Episode 146
· 22:42
Welcome back to another episode of the Real Health Podcast. Gosh. I'm so excited. It's springtime. I mean, weather, springtime weather's in the air.
Dr. Barrett:It's warmer, sun's out, it's great. Helps the mood, helps that vitamin D production. And today I'm stoked about today's episode because it's something that I use every day, and you may be as well. The question is, when is it helpful and when is it not helpful? Today we're gonna talk about AI and your health or artificial intelligence and your health.
Dr. Barrett:We're gonna talk about ChatGPT and the commands to give it, to give you quality information, but when it may not be good information. We're also going to talk about at the end some wearables, Oura Ring, Whoop. Are they helpful? Should you get one? Right?
Dr. Barrett:So today, it's all about the technology that exists in our environment and how we can use it to our benefit, but also know that it can be a curse. Hey guys, something that's really exciting happening at the Real Health Co is that we are doing a hormone workshop. So March 23, at our West office, we are going to be hosting a workshop to talk all about hormone strategies. We'll talk about male testosterone optimization. We'll talk about females in their certain seasons like fertility outcomes and infertility issues associated with that.
Dr. Barrett:We'll talk about pre and post menopause. And so you're just not going to want to miss it. It's a completely free workshop we do. Make sure you sign up, go to our website, go to our Instagram, find out more information on how to sign up, and we can't wait to see you there. So AI, right, it's everywhere.
Dr. Barrett:It's in your phones, in wearable devices. And so, today I really wanna address an important decision. How can AI actually help you on your wellness journey? And when you should be cautious, right? So like every day I'm using it to help me in my healthcare journey.
Dr. Barrett:So for instance, it is what I use to program all of my training. So I tell it exactly what I want, how long the cycle needs to be, how many days a week I wanna train, how long I wanna train, what I wanna focus on, and it writes me out a full in-depth six week plan. Love it, it's amazing for that. And so, when we look at healthcare today, there is just an immense amount of information. Lab results, research papers, clinical trials, nutrition data, exercise science, sleep data.
Dr. Barrett:It's like no human can really process all of that information quickly. But AI can. ChatGPT can do that for you. And that's why doctors and research and patients are starting to use AI as really a decision supported tool. It's helping us make decisions faster.
Dr. Barrett:And well, that just seems like that's the culture today. Everything, faster. So what can AI help you with? It can help you summarize medical research. It can help you understand your lab work.
Dr. Barrett:I mean, you could literally just take a picture of your labs and ask chat to just help you process what these labs mean. It can help you brainstorm nutrition strategies. You know, hey, I wanna do a ketogenic diet or I wanna go paleo or I need to set my macros. Right? It can generate training programs like I just mentioned before and identify maybe where there's some lifestyle patterns that need to be altered.
Dr. Barrett:And so think of it like this, AI is not your doctor, but it can absolutely function like a extremely fast medical assistant, like research assistant. It's just like it's sitting there, we got an assistant to use. Let's talk about how to use it properly. So, where does AI shine? And really where I think it shines the most is learning and education.
Dr. Barrett:So I was driving at about a twenty minute drive and in my Tesla, there's Grok. And Grok is an app that I just pull up on my screen and I just have a conversation with Grok. We just talked literally for, we talked today for about fifteen minutes and I was just saying, hey, help me understand this specifically. Was trying to process a pathway in the body and what environmental factors and genetic factors were potentially involved. And so it was fun.
Dr. Barrett:I just did research. And Grok was able to help me process my thoughts and streamline and give me some data. And so I think AI is excellent for explaining complex health topics. Like, let's just say you heard of a term like insulin resistance. Hey, chat, help me understand insulin resistance.
Dr. Barrett:It's great at that, right? Or, hey, help me summarize why maybe hypothyroid. Explain how the gut microbiome affects my mood, or explain how the gut microbiome can affect my brain health, or explain whatever. How do I gain lean muscle and lose fat? This allows people to really understand biology that you would take in a course maybe in college.
Dr. Barrett:Think what's fun about this society today, when I'm seeing patients today, they want to learn. I am seeing patients who are excited about learning, and AI is a great research assistant. It's fantastic for learning and education. And really, what we're seeing is that patients are more informed than ever before. They're not just blindly following the advice of a doctor.
Dr. Barrett:And that's a beautiful thing. Informed decisions are vital to proper healthcare outcomes for patients. I think number two is that it can create really good nutritional frameworks. What do I mean by that? Well, AI can help you brainstorm diet structures.
Dr. Barrett:You know, for example, you may say, Hey, create a high protein, whole food rich meal plan for someone who eats two meals a day. Right? And you say, Hey, I am x pounds. I'm a female at this age. I'm this tall and I want to get to this place.
Dr. Barrett:I eat two full meals a day. Help me with a high protein whole food menu plan. It'll do it. And it'll do it really well. Or hey can you create a low or anti inflammatory diet plan that supports autoimmune conditions.
