Shows
Health, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.193 You’re Not Done Yet: Finding Courage, Confidence & Reinvention in MidlifeMidlife can feel destabilizing.The kids are leaving. Careers are shifting. Parents are aging. Hormones are changing. And somewhere inside, a quiet voice says, “I’m not done yet.”In this conversation, Michele sits down with fellow podcaster Kim Benoy, host of Midlife Courage: Flourishing After 40, to explore what courage actually looks like in the second half of life.After a 27-year nursing career, Kim made a bold pivot — not because she had everything figured out, but because she felt called to something more. Together, they unpack:Why confidence doesn’t come bef...
2026-02-1738 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.191 Emotional Eating in Midlife: Why Willpower Fails and What Actually WorksEmotional eating isn’t about willpower — and for many women, midlife is when it finally becomes impossible to ignore.In this powerful episode of Asking for a Friend, Michele Folan sits down with emotional eating expert, TEDx speaker, and bestselling author Tricia Nelson to unpack what emotional eating really is, why it intensifies during midlife and menopause, and how women can finally break free from decades of dieting, shame, and self-blame.Tricia shares her deeply personal story — from childhood emotional eating and binge drinking to sobriety at 21 — and explains why food is often...
2026-01-2753 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.190 The Hidden Cost of Clutter in Midlife (And How to Let It Go)Clutter in midlife affects more than your home—it impacts stress, mental health, and how you show up for your next chapter.In this episode of Asking for a Friend, Michele Folan is joined by Tracy Hoth, a professional organizer with 17 years of experience, a science-based life coach, and host of the Organized Coach Podcast.Together, they explore why clutter feels heavier in midlife—and why it’s not just about “too much stuff.” As hormones shift and life transitions pile up, postponed decisions, emotional attachments, and changing identities can quietly increase s...
2026-01-2048 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.188 Midlife Fitness for Women: Dr. Stacy Sims Explains Why Your Old Workouts Stopped WorkingMidlife fitness for women 45+ is not about trying harder—it’s about training smarter for perimenopause and menopause physiology. In this powerhouse episode of Asking for a Friend, host Michele Folan sits down with Dr. Stacy Sims—exercise physiologist, TEDx speaker behind “Women Are Not Small Men,” and author of ROAR and Next Level—to break down exactly why your old workouts and “eat less, do more cardio” strategies stop working in midlife… and what to do instead.We get practical (and refreshingly no-BS) about the real midlife playbook:
2026-01-0652 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.187 The Dirty Truth About Meat Labels (and Why Protein Quality Matters)If you care about protein quality, metabolic health, inflammation, and long-term strength, this episode will change the way you shop for meat.On this episode of Asking for a Friend, Michele Folan pulls back the curtain on the modern meat industry with Cloe Parker, CEO of Parker Pastures, to expose the truth behind misleading meat labels—and why most consumers are unknowingly getting it wrong.Cloe explains what labels like grass-fed, grass-finished, organic, and Product of the USA really mean—and why up to 85% of grass-fed beef is impo...
2025-12-3040 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.186 Vitality After 50: How to Build Emotional Resilience, Physical Strength, and Joy in MidlifeWhat if healthy aging isn’t just about adding years to your life—but adding energy, clarity, and purpose to the years you already have?In this episode of Asking for a Friend, host Michele Folan sits down with Eric North (aka “The Happiness Warrior”), a wellness speaker and coach who’s redefining what it looks like to be strong—emotionally and physically—at 61. Eric is the creator of the Happiness Workout, a simple daily practice that blends breathwork, functional movement, and mindset training to help people build resilience, reduce stress...
2025-12-2348 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.180 Beyond Kegels: Functional Pelvic Floor Care for Leaks, Prolapse & Painful SexUrinary (and yes, bowel) leakage isn’t “just part of getting older”—it’s a signal from your core and pelvic floor. In this straight-talk episode, physical therapist Christina Walsh, co-founder of Tighten Your Tinkler, joins me to dismantle the shame around pelvic health and lay out a functional path forward that goes far beyond “just do more Kegels.” We cover what’s really driving leaks, pressure, prolapse, urgency, and painful sex in midlife; how breath, posture, fascia, and daily toileting habits influence symptoms; when conservative care is enough—and when devices, pessaries, or surgery may be a...
