Sarah Malouf from Podcast Well Being, Well Said Interviews Katy Whalen Choose Joi Founder

Katie's Journey with Post Natal Hormone Balance and Anti-Aging Peptides

In this episode, Katy Whalen joined Sarah Malouf on her podcast, Well Being. Well Said. Katy’s story is about her infertility journey and her experience with brain fog, bloat, weight gain, and overall hormone imbalances after successful pregnancies with two beautiful baby’s. Katy was determined to feel better from the inside out, so she went on a holistic health journey and uncovered the world of hormone optimization and peptide therapies which lead to creating Joi Women’s Wellness. 

Sarah: What was your fertility journey like and how did it lead to building Joi? 

Katy: I had a bit of a rough fertility journey, like so many other women do. In a handful of years, I had four miscarriages, six DNCs, three egg retrievals and then a boatload of fertility drugs. I was finally able to have two successful pregnancies, which brought me my son and my daughter. After all that, I was finally able to come up for air, I really didn't recognize myself. I didn't look good. I didn't feel good and I was ready for a change. So, I started doing the hard work. What really got me to the finish line or even past the finish line is some holistic therapies that I had success on. Hormone balancing, optimization and these cool things called peptides. After my success on those, it really then became my mission to bring them to other women. That's when Joi was born.  

Sarah: What is a peptide? 

Katy: I didn't know what a peptide was until I got on them either. It's incredible that so many people don't know what they are, but they're so cool. Technically what they are, are short chains of amino acids. Two to 50 chains, whereas a protein is over 50 chains. What they do is direct our cells to perform specific tasks. We all have them naturally occurring. Up to 7,000 peptides are currently in our bodies. However, as we age, peptide levels decline.  

Sarah: How does one know that peptides could be a solution to look further into? 

Katy: Generally, it's how you feel. You know your own body and what's normal for you. I think as we age and as things shift, a lot of times we'll say, “oh, well it's just me aging” or, “oh, I had a baby, so of course I'm having mom brain now or whatever it is”, but what are you actually feeling and experiencing? Chances are that those symptoms are due to something being off. Whether it’s hormonal imbalance or your body needing a little extra help. As we age, it's normal for us to become more insulin resistant. One of the peptides we have that's super popular right now is called semaglutide. It helps aid in weight loss and helps manage your insulin. So again, for me, I had gained a bunch of weight, I was sluggish, and my brain felt like it wasn't working. You know how you sometimes feel like your body is going through something like sludge or quicksand? I felt like my brain was also doing that. I just knew I wasn't feeling good. So, testing these out for myself, it made me realize that I don't have to sit there and go, “well, I'm aging or I'm a mom now so this is just how it is”. It doesn't have to be that way.  

Sarah: Where's a good place to start for checking hormonal levels and what kind of levels is Joi looking for?  

Katy: It's sad, but true. Healthcare unfortunately does cost a lot of money and it is sad that our system is kind of set up to be a sick care system. Healthcare doesn't really test a lot of things. Insurance doesn't pay to help you find root causes and making sure your vitamin D levels are good. With Joi, we have a great comprehensive diagnostic lab that we do. I'm obsessed with this. It runs over a hundred markers. It is an investment at $995. It helps us see kidney function, liver function, inflammation, markers, all your vitamins and minerals, your hormones, etc. It's a really good way to see if there is anything low hanging that we can fix right away and if there’s anything that maybe needs more attention. I love getting those results back and then if, for instance, my vitamin D or magnesium is low, that's easy to supplement with. If you don't have the money to invest, it's just trial and error. You can read all kinds of stuff out there about what's good for you, what to avoid. If you know something's wrong, then there's certain things you can cut out and just trial and error and just be as healthy as you can.  

Sarah: How does Joi work? 

Katy: Our website is Choosejoi.co and you simply sign up online. Fill out a short health history questionnaire and consent forms. Then from there, our patient coordinator will give you a call to set up your brief health visit with one of our providers. On that visit, you go over any symptoms and goals you have. Then they'll help you decide if you need a lab draw or not to check you, under the hood. It kind of just depends from there on where you go but after that, we have your prescription shipped right to your door. It's pretty easy.  

Sarah: How many treatments do we offer? 

Katy: There are hundreds of peptides out there, but we focus on a good dozen of them. We have one really popular treatment for weight loss. We have another one that's really popular for brain fog, cognition, and anxiety. That's a nootropic. One of my favorites is a growth hormone releasing peptide (GHRP). I call it my whole-body anti-aging peptide. It dissolves in your mouth and take daily. So, what that does is tell your body to release more growth hormones naturally. Growth hormone is at our highest when we're around middle school age. If you think about what it does, it increases your energy, it makes weight loss easier, it helps you build more lean muscle, your skin is firmer, etc. Essentially it helps your body produce more collagen. Another thing that it’s really good for is recovery and wound healing. It's kind of like a whole body anti-aging and I'm pretty obsessed with it. We also have a great peptide for gut health and inflammation which is pretty important and helps a lot of people with different conditions that they may have.  

Sarah: Is taking peptides for life? 

Katy: It's totally up to the user. If they don't feel anything or are not enjoying it, you can absolutely get off it and there's no harm done. Peptides are interesting. You are actually supposed to cycle off of them every once in a while. I actually just did that. I was on peptides for about six months and then recently took a month off. I did notice a difference. Overall, the answer is no. It's not anything that you need to stay on. 

Sarah: How quickly do you notice the difference once you start incorporating peptides into your supplement routine?  

Katy: It really depends on which one you’re taking. So, we have the nootropic nasal spray for brain fog and cognition which you'll notice right away. You'll feel like a zing and you'll feel like you're ready to go. You're ready to take on the day. The growth hormone releasing peptide that I mentioned, it can take a few weeks to even a couple of months. I think you'll notice faster than a couple of months, but to see the full results, that takes longer. Just depends on which one you're taking and for what. 

Sarah: As a whole, what does it mean to live well? 

Katy: Ultimately I think living well, means being happy as often as possible. For me, I know that I'm happiest when I look good. More importantly when I feel good. Most importantly, when I'm connecting with good humans and especially the ones that I love.   

Listen to the full episode here