The Trusted Pharmacist

Steve Hoffart
  • 0.0 (0)
  • MEDICINE
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

The Trusted Pharmacist Podcast pulls back the curtain on the healthcare industry, exposing the flaws in the system and empowering listeners to take control of their health. Hosted by pharmacist Steve Hoffart, this show delivers science-backed insights, debunks medical myths, and highlights natural and medical solutions that truly work. Through candid solo episodes and expert interviews, Steve provides actionable advice on nutrition, supplements, and wellness strategies while advocating for meaningful change in healthcare. Whether you're looking to improve your health, understand your body's needs, or make sense of conflicting medical advice, this podcast is your go-to source for honest, practical information.

  1. 10 HR AGO

    What's Really Driving Anxiety, Rage & Tics in Kids? (It's Not "Just Behavior") w/ Dr. Paula Kruppstadt

    When a child suddenly develops anxiety, rage, tics, restrictive eating, or emotional volatility, the system rushes to label and medicate it. But what if those behaviors aren't psychological at all? What if they're inflammatory? What if the brain isn't "misfiring," but reacting loudly to an immune system that's overwhelmed, dysregulated, and unable to turn itself off? In my work, I've watched this pattern repeat over and over. Kids change "overnight," parents think "I've lost my child," and the healthcare system rarely asks the most important question: what happened before the behavior changed? In today's world, children are exposed to environmental toxins, infections, immune stress, chronic inflammation, and genetic vulnerabilities. These lead to the very common sudden behavioral and emotional changes we're seeing in so many young people. And childhood immune dysregulation doesn't stay in childhood. Untreated neuroinflammation can follow kids into adolescence, adulthood, and eventually shape entire family trees. How do we reduce the physical stress driving these changes in so many children and families? What's actually happening beneath the surface of conditions like PANS/PANDAS, eczema, autism, anxiety, and sudden behavioral regression? To unpack this, I'm joined by Dr. Paula Kruppstadt, a board-certified pediatrician and functional medicine physician who works with some of the most complex pediatric cases.  She explains what's driving these sudden changes, why standard approaches often miss it, and what actually helps kids stabilize and recover.   Things You'll Learn In This Episode    When behavior is actually a physical issue Sudden mood swings, anxiety, rage, tics, or regression are often treated as "behavior problems." What if it's a sign that inflammation or infection is affecting how your child feels and acts? Why "it happened overnight" actually matters If your child seemed fine and then suddenly wasn't, that change isn't random. What can abrupt shifts tell you about underlying health issues that often get missed? Food programs immunity How can common foods like gluten, dairy, dyes, and additives quietly contribute to eczema, anxiety, and emotional ups and downs, even when kids seem otherwise healthy? A more precise way to vaccinate Most parents are told to stick to the routine vaccine schedule, but that can push a child's system too hard, too fast. How do we give kids vaccines in a way that protects immunity without unnecessarily adding inflammatory load?   PS. If you enjoy the show, remember to leave a review on your favorite podcast app! Reviews help the podcast reach a wider audience and help more people.   About the Guest Dr. Paula Kruppstadt is the founder, CEO, and Medical Provider Team Leader for Hope for Healing. She graduated in 1990 from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and completed her pediatric internship and residency at William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso in 1993. She promptly earned her Board Certification from the American Board of Pediatrics in 1993, and she is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. She served as a U.S. Army pediatrician at Ft Hood, Texas, and then relocated to The Woodlands, Texas, in 1995. She has since worked as a general pediatrician in various venues, including Texas Children's Pediatrics and Texas Children's Urgent Care. Dr. Kruppstadt also served as a pediatric hospitalist and faculty member for Baylor College of Medicine at St. Luke's Hospital in The Woodlands, Texas. Dr. Kruppstadt is a Certified Practitioner of Functional Medicine by The Institute for Functional Medicine—IFMCP. She is one of the few board-certified pediatricians in the world who are certified IFMCP. Because she is an expert on PANS/PANDAS, Texas Governor Greg Abbott appointed her to be a member of the Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome Advisory Council. The Council advises the commission and the Texas legislature on research, diagnosis, treatment, and education related to pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome. Dr. Kruppstadt is the mother of four daughters, who have all worked at Hope for Healing, and she has two grandsons. She is married to Tom Kruppstadt, JD, who serves as COO/CFO and General Counsel for Hope for Healing. To learn more, visit https://get2theroot.com/. You can also schedule a free discovery call or buy a genetic panel here.  About Your Host Steve Hoffart is an award-winning pharmacist, entrepreneur, speaker and podcaster. As the visionary founder of Magnolia Pharmacy, Steve saw a need for a more personal pharmacy that could make a bigger impact. Today, Steve and his team of experts deliver on that promise, working with patients and their physicians to solve medication problems and offer personalized solutions to achieve better health and wellness. As host of The Trusted Pharmacist podcast and through his combined reach of over 1M on social media, Steve shares actionable advice on nutrition, supplements, and wellness strategies while advocating for meaningful change in healthcare.   Stay Ahead with Steve the Pharmacist! Loving the show? Want more insights into how your body works? Head over to TheTrustedPharmacist.com and sign up with your email! You'll get the latest episodes, plus exclusive health tips to help you take charge of your wellness. Don't miss out – join me today!

