Regenerative Health – Decoding Hormones, Inflammation & Self-Healing with Angela Peterson

Jennifer Norman:
Most of us have been taught to believe that feeling depleted, foggy, inflamed, or suddenly unfamiliar in our own skin is just part of getting older, that lower energy is inevitable, that hormonal shifts are something that we simply endure, that changes in our face, our skin or confidence are problems to camouflage, not clues worth listening to. But what if those changes are actually signals? Signals from a body asking for support, not suppression? Today's guest is someone who helps people understand those signals and respond to them in a way that honors the body's innate intelligence. Angela Peterson is a nurse practitioner and regenerative medicine expert specializing in peptide therapy, hormone optimization, metabolic health, and natural biologically driven alternatives to traditional aesthetics. She's the owner of Amplified Regenerative Health and the author of the Wellness Glitch. Her work lives at the intersection of advanced medical science, holistic care, and deep respect for the body's natural capacity to heal and regenerate. Angela doesn't approach aging, energy or appearance as isolated issues to be fixed. She looks at hormones, metabolism, peptides and skin health as part of a connected system, one that when properly supported, can dramatically change how we feel, how we age, and how confidently we move through the world. In this conversation we explore how hormone imbalances often show up as everyday symptoms that get dismissed as normal aging, especially for women how peptides and regenerative therapies influence not just how we look, but how we feel and function, what it really means to move from symptom based care to true optimization and how skin health and rejuvenation can be supported from the inside out without fighting the body, freezing it or forcing it into submission.

Jennifer Norman:
If you've ever felt like conventional wellness advice only scratches the surface. If you're curious about regenerative medicine but want grounded evidence based insight, or if you are ready to redefine beauty and aging as expressions of vitality, balance and self trust, this conversation is for you. Welcome Angela. I am so glad you're here.

Angela Peterson:
Thank you so much Jennifer. I'm happy to be here.

Jennifer Norman:
Delighted to have you. Now I think that this is going to be such a power packed conversation, but when somebody finishes listening to this conversation, what do you most hope that they walk away understanding or feeling about.

Angela Peterson:
Their body really with the knowledge and power that you can make changes and that you don't have to just live as is if you're feeling not yourself, if you feel like something's off, if things just don't, if you're not functioning how you used to, or if you just feel like you could be better. I'm going to give you the knowledge, I'm going to give you the tools, and I'm going to help you figure out how to untangle what's going on and where to move forward and then where to seek help.

Jennifer Norman:
That's wonderful. I think women in particular, even when we start menstruating, there are things about our bodies that feel awful. The cramps, the headaches, the feeling sluggish. And we're so used to just sucking it up and putting on a strong face. And so we push these things down and ignore them rather than feeling like something's off, something's wrong. And I think that that's just something maybe culturally or psychologically that we're trained do early in our lives. And then we move forward through lives just ignoring some of these things, which might be signals that something is off. So I'd love to talk a little bit more.

Jennifer Norman:
You started your career in women's health, childbirth, supporting women through some of the most vulnerable and transformative moments in their lives. So I'd love to hear about that shift to a focus on regenerative health and aesthetics. Was there a moment or a realization that changed how you wanted to practice medicine?

Angela Peterson:
Absolutely. I mean, most of my career has been, like you said, in women's health, and I was a labor and delivery nurse. And I love the experience in pregnancy. I loved being pregnant, I loved having newborns, and I just. That, to me, was just a joy. But I was a registered nurse and then kind of had a change of life circumstance in my early 40s and decided to go back to school and become a nurse practitioner, which makes me a provider. And I knew that I didn't want to be standard primary care provider or work in a hospital or get stuck in kind of the modern wellness hamster wheel that a lot of people find themselves in.

Jennifer Norman:
Yes.

Angela Peterson:
And I really wanted to open up my own practice and be able to educate people on their health and what is going on. And especially women in perimenopause and menopause. And I actually do a lot of men's health too. But being able to, like you said, understand the signals and kind of figure out how we decode that and move forward so people can really have a life that's optimized, that reduces aging, reduces the incidence of chronic illness, and less reliance on prescription medications. I'm very passionate about that. So it was just kind of a natural evolution. And I love being able to help people. And so being a provider gives me, you know, prescriptive authority, but it also just allows me to give advice and really help people untangle their health that's been mismanaged for just many years.

Jennifer Norman:
Yeah, let's talk about this hamster wheel because you've got such strong opinions about the way that the system works today and the way that you see it really being most optimal or benefiting people. And you've built that into your philosophy, into your book, and into the way that you practice. So tell us just in a nutshell, like, what have you been seeing, what's wrong with it, and what is a better way forward?

Angela Peterson:
Well, it's just the standard healthcare model. You go to see your primary care doctor for a checkup and you get some blood work done. Most of them don't even look at hormones, to be honest. If you go in for a checkup in your 40s and 50s with just a standard family primary care provider, you're probably going to walk out with a blood pressure medication, a cholesterol medication, probably some sort of antidepressant or SSRI, maybe some metformin. And if you're a guy, you're probably going to get some Viagra and be sent on your way. And most people don't need these kinds of medications. Their lab work is probably terrible because of the metabolic state their body is in, but it's all reversible and it's all fixable with the right tools. But once you get stuck in that hamster wheel of prescription management, you're scared to death.