2025-11-1147 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.177 GLP-1 and Peptide Therapy for Women 50+: Beyond the HypeHitting a metabolic wall in midlife? You’re not alone — and you’re not broken. In this episode, Michele Folan, midlife health coach and former diabetes industry insider, breaks down the science (and the truth) behind microdosed GLP-1 and peptide therapy for women 40+.Drawing on many years in diabetes and cardiovascular health, Michele explains how incretin hormones like GLP-1 and GIP regulate appetite, satiety, and insulin sensitivity — and why they’ve become game-changers for both metabolic and weight health. You’ll hear:The wild origin story of GLP-1 (hint: it sta...
2025-10-2125 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.176 Mom Rediscovered: Midlife Identity, Body Image, and the Power of Self-CompassionEver feel like you’re doing everything for everyone—and slowly disappearing from your own life?In this raw and relatable episode, host Michele Folan sits down with writer and coach Jen Butler, author of the forthcoming memoir Mom Rediscovered, to talk about the messy, brave work of finding yourself again—after kids, after moves, and after the coping habits that promised relief but delivered fog.Jen opens up about her seven-year alcohol-free journey, her decisive breakup with diet culture, and the “soft rock bottom” that sparked it all. We...
2025-10-1451 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.175 The Science of Midlife Desire: Oxytocin, Hormones, and Erotic RepairReigniting Desire in Midlife with Dr. Diane Mueller: Stress, Hormones & Real-World Intimacy FixesDesire doesn’t vanish in midlife—it evolves. In this episode of Asking for a Friend, certified sexologist Dr. Diane Mueller joins host Michele Folan to unpack what really happens to libido, intimacy, and connection as hormones shift, stress piles up, and long-term relationships get comfortable.We explore the science of midlife desire, from how oxytocin calms cortisol and improves sleep to how vibration therapy and pelvic floor health can ease...
2025-10-0750 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.174 The Cost of the Nightly Wine Habit: Sobriety, Neuroplasticity & Midlife FreedomWhat’s the Real Cost of That Evening Glass of Wine? A Sobriety Journey with Kate VitelaKate Vitela, a registered nurse, shares her powerful journey from physical alcohol dependence to over seven years of sobriety. Her story isn’t defined by a dramatic rock-bottom moment but by a gradual awakening to how daily drinking eroded her sleep, career, and relationships. Now, Kate offers a hopeful perspective on recovery through neuroplasticity—the brain’s incredible ability to rewire itself and form new neural pathways. “Our brains can reorganize,” she says. “We can completely transform as h...
2025-09-3052 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.169 The Truth About Female Hair Thinning: Hormones, Genetics & HopeIs your shower drain trying to tell you something? Hair loss is one of the most common and emotionally devastating issues women face in midlife, yet it’s often met with silence—or endless product promises that rarely deliver.In this episode of Asking for a Friend, board-certified internist Dr. Mary Wendel—a physician who has dedicated over 20 years exclusively to women’s hair loss—joins Michele Folan to break the stigma and share the science. After witnessing her grandmother’s struggles and facing her own perimenopausal thinning, Dr. Wendel transformed her career to fo...
2025-08-2648 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.168 Reversing Osteoporosis: My Midlife Bone Health Blueprint with Michele FolanThe day my DEXA scan results revealed osteoporosis was a wake-up call I dreaded. No symptoms. No warning signs. Just a family history of poor bone health. The casual “take medication and see you in two years" was a no-go for me. Like so many women in midlife, I knew there had to be another way.In this episode, I share my personal journey of reversing bone loss and improving my DEXA scan results—without relying solely on pharmaceuticals. If you are being presented with an option of drug therapy, please have the conversation with your doctor abou...
2025-08-1920 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.153 Transform Your Walk, Transform Your Health: The Science Behind Better MovementThink you know how to walk? Think again.In this episode of Asking for a Friend, I’m joined by international health expert Joanna Hall, founder of the WalkActive Method. Joanna reveals how improving your walking technique can dramatically boost posture, joint health, hormone balance, and even cognitive function—all especially important in midlife.With 30+ years in sports science, Joanna explains how most of us are walking inefficiently, reinforcing poor movement patterns and joint strain. Her science-backed method helps women over 40 engage the right muscles, impr...
