Hormones, Peptides & Body Transformation with Phil Vella CEO of Vita Bella Health | Mind Pump 2882

Key Takeaway

Before jumping on peptides, dial in your hormones first. Taking peptides without optimized hormones is like fertilizing grass before seeding it—you're treating what isn't there. For people over 50 who lose muscle on weight loss drugs, hormones (especially testosterone) are the foundation that makes everything else work. Get your base right: test your levels, optimize testosterone, estrogen, and thyroid, then add peptides as strategic enhancements.

Episode Overview

Phil from Vita Bella returns to discuss the dangerous rise of unregulated research peptides, the critical importance of hormone optimization before peptide use, and recent regulatory changes affecting compounded medications. He reveals alarming data showing 70% of research peptides fail purity testing and shares how Vita Bella's membership model makes medical-grade treatments more accessible.

Full Transcript

Transcript of Hormones, Peptides & Body Transformation with Phil Vella CEO of Vita Bella Health | Mind Pump 2882 from Mind Pump Show. Auto-generated from episode audio; may contain minor errors.

Phil, welcome back to the show, man. Thanks for having me. Last time you were on, uh We were dating. We were Yeah, we were talking in a relationship yet. about just the peptide space, a little bit of how uh Villa Bella operates, um and we were so impressed, we are now partners. We work with you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And now we've been working with you long enough to we're we're hearing reviews in this people just comment uh positively on the service. Oh, that's true. Just the service and the quickness of the the the uh of delivery.

I I had an experience with you guys. I worked, you know, got on the phone with the medical professional. They set my order up and it my stuff was at my house in 2 days. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. In California. In California. In California. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Which is great. So, you guys are doing a phenomenal job. phenomenal job. phenomenal job. Don't spread that rumor too fast. It's like 3 or 4 days, but uh no, it's been great. Like the MP hormone forum and uh the feedback that we get um Mind Pump uh hormone forum, sorry.

It the feedback that we've gotten from you guys and your patients has been absolutely incredible. Like what they've came back and told us and uh it it's also been great feedback even when it's not incredible, right? Every every little slip-up allows us to improve and I actually get excited when we get it wrong cuz it just gives us an opportunity to fix it and get better. If we don't know things are broken, we can't fix them. Well, great job. Um off air, we were talking about um these uh studies that are coming out on these kind of because the gray market for peptides is huge.

These are they're labeled as research chemicals and a lot of people are going in that direction for their GLP or for other peptides. Um and this is a completely different category of of of I guess you would call it regulation or non-regulation. So, you can go online, buy it, you don't need a doctor, whatever. And you were communicating to us some data and I looked it up and I confirmed it. Let's talk about that a little bit. And what what they're finding in what these people are injecting into their bodies.

Yeah, so when we came on in February or I think it was January, there was a great report in New York Post. 40% of the research peptides didn't pass um the test when they were sent in, right? To see if they're 40%. Last month, 70%. worse. worse. worse. It's gotten worse over time. Why is it gotten worse? Because your hairdresser Sheer volume of people doing it. It's it's every person selling research peptides. They don't know where they're coming from. They're labeling them themselves. Like themselves. Like themselves.

Like you can't even figure out which bottle you've got, right? They're sitting at home, sitting in their garage, labeling peptides. And even the bigger companies the biggest research This is This is crazy statistic, but it'll make sense to those deep in business is the research peptide space. The people had to find new suppliers. Why? Because everyone else came online and was offering those companies, those manufacturers more money. So, if you were getting your peptides at X price, they got so much more volume, you became insignificant.

The OGs, like a lot of the OG players that we've seen in this space, super OGs that have been around for 5, 10 years in the research before it was cool. Right? They had to find new suppliers because they couldn't deal with their current suppliers. They They lost their price parities. They lost the level of importance cuz so many new players came online. online. online. I know loyalty. How easy is it for someone to go along and online and find a quote-unquote supplier for research chems?

chems? chems? easy. It's so easy that and I was talking to him off air that this has been happening to me where I'm at you know, family gatherings, barbecues with friends. And these are car dealers, real estate agents, hairdressers, hairdressers, hairdressers, not a fitness fanatic people. And the conversations that I'm having with these people, and it's them starting it, not me. I'm not talking I'm not running around talking about peptides. They're telling me about their peptide business that they have started. And it's literally buying from China at these like like like low prices.

low prices. low prices. or something. or something. or something. Yeah, buy in bulk, non-labeled bottles get shipped over to them, them wrapping their their brand that they started, and then pedaling them to all their family, friends, and they're, you know, 10Xing the price. the price. the price. And they're making thousands of dollars on the side, hustling all this. And the big, you know, craze right now is the Retatide. Cuz I think some people have heard that, "Oh man, in GLP-1 and GLP-2s, you can lose muscle." And so, "Oh, Retatide is supposed to stop that from happening." And so, there's a slinging Retatide before it's even I'm going to get back to research peptides, but this is the single most insane topic is Retatide stops you from losing muscle.

The Eli The guy who spent $2 [clears throat] billion, right? Eli Lilly creating this drug. Cannot make the [ __ ] claim. No. Phase three trial came out. 14 lbs average muscle lost. So, but you're a social media influencer. You you know exactly that you don't lose muscle. And it's the most aggressive of all three of them. It's the most aggressive. 29% average weight loss on the highest doses. Like who needs to lose a third of their body? It also, because of the third receptor that it attaches to, um, elevates heart rate, which the other ones don't uh, necessarily.

Not to that extent. They all can cause a little bit of rise in resting heart rate, but Retatide seems to have the strongest effect. And so, some side effects are like insomnia and stuff like that. So One out of five people suffering from dysgeusia, which is the burning of the skin sensation above 12 mg. One out of five. five. five. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Yeah. 19 and 19%. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow, that's big. 19. 19. 19. And Retatide is not It's It's just It just did phase three trials.

It's not even FDA approved. got tirzepatide, which is already super strong. I don't understand why people are jumping on the Retatide. Because Because of the the myth that is the social media stuff. It's the myth that you won't lose muscle. Yeah. Every That was the big scare from semaglutide and tirzepatide was, "Oh man, these people they lost 50 lb, but they also lost 20 lb of muscle. This new GLP-3 keeps you from losing muscle." And so, that's This is what they're communicating. I'm just sitting there listening, right?

As if I don't know what's going on. I'm Oh, wow, interesting. Tell me more. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then asking questions, how much you getting for? What are these people doing? How How do you like all just random people that are because it's become so popular and mainstream and people so many people are losing weight from the GLPs that you've got these people that are wanting it. And then when they go do their little bit of their homework or they try to do the legitimate way, they find out it's not cheap.

And then they find out, "Oh, I've got a friend who says they can get it for half price or a fraction of that." And they're pedaling to all these people. Just no no subscription no no no prescription no blood work being done no idea how to dose it correctly don't even know if it's legitimately 40% true or pure or not. It is wild. We're relaunching MAPS Anabolic and we're making it 50% off with some new updates, new masterclass videos, 3 days of live coaching with one of our coaches.

coaches. coaches. You get that as well. Updated female blueprints. MAPS Anabolic is here and it's 50% off. Go to mapsanabolic.com, use the code anabolic and that'll give you the 50% off discount. Those things are mega issue. I mean, people are taking drugs. And when you go to any of these research sites or your hairdresser for that matter, matter, matter, who's telling you what dose you're taking? What about titration? Who's guiding you through any of this stuff? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we got person that bought epitalon off a research site.

She goes, "I'm just" She came to Shred Bell. She's like, "I've got this like brain fog I can't get rid of." I go, "What are you taking?" She goes, "I've been on epitalon for 5 months." What? 5 months? 5 months? No, I think you're supposed to limit that to like 20 or 30 days or something. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, two two to three weeks. And she's been on for 5 months. Holy hell. Because who's who's telling? Yeah. Who's telling, you know, Sarah in Tennessee Tennessee Tennessee who's a mom what the dosing schedule is?

The scary part to me cuz the 40% fail, most of it has to do with improper labeling and dosing. Dosing could be dangerous. dangerous. dangerous. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. To an extent, improper labeling can be as well because if you have some issues taking some peptides might not be a good idea. But the one that really scared me cuz when you brought it up I went and researched and looked it up. 15% had bacterial contaminants. bacterial contaminants. bacterial contaminants. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So so one to to two out of 10 samples had bacteria.

