I recently had the opportunity to dive into the cutting-edge world of medical biohacking at the office of Dr. Ahvie Herskowitz: Anatara Medicine in San Francisco.
Dr. Herskowitz is an international leader and educator in the field of personalized, precision and holistic medicine. He founded Anatara Medicine and the San Francisco Stem Cell Treatment Center with the intention of developing one of the best integrative and regenerative health care centers in the world. He has a fascinating timeline of his medical education and experience: The term "Convergence Medicine" was coined by Dr. Herskowitz in 2011 to represent a novel strategy, which combines many forms of medical and energy practices into one cohesive strategy to optimize repair and rejuvenation in each individual.
Taking the best from Molecular and Functional Medicine, Nutrition and Metabolism, Physical Medicine and Energy Medicine, he layers in the best of ancient forms of medicine that speak to a person’s innate constitution (he calls it Archetypal Medicine), which helps predict how a patient will respond to different types of treatments, including:
-Stem cells
-Peptides
-Anti-aging
-Ozone
-IV therapy
-Advanced cancer care
-And much more!
During our discussion, you'll discover: -Dietary considerations for a "constitutional assessment" [11:15]
- Ahvie has a molecular, cardiology background - as well as acupuncturist
- Ancient wisdom has a role to play; fusion between Eastern and Western medicine
- A constitutional assessment is a form of archetyping
- Most accurate form, leads to accurate nutritional recommendations for the individual
- Chinese astrology and medicine come from the same philosophy
- Ben is missing two elements, and a third is weak because of where and when he was born (Lewiston, ID in 1981)
- You learn how to tweak things specifically for the individual
- Energy of the food when it's ingested: warming and cooling
- Eating the right foods decreases the need to "biohack" one's deficiencies
- Floating (deficient) fire: "hot" foods don't achieve their full efficacy
- Do the diet, and the craving for suboptimal foods will go down
-Exercise considerations for a constitutional assessment [28:15]
- Cold energy moves downward, warm energy moves upward - split in the energy
- Cyclist Ahvie treated:
- Did a diet and training regiment based on his constitutional assessment
- Less actual cycling, more upper body work
- Eventually became national champion
- Ben struggles with cold thermogenesis, yet has trained himself to do it through breathing, meditation, etc. However, heat therapy such as a sauna is no problem.
- We're barraged with foods that do not fit our CA
- Ahvie has treated tens of thousands of patients with their technology and knowledge
-What are "breaks" in the Chinese astrological cycle, and why they are opportunities rather than problems [36:35]
- Stubbornness is a desire for freedom
- Knee-jerk response is the opposite of freedom
- Embrace "maybe"
-About the multi-pass ozone machine Ben was hooked up to during the interview [44:10]
- Also called hyperbaric oxygen
- Typical treatment is 10 passes of ozone
- Global impact on micro-circulation, oxygen transport, Nrf2 pathways
- The main use is for optimization and longevity
- 10 passes builds up the reserve for a full year
- How one feels during and after the treatment will depend on their overall health
-How Ahvie injected laser lights into Ben intravenously [49:30]
- Weberneedle Endo Laser
- Each color has a different characteristic with a different use for a patient's unique condition
- How is it different from UV radiation therapy:
- UV activates white and red cells de novo
-Peptides Ahvie wishes more people knew about [54:00]
- BPC 157
- Thymosin Alpha 1
- "As a society, we're in a state of immune chronic activation"
- Lost circadian rhythm, toxic load from the food supply
- Humira is the #1 drug today; people can be treated in a more natural way
- Rapamycin is a suppressant, not appropriate in high dosages
- Peptides modulate rather than suppress
- Immune system is the means of communication within the body
- BGF podcast: "Peptides Unveiled" w/ Dr. William Seeds
-Ahvie's approach to nootropic stacks [1:04:00]
- Look for repairing and detoxifying, in addition to fortifying
- Very little for Alzheimers nor for TBI/concussions
- Institute for Rare and Neglected Diseases (which Ahvie chairs)
- DHA for blood brain barrier and hypothalamus
-About intravenous procaine [1:07:10]
- Procaine is a neural anesthetic
- Disturbs neural pathways enough to reduce pain
-Why Ahvie doesn't co-administer exosomes for recovery 1:11:05] -And much more! Resources from this episode:
- The Anatara Medicine website -Institute for Rare and Neglected Diseases -DHA Episode sponsors:
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Do you have questions, thoughts or feedback for Ahvie or me? Leave your comments below and one of us will reply!
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