Angela Peterson:
And fear has a lot to do with this, that if you don't take these medications, you're going to die, you're going to die of heart disease, you're going to die of a stroke, you're going to get diabetes. And the opposite is totally true. We're seeing that cholesterol doesn't really matter. There's studies coming out daily that say that cholesterol is a good thing, it helps to prevent dementia. What the real problem is is inflammation. And so when a provider is not addressing the root cause of some of these issues, that's really doing a disservice to the patient because you're not addressing what's wrong. And most of the time it's inflammation. And that's really easy to fix.

Angela Peterson:
And it can reduce the occurrence of chronic illness and keep people off prescription medications. But it's just this constant battle and the fear factor. And, well, my doctor told me to. I hear that all the time. Well, my doctor told me to. I said, well, I'm a provider and I'm telling you not to. So it's just being able to educate and teach people that there's a better way that you don't. A 40 year old, 45 year old man does not need to be on cholesterol medication.

Angela Peterson:
Like it will reduce their testosterone production and the brain thrives on cholesterol. So why do we have this dementia and Alzheimer's epidemic in our country? And there's literally a memory care center in every town, multiple of them, and we're just really doing a disservice to humans because of the prescription medication phenomenon that's going on in this country. And we're not giving our body, like you said, the things that it needs to function properly. And one of those things is cholesterol. And if you don't have enough of that in your body, your brain's not going to work as well and you're not going to synthesize hormones. So it's a whole cascading effect. And I mean I, this is one of my passion projects, but just educating people that inflammation is really the problem. So, so if you can control your inflammation, a lot of these issues go away.

Jennifer Norman:
So getting down to the root cause, rather than looking at these symptoms as problems that you need to cover up or use a prescription in order to try to alleviate that. I had heard a statistic where it was astounding to see the amount of specialists that are in the medical field. And a lot of these specialists aren't necessarily talking to each other. And so they might prescribe something in their particular area without necessarily knowing what the correlation will be to other functional areas of the body. Not necessarily treating the body as a system, but as like, just like these segmented parts. And it was so interesting to see that the more specialists that we have in medicine, it's not like we are reducing the amount of those issues, they're actually increasing. Diabetes, increasing, heart disease increasing. Like all of these things are increasing.

Jennifer Norman:
Why? And it's because that system doesn't work. Like, you're exactly right, like getting to the root of the issue. And unfortunately that is not sexy. It's not something that makes a lot of money for the medical industry. And that's a whole other can of worms. And so it's really built on, well, let's come up with more memory care places so that we can treat this, let's come out with more cholesterol medicine so we can treat that. And a lot of that is not necessarily helping human health at its core. So what is the better way forward? I know that you're such a strong proponent of food is medicine, water is medicine.

Jennifer Norman:
Let's talk a little bit about some of the things that we can do in our lives on a day to day basis to get off of this hamster wheel and to really start taking control of our own health back.

Angela Peterson:
Well, there's lots of things, but the first thing is metabolic stability. And if you're overweight even a couple pounds or you're carrying excess weight than from what's normal for your body type, you're going to put yourself in a state of insulin resistance. And then when you're in a state of insulin resistance, that's when your inflammation is increased. And what I find with clients is when they're in insulin resistance, they really have a hard time losing weight. Their body just does not metabolically work well. So the first step is to lose weight. And that can be very hard for a lot of people. So I am a huge advocate of the use of peptides in the form of GLP1 medications or GLP.

Angela Peterson:
I've done a ton of research and I've treated thousands of people by using these medications. And I hate calling them medications because they're actually a peptide. They're a chain of amino acids that our bodies naturally make. We just don't have enough of them. So what these medications do is they help to reduce your appetite, so you're gonna lose weight. And the only way to lose weight is to get into some sort of caloric deficit. They help to regulate your insulin and blood sugar response. And they also turn off signals in your head telling you that you're hungry, that you need something, and they've been very, very helpful and very, very beneficial.

Angela Peterson:
And they reduce a lot of disease, they reduce chronic illness, they reduce your risk for cardiovascular disease. There's research now coming out that your cancer risk is reduced, they're reducing occurrence of dementia. So the health benefits of these far exceed any sort of risk or Internet conspiracy theories. They're really, they're amazing. And so I use these a lot in my practice to help people get into metabolic balance. That tried everything. And I have people coming to me in tears, like, I work out every day, I get enough protein, I really watch what I eat. And they're like, I cannot lose this weight.

Angela Peterson:
I'm like, I totally hear you. I was right there with you a couple years ago. And getting on these peptides will really help, like I said, get into a metabolic state that it's homeostasis and your body's functioning better and your inflammation is reduced and so when you get to that state, that's kind of baseline, and then we build. We add things in from there. Looking at hormones, looking at your electrolytes, really, your metabolic panels is very interesting because a lot of people are deficient in salt and vitamin D, So those are two really big ones that are easy to add in. We've been trained not to eat salt, really, forever.

Jennifer Norman:
My upbringing.

Angela Peterson:
Yeah, me too. And salt is crucial. Not table salt, but real mineral salt is what fuels your body. And just being able to get that, I see it all the time. It's very. Most people are very, very low.

Jennifer Norman:
What's the difference between table salt and mineral salt for those that aren't...

Angela Peterson:
Table salt's bleached, and so it's processed. And mineral salt is from the earth, and it's a vital.

