The fitness world is booming these days. You can see it in the popularity of CrossFit boxes, obstacle course and endurance events, and record-breaking gym construction. It’s encouraging. Inspiring even. But there’s also a downside to the rising gym memberships and event registrations. There are still too many people dealing with recurring patterns of breakdown,...
In our previous menopause post, I mused on some perspectives of menopause that are positive and affirming for women. However, I don’t want to downplay the fact that many women experience menopause as a difficult, frustrating, and even disempowering time. (Again, I am using “menopause” to include the perimenopausal period.) As I mentioned in the last...
For my entire athletic career, I considered the gold standard of recovery to be sleeping, resting on the couch watching T.V., and generally being still and inactive. Come on, what could be more effective than couch potato mode to recover from the hormonal and inflammatory stresses of marathon training runs or long days of extreme...
Last week, I linked to a story about a popular vegan blogger, author, and influencer who found herself going into menopause at the age of 37 despite doing “everything right.” She exercised, she ate raw, she avoided gluten and refined sugar, and, most importantly, she avoided all animal products. Now, this wasn’t a randomized controlled...
When you stop to think about it, mushrooms are remarkable. They’re closer to animals than plants on the tree of life. They can break down plastic and petroleum. The single largest organism on the planet is an underground honey fungus spanning almost 3 miles in the the state of Oregon. They carry messages along their underground fungal networks using...
Anxiety is normal. It’s something we all have experience with—to one degree or another. Most people are anxious about something that hangs over them and follows them around like a personal rain cloud. Then there’s the deeper but still familiar anxiety many of us carry. The anxiety about our self-worth. The anxiety of performance, of...
Folks, you know I’m a long-time believer in intermittent fasting for longevity, autophagy, mental clarity, fitness performance, metabolic health, and more. I’m excited that Dr. Jason Fung has stopped by the blog today to share a bit about common fasting mistakes. Enjoy! So, you’ve decided to add some fasting to your lifestyle. Excellent. No matter how much...
It seems every “keto for women” forum abounds with stories about menstrual cycles gone wild in the first few months of keto. Irregular cycles, breakthrough bleeding, and periods lasting much longer than normal are common complaints. Sometimes these stories are cited as evidence that keto isn’t good for women, at least not premenopausal women, and...
The relationship between stress and carbohydrates is confusing, with seemingly contradictory arguments bouncing around the online health sphere. There are those who say high-carb diets cause stress, and that eating more fat and fewer carbs is the solution. There are those who say high-fat diets increase stress and eating carbs ameliorates it. Who’s right? They can’t both be...
Ready for some hormone talk? In this episode, we chat with hormone health educator Candace Burch, founder of Your Hormone Balance, a consulting and hormone testing practice that helps women of all ages correct hormone imbalances. Because, here’s something you might not realize: hormones can wreak havoc on your health at any age. Hormones dictate...