2025-04-2255 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.146 Nourish Your Journey: A Fresh Start After 50 with Michele FolanHello there, ladies! It's Michele here, your 60-something guide to health after the big 5-0. In today's episode, we're having a good old chat about taking care of ourselves in these golden years.Listen, I know what you're going through. Those hormones playing musical chairs, feeling like your muscles are on vacation, and all those "experts" telling you what to do—it's enough to make your head spin! I've been there too, and that's why I'm sitting in this chair today talking to you.We're going to break down intermittent fasting into bite-sized pieces that ma...
2025-03-0321 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.137 Michele Folan on Unlocking Midlife Metabolism, GLP-1 Insights, and Sustainable Fat LossIt's me speaking with you this week offering my perspective on midlife health, focusing on building long-term vitality through strength training, mindful eating, and sustainable lifestyle changes. It's time to ditch the quick-fix mentality and embrace lasting results. Together, we'll explore the importance of being mindful about sugar consumption, the crucial role that muscle plays in metabolism, and the often-overlooked implications of relying on medications for weight loss.We dive into the unique challenges women face during midlife and how to navigate them with confidence and clarity. One of the key topics we cover is the importance...
2025-01-0129 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.115 Busting Menopause Myths: Laura Lamb on Weight Loss, Inflammation, and NutritionIs your approach to midlife health and wellness stuck in the past? On this episode of Asking for a Friend, we unravel the complexities of midlife body changes with a focus on metabolism, diet, and exercise. Join me, Michele Folan, as we challenge the myths perpetuated by diet culture and reveal the benefits of balanced nutrition and weight lifting. I'm honored to have Laura Lamb, a menopause practitioner and founder of the Menopause Lab, as our guest. Laura talks about her own journey from a corporate career to becoming a menopause coach, sharing her battles with diet culture and...
2024-07-2940 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.110 Sustainable Health, Fitness & Nutritional Strategies with Sarah BradleyReady to transform your midlife health and fitness journey? Join us as we explore the incredible transformation of Sarah Bradley, a certified integrative nutrition health coach and Faster Way coach. Sarah shares her compelling story of transitioning from a finance career to her current passion, emphasizing the importance of sustainable fitness and nutrition plans for women in their 40s and beyond. You’ll be inspired by her personal experiences and practical advice on maintaining weight loss through life's significant changes, and how mutual support can help achieve long-term wellness goals.Discover the transformative power of eliminating sugar an...
2024-06-2448 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.81 Womaness Co-founder Talks Skincare and Wellness Down There - You Deserve to Feel and Look Great at Any AgeBy 2030 the world population of menopausal and postmenopausal women is projected to increase to 1.2 billion, with 47 million new entrants each year, but according to a recent Forbes survey, a staggering 73% of women don't treat their menopause symptoms. What about vaginal dryness, hot flashes, sleep disruptions, and skin changes? Are we really putting up with this stuff? There are some amazing women-led companies out there who are forging a path to normalizing the conversation and education around menopause symptoms. It's one thing to be a female entrepreneur, but when you take that boldness and bravery and comb...
2023-11-2733 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.80 The Conscious Caregiver: A Mindful Approach to Caring for Your Loved One Without Losing YourselfMy friend, Claudia, thought this would be a timely topic for many us, and it did not take me long to find an expert in the field of eldercare. There can be many rewards for caring for ill or aging parents, a spouse, relative, or a special neighbor. It is truly a labor of love, but with that there can be some very challenging and trying moments that come with the territory of having this honor. The role requires patience, tenderness, selflessness, and hard work. The emotional toll and physical stress of caregiving can lead to b...
2023-11-2033 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.79 Get Your Gut Together: Banishing Bloat and Finding Relief From Digestive IssuesIf you are bloated or feel like your gut symptoms are holding you back from living life, this show is for you. Our guest expert, Heather Finley, is an adventure-loving, book reading, constipation-overcoming dietician, who wants you to poop better.Heather is your guide to make easy, sustainable changes so that you can find relief and feel healthy again. She is the mastermind behind the gutTogether Program, host of the Love Your Gut podcast, a consultant, and speaker.In this episode we discuss:The gut/brain connection is really a thing!SIBO...