Jennifer Norman:
So, like pink Himalayan salt or sea salt.

Angela Peterson:
Excellent. Yeah.

Jennifer Norman:
Okay. Those are okay.

Angela Peterson:
Yeah. I live in Utah. There's a great company here called Redmond Real Salt, and we have great natural salt resources here. So that's what I prefer. But when you don't give your cells salt, they don't function well. And so we may have all missed this class in biology, but it's called the Krebs cycle. And your cell functions on sodium and potassium, and that also carries water. So if you're just drinking water, you're not hydrating.

Angela Peterson:
It's just going, water...

Jennifer Norman:
You'll pee it out, right out.

Angela Peterson:
But if you have the right amount of sodium and potassium, then the H2O molecule gets into the cell, and that's what's hy-, the whole point of hydration. And so that's why electrolytes are really important, but they need. And it doesn't have to be these sports drinks. And it could be very, very simple.

Jennifer Norman:
Like, I'm so amazed at how expensive electrolyte powders are. Like, can't you just. Can't you just put Himalayan sea salt in your water?

Angela Peterson:
That's what I do. And I sweeten it with just, like, a little bit of stevia, and I. To me, that gives me such great energy throughout the day. You're not jittery. Everything just works a little bit better.

Jennifer Norman:
I want to go back to the GLP1, because some people listening might be like, well, wait a minute. Doesn't that completely contradict what you were just saying in terms of hamster wheel? Because some people have heard, like, you know, once you get on GLPs, you can't stop, or else you'll gain the weight back. And so it's like, okay, well, once you take these, you're going to be on it for life. And it doesn't necessarily train people to eat properly, get the right nutrition. So how, how do you balance the notion that yes, GLP1s can help with these symptoms, but then we also have to train people in order to be able to get into a lifestyle of optimizing their own health inside out.

Angela Peterson:
And that's a great argument, but I actually see that the reverse of that, I see people making better choices. They realize how much food they really don't need and so they understand, like portion control. It does cause some nausea at first, which is fine because you're kind of going through a metabolic shift. And so you kind of train yourself, like, if I eat this, I'm not going to feel very good. And I really do see people making better choices, to be honest, because they lose the weight, they feel happy and they're like, okay, what can I do to, you know, I got to maintain this. But on the other side, like, it's okay to be on these on a microdose, really indefinitely. Like I said, the health benefits outweigh the risks. And my argument for that is until our food system is completely overhauled from top to bottom, there's only so much we can control.

Angela Peterson:
And obviously groceries are insanely expensive. Eating whole foods is very expensive. We all, I think those of us that are into our own personal wellness try to make good choices, but we still live in this American society and go out to dinner and we're social and we want to travel and we go on vacation. So like we can only control what we can control on a day to day basis. And these meds really, the peptides really help us. It gives you the tool to make better choices and to keep yourself in a really good metabolic state. So I don't see that there's, it's just until we're able to get the food supply, the seed oils out of everything, get back to whole ingredients and less processed foods. We need some tools to make better decisions.

Angela Peterson:
And if I can get people happy, healthy, productive humans by using these, to me that's a good thing. And they do seem to make much better choices going forward.

Jennifer Norman:
I think a good case study, I have a friend who is very close to me who was overweight, had a lot of health issues for years and years and years back. Issues, just chronic inflammation, all of those things went on WeGovy for, I want to say maybe a year, lost 50 pounds, was able to get off it, and now maybe battling back and forth 5 pounds here and there. But the back pain went away. Yeah, the back pain went away. All of, like, the blood pressure medicine was able to get off of it. So many different things. And so it really did transform my thoughts about these kinds of things, because at first I thought, oh, isn't this just a quick fix? And it was used more for vanity purposes. I think celebrities, because of the, you know, the transformations that you see there, a lot of people with diabetes and real quote, unquote, you know, medical needs were not necessarily able to get it because there was a shortage. Now, I think that that's pretty much alleviated.

Jennifer Norman:
But it was seen more as, oh, isn't this just a band aid for you, just wanting to be skinny? Whereas I'm glad that we're helping to shed light on a lot of the real things that can be managed by mindfully using these GLPs and the peptides and then also making very, very conscientious life choices. And I think you're helping to guide those choices. Perhaps other practitioners are not. But being able to say, okay, this is what we need to do with your foods. This is what we need to do with the way that you're exercising, or calories in, calories out, all of those things. And having somebody to really help guide those kinds of choices and lifestyle approaches at the same time will be probably a greater success story when it comes to health and longevity.

Angela Peterson:
I agree. I think it's a tool, and when used safely and effectively, it can really change lives for people that have tried a lot of and tried and need a kickstart. And like I said, getting in metabolic balance is really step one.

Jennifer Norman:
So let's talk about regenerative health, because a lot of people kick around that phrase, and a lot of people don't necessarily know what it means. How do you define regenerative health?

Angela Peterson:
So really, it's using your body to, like, heal itself. And there's many things that we can do to encourage our body, which is an incredible machine, to really heal itself, especially with injuries and injury prevention. But things have come so far into such a short period of time, even just a couple years ago, that saying the name, saying stem cells out loud was pretty much illegal. But now we're using stem cells in a variety of ways to really regenerate tissue to help repair injuries by turning on the innate things that our body has to repair, which is like cytokines, growth factors, and exosomes. And once those molecules are turned on, you can really reverse, first of all, the signs of aging. But also just things that hurt and injuries that you've had and avoid pain. So it's a very wide encompassing term. But really what it is is using peptides, stem cells, and things like shockwave therapy to get your body to heal itself.

