Explore every episode of the podcast The Habit Healers

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

Can two meals with identical nutrition labels affect your insulin, blood sugar, and metabolism differently? A new study on ultra-processed foods says yes, and I think it changes how you should read every package in your kitchen.

In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I walk you through a fascinating experiment. Researchers built two trays, one ultra-processed and one less processed, matched on calories, carbs, fat, protein, fiber, sodium, and even glycemic index. Blood sugar came out about the same after both. But insulin ran higher after the ultra-processed meal, the body was slower to switch to burning the carbs it had just eaten, and brain scans showed people’s reward areas sizing up the two kinds of food differently. I also take you back to Wilbur Atwater, the scientist whose calorie numbers are still on your food labels 130 years later, to explain why counting calories and macros only tells part of the story. Then I give you a simple, practical way to act on all of this tonight.

What you’ll learn:

* Why ultra-processed foods can raise insulin even when blood sugar looks normal

* What metabolic flexibility is and how food processing may affect it

* Why a continuous glucose monitor alone can miss what’s happening with insulin

* How to identify ultra-processed foods with a one-look test of the ingredient list

* Easy whole food swaps for cereal, bread, chips, and other packaged foods

* Why “high protein” or “made with whole grains” on the front of the box doesn’t tell you how a food was made

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/how-to-tell-if-a-food-is-ultra-processed

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Healthy holiday eating gets so much easier when you decide what you’ll do before you’re hungry, tired, and sitting at someone else’s table. In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I’m sharing a simple four-line plan to help you handle holiday stress, travel, and family food pressure without giving up the meals and traditions you love.

Most of us plan the holiday menu, but the hardest moments usually happen around the food: the dinner that runs two hours late, the long road trip with no lunch stop, the cousin who comments on your plate. I’ll show you how professional cooks prepare before the dinner rush, and how you can borrow that same idea to get ready for the season. We’ll walk through what the research says about deciding ahead of time, then I’ll share three real-life plans from start to finish, including how to politely decline seconds and how to make room for connection when the holidays feel lonely.

I’ll also tell you about Healthy Through the Holidays and Into the New Year, a nine-week experience we’re doing together on Substack from November 9 through January 10.

What you’ll learn:

* A four-blank plan for healthy eating during the holidays that takes minutes to write

* How to eat well on a holiday road trip without packing your whole kitchen

* A simple, kind way to say no to seconds without hurting anyone’s feelings

* How to plan ahead for holiday loneliness and quiet afternoons

* Why deciding in advance helps you avoid holiday weight gain and stress more than willpower does

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/how-to-take-care-of-yourself-through

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Chronic back pain that has lasted for years, plus an MRI that says disc degeneration or a disc bulge, can make it feel like your spine is simply wearing out. In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I walk you through a clinical trial of pain reprocessing therapy that tells a very different story about chronic low back pain relief.

I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and here’s what I want you to know: the findings on your scan are very common in backs that don’t hurt at all. By age 50, eight in ten adults without back pain show disc degeneration, and six in ten show disc bulges. In the trial, people who had lived with back pain for about ten years spent four weeks learning to treat their pain as safe, and two out of three finished pain free or nearly pain free without anyone treating a disc. A year later, they were still doing far better than the groups that didn’t get the therapy.

I’ll also share a surprising traffic experiment that explains how pain can keep going with nothing wrong underneath it, and a practical, doctor-guided way to try this approach yourself. This is back pain relief without surgery, rooted in how your brain and nervous system process pain.

What you’ll learn:

* Why disc degeneration and disc bulges on an MRI often don’t explain chronic back pain

* How pain reprocessing therapy works and what the trial actually found

* How fear of movement and the belief that pain means damage can keep pain going

* Which warning signs need a doctor, or emergency care, first

* How to find a clinician trained in pain reprocessing therapy and check your progress at four weeks

* Why another scan or the same routine rarely brings lasting relief

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/can-years-of-back-pain-be-unlearned

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Are lectins in beans dangerous? Can you cook dried kidney beans in a slow cooker? Here’s the truth: your beans were never the problem. The problem is a pot that never boiled long enough.

In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I walk you through a file of kidney bean poisonings that public health investigators collected over nearly thirteen years, most of them in ordinary home kitchens, including one where the beans had been cooked for two full hours. You’ll learn what phytohemagglutinin is, why raw kidney beans carry so much more lectin activity than cooked ones, and why temperature matters far more than minutes when it comes to destroying it. I also share what potters learned about trusting heat, and why a soft bean can fool you into thinking it’s done. If you love a plant-forward diet and want to cook dried beans with confidence, this one is for you.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

* Why cooking kidney beans in a slow cooker on low isn’t enough to break down the lectin

* How to soak and boil dried beans so the lectin is gone

* Why a rolling boil, held long enough, is your kitchen’s safety check

* How pressure cookers and canned beans fit into safe bean cooking

* How to cook beans at high altitude, where water boils at a lower temperature

* The signs of bean lectin poisoning and when to see a doctor

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/are-the-lectins-in-beans-dangerous

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Should you take a GLP-1 like semaglutide (Wegovy)? Before you ask whether these weight loss drugs work, I want you to ask a better question: how much risk did the people in the studies actually have, and do you have that same risk?

In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I walk you through the big semaglutide heart study, what it really showed about preventing heart attack and stroke, and why the benefit didn’t track with the number on the scale. Then I take you back to 1959, when insect scientists taught farmers to count before they sprayed, and show you why that same idea applies to any preventive medication, including the GLP-1 drugs everyone is talking about. We look at what happened with daily aspirin, what these drugs can cost you in muscle and bone, and why so many people stop within a year. I’m not here to tell you yes or no. I’m here to help you walk into your doctor’s office with your own numbers.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

* Who semaglutide is proven to help, including people with heart disease, obesity, and fatty liver disease with scarring

* What “independent of weight loss” really means for heart protection

* How to tell a big benefit from a small one using simple numbers

* The GLP-1 side effects that matter most: nausea, muscle loss, and hip and pelvis fractures

* Why using a GLP-1 as a short term reset leads to weight regain

* The 8-step GLP-1 Threshold Check, starting with your A1c, eGFR, and BMI

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/should-we-all-be-taking-a-glp-1

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Thank you Sloane, Catherine Wyatt-Morley, Heather in 🇬🇷, MB Parker, David Hawkins, and many others for tuning into my live video with Chef Martin Oswald! Join me for my next live video in the app.

Menopause brain fog can feel like early dementia, but the research tells a much more hopeful story. I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and in this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I’m breaking down what’s really behind perimenopause brain fog, forgetfulness, and memory lapses in midlife, and which causes you can start treating now.

If you’ve been losing words, rereading emails, or quietly worrying about Alzheimer’s, I want you to hear this. In a large study of women in their 40s and 50s, learning slowed during the menopause transition and then recovered after menopause. And the symptoms most tied to lower memory scores weren’t the ones most of us would guess. Anxiety and low mood stood out, and night sweats that wake you still matter. We talk about menopause insomnia and why sleep therapy can work even while hot flashes continue, the common sleep aids and medications that can cloud your thinking, and what the trials actually show about hormone therapy and memory. Then I walk you through a simple 8-step protocol so you can find your own causes, one at a time.

What you’ll learn:

* Why menopause brain fog is not a sign of early dementia, and the warning signs that do need a doctor

* How anxiety, low mood, and night sweats connect to memory problems in perimenopause

* Why CBT for insomnia helps menopause sleep problems even with ongoing hot flashes

* Which over-the-counter sleep aids and medications can make brain fog worse

* What hormone therapy, fezolinetant, and elinzanetant can and can’t do for your memory

* How to use a two-week sleep and fog log to choose your first step

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/menopause-brain-and-the-8-steps-that

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Strength training for beginners doesn’t have to mean rows of machines and hours at the gym. In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I walk you through a simple full-body workout you do twice a week: six lifts that work every major muscle group in about an hour a week.

If you’ve put off lifting weights because it seemed like more time than you have, this one is for you. We talk about why a single compound exercise like the squat can train several muscles at once, what a “hard set” really is, and why light weights can build muscle too when you take each set close to your last good rep. I also share what the research shows about strength training after 50, including women past menopause with thin bones whose spines got denser on just two 30-minute sessions a week, and frail adults around 90 whose thigh strength nearly tripled. And I cover how to lift safely if you have osteoporosis, a past spine fracture, or heart disease, so you can start with confidence.

What you’ll learn:

* The six lifts, and the six directions of movement that cover every major muscle group

* How to recognize a hard set, and why you don’t need to train to failure to build muscle

* Why two short full-body workouts a week are enough for muscle and strength

* What the research says about strength training, longevity, and lower death rates

* How to adjust for osteoporosis, bone density concerns, and knee or shoulder pain

* A simple wall drill you can do tonight to learn the hip hinge

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/get-stronger-in-about-an-hour-a-week

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Why do some people catch every cold that goes around while others never seem to get sick? On this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I’m sharing research that changed how I think about your immune system and the common cold, and it has nothing to do with vitamin C.

