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Your brain is your largest--and arguably your most important--sex organ. It’s also the most overlooked, especially during the menopausal transition when we spend a whole lot of time talking about our vaginas (which are important, too, of course!). This week’s guest Kelly Casperson, MD, talks about all of it in a show that drives home the mind-vagina connection during menopause and midlife. Dr. Casperson is a urologist interested in science and the power of the mind to change our views of sexuality. She has created online courses teaching women the fundamentals of their anatomy and physiology, discussing their limiting beliefs, and normalizing their truly normal female sexual function to empower them to live their best love lives. And she has her own podcast, You Are Not Broken, where she discusses all of this and more. She has a book of the same title coming out in 2022. You can learn more about her and her work at www.kellycaspersonmd.com **Support the Podcast** InsideTracker: 25% off at insidetracker.com/feisty Nuun Hydration: 30% off at nuunlife.com with the code HITPLAY Previnex: 15% off your first order with code HITPLAY at https://www.previnex.com/ Bonafide: 20% off your first purchase when you subscribe to any product with code HITPLAY at https://hellobonafide.com/

Hormone therapy for menopause is rife with confusion, fear, misunderstanding, and outright misinformation. Even doctors, who are often relying on long debunked research, can be at a loss to help women make educated choices for their health, well-being, and performance during this time. This week’s guests, Drs. Avrum Bluming and Carol Tavris, authors of Estrogen Matters go to great lengths to describe the real risks (or lack thereof) and myriad benefits of hormone therapy for women in their menopausal years, as well as how to choose among the various formulations. Their goal: Arm every woman with all the information she needs to make an informed, educated decision for her personal menopausal needs. You can learn more about them and their work and buy their book at estrogenmatters.com. Avrum Bluming, MD, is a hematologist and medical oncologist, and a Master of the American College of Physicians, an award bestowed on fewer than 500 of the 100,000 board-certified internists in the United States. He is Emeritus Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Southern California and a former senior investigator for the National Cancer Institute. Carol Tavris, PhD, is a social psychologist who has written widely about psychological science. Her trade books include Anger; The Mismeasure of Woman; and, with Elliot Aronson, Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me). She has won numerous awards for her science writing and contributions to skepticism and gender equity. **Support the Podcast** InsideTracker: 25% off at insidetracker.com/feisty Nuun Hydration: 30% off at nuunlife.com with the code HITPLAY Previnex: 15% off your first order with code HITPLAY at https://www.previnex.com/ Bonafide: 20% off your first purchase when you subscribe to any product with code HITPLAY at https://hellobonafide.com/

Longevity in sport takes determination, curiosity, and the ability to adapt to what your mind and body needs as time goes on. That’s the embodiment of professional triathlete, mountain bike racer, coach, and 5x world champion Melanie McQuaid, who continues to kick ass through the menopause transition, placing 3rd at Ironman Chattanooga and 10th at Xterra World Championships in Maui this year.Melanie has raced as a pro athlete in four different sports and holds titles in a slew of disciplines including mountain bike endurance, mountain bike cross country and mountain bike short track; road racing; Olympic, Sprint and Half Ironman triathlon; and offroad XTERRA and ITU Cross Triathlon. Today she continues to compete at an elite level while focusing her energies on her coaching business, MelRad Coaching. You can learn more about her at https://www.melaniemcquaid.com/ and her coaching services at https://melrad.com/coach-mel/**Support the Podcast**InsideTracker: 25% off at insidetracker.com/feistyNuun Hydration: 30% off at nuunlife.com with the code HITPLAY Previnex: 15% off your first order with code HITPLAY at https://www.previnex.com/ Bonafide: 20% off your first purchase when you subscribe to any product with code HITPLAY at https://hellobonafide.com/