    51 min

  2. 5 FEB

    Beyond Periods and Pregnancy: Why Estrogen Depletion Makes You Feel Off

    Most women grow up believing estrogen has one job: periods and pregnancy. Nothing you're taught about this hormone would explain why it becomes the invisible force shaping how you think, feel, and function later in life. I have women show up all the time telling me the same story: They don't feel like themselves anymore, their mood feels unstable, their mind feels slower, their sleep is off, and their body feels unfamiliar and unpredictable.  A life that once felt simple and predictable now feels exhausting and hard to manage. We're often told this is just stress, or aging, or something we need to "push through." But these experiences aren't random, emotional, or simply what getting older looks like. They are what happens when a hormone we were taught was minor is actually one of the body's master regulators. Estrogen doesn't operate in one system. It has receptors everywhere. It doesn't influence one function at a time; it helps coordinate all of them.  So when estrogen signaling begins to change (whether slowly through perimenopause, suddenly through surgery, or dramatically through menopause), it doesn't disrupt one area of your life. It destabilizes the whole network. How does estrogen control just about every body system, and what happens when levels become erratic and then depleted? If your estrogen is no longer sending a clear, steady signal, how do we start to restore balance, clarity, and stability inside the body again? In this episode, I talk about how estrogen actually works in the brain, heart, bones, and metabolism, why fluctuating hormones create full-body symptoms, and where most women are being misled about menopause and aging. I also share how to identify the real root cause of your symptoms and take back control of your health and your future.   Things You'll Learn In This Episode  Estrogen is a master signal, not a sex hormone It influences nearly every major system in the body, so why are women still told it only matters for reproduction? Fluctuation causes chaos, not deficiency alone Why does hormone "instability" trigger symptoms more aggressively than low levels by themselves? Most estrogen fear is based on outdated data How did the wrong hormones, wrong timing, and wrong delivery methods distort the entire narrative on estrogen? Topical estrogen changes the risk equation Why does bypassing the liver make transdermal estrogen safer for the heart, brain, and metabolism? Bone loss, heart disease, and dementia are not inevitable What does the research say about starting estrogen within the "golden window" after menopause?   About Your Host Steve Hoffart is an award-winning pharmacist, entrepreneur, speaker and podcaster. As the visionary founder of Magnolia Pharmacy, Steve saw a need for a more personal pharmacy that could make a bigger impact. Today, Steve and his team of experts deliver on that promise, working with patients and their physicians to solve medication problems and offer personalized solutions to achieve better health and wellness. As host of The Trusted Pharmacist podcast and through his combined reach of over 1M on social media, Steve shares actionable advice on nutrition, supplements, and wellness strategies while advocating for meaningful change in healthcare.   Stay Ahead with Steve the Pharmacist! Loving the show? Want more insights into how your body works? Head over to TheTrustedPharmacist.com and sign up with your email! You'll get the latest episodes, plus exclusive health tips to help you take charge of your wellness. Don't miss out – join me today!