When healthy volunteers were given a cold virus on purpose, the people with more kinds of relationships got sick far less often. Not more friends, more kinds of connection: family, neighbors, coworkers, a club, a faith community. The virus still got in. Their bodies just handled it better. I’ll walk you through how this study worked, why the total number of people in your life didn’t seem to matter, and what a banana crop wiped out by a soil fungus has to do with your social health.

We’ll also talk about what hugs did and didn’t do for cold protection, why life changes like retirement or an empty nest can quietly shrink your social circle, and the simplest way to start rebuilding it before cold and flu season hits.

What you’ll learn:

* Why social connection may matter as much as sleep for avoiding the common cold

* The difference between having many people and many kinds of relationships

* How hugs and feeling supported related to infection when stress was high

* Why loneliness and social isolation can creep in even when your calendar is full

* A two-minute self-check to score your own social diversity

* One phone call you can make tonight to support your immune system naturally

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/does-your-social-life-accidentally

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

At one point, I asked Chef Martin Oswald whether restaurant kitchens had robots doing all the prep. Not yet, he told me. A little later, as tray after tray of cooked vegetables appeared on his counter, I decided he must at least own a magic oven.

If batch cooking has ever sounded like three days of the same finished meal, this session asked a better question. Could the repetitive work happen once without deciding every dinner in advance?

The speed did not come from cooking three finished dinners at once. It came from doing one kind of work once, then letting the ingredients take different directions later.

Martin had spent about 50 minutes preparing food for three people for the next three days. He did not line up 40 identical containers. He roasted vegetables in groups, cooked red rice, made a vegetable stock, and kept beans, tofu, hummus, and sauces ready to change the character of each meal.

That is batch cooking I can imagine using.

Cook by behavior

Martin began with the vegetables that take the longest. Carrots, potatoes, parsnips, and celeriac went together because they were firm and would roast at a similar pace. He cut them to roughly the same thickness, which helped them finish together.

Broccoli, Napa cabbage, zucchini, and tender squash needed a different plan. Some cook quickly because they are softer or contain more water. Martin showed how the cut can move an ingredient from one tray to another. A thick piece of squash could roast beside the roots. A thin slice could finish with the broccoli.

For this demonstration, he used a 400°F oven. The firmer tray went in first, and he prepared the quicker-cooking tray while it roasted. He estimated roughly 12 to 20 minutes for the batches, depending on the vegetables, their thickness, and the oven. The clock was a guide. The vegetables still had to be checked.

Even the scraps had somewhere to go. Mushroom stems and carrot peelings joined onion, garlic, bay leaf, and tomato in a vegetable stock. The work that usually feels like cleanup became the beginning of another meal.

Keep the meal unfinished

The familiar problem with meal prep is not only the chopping. It is opening the refrigerator on day three and seeing the same dinner staring back at you.

Martin avoids that by storing useful parts instead of deciding every meal in advance. He groups cooked ingredients by seasoning, then chooses what a meal will become when it is time to eat.

The first plate used hummus as a base for a mix of roasted broccoli, squash, onion, tofu, carrot, eggplant, potato, and cauliflower. The next moved in a Mediterranean direction with kidney beans, fennel, eggplant, tofu, tahini, and ajvar, the smoky pepper and eggplant sauce Martin mentioned during the live.

The same preparation became a bean stew when he warmed kidney beans, squash, roasted onion, garlic, and vegetable stock with a different spice blend. Then red rice, broccoli, Napa cabbage, tofu, apple, lime, soy sauce, and sriracha became a stir-fry.

The vegetables had not changed. The supporting ingredients and flavor direction had.

That is why sauce matters so much in this method. Martin made a quick tahini sauce with garlic, lemon, cumin, and sriracha. He also used ajvar and a few other strong flavor builders. A spoonful of sauce was not an afterthought. It was the turn that sent the same tray toward a different dinner.

Try the restaurant sequence

You do not need Martin’s magic oven or a restaurant-sized refrigerator. Start with this smaller version.

* Choose two vegetable groups. Put firm roots in one and quicker-cooking vegetables in the other. Cut the pieces within each group to a similar thickness.

* Start the firm vegetables first. Prepare the quicker group while the first tray roasts.

* Add one flexible base such as beans, tofu, hummus, or a cooked grain, plus one sauce you already enjoy.

* Keep the components separate enough to change direction. Build a bowl today, a quick stew tomorrow, and a stir-fry the next day.

* Cool the cooked food in shallow containers and refrigerate it within two hours. The USDA advises using most cooked leftovers within three to four days and reheating them to 165°F.

The practical choice is surprisingly small. Do not ask yourself to predict every meal for the week. Ask which prep job you would be relieved not to repeat tomorrow.

Martin’s answer was the chopping and roasting. Once that work was finished, dinner stopped being a project and became a choice among ingredients that were already waiting.

References:

* Chef Martin Oswald’s Rustic, Smoky Ajvar

* Chef Martin’s Cook Smarter, Not Harder, the companion article he mentioned during the session, and Chef Martin’s Healing Kitchen for his recipe collection

If you want help turning practical ideas like this into habits you can keep, join Chef Martin and me in The Habit Healers community on Skool.

Does intermittent fasting actually work, or does 16:8 fasting just help you eat less? On this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I’m walking you through what the research on time-restricted eating really shows about weight loss, autophagy, and metabolic health.

If you’ve been keeping an eating window and wondering whether those fasting hours are doing something special in your body, this one is for you. I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and we’ll start with what happens after dinner: the metabolic switch from your last meal to stored fat, the cellular recycling process called autophagy, and how your circadian rhythm changes the way you handle food at different hours. Then we’ll look at what happened when researchers matched calories and changed only the timing, and why a story from cardiology in the 1980s is a useful warning about trusting a number just because you can count it. My goal isn’t to talk you out of fasting. It’s to help you judge it by what you can actually see.

What you’ll learn:

* Why time-restricted eating often works by quietly cutting calories

* What calorie-matched intermittent fasting trials found for weight loss and body fat

* What human research shows about autophagy, and what it doesn’t

* How an early eating window improved insulin sensitivity in one small, tightly controlled study

* Why tracking your strength matters if you’re fasting for weight loss

* Who should talk to their doctor first, including anyone taking insulin or sulfonylureas

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/does-fasting-work-because-you-ate

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Does a light box for seasonal affective disorder really work, or did yours just never get a fair trial? In this episode, I walk through the research on light therapy for winter depression and the simple mistakes that keep it from working.

On this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I take you back to the early experiments showing that bright light, not ordinary room light, changes how the body responds. Then we look at a clever trial that put a 10,000 lux light box head to head with a common antidepressant, and the results surprised a lot of people. A recent depression treatment guideline now lists bright light as a first choice for depression that comes back every winter.

Here’s the part most people miss: the dose depends on how far you sit. Many light boxes only reach 10,000 lux a few inches from your face, and many ads show people sitting much too far away. I’ll walk you through how to choose a light box, when to use it, how long to sit, and how to tell whether it’s working, so you can treat seasonal depression with real evidence behind you.

What you’ll learn:

* How bright light therapy compared with an antidepressant for seasonal affective disorder

* Why distance from your light box changes the dose

* How to choose a 10,000 lux light box with white light and a UV filter

* Why morning light therapy works better than evening sessions

* Why it can take four weeks to judge whether light therapy is working

* Who should talk to a doctor before using a light box for depression

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/can-a-bright-lamp-in-the-morning

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Is testosterone for women after menopause worth trying? If an online clinic has promised you that a testosterone cream will fix your low libido, energy, and weight, this episode looks at what the research actually shows.

On this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I’m walking you through more than thirty years of studies on testosterone therapy for women. We start with a surprising experiment involving blindfolded violinists, because it explains why you can’t judge a hormone fairly when you know you’re taking it. Then we look at what happened in placebo-controlled trials, what really happens to your testosterone at menopause, and why a blood test can’t tell you whether you need it.

Here’s what I want you to know: testosterone has one proven use after menopause, and it isn’t energy, brain fog, mood, or weight loss. If low sex drive in menopause is what’s bothering you, I’ll share where testosterone fits, why estrogen usually comes first, and how to set up a fair trial with your doctor so you know whether it’s working.

