to make it better. So, just like with
33:10 anyone who’s gaining weight, like if we’re not eating like we’re supposed to, sleeping like we’re supposed to, moving like we’re supposed to, then we’re going
33:16 to gain weight. So, I don’t think that’s necessarily fair either. There are special supplements and protocols for
33:23 PCOS weight loss that have been shown to be utilized and and to work better because of the metabolic issue with
33:29 PCOS. And so if people are claiming things like that like anositol, bourberine, things with alpha lipoic
33:37 acid, those things will help with weight loss when you have PCOS. Micro do GLP1s are phenomenal and life-changing in
33:44 people with PCOS. But again, micro dosed under the right condition with a provider that understands what’s going
33:50 on with you. I wouldn’t recommend buying them online from random places where you don’t even know what you’re getting, but
33:56 they can be very beneficial. Traditional weight loss methods don’t work with PCOS. I hear a lot of that, too. And
34:02 that’s not necessarily true either. So, just make sure that with PCOS, the
34:07 content that you’re getting, take it in context with with where you’re getting it. So PCOS does create metabolic
34:13 challenges. As an endocrinologist, I’m going to tell you 100% it does. I face them personally and with my patients.
34:19 That makes weight management more difficult with PCOS. And the message around uncontrollable weight gain, I
34:26 think it’s problematic and I think it needs to stop because I don’t want people just like leaning on that, right? Using that as a crutch. PCOS is
34:33 associated with insulin resistance. That is true. It can make weight loss more challenging. That is also true. But it
34:39 is not impossible. So, I don’t want people to hear it and give up on it either. So, I just want people to be very particular when they’re talking
34:46 about PCOS and in letting people know like is this challenging? Yes. May will it be a little bit harder? Probably. Is
34:52 it possible? 100%. People do it all the time, right? And it’s not your fault.
34:58 The not your fault messaging while I think it’s very well intended to reduce shame many in like what it causes a lot
35:05 of people to do is it promotes this learned helplessness. And I don’t necessarily love that either because I
35:11 don’t want you to feel helpless and I I don’t want you to feel like, oh, I’m never going to be able to lose weight, so I just give up because I have PCOS.
35:17 So, I think you just have to be careful about that, too. And I wish some of those trends would would take that in mind because I do think that most PCOS
35:24 weight loss accounts out there are trying to help people. We just have to be careful how we say it, you know, so that people don’t get this learned
35:31 helplessness. Evidence-based PCOS management includes lifestyle modifications like diet and exercise,
35:37 although sometimes these are different. Low impact exercises a lot of times are better than high impact. Walking is
35:42 wonderful. Lifting weights and if you can’t lift really heavy, lighter weights, more repetitions, yoga,
35:48 pilates, wonderful for PCOS. Medications like metformin are sometimes appropriate
35:54 with PCOS and addressing underlying insulin issues. Things like anositol, alpha lipoic acid, like I said, micro
36:02 GLP1s are phenomenal. But you do need to know all the issues you have with PCOS. Do you have gut issues? Do you have
36:08 thyroid issues? Because there is a type of, you know, thyroid um subclinical
36:13 hypothyroidism that goes with PCOS and also adrenal issues. So, there’s definitely an adrenal PCOS connection as
36:19 well that I talk about in my book. So, you just need to know all of these things. And then the focus is on
36:25 special, you know, supplements and PCOS specific protocols. Um, a lot of these
36:31 on the internet lack scientific evidence, but if you’re working with a provider that has all of your labs in
36:36 front of them and they know, are you estrogen dominant? You know, what what are your hormones look like? Is your testosterone high? What does your
36:43 insulin look like? What is your gut like? Then they can come up with a protocol for you that’s going to work. It’s going to work. You’re going to lose
36:49 weight. You’re going to be successful. They just have to put all the pieces together, right? And so women with PCOS
36:54 do benefit from working with health care providers who understand the condition
37:00 rather than following social media advice that may oversimplify and misrepresent the complex the complexity
37:06 of PCOS. That’s just my thing with that. Like if you do have PCOS, please find a provider to help you. Don’t just get all
37:12 this information from Instagram and think, “Oh, I’m going to fix this on my own.” Because again, you are an in of
37:18 one and there’s a lot of different things that move with PCOS. And so you really need to understand what you’re
37:23 doing so that you can lose weight and feel better because it is not impossible. So some of the key patterns that we kind
37:31 of talked about today, right? Just some of this viral stuff. This just has been on my mind. So I wanted to talk to you guys about it. Like and I love social
37:38 media. I love Instagram. I’m not saying anyone’s, you know, doing anything hurtfully on purpose, but I do just
37:43 think that sometimes when we’re scrolling through things, we can get a little, you know, we just get used to that and then we may miss things. And so
37:49 I just wanted to give you guys like another perspective of some of these viral trends from the healthcare provider and somebody who’s had some of
37:55 these issues. Right? So I think some of the common problematic themes with some of these things is this
38:01 oversimplification of complex systems. Right? So most viral content reduces this complex hormonal metabolic process
38:08 to this simple cause and effect relationship which is just it’s not valid. There’s this magic bullet
38:13 mentality that like if you do this single food, if you do this single drink, if you do this single routine,
38:19 you know, it will cure everything. And that’s not true about anything in medicine. So, if you’re going to get
38:24 healthy, it is a full body approach. Which is why at modern endocrine, we talk about cell membranes, your gut,
38:30 then your hormones, your nutrition, your movement, sunlight, sleep, stress,
38:35 relationships, like all these things are important. So, there’s not a single way that you get healthier or cure any