“Who am I now?” That’s an identity crisis many of us face during the menopausal transition, especially if we end up taking a step back from our primary sport or activity to figure out what we want from athletics in this next phase of life. This week’s guest, life and wellness coach Lisa Hesse, helps active and athletic women define themselves and find solid ground during the “lifequake” of menopause when the earth seems to be shifting under our feet every five seconds. Lisa is a Nationally Board-certified Health and Wellness Coach, an International Coaching Federation Professional Coach, a “neuroscience nerd,” and “a big believer in the idea that it’s never too late to change our narrative while honoring what we bring with us from the past.” You can learn more about her and her work at https://lisahesse.com/ **Support the Podcast** InsideTracker: 25% off at insidetracker.com/feisty Nuun Hydration: 30% off at nuunlife.com with the code HITPLAY Previnex: 15% off your first order with code HITPLAY at https://www.previnex.com/ Bonafide: 20% off your first purchase when you subscribe to any product with code HITPLAY at https://hellobonafide.com/

“Menopause Is Hell. It Also Made Me a Better Climber.” That’s the title of a feature article written in Outside magazine by this week’s guest and legendary outdoor sport athlete Jeannie Wall. We dig into what that piece is all about and address topics of fear, anxiety, rage, hot flashes, night sweats, fatigue, and the power, yes the power, of invisibility. Jeannie spent decades as a world class skier and an ultra runner. Currently, she is obsessed with climbing in all its forms. She's a rookie gardener who spent three years helping create and run a regional sustainable food cooperative in Idaho. In her early 50’s she realized some of her biggest dreams like climbing Monte Fitz Roy and the Nose on El Capitan with great women partners and she still loves to backcountry ski. She has 25 years of experience developing and designing climbing, skiing, and endurance apparel for the outdoor industry. She has recently launched a women’s website to embolden women through the sharing of outdoor adventure stories. You can learn more about that at broadbeta.com and @broad.beta on Instagram. You can read her feature on climbing and menopause at https://www.outsideonline.com/health/wellness/menopause-climbing-perimenopause/ **Support the Podcast** InsideTracker: 25% off at insidetracker.com/feisty Nuun Hydration: 30% off at nuunlife.com with the code HITPLAY Previnex: 15% off your first order with code HITPLAY at https://www.previnex.com/ Bonafide: 20% off your first purchase when you subscribe to any product with code HITPLAY at https://hellobonafide.com/

Joint pain, hot flashes, night sweats, crushing fatigue. Menopause can usher in a host of symptoms that make daily life challenging, let alone daily life on top of training and racing as a recreational athlete, being a mom, and managing a business. But with knowledge, practice, and patience, it can be done. This week’s guest, Registered Sports Nutritionist, ultra-runner, mom of four, and owner of Elev8nutrition is here to share how she stays on top of the symptoms as an athletic woman in perimenopause. Catriona is the founder of Elev8nutrition and Instagram account @elev8nutritionirl, a private practice and platform for active women seeking nutrition support for perimenopause/menopause, gut issues relating to exercise, everyday and event nutrition, and weight management with a mindful eating and non restrictive eating philosophy. You can learn more about her work at https://elev8nutrition.ie/ BLACK FRIDAY: InsideTracker Black Friday Sale from November 22nd-29th (insidetracker.com/feisty) Save $200 off the Ultimate Plan and a free InnerAge test or get 25% sitewide with code FEISTYGIFT **Support the Podcast** Nuun Hydration: 30% off at nuunlife.com with the code HITPLAY Previnex: 15% off your first order with code HITPLAY at https://www.previnex.com/ Bonafide: 20% off your first purchase when you subscribe to any product with code HITPLAY at https://hellobonafide.com/

Women make testosterone. It works in concert with estrogen and progesterone to maintain healthy muscles and bones and fires up your sex drive and helps protect your brain. Yet there are no FDA approved testosterone products for women and “T” is not included in standard menopausal hormone therapy. So women are left to their own devices, and reasonably have a lot of questions about when they might need it, how to get it, and what to expect from testosterone therapy. This week’s guest Carla DiGirolamo, M.D., is here to answer all those questions and more. Carla is a double Board Certified Reproductive Endocrinologist/Obstetrician Gynecologist working as a reproductive specialist at Boston IVF in Waltham, Massachusetts. She is ranked among the Top Doctors in the Boston Area, and is listed as a provider with the North American Menopause Society. She is also a Crossfit Level 1 trainer, Certified Nutrition Coach and Les Mills BodyCombat and BodyPump Instructor. She runs an online personal training and nutrition coaching business, FitforLifeMD, which you can check out at fitforlifemd.com, specializing in the care of women in all age groups, but with a special interest in the comprehensive care of peri/postmenopausal women. To access the free podcast guides go to: https://www.feistymenopause.com/podcastguide **Support the Podcast** InsideTracker: 25% off at insidetracker.com/feistymenopause Nuun Hydration: 30% off at nuunlife.com with the code HITPLAY Previnex: 15% off your first order with code HITPLAY at https://www.previnex.com/ Bonafide: 20% off your first purchase when you subscribe to any product with code HITPLAY at https://hellobonafide.com/