What you’ll learn:

* Why testosterone in women doesn’t crash at natural menopause

* What placebo-controlled trials found about testosterone for low libido after menopause

* Why a testosterone blood test can’t diagnose low sexual desire

* How an estrogen patch or gel differs from an estrogen pill in its effect on your own testosterone

* Why no testosterone product has FDA approval for women, and what the FDA is still asking about safety

* How to dose, monitor, and set a stop date for a fair testosterone trial

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/do-women-need-testosterone-after

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Can you reverse type 2 diabetes? And why do some thin people develop insulin resistance and high blood sugar while others at a much higher weight have perfect labs? I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and in this episode I walk you through the personal fat threshold, the idea that changed how I think about type 2 diabetes remission.

For fifty years we were told diabetes was about how much fat you carry. The research from Professor Roy Taylor at Newcastle University points somewhere else: where your body stores it. I use a simple picture, a bathtub, to explain why each of us has a different limit for safe fat storage, and what happens when it overflows into the liver and pancreas. That overflow drives fatty liver, insulin resistance, and rising blood sugar, even at a normal BMI.

Here’s the hopeful part. The insulin-producing beta cells in your pancreas may not be gone. They may be resting, and the science suggests they can wake back up. I also share a few small daily habits that help lower blood sugar naturally, without overhauling your life.

In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, you’ll learn:

* What the personal fat threshold is, and why BMI misses your real type 2 diabetes risk

* How fat in the liver and pancreas drives insulin resistance, known as the Twin Cycle

* Why beta cells can recover, and what that means for type 2 diabetes remission

* How much weight loss the research links to remission: about 22 to 33 pounds for most people

* How quickly liver fat and fasting blood sugar can respond

* Four micro-habits for better blood sugar control: a pre-meal pantry staple, a seated calf movement, meal order, and evening light

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/why-can-a-150-pound-man-get-diabetes

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Relative risk vs absolute risk: it’s the one distinction that changes how you read every health headline. In this episode, I’m walking you through how to read a medical study, so a big percentage in the news never misleads you again.

Welcome to The Habit Healers Podcast. I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and this is week two of Mini Medical School, where we’re learning to understand medical research together. Today we’re in the Results section, the part of a paper most people skip, and the part that tells you the most.

I’ll show you why a drug that “cuts risk in half” may only change your personal risk by one percentage point, and where to find the raw numbers that headlines leave out. We’ll talk about what a p-value really measures, why statistically significant does not always mean clinically significant, and how to read a confidence interval so you can tell a precise result from a shaky one. Then I’ll give you the most useful tool of all, the number needed to treat, or NNT, which tells you how many people have to take a treatment for one person to benefit.

You don’t need a math background for any of this. You just need to know which numbers to look for.

What you’ll learn:

* The difference between relative risk and absolute risk, and how to calculate absolute risk reduction yourself

* Where to find the real numbers in a medical study (skip the summary, go to the tables)

* What a p-value of 0.05 means, and what it doesn’t

* Statistical significance vs clinical significance: is the effect real, and does it matter?

* How to read a 95% confidence interval and spot the “line of no effect”

* How to use the number needed to treat (NNT) to weigh a treatment’s benefit against its side effects and cost

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/why-you-should-never-trust-a-percentage

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Menopause joint pain can change how exercise feels almost overnight. In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I sit down with sports scientist and personal trainer Patricia Siegel to talk about strength training and exercise during menopause, and what to do when your body starts responding differently.

I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and this one is personal. I ran a personal best at the Boston Half Marathon with my daughter. Shortly afterward, around the time of my last period, I developed horrible joint pain. Activities I had done for years suddenly came with real discomfort. Being told to simply keep exercising didn’t help, because I already wanted to move. What I needed was to know how.

Patricia is a former competitive runner who coaches midlife women in strength and endurance. We talk about building a menopause workout plan around the week you actually have, what to do when you slept poorly or feel exhausted, and how to keep getting stronger without guessing. You don’t have to get this perfect. You just have to start.

What you’ll learn:

- The two questions Patricia asks to build a realistic weekly exercise routine for midlife women

- A simple three-day starting point: two strength training sessions plus one walk with short stretches of jogging, swimming, or cycling

- How to adjust a workout on low-energy days without cramming the missed session into a crowded week

- Why recording your weights and repetitions helps you build strength during menopause

- How to set fitness goals beyond the scale, like climbing stairs or getting out of a chair

- One tiny habit to begin with: a lunch break walkDr. Marbas Substack: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/aboutMeet Patricia and keep learning

Patricia Siegel is the author of The Menopause Strength and Endurance Training Blueprint, forthcoming from Johns Hopkins University Press in Spring 2028, and a STRONG Fitness Magazine columnist. She is a sports scientist and a personal trainer at the Santa Barbara Athletic Club, based in Arroyo Grande, California, who coaches midlife women in person in Santa Barbara and virtually on strength and endurance. She runs The Menopause Training Blueprint on Substack and is a contributor for Sixty and Me.

You can read and subscribe to The Menopause Training Blueprint and learn about her coaching at PatriciaSiegel.com.

I ran a personal best at the Boston Half Marathon with my daughter. Shortly afterward, around the time of my last period, I developed horrible joint pain. Activities I had done for years suddenly came with significant discomfort.

I shared that experience with Patricia Siegel because advice to simply keep exercising can leave out something important. You may already want to move. You may have been moving for decades. What you need help with is figuring out how to continue when your body responds differently.

Patricia is a sports scientist, personal trainer, and former competitive runner who coaches midlife women in strength and endurance. In our conversation, we talked about what to do when the workout you think you should be doing does not fit the week you are actually having.

Start with the week you have

When I asked Patricia how to help someone who feels overwhelmed, she started with two questions. How many days can you set aside? How much time do you have on those days?

Those answers give her somewhere to begin. In the example we discussed, a woman with three available days might start with two strength sessions and one session of walking with short stretches of jogging. Someone who dislikes running could choose swimming or cycling instead.

That was a starting example she would adapt to the person. Strength work and aerobic activity both belong in a weekly routine, but you do not have to begin with the full schedule of an experienced athlete.

And enjoyment deserves a place in the decision. Patricia and I discovered that neither of us has much affection for the treadmill. I would much rather be outside. If the activity you picked makes you dread starting, it is worth considering another way to move.

Leave room to adjust

Making a schedule is only the beginning. You still have to decide what to do when you slept poorly, feel exhausted, or cannot manage the workout you planned.

Patricia described days when she tells a client to rest or replaces a planned strength session with a walk. She asks how the woman feels the next day and adjusts from there. There is no instruction to squeeze the missed workout into an already crowded week.

This has been a difficult lesson for Patricia herself. As a competitive athlete, she was accustomed to pushing through. She spoke candidly about how hard it can be to loosen that expectation when you are used to measuring commitment by how much you can endure.

That is why her next question is how the client feels after the adjustment. The answer helps her decide how to resume training. She can keep working toward a demanding goal while changing what she asks of someone on a difficult day.

Keep a record of what you can do

Adjusting a workout today can sit alongside a longer-term goal of getting stronger. Patricia has clients record the weights they use and pays attention to how many repetitions they can manage with good form. That gives them something specific to compare over time.

It also helps them choose the next challenge. When an exercise becomes easier, they can discuss whether to add weight or repetitions instead of guessing from memory.

We talked about looking beyond the scale, too. Getting out of a chair, climbing stairs, or reaching an overhead shelf gives strength a purpose you can recognize in your day. Those are useful goals to name when you are deciding why you want to train.

Before your next week begins, write down the days and time you can give to movement, one activity you enjoy, and one everyday task you would like to make easier. After a workout, jot down what you did and how it felt. Now you have something to build on and something to adjust.

At the end of our conversation, I asked Patricia for one tiny habit. She suggested a walk during a lunch break, perhaps with a colleague. You can begin with a place for movement in your day, then build your training around the time, capacity, and goals you have.

Meet Patricia and keep learning

Patricia Siegel is the author of The Menopause Strength and Endurance Training Blueprint, forthcoming from Johns Hopkins University Press in Spring 2028, and a STRONG Fitness Magazine columnist. She is a sports scientist and a personal trainer at the Santa Barbara Athletic Club, based in Arroyo Grande, California, who coaches midlife women in person in Santa Barbara and virtually on strength and endurance. She runs The Menopause Training Blueprint on Substack and is a contributor for Sixty and Me.

You can read and subscribe to The Menopause Training Blueprint and learn about her coaching at PatriciaSiegel.com.

Chef Martin Oswald placed each halved plum skin-side down across a crumbly walnut crust. That one small move kept the juice inside the fruit as it baked, but it also explained the larger idea behind our latest cooking session.

He was not trying to make a familiar dessert better by simply taking things away. He kept asking what each ingredient needed to do. The walnuts had to bring richness and texture. The oats had to help the crust hold together. The plums had to supply tartness, sweetness, color, and moisture. Even the skins had a job.

