Wellness is hot these days. From cold plunges to digital detoxes to GLP-1s, this week’s episode of Best of Both Worlds covers all sorts of topics, along with ways to “reset” when getting out of a rut.
In the Q&A, a listener expecting her second child asks for ideas of what kind of big picture planning questions to think through before the baby arrives.
Please give the episode a listen, and as always, we welcome ratings and reviews!
I enjoyed this episode. Have you listened to The Dream podcast? There is a season about wellness and another season about life coaches, where the host does a deep dive into both of those industries. It’s really good!
@CZ- I haven’t listened to that but it sounds fascinating! There is just so much snake oil out there.
Listening now and surprised some of these are considered trends. As someone with lifelong type 1 diabetes, Ozempic is a lifelong drug to control insulin resistance related to several decades of type 1, just as insulin is. Continuous glucose monitors have revolutionized diabetes management, and it’s clear to see how a meal of all protein affects (or doesn’t) blood sugar control, compared to a carb meal. And I’ve done strength training on and off since my early 20s and I’m mid 50s now. Some of these things have been around and practices far longer than what some online influencers deem trendy.
Honestly, with Sarah’s medical background, why not an episode about recommended medical tests in midlife. Mammogram at 40, colonoscopy at 45. These are more serious screenings than whether someone does a cold plunge or not.
I love Best of Both Worlds and have been a loyal listener for almost four years now. In a world where I so frequently feel judged for simultaneously ambitiously pursuing a career and choosing to have a family, this podcast has felt like a rare safe space– one for which I’ve always been grateful. But I haven’t been able to bring myself to listen to it since hearing this episode 3 weeks ago.
I have PCOS (which, statistically, is true for roughly 10% of your listening audience). For most of my adult life, I was able to regulate it with diet, exercise, and continuous birth control usage, but it was always something I had to work incredibly hard at. But then, I made the decision to get pregnant– which meant going off the birth control. Despite having an extremely active, healthy pregnancy (I only gained 20 lbs throughout and was walking a 5k on my lunch break every day until she was born, a habit I resumed the week after my c-section), going off the pill, combined with the combination of hormones I took through the IVF process, the pregnancy hormones, and the postpartum hormones, resulted in a significant PCOS flare after she was born. I did everything I could to control it. I trained for and completed a 20-mile hike to supercharge my cardio. I switched from strength training to power lifting to get more out of my workouts, eventually getting to a point where I could deadlift 200 lbs. I continued to be careful with my diet. But I put on 30 lbs anyway. My cholesterol spiked. My blood pressure went up. My blood sugar got harder to regulate. This was not a case of me not wanting to put in the time or effort required to lose weight, as Laura suggested of people losing weight on GLP-1s (to be fair, she was speaking specifically about body positivity influencers, but the stereotype, presumably, is not limited to them). It was a case where I had a medical condition that I simply was not going to be able to fix with time and hard work. My doctor concurred and prescribed a GLP-1. It was hard for me to take. I had a lot of shame around it. It’s still something I’m working through– and it is made astronomically harder by people I respect suggesting that people losing weight on it were just too lazy or uncommitted to do it another way, or that, perhaps, in 20 years my eyeballs will fall out (said facetiously, I know, but seriously, Sarah is a doctor, and those sorts of speculations are wildly, wildly unhelpful for those of us who need it for medical reasons). I love this show. I respect both of the cohosts so much. But, man, I wish there had been a little more thought here– a little more tact– for the many, many women who have had to make this decision for their health and have done so wrapped in guilt and shame already.