Angela Peterson:
And, and so you don't have to be on narcotics, you don't have to have surgery after surgery trying to repair things. You don't need to go have nerve blocks. None of that stuff that's just masking pain. What we want to do is to encourage the body to really turn on the system that it has to heal tissue and alleviate pain.

Jennifer Norman:
So how does one do that? What are some of the things that you recommend?

Angela Peterson:
So I actually started. I mean, it's kind of a long story, but I actually started. I did my doctorate work using stem cells for erectile dysfunction. So I kind of went from women's health to men's health pretty quickly. But I really found it fascinating that we could use a stem cell product injected into the penis. I'll just say it. To regenerate that tissue that has been compromised. Because what we know about erectile dysfunction is that it's a lack of blood flow, mainly from inflammation and chronic illness.

Angela Peterson:
But we can really repair tissue at that site to increase blood flow and then increase function. But the same principles apply to really any body part. So we can inject stem cells into joints, into muscles to help to turn on that cellular activation to repair. And it's not immediate, it definitely takes some time. But adding in these birth products that are the ones I get are all ethically harvested and processed, but it's very anti aging and then reversing injuries, really at the site. It's incredible. And then also shockwave therapy is great too, because especially electro hydraulic shockwave therapy, it's. It helps to release like your own exosomes and cytokines and growth factors at the site of injury to help repair that tissue hit.

Jennifer Norman:
I haven't heard of shockwave therapy. So is it different than laser? What actually is it?

Angela Peterson:
It's different. The device that I use is an electro hydraulic shockwave. So it's pulses that go, sound pulses through water that penetrate into the skin and help to turn on that cellular activation.

Jennifer Norman:
So it's sonic?

Angela Peterson:
Yeah, so it helps. It's great for like back pain, any kind of joint injury. It's amazing for like plantar fasciitis, really, any musculoskeletal issue, you might have can be alleviated with shockwave. There's lots of shockwave devices out there that I've been exposed to and not all of them are great, but definitely the ones that are electro hydraulic are much more effective.

Jennifer Norman:
Mm. So it's helping to almost kickstart or catalyze the healing process in your own body rather than numbing it or doing something to, as you were saying, suppress.

Angela Peterson:
We know this will alleviate pain really immediately, but also help to repair the injured tissue.

Jennifer Norman:
And when you were talking about stem cells ethically harvested, is this placental stem cells that you're talking about?

Angela Peterson:
Yes. And cord blood. So there's a couple different kinds. The cord blood is great. It's tons of exosomes. The coating on the outside of an umbilical cord is also used. And that's Wharton's jelly, which is really great for like rebuilding collagen, especially in joints. I've used that for erectile dysfunction treatments as well.

Angela Peterson:
But it's definitely a growing area of medicine that is just getting bigger and bigger. But you hear about people going to Mexico and I think there's a place in Costa Rica to get their stem cell injections. Like we can do the same thing here, especially at my clinic. And in the United States. It just. Places like Tijuana have gotten a lot of coverage because a lot of celebrities go there. But doing stem cells IV is great for anti aging and just getting those cellular pathways activated is really cool.

Jennifer Norman:
Wow. Wow. When I had my son 19 years ago, almost 20 years ago, I did bank my cord blood and it's just kind of there. And I was like, I wonder what eventually be good for.

Angela Peterson:
Yeah, we don't necessarily need to do that now because there's so many options available. But it is just like I said, it's using human biology to really heal and repair and regenerate and also just reverse signs of aging. And I've done it on my. You can do them on your face too. So I like messing around with that. So instead of like.

Jennifer Norman:
So it's injections?

Angela Peterson:
Yeah.

Jennifer Norman:
Okay.

Angela Peterson:
Yeah. So I don't do any Botox, I don't do any artificial fillers or anything like that. I'm going to be 50 next year. I've been experimenting with like a natural hyaluronic human based acid and then also doing stem cell injections dermatologically in my face to regenerate the collagen and elastin and help with volume replacement. But that's been really fun. I love doing that, see, this is.

Jennifer Norman:
The benefit of actually being the nurse practitioner.

Angela Peterson:
Yeah, I experiment myself first. Yeah, for sure. Like, oh, let's try this. I think that'd be a great idea because I'm just, I'm not against Botox or everybody can do what they want. But I mean, we've seen some of the aftermath of things gone too far. And I think we're coming back to a more natural look that's youthful but not fake. And this technique that I, I think...

Jennifer Norman:
LA, where I am at Los Angeles, we're a little bit further out.

Angela Peterson:
Yeah, that was kind of like we went over the hill real quick there. But there's other ways to do these things. And Botox isn't skincare. Just everybody needs to understand that it's. You're paralyzing muscles underneath skin. It's not skin care. And then the commercial grade fillers just done well are okay, but most people just go nuts. It's like a little bit goes a long way.

Jennifer Norman:
It's true, it's true. Now, we were talking earlier about hormone imbalance and you were saying a lot of these panels, blood panels, they don't even test for hormones. And that's kind of a travesty and a red flag right there. But I mean, hormone imbalance shows up long before it actually even appears on lab work. I'm curious, what are some of the most common everyday symptoms that you see, especially in women that tend to get dismissed or, or normalized?