    34 min

  3. 29 JAN

    The Earliest Signs of Disease Aren't What You Think w/ Dr Sabine Hazan

    Most people think disease shows up suddenly. One day you're fine, the next day you're handed a diagnosis. But the truth is, disease and clues of dysfunction often start in a place most people don't think of - the gut. We tend to treat gut symptoms like isolated inconveniences, but when you zoom out, a different pattern starts to emerge. Chronic illness rarely begins overnight; it's the final domino falling after years of microbial loss, antibiotics, stress, surgeries, and modern food systems stripping the gut of resilience. The more we learn, the better we understand that the microbiome is the foundation of human health. It shapes how we age, how we respond to stress and infection, and how vulnerable we become to chronic disease. It's also the reason why we've seen such a huge uptick in autoimmune disease, metabolic dysfunction, neurodegenerative conditions, and unexplained chronic illness.  Because here's the truth about health: the loss of microbes is what's causing us to break down faster than ever before. The process of disease and aging is actually the loss of different bacteria in the gut. Dr. Sabine Hazan is a gastroenterologist and microbiome researcher who has analyzed thousands of stool samples and followed microbial patterns that most of medicine still overlooks.  Her work challenges the idea that there's a single "normal" gut, questions whether current testing even tells the full story, and points to something far more alarming than any one diagnosis: the steady extinction of the bacteria that once protected us. We talk about why digestive symptoms are often the first signal something is wrong, how illness is usually the result of years of accumulation rather than a sudden failure, and why the process of aging itself may be tied to the loss of key microbes in the gut.    Things You'll Learn In This Episode  The microbiome breaks down long before disease is diagnosed Most chronic conditions don't start when symptoms become severe; they start years earlier in the gut. What signs are we missing because we only look once labs turn "abnormal"? Digestive symptoms are early warning signals, not side issues Bloating, constipation, reflux, and fatigue aren't random inconveniences. Why does the gut often sound the alarm decades before the brain, immune system, or metabolism collapse? Chronic illness is an accumulation problem, not an overnight failure From antibiotics to stress to surgery, health rarely falls apart all at once. How does the domino effect of microbiome damage slowly push the body toward disease? Aging may be driven by microbial loss. As we age, we don't just lose muscle or energy; we lose entire bacterial populations. What happens when protective microbes like bifidobacteria disappear, and can that loss explain why modern aging looks so different?   About Your Host Steve Hoffart is an award-winning pharmacist, entrepreneur, speaker and podcaster. As the visionary founder of Magnolia Pharmacy, Steve saw a need for a more personal pharmacy that could make a bigger impact. Today, Steve and his team of experts deliver on that promise, working with patients and their physicians to solve medication problems and offer personalized solutions to achieve better health and wellness. As host of The Trusted Pharmacist podcast and through his combined reach of over 1M on social media, Steve shares actionable advice on nutrition, supplements, and wellness strategies while advocating for meaningful change in healthcare.   Stay Ahead with Steve the Pharmacist! Loving the show? Want more insights into how your body works? Head over to TheTrustedPharmacist.com and sign up with your email! You'll get the latest episodes, plus exclusive health tips to help you take charge of your wellness. Don't miss out – join me today!