Which, you know, that could be devastating of a problem. Are are you getting any reports from people who are having adverse effects from research chemicals? chemicals? chemicals? got that. We're doing a men's health interview on this. We've got 28 patients which are going to participate cuz you've got to get their consent and and what have you. Oh. Oh. Oh. Um of of research problems or of research peptides. of things are we are they are they are we seeing? we seeing? we seeing? You've got You've got You've got injection injection sites where, you know, you get I don't know if it's gangrene.

I don't know what it's called, but where you get like flesh eating. So where you have to get like a golf ball or baseball size removal at the injection site. And that's twofold, right? You can also get bacteria from improper, you know, you don't want to you don't dirty needles, you don't use your alcohol swabs. So you have that, you've got distension. You've got cardiomyopathy from people taking mega doses of of the GHRHs and the GHRPs. You've got, You've got, You've got, you know, the brain fog from people.

I mean, I don't know how you do 5 months of epitalon. of epitalon. of epitalon. But yeah, I mean, you've got so many different problems that arise from research peptides. And by the way, I'm not even knocking. Like if you find the most amazing research peptide company in in world and everything's perfect, good for you. But at the end of the day, who's helping you? Who's guiding you? Right? People aren't It's hard to navigate. It's a second job. Like this is a second job. You got to research, you got to do all of these things and figure it all out on your own.

own. own. Like why? Like why? Like why? And there's no way to confirm like what you got. Like there's no testing kit or something like that. [clears throat] [clears throat] [clears throat] Yeah, who wants to pay to test every single one of their Well, especially the person that's trying to save money. That's not the person that pays for it. Yeah, I mean the the the best call out ever. Yeah, I know. The person the person who's trying to save a buck is not going to go through the extra step to test their stuff and spend X amount of dollars on that.

So So talk about it. You would just go to the the the real source. real source. real source. Now talk about the the what's the difference? What do the regulations look like if I go through like Vita Bella? Like you guys are going through FDA regulated compound pharmacies. What does that look like in terms of determining you know, purity and dosing and all stuff. What's the difference? Oversight. Oversight. Oversight. Okay. Okay. Okay. See, you think about it basic. There's no oversight. There's no guaranteed testing. The it's not made in a sterile facility.

Like you look at these things. It's everything's under hood, right? For those people that are brainiacs, it's under hood and the guy's going in hazmat suits, right? You're getting air purified through multiple gates to get into your your sterile lab and produce any of these these products. One, it helps out and by the way, even in FDA licensed pharmacies, you get bacteria. Yeah. It's impossible to be 100%. Yeah. And so guess what? You throw away the damn lot. We had a mega problem on your page.

I was very forthcoming in the MP uh um in the Mind Pump Hormones Facebook page and cuz we had a delay in TB 500 and BPC 157 and I was very forthcoming. I said, "Guys, I'm really apologize for the delay of what's coming. The batch that came out was not at the level of the standards that we wanted and I didn't realize it was going to be this long to reproduce a new batch, but I you know, and I I gave people credits, I gave people everything because the the quality matters.

Like quality over speed. And people are like, "I need it today." I get it. Yeah, but that should make people happy though. I'd way rather hear that my stuff isn't on its way because the guy who's stopping it is like, "Hey, there was contaminant, so we threw it out completely and now we have to redo everything." And so versus you could have sold it to me that way. And we could have, by the way. We could have sold it. And so And so And so But we wouldn't.

Yeah. Now, do do the do the raw materials cuz I know we do testing. It goes through FDA regulated compound pharmacy. In other words, if the compound pharmacy fails, they could lose their status and they can't. So, it's like a like very high standards. standards. standards. But are the raw materials coming from overseas? Or Absolutely. Okay, they always do. always do. always do. I don't care what anybody says. Like, "Oh, peptides come from China." And so does every damn shoe from a brand that costs $8,000 to $10.

So does your clothes. So by the way, you know, you can take a junk phone or you can take the Apple iPhone. They both come from China. But the quality is very different. It goes through stringent testing. You've got powders that go through PCCA in Houston, which is a certifier of certain powders. There's so much more governance. And by save money on Temu and Alibaba for lawn chairs and shirts. Like shirts. Like shirts. Like That's the thing you're injecting. Yeah, you're injecting it under your skin.

Immediate access to your heart, your blood supply, your brain health, your liver health, your kidney function. Like save in any other areas in your life. And what are the cost differences? Maybe $50, $75. What are you really saving to guarantee the success of you? And then also what are you doing with your hormones on top of it? Like like dialing hormones before peptides. And that's a big thing. Yeah, cover that for a second cuz um you have like first order and second order things you want to focus on.

Uh how helpful are peptides if my hormones are all messed up? You know, I Mike Israetel [snorts] said it best. He talked a ton about peptides on his latest uh on his latest podcast that he did. And it's like taking peptides before dialing in your hormones is like watering and fertilizing grass before you seed it. Mhm. There's no grass there. like there's some grass left over from last season and some things are going to happen, but seed and build the foundation. Hormones are so important to be just the foundation of who you are.

You jump on People jump on their peptides like I'm still bloated. Yeah, cuz your estrogen's out of whack. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Like there's just so many things and then you jump on, you know, you talked about Reddit and it's so strong. What happens when you jump on these peptides, you lose muscle. If you're 50-year-old male, 50-year-old female, you lose 6 lb of muscle. You guys are all trainers. How hard is it for a 50-60-year-old person to gain back 6 lb of muscle? That's what you minimize and so hormones are the single greatest thing to dial in first.

I think people don't understand how important they are. They are truly the foundation and it's what takes you It's It's what catapults you to where you are. Like Peptides are not going to give you all this muscle. You feel like, "Yeah, I'm jumping on CJC, Tesamorelin, Somorelin." Great. Nothing will replace anabolics. Nothing. There's nothing. Maybe throw in HGH, right? Talk to Phil. But uh yeah, I mean nothing will replace anabolics. Testosterone's your base to build muscle and maintain muscle long-term. Peptides are absolutely going to help, but they're like bolt-ons to the car.

What are the hormones that you guys work with? Obviously testosterone. You guys also work with uh progesterone, thyroid uh cuz I know women's uh you know, regulating their hormones through therapy often involves more than just testosterone, right? Whereas with guys can get away sometimes with I'll give you both sides. So, on the male side you've got testosterone, you've got all the esters, you've got cypionate and anthony propionate. We've even got tri-blend where you mix them all together and take one shot with all three of them.

Yeah. Yeah, what So, what do you So, uh I've heard that that's like, "Ah, it doesn't make that big difference." And I've heard other people say it makes a big difference. Like, what do you think? Mega fan. Mega fan. Mega fan. Really? Really? Really? Mega fan because what happens is as you're changing the half-lives and the release cycles in the body, you're talking, you know, you got propionate 2 days, you've got cypionate roughly 7 day or enanthate 7 days, cypionate 10 day half-life release cycles and then you take them on Mondays, you know, split your dose, whatever you're taking for the week, split it on Mondays and Thursdays, you'll get a lot bigger boost.

You want, you know, I want to get bigger legs. I don't know why I can't get them. I'm doing eating enough, I don't know, but I take whatever leg days I'm taking that. But yeah, those are great and then when you go into the, you know, if injury and recovery side, oxandrolone, oxandrolone, oxandrolone, uh, known as Anavar, you've got nandrolone, which is Deca. These are great for injury recovery, people who experience massive weight loss. Um, and then from a women side, testosterone, testosterone, testosterone, the single greatest prescription that we give women for day and night on top of estrogen, progesterone and everything else.

But so many companies out there like Winona, like the largest female hormone dialing in company in the nation right now. They don't even offer testosterone. How do you dial in a complete hormone package without dialing in testosterone? It's game-changing. We prescribe, crazy statistic, statistic, statistic, more testosterone to women than men. Really? Really? Really? Is that because more of them come back with it being low? It's because of your followers how many came to us by the way. No, um, it's the average woman that we're testing right now above the age of 40.

Oh, perimenopause, menopause. Blow your mind. Get ready for it. Single digits. digits. digits. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Single. Single. Single. Single digits. Single digits. Single digits. So, it's like no testosterone. Yeah, five, seven. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And dialed in's like 60 to 70. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, you're talking almost a if you're at six, it's a thousand percent increase libido, libido, libido, energy, tiredness, muscle, just confidence. You these women start walking, be careful with their husbands. How are they using How are they administer administer the testosterone?

