I’ve been learning more and more about peptides the past few years and started experimenting with them about two years ago. What is so fascinating is that peptides seem to be great for “almost everything” to the point of too-good-to-be-true. Anecdotally and increasingly demonstrated in research, they can provide wolverine-type healing for your body yet they are still very much at the fringe of medicine and most physicians don’t know how to work with them. It’s worth mentioning that to date, there has been very limited scientific research on human subjects as most peptides are still classified as research chemicals in North America.

Going through my own health journey and listening to Biohacking Superhuman Performance Podcast is how I came across Nathalie Niddam’s work. Nat conducted interviews with many top experts in peptides as well as studied this topic for years being truly at the forefront of knowledge in this field and was recently a speaker at The Peptide Summit that was organized to educate the medical and biohacker community on peptides.

Since peptides have so many uses and applications, in this short interview I wanted to focus on a topic dear to my heart of Optimizing Metabolic Health for Women. In the article below we go over 3 specific peptides that can do just that…

What are Peptides?

Peptides  are short chains of between two and fifty amino acids, linked by peptide bonds. They are signalling molecules naturally occurring in the human body.  The peptides being used are synthetic versions of these naturally occurring peptides.  
What are they good for?

Almost anything you can think of including healing and repairing musculoskeletal injuries, skin regeneration, modulation of the immune system, brain protection, healing and optimizing physical and cognitive function, re-growing hair and so much more… of course in this post, I’m going to exclusively focus on metabolic health!

At the beginning of our interview, the very first thing Nathalie emphasized is that if you seek to improve your body composition or metabolic health, the first thing you must look at is building an optimal health and performance foundation before jumping into peptides. There are so many levers to pull when it comes to optimizing our health and peptides are one of the last levers Nathalie implements with her clients once everything else is neatly in place. 

While peptides and biohacks can often give you an edge and help you overcome healing hurdles, you have got to do the work if you’re going to get optimal results. The following very brief description of foundations are critical for performance, health optimization, and longevity in ways that biohacking simply cannot replace. So here’s where you start:

 1) Sleep and circadian rhythm

Sleep and circadian rhythm are two of the most important things for optimal health. Whether you are working on brain fog, fatigue, weight loss, hormone imbalances, or anti-aging, getting enough high-quality sleep is essential.  

2) Stress

Chronic mismanaged stress, or a hyper-activated stress response, can be your kryptonite. Just like poor sleep, this can contribute to hormone imbalances, gut problems, chronic pain, and weight gain.  

3) Nutrition

We all know that for our body to work well we have to eat right, the tricky bit is that there is no one diet for everyone although there are universal truths, such as:  

-The importance of following a low glycemic diet to minimize spikes in glucose and insulin which have been shown to be extremely harmful to health  
-Eating sufficient protein (roughly 1gram/lb of ideal weight), especially as we age, to ensure we maintain and build muscle mass to support metabolic, cognitive and physical vitality for the long term  
-The absolute necessity of consuming sufficient healthy fats to fuel energy, brain, and cellular function  
-Avoiding processed foods and excessive sugar.  

4) Movement, Posture, and Exercise.

The human body was designed to move throughout the day, not to sit in a chair for hours on end. Getting enough movement is vital to optimize energy, sleep, metabolic health, and, of course, body composition. A properly constructed program can help you achieve these goals without requiring you to spend hours a day at the gym.  

Few other Biohacks to consider…

These other biohacks work as hormesis—the low-dose stressors that make you stronger. They have anti-aging properties. Applied properly, they can and will improve your health, sleep, stress resilience, energy, and overall performance.  

-Fasting (both intermittent and longer term)  
-Photobiomodulation (red and near infrared)  
-Infrared sauna or heat exposure  
-Cold therapy  
-Certain herbal supplements  
-Breath work and/or meditation  

These biohacks act as natural signalling molecules that are normally present in your body. But at higher doses, they can be leveraged to support your health goals or to support your metabolic health, weight loss or body composition goals:

-Molecular hydrogen  
-Oxygen therapy  
-Brown’s Gas  
-Nutritional supplements and neurotransmitter-supporting nootropics  

Pulsed electromagnetic frequency (PEMF), Float Chambers, Vibration Plates and other interventional therapies can also promote a healing state in your cells and tissues.  