By the time Martin finished, one seasonal fruit had become three very different dishes. We had a tart, an Austrian plum compote, and a crisp salad. The plums were baked, cooked down, and served fresh, yet each version still felt connected to the others.

Begin with texture

Martin started the tart crust with walnuts, but he stopped grinding while they were still crumbly. Take them too far and you have walnut butter. Stop at the right moment and those little pieces help create the delicate bite you expect from streusel.

He mixed the walnuts with oat flour, applesauce, cashew butter, date syrup, and warm spices. The mixture was not meant to look like a smooth dough. It stayed loose and flaky, then was pressed into the bottom of the pan before baking.

That was the first useful lesson. When you change a familiar recipe, you still have to account for the jobs the original ingredients performed. Butter would normally add richness and help create texture. Martin used walnuts and a small amount of cashew butter for richness, while oats and applesauce helped the crust come together. He was not chasing an imitation. He was rebuilding the crust’s richness and delicate texture with different ingredients.

Then came the plums. He chose firm fruit rather than the softest, juiciest pieces, halved and pitted them, and arranged them closely over the crust. A little cinnamon went over the top. The skins stayed on, so the fruit held its shape and its deep purple color remained part of the dessert.

Let time change the fruit

The second dish began with the same plums but produced an entirely different result. Martin made Zwetschkenröster, an Austrian plum compote that cooks until the fruit becomes dark, glossy, and intensely flavored.

He used only a small amount of water to get the cooking started, then let the plums release their own juice. Ground cinnamon, ground clove, and finely grated lemon zest stayed in the pot instead of being removed at the end. As the fruit softened, some pieces collapsed while others remained visible.

This was not just another dessert topping. Martin showed how the compote could move between meals. It could be spooned over oatmeal or toast, served beside a dessert, or used where you might otherwise reach for a chutney. Once it was in the refrigerator, it became a building block for other dishes.

Keep one version crisp

The third dish brought the plums back to their fresh state. Martin combined them with Belgian endive, peppery greens, purple cauliflower, red onion, and nuts. The result had sweetness from the plums, bitterness from the greens, acidity in the dressing, and crunch from the vegetables and nuts.

The clever connection was the dressing. Martin turned some of the cooked plum mixture into a dressing with vinegar, lemon, herbs, and a modest amount of olive oil. The compote gave the dressing body and tied the raw salad to the two cooked dishes that came before it.

With the tart, firm plum halves held their shape as they gave the dessert moisture. In the compote, heat concentrated the plum flavor and softened some pieces while leaving others intact. In the salad, the plums stayed raw, and the compote in the dressing tied that dish back to the cooked versions. Each cooking method revealed something different about the same fruit.

Try the three-question habit

The next time you bring home a seasonal fruit or vegetable, pause before deciding it has only one destination. Ask what could stay fresh, what could be baked, and what could be cooked down into something you can use again.

Keep an edible skin when it suits the dish. Taste the fruit before adding sweetness. Pay attention to whether an ingredient is there for flavor, moisture, richness, structure, or crunch. Those questions can turn a single purchase into several meals without making any of them feel repetitive.

Recipe link and additional resources

You can find the complete measurements, corrected cooking times, and all three recipes in Martin’s post Zwetschken Three Ways, A Seasonal Poly Boost.

If you want more practical cooking ideas like these, join Chef Martin and me in The Habit Healers community on Skool.

Smartphone addiction isn’t a willpower problem. In this episode, I explain why you can’t stop checking your phone, what all that screen time is doing to your brain, your sleep, and your relationships, and how to break the habit with a simple digital detox plan.

I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and on this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast we’re looking at how the phone went from a tool we use to a tool that uses us. I walk you through the dopamine loop behind every notification, the same variable reward pattern slot machines rely on, and why it overrides the part of your brain responsible for self-control. We talk about why Gen Z, the first generation to go through adolescence with a smartphone, reports the highest rates of anxiety, depression, and loneliness. Then we get into the physical side: text neck, blue light and melatonin, and the poor sleep that sends you right back to doomscrolling. We also look at what a phone on the dinner table does to your attention and to the people you love. You are not weak. You’re outmatched, and there are small, practical ways to take your attention back.

What you’ll learn:

* Why phone addiction works like a slot machine, and how dopamine keeps you checking

* Why teens and young adults are more vulnerable to smartphone addiction

* How text neck can put up to 60 pounds of load on your cervical spine

* How blue light from screens suppresses melatonin and disrupts your sleep

* What “phubbing” and “technoference” do to your focus and your relationships

* Five steps to reduce screen time, including grayscale mode, a phone-free bedroom, and urge surfing

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/why-the-two-pound-phone-was-better

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Is willpower really a limited resource that runs out by the end of the day? If you’ve ever said “I’ve got nothing left” right before giving in at night, this episode on the science of willpower and self-control is for you.

I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and on this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast I walk you through one of the most famous ideas in psychology, often called ego depletion: the belief that every temptation you resist drains your willpower like a battery. It started in a room with fresh-baked cookies and a bowl of radishes, and it spread into business, law, marketing, and medicine. Then researchers put it through large, careful tests, with the rules written down in advance. What they found may change how you hear that worn-out feeling after a hard day.

Along the way, you’ll meet a horse in 1904 Berlin who seemed to do math, and you’ll see why his story explains so much about self-control research. Feeling that your day was hard is one thing. Deciding your willpower is used up is another.

What you’ll learn:

* Where the idea that willpower runs out came from, and what the original cookie and radish experiment never measured

* What happened when dozens of labs retested ego depletion under stricter rules in 2016 and 2021

* Why feeling mentally drained after a hard task did not reliably mean people did worse afterward

* Why a sugary drink is not a proven way to boost willpower

* What newer research found about believing your willpower is unlimited

* Why hitting that “I’m done” feeling is not a sign of weakness

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/did-your-brain-accidentally-decide

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Osteopenia, a DEXA scan showing bone loss, and a prescription for Fosamax: that’s where Peggy was at 69. Two and a half years later, her bone density scan showed a 6.2 percent gain in her left hip. In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I walk you through her story and what it can teach you about bone health after menopause.

I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and I want to be honest about what Peggy’s scans can and can’t tell us. She changed more than a dozen things, from daily prunes and tofu to vitamin D and a lot of heavy lifting, so we can’t say which one moved her hip. What we do know is that bone builds where it is loaded, and strength training for osteoporosis and osteopenia has the clearest trial evidence behind it. I’ll show you how to read your own bone density report, where your FRAX score fits into the medication conversation, and the six everyday movements Peggy built into ordinary days. As she put it, “I quit treating myself as fragile.”

What you’ll learn:

* How to tell whether a change on your DEXA scan is real, using the “least significant change” printed on your report

* What a FRAX score is, and the 10 year fracture risk levels where US guidelines consider medication for osteopenia

* Why heavy loading builds bone, and what a supervised lifting trial showed in postmenopausal women with low bone mass

* Six weight bearing and strength exercises for bone density: loaded carries, counter squats, hip hinges, balance practice, stairs, and lifting twice a week

* How balance training lowers fall risk, since most broken bones in older adults happen in a fall

* How to start safely if you have osteoporosis or a past spine fracture

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/her-dexa-scan-said-bone-loss-she

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Low testosterone isn’t just about age. If your lab results came back low, you’ve probably been told it’s simply part of getting older. In this episode, I break down what the research actually shows about what lowers testosterone in men, and which changes are tied to the biggest shifts.

I count down five common suspects, from the smallest effect to the largest: exercise, a new diagnosis, age, short sleep, and body weight. The research I walk you through followed the same men over four years, which lets us see what happens when one man’s habits change instead of comparing different men at one moment. I also cover a sleep lab study where one week of five-hour nights dropped testosterone more than a decade of aging did. And you’ll hear why weight loss was tied to the biggest rise of all, including what happened when men lost weight on purpose through diet or surgery.

If you’re weighing whether to live with low T or start testosterone replacement therapy, I want you to hear this first. There may be more in your control than you think.

What you’ll learn:

* Why age explains only a small part of declining testosterone in men

* How one week of poor sleep can lower testosterone by about 10%

* How losing 5% to 10% of your body weight can raise testosterone naturally

* The difference between total testosterone, free testosterone, and SHBG

* Why more exercise alone didn’t clearly raise testosterone in middle-aged men

* A realistic first weight loss target for better men’s hormone health

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/getting-older-barely-lowers-testosterone

Members can put this into practice with the three-week Points Plan and printable tracker in the companion article.

Is sugar addictive, or is something else driving your sugar cravings and binge eating? In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I look at the famous rat studies behind the idea of sugar addiction, and what they actually tested.