Is it an or with women do they also do cream? Are there other options? all of them, right? But I I prefer injection. Cream can get messy, especially if you have kids around. People don't think about this. It's cross. You can you can You can You can You can crazy. Like Like you put your cream on and then you touch your son, your daughter. It 100% It absolutely It absolutely It absolutely Who do we know that was petting their dog and the dog was like losing hair on the on the top of their head because they would they would pet their dog.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I get my dog jacked now. I'm going to go home tonight. Here, listen. This is a new cream. But but they are available in other words cuz some people are afraid of the cuz there's there's a difference between the insulin needle that you use with the peptide, tiny, but intramuscular needle is much larger. Some people are like super like super like super like of people use insulin needles to inject testosterone. testosterone. testosterone. How does that work? So is it just is it the I mean cuz how do you get the oil through that?

through the oil through that? swear. People are patient and if you're going to low dose, like women an average woman's dose is like 2.5 to 5, right? They sit there for 20, 30 seconds. They pull in the insulin needle cuz they don't want to inject the big needle. No, no. No, no. No, no. 25 gauge. 25 gauge. 25 gauge. And so you just go in through And you And then you just push it into the skin enough to where you're inside of the muscle and you put your tiny little little little Is that how the majority of them are doing it?

doing it? doing it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. We've got a lot of women that are using insulin needles to inject that. Now, again, it's annoying a little bit, right? You got to wait 20, 30 seconds. No one's patient. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um patients are not patient. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And uh and yeah, but yeah, they they absolutely do and it's great. But the creams are also available. Yeah, creams are available and same thing with estrogen, right? You've got your patches, progesterone you've got your pills, trokies.

You've got all sorts of options. We all If it's available, we offer probably 98% of anything that's available in the in the marketplace. marketplace. marketplace. Speaking of which, recently a bunch of peptides uh became available again. There was a minute there Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. where we couldn't have uh of offer BPC 157, we couldn't offer the thymosin ones. There was a lot of them that they we couldn't want C was off limits. Recently they took them they said okay you guys can offer these. What happened?

Yeah, so RFK announced in February that he was going to be working on this. In April he announced that they're taking them off the category two substance list. So in 2023 October 19 peptides were placed on the category two substance list which just means that compounding pharmacies shouldn't be able to compound them. He undid that lockout from 2023 this year. They're going [snorts] to go to the FDA review board in July and they're going to go to the FDA review board in January to determine if those should be able to be compounded.

be compounded. be compounded. Okay. And what is the status on the GLPs like tirzepatide? I know there's uh it's obviously um obviously um obviously um uh it's tirzepatide is the name of the peptide. peptide. peptide. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But then you have the brand names of them. them. them. Mounjaro, Zepbound. Mounjaro, Zepbound. Mounjaro, Zepbound. Yeah. So are are what how's that working? Cuz I know that these companies they these pharma companies I believe don't want compound pharmacies to offer them because it's like you got Advil, you don't want people selling ibuprofen same compound but you you want to be able to sell your expensive version of it.

How's that looking moving forward? forward? forward? The pharmacy the pharmaceutical companies are getting extremely smart on this. So they're trying to reclassify GLP-1s as biologics. They just filed I heard this. So what is that? So you need two different licenses. You got a compounding license and a biologics license. Biologics license is is harder to get and and require and it's not as a large of a like tesamorelin is a biologic. Okay. Okay. Okay. HCG is a biologic. These are Is that because they are they're naturally occurring in the body?

Is that how they it's it's insane how they even want to classify it. classify it. classify it. just going to say cuz tirzepatide doesn't exist in my body You're correct. Yeah, and it's an adjusted and it's just an adjusted amino chain. But um yeah, they're they're getting smarter and they're trying to figure out a way to mitigate to mitigate to mitigate and prevent compounding pharmacies from doing these. And and I I'll be frank. A company spends $2 billion to make a drug, they deserve to have rights.

You need to deserve to make up some of your money. I'm not saying but but I think that there needs to be a lot of flexibility for others to do it in the ways that they don't, right? They have a pen, they have this, they have guaranteed dough you can't go lower than the the smallest dose. There's certain reasons that should make compounding available, but they're making it harder, but today all of these compounds are still readily available and can be sold at much less prices than How do you what's your opinion on moving forward?

Do you think they're going to succeed? I think on Rota it's going to be close. It's just a matter of right? You've got RFK at the helm and you've removed a lot of the bad actors from the FDA. Like before I would say it's a money thing and they would be guaranteed. Today I'm not I'm not so sure. What's the difference in price between the brand name and the generic uh you know, a vial of tirzepatide versus you know, the brand name? $1,200 $1,200 $1,200 for a a brand name pen and if you get it in you know, starting doses for tirzepatide on compound is maybe $149.

maybe $149. maybe $149. Woah, that's a massive That's about 10%. Eight to 10 x, yeah. That's a massive difference. And so keeping that available for people uh is very helpful in my opinion. But you're again you're battling pretty much pretty much pretty much We're not going to win against big pharma. pharma. pharma. That's only what tirzepatide only runs about 149 to 150 bucks? Yeah, starting dose on Vitabell is $149 for tirzepatide. for tirzepatide. for tirzepatide. Which is for a full month. By the way, which is cuz normally it's like four or five hundred bucks.

Yes, other compound other companies that are offering it, you know, with FDA regulated compound firms are like two two or three times more. Am I am I correct? Okay, so you guys are just still still still the best. the best. the best. We're actually going to be lowering prices. prices. prices. Really? Really? Really? Yeah, we were uh we're going to be announcing some lowering of many different peptides. The I promised everybody when I first came on the show, I promised everybody in the Mind Pump forum that uh as soon as I get better prices prices prices that you'll lower them.

I'm going to lower them for everybody else. So, our volume has increased immensely this year. We grew pretty significantly. We just renegotiated some new prices. They're not finalized yet, but as soon as those prices come live like IGF-1, we're going to lower. We'll lower tesamorelin. tesamorelin. We're going to lower a number of And we're already very well priced, but how do you make it more accessible? Troscriptions provides medical grade supplements. One of my favorites from them is methylene blue. You might have heard of methylene blue.

Uh this improves clarity. It boosts your mood. It helps with brain function. The problem with methylene blue online is a lot of uh vendors out there give you kind of shotty products. The dosing is off. You don't know if what you're getting is what you're getting. Well, Troscriptions is medical grade. They have more more products than just methylene blue, by the way. They have something called calm. I love it. Take it 30 minutes before I go to bed for great sleep or if I just want to relax.

They have one for the immune system and more. This is medical grade. This is supplements made by doctors. So, some of the highest quality stuff I've ever used in my entire life. Go check them out. Get 10% off. Go to troscriptions.com/mindpump. troscriptions.com/mindpump. troscriptions.com/mindpump. That's t r o scriptions.com/ mindpump. Use the code mindpump. Get 10% off. off. off. Like how do you get And and and again, we talked about this last time you were on the show, but a lot of this is because your business model is different Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. than these other companies. You're you have a mem We Vita Bella has a membership model membership model membership model Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. which is a basic membership Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. uh where you get your hormone or B12 depending on depending on depending on Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. the person. And then that's allowing cuz you have a consistent revenue. That's allowing you to charge so much less. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right? It's operating. Well, it it's testosterone is not that expensive, right? BPC-157 is not that expensive.

It's just the markup on the industry is a lot. We include it in the membership fee. fee. fee. Um, you know, we include your doctor's visits in the membership fees. We include wholesale price labs in the membership fees. But yeah, it allows for me to manage the OPEX long-term, and there's a value there. Most people are paying 100 bucks a month for their testosterone and clomiphene, 120 bucks for enclomiphene. I think it's 189 at Maximus or something at those other places. places. places. What gave you the idea for that model?

Um, Um, Um, I come from software. Software as a service, right? Microsoft had ELAs and all these things. So, I tried to make like health care as a service and try to figure out what's the umbrella to offer people consistency, and also what would people not want to come off. Like if people are on testosterone, they're not going to come off testosterone. They're going to stay on it. Right? Enclomiphene, you're going to want to stay on it. So, I figured what can we include, and what can we build the most amount of value for in the membership so that people are actually actually actually one, excited.

Like we get people that complain about it. Who wants another membership, right? But the membership value, right, is you get 24/7 support. You get all of these things. that you guys have is really You guys do a phenomenal job. I mean, I send a message, and somebody returns, you know, uh, my message, answers my question. I would argue just the the access to the medical professional is worth that. That's what's interesting to me. Like I think that that in itself is incredibly valuable. valuable. valuable. Here's what I found out from your specific listeners is the one thing that made Vita Bella unique, and it it I didn't even think about this before the show, is you get to actually pick your provider.

What company online do you get to pick the individual? They can go look through all of the profiles know that. know that. know that. and pick the individual that you actually want to be seen by or be treated by. treated by. treated by. Is that the person that they always get to work with then? Do they get to pick the person that you want to work with every time. You want to choose pick a new person, you just click down pick a new person that you want to see, you know, I don't recommend that guys, please.

