We’ve all seen the article or social media post declaring the “proven” benefits of intermittent fasting.

Cellular repair. Improved insulin sensitivity. A longer life with reduced risk of chronic disease. Increased metabolism and fat burning. 

Because of these strong claims, I’ve been wanting to do a deep dive on intermittent fasting for years now. So, in preparation for my latest book for midlife women, I finally did it.

And it revealed that the benefits of intermittent fasting are anything but a slam dunk.

So in this podcast episode I review all the details of my latest post about intermittent fasting.

Eat well, exercise, and sleep is all we seem to hear about. But there is another important yet underrated factor for health: breathing exercises.

Yep, the way we breathe can have a tremendous impact on our health in either direction–especially the duration and quality of sleep. This is vital as we age, making midlife the perfect time to invest in your breathing.

My latest podcast guest is sharing his experience and all that he has learned about the benefits of breathing.

Nick Heath is a PhD, type 1 diabetic, and certified instructor of the Oxygen Advantage. He was astounded to discover how targeted breathing exercises not only enhanced his energy levels but his diabetes management.

This led to the development of his site The Breathing Diabetic, which showcases his three key breathing principles along with supportive research.

In episode 38 of the Healthy Family Podcast, I sit down with Nick to find all that he has learned and get the details on his principles to maximize breathing.

Does it really take 66 days to build a healthy habit? Will there be a time we gain enough self-control or willpower to always eat nutritiously and exercise?

My podcast guest turns everything we thought we knew about healthy behavior change on its head. Not only that, but she also has the research to support it. And a new book.

Michelle Segar, PhD, is an award-winning, NIH-funded researcher at the University of Michigan with almost thirty years studying how to help people adopt healthy behaviors in ways that can survive the complexity and unpredictability of the real world.

Her new book, The Joy Choice: How to Finally Achieve Lasting Changes in Eating and Exercise, helps people make the mindset change they need to build and maintain healthy behaviors.

“The way we’ve been taught to approach dietary change and exercise is you do it right or you don’t do it at all,” she said during our interview. And this sets us up for failure because life always has other plans.

Her process is based on the emerging research on executive function along with decades of research showing what really motivates us to engage in healthy behaviors.

It’s about all those “choice points” and learning to make the perfect, imperfect decision that allows you do something instead of nothing. And most importantly, keep you moving forward instead of feeling defeated.

But it’s not just about some annoying symptoms. Compromised vaginal health has many health implications for women including painful intercourse, poor quality of life, recurrent UTIs, incontinence, and more.

In the world of social media, the work of Shirley Weir caught my eye. I couldn’t help but notice how she encouraged women to moisturize their vaginas. She brings midlife women’s issues like vaginal health front and center because doesn't want women to suffer needlessly.

“77 percent of women have questions about their health,” she said. “And 80% of women tell me they don’t have anyone to talk to about these questions pertaining to perimenopause, menopause, and post-menopause. So, there’s a lot of work to do.”

Shirley is the founder of Menopause Chicks, a private community for women going through perimenopause and menopause. Menopause Chicks provides tips and guidance to women with the aim to crack open the conversation around midlife health. She is also the author of Mokita: How to Navigate Perimenopause with Comfort and Ease.

We have a frank conversation about what every woman midlife needs to know about vaginal health along with a few other midlife topics sprinkled in.

Intuitive eating is needed more than ever during midlife. That’s because it helps redefine a woman’s relationship with food in ways that create sustainable change.

Whether it’s listening to your body, avoiding all or nothing thinking about food, or denouncing diet culture, as my guest says: “it’s really something that needs to come together for most women.”

I found Jenn Salib Huber on Instagram as I started navigating midlife health and nutrition. She’s a dietitian, naturopathic doctor, and intuitive eating coach. After her own experience with early perimenopause, she learned about intuitive eating and became well-versed in midlife health. Soon she realized this was how she wanted to help women.

Jenn has a large presence on Instagram, runs online classes for women, and recently started up The Midlife Feast, a podcast for women hungry for more.

We talk about both her personal and professional experience with midlife, what to expect at perimenopause, nutrition, common body changes and challenges, and how intuitive eating fits in it all.

What happens when two dietitian-friends who are also writers go through menopause together? They write a book, of course.

Elizabeth Ward and Hillary Wright are coauthors of the new book The Menopause Diet Plan: A Natural Guide to Managing Hormones, Health, and Happiness. Their book highlights key research regarding nutrition and hormone changes at midlife, their own personal experience, and tasty and nutritious meal plans and recipes.

Elizabeth (Liz) is a registered dietitian, writer, recipe developer, and nutrition consultant specializing in nutrition communications. She is the author of several books including Expect the Best: Your Guide to Healthy Eating Before, During and After Pregnancy.

Hillary is the Director for Nutrition Counseling for the Domar Center for Mind/Body Health in Waltham, MA, where she specializes in nutrition and women’s health, and diabetes prevention. She is the author of two other books including The Prediabetes Diet Plan: How to Reverse Prediabetes and Prevent Diabetes through Healthy Eating and Exercise 

This was timely as I’m currently in the process of researching nutrition for my book for women in midlife. We sat down to talk about nutrition during menopause and why it matters.

A woman’s body changes at midlife as does her feelings about her body. Many women become unhappy with these changes while others find them freeing. Either way, how women choose to live in their bodies as they age is important to their health and well-being.

Body image is important because it lays the groundwork for both physical and emotional self-care women need at this time. If a woman fights her body, it can be harder to give it what it needs. And bodies speak up a lot during midlife demanding attention whether we women like it or not.

To help me find answers, I interviewed Hillary McBride who holds a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of British Columbia, as well as a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology. She works as a therapist and has advanced training in trauma, eating disorders, body image, and marriage and relationship therapy. She is the author of Mothers, Daughters and Body image, Embodiment and Eating Disorders, and the upcoming book This is My Body.

We talk about her book, the many facets of body image, and what this all means at midlife.

Estrogen plays an important role in a woman’s body. During very early perimenopause, levels fluctuate and can often be higher than normal. But as women approach menopause (about 2 years before their final period) estrogen starts to decline. By two years after the final period, estrogen levels are depleted.

This decline in estrogen brings on many symptoms women can feel such as hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, fatigue, and memory problems. But it also brings symptoms they cannot feel like weakening bones and increased risk of heart disease.

The problem is that there are many misconceptions and unfounded fears about taking estrogen. Not only that, most doctors are not up on the latest research and have little experience giving hormones like estrogen when it’s needed. To clear up the confusion, we have Dr. Mache Seibel.

Dr. Mache Seibel is an international health expert and leading authority on women’s wellness and menopause. He is author of The Estrogen Fix and The Estrogen Window and founder of The Hot Years: My Menopause Magazine.