Yet another category of biohacks, such as electromagnetic field (EMF) modulators and blue light blockers, also help shield you from the harmful effects of modern lifestyle things.  

To learn more about optimizing the foundations, click here to read more on Nathalie’s blog.  

This covers the foundations and this is what brings us to the conversation of Peptides. There are so many amazing peptides so this is not going to be a comprehensive list, but Nathalie’s top 3 you should consider for optimizing your metabolic health, so let’s jump right in!

Thymosin Alpha-1 is a natural regulator of immune function. It was first discovered in 1972 and was isolated from tissue of the thymus gland and is a potent immune function modulator. As you can see from the image below that it has so many amazing uses most of which involves reducing inflammation in the body. 

When it comes to optimizing your metabolic health, the first step is calming down the immune system. Most people who have already worked on addressing all the earlier listed health foundations yet who are still having difficulty losing body fat, usually have other underlying health issues. Especially once we get into our 40s, 50s and up it is likely we are going to need to support our immune function. To use myself as an example, I’ve been struggling with mold toxicity for years. Despite trying to do all the right things to optimize my own body composition, until I deal with getting the mold out of my body it is going to be very difficult to optimize my metabolic function. This is where Thymosin Alpha-1 can come in to assist…

Setmelanotide is a medication for the treatment of obesity that was recently approved for medical use in the United States in November 2020. Obesity risk can be increased by variations in the leptin receptor (LEPR) gene and the POMC gene, that may drive excessive hunger and poor satiety signalling. Setmelanotide, which activates the melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) signalling pathway, can help to curb constant hunger and so allow people to lose weight. It may also increase resting metabolic rate slightly further helping to support fat loss.  

It is worth mentioning that if excessive hunger and overeating is not an issue, clearly this peptide may not be the right one to use.

Ipamorelin is one of the most selective growth hormone (GH) secretagogues known and a potent agonist of the ghrelin/growth hormone secretagogue receptor.  It stimulates the release of growth hormone from the pituitary gland which is a large part of how Ipamorelin supports bone health, boosts muscle repair and development, improves sleep and even skin.  It also  stimulates insulin release from the pancreas, and improve bowel motility and gastric function.   Finally, Ipamorelin supports the reduction of fat mass all without negatively affecting other hormones like cortisol and prolactin (a side effect seen with some of the stronger  GHRP’s)

 CJC-1295 also causes the release of GH, but it does so by stimulating the growth hormone releasing hormone receptor in the hypothalamus. It is also highly selective and, due to its effect on growth hormone secretion has demonstrated positive benefits on bone health, lean body mass, insulin resistance, as well as skin benefits and sleep.  

It is very common to combine  these two peptides, in order to produce enhanced effects as they stimulate the growth hormone axis via two different mechanisms.  The net effect of combining the peptides would be a higher set point for the normal ebb and flow of GH, resulting in improved lean body mass, a reduction in fat mass, better muscle development, improved use of insulin, and overall better metabolic function with the added bonus of improved sleep!!  

As you can see  from this quick snapshot of these three (well four) peptides there is much that can be gained from using the right peptide at the right time to assist in achieving metabolic and body composition goals. The bottom line however, is that it comes down to also making the right lifestyle and nutrition modifications simultaneously in order to make sure you are using the right peptide for you while also getting the most benefits and making sure that your results are sustainable for the long term!  

To learn more about Nathalie Niddam, please visit her website, be sure to listen to her podcast and follow her Instagram and Facebook.  To attend the upcoming peptide summit for free you can click here.  

I’m passionate about building a women’s health focused biohacking community that is run by women and shares women’s perspectives on health and wellness. I’m looking for collaboration with other kick-ass biohacker chicks that are passionate about a certain biohacking topic. Maybe you are a physician, a scientist, a nutritionist, an athlete, or work in the health and wellness field in some other capacity or maybe you recovered from major health challenges against all odds…? I would love to feature you. Click here to schedule.