Here’s the part most people miss. The rats that looked “addicted” only showed those signs when sugar and food came and went on a strict schedule. Rats with sugar available all day drank about the same amount and didn’t show the same pattern. I’ll explain why the toilet paper shortage of 2020 is a surprisingly good way to understand the restrict-binge cycle. I’ll also cover what the research in people shows, and why announcing a diet can make some of us eat more before it even starts. If you’ve ever tried to quit sugar and ended up bingeing the night before, this one is for you.

What you’ll learn:

* Why the rat research on sugar addiction depends on restriction and timing, not the sugar itself

* How the evidence on food addiction in people compares, and why it is much thinner

* Why a start date for a diet or sugar ban can set up a binge

* How to stop binge eating at night by closing long gaps between meals

* The Steady Shelf Protocol, a step-by-step plan to break the binge cycle without banning sweets

* When binge eating may be binge eating disorder, and when to talk to your doctor

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/did-your-sugar-ban-accidentally-start

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Thank you DrLinJo SHE HEALS, Olamide Amosu, Michal Tal, Anna Kilmurray, MB Parker, and many others for tuning into my live video with Chef Martin Oswald! Join me for my next live video in the app.

What if the health benefits of spending time outside reach all the way to your blood sugar? In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I count down five studies showing how daily time outdoors and natural light support blood sugar, sleep, stress, heart health, and connection.

I start in an office with a wall down the middle. Older adults with type 2 diabetes spent days at a desk facing a window and days at a desk under ordinary lamps, with the same meals, the same medications, and the same bedtime. On the window side, their blood sugar stayed in the normal range almost two hours longer each day. From there, we walk through what nature does for your stress hormones, why walking outdoors with other people lowered blood pressure, and how looking for awe on a walk changed how people saw themselves. None of this comes in a bottle, and you don’t have to get it perfect. You just have to step outside.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

* How natural light and a window view helped people with type 2 diabetes stay in the normal glucose range longer

* Why morning daylight is linked to better sleep and fewer insomnia symptoms

* How outdoor walking groups lowered blood pressure and resting heart rate naturally

* The nature break length that gave the biggest drop in cortisol for the time spent

* What an awe walk is, and how it can ease daily stress and build connection

* Why bright days and dark nights matter for your circadian rhythm and long-term health

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/can-sitting-by-a-window-steady-your

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Want to lose weight without counting calories or feeling hungry all the time? On this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and I’m walking you through a simple 30-day volume eating challenge: one bowl, filled to the rim, three meals a day, plus strength training twice a week.

It all comes down to calorie density. Vegetables, fruit, and beans are full of water and fiber, so a full bowl fills you up on far fewer calories than the same bowl of granola or anything drenched in oil. I share a year-long study where women who ate more water-rich foods lost weight faster, ate more food by weight, and felt less hungry. Then we get into the part most people miss: when you lose weight, some of it is muscle. I explain why extra protein alone didn’t protect muscle in the research, and why strength training preserved most of it.

You’ll hear exactly how to build your bowl, which plant-based proteins to reach for, why fat is the only thing you measure, and a home workout you can start with just a chair and a wall. You don’t have to get this perfect. You just have to start.

What you’ll learn:

* How volume eating helps you lose weight without counting calories

* Why calorie density matters more than portion size

* How to build a high-protein, plant-forward bowl in three simple steps

* Why strength training, not just protein, preserves muscle during weight loss

* A five-exercise strength workout at home that grows with you

* Why your waist measurement tells you more than the scale

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/the-30-day-bowl-challenge-here-is

Put the ideas into practice with the complete 30 Day Bowl Challenge, including recipes and a printable tracker. Paid members can open the guide below.

Open the Bowl Challenge

Why do health studies contradict each other so often, and how do you know which headlines to trust? In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I’m teaching you how to read health research like a scientist, starting with the correlation vs causation trap that fooled some of the best researchers in medicine.

It begins with beta-carotene. Observational studies suggested this antioxidant protected against lung cancer, so researchers tested it in heavy smokers in a large randomized controlled trial. The trial was stopped early because the people taking the pills were getting more lung cancer, not less. The problem wasn’t bad math. It was the healthy user effect, a form of selection bias that makes a healthy lifestyle look like a miracle supplement.

From there, I walk you through the hidden biases in medical research that most people never hear about, including recall bias, publication bias, and sponsor bias. Then I share the nine Bradford Hill criteria, a simple checklist you can use to decide whether a claim about food, supplements, or disease really holds up. You don’t need a PhD to spot bad science. You just need to know which questions to ask.

What you’ll learn:

* Why correlation vs causation matters every time you read a nutrition study headline

* How the healthy user effect and selection bias can make a supplement look protective when it isn’t

* How recall bias creates links between food and disease that aren’t real

* Why publication bias and industry funding can tilt the evidence

* How to use the Bradford Hill criteria to judge whether X really causes Y

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/the-guide-to-spotting-junk-science

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Can lifting light weights build muscle? If you’ve been doing three sets of ten with the same small dumbbells for years and seeing no change, this episode is for you. I’m walking through what strength training research actually shows about light vs heavy weights, and the one number most people never count.

Here’s what surprised me. When sets are taken close to failure, lighter loads built as much muscle as heavier ones. But that only holds to a point. Go too light and the gap opens back up, and stopping a light set too early costs you more than stopping a heavy one. I explain why, using how your muscles recruit help in a fixed order, a little like fire crews answering a second alarm.

We also talk about what changes for strength training after 50 and around menopause, and why building muscle and building bone density are two different things. Light weights can grow muscle, but they haven’t been shown to protect your bones.

If you’re doing strength training at home with dumbbells or bodyweight, you’ll leave with a simple way to know whether your workouts are working.

What you’ll learn:

* Why lifting light weights can build muscle as well as heavy weights, and where that stops being true

* How to use reps in reserve to know when a set is actually hard enough

* Why heavier lifting still wins for maximal strength

* What menopause and bone density mean for your strength training plan

* How to progress bodyweight exercises at home without buying new equipment

* A simple three-week plan to start tonight

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/do-you-really-need-heavy-weights

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Sore muscles two days after a workout? That delayed ache, known as DOMS or delayed onset muscle soreness, isn’t caused by lactic acid, and it isn’t proof your workout worked. I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and on this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I’m walking you through what the science actually says about muscle soreness and how to prevent most of it before it starts.

If you’ve ever finished a hike feeling great, only to take the stairs sideways a couple of days later, this one is for you. We’ll look at how lactic acid became the go-to explanation, and why it clears from your muscles within about an hour, long before the ache shows up. Then we’ll get to the real culprit: eccentric exercise, the braking work your muscles do when you walk downhill, head down stairs, or lower a weight slowly. You’ll hear why the amount of muscle damage is a poor guide to how much it hurts, and how the nerve endings in and around a worked muscle become more sensitive in the days that follow.

Most importantly, I’ll share simple, research-backed ways to ease into new exercise, recover well, and keep training even when you’re sore. You don’t have to get this perfect. You just have to start.

What you’ll learn:

* Why lactic acid doesn’t cause muscle soreness the days after exercise

* How eccentric exercise, like walking downhill, triggers delayed onset muscle soreness

* Why soreness isn’t a reliable sign of a good workout or of building strength

* A quick preview session to prevent sore legs before a big hike, moving day, or first strength class

* How to start a new exercise routine gradually over three weeks

* What helps sore muscles recover (gentle movement, massage) and what does little (stretching, extra water)

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/your-muscles-are-not-sore-from-lacticCheck out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Trying to eat healthy when your family doesn’t want to change? If you’re cooking two dinners every night or giving up on your own goals to keep the peace, this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast is for you.

I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and today I’m walking you through what the research says about weight loss, your spouse, and the family dinner table. It turns out that getting your partner on board doesn’t work the way most of us assume. In one trial of 231 couples, training partners to support each other added no extra weight loss for the person trying to lose it. The partners who showed up, though, lost weight themselves. We also look at why pressure tends to push eating habits out of sight instead of changing them, and why the person doing most of the cooking has more power here than it feels like.

Then I share the simple strategy I want you to try tonight: cook one meal everyone eats, and make your change at the very last step, in your own bowl. No arguments, no second pan, no extra hour at the stove.

What you’ll learn:

* Why trying to change your spouse’s diet rarely helps your own weight loss

* How pressure and criticism affect healthy eating habits at home

* The “split it at the bowl” method for family meals without cooking twice

* Why adding healthy foods works better than cutting foods out

* A simple portion control habit that starts before you sit down to eat

* What to realistically expect from picky eaters in your house

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/if-your-family-wont-get-on-boardCheck out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Chef Martin Oswald put onions and carrots into a dry pan, let them begin to brown, then added just enough water to lift the browned bits from the bottom.

He let that water cook away and did it again.