2023-11-1338 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.78 Your Menopause Nutritionist: Finding Body Confidence Without Diets and Food RulesHere is a statistic for you. The average 45 year-old woman has been on 61 diets since the age of sixteen. This brought me back to the 1980s and 90s, the era of dexatrim, Ayds Candies, and Slim Fast. As a side note, the active ingredient in Ayds Candies and Dexatrim was the decongestant, phenylpropanolamine, which can be found in many cold medicines today. I almost forgot about fen-phen. Remember all the heart and legal issues with that drug? Then there were the popular, fad diets, such as the Cabbage Soup Diet, Beverly Hills, Scarsdale, and Grapefruit Diet, to name a few. ...
2023-11-0648 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.77 Shadow Work and Acupuncture - Using Science and Spirituality for Healing Anxiety and TraumaIf you have experienced stress, anxiety, or trauma, what have you done to help you manage or overcome the thoughts and emotions that may derail your day, sleep, and overall wellbeing?Podcast guests have opened my eyes to alternative modalities that go beyond therapy and prescriptions. Hypnosis, EFT, and Reiki can all be considered to help us find peace. On this episode we discuss shadow work and acupuncture, among other things.Winnie Chan Wang is a mindfulness and traditional medicine expert, international speaker, bestselling author, and a professor in acupuncture at the Alhambra Medical University. In...
2023-10-3047 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.76 The Real 50 Over 50 - Her Crusade to Help Midlife Women Be VisibleOne of my pillars of selfcare in midlife is community and connection. Women are generally better at reaching out and networking than our male counterparts, and I am fortunate to have been on the receiving end of other women, not only wishing to collaborate, but also connecting me with others who are in their circles. When I met today's podcast guest, I knew right away that I was in the presence of one of these great connectors of people. She is like a magnet for the midlife community. Donna Cravotta is the CEO and founder of the Crav...
2023-10-2331 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.75 Direction Not Perfection - Shifting Your Diet and Fitness MindsetTired of the all or nothing mentality when it comes to your health and fitness? Lindsey House, R.D., wants you to get off the sidelines of life and feel energetic so that you can enjoy all the great stuff ahead in midlife and beyond. This dietician and personal trainer, turned accountability coach and podcaster, is all about direction and not perfection. Lindsey is rewriting the rules to be realistic for attainable goals, not a one-size-fits-all program that only measures what we see on the scale. At the end of the day, the best lifestyle is the one...
2023-10-1645 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.74 Getting Your Groove Back - A Return to Pleasure and IntimacyWhen it comes to our intimate partnerships in midlife, this can be a moment for us to get back to a more fulfilling and meaningful sex life, but in this season of change, do we want and need the same things that lit us up twenty years ago?Emma Schmidt & Associates is a sex and relationship therapy group practice with a mission is to help make therapy more accessible, locally, nationally and globally. As a sex therapist, Emma believes you deserve to have a great sex life and relationship that fires on all cylinders. Emma s...
2023-10-0954 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.73 Why He Thinks Women Are Superior to Men and The Real Secret to a Fantastic RelationshipDelightful! That is how I sum up this podcast interview. I believe that it is important that men have a voice on this podcast, and it is always refreshing to get a different perspective on the intricacies of male/female relationships. As the head of a major hospital, Ricky Arenson, MD worked with many patients who had reached 100+ years of age. He asked them what the secret to their longevity was, and surprisingly, it wasn't eating acai berries and doing yoga, it was having long-term positive relationships. Ricky Arenson's funny yet serious book, Women are Super...
2023-10-0136 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.72 The Intimacy Doctor and Vital Conversations About MenopauseAfter twelve years in medicine, helping families heal their bodies, Dr. Alexandra Stockwell started studying the science and art of emotional and sensual connection to help her patients heal their relationships.So why did this already super busy, mom, wife, intimate marriage expert, and podcaster decide to co-author a book about menopause? As Alexandra and her dear friend, Tricia Brouk, began to dig in, they found that despite the fact that there is more awareness around this life stage, we still aren't really talking about it. The Invitation - Vital Conversations About Menopause is not a...
