The Power of Self-Compassion with Karen Bluth

Girls are having a rough go of it. A recent CDC report found 57% of teen girls felt persistently sad and hopeless in 2021, compared to 36% in 2011. Not only that, but a report last year found girls going to the ER for eating disorders nearly doubled during the pandemic. There's never been a more important time to help support our daughters, both emotionally and physically. Today's guest is full of strategies to help keep our girls out of dieting and body image pitfalls that often go hand in hand with mental health issues. Amelia Sherry is a New York-based dietitian with a master's in public health who counsels women and families. She is founder of the NourshHer, a site providing content that helps protect girls from disordered eating. Sherry compiles her best tips and advice in her new book, Diet Proof Your Daughter. We have a candid talk about her new book, ways to help girls, and what drives her to help parents raise girls to have a healthy relationship with food.

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.

Women talk about lots of topics, but vaginal health isn't typically one of them. Yet midlife is the perfect time to start the conversation because most women will experience vaginal issues. In fact, 60 percent of menopausal women have vaginal symptoms like dryness, and this goes up to 80% post-menopause. 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.