But please. But please. But yeah, you want to stay consistent, but if you're unhappy with your provider or you know, you want to try someone different that specializes in something else, you can pick them. And then if you want to message them, what company allows you to message direct to your physical provider? physical provider? physical provider? They don't. They don't. I can't message my doctor. I can't message anybody anywhere else in in the in the in the industry. So that's very unique. unique. unique. We have a really educated audience and so I think they really appreciate that ability to be like, I want to talk to somebody who really knows their stuff that I can ask questions and challenge.

a sales person. You guys have an amazing audience. I mean, your guys come in and they're like, listen, here's what I got questions about. Here's I know everything about this, but you know, let me tell you about your drugs. Let me tell you about how you're going to prescribe me. Sounds about right. But but they're they're really good. I mean, we we get a few Karens here and there, but for the most part you guys have some of the most amazing listeners. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. awesome.

Appreciate that. How last time I talked to you, you guys were not offering service to California because of the of the of the just how difficult it can be. Do you guys now offer service to California? What was that like? Because I know I know I know when I asked you when you were on the you're like, I don't even know if I want to do it. it done to your credit, man. What did you like what what what did you have to do to make it happen?

did you have to bury? We buried three to four bodies. We had to launch an entirely separate company, Vita Bella Vita Bella of California. California. California. Okay. Okay. Okay. Um for regulations. We had to get a brand new pharmacy, which shafts me, by the way, cuz I don't have volume and some of these things. So we had to raise a little bit more of the membership for California, 179 for California. All of the peptides are available, testosterone, estrogen, all of those products are still available. There's a few products that aren't available here, Blood Pump and some other things, but uh it was a [ __ ] nightmare Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. to do business in the state of California. I did not want to do business, but you know, for those listening, these guys were so adamant in me doing business in this damn state. damn state. damn state. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Well, we knew we had a large listener base here in California. So, that would be a massive miss. And I think I think nobody is taking care of California really well. I think most people in California have to play all these games where they're shipping it to some other address to another address to get to them.

And so, the fact that you're able to do that and do it above We did it legally. We made it perfect. We got the medical licenses, the DEAs. dude. dude. dude. We had to do it all. it out cuz the last the last time I had an experience with getting, you know, the the legit way here in California, I had to set up a mailbox in Florida. in Florida. in Florida. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It would get mailed to Florida so they could forward it here to me.

Me so I need me I'm waiting 2 3 weeks for stuff to get here. And this is a company that I'm working with. Uh and that's the best that they could do. So, hats off to you, man. It was uh it was a nightmare. I mean, it you have to have like physical location in California to make that happen? Did you guys you guys you guys No, I didn't need that specifically. I've got all of the other We're not going to go too deep in these specifics here here here on the show, but we are legal in the state of California.

We are shipping to state of California. We have pharmacies licensed here. I have providers, DEAs, medical licenses. Everything is solid in the state of California and we are servicing servicing servicing thousand customers. thousand customers. thousand customers. Okay. Okay. Okay. Now that now that California is done like that, cuz I know there's some other states that you weren't in before either, does that make the other ones easier? Are they all individually as difficult? Like difficult? Like difficult? Like Let me let me help you guys out. So, Katrina was on me so hard to push really deep to get all these states lined up in the forum and everybody else.

We went from like from like from like 30 states to 46 states in 2 months. Great job. Yeah. Great job, dude. Yeah. And we it was the biggest undertaking, the most expensive uh cost of of the company since our founding. California specifically ate all of the other states combined. That's crazy. That's crazy. That's crazy. Yeah. It's it was difficult, but uh but yeah. yeah. yeah. We're there. Thank you, man. Appreciate it. it. it. All right. What's what's this blood pump? You brought this up a couple times.

times. times. What is blood pump? You you guys you messaged me personally and you're like, "Dude, you get the craziest pumps when you work out." Which right away I'm like, "Okay. I'm listening." Adam didn't share it with you? He said it's to nafil or whatever. Did they send it to you? Yeah, he sent it over to me. But why don't you bring it over here? Cuz you if I give it to you, you'll take all of it. And I haven't used I haven't used it yet.

What is what is it? Is it Is it a PDE5 inhibitor? Is it the same as Cialis? It is a dual a dual PDE5 inhibitor. It is the most amazing product for when you're working out. Visibly, you visibly see change. So, it's the tadalafil and vardenafil. For those of you unfamiliar with vardenafil, with vardenafil, with vardenafil, I don't know what that is. So, tadalafil Cialis? Cialis? Cialis? Correct. Correct. Correct. Yeah. And I'll walk you through how this works. This is super cool science. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Vardenafil is 5 to 10 times stronger vasodilation than Viagra. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay? In low doses, it shouldn't activate the hammer unless you're a pervert in the gym. Right? Activate the hammer. I'm just walking around with a sword. We can't use what you just did. My my hammer's yeah, unpredictable. But it So, within you take it you I call it the world's best and first pre-workout pill. You take it 30 45 minutes before you work out. It dilates the hell out of your You visibly You don't need a pump cover anymore, you know, cuz of for those of us that got the security problems, right?

You just You got to have the pump cover for the first six or seven lifts. And then now you don't need You walk in like you've been at the gym. I mean, I take it to go to dinner cuz, you know, I have my assistant, but uh uh uh Uh yeah, it's it literally visibly you look different. And the cool part is you're getting like a 3 to 400% nitric oxide push inside of your muscles. Wow. Wow. Wow. It's healthy for you. 38% reduction in cardiac event, heart attack, and stroke.

They're They're now recommending PDE5 Listen, they're recommending cuz it reduced stroke, reduced uh heart attack. There uh there seems to be a reduction in um in um in um uh in degeneration of the brain. They're recommending now men take low-dose PDE5 inhibitors all the time. Yeah. Which is wild. This is turning out to be like this miracle So, Katrice I I have it at home and Katrice is like, "Hey, Phil wants you to try this." I'm like, "Man, I tell Phil I've only worked out twice in the last month." I said, "So, I said that's not very good." I said I looked at the bottle and I looked at it and go, "Oh, well, this is something we could use outside of working out." Yeah, right.

Yeah, right. Yeah, right. So, I tried it out. So, I wanted to know what dose I needed for that since that's more interesting to me. to me. to me. ever tried it like that? No, I haven't. Well, I just I just literally like the last night or night before cuz she brought it up cuz of good Phil's coming out and he's like, "He wants to know how that is." I said, "Honey, I've worked out twice in the last month." So, I grab it and I'm like, "Well, let me read it and I'll figure out what it is, right?" So, I look at it and I'm like, "Oh, this is boner pills." I'm like, "This is Why is he asking me why I need I need to take this for working out?" working out?" working out?" Well, increase blood flow.

know what the the v- vanafa dill or whatever what the other the other compound compound compound So, why do you have them together? It's very important for anybody that are going to try these drugs on their own. It's excessively important. Is vardenafil is such a strong vasodilator and it's fast, right? So, you 4 hours later, your blood supply is going to restrict. So, that's where the tadalafil comes in. The Cialis portion of it is that way it's slowly cuz that's a 24-hour, 36-hour. So, it will slow it down so you don't just get this massive blood pressure increase in your body.

It is very important that the By the way, they're mixed together with Vitabella, but if if anybody's ever thinking about taking Vardenafil on their own, you know, in these doses on a daily basis, we probably recommend including some sort of low-dose Cialis with that as well, just so you have a slower contraction. slower contraction. slower contraction. So, does my dosing change if I want the Cialis effect more than I care about the workout pump from it, or should I not We'll just give you 100 mg Viagra.

I mean, that's just really gets you That's what I thought you were giving me when I first looked at it, cuz I know I know what the Tadalafil or whatever is, like like like Tell Katrina clear the weekend calendar. I mean, that's it, dude. I mean, that was the first thing that came to my mind when I looked at it. I said, I know cuz I've had the the troche version of the Tadalafil before, and I know those work. Yeah. And I know I keep saying it saying it saying it What's interesting about PDE5 inhibitors is they have lots of health benefits, longevity benefits.

Uh they improve athletic performance, especially at altitude. This is where you might need it if you're if you're training at altitude, but even high endurance, you know, sports. Bodybuilders use it cuz they like the pump. pump. pump. It's an It's got mild aromatase inhibiting activity, so seems to raise testosterone in some men. It's interesting. I've been reading the longevity studies on this stuff, and I'm like, you know what? We're We're years We're like a We're like 5 years away from them to saying, "You guys should take Good for prostate enlargement." They're recommending it, so it's wild.