2023-09-2545 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.71 Hey, Michelle! Making a Career Out of a Love for Your HometownIf you asked your friends or family what you are "known for" or what makes you unique, what kind of answers do you think you might get? We all have our "thing" whether it is a talent, trait, or a quirk that makes us who we are to those who know us best.Are you that person who has the inside track of what's going on around town, the friend who is on top of all the latest and greatest in entertainment, food, and thrills? Well, that is how Michelle Dorward Jones' friends and followers would describe th...
2023-09-1832 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.70 How She Embraced Midlife Anxiety and Her Many LayersEarlier in 2023 I had a day where out of nowhere came a racing heart and super high anxiety. It was concerning to feel this out of control, and I never really pinpointed a cause other than maybe one of those annoying symptoms of menopause. I can't imagine feeling like that all the time, and it was enough of a wake-up call to prompt me to make some needed changes, and that included more intentional downtime and selfcare. As women, we do a lot and need to cut ourselves some slack.In 2019 Melissa Crook had a health crisis tha...
2023-09-1141 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.69 We Have Options! The Changing Landscape of Menopause and Hormone TherapyAfter episode 64 of the podcast, I had many listeners reach out to me to express their frustration over the lack of healthcare providers in their area who were in the know in the latest in hormone therapy treatments and protocols. When the company Winona contacted me to speak to one of their medical providers, I jumped at the chance to bring our listeners a possible option to fill a void in their quest to feel better and be their best.As telemedicine becomes more and more commonplace, many doctors are seeing it as vehicle to reach more p...
2023-09-0442 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.68 It's Not Normal, It's Toxic: Choosing Yourself Over an Unhealthy RelationshipDo you ever wonder why a particular relationship that you have is so darned difficult? If you sometimes ask yourself if the relationship is unhealthy for you, then maybe it's time to assess the situation. Being walked on, devalued, or feeling stuck can be demoralizing, and worse yet, if we let things go too long, we can develop emotional abuse fatigue.These relationships can be confusing, because they may not be bad all the time. So at what point do we decide, for our own emotional health and wellbeing, that we need set boundaries or walk away alt...
2023-08-2842 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.67 These Don't Have to Be Your Momma's Varicose VeinsMore than 80 million Americans suffer from vein disease. We mostly think of varicose veins, which for some, can makes us self-conscious about the appearance of our legs, but they can be downright painful. Pregnancy, heredity, and what do you know, menopause, can all play a role.Cindy Asbjornsen, DO, found a passion and calling for helping people with vein disease. She is committed to educating her patients about vein health so that they can make informed decisions about the best treatment options. As a board-certified phlebologist, Cindy is utilizing the latest in technology to ensure optimal outcomes to n...
2023-08-2133 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.66 The Many Facets of Physical Therapy and Why It May Be Right for MidlifeThere is so much that we do in midlife in the name of prevention, such as eat well, exercise, and focus on self-care. When you think about the physical therapy, we typically put it in the category of reacting to an injury or recovery post-surgery, rather than prevention. My own recent experience opened my eyes to the many facets of PT, and it is astounding to me the amount of training and specialization physical therapists complete. Think of it as your whole body being connected and your physical therapist is the sleuth that solves the puzzle and comes up wit...
2023-08-1440 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.65 Why She Chose a Hangover-free LifeAllow me to introduce you to Jen Butler. She is a self-proclaimed imperfectionist, who wanted to reach some of her own personal goals, but she knew deep down that her wine habit was going to hold her back from being successful. Removing alcohol is a courageous act of self-care, and she made the decision at the end of 2017 to hand sauvignon blanc a pink slip and started her sober journey. Jen wants to help other women find their joy in a sober curious or sober serious life through 1:1 and group coaching.This wife, mom, and kic...
2023-08-0739 minHealth, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife: Asking for a FriendEp.64 In the Know on Hormone Facts and the Weight Loss ConnectionOne of the goals of the Asking for a Friend Podcast is to bring thought leaders to the table in all matters that impact midlife women. As things are rapidly changing, it is difficult staying current on hormone replacement therapy and the treatment of menopause. It is vitally important that we are armed with information so that we can do our own research and feel empowered to have discussions with our healthcare providers. Nicole Lovat, MD, was two weeks away from opening her family medicine practice, when she attended a hormone education seminar held by World Link Med...
2023-07-3138 min