Dr. Barrett:And guess what? You're going to have that right in front of you. It doesn't replace necessarily professional guidelines, like individualistic for you, but it really does help you generate ideas and structure. So I love using AI for nutritional framework. I think the third thing that it does really well is it helps with exercise and training plans.
Dr. Barrett:I don't see, I really don't see a reason to buy online training plans anymore. It doesn't make sense to me. Now, we're not talking about personal training, right? We're talking about, right, we're talking about a training structured plan. And people are charging for these plans that Chad can just give you for free.
Dr. Barrett:It's like, hey, create a three day strength training program for someone who's got knee pain. It'll do it. It'll give you knee over toe exercises. It'll give you exercises focused on stretching the hips and activating the glutes. Or build a 20 mobility routine to help me improve my golf game.
Dr. Barrett:Guys, this is where the magic of AI is. In my opinion, you can get a training plan and program that you could spend hundreds of dollars on for free, and it'd be really well done. I have vetted it, I have tested it, I have AI right now write a ton of programs for me and my patients. And I think it's a fantastic tool. A lot of times you just have to give it the right prompts and it'll spit out the plan, right?
Dr. Barrett:So, be specific would be a recommendation. You know, indicate your age, what your goal is, where your pain is, where your problems are, what your functional outcomes are, and it's going to create that. And give it specific timeframe. I want it six weeks, eight weeks, twelve weeks. And it's gonna help really create a solid plan.
Dr. Barrett:So number three, exercise and training plans. Number four, I think it's really good at interpreting lab markers. Like I said before, you can cut, copy, paste, or just take a picture of your labs, upload it to chat, and say, chat, explain these lab values to me in basic understanding, right? And it's gonna explain, you may even say, hey, or Grok, whoever, explain what high triglycerides mean to me metabolically. And then it'll tell you maybe the problem.
Dr. Barrett:And then you can say, hey, okay, can you help me with some tips every day to improve my metabolic flexibility and reduce my high triglycerides. And it may say, you need to eat two, three meals a day, no snacking, low carbohydrate, high quality fats, moderate protein, high fiber, boom. You've got now a plan to start impacting those high triglycerides. You can upload a copy of your labs and just say, Hey, maybe it's a food allergy report that you just got. Hey, Chad, here's my food allergy report.
Dr. Barrett:Would you provide for me a meal plan? Would you provide for me recipes for thirty days? And it's going to help you do that. What lifestyle changes do I need to make with elevated LDL or improve my HDL? Right?
Dr. Barrett:It's not gonna diagnose for you, but it's going to look at medical research associated with those lab values, and then you can create a plan from it. So, the fourth opportunity for AI to help you in your health journey is helping AI is now would be very helpful for you to understand your life values. I feel like in this society today, we're just like constantly going on to the next thing, the next person, the next patient. We have little time with our doctors. So in that vein, when they're not explaining it to you in the office, AI can explain it to you at home.
Dr. Barrett:So whether it's lab interpretation, nutritional plans or strategies, creating a training plan for your golf routine, or getting jacked. Whatever it is, AI is there for you. But here's the problem. It can also mislead you. I don't know if you know this, but to me, AI is like a yes guy.
Dr. Barrett:They're just gonna tell you, yes, go get it. This is great. This is amazing. And you've gotta be cautious. AI can absolutely mislead you.
Dr. Barrett:And let's talk about where to be maybe cautious when it comes to AI, Because it absolutely has limitations. And the first thing it doesn't have is it doesn't have your medical history. There is, when I sit down with a patient and I ask them discovery questions, I am trying to process what I call the root cause behind their healthcare conditions. AI does not know your full health history, and it can only work with the information you provide. It doesn't know your genetics, your medications, or your full clinical picture.
Dr. Barrett:So if someone asks, Hey, what supplement should I take for my fatigue? And it may tell you B vitamins, but you may have perfectly normal B vitamins. What if your iron is low? What if you're dehydrated? I know that sounds simple, but that's a major factor.
Dr. Barrett:And what if you had sleep apnea? You didn't know about it. What if you had low testosterone levels? AI is going to give you a general recommendation, but it's not going to be specific. So when you start getting into specific health care conditions, it's really going to be limited.
Dr. Barrett:It doesn't know the full clinical picture, know your health history, doesn't know your genetics, and doesn't know potentially your environmental influences. So it's going to leave you with a general recommendation that may or may not work. And so although AI may suggest for you B vitamins, again, the root cause might be thyroid or an infection or mold or the list goes on. So AI can provide ideas, but it cannot diagnose and truly set you up with a plan that gets to the root issue. So AI cannot replace clinical judgment.
Dr. Barrett:The reality is being in practice and seeing patients for almost twenty years now, I have a level of understanding that is something that's built over time. Two people can have the same symptoms, but completely different root causes. And it's an AI can can't help you in that space differentiate. Also just remember, a second caution is AI gathers information from the Internet. Is all Internet information truth?
Dr. Barrett:Is all Internet information good? And I think your answer is no, it's not. It's not all good information. There are blogs, there are posts that absolutely drive me crazy when the patient walks in and tells me, I got a patient today tell me about something, and I just couldn't believe what people are believing today. It was hysteria I didn't laugh in front of her.