That was the first useful surprise in this week’s live. A basic lentil soup does not have to begin with oil, and it does not have to taste flat. The flavor comes from what happens in the pan, and the rest of the soup is a series of small choices.

It also gave us the perfect first look at something Martin and I have been working on together. We are developing a new book about cooking with blood sugar and heart health in mind. The book is still in progress. This bowl showed exactly why we want to make it.

Build flavor in two passes

Martin began with a dry pan, chopped onions, and carrots. He added a small splash of water, let it evaporate, and allowed the vegetables to brown again. Then he repeated the process. Each pass deepened the flavor without covering the vegetables in liquid.

If you want to use garlic or spices, Martin suggested adding them during a later pass. Thin pieces of garlic can burn if they stay in the dry pan too long. Whole spices such as fennel seeds need only a brief moment in the hot pan before the liquid goes in.

Then he added a light vegetable stock, whole sprigs of thyme, bay leaves, and soaked yellow lentils. He normally uses brown lentils for this soup, but his larger point was more useful than a rigid ingredient list. Use the lentils and vegetables you have, then adjust the cooking time to match them.

The whole thyme sprigs were another small chef’s trick. The leaves came away as the soup cooked, while the stems were easy to pull out before serving.

Let tenderness set the timing

Different lentils soften at different rates. Martin did not ask the clock to make the final decision. He tasted the lentils and looked for the texture he wanted.

For this soup, he wanted them completely tender. Only then did he add vinegar and make the final seasoning adjustments. That gave him control over the brightness after the broth had reduced and the lentils had softened.

The zucchini had to wait too. Martin added soft vegetables such as zucchini near the end so they could warm through without losing their color and texture. I translated his warning for everyone. These vegetables deserve gentle care. Do not abuse the vegetables.

That timing gives you freedom to use what is already in the refrigerator. Celery, leek, squash, or another sturdy vegetable can help build the soup. Zucchini, asparagus, or tender greens can join during the final few minutes.

Choose the texture at the end

Once the lentils were tender, Martin changed the soup with an immersion blender. You can leave it brothy, blend part of it for a thicker base, or keep blending until it is as smooth as you like. If you do not have an immersion blender, a regular blender works. Martin also suggested a potato masher when you want a more rustic texture.

Then came the finishing layers. Coarsely cracked pepper created an occasional burst of heat instead of making every spoonful taste exactly the same. A small spoonful of lemon cashew butter added a cool, creamy finish.

I told Martin that two teaspoons for the whole pot did not sound very generous. He stood his ground.

Martin published the measured soup and lemon cashew butter recipes in his companion article. It also explains the larger idea behind the book we are creating together.

One method can become many soups

The useful lesson was not one perfect lentil soup. It was the sequence.

Build flavor with the onions and carrots. Add the lentils, broth, and sturdy herbs. Let the lentils become tender before you finish the seasoning. Add delicate vegetables near the end. Then decide whether you want the soup brothy, chunky, or creamy.

From there, you can change the personality of the pot. Smoked paprika and caraway can take it in one direction. Cumin, rosemary, sage, or a Moroccan spice blend can take it somewhere else. The basic method stays familiar while the flavor changes.

That is what excites me about the book. We do not want to leave you with a list of foods and no idea what to do at the stove. We want to connect the health question with the kitchen decision that comes next. We are still working on it, and we will share more when it is ready.

PS. If you want more science translated into practical habits, join Chef Martin and me inside The Habit Healers on Skool.

References:

* Martin Oswald. The measured lentil soup and lemon cashew butter recipes

Why is my cholesterol still high after changing my diet? If you’ve cut saturated fat, eaten more plants, and your LDL cholesterol barely moved, this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast is for you.

I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and today I’m walking you through what your cholesterol number is really measuring. Your body makes most of its own cholesterol, and your LDL comes down to a balance between what your liver sends out and how many LDL receptors are pulling it back in. Saturated fat, thyroid function, menopause, your genes, and even rapid weight loss can all shift that balance. Once you see it this way, a stubborn lab result stops feeling like a failure and starts making sense. Then we get practical: the foods and fiber with the strongest evidence for lowering cholesterol naturally, the supplements I’m cautious about, and when it’s time to talk with your doctor about your real heart disease risk.

What you’ll learn:

* Why saturated fat matters more than dietary cholesterol for most people’s LDL

* How LDL receptors in your liver set your cholesterol number

* How thyroid issues, menopause, and familial hypercholesterolemia raise LDL cholesterol

* Why rapid weight loss can temporarily raise cholesterol, and how to read that result

* The tests worth asking about: apoB, lipoprotein(a), and TSH with free T4

* How to lower LDL naturally with soluble fiber, nuts, soy, and ground flaxseed, plus my honest take on berberine and red yeast rice

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/why-is-your-cholesterol-still-high

Paid members can continue with the updated cholesterol protocol and the printable chart for recording their numbers. Open the companion guide below.

Open the cholesterol guide

High blood pressure may be the most overlooked risk factor for dementia, and it’s the one you can actually check at home. In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I walk you through what the research shows about blood pressure and brain health, and why the first step toward memory loss prevention isn’t a puzzle or a supplement.

I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and I start with a remarkable study of nearly 700 Catholic sisters who agreed to yearly memory testing and donated their brains after death. What the pathologists found surprised almost everyone: many women carried a heavy load of Alzheimer’s plaques and tangles yet still ran their own lives. The difference often came down to small, deep strokes, the kind driven by years of uncontrolled hypertension. Dementia showed up when more than one kind of brain damage stacked together. Then I take you through two large trials that lowered blood pressure on purpose, including one across 326 villages where dementia was 15% less common in the treated group. And because so many people have white coat hypertension or masked hypertension, I explain exactly how to check blood pressure at home so you get numbers you can trust. If your pressure is already where it belongs, we talk about what comes next: hearing loss and dementia risk, physical activity and cognitive decline, and why a popular memory supplement fell flat in a six-year trial.

What you’ll learn:

* Why Alzheimer’s damage alone doesn’t always cause dementia, and what small strokes have to do with it

* How high blood pressure damages the small arteries deep in the brain

* What two large blood pressure trials found about dementia and mild cognitive impairment

* How to do a seven-day home blood pressure monitoring record the right way

* What your average reading means and what to ask your doctor

* Where hearing aids, exercise, and diet fit into a brain health planDr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/what-should-you-change-first-to-protect

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

If heart disease runs in your family, does changing what you eat even matter? In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I share my own family history of early heart attacks and walk through what the research says about genetics, LDL cholesterol, and lifestyle, including a 2026 diet trial in people with familial hypercholesterolemia and a study of more than 51,000 adults.

I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, a lifestyle medicine physician, and this question is personal for me. My father had his first heart attack at 38, and my grandfather died of one at 46. So I take you back to the Dallas laboratory where two physicians discovered the LDL receptor and explained why inherited high cholesterol can start damaging arteries in childhood. Then we look at what happened when adults with a confirmed genetic cholesterol disorder switched to a plant-rich diet, why their results were encouraging and still not enough, and what that means if you already eat well or take medication. I’ll give you the single food swap that does the most to lower LDL cholesterol naturally, a realistic way to fit movement into your day, and the questions to ask your clinician about lipoprotein(a), a coronary calcium score, and heart attack prevention when your family history is the reason you’re worried.

What you’ll learn:

* How the discovery of the LDL receptor explains why familial hypercholesterolemia raises risk so early

* What a plant-based diet did to LDL cholesterol in adults with an inherited cholesterol disorder, and why an 18% drop still needed treatment

* Why a favorable lifestyle was linked to 46% fewer coronary events even in the highest genetic risk group

* The fat swap and fiber changes that help lower cholesterol naturally

* When to ask about lipoprotein(a) testing, a coronary calcium scan, and an LDL of 190 or higher

* How to use the Family Heart Health Worksheet to prepare for your next visit

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/if-heart-disease-runs-in-your-familyCheck out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Is a blood sugar spike above 140 after eating actually a problem if you don’t have diabetes? If you wear a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) and feel a little sting every time the line climbs, this episode is for you.

Welcome to The Habit Healers Podcast. I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, a board-certified lifestyle medicine physician, and today I’m untangling one of the most misunderstood numbers in metabolic health. The 140 mg/dL cutoff comes from the oral glucose tolerance test, a very specific lab test with very specific conditions. It was never meant to grade your CGM reading forty minutes after lunch. I walk you through what a normal blood sugar range for non-diabetics really looks like, including a study where healthy people without diabetes or obesity still spent about half an hour a day above 140. We talk about why a single post-meal glucose reading can’t tell you whether sugar just arrived or has been sitting there for hours, using an airport baggage carousel to make it click. Then we get into what does matter: repeated elevations, your fasting blood sugar, your A1C, and a newer study linking more time above 140 with later diagnoses like prediabetes and high blood fats. Finally, I explain why blood sugar targets for people with diabetes are different, and why “just stay under the number” misses the danger of going too low.

