hol+ with Dr. Taz MD | The Future of Medicine is Holistic

What if the fatigue, stubborn weight changes, brain fog, inflammation, or burnout you’re experiencing isn’t a failure of willpower, but a signal that your metabolism is under strain? In this solo episode, Dr. Taz unpacks what metabolic health actually means in the age of GLP-1 medications. She explains why weight loss alone is not the same as healing, and how focusing only on the scale can quietly erode muscle, gut function, hormonal balance, cellular energy, and nervous system resilience.You’ll learn why so many people lose weight but still feel exhausted, inflamed, anxious, or disconnected from their bodies. Dr. Taz breaks down the six core metabolic engines that regulate energy, fat storage, blood sugar, hormones, stress response, and longevity, and why ignoring even one of them can stall long-term health.This episode reframes metabolism as a full body system. One that includes the gut microbiome, hormone signaling, mitochondrial function, liver detoxification, muscle health, and the nervous system. When these systems fall out of sync, weight becomes a symptom, not the root issue.Dr. Taz shares: • Why GLP-1 medications support weight loss but do not repair metabolic dysfunction • How up to 25% of weight lost on GLP-1s can come from muscle, impacting long-term health and longevity • Why the gut is the foundation of metabolic health and how digestion, bile flow, and microbiome balance shape hormones and inflammation • How hormone shifts, especially in midlife, can rapidly disrupt blood sugar, cholesterol, energy, and weight • The role of cellular and mitochondrial health in fatigue, brain fog, and metabolic slowdown • Why liver function is central to detoxification, fat metabolism, and insulin regulation • How stress and nervous system dysregulation can drive cravings, poor sleep, and metabolic instability • How to identify which metabolic engine needs attention first so your plan stays targeted and sustainableWhether you’re currently on a GLP-1, considering one, struggling after coming off, or simply want to build metabolic health that lasts for decades, this episode offers a grounded, integrative roadmap. You don’t need to chase trends or stack solutions. You need to understand the system you’re living in.You may not control every variable that shaped your metabolism, but you can change how it functions moving forward.Stay Connected:Connect further to Hol+ at https://holplus.co/- Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell to stay updated on future episodes of hol+.Follow Dr. Taz on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drtazmd/https://www.instagram.com/liveholplus/Subscribe to the audio podcast: https://holplus.transistor.fm/subscribeSubscribe to the video podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@DrTazMD/podcastsGet your copy of The Hormone Shift: Balance Your Body and Thrive Through Midlife and MenopauseHost & Production TeamHost: Dr. Taz; Produced by ClipGrowth.com (Producer: Pat Gostek)

Many women describe a pattern they are never able to explain. They eat well, exercise consistently, and follow every recommendation they are given. Yet their weight fluctuates, their mood shifts unpredictably, and their focus disappears for weeks at a time. Anxiety creeps in. Depression settles quietly. Brain fog becomes normal. And eventually, shame takes over.This is not a motivation problem.This is not a discipline issue.And it is not “all in your head.”In this hol+ conversation, Dr. Taz sits down with reproductive psychiatrist Dr. Sarah Oreck to reveal why PCOS is not just a hormonal or reproductive condition, but a whole-body mental health story that has been overlooked for decades.Instead of viewing PCOS through isolated symptoms like irregular cycles, acne, or fertility struggles, Dr. Oreck explains how insulin resistance, inflammation, cortisol dysregulation, and androgen shifts directly affect brain chemistry, cognition, emotional regulation, and stress tolerance. She breaks down why women with PCOS experience significantly higher rates of anxiety, depression, brain fog, and eating disorders, even when routine labs appear normal.This episode explores how blood sugar instability alters neurotransmitter production, why inflammation may be a core driver of mood disorders, and how chronic stress and cortisol overload reshape the nervous system over time. Dr. Taz and Dr. Oreck also examine the role of medical gaslighting, delayed diagnosis, and the psychological toll of being told symptoms are imagined, exaggerated, or self-inflicted.From adolescence through fertility journeys, pregnancy, postpartum, and perimenopause, this conversation reframes PCOS as a condition that affects the brain, gut, metabolism, and nervous system together, not in isolation. It highlights why symptom masking often fails, why talk therapy alone is not enough during hormonal dysregulation, and why true healing requires integrated, compassionate care.You will learn