Angela Peterson:
Oh, this is my favorite. So this is like step two is evaluating hormones. So a lot of women especially that and perimenopause can hit people really at different times. So it's hard to say. Like it's all very subjective, but change in libido for sure, change in energy, change in kind of mood when you're feel like you're kind of all over the place. Weight gain for sure can be a sign. But most of the time when the complaints that I see are fatigue, loss of libido, weight gain, and then just like this feeling of just kind of misery, like they're just like something is not right. Like I just don't feel good.

Angela Peterson:
And usually it's hormones. And so the level that is important to pay attention to, especially for women, is your follicle stimulating hormone. And so when you're ovulating and in your reproductive years, that level is very low. And as you age and start to get into a perimenopausal menopausal state, that number goes up and then so that's Something that I pay attention to and then also looking at your estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. So all three of those are vitally important for women. They're not. They're just not managed well for a lot of people. Most primary care providers will prescribe a synthetic estrogen and send the patient on their way, but what we really need to do is balance it with progesterone and testosterone and testosterone supplements.

Angela Peterson:
Supplementation for women can be such a game changer. I joke with my patients, like, I do a lot of things and I, you know, obviously experiment on myself a lot. But, like, if Elon Musk came to me today and said, you're going to planet Mars tomorrow, what is the one medication you're going to take with you? I would say my testosterone cream.

Jennifer Norman:
Wow, that's huge.

Angela Peterson:
It's huge. And, you know, just getting into the basics of it. Testosterone, we have testosterone in our bodies. Men have estrogen. Like, it's just in different quantities.

Jennifer Norman:
Is it true that women have more testosterone than men do?

Angela Peterson:
No, it's not true.

Jennifer Norman:
Okay. I had heard that it's different, but okay,

Angela Peterson:
No. that's what is differentiating between the genders. We just. It's in different balances. So, like, a man needs like 10 times the amount of testosterone than a woman does. And a little bit for a woman goes a long way. When you do too much, that's when you start to see the side effects, like the deepening of the voice, acne, hair loss, that kind of stuff. So you definitely have to be careful with it.

Angela Peterson:
But replacing. And even before a female is in perimenopause, progesterone and testosterone can be really helpful just for sleep, for energy, for brain fog. Like, I was having that kind of brain fog. You're like, what is that word? Like, you just like, yeah, your recall isn't as good. That, like, completely went away.

Jennifer Norman:
We call it CRS. Can't remember shit.

Angela Peterson:
Yeah. So, and then like, I'll be like, oh, that's because I've had four kids, and blah, blah, blah. Like, no, it's your hormones. Like, little bit of that will kind of help that recall be a little bit sharper.

Jennifer Norman:
Wow. I know that that is a growing trend of women either taking T or I didn't realize that they also had topical creams. I have to tell you a story which will make you scream probably as loud as I did. Because I think that a lot of even gynecologists & OBs that have been in their work for years - I had one through an HMO which I've now since switched because drove me crazy who had gone into retirement came out because "I just love to practice". And I remember I told him, like, okay, well, I was on the birth control pill for probably longer than I needed to be. And I didn't realize that it kept you bleeding, like, every month. You'll still have bleeding, and that's not necessarily a period. It's just that it overrides your body, and then you'll still continue to bleed.

Jennifer Norman:
So get off of that. But you should... It's a good idea to get on some other kind of hormone replacement therapy, including progesterone, because there was always the controversy about just taking estrogen by itself. I think think some of that has been alleviated as well. But nonetheless, I told him I'd like a prescription for hormone replacement therapy. And he said, oh, no, I don't do that. And I said, why not? He's like, oh, menopause isn't a medical issue. It's a social issue.

Jennifer Norman:
These night sweats and things. He's like, it's not really a problem. And I just wanted to take my hands and wring his neck. Like, why are you not. Why are you not educated? And how is it that I know more from a podcast or podcasts that I listen to than you know? And, like, and you're practicing, and you're supposedly in this position where you're supposed to be helping women. I was stunned.

Angela Peterson:
And, yeah, absolutely, I hear that. And I have a better one for you.

Jennifer Norman:
Oh, God.

Angela Peterson:
A client came to me in tears, just absolutely in tears. And she said, well, I went to my OB and I love. I mean, I did women's health. There are some wonderful obstetricians and gynecologists that's out there.

Jennifer Norman:
Totally.

Angela Peterson:
However, this story is not uncommon. And this poor gal, she was, like, early 40s. She's like, something's not right. And I'm like, okay, well, what happened? She's like, well, I went to my OB. You know, he didn't really want to do anything for me, and he suggested I go to marriage counseling. And I was like, oh, my goodness. I am so sorry. That is horrible.

Angela Peterson:
Let's get some blood work and figure out what's going on. And, like, sure enough, like, a little testosterone, a little progesterone changed her life.

Jennifer Norman:
Oh, my goodness. So brain fog. What were some of the other things?

Angela Peterson:
Energy, sleeping, energy, libido, for sure can be really improved with testosterone replacement. Then, you know, if you do need estrogen, when the time comes.

Jennifer Norman:
Mm.