It's very interesting. It's It's It's been fantastic, and it it What makes you look good and is actually healthy for you at the same time outside of exercise and some other things we don't want to do. This is an easy one. Do you Do you ever have for people who do want to use something like that, or just Tadalafil for for sexual performance? Do you recommend they use like oxytocin troches, PT-141? Do you recommend any of that stuff as We have all of them, right? We've got Tadalafil, Sildenafil, you've got PT-141, you've got oxytocin, you've got troches.

They got all three of them inside of them together. I mean, we've got all sorts of different When it comes to the sexual arousal, sexual environment, I mean, that's it The world is your oyster. Speaking of stacks, tell me about the Cloe peptide stack. Cuz that's very interesting to me. What you guys stacked in there was just BPC 157 BPC 157 BPC 157 TB 500 TB 500 TB 500 GHK-Cu and KPV. So let's talk That's like remarkable recovery and like skin health stack I would say.

Yeah, it's it's everything all in one from recovery, hair, inflammation, all of it. Um and it includes Here's the cool part is for those of you that want to be on any of these products you get all of them at the standard dose in the same vial for the same price. Four bottles at call it $249 a piece or you get one at $249 with the exact same ingredients that are in four. Oh, that's cool. That's a massive savings. And only one injection instead of having to to to injection.

Yeah, but you got BPC and TB 500 for recovery. You've got GHK-Cu which is like the most Googled product of the year. Um which is great for skin rejuvenation, anti-aging, and everything there. And then KPV which is great for inflammation. I mean if you're thinking about the glow which everybody knows about the glow stack just upgrade the Cloe. Absolutely fascinating. Yeah, so um So what is the the the difference between the glow and the Cloe? So Just add KPV, right? Okay, that's basically the difference. Cuz I have you you have heard other people talk I've heard other people talk about the about the about the So my wife has had experience uh with the stack um and great reduction in pain.

Cuz sometimes she gets chronic pain. She'll have some issues. Huge reduction in pain uh after about 2 weeks um and then skin. She notices uh improvement. up. up. up. Yeah, which is pretty awesome. I uh and this is rare for me cuz I've used everything. everything. everything. But you guys uh introduced me to a new peptide that I've never used which is 5-amino-1 5-amino-1 5-amino-1 MQ. Comes in capsule form. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. Amazing. Amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like I I I feel that? that? that?

So it So it So it It increases uh NAD uh in the in the cell. So it reduces So you're saying it's a precursor to NAD? No, it's it blocks one of the the enzymes that breaks down NAD. Um and uh it's in capsule form, which is cool, so it's not injectable. And I noticed energy from that, like big time. I take 50 or 100 mg in the morning. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's like I feel great all day long. I never had used anything like that before.

Do you have experience with it? Yeah, I take it all the time. Yeah, I take it all the time. Okay. Okay. Okay. Um I take 5-amino-1MQ. You've got four main ones, right? For mitochondria repair, you got NAD+ SS-31, 5-amino-1MQ, and Matri. I call them the you know, the four horsemen. horsemen. horsemen. Would you take NAD and the 5-amino together? You would take both? I would. I would. I would. Oh, okay. You would. I haven't done both together. together. together. I personally take both. Oh, okay. Oh, okay.

Oh, okay. Yeah, I take both. And then if I'm going to go to Matri, I always take SS-31 before jumping on Matri. Matri. Matri. Would you like a month of one and then a month of the other one? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My experience with NAD is interesting. Like Like Like when we're normal, healthy, training, diet, everything, I don't feel that much of it. If I'm off, got sick, recovering, holy [ __ ] I notice the difference. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so I normally tell cuz I've heard that from people too.

They're like, "Oh, I tried NAD. I didn't feel anything from it." It's like, "Oh, you know what? Try taking it when you're coming off of being sick or you're down and out. That's when I feel a huge difference from it." from it." from it." I could knock out, put you down on the floor, passed out with a high dose NAD. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If I took an IM and I just gave you an IM, you will feel you will immediately feel like, "I didn't feel anything." Go up another 25 mg.

See where you're at. Yeah. I mean, NAD is is probably the only drug uh class that we have where you can immediately feel something in your chest 15, 20 seconds later. seconds later. seconds later. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But the 5-amino-1MQ, I feel great. feel great. feel great. It's a 5-amino-1MQ is a great product. I mean, it's probably it's very understated and I think it's very under talked about. talked about. talked about. It's marketed as a fat loss uh peptide. So people will use it for I didn't I didn't get it for that.

Um but that's that's also marketed as something like that. Is that a popular one? Do you guys use a do a lot of people request that? It's getting a lot more popular, right? It's all comes down to social media. What everybody want to use for clickbait. clickbait. clickbait. Now it's going to get popular cuz we're talking about it. Say watch now. Beef it up there. And it's a pill, so it's a lot more popular becoming, right? There's a lot of people that don't want to do injections, and so it becomes more popular of an option for those.

Uh you guys also will work with Metformin Metformin Metformin Yes. Yes. Yes. for some people. Metformin's the single number one anti-aging drug in the world, and I think it's the number two prescribed drug in the United States. Okay. So explain Metformin a little bit. Yeah, Metformin Yeah, Metformin Yeah, Metformin uh helps with gluco insulin, right? Resistance and glucose, and it's typically used for those diabetes. Yeah, but a low dose for average person. for an average person. Um I'll give you crazy interesting study is Northwestern Mutual, big insurance company.

company. company. Like they kind of go They don't care about what the labs say or anything else. They're going to look at what prescriptions you're on and what the life span is. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. And those who are on Metformin would live like don't quote me on this, like 3 to 5 years longer than those who didn't. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Who weren't on Metformin. Cuz of the insulin sensitivity effects. listen, sugar's the killer. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sugar's what kills us. It's what ages us. It's what kills us.

And And if you can manage sugar and can manage if you can manage sugar and take glucose insulin, you you typically are going to live a lot better life. So that's part of the longevity stack. What else is in the longevity stack? So they have a NAD, Mod C, uh Um glutathione. Um glutathione. Um glutathione. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let's talk about glutathione a little bit um cuz uh glutathione master antioxidant. antioxidant. antioxidant. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Glutathione for me shines in a couple different places. Uh one, I'm starting to get sick, glutathione makes a big difference.

Two, I'm not recommending this, this, this, but if I'm going to go out and I'm going to drink some alcohol, uh glutathione is miraculous. of all detox. It is miraculous at what because it it it's I mean the it's an antioxidant that gets it gets depleted in the liver. I mean I'd say that's another one that falls in that category. When I again NAD and glutathione when you're feeling good or normal, I feel like I can't really notice it. I coming off of a hangover, sick, not feel good, boy those two things NAD and glutathione, you feel a difference in that for sure.

feel good and glutathione can feel a little bit like you inject it. It can burn a little bit. It hurts a little bit. bit. bit. I only do it in the glute. You guys that do shoulders and thighs are the true champions. I'm not. I'm I'm like I'll just do the glute. I'm not I'm not putting it in the thigh. Anybody who injects in their thigh to me that they deserve a trophy and award behind them. Like I'm the guy I'm the guy that injects the thigh.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's lit. What is what's the most popular is this is it BPC now? Is that one still the most popular? BPC is real popular. Um MOTS-c has become a lot more popular um just because of the social media side but glutathione staples, NAD+ staples, the single most popular and absolute number one ordered drug in the entire company is tesamorelin. Really? Really? Really? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a well it's because it's got aesthetic effects. aesthetic effects. aesthetic effects. Yeah. I mean People see the shrink Shrink the waistline.

It eats, you know, visceral fat. It also is a growth hormone releasing hormone and so you're getting a two-for-one. So it's it's I didn't By the way, I didn't know about this probably until like last week and I came on the show and then we were we were coming here and I'm like, "What is our top product?" And blew my mind. I was like like like Are you are you able to prescribe HGH? Uh we are. For injury and recovery specifically. So I I built the company originally on injury and recovery, right?

When I had double spinal fusions. So that was part of the protocol. So if you have a vi- HGH isn't even a controlled substance. You don't even need a DEA to prescribe it. It's crazy. It's not. People don't know that. Why can't I go buy it at the store? So you need a prescription but not a DEA. So testosterone you need a DEA. HGH you don't need a DEA. It's not on the list of control It's not a controlled substance. I had no idea. Yeah, it's not.