why weight swings are not about willpower, why mood changes often track with insulin and cortisol rather than character, how gut health and microbiome shifts influence cognition, and what it means to become hormone-literate early, for yourself and for your children.Together, Dr. Taz and Dr. Oreck offer a clear, validating roadmap for anyone who has felt dismissed, confused, or trapped in a body that will not respond the way it is supposed to.Dr. Taz and Dr. Sarah Oreck discuss: • Why PCOS has a major mental health component that is rarely addressed • How insulin resistance and blood sugar swings impact mood and cognition • The link between inflammation and anxiety, depression, and brain fog • Why cortisol and chronic stress intensify PCOS symptoms • How medical gaslighting delays diagnosis and fuels shame • Why fertility journeys often uncover long-missed PCOS patterns • The connection between PCOS and eating disorders like bulimia • How gut health and microbiome shifts affect brain function • Why birth control can help some women and worsen symptoms for others • The importance of hormone literacy across the lifespan • How to advocate for yourself when symptoms are dismissed • Why healing requires integrated care, not isolated fixesAbout Dr. Sarah Oreck Dr. Sarah Oreck is a reproductive psychiatrist and the founder of Mavida Health. She specializes in the intersection of female reproductive hormones and mental health, with a focus on conditions like PCOS, fertility-related mood disorders, pregnancy, and postpartum mental health. Through clinical care, education, and community building, she works to close the gap between psychiatry, endocrinology, and whole-person medicine.Stay Connected:Connect further to Hol+ at https://holplus.co/- Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell to stay updated on future episodes of hol+.Follow Dr. Sarah OreckInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahoreckmdWebsite: https://www.sarahoreckmd.com/ & https://mavidahealth.com/ Follow Dr. Taz on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drtazmd/https://www.instagram.com/liveholplus/Subscribe to the audio podcast: https://holplus.transistor.fm/subscribeSubscribe to the video podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@DrTazMD/podcastsGet your copy of The Hormone Shift: Balance Your Body and Thrive Through Midlife and MenopauseHost & Production TeamHost: Dr. Taz; Produced by ClipGrowth.com (Producer: Pat Gostek) (00:00) - Doing everything right but nothing changes (00:18) - Shame and medical gaslighting (00:37) - PCOS as a mental health story (01:16) - Inflammation and brain chemistry (02:00) - Focus, memory, emotions, and PCOS (04:21) - Origin story: hormones and gaslighting (06:11) - Why PCOS is missed (07:52) - PCOS and depression/anxiety rates (09:22) - Why fertility journeys reveal PCOS (11:30) - Labs and patterns clinicians ignore (12:59) - Diagnosis criteria explained (14:57) - Blood sugar swings and mood (15:56) - Insulin resistance and cognition (18:18) - Cortisol, stress, and PCOS (20:51) - Pregnancy exposure and cortisol (27:11) - Why we need screening tools (30:49) - Supplements that may help (32:15) - Microbiome and brain fog (44:31) - Rehearsing your story with doctors (46:10) - PCOS and bulimia connection (49:42) - Become hormone literate early

What if the anxiety, burnout, inflammation, or exhaustion you carry didn’t begin with you?In this solo episode, Dr. Taz explores the emerging science behind generational trauma and how stress, fear, and survival patterns can be passed down biologically through mitochondrial DNA, the nervous system, and hormonal pathways. She explains why some people struggle with symptoms that don’t resolve despite doing everything right, and how ancestral trauma may be quietly shaping inflammation, cortisol levels, emotional regulation, and energy production across generations.You will learn how trauma can alter mitochondrial function, disrupt the HPA axis, and create inherited patterns of hypervigilance, anxiety, burnout, and chronic disease. Dr. Taz introduces her five body map framework, physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and community, to help you understand where inherited trauma may be showing up and how healing becomes possible when all layers are addressed.Dr. Taz shares: • How trauma can be transmitted biologically through mitochondrial DNA passed down the maternal line • Why chronic inflammation, insulin resistance, and cortisol dysregulation often appear in families with histories of displacement, silence, or survival stress • The signs of inherited nervous system patterns, including hypervigilance, fear based thinking, emotional suppression, and burnout that starts early • How ancestral trauma affects hormones, energy production, mental health, and emotional regulation • Why family secrets, shame, and silence can destabilize the entire family ecosystem and show up as disease • The five body map approach to screening generational