Our performance nutrition needs change during the menopause transition. Few know that better than women who both teach it and live it as athletes and sports dietitians, like this week’s guest ​​Lauren Antonucci, RDN, CSSD, author of High-Performance Nutrition for Masters Athletes. Along with being a sports nutritionist, Lauren is a runner, an Ironman athlete, and a mom of three. Once she hit perimenopause, she took Dr. Stacy Sims’ Menopause for Athletes course and made adjustments to her own training as a result. This week she shares her journey, what she’s learned, and what she recommends for women to perform their best at this time of life. Lauren is the Owner/Director of Nutrition Energy, a nutrition counseling practice based in NYC and is currently seeing clients both in person in her NYC office and virtually around the world. Lauren has been a Board Certified Sports Dietitian for over 15 years as well as a Certified Diabetes Educator. You can learn more about her work at https://www.nutritionenergy.com/lauren-antonucci.html and pick up her book at Amazon and wherever books are sold. **Support the Podcast** InsideTracker: 25% off at insidetracker.com/feistymenopause Nuun Hydration: 30% off at nuunlife.com with the code HITPLAY Previnex: 15% off your first order with code HITPLAY at https://www.previnex.com/ Bonafide: 20% off your first purchase when you subscribe to any product with code HITPLAY at https://hellobonafide.com/

Bunions and bone spurs and heel pain, oh my! Foot pain in all shapes and forms is extremely common and becomes more so as we enter the menopause transition and our estrogen declines, taking our collagen production with it, which impacts the dozens of joints and tendons in our feet. That’s important because our feet are literally the foundation of nearly every physical activity we do. This week’s guest, president of the American Association for Women Podiatrists, Dr. Karen Langone, helps us sort through the most common foot pains and stay strong on our feet. Karen Langone DPM specializes in sports and fitness medicine, including medical and biomechanical treatment of the foot, ankle and lower extremities caused by faulty foot mechanics. She is a board certified podiatrist in New York and a national lecturer. She serves on the medical team for many athletic events including the 7 Day Race, the Boston Marathon, and the New York City Marathon. She signs off on her emails with Long May You Run… Amen to that! You can learn more about her and the exercises she recommends at https://www.drkarenlangone.com/library.htm **Support the Podcast** InsideTracker: 25% off at insidetracker.com/feistymenopause Nuun Hydration: 30% off at nuunlife.com with the code HITPLAY Previnex: 15% off your first order with code HITPLAY at https://www.previnex.com/

As active women we know all about our muscles. We know the sets and reps to work our shoulders, glutes, and core. We’re proficient in using dumbbells, kettlebells, and squat racks. But when it comes to training our pelvic floor, we know one word: Kegels. That’s not enough. In fact, if our pelvic floor is a “Lock Down Donna” as this week’s guest would say, Kegels may be the last thing we need. Our pelvic floor muscles play a role in essential functions like continence and sex that impact the quality of our life and our athletic performance. We can train them, massage them, and even strength train them like any other muscles. This week’s guest, Amy Hill Fife, MPT, WCS, BCB-PMD, tells us how. Amy is the founder of the online educational forum Pelvic Health PT (Private Talk). She is board certified as a Women's Clinical Specialist and is a Board Certified Associate Fellow in Pelvic Muscle Dysfunction Biofeedback with the Biofeedback Certification International Alliance. You can learn more about her work and find a free guidebook on the topics covered in this show at https://education.pelvichealthpt.com/healyourpelvicfloor