I thought it was. No one has any clue about it. By the way, like the biggest stigma of all medication for bodybuilders is not a controlled substance. controlled substance. controlled substance. That's wild. That's wild. That's wild. You can't prescribe it for anti-aging, even though it's great for anti-aging, but you can't prescribe it for that. So you actually need a clinical need and it's determined by the provider. Same thing with oxandrolone, right? Everybody wants to be on Anavar. They you know, but you actually need a need and if you have a if you have the right need and provider.

provider. provider. You have the right need and provider cuz I was going to say it's it's it's hard for me to justify Tesamorelin if I were to have access to HGH. I feel like HGH is the king when it comes to that. Well, not everybody's got your budget. So So So more expensive. more expensive. more expensive. Is it a lot more expensive? HGH? Oh, the HGH is more way more expensive cuz I thought Tesamorelin can get kind of expensive too. Tesamorelin is a brand name drug of choice if you go to like CVS or something, um something, um something, um it's probably like 10 grand.

You know, it's two, three hundred bucks at Vita Bella. If you look at HGH, you know, you know, you know, depending on how many kits you're looking at, could be anywhere between eight to 20 grand at CVS and but they're like 500 I think I don't quote me. I don't know what price list right now, but I think it's Thousands of dollars. Yeah, it's probably if you do like four vials a month for like a good recovery, it's probably two grand. Okay. Yeah, I thought I thought they were close I thought they were much closer cuz I know your prices on Tesamorelin are a lot cheaper than Yeah, my price on Tesamorelin is way Transcend's Tesamorelin was way expensive.

way expensive. way expensive. Like a thousand dollars. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and I I was like that's like HGH prices. That's how that way I looked at it. I was like how why would I It would make sense at that level. Yeah, yeah, that's kind of how I looked at it. It was like why why get the Tesamorelin when Tesamorelin when Tesamorelin when You mentioned your double spinal spinal fusion. What Talk about what when did that happen? What happened? Did you talk about that last time you were on?

Like how did you do that? He briefly mentioned it. I briefly I had double spinal fusion. That's how I kind of came up with the idea of Vita Bella when I had double spinal fusion and they told me it was going to be It was an FU to the doctors, don't you remember? remember? remember? Well, I know that, but how did you hurt your how did you how did that happen? You know when you go to the gym and you put 500 lb on a squat rack and you know in the mirror you want to be the guy when you come up and you get that bounce at the top.

You know you want that bounce when you come up. Did you do a squatting? I did. I did. I did. Oh, Phil. Oh, Phil. Oh, Phil. And I shot the disc 2 cm into the spinal cord. cord. cord. Oh. Oh. Oh. And And And I was on Did you fold like a lawn chair or what? How did you No, I didn't even know. Oh, wow. So you actually got to re-racket it at least. Yeah, I re-racketed and I was like I was like a pinch. I didn't feel anything and then I then I then I And then the inflammation I literally had a friend go, "What's wrong with your left arm?" And I was like, "What's wrong?" He I was like, "Wow." And he goes, "It's significantly smaller than your right right now." And I was like, "What happened?" And so then I'm like, "Well, I'm in a lot of spinal pain." Then it got worse and worse.

Next thing you know I'm like 100 oxycontin. I've got a spinal spinal spinal epidural going on and then I went to a spinal doctor and he goes, "We're going to do emergency surgery tomorrow morning at 5:00 a.m. otherwise you're not going to get your left arm back. Your bicep's going to be gone forever." So I got about 80% of the bicep back. But But But Wow. Wow. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. What was it like coming off the oxy? oxy? oxy? Uh Uh Uh I I'm not like a painkiller guy.

Oh, wow. Really? More of a go fast kind of I'm kidding. But uh But uh But uh I'm not a painkiller guy. So I hated like feeling the lethargicness So you like reluctantly took them in the first place. first place. first place. The minute The minute The minute They were like Tic Tacs. Anybody who's got spinal pain, it's the worst pain. Like dental and spinal they're two worst pains in the world. But I uh the day I had surgery I never took another painkiller. another painkiller.

another painkiller. Wow. Wow. Wow. Like literally came out of surgery, full spinal, like all the amnesia, all of the anesthesia, all of the anesthesia came off and I never touched a pain. So 500 lb a lot of weight, dude, cuz you're not a massive guy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Were you like what were you lifting back then? then? then? Uh [clears throat] I was I was a big boy at one point. I was What were you weighing? 265. weighing? 265. weighing? 265. 265? 265? 265? I've got pictures.

265? What are you weighing right now? 210. Yeah, cuz you're I mean you're pretty jacked guy. But 265 is ridiculous. ridiculous. ridiculous. 22 inches. You were a horse. You're a little bowling ball, bro. Bowling ball. Bowling ball. Bowling ball. Now you were not natural at 265. Were you competing? Why are you calling me out? I was not competing. I was just an idiot. That was it. I was just an idiot in the gym just pushing really hard and I I I I was I was pushing some gear at the time.

What year is this? See four four five years ago. You were 265? That That just that long ago? How hard What was it like to lose all that muscle? Did that mess with you? Yes and no. I think I felt a lot better. I got to be honest. Like I had so much more energy and then half of my day [clears throat] wasn't consumed prepping food and just just eating. Like you don't realize how much you're actually eating all day long. Like you come out of the gym you're eating.

You're like I got to get a meal and I'm like I'm not even doing anything with this. I'm not prepping for anything. What are you doing? Like I'm acting like I'm going to go to the NFL combine and I'm going home to my daughter. Like yeah. Wow. I want to see that picture, dude. 265 Phil, that's going to look That's boy. That's going to look crazy, dude. Just text it to me cuz I'll look Yeah, I'll send you some pictures. These things These things are huge.

I I was a big guy. Wow. Wow. All right, can we get to some hard stuff cuz I asked y'all fair if we could ask y'all fair if we could ask you a little bit about so cuz I I I had heard you had discussed this with this with this with Katrina and Katrina and Katrina and you had some really like hard stuff happen you in a very short period of time. And it's part of what got you to leave tech tech tech and that's part of your story as to what got you to move in this direction.

That plus your injury moved you in a completely different direction. direction. direction. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, take us back. This was when was this? 20 2018, 2019. Really 2019 is when like uh I I went through like some just you couldn't make it up. Like I just I thought like I was on Candid Camera and God was holding the camcorder quite frankly. Like it was uh I went through like the death of my father father father um and I had almost I grew up with like 13 kids, bunch of friends, family.

Um Um Um [clears throat] [clears throat] [clears throat] Did you guys all live together? We didn't live together, but we lived in the same neighborhood in Chicago. It's a tight community. tight community. tight community. And um For whatever reason um um um nine of them killed themselves that year. And in very unique ways. unique ways. unique ways. Um Um Um It sounds like surreal to talk about. But like nine That's a lot of people that you know. Nine people and eventually my brain thought that we were being off like in my head you're like this is like a systematic takeout, but uh And and you just gets to you and I don't know why, but yeah, I had a nine different individuals in my life take their lives after losing my dad, lost custody of my daughter, like any bad thing that could possibly walked away from my career at Sysco.

Um and any bad thing that could possibly happen me happen me and I'll give you the story because I I I think this is a crazy thing is I went to uh I didn't know what to do. Like when By the way, this is the craziest statistic. If you know somebody that's killed themselves themselves themselves you're six times more likely to kill yourself. yourself. yourself. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you know two people that killed themselves, it's six times six. You're 36 times more likely. Oh gosh.

Oh gosh. Oh gosh. And if you're a part of the family, it's like like like And yeah, and if you're part of the family and so you just have uh you know so many people that that uh and I and I think it it unlocks like when when when someone kills themself, you mentally believe like it's okay at that point. It's like a psychotic thought goes through your head. You're like, "Well, do they know something that I don't?" I don't?" I don't?" Like is this the easy route out?

And uh the good thing is that the four remaining humans had children. So, of the nine none had kids. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Uh four of us have children, and I think that that's probably why you know, cuz we get a bigger purpose than ourselves, a bigger purpose to live for, but uh it was a crazy year, and I at the end a year or in the middle of this all going on, I decided to go to uh Bali. Bali, Indonesia, and Was it just to get away to I'm going to call somebody out, but I called a ex-girlfriend, and I was like, "Hey, this is what's going on in my life." And she said "Go watch the movie Eat, Pray, Love." And I was like, "That's a weird thing." And so I just go watch the movie, and I call her back, and I'm like, "Bali?" She goes, "Yeah." She goes, "I found a lot of peace there." And so I ended up going to Bali, and um I went there for 1 week.

Uh I came back just under 6 months later. later. later. Um I spent 6 months in Bali. Did you know anybody there? I didn't, but I knew everybody by the time it was over. Okay. Okay. Okay. Um I had no idea of of how it was just an amazing place, peaceful. It's like the highest happiness rate in the world, or number two. Yeah, true. I didn't know that. Yeah. And so I don't quote me, but it's I I think it's like how they go to heaven is through service to others.