38:40 disease. If somebody tells you that, then they’re lying to you and you need to find another provider. Full stop. The
38:48 other thing is supplement promotion. I love supplements. We have great supplements at Modern Endocrine. I take
38:53 a ton of supplements. Saying to somebody, “Oh, you just take this supplement and we’ll fix it.” Not
38:58 factual. Again, it’s a whole process of getting healthy. And so, a lot of trends
39:04 go viral and they try to be viral because they’re trying to sell you unregulated supplements. So, just keep
39:09 that in mind and be very careful about that. And then I don’t love the pseudo language like the hormonal balancing,
39:16 metabolic boosting, adrenal, you know, all these just sub or all these um
39:21 catchphrases that people use to try to like make you think, oh, you know, like I’m going to drink this and then burn
39:27 fat forever. So, I just I think sometimes the way we word things can be misleading and there’s fear-based
39:33 marketing, too, right? So like a lot of times we’re creating anxiety about normally bodily functions to sell
39:39 solutions. And so just keep all that in mind and like think about it the next time you see a viral trend and like okay
39:46 does this really seem like you know are they trying to be fear are they fear-based marketing me? Are they using
39:52 language that’s very like you know catchall um or that’s very targeted and
39:57 like is that always actually true? Are they trying to like promote me something in particular? Is there like a, you
40:04 know, are they trying to say like one thing is gonna fix this? Are they oversimplifying something that’s more complex? So, just keep that in mind. And
40:12 I think that, you know, obviously when you see content and if you like that
40:18 content, you can react with it. But I think with cortisol cocktail, you know, if you see something with a cortisol
40:24 cocktail, just keep in mind what I told you. Same thing with the fiber maxing. All these things I think that they are
40:30 content worth reacting to obviously because they’re viral and and they, you know, they get under our skin and we’re
40:36 like, “Oh, because it seems so simple, we want to just fix it.” But again, these are tools to put in your tool belt
40:42 to fix you overall from a holistic point of view. Right? So,
40:48 I think those are all the things I wanted to talk to you guys about in general was just kind of going over my
40:56 thoughts as I see these viral trends. If you like this sort of content, if you’re
41:01 like, “Hey, I really enjoyed this podcast episode listening to me just kind of like think out loud,” then leave
41:06 me a review. Let me know, hey, I loved that solo podcast episode. DM me anywhere. I’m on social media, so
41:13 Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok, let me know. I’ll do more of these. I have tons of stuff that float around my head all
41:19 the time. I’m just not sure you guys want to just listen to me jabber for 45 minutes. But if you liked this, let me
41:24 know and I’m happy to do it. I’m happy to do one on gut health, on hormones, thyroid, whatever you guys want to hear
41:30 about. Make sure that you share this with anyone that might benefit from it. I really appreciate you sharing it. I
41:36 appreciate you helping me get the word out to educate people. That’s my sole purpose in doing this. And make sure
41:42 again that you’re following us, liking uh following us on social media, liking
41:48 our stuff, sharing with others. And then Modern Endocrine has a license in 43
41:53 states. So if you would like to be a patient, we do see people virtually from other states. All the states are listed
41:59 on our website that we do do visits. So check us out. We’re happy to see you. We
42:04 have an amazing gut health program I’m so excited about now. And we have webinars monthly. I’m having one um
42:11 almost every month now, but we have so many people who are helping educate and get their guts back in line, which then
42:17 allows them to continue their health care journey. So, check that out as well. Thank you so much for joining me
42:23 today. I hope that you’ll join me next week and I will see you then.
42:28 [Music] The information presented, including any materials discussed, referenced or
42:34 linked within this podcast, are for general educational purposes only, not
42:39 the practice of medicine. No doctor patient relationship is formed from you listening to this podcast or utilizing
42:45 any of the information provided. I am a doctor, but I am not talking to you as your doctor. The information provided is
42:53 not intended to diagnose or treat health problems or take the place of the professional medical care provided by
43:00 your doctor. If you are experiencing any health problems, including problems you believe have been touched upon in any
43:06 respect within this podcast, you should consult your doctor about the problems without delay. You may ask your doctor
43:13 whether he or she believes the information I have provided would be helpful to you, but you should still
43:18 consult your doctor immediately and follow his or her medical advice as your treating physician. I’m just here to
43:25 provide you basic knowledge about the issues we discuss so you are more aware of them and can better discuss them with
43:31 your doctor. That’s why we call it back to the basics. Join me on the next episode as we continue our journey.
43:39 [Music]
Disclaimer:
The information presented including any materials discussed, referenced, or linked within this podcast are for general educational purposes only, not the practice of medicine.
No doctor-patient relationship is formed from you listening to this podcast or utilizing any of the information provided.
I am a doctor, but I am not talking to you as your doctor. The information provided is not intended to diagnose or treat health problems or take the place of the professional medical care provided by your doctor.
If you are experiencing any health problems, including problems you believe have been touched upon in any respect within this podcast, you should consult your doctor about the problems without delay. You may ask your doctor whether he or she believes the information I have provided would be helpful to you, but you should still consult your doctor immediately and follow his or her medical advice as your treating physician.
I’m just here to provide you with basic knowledge about the issues we discuss so you are more aware of them and can better discuss them with your doctor.
That’s why we call it Back to the Basics. Join me on the next episode as we continue our journey.