Angela Peterson:
When you really stop. Once you're in, like, true menopause, definitely you need estrogen. It just needs to be in the right balance. But estrogen is directly related to aging and wrinkles. So as we age, we're losing to estrogen and vaginal lubrication, too. But that has a direct correlation to wrinkles. And so you see, you know, a lot of women that have a lot of wrinkles, and it's because their estrogen depleted.

Jennifer Norman:
Is depleted. So I know that you practice in Utah and some folks who are listening, because this podcast goes all over the states, all over the world. How can they empower themselves to go to a practitioner and say, okay, this is what I think I need. Like, what should the questions be that they ask? What should they be asking for and what. What should they be telling?

Angela Peterson:
Well, first of all, bioidentical hormone replacement, don't take no for an answer. Find someone that's going to listen to you, okay? And you have to be your own advocate. And the hormone replacement got such a bad rap in the early 2000s because this Women's Health Initiative study that came out, that was riddled with errors.

Jennifer Norman:
Yeah.

Angela Peterson:
They were using synthetic hormones, they were not balanced. It was progestin and not bioidentical estrogen. And that scared people for generations. And so now we have women in their 60s and 70s that didn't do it because no one told them to. And they're. The incidence of Alzheimer's and dementia is at an all time high. And that's the reason why.

Angela Peterson:
So it's really sad because a lot of things could have been prevented, but HRT and especially estrogen is what's going to protect your brains, your bones and your heart. And I don't know about you, but, like, I'm going down fighting, and I do not want to. I just don't want to lose my girl. I refuse to just give in to that. And it could have been prevented for so many people. And my mom is in that category. It's like, I, you know, she said to me, I said, mom, I think you should start.

Angela Peterson:
Like, even though you're in your 70s, it's not too late. It's like, oh, really, Angela? No, I don't want to be all sexed up. And I was like, that's not the point. The point is I'd like to, like, try to save some cognition for you so you can have it. You can be functional, you know, well into your 80s and 90s.

Jennifer Norman:
Have there been studies on it actually preventing or just like inhibiting Alzheimer's or dementia?

Angela Peterson:
Oh, yeah.

Jennifer Norman:
I mean, that's amazing.

Angela Peterson:
I mean, yeah, the studies that have been out lately, and I really appreciate RFK taking away that black box label warning for cancer, but it really has more to do with cognition and dementia prevention. But. And now, like, it's just now that we're hopefully moving into a new era, but we're living longer and longer lives and we can be as vital as we want to be into our golden years. And it's just, it's up to you to take the steps, you know, necessary to preserve that capacity.

Jennifer Norman:
I think that I swung on the pendulum to some extremes and I've kind of landed in the middle, where at first I was like. And I think this came from my upbringing because my mom was very much a proponent of aging gracefully. Don't take things. She was very much like, anti medication, anti doctor, anti this, anti that. And then so I think that that stuck with me about, like, oh, this isn't natural. And there are a lot of people who might also say, well, taking anything that's not just food or something that comes from the earth, something that's in a needle or whatnot, anti vaxx, all of it, it's just not natural. And so therefore, I'm going to age greatness gracefully. And they kind of wear it as a badge of honor and there might be shame.

Jennifer Norman:
It's almost like, well, if I do this, am I vain? What would you say to people who feel that way, who feel that, oh, well, this is just vanity or it's not really something that has to do with health. It's more about looks.

Angela Peterson:
I mean, I think it's very simple. Like, a hundred years ago, we didn't live this long. Life expectancy 200 years ago was like, in your 40s. So we didn't...

Jennifer Norman:
I think about the Golden Girls too, when they were...

Angela Peterson:
Yeah, I mean, you know, those were 50 year olds.

Jennifer Norman:
Meanwhile, we are like, I, I'm 55. And it's like, I don't, I don't look like that.

Angela Peterson:
I know. And I, I say the same. I'm like, yeah, because you. Yeah, like, Blanche was 55. And it's just, we weren't supposed to live this long and we have to replace what's missing. And that's fine. Everybody can make their own choices. That's totally fine.

Angela Peterson:
But if you can live to well beyond 80 and be fit and working out and doing all activities that you like to do, like, well, why not? And if you can prevent disease, prevent Alzheimer's and keep your body in a healthy metabolic state. Well, like, it just. The knowledge is out there and whether you believe in it or not, that's a personal choice. But you're going to be left behind and you're going to be the one with a fractured hip. You're going to be the one that it can't remember shit. And that's just not. That's not how I want to live. Life is beautiful and I want to be around for my kids and I want to be able to raise my grandchildren, but I don't have any yet, thank goodness.

Angela Peterson:
But it's just being, taking the stuff that's out there and using it appropriately can really just make this next phase of life really amazing. And you don't have to suffer. And a lot of people that wear that as badge of honor, well, they. I always tell people, like, you don't know how bad you felt until you start feeling good, really good. And then you can kind of look back and be like, yeah, I mean, I feel better now than I did in my 20s and 30s, to be very honest.

Jennifer Norman:
Yep.

Angela Peterson:
And, you know, it wasn't like I was unhealthy, but I just didn't have all the tools. And now I've got all the tools. And feeling great is amazing.