What you’ll learn:

* Where the 140 blood sugar rule actually comes from, and why it doesn’t apply to every CGM reading

* What normal blood sugar spikes after eating look like in healthy people without diabetes

* Why a single glucose reading can’t show insulin resistance or metabolic health on its own

* The lab categories for fasting glucose, A1C, and the glucose tolerance test, and what they mean

* When repeated high glucose readings deserve attention and a conversation with your clinician

* How blood sugar targets differ if you have diabetes or are pregnant

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/does-your-blood-sugar-really-needCheck out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Thank you Luanne Novak, David Hawkins, Catherine G, Karen Frye, K Nauman, and many others for tuning into my live video with Chef Martin Oswald! Join me for my next live video in the app.

Functional fitness for older adults is really about one question: what do you want to keep doing on your own? In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I walk you through ten everyday activities of daily living, from getting out of bed to carrying groceries home, and the simple strength, balance, and mobility exercises for seniors that protect each one.

I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, a lifestyle medicine physician, and what I see in my practice is that “get more exercise” rarely sticks because it’s too vague. So we get specific. I share what the LIFE study found when researchers followed over 1,600 inactive adults in their seventies and eighties, and why preserving walking ability is only part of healthy aging and staying independent. Then we go task by task: sit-to-stand practice for the toilet, supported step-ups for stairs and curbs, wall slides for reaching a cupboard, grip work for opening jars, and a walking progression you can start at two minutes. You’ll also hear how the LiFE trial reduced falls in older adults by building balance and strength training into ordinary routines, and how habit stacking, attaching a practice to breakfast or getting dressed, makes fall prevention exercise something you actually remember to do.

What you’ll learn:

* Ten everyday activities that support independent living and the movement each one requires

* Simple strength and balance exercises for seniors you can do at home with a chair, counter, or wall

* What the LIFE study tells us about exercise and mobility after seventy

* How to build fall prevention into daily routines the way the LiFE trial did

* When to use adaptations like a raised toilet seat, sock aid, or reacher while you build strength

* How to progress safely from small repetitions toward your weekly exercise targets

Dr. Marbas Substack Articles: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/10-ways-to-protect-your-independenceCheck out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Why am I hungry after a smoothie? If your healthy breakfast smoothie leaves you standing in front of the pantry an hour later, this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast is for you. I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and today I’m digging into the science of satiety: why liquid calories don’t keep you full the way solid food does, and how to build a filling breakfast that actually lasts until lunch.

Most people blame the blender for destroying fiber. It doesn’t. So I take you back 200 years to a surgeon who could watch digestion happen inside a living stomach, then walk through the modern research on whole fruit versus smoothies, how fast juice and puree leave the stomach, and why a thick 100-calorie shake felt fuller than a thin 500-calorie one. We’ll talk about how your expectations change your appetite, what happened when people added liquid or solid calories to their diet for weeks, and where a high protein breakfast shake fits in. Then I give you four practical changes, a simple protein smoothie recipe, and a ten-morning test to find the breakfast that keeps you satisfied.

What you’ll learn:

* Why blending doesn’t destroy fiber, and what really changes when you drink a smoothie instead of eating a meal

* How gastric emptying and food thickness shape hunger and fullness

* Why eating whole fruit before your smoothie can reduce how much you eat at your next meal

* How eating slowly and making your smoothie thicker can help you stay full longer

* How much protein a filling breakfast needs and easy ways to get there

* A ten-morning comparison worksheet to test one change and keep what works

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/your-smoothie-was-breakfast-why-areCheck out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

How to Read a Medical Study and Actually Decide: Number Needed to Treat, the 10-Minute Triage, and Your Values

Your doctor says a new treatment looks promising. Before you say yes, there is one number you should ask for: the Number Needed to Treat. In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I’m walking you through how to read a medical study in ten minutes or less and turn the results into a real decision about your own health.

I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and this is the final piece of our series on evidence-based medicine. We talk about why a treatment that “reduces risk by 20 percent” can still leave 99 out of 100 people with no benefit at all, and why the same Number Needed to Treat that makes a cheap aspirin reasonable makes a six-week surgical recovery a bad trade. Then I give you the five-checkpoint triage I use to sort a strong study from a weak one: the question, the design, the validity, the importance, and whether the people in the study are anything like you. And we finish with the part most people skip, which is that evidence-based medicine rests on three legs, not one. Best evidence, clinical expertise, and your own values. A treatment can be proven and still be the wrong choice for the life you want.

What you’ll learn:

* How to calculate the Number Needed to Treat and decide whether it is worth the cost

* Why relative risk reduction makes small benefits look enormous

* The 10-minute triage for evaluating a study without reading all 20 pages

* Red flags in study design: no blinding, no randomization, high dropout rates

* Why a statistically significant result can still be clinically meaningless

* How to weigh treatment options against what actually matters to you

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/how-to-know-if-a-treatment-is-actuallyCheck out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Can you reverse prediabetes naturally and lower your fasting blood sugar without medication? One of my Substack readers went from a fasting glucose of 116 to 91 in four months using six small daily habits, and I’m walking you through every one of them.

If you’ve seen a fasting blood sugar reading land somewhere in the prediabetic range of 100 to 125, you already know that particular kind of quiet panic. Most people respond by trying to change everything at once, and most of them quit within three weeks. In this episode I share the story of a 64-year-old reader who did the opposite. She built a system so small and so portable she could run it in a hotel room, at a holiday dinner, or on a Tuesday in February. We talk about what’s actually happening in your body when insulin resistance starts to build, why your muscles are the largest glucose disposal system you have, and how a habit that takes 45 seconds can pull sugar out of your blood without insulin at all.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

* What a fasting blood sugar of 116 really means and why the prediabetic range is a warning, not a verdict

* How walking after meals and simple movement activate GLUT4 transporters to lower post-meal blood sugar spikes

* Why protein at every meal flattens your glucose curve

* What the Arizona State research on apple cider vinegar and blood sugar actually found

* How berberine activates AMPK, and why you should talk to your doctor first

* Why three meals a day with no snacking improves insulin sensitivity overnight

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/she-reversed-prediabetes-with-6-habitsCheck out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

What if the earliest signs of Parkinson’s disease show up in your gut, years before the first tremor? In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I walk through what the research on the gut brain connection, diet, exercise, and sleep is telling us about how Parkinson’s actually begins.

I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, a board certified lifestyle medicine physician, and this is one of those topics where the science has quietly shifted underneath us. We’ll look at why constipation, loss of smell, and acting out dreams can precede a diagnosis by decades, what alpha-synuclein and mitochondrial stress have to do with it, and why the neurons hit hardest by this disease are the most energy hungry cells you have. Then we get practical. I’ll share why Mediterranean style and plant forward eating patterns keep showing lower Parkinson’s risk and slower progression, what happened in the high intensity exercise trials, how deep sleep clears metabolic waste from your brain, and which environmental toxins are worth taking seriously.

What you’ll learn:

* Why the gut microbiome and intestinal inflammation may be where Parkinson’s disease starts

* How a Mediterranean, fiber rich, plant based diet supports brain health and lowers inflammation naturally

* What high intensity exercise did to motor symptoms in people with early Parkinson’s

* Why sleep quality drives the brain’s overnight cleaning system

* How chronic stress and cortisol worsen Parkinson’s symptoms day to day

* Which pesticides and solvents are linked to higher Parkinson’s risk

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/why-do-the-earliest-signs-of-parkinsonsCheck out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Does alcohol cause cancer, and does quitting actually lower your risk? Most women have never been given a straight answer about alcohol and breast cancer risk, so today I want to give you one, including the study finding that made quitting look like the wrong move.

In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and we’re walking through what the research on alcohol and cancer risk in women really shows. I explain why people who stopped drinking appeared to have higher cancer odds in the first two years, and why that number is measuring who quits rather than what quitting does. We look at what the evidence says about estrogen receptor positive breast cancer, why no level of drinking has been shown to carry zero added risk, and why switching to red wine does not solve the problem. Then I give you something practical: how to calibrate your own pour, how to count a week in grams instead of glasses, and how to set a target you can actually keep. If you have been sober curious, mindful drinking, or just wondering whether your nightly glass of wine counts, this one is for you.

What you’ll learn:

* Why the first two years after people quit drinking look backwards in the data

* What the research shows about alcohol and estrogen receptor positive breast cancer

* Why a standard drink is 14 grams, and why your usual pour is probably more

* How to run a seven day pour count and find your real baseline

* What changed in one month of no alcohol: blood pressure, insulin resistance, liver enzymes

* The withdrawal warning signs that mean you should call your doctor before cutting back

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/alcohol-raises-cancer-risk-if-youveCheck out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Why can’t you stick to an exercise routine? It may have nothing to do with discipline. In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I explain the research finding that best predicts exercise adherence, and it’s not your trainer, your program, or your willpower. It’s how the workout feels while you’re doing it.