trauma across physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and community layers • Practical ways to begin healing, including nervous system regulation, storytelling, somatic release, mitochondrial support, and restoring safe connection within familiesWhether you are dealing with unexplained symptoms, chronic stress, emotional patterns that seem bigger than your life experience, or simply want to understand your family’s health history more deeply, this episode offers a new lens on healing. You may inherit biology, but you can change how it is expressed and what gets passed forward.Stay Connected:Connect further to Hol+ at https://holplus.co/- Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell to stay updated on future episodes of hol+.Follow Dr. Taz on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drtazmd/https://www.instagram.com/liveholplus/Subscribe to the audio podcast: https://holplus.transistor.fm/subscribeSubscribe to the video podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@DrTazMD/podcastsGet your copy of The Hormone Shift: Balance Your Body and Thrive Through Midlife and MenopauseHost & Production TeamHost: Dr. Taz; Produced by ClipGrowth.com (Producer: Pat Gostek) (00:00) - Hi everyone, it's Dr. Taz. Before we get into today's episode, I just wanna pause and say thank you. Your messages, your shares, your stories are, the reason we make Whole Plus every conversation here is about connecting the science, the intuition, and everyday life together so you can feel more like yourself. (00:00) - if you haven't already hit that subscribe or follow button, it helps us reach more people who need this. All right, let's begin. What if the pain you [00:00:30] carry didn't start with you? Science now shows that trauma can be passed through generations, not just through stories or behaviors, but through biological changes in the body itself. (00:00) - this episode, we're exploring the connection between ancestral trauma and mitochondrial DNA and how your body might still be echoing the stress, the fear, or the survival patterns of your lineage. The gift of being in practice for over 16 years and seeing, I don't know how [00:01:00] many patients, I think collectively as, uh, a series of whole plus clinics were at 60, 70,000. (00:00) - the gift of seeing a patient day in and day out and following them through their journey. Allows us as providers a lot of time to think, observe, learn, and listen. And one of the things that has always confused me until recently is why some people have symptoms or have issues without any explanation.[00:01:30] (00:00) - done all the right things. They're following the diet, they're exercising, they are doing all the things they're supposed to do. They've got those wellness routines down, red, light, blue, light, you name it, they're doing it, but they're still not well. And while I could have a conversation with all of you about chemistry and biology and physiology, here's what maturity and time has taught me. (00:00) - healing and being well doesn't exist on [00:02:00] one plane. It's not just about the numbers and the data. It's actually a whole lot more, so much more that it may even be linked to your generational trauma. Now, bear with me for a second. Please don't roll your eyes and change the channel or flip the screen. (00:00) - is important information and we are just beginning to understand what all of this means and how it's all connected. I've had many opportunities to observe [00:02:30] this. Some of them begin right in our home. I have watched as the women in our family have a very similar look in their eye demeanor way of talking tone. (00:00) - name it. Some of it we could explain away. My mom was an immigrant, came here at a very young age, 17, 18, 19 years old, had an arranged marriage. She had, I thought, the insecurity of being an immigrant, of being somebody in a new [00:03:00] country without a community. And I always explained away her inability or fear. (00:00) - of in terms of taking action or taking next steps as a part of that story, the immigrant story, right? I, I can't imagine what so many immigrants go through to get here and then to build a life in a family of their own, leaving behind mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, huge families. So I explained her story away that way. (00:00) - then there [00:03:30] was me and I grew up, as I've shared sometimes in a slightly chaotic, dysfunctional childhood home, and I don't wanna get into all of those details, but I had that same glimmer of fear and insecurity that I saw in my mom. But let's fast forward to my daughter all these years later, growing up in a pampered home with a father that dotes on her. (00:00) - we doted on her even a bit too much, but regardless, had all the comforts and the [00:04:00] security that anybody externally could provide. But guess what? The same glimmer, that same sparkle, that same sort of tone. Something, I can't describe it, where there's fear...