Okay. Okay. Okay. And so the service is amazing, the people are amazing, the energy, just it communicating with people who are genuinely happy lifted me up really good. But yeah, I went through went through a crazy year. It's that's it's We talked to Adam, you know, off before the show and I think that it's really hard to have empathy during that period when people like, "Dude, you don't understand. My life's difficult." Tell me more. Tell me how difficult your life is. Like and I didn't think my life was difficult.

I still don't think my life is even going through all of that. I just think God had a plan. I don't know what that plan was. I I just know that there was a plan and a purpose for all of these things happening. Was there Was there something in common that was happening in the neighborhood or in the family that caused this kind of like They lived all over the country. Some of them extremely highly successful. So that So So this is wild. So they You guys all grew up together in a neighborhood.

neighborhood. neighborhood. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The nine of you. And then this all happened as they were adults Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. and moved and lived in different places. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's crazy. That's crazy. That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The the the the statistical odds is impossible. is impossible. is impossible. Yeah, to to for that to happen Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. to you is It was crazy like it It's so crazy. I mean And all within a within a year you're saying too? saying too? saying too? Yeah.

A year, year and a half, yeah. It was It was And there's nothing that you can point Was it Was it Was this Are we COVID? What are we doing? No, this is before Right before COVID. So this is before that. that. that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And uh there's not like a thing that you can point to that No, No, No, I've been through mentally. I was like, well, you know, and that's why I post a lot about like uh suicide because men specifically like like like we're in a lone wolf society today.

Men are pack animals and we don't want to talk about problems. It takes more it takes more courage to talk to another man than it does to stay quiet and off yourself. It's It's And and by the way it's like that, you know, any What is it? 8 minutes, 6 minutes, 7 minutes, you know, just give me 7 minutes. Like if you get that guy goes, "Hey, you got you got five minutes?" I got it. Like just talk. Like everybody we magnify problems in our own head to a level that most people would look at you and laugh, right?

And because because because we we marinate and as you marinate, you give it more power, you give it more guilt, you give it more everything and it becomes something big, but if you just talk about it to somebody else and stuff. That's like the big lesson that I've taken away is is when people are going through stuff or they seem off, I'm like, "Hey, are you okay?" Do you have um Do you now Do you have a strong network of men now around you? I've got a pretty good strong network of of men.

I I It's crazy. Like my circle blew up and then I'm like, "This is too many people. I got to shrink it back down again." down again." down again." Like yeah, I uh I've got a good I've got a really good circle of good men around me and uh I like it small. Like I like a tight little, you know, three, four dudes that I could call at any time and uh it you know, just to talk. Hm. When you left to to Bali, was that also this Did you Was that you pieced out Cisco at this Pieced out Cisco.

And that was you said, "Hey, I'm out." Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And And And later. later. later. And then two weeks later you you were later I was in Bali. And when you do this at this time, you have no idea what you're going to do after this. I know you you cashed out, so you're okay. So it's not like you're like, "I need to figure out how to feed myself." So you're financially stable. Financially stable. Financially stable. Financially stable. But what am I going to do with the rest of my life or what do I want to do?

Is that Is that what you're asking yourself when you're out in Bali? I mean, it's uh it's insane for you to wake up like after after after two decades of just running things, five, six billion-dollar division, 4,000 employees, and then I wake up the next day and I'm like, "Who am I?" Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like what's my purpose? What's next? And uh It did help with being like a parent. I can say like as a dad, like we're providers, we're protectors. It helped out like get real present.

Yeah, how old's your daughter when you leave to Bali? leave when you leave to Bali? 4 and 1/2 years old. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Was that and then that was when you also lost custody at the time? Yeah, I lost custody of my daughter temporarily due to some nonsense. Now I have full custody. But uh well, we're still we're we're shared now, but for a for a period of time I had full custody. But yeah, I lost I I If it could go wrong, it went wrong.

It did. It did. It did. And uh I think it's the That's where the character building came out. Like I think that until you're at the absolute bottom, you don't build the right foundation. Like that's that's the the lesson for for being at the absolute bottom mental. I had money, so thank God I had money at the time because then that would just be another problem, but that also goes back to money doesn't buy any sort of happiness at all. Like it's the like the true wealth is health, family, friends.

Did you piece that together before all this unfolded? this unfolded? this unfolded? Hell, no. Hell, no. Hell, no. And you didn't? No, I was completely When did that switch up? I always love hearing that story for people that have had tremendous financial success. At some point most people, if they're not, they're still chasing. So I either find two categories of people that are that have made success financially. Either they're at the goalpost just moved even further and they need the yacht or the whatever. whatever. whatever.

Uh or they had this massive realization of oh [ __ ] this doesn't make me any happier. I had a number. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I had a number and uh I'm I'm in the middle of writing a book about this called the bell curve of happiness Oh, cool. Oh, cool. Oh, cool. right now. And it's we think we think we think that when we get more money, something's going to change. Like dude, if I just had the next million, [clears throat] [clears throat] [clears throat] I'm going to change.

Nothing's going to change. Surprise. nothing's going to change. You could argue it gets worse and more stressful. stressful. stressful. And the main reason why I think it gets worse is because you get the next million and then literally you're like, [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] Nothing changed. It's like chasing the Olympic medal. You do it your whole life, you get the Olympic medal, you're still the same person. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're a happy person. You can become a happier person. Yeah, Michael Phelps, yeah, he he launched a depression app about this.

about this. about this. And it was like I I was chasing and chasing and chasing and money was my god and North Star for a long time. And then one day I realized like it My daughter helped me realize it. Like for children, a lot of us buy things, experiences. things, experiences. things, experiences. All they want is our time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's all they want is the time you spend with them is going to be be be so much more significant than anything you bought them.

And and and that was like a defining Like I was like, "Hey, I'll we'll go here." And she goes, "Daddy, let's just go to the park." Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, [ __ ] It doesn't require any money. And then what else do you want in life? Like what else is necessary after It's crazy comment, but like after the mentor that I had, after $10 million there's there's there's there's nothing to buy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That is of You guys are in California, so it's different. You guys got expensive homes.

But uh But uh But uh after $10 million, what are you doing? Like it just they're just gluttony at that point. The the data shows even far less than that. Um like once you meet your needs and you get a little extra, beyond that, there's zero. there's zero. there's zero. 250. 250. 250. In period. In period. In period. It's like the the bell curve of happiness happens at like 240, 250. Like after that after that after that Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. You think something's going to change It's different depending on what part of the country you live, but like $250,000 you get like a sign and and billionaires and and heavy hundred millionaires is is even way more depressed.

Well, that that number used to be 75 to 80 and the only thing that's changed is time. That was 20 20 years ago when they did that study it was 75. The only inflation's happened and so 250 is the new 75 of 30 years ago. But it's to your point. It's once your basic needs are met, you have a roof over your head, you you can eat comfortably food, you have one or two cars like you you know, I I read this really fascinating study and there's other studies that um support it.

Uh they the study was to look on the best ROI uh for the use of money to produce happiness. Cuz if you ask somebody, why do you want to make money? Why do you want to make more? At the very bottom of it, it's to make me happier. Like they might say I want to buy this that and it's like well well why why why? It's become happier. So they actually did the study. What's the best return on investment when you use your money for happiness?

And And And they looked at buying things. What happens when you buy something? You buy something you get a spike in happiness that quickly drops. And if you buy that same thing again, you get zero happiness. And if you buy other things like it, you get diminishing returns. So it's a terrible return on investment. The second one was on experiences. And experiences had a longer happiness curve, but that also dropped. And if you repeat that the same experience, experience, experience, you know, first time you go to Hawaii, amazing.

You go there over and over again, you don't get that same uh spike. uh spike. uh spike. Now, if you use your money to voluntarily help someone else or to donate voluntarily, donate voluntarily, donate voluntarily, so it's got to be voluntary. So taxes don't count. Or being forced doesn't count. But when you use it to give to help somebody, help somebody, help somebody, you get the spike of happiness that repeats every time you think about that time time time you use that money. So for the rest of your life for for as long as the study ran, ran, ran, every time a person thought about, man, that time I gave so and so a thousand dollars or that time I bought groceries for so and so, they you'll get that same exact spike in happiness.