    28 min

  4. 22 JAN

    A Different Way to Think About MS (Your Body's Not Done) w/ Dr. Terry Wahls

    If you've been diagnosed with MS or you've been living with it for years, you've probably been told some version of the same story.  This is progressive, unpredictable, and something you'll have to manage for the rest of your life. Maybe you were warned about what you might lose. Maybe you were told to be grateful if things don't get worse. Maybe you learned to brace yourself for fatigue, pain, brain fog, or the slow shrinking of what your body can do. And once that story settles in, it's hard to imagine a different future. The truth about MS is that it doesn't have to be a straight downhill line. You can reduce severity and regain function, and you don't have to rely on medication alone to get relief. Lifestyle modifications can meaningfully improve fatigue, mobility, and quality of life. Lifestyle changes are "nice extras" or only worth trying once everything else has failed. Instead, it reframes them as core tools for reducing severity, slowing progression, and in some cases, reclaiming function that people were told was gone for good. This is something Dr. Terry Wahls knows not just from treating patients with MS but from living through severe disability herself. She understands that you can restore muscle, rewire neural pathways, or give the nervous system the capacity to heal. What lifestyle measures can create the conditions for recovery instead of continued decline? In this episode, Dr. Wahls shares how to support neurological repair, reduce fatigue, and rebuild physical capacity as an MS patient.   Things You'll Learn In This Episode  MS doesn't always mean steady decline Many people are told MS only moves in one direction, but that isn't always true. Why do some symptoms improve, even after years, when the body is given the right support? Fatigue isn't a personal failure The crushing exhaustion of MS isn't about willpower or motivation. What's actually draining your energy beneath the surface, and why do certain changes finally make a difference? Medication helps, but it's not the whole picture Drugs can calm inflammation, but they don't rebuild strength, restore clarity, or give you your life back. What else needs to change for your nervous system to recover? You don't have to fix everything to feel better Trying to change everything at once usually leads to burnout. Which small, realistic shifts can reduce symptoms and make daily life feel more manageable again? Guest Bio Dr. Terry Wahls is more than a doctor. She's an educator, a speaker, an author, and she's also a patient. In 2000, she was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Dr. Wahls was determined not to let the disease control her life, so she began doing her own research. In December 2007, she began the Wahls Protocol®, a therapeutic diet and lifestyle program that focuses on functional medicine and nutrient-rich foods. Learn more about Dr. Terry Wahls' story and her work below. Dr. Terry Wahls was dependent on a tilt-recline wheelchair for four years until she reclaimed her health using a diet and lifestyle program she designed specifically to restore her cellular health. Now, she pedals her bike to work each day. The Wahls Protocol® comes out of Dr. Wahls' own quest to treat the debilitating symptoms she experiences as a sufferer of progressive MS. Informed by science, she began using Paleo principles as guidelines for her unique, nutrient-rich plan. This book shares Dr. Wahls' astonishing personal story of recovery and details the program, with up-to-date research she's now conducting at the University of Iowa. To learn more, visit https://terrywahls.com/.  If you have an autoimmune disorder and want to take part in a clinical trial, go to https://terrywahls.com/trials/.   About Your Host Steve Hoffart is an award-winning pharmacist, entrepreneur, speaker and podcaster. As the visionary founder of Magnolia Pharmacy, Steve saw a need for a more personal pharmacy that could make a bigger impact. Today, Steve and his team of experts deliver on that promise, working with patients and their physicians to solve medication problems and offer personalized solutions to achieve better health and wellness. As host of The Trusted Pharmacist podcast and through his combined reach of over 250,000 on social media, Steve shares actionable advice on nutrition, supplements, and wellness strategies while advocating for meaningful change in healthcare.   Stay Ahead with Steve the Pharmacist! Loving the show? Want more insights into how your body works? Head over to TheTrustedPharmacist.com and sign up with your email! You'll get the latest episodes, plus exclusive health tips to help you take charge of your wellness. Don't miss out – join me today!

    50 min

  5. 15 JAN

    Wellness Dentist Reveals The "Good" Oral Habits That Damage Your Whole Body w/ Dr. Katie To

    Most of us treat our mouths as if they're separate from the rest of our bodies. We're taught that oral health is cosmetic, routine, or something to deal with when it hurts.  But your mouth isn't isolated. It's one of the most biologically active, information-rich parts of your body.  What's happening with your teeth, gums, and mouth can directly influence sleep quality, inflammation, cardiovascular risk, and even cognitive health. Often, long before symptoms show up anywhere else. Dr. Katie To is a wellness dentist who practices dentistry as a full-body systems discipline, not a cosmetic service.  Here's what she sees: Most of us are doing what we were told is "good oral care." We go for regular cleanings, brush, floss, and buy pricey toothpaste.  And yet, almost none of this looks at what's actually happening in the mouth. No saliva testing. No assessment of bacterial balance. No evaluation of how oral health may be affecting breathing, sleep, or inflammation.  And the whole point of oral health gets lost in the confusion. We end up with toothpaste debates, mouthwash routines that damage the oral microbiome, dry out the mouth, and work against the rest of the body, too.  What are the actual essentials of oral health, and what's just hype? What does our oral health reveal about our entire bodies?  In this episode, Dr. To shares why the mouth-body connection has been overlooked for so long. We talk about saliva as the dental equivalent of bloodwork, and how small, overlooked factors in the mouth can become chronic drivers of dysfunction elsewhere.   Things You'll Learn In This Episode  No pain ≠ no problem The mouth can carry chronic infection and inflammation silently for years; so, how much disease progression happens before symptoms ever show up? The mouth is not separate from the body Oral health directly affects sleep, inflammation, hormones, and cardiovascular risk, so why are we still treating it like an isolated system? Routine dental care cleans without diagnosing If no saliva testing or microbiome assessment is happening, what are cleanings actually addressing, and what are they missing? Some oral hygiene habits quietly work against your health Could toothpaste choices, mouthwash use, and mouth breathing be undermining your oral microbiome and systemic health at the same time?   About the Guest Dr. Katie To is a Houston-based wellness dentist who takes a whole-body, systems-based approach to oral health. Her work focuses on how the oral microbiome, inflammation, airway health, hormones, and dental materials impact overall wellness — not just teeth. She bridges the gap between dentistry, medicine, and preventative health, helping patients understand how what's happening in their mouth connects to the rest of their body. Go to https://www.thewellnessdentist.com/ to learn more, and follow @drkatieto on Instagram.    About Your Host Steve Hoffart is an award-winning pharmacist, entrepreneur, speaker and podcaster. As the visionary founder of Magnolia Pharmacy, Steve saw a need for a more personal pharmacy that could make a bigger impact. Today, Steve and his team of experts deliver on that promise, working with patients and their physicians to solve medication problems and offer personalized solutions to achieve better health and wellness. As host of The Trusted Pharmacist podcast and through his combined reach of over 250,000 on social media, Steve shares actionable advice on nutrition, supplements, and wellness strategies while advocating for meaningful change in healthcare.   Stay Ahead with Steve the Pharmacist! Loving the show? Want more insights into how your body works? Head over to TheTrustedPharmacist.com and sign up with your email! You'll get the latest episodes, plus exclusive health tips to help you take charge of your wellness. Don't miss out – join me today!

