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Can a weighted vest help prevent osteoporosis and improve insulin resistance? The research says a small amount of added weight, worn while you walk or do everyday chores, may be one of the simplest ways to protect your bones and your metabolism as you age. In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I walk you through the science of putting gravity back into your life. You’ll learn how your body’s internal gravity sensor, called the mechanostat, decides how strong your bones need to be, and why it cares more about load than calcium. I share a five-year study where postmenopausal women wearing light weighted vests kept their hip bone density while women without them lost it, plus an eight-week study where “skinny fat” women who wore a vest during circuit training cut their insulin resistance by 27 percent. Then we talk about the minimal effective dose, why more weight isn’t better, and how to build a weighted vest walking habit without hurting your knees or joints. What you’ll learn: * How a weighted vest supports bone density and may help slow osteoporosis after menopause * Why weighted vest workouts improved insulin resistance and body composition * What “skinny fat” means and why looking thin doesn’t always mean metabolically healthy * The minimal effective dose: why 5 to 10 percent of your body weight is the sweet spot * How weighted vest walking and everyday chores can turn into strength training * Why consistency matters more than intensity for long-term bone health Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/is-a-weighted-vest-the-cure-for-the Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about Get full access to The Habit Healers at drlauriemarbas.substack.com/subscribe

Why is it so hard to be alone with your thoughts, and why does your hand reach for your phone the second you’re bored? In one famous study, people chose to give themselves an electric shock rather than sit quietly with their own minds for fifteen minutes. In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I walk you through that research and what it reveals about boredom, distraction, and why we reach for screens. Your phone, a book, and music all do the work for you, like a player piano. Your own mind is more like a regular piano, where every note has to come from you. That takes real effort, and it’s why quiet time feels so uncomfortable. The good news is there’s a simple fix backed by follow-up studies, and it doesn’t require meditation experience or a digital detox. It takes one index card and a few minutes. I’ll show you how to make one, where to keep it, and what to put on it so your quiet moments become something you actually enjoy. What you’ll learn: * Why being alone with your thoughts feels so hard, and why it’s not a sign your mind is broken * How phone habits fill every bored moment, and what to reach for instead * The simple “thinking card” that made quiet time more enjoyable in research studies * Which kinds of thoughts boost enjoyment, and why to leave work off your list * What doesn’t help, including planning your daydream in detail or fidgeting * How to start a screen-free habit tonight in under five minutes Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/how-to-enjoy-your-own-imagination Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about Get full access to The Habit Healers at drlauriemarbas.substack.com/subscribe

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. Get full access to The Habit Healers at drlauriemarbas.substack.com/subscribe

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 Get full access to The Habit Healers at drlauriemarbas.substack.com/subscribe

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 Get full access to The Habit Healers at drlauriemarbas.substack.com/subscribe

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 Get full access to The Habit Healers at drlauriemarbas.substack.com/subscribe

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 Get full access to The Habit Healers at drlauriemarbas.substack.com/subscribe

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 Get full access to The Habit Healers at drlauriemarbas.substack.com/subscribe

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. Get full access to The Habit Healers at drlauriemarbas.substack.com/subscribe

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 Get full access to The Habit Healers at drlauriemarbas.substack.com/subscribe

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 Get full access to The Habit Healers at drlauriemarbas.substack.com/subscribe

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 Get full access to The Habit Healers at drlauriemarbas.substack.com/subscribe

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. Get full access to The Habit Healers at drlauriemarbas.substack.com/subscribe

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 Get full access to The Habit Healers at drlauriemarbas.substack.com/subscribe

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 Get full access to The Habit Healers at drlauriemarbas.substack.com/subscribe