Postpartum is not just a recovery phase, it is one of the biggest full body transitions a woman will ever go through. In this episode, Dr. Taz breaks down what actually happens in the fourth trimester, from the steep drop in estrogen and progesterone to fluid shifts, tissue dryness, gut slowdown, metabolic changes, and the mental and emotional load that can follow. You will learn why so many women feel unprepared after birth, why the six week bounce back expectation is unrealistic, and how older systems like Chinese medicine and Ayurveda approached postpartum as a sacred 40 to 100 day window of restoration.Dr. Taz shares: • Why postpartum can feel so destabilizing: the hormone crash, nervous system strain, and energy depletion most women are never taught about • The hidden physical shifts after delivery, including swelling and fluid volume changes that can take months to fully regulate • Why skin, hair, and vaginal dryness are common postpartum, and how this can affect libido, confidence, and self perception • How breastfeeding changes hormones, including oxytocin’s calming effect and its relationship with cortisol and mood • Why weight loss varies dramatically postpartum, and how insulin sensitivity, blood sugar history, PCOS, and metabolic factors change the timeline • The gut changes no one talks about: slower motility, constipation, reflux, and why progesterone shifts play a role • The fourth trimester frameworks from Chinese medicine and Ayurveda: rest, warming foods, nourishment, massage, acupuncture, herbs, and community care • A modern 100 day postpartum plan that starts in the third trimester with nutrient optimization, thyroid and blood sugar support, gut health, and a real support circleWhether you are newly postpartum, preparing for birth, or supporting someone in those early months, this episode gives you a clear, practical roadmap to protect energy, reduce depletion, and recover in a way that helps you feel like yourself again.Stay Connected:Connect further to Hol+ at https://holplus.co/- Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell to stay updated on future episodes of hol+.Follow Dr. Taz on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drtazmd/https://www.instagram.com/liveholplus/Subscribe to the audio podcast: https://holplus.transistor.fm/subscribeSubscribe to the video podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@DrTazMD/podcastsGet your copy of The Hormone Shift: Balance Your Body and Thrive Through Midlife and MenopauseHost & Production TeamHost: Dr. Taz; Produced by ClipGrowth.com (Producer: Pat Gostek)

Many people today describe a pattern they cannot explain. Life feels manageable until something unexpected happens at work or home, then the body suddenly shuts down. The mind spins, energy collapses, irritability rises, and the only thing that feels safe is withdrawing into the couch, the phone, or Netflix. This is not laziness or burnout. This is functional freeze. In this hol+ conversation, Dr. Taz sits down with environmental and root cause medicine expert Dr. Jessica Peatross (Dr. Jess) to reveal why so many people experience chronic fatigue, anxiety, weight gain, histamine reactions, food sensitivities and unexplained inflammation even when routine labs look normal.Instead of chasing symptoms or isolated toxins, Dr. Jess explains how a dysregulated nervous system alters detox, hormones, digestion, immunity and gene expression. She breaks down how trauma, mold exposure, hidden infections, parasites and environmental chemicals overload the body when the vagus nerve is stuck in fight, flight or freeze. And she shows why healing is impossible when the body does not feel safe.From childhood trauma and dorsal vagal shutdown to blocked drainage pathways, cytokine storms, reactivated viruses and misdiagnosed environmental illness, this episode reframes chronic symptoms through a lens of nervous system physiology, not personal weakness or aging.You will learn what functional freeze looks like, why detox often makes people worse, how to identify nervous system dysregulation, and the steps Dr. Jess uses to help patients regulate, open pathways and finally begin to heal. Together, Dr. Taz and Dr. Jess outline a clear, compassionate roadmap for anyone who has ever felt dismissed, overwhelmed or stuck in a body that will not calm down.Dr. Taz and Dr. Jess discuss: • What functional freeze is and why it shows up in daily life • How nervous system dysregulation drives fatigue, anxiety and chronic symptoms • The role of mold, parasites, toxins and environmental chemicals in chronic illness • Why detox fails when the body does not feel safe • Vagus nerve physiology and dorsal vs ventral vagal states • How trauma, stress and grief reshape hormones, immune function and methylation • Medical dismissal and the reality of normal labs with real symptoms • The drainage pathways that must open before detox • Histamine issues, MCAS, POTS and their connection to the nervous system • Tools that help regulate the system and support healing • How to track progress through sleep, HRV, emotional stability and digestion • Why healing is not linear and why support and community matterAbout Dr. Jessica Peatross Dr. Jessica Peatross  is a functional and environmental medicine expert known for her work on nervous system dysregulation, toxin-driven illness and trauma informed detox. She is the founder of WellnessPlus, an educational platform teaching step-by-step protocols for mold, parasites, drainage and nervous system healing. Her approach blends clinical training with nervous system science to uncover root causes often missed in conventional care.Stay Connected:Connect further to Hol+ at https://holplus.co/- Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell to stay updated on future episodes of hol+.Follow Dr. JessInstagram: https://instagram.com/dr.jess.md/YouTube: https://youtube.com/@DoctorJessMDWebsite: https://drjessmd.com/  Follow Dr. Taz on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drtazmd/https://www.instagram.com/liveholplus/Subscribe to the audio podcast: https://holplus.transistor.fm/subscribeSubscribe to the video podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@DrTazMD/podcastsGet your copy of The Hormone Shift: Balance Your Body and Thrive Through Midlife and MenopauseHost & Production TeamHost: Dr. Taz; Produced by ClipGrowth.com (Producer: Pat Gostek)