    49 min

  6. 8 JAN

    The Hidden Cause of Chronic Fatigue, Brain Fog, and Gut Issues (It's Not Anxiety) w/ Amy Bryant

    When you visit your doctor with a racing heart when you stand up, dizziness, flushing, gut reactions, fatigue, and brain fog, the appointments almost always end the same way. Your symptoms get filed under the usual suspects. Allergies, IBS, stress, or the catch-all that shuts the conversation down: anxiety. But what if the root cause is a condition you've never even heard of? What gets called anxiety, IBS, allergies, or stress is often something else entirely: conditions like POTS, dysautonomia, or mast cell activation syndrome, which most people (and many clinicians) were never taught to recognize. Amy Bryant is the person people go to when their symptoms don't fit neatly into any one diagnosis, and they've been passed from specialist to specialist without real answers.  She approaches these cases like investigative medicine. Not chasing symptoms one by one, but tracing patterns across the nervous system, immune response, sleep, hormones, and gut function. The challenge with these conditions is that they don't announce themselves clearly. They show up in ways that feel familiar and easy to explain. People start questioning their own bodies. They learn to manage reactions, avoid triggers, and brace themselves for the next flare instead of expecting recovery. How do you identify the underlying condition when no single diagnosis explains everything? How do you move from managing symptoms to actually dealing with what's causing them? In this episode, Amy shares how syndromes like POTS and mast cell activation can sit underneath what gets mislabeled as common, everyday diagnoses. We also talk about how to finally deal with what's driving dysfunction in your body.    Things You'll Learn In This Episode  Complex symptoms are network failures When multiple systems break down at once, medicine often fragments the problem. How does identifying the shared driver change diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes? POTS and MCAS are rarely standalone conditions These syndromes often emerge from shared roots. How do we stop asking "which one is it?" and start asking "what's driving all of it?" Hormonal transitions can expose hidden instability Perimenopause doesn't always create dysfunction; it reveals it. Why do estrogen shifts unmask mast cell activation and autonomic symptoms in women who were previously "fine"? Recovery capacity determines quality of life Stress, trauma, poor sleep, and gut dysfunction all erode the body's ability to rebound. What if the real goal isn't eliminating stressors, but rebuilding the systems that allow recovery to happen?   About the Guest Amy Bryant is a nurse practitioner at the Center of Lifestyle Medicine in Houston. She specializes in caring for patients with complex overlapping conditions like POTS, mast cell activation, dysautonomia, and chronic inflammatory syndromes using a lifestyle medicine approach and a trauma-informed approach. Amy is an investigator who helps patients get to the root of complex conditions that many practitioners shy away from. Her ability to understand the underlying causes of these conditions and her approach to providing supportive therapeutic elements and individualized protocols for her patients set her apart. Her expertise in Lifestyle Medicine makes her a valuable resource for patients seeking integrative care. Amy also leads the Cancer Support Group Visits at TCLM. During these visits, she provides a safe, non-judgmental, and compassionate space where patients can rely on each other for support, share their experiences, and discuss helpful tools to help navigate their journey in fighting cancer. Amy also provides education about the background of the development and physiology of chronic illnesses, options to manage symptoms holistically, and emotional support for those who need community support. To learn more, visit www.texascenterforlifestylemedicine.org/ or connect with her on LinkedIn.    About Your Host Steve Hoffart is an award-winning pharmacist, entrepreneur, speaker and podcaster. As the visionary founder of Magnolia Pharmacy, Steve saw a need for a more personal pharmacy that could make a bigger impact. Today, Steve and his team of experts deliver on that promise, working with patients and their physicians to solve medication problems and offer personalized solutions to achieve better health and wellness. As host of The Trusted Pharmacist podcast and through his combined reach of over 250,000 on social media, Steve shares actionable advice on nutrition, supplements, and wellness strategies while advocating for meaningful change in healthcare.   Follow the Podcast Follow the Trusted Pharmacist on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app so you get the latest episodes! If the show has been helpful, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts —or simply tell a friend about the show. Each time you share the show, you are potentially changing someone's life!