I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and I want to walk you through what happens in your body when exercise intensity crosses a boundary called the ventilatory threshold, the point where effort turns into distress and your brain quietly files the whole experience under “avoid.” Below that line, almost everyone feels neutral to positive during movement. Above it, almost nobody does. We also look at the diet research that shows the same pattern, where the best predictor of weight loss wasn’t which plan people chose but how consistently they could live with it. Then I give you the one habit to start tomorrow morning, and it’s simpler than anything you’ve been sold.

What you’ll learn:

* Why in-the-moment enjoyment predicts exercise adherence better than post-workout mood

* What the ventilatory threshold is and why crossing it makes workouts feel like suffering

* How to use the talk test to find your sustainable exercise intensity

* Why moderate-intensity exercise you enjoy beats high-intensity exercise you tolerate over a year

* What diet adherence research reveals about sustainable habits and weight loss

* How to build a walking or movement habit that actually lasts

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/the-real-reason-your-exercise-habit

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Your fitness tracker, your continuous glucose monitor, and your home blood pressure cuff are all giving you real numbers. The problem is that most of those numbers are noise, and reacting to them can quietly make your health worse.

In this episode I walk you through a hundred-year-old method that came out of a telephone factory, not a clinic, and show you how to use it on your own body. We talk about the three ways your health data misleads you: regression to the mean, confirmation bias, and the multiple testing problem that happens when you watch two dozen metrics at once. Then I give you the four-week N-of-1 self-experiment structure that clinical researchers use with individual patients: a baseline week, alternating intervention and control weeks, one variable at a time, and a decision threshold you set before you start. Finally we go through five metrics worth tracking and exactly how much change counts as real for each one.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

* Why adjusting your routine after every bad reading adds variation instead of removing it

* How to calculate your personal baseline before testing any intervention

* The A-B-A-B design that separates a real effect from normal day to day fluctuation

* Decision thresholds for steps per day, sleep duration and regularity, resting heart rate, home blood pressure, and post-meal glucose

* Why sleep regularity may predict risk more strongly than sleep duration

* Simple sample experiments you can run this month, including post-meal walking and nitrate-rich leafy greens

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/how-do-you-know-if-your-new-habit

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Is exercising only on the weekend enough? If you sit at a desk all week and cram your workouts into Saturday and Sunday, the research on weekend warrior exercise is better news than you think. In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I walk you through what nearly 93,000 adults wearing movement trackers actually showed us about how much exercise you need per week, and why the total may matter more than the schedule.

I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, board-certified lifestyle medicine physician, and I want to untangle the three separate worries hiding inside one question. The first is whether one or two days of moderate to vigorous physical activity can carry a whole week. The second is prolonged sitting, which is its own health risk and something your Saturday workout cannot undo for you. The third is the injury and soreness risk that comes from going from nothing to a lot in one session. We talk about the 150 minutes of exercise per week target, how to use the talk test to know you’re at moderate intensity without a watch, why strength training twice a week is enough for most people starting out, and how to ease in so delayed onset muscle soreness doesn’t derail you.

What you’ll learn:

* Why the weekend warrior exercise pattern held up against spreading movement across the week

* How to hit 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity per week on a packed schedule

* The talk test for checking moderate intensity exercise without a tracker

* Why breaking up prolonged sitting with short walking breaks lowers blood sugar

* How to build strength training for beginners into two days a week

* A four-week ramp that reduces soreness and injury risk

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/is-it-bad-to-cram-a-whole-week-ofCheck out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Is sitting too much really the problem, or is it the chair? In this episode I explore the surprising science of floor sitting, sitting disease, and why your standing desk may not be protecting you the way you think.

I share what researchers found when they studied the Hadza, a hunter-gatherer population in Tanzania who rest nearly ten hours a day, as much as office workers in the US, yet remain metabolically healthy. The difference is not how long they rest, it is how they rest: squatting, kneeling, and constantly changing positions in ways that keep muscles gently active. I also walk you through the sitting-rising test, one of the strongest functional predictors of longevity and independence, and share my complete twelve-week Floor Living Protocol so you can rebuild hip mobility, core strength, balance, and the ability to get up from the floor with confidence, no matter your starting point. If you have been worried about the health effects of prolonged sitting, back pain, stiffness, or fall prevention as you age, this conversation is for you.

What you’ll learn:

* Why sitting disease may actually be a disease of the chair, not of rest itself

* What Hadza resting postures reveal about muscle activity, squatting, and metabolic health

* Why standing desks trade one static posture for another

* How the sitting-rising test predicts longevity and independence

* My twelve-week Floor Living Protocol for hip mobility, core strength, and balance

* How floor-rise training improves fall recovery, even in your seventies

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/what-if-sitting-disease-has-nothingCheck out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Why is your blood sugar high when you didn’t eat anything extra? If stress and cortisol are spiking your glucose, the answer may come down to one thing nobody talks about: timing. In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and I’m unpacking the strange, specific way stress hormones raise blood sugar, and why the same bad phone call can move your numbers forty points one afternoon and do nothing the next morning.

I’ll walk you through what cortisol and adrenaline actually do inside your body, using a story about a bank you will never forget. You’ll learn why stress on an empty stomach barely touches your glucose, why stress after a meal keeps it elevated far longer, and why carbohydrates can actually make your cortisol response bigger. Then we get practical: what stress management did to A1c in a year-long trial, where mindfulness helps and where it doesn’t, and the research on walking after eating that gives you a way through the wall insulin resistance puts up.

What you’ll learn:

* How cortisol and blood sugar are connected, and why stress raises glucose without food

* Why unexplained blood sugar spikes often trace back to when stress hit, not what you ate

* The fasting versus fed research that changes how you think about stress and glucose

* Why walking after eating lowers blood sugar, and why walking before a meal doesn’t

* The exact post-meal walk timing the trials used: 15 to 20 minutes, starting within 30 minutes

What stress management training did to A1c in people with type 2 diabetes

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/when-does-stress-actually-raise-yourCheck out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Tired all the time but your bloodwork keeps coming back normal? In this episode, I explain iron deficiency without anemia, the hidden gap between a normal complete blood count and low ferritin that leaves so many women exhausted with no answers.

I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and on The Habit Healers Podcast today, I walk you through why a standard blood count only catches iron deficiency at its final stage, and why symptoms like unexplained fatigue, hair loss, restless legs at night, and a heart rate that climbs too high on easy walks can show up long before anemia ever does. I’ll show you the ferritin test most doctors never order, why the “normal” threshold was set decades ago to answer a different question, and the research suggesting your body starts compensating at levels your lab report still calls fine. Then I’ll give you my complete Low Iron Protocol: the four blood tests to request on one draw, how to take iron supplements correctly, why alternate-day dosing beats daily dosing, and when to stop.

What you’ll learn:

* Why a normal complete blood count can miss iron deficiency without anemia

* The ferritin level where fatigue, hair thinning, and restless legs can begin

* The four blood tests to request, including the one that tells you whether to trust your ferritin

* How to take iron supplements for maximum absorption, and what blocks it

* Why every-other-day iron dosing works better with fewer side effects

* The three reasons iron runs low, and why finding yours matters

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/are-you-tired-losing-hair-or-unableCheck out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Bladder leaks are one of the most common problems women quietly live with, and one of the least talked about. If you leak urine when you laugh, cough, sneeze, or exercise, or a sudden, hard-to-put-off urge sends you racing for the bathroom, this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast is for you.

I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and today I’m walking you through the two main patterns behind urinary incontinence in women: stress incontinence, where pressure from a cough or a laugh triggers the leak, and urge incontinence, the pattern behind what many people know as overactive bladder. They can look identical by the time you’re changing your clothes, but they start in very different places, and that difference shapes which treatment your doctor should consider first. We’ll talk about why “just do Kegels” is incomplete advice, what pelvic floor exercises actually did in randomized trials, how bladder training really works, and what mixed incontinence means when both patterns show up in the same week. Then I’ll give you the Leak Pattern Decoder, a simple three-day bladder diary that captures what happened in the seconds before each leak, so you can bring your doctor a pattern instead of a guess.

What you’ll learn:

* The difference between stress incontinence and urge incontinence, and why it matters

* What pelvic floor exercises and Kegels can and cannot fix

* How bladder training for overactive bladder actually works

* How to keep a three-day bladder diary your doctor can use

* The warning signs that mean you should see your doctor first

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/what-happened-right-before-your-bladderCheck out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about