So from an ROI standpoint, using your money for other people is the best way to get happy. That's fascinating. That's fascinating. That's fascinating. Which is so counter to what people think. So opposite. How many of us just go and buy stuff for ourselves? It makes us happy for days. And then you feel like an [ __ ] after. You're like, what the [ __ ] did I just buy? I don't even need this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, no, it's uh I think giving giving, you know, it's biblical. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Giving's biblical, right? You get 50x back, right? If you give and and I'll I I struggled with tithing my whole life. life. life. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. And it and the more I leaned in, the better life became. Isn't that amazing? Do you um you you talk about being a father a lot. Do you want more kids? I'm not against it. I mean, God's will. I uh I I want daughters. I I have more fun fun fun I didn't know I wanted a daughter till I got a daughter.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, I I wouldn't mind having more kids. I just uh How old's your daughter now? She's 11. She's 11. She's 11. Okay, so she's going to become a teenager soon. teenager soon. teenager soon. inherit more kids. Yeah, you that's true. Uh she's going to become a teenager soon. Are you How do you feel about, you know, her starting to date, all that stuff? Are you like, you know, very overprotective? overprotective? overprotective? Ish. Ish. Ish. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. till you get to that Ask me yeah, ask me in 3 more years.

I I I I talk I talk to my daughter like she's an adult. an adult. an adult. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I do. She's 11. She's grown up with her dad, right? So I'm like uh there's no baby talking since she's been like 5. She's like, what I'm like, pick it up. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. [snorts] [snorts] [snorts] But uh But uh But uh I was talking to her the other day. It's so funny you bring this up. I was talking to her the other day and I said, "I want you to get like excessively heartbroken young.

Like just crushed. Soul crushed. She goes, "Daddy, why would you wish that upon me?" I was like, "Because you don't want it to happen later in life. Like just have it 15 years old, your whole world collapse. I can be there for you. I can That's not a bad point. I can I can help you with I I don't want it to happen in college when you're at some dorm or somewhere else and you collapse. Now, cuz you got to figure out the story we just about.

I'm like, the mental state of mind is so critical and malleable at that point. So, I'm like, happen young so you realize this is what the real world's like. Right. Not a helicopter dad or mom. Like, this is real world [ __ ] Like, you're going to get heartbroken, shit's going to happen, you're going to make connections. They're not always going to work out. Just have it happen young. She goes, "This is not a great conversation. I'll see you later." You bring her to work with you? I brought her to work for a long a long period of time.

So, you had COVID going on and everything else. She came to every business meeting, she came everywhere. And she she actually understands Vita Bella. Like, she understands products and she She's like, "Yeah, she She wants to like hurt my arm." And it's like a 7-year-old, "Dad, this BPC 157 will help you." I'm like, "We don't do the 7-year-olds here, honey." Yeah. I do I do bring her to work. That's awesome. Uh any plans in the future cuz the way that you've structured I have to ask this.

The way that you've structured Vita Bella with the membership makes it a prime company to be able to sell at some point. Uh whereas other companies it'd be very difficult to sell. Is any any plans in the future to be have it maybe sell it and to get it? Yeah, so Yeah, so Yeah, so the goal is is in the next 36 months to take Vita Bella to a place that that I couldn't imagine and then and then probably in the right investor or the right company to take it over.

Okay. Okay. Okay. And move on. I've got a number of different ventures and things that I'm working on. I've got some fun things that are coming up and I think probably 36 months move it over. But it it's very important that we don't sacrifice the the mission. the mission. the mission. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, it's scary. Like, so many people turn over a company and they they don't take patient care seriously. Customer success drops, customer service drops. So, it'd have to be the right situation. I mean, I I think about it all the time.

That's kind of like the mental goal. Mhm. In the end who knows what happens. But yeah. Was the Was the membership idea primarily to exit or was it more to protect you of the uncertainty of the peptide space? Cuz that's how I looked at it. I thought that was brilliant because of that. I The membership was built to manage OPEX. OPEX. OPEX. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The membership was built to manage OPEX because if I can offer a great product cuz here's what happens is this people forget to put in orders, they forget to do this, they forget to do that, and then they just fall off.

And so this also holds a level of accountability. Like one of the big pieces of having a membership is you should use it. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Right? The law of good intentions is the gym, right? They buy the membership to the gym then they'll go to the gym and after a certain time either you're going to go to the gym or you're going to cancel it. cancel it. cancel it. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. So it forces you to think about these things. But yeah, it was accountability, invest in yourself long-term, make sure you see your doctors.

If you're paying for it, you're going to probably see your practitioner. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I mean and then obviously all valuations is built on on your all valuations going to be built on your predictable recurring revenue. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And and the membership offers the predictable predictable predictable Cuz I really thought it was brilliant from a protection standpoint. I bring up the analogy all the time that the peptide space reminds me so much of the cannabis space and the volatility of it.

it. it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, [clears throat] whoever we have in office who's deciding the laws, you know what I'm saying? It could be pro you, could be very ne you know what I'm saying? And each state the state is different. And so all the stuff that you already know about that's such a headache. But the one thing that we're we're we're so beyond that with with testosterone and as like we know the benefits of that. That's not going away. Um and so I thought, "Oh, this is so smart." Like even if peptides are getting regulated and shut down and this is good, this is not good, the consistency of that I feel like that I mean that won't go away.

So that's why I thought many other products outside of peptides. Like people think that like peptide like there's rapamycin, there's anti-aging products, skin care products, sexual wellness products, energy products, That's great. That's great. That's great. detox products, vitamins, like basic MIC injections. People don't people undervalue undervalue undervalue What was that? MIC injection? MIC injection like bio boost, aminos, aminos, aminos, inositol, choline, yeah, you know, things that help with your liver metabolism. metabolism. metabolism. Sure. Sure. Sure. All of these things are overlooked now because of peptides.

Yeah, and they shouldn't be. There's still some really really good products and hidden things out there that protect us. But if we lost peptides tomorrow, yeah, it'd be an impact to the business, but not as big as an impact. I mean, female hormones is monstrous. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Male hormones is monstrous. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody seems to have an injury for Anavar and Anavar and Anavar and injuring yourself every 3 days. I don't understand. You want another prescription? He's like, "Yeah, I ripped my other rotator, my knee." I'm like, "Oh my god." What What do you know what percentage of people that are on the membership that actually that also partake in peptides and everything else?

Yeah, you're probably have like a 60% penetration. Oh, yeah. They're at least ordering one peptide. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah, so you've got 40% are hormones, skin care, um Yeah, and then about 60% are are penetrated on peptides. Are we going to see you at the World Peptide Congress again? I will be at World Peptide You are. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'll be speaking at it. I know you will. You'll be heckling. Yeah. All right. We're going to mess with Sal. Sal is the one doing on stage.

Well, very good. Well, Well, Phil, this has been great, man. Thank you, brother. It's been awesome. Again, we get great reviews from our from the people that we send your way. So, the service was the most important. That's number one. So, I'm so happy and relieved that it worked out that way. That was the the big thing was that we wanted our people taken care of and I for the first time feel that way. I feel like they're not being pressured and sold on stuff that they don't want or need.

Um I feel like uh they get to meet with a medical professional who will go through every bit of their blood work uh in detail with them, meet with them quarterly like that, follow up on them, and then of course they get their stuff really quick. Um no, it's been an incredible experience, and the feedback has been awesome uh working with you guys. So, thank you. Thanks for coming on again, man. Thank you, brother. Appreciate you boys having me. having me. having me. You got it.

If you go to mp-hormones.com, mp-hormones.com, mp-hormones.com, we have medical professionals there that'll talk with you. You get a free 10-minute consultation, and you can ask them questions. Is hormone therapy right for me? What about peptides? Does this peptide work better than that peptide? They'll be able to help you out, and if you decide to work with them, well, now you're working with medical professionals. And if they prescribe you peptides, it's through FDA-regulated compound pharmacies. By the way, if you go to mp-hormones.com and use the code mindpump365, you'll get the 10-minute consultation, plus you'll get a raffle entry.

entry. entry. Three people this month are going to get a free membership uh there with our sponsor, and 10 will get free essential labs that'll be given away. So, if you if you're thinking, "Look, is hormone therapy right for me? And maybe I want some peptides. I want to take things to the next level." Go to mp-hormones.com. mp-hormones.com. mp-hormones.com. All right, I know you liked that episode. If you did, check this one out. Stop doing three sets of 12 to build muscle muscle muscle and do this instead.

You guys want to guess? guess? guess? Stop doing the three sets of 12 and do this instead. Uh with that intro, my guess is you're going to tell people to change the rep range up to Yeah, 5 by 5 or low rep range. range. range. guys remember when Yeah, so um often times we get stuck in like a set count and a rep count or a range that's