    45 min

  7. 30/12/2025

    This Is Why Your Body Hurts More as You Age w/ Dr. Willie Villarreal

    Most people assume aging comes with an unavoidable trade-off: more fatigue, slower recovery, more pain, and less capacity to move the way you used to. You train less because you recover poorly, and you recover poorly because you train less.  What's rarely discussed is why recovery breaks down so early, or why all the usual anti-aging advice starts to feel incomplete. You can optimize hormones, prioritize protein, lift weights, and sleep better, and still wake up sore, stiff, and inflamed.  That's where an overlooked molecule called carnosine, and newer delivery tools like LactiGo, enter the conversation. It buffers lactic acid, reduces oxidative stress, limits glycation, and protects muscle tissue. When that buffer disappears, even normal activity starts to feel taxing.  Recovery slows, inflammation lingers, and movement becomes something you have to "push through" instead of something your body supports. Aging isn't about motivation; it's about biology. No amount of willpower overrides a system that no longer rebounds. And no single supplement replaces the fundamentals.  But restoring recovery capacity can make training, hormones, and metabolism work the way they're supposed to again. Why does recovery fail even when people "do everything right"? How do you keep strength, clarity, and independence when recovery isn't automatic anymore? In this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Willie Villarreal, a hormone optimization and performance medicine specialist. He works with elite athletes, military operators, and everyday adults who all face the same question as they age. In this conversation, we explore why restoring carnosine at the tissue level may be a true force multiplier for aging well when paired with the traditional pillars of longevity. We break down how LactiGo, a targeted carnosine delivery approach, fits into a broader anti-aging framework and why muscle is the real currency of aging.   Things You'll Learn In This Episode  Recovery (not motivation) limits movement as we age Most people don't stop exercising because they're lazy; they stop because their bodies punish them for trying. How does restoring recovery change everything downstream? The role of carnosine in buffering aging itself Carnosine isn't just about lactic acid or soreness. Why has this molecule been ignored for decades, and what changes when it's restored at the tissue level? Muscle is the real anti-aging organ Muscle mass determines metabolic health, insulin sensitivity, and long-term independence. How does recovery failure accelerate sarcopenia, and what does that mean for longevity? Hormones, recovery tools, and lifestyle must work together No single intervention can override poor foundations. How do hormones, protein intake, sleep, and recovery molecules reinforce each other, and what happens when one piece is missing?   PS. If you enjoy the show, remember to leave a review on your favorite podcast app! Reviews help the podcast reach a wider audience and help more people. About the Guest Dr. Willie Villarreal is a board-certified nurse practitioner, integrative health practitioner, co-founder of Core Health & Wellness, and a member of the LactiGo team. He specializes in men's and women's health, hormone optimization, and performance medicine. Dr. Villarreal integrates evidence-based medical care with advanced recovery and training strategies to help patients improve strength, energy, and long-term metabolic health. He works with elite athletes, military operators, and everyday adults, all focused on the same thing: helping the body recover better so people can stay strong, sharp, and independent as they age. To learn more, go to https://my.lactigo.com/doctorv https://www.corehealthtx.com/ and https://thecarnosinelab.com/.    About Your Host Steve Hoffart is an award-winning pharmacist, entrepreneur, speaker, and podcaster. As the visionary founder of Magnolia Pharmacy, Steve saw a need for a more personal pharmacy that could make a bigger impact. Today, Steve and his team of experts deliver on that promise, working with patients and their physicians to solve medication problems and offer personalized solutions to achieve better health and wellness. As host of The Trusted Pharmacist podcast and through his combined reach of over 250,000 on social media, Steve shares actionable advice on nutrition, supplements, and wellness strategies while advocating for meaningful change in healthcare. Follow the Podcast Follow the Trusted Pharmacist on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app so you get the latest episodes! If the show has been helpful, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts —or simply tell a friend about the show. Each time you share the show, you are potentially changing someone's life!