Jennifer Norman:
Yeah, I remember during COVID even, I wasn't going to the gym during that time, because all the gyms were closed. And I would wake up and my body would just be achy. It would just, like my knees felt bad. And even just the simple going to the gym three times a week, which I'm committed to at least now, is going to the gym 3. I feel so much more vital, and I feel like that's what this is. It's kind of like you want to feel vital for as long as possible. A lot of us who are in this age now are taking care of elders, our parents, as well as our youngers.

Jennifer Norman:
And we see what's happening with the older generation where they didn't necessarily have all of these tools at their disposal. And it's not fun. I mean, definitely see like the breakdown of the body, the breakdown of the mental capacity. And a lot of us are like, well, we don't want to be that way when we get that age. How can we stay as healthy and youthful and as vital as long as possible? Because we do believe that we are going to be living. There's probably going to be more centurions and whatnot going forward because we've become so sophisticated and we have these new tools at our disposal now and more and more. It's amazing how fast medical technology is moving. And so wouldn't you want that for yourself? Wouldn't you want to be as healthy and vital and, you know, live this really robust life, be able to travel, be able to pick up your grandkids, be able to pick up great grandkids and have these experiences with them.

Jennifer Norman:
And a lot of folks are like, I don't want to be a burden. My kids, like I perhaps was or my parents were with me. And so this is a way to do it, is just educating yourself on these things that are available to us so that we can have these extraordinary opportunities now. I think a lot of things that people will ask are about insurance and whether or not these things are covered. Can you talk a little bit about that right now?

Angela Peterson:
Yeah. I mean, insurance is the biggest scam of our lifetime. You're paying thousands of dollars a month for something that you're not going to use. And insurance, unfortunately will just not cover compounded medications, for one. But your health savings card will. And so if you can get a plan that has a good health savings card, you can use that for really anything. But and this is where I would like to see things change, is that insurance is for emergencies and acute illness. And if you have chronic illness, obviously.

Jennifer Norman:
That's like for catastrophic, catastrophic things.

Angela Peterson:
But there should be a way to pay for services that are going to keep you off prescription medications and keep you vital and keep you young. And that model, we're far, far away from that. But also, a lot of this doesn't cost a fortune. You can make some sacrifices to be able to afford your hormone replacement. You can change the way you eat. You can put salt in your water. Like things like that just don't cost a ton.

Angela Peterson:
But insurance isn't going to save you when it comes to this.

Jennifer Norman:
Yeah. It's your own choices and knowing how to prioritize that. On a related note, what do you think of the new food pyramid?

Angela Peterson:
I mean, I think it's a great step in the right direction for sure.

Jennifer Norman:
It's not the SAD, Standard American Diet. Yeah.

Angela Peterson:
But like you and I grew up with cereals for breakfast and it worked.

Jennifer Norman:
With a glass of orange juice.

Angela Peterson:
Oh.

Jennifer Norman:
I mean, threw my body into shock and I was wondering why I was hungry and or like jittery at 10 o' clock in the morning.

Angela Peterson:
We grew up with the worst food advice. I mean, my parents had margarine. They didn't believe in real butter, and the seed oils, it just, we survived. Now we know better. But that was some really bad information and unfortunately had to do with big money. And these, these corporations made gazillions off of this. And the cereal industry, I mean cereal is great. Like don't get me wrong, like it's a great treat and everybody loves it, but it's probably the worst thing you could do for you and the whole grains and I mean there, we just don't need all of that.

Angela Peterson:
And so I do think it's a step in the right direction. Like I said, the food system needs to be completely overhauled. There's so many toxins and preservatives and the seed oils, we've got to get that out of our food. But it's going to take a long time. But we're making progress and it's all about education and just trying to make the right choices. And then consumerism hopefully will shift this too. And we can just stop buying this stuff, stop buying the junk food, stop buying the Crumbl cookies. Like we don't need it.

Angela Peterson:
And maybe that's the shift.

Jennifer Norman:
So addicting. Yeah. And that's the adding is realizing how addicting sugar is.

Angela Peterson:
Crazy.

Jennifer Norman:
Yeah. Once I started on the high protein, low carb diet, it was life changing. It really was. I mean, I felt myself not crashing, not getting hangry, not keeping on this weight that I didn't want. It just felt so much easier to get through, even just like being able to think and mood swings, all of that. It was just, just really like as you were saying, you don't know what you don't know until you actually try it and you live it and find like, oh, this is how I'm supposed to feel during the day. This isn't right. It's because of what you're eating.

Jennifer Norman:
And you thought that it was right because that's what we were taught. But it's, it's. For sure, it's quite a difference.

Angela Peterson:
Yeah. But no, it's, we're at least making steps and I think that's important and being able to make those choices. And you know, unfortunately food's very expensive and a lot of Americans are struggling day to day to just buy groceries and being able to make those choices can be hard. So we've got a long way to go. But I think we're making some baby steps in the right direction now.

Jennifer Norman:
You've just written a book, it's called the Wellness Glitch.

Angela Peterson:
Yes, right there.

Jennifer Norman:
I want you to be able to share that. There it is, everybody. Beautiful humans, the Wellness Glitch. Can you give us a synopsis of what people can expect by reading this book?

Angela Peterson:
Absolutely. I mean, it kind of is what we've talked about today.

Jennifer Norman:
Great.