Dr. Barrett:I was very cordial, but inside of me, it was really I was kinda I was really ticked off. I was like, why would someone do that? And do you know what it was? It was a health so it's a health hack called coffee enemas. And coffee enemas is exactly as it sounds.
Dr. Barrett:And they can be used therapeutically. There was a cancer treatment protocol there it's used in. But this lady was promoting them to be done every day. If you did a coffee enema every day, it would strip your intestinal lining. It would completely disrupt your bacterial system.
Dr. Barrett:It is not a great health care decision. Yet, it was recommended. So, maybe AI is you say, Hey, I want to start doing coffee enemas. AI is going to gather information and it picks up her information and another blog and another and it says yeah it's great do it every day. It's not a great healthcare decision.
Dr. Barrett:AI is gathering information throughout the internet, not all is good. And so, that's where you have to be cautious. You have to be mindful. Some of it on the internet, some of that information is absolutely terrible and is terrible to do for your body. So, you should always treat AI answers as informational guidance, but it's not truth.
Dr. Barrett:And so, how do we use it now in the right way? Now that we kind of know maybe some things that are good and some things that are bad, here's some context. I give want you some context here for a better response. So here's the first example. Nutrition.
Dr. Barrett:Create a whole food meal plan for someone who eats two meals per day, strength trains three days a week, and wants gradual fat loss. It's a great command to give AI. Number two, for exercise. Build a fifteen minute daily mobility routine to help improve my hip flexor mobility and reduce low back pain. Perfect.
Dr. Barrett:Number three, sleep. List the top lifestyle habits that would improve deep sleep naturally. Number four, metabolic health. Explain the most effective lifestyle change to improve insulin sensitivity. Labs.
Dr. Barrett:Explain what high fasting insulin indicates and how it can be improved through diet and lifestyle. These are great commands. This will give you context. This will give you information. This will give you guidance.
Dr. Barrett:So when it's structured questions like this, AI can be super helpful. It can help you think better. It can help you process information and help you plan for your future. You just have to be intentional in how you ask and you have to know what you're getting into. So, is AI helpful?
Dr. Barrett:Absolutely. Do I use it every day? Absolutely. Should I be cautious? Yes, be cautious.
Dr. Barrett:And in today's society, there are so many wearables, right? There are so many options for rings to watches and bands. It's like, all right, Doctor. Cut through all the internet and tell me what do you recommend. So I I now the con kinda conclusion of today.
Dr. Barrett:Here's some final thoughts. Number one, Aura rings. I love them. I've ever since they came out, I think Aura has crushed it. I think it's very easy to have on.
Dr. Barrett:And what I've used Aura the most for is sleep and heart rate variability stress resiliency. So it helps me understand if I've recovered and how well I'm sleeping. Oxygen levels through the night, sleep apnea, it's been fantastic for that. Aura excels in this area. I've used Aura again since day one, since it came out.
Dr. Barrett:So do I recommend Aura? Yes. Do I recommend it over everything else? Yes, because they've been around the longest. So Aura is one of the top wearables with AI support.
Dr. Barrett:And now Aura, I think it's like a $100 a month, for a month supply, you have the option of doing this, which is number two, the next wearable is a CGM. This is this is a a little device you put on the back of your arm and it looks at your glucose levels, your blood sugar. Okay? When you do a continuous glucose monitor, CGM, this gives you fantastic information about your metabolic health. And Aura syncs all that data for you and uses AI to help you create plans to improve it.
Dr. Barrett:The third is a WHOOP. WHOOP is really more for the athlete. So, and you can be an athlete if you train three days a week. It's for those that are moving their bodies intentionally. I think Aura is great for recovery data, sleep data, and WHOOP is great for that, plus athletic data.
Dr. Barrett:It's gonna tell you so much more information about your training, heart rate, and your stress output associated with that workout, what we call the stress or the strain on the body. So I love Whoop. It's more of like a bracelet band, and it works really well. So if you were to put me down on two wearables, my favorite is an Oura Ring, and my second favorite is a Whoop. And should you get one of those?
Dr. Barrett:I think so. I think looking at heart rate variability, stress levels, and how well your body's recovering is essential in healthcare. It's essential in disease prevention. When you look at AI today, gosh, it is incredible what we can learn, how AI can help us process and teach us and provide information for us. But that's all within the parameter of knowing its limitations.
Dr. Barrett:So just be cautious. But you should absolutely be using it every day and it could save you hundreds of dollars a year by giving you data that you'd otherwise pay for. Don't forget, hormone workshop, March 23. And this will not be AI, this will be from us to you and help you in your healthcare journey. We're excited about the workshop.
Dr. Barrett:Hey, if this has been a blessing for you, if the podcast has been great, always appreciate you sharing with a friend, with a family member, and getting the word out. Because our desire is to provide as much value to you in your health care journey. Thanks for listening to another episode of the Real Health Podcast. Our passion is to add value to your healthcare journey. Anything that we do, we want to do within a community to help as many people as possible.
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