    43 min

  8. 23/12/2025

    Using AI to Check Symptoms? You Need to Hear This w/ Dr. Cheng Ruan

    Ever since platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini became mainstream tools, people are relying on AI for productivity and answers to different questions…including health and wellness. More patients are turning to AI before they ever turn to a clinician, uploading labs, symptoms, even private medical records, hoping technology will give them clarity and answers faster than the healthcare system ever has. On the surface, it feels empowering. But beneath that empowerment is a growing problem most people don't see yet. Unlike a clinician, AI doesn't see your sleep, your stress, trauma, your body language, or the patterns that only show up when a human being is actually in the room.  When patients start treating AI like a doctor, they often end up going deeper into anxiety, confusion, and rabbit holes that delay real care instead of improving it.  And it's not just patients; doctors are also using AI in the same way. But that doesn't mean using AI is all bad. If we ask better questions, protect our data, and use AI through a holistic lens, AI can actually be a powerful tool for clarity instead of confusion. And that's what Dr. Cheng Ruan is working on. As an internal medicine physician and AI engineer, he's been working at the intersection of trauma-informed care, consciousness, and healthcare systems for over a decade. What if the problem isn't AI itself, but the way we interact with it? How do you get AI to support your health instead of silently steering it? In this episode, Dr. Ruan unpacks what AI is actually good at, where it becomes dangerous, and how it's reshaping the future of medicine.    Things You'll Learn In This Episode  AI can make health anxiety worse AI can trap people in endless rabbit holes. How do you stop AI from amplifying anxiety instead of clarity? The hidden danger of uploading your medical data into AI tools Many popular platforms aren't secure or compliant, yet people are uploading labs, discharge summaries, and even social security numbers. What should patients actually know before trusting AI with their private health data? How to ask better questions so AI works for you "I feel" statements and emotional prompting radically change how modern reasoning models respond. Why does this approach lead to more useful insights and fewer dead ends? Why AI won't replace doctors As AI becomes better at knowledge retrieval, clinicians are being valued less for information and more for judgment, context, and relationships. What does the future of medicine look like when connection matters more than credentials? PS. If you enjoy the show, remember to leave a review on your favorite podcast app! Reviews help the podcast reach a wider audience and help more people.   About the Guest Dr. Cheng Ruan is an internal medicine physician and founder of the Texas Center for Lifestyle Medicine, known for its pioneering work in trauma-informed care, AI in healthcare, and is the executive director of the Physician Transformation Institute. He trains clinicians nationwide on nervous-system-based medicine and how to use emerging technology safely and effectively in patient care. Connect with Dr. Ruan on LinkedIn, and follow him on Instagram.  For doctors: join the Physician Transformation Institute.    About Your Host Steve Hoffart is an award-winning pharmacist, entrepreneur, speaker, and podcaster. As the visionary founder of Magnolia Pharmacy, Steve saw a need for a more personal pharmacy that could make a bigger impact. Today, Steve and his team of experts deliver on that promise, working with patients and their physicians to solve medication problems and offer personalized solutions to achieve better health and wellness. As host of The Trusted Pharmacist podcast and through his combined reach of over 250,000 on social media, Steve shares actionable advice on nutrition, supplements, and wellness strategies while advocating for meaningful change in healthcare. Follow the Podcast Follow the Trusted Pharmacist on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app so you get the latest episodes! If the show has been helpful, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts —or simply tell a friend about the show. Each time you share the show, you are potentially changing someone's life!

    46 min
See All (49)

About

The Trusted Pharmacist Podcast pulls back the curtain on the healthcare industry, exposing the flaws in the system and empowering listeners to take control of their health. Hosted by pharmacist Steve Hoffart, this show delivers science-backed insights, debunks medical myths, and highlights natural and medical solutions that truly work. Through candid solo episodes and expert interviews, Steve provides actionable advice on nutrition, supplements, and wellness strategies while advocating for meaningful change in healthcare. Whether you're looking to improve your health, understand your body's needs, or make sense of conflicting medical advice, this podcast is your go-to source for honest, practical information.

Information

  • Creator
    Steve Hoffart
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    49
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026
  • Show Website
    The Trusted Pharmacist

You Might Also Like