Angela Peterson:
But it's looking at where we've been and where we're going and the glitches in the system that are making us unwell. And so, you know, I talk a lot about the obesity epidemic and how that has really fueled things, especially with health care and kind of the health care industrial complex, how that's just continuingly to make people sick with prescription medications, endless chronic disease. And I get into the root causes of inflammation. And then I try, I kind of look at all the glitches in health care, in our environment, in our communities and politics, and then I untangle it and then provide some suggestions on how we fix things. So fixing things is not as hard as we think. The food system is one of them. Reducing inflammation. I'm obviously an advocate of GLP1 medications for now until things really get better.

Angela Peterson:
But I call it like fixing the glitch. So it's looking at hormone replacement and detangling all of those myths. And just as a side note, hormone replacement for men is crucial. Most men I treat have very low testosterone and it's a huge epidemic among men. So, ladies, if your husband has not been tested, please get them evaluated. It will make your lives much, much better. But I really try to break things down for people in a simple way that and find ways where we can fix things to really be better humans for our environment, our communities, and our families. And when we're better humans, we just, we have a better country, we have a better world.

Angela Peterson:
And we're. If we don't take care of it, it's not going to be here for a lot longer.

Jennifer Norman:
True. True. Everyone, I want our listeners to take this moment and think about what we've talked about so far today, things that you can do to perhaps think differently about your day, what you're consuming, how you might take care of your health and your wellness and your happiness for this year and beyond. We have this new month. We have a new year ahead of us. So as you've been listening, what has been resonating within you, not just intellectually, but physically? Do you feel a soft yes or any amount of resistance anywhere as you're listening? Are there symptoms, sensations or changes that you might have normalized in your life that might actually be signs that are Asking for support? And do you have any beliefs that you've held about aging or hormones or energy or your body in general that might actually no longer be serving you and that you might be able to take a new approach, approach forward, if your body could speak without interruption? What do you think it's asking of you right now? What do you think that it wants you to understand? So let's take this moment to think about where in our life have we been overriding our bodies instead of listening to it, maybe suppressing things instead of letting it surface and really kind of calling attention to it? What would change if you treated your body as not something to fix, but as something that you can collaborate with? I think that this is all powerful food for thought. No pun intended. Or pun intended.

Jennifer Norman:
So I think that that's really just interesting. There's so much richness in what we've been able to discuss so far. And I just think it's important for you to not just listen as a passive listener, but really listen. Listen to not just the words, but listen to your body, as these questions might be coming to mind. So at this time, Angela, I always end by asking three constant questions of my guests. These are a reminder of what can be connects us. Our beauty, our humanity, and truths that we live by. So my first question to you is, what makes you beautiful?

Angela Peterson:
I, for myself, I think it's my authenticity and my. Really, my. I love helping people, and I hope that comes through. But that's definitely my passion, and that's really what I'm all about, authenticity.

Jennifer Norman:
What do you think it means to be human?

Angela Peterson:
That's a great question. I think it just means to be alive, to be a contributor, to do good, do no harm, and to really make this world. And I know it's kind of cliche, but make this world a better place for our children and our children's children.

Jennifer Norman:
Lovely. And lastly, what is one truth that you live by?

Angela Peterson:
Trust your intuition. I think we all have an ability to understand truth and what it is like we need and what it is that maybe someone else is trying to do to you. And when you get that gut feeling, especially women, I mean, we're really good at this, and we don't trust ourselves, but just trust that feeling. If it doesn't feel right, it probably isn't, and you should probably look into it.

Jennifer Norman:
Great answers. So, everyone, as we close, I want to gently bring us back to where we began with this intention. So much of what we talked about really isn't just about peptides or hormones. Or skin or even aging. It is really about relationship. The relationship we have with our bodies, the stories that we've inherited about what's normal and that quiet way that we've learned to override or ignore or distrust ourselves in the name of. Of productivity, appearance, or survival. Intuition, right? What I hope you're taking away from this conversation is this reminder that your body isn't failing you.

Jennifer Norman:
It is communicating with you. These are shifts in energy, changes in your skin, mood, clarity, or resilience. These are not character flaws or inevitable decline. This is information. And regenerative health, as Angela so beautifully described, isn't about chasing youth or perfection. It's really about creating these conditions for vitality for you and your body. It's about supporting the body's innate intelligence instead of fighting it. It's about moving from reaction to relationship, from management to optimization, from fear to curiosity.

Jennifer Norman:
And you don't have to do everything at once. You don't have to fix yourself. Sometimes the most powerful first step is simply listening and choosing to believe that your body is wise, responsive, and worthy of care. So if this conversation sparked a new question, a new awareness, or even a quiet sense of. Of permission, then stay with that. Because when we stop asking what's wrong with me? And start asking what is my body asking for? That's where regeneration begins. Angela, I want to thank you so much for being my guest today. This was so powerful and really poignant and I'm so excited to share this with my audience.

Jennifer Norman:
So thank you so much for your work and thank you for being a beautiful human.

Angela Peterson:
Oh, thank you so much. This was great. I really like this.

Jennifer Norman:
Thank you for listening to The Human Beauty Movement Podcast. Be sure to follow, rate and review us wherever you stream podcasts. The Human Beauty Movement is a community based platform that cultivates the beauty of humankind. Check out our workshops, find us on social media and share our inspiration with all the beautiful humans in your life. Learn more at thehumanbeautymovement.com. Thank you so much, so much for being a beautiful human.