What Midlife Women Needs to Know About Blood Sugar with Michelle Dwyer

Feel like your body suddenly changed in midlife — increased belly fat, energy crashes, cravings, brain fog, disrupted sleep, or feeling like you’re “doing everything right” but nothing is working anymore — this episode is for you.

In this powerful conversation, I’m joined by health coach Michelle Dwyer to unpack the critical connection between hormones, blood sugar, metabolism, stress, and overall health during perimenopause and menopause.

Michelle shares her own personal healing journey after a prolonged illness led her to completely rethink health and wellness, eventually inspiring her to help women better understand their bodies with compassion instead of self-blame.

Together we explore:

• Why blood sugar regulation matters so much in midlife
• How estrogen changes impact insulin sensitivity and metabolism
• What A1C actually means and why women should pay attention to it
• The role of muscle mass, protein, healthy fats, sleep, and stress
• How continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) can provide personalized insight
• Why health is about awareness and nourishment — not perfection

Connect with Michelle Dwyer:

• Website + CGM Experience Support Program: Health Coach Michelle
• Instagram: Michelle Dwyer on Instagram
• LinkedIn: Michelle Dwyer on LinkedIn

Hen's Den Yoga
A serene and cozy home studio nestled in the Comox Valley offering a variety of wellness classes.

Transcript

Michelle Dwyer 0:00

One if of it is taking the shame and the guilt and the judgment out of it. That there is a biology to this, right? That you're not failing. This isn't a willpower issue. It's just that your body is asking to be fueled and energized in a completely different way. why I like the blood sugar and why I like using a continuous glucose monitor is that it can be very personalized and individualized. So I'll give you another example. Two different people can eat the exact same meal at the exact same time and have a completely different response into their blood sugar, right? And so, for, some people, rice spikes their blood sugar. Other people, sweet potatoes, popcorn, pretzels. We don't have to guess. We're looking at data and going, "How is your body responding to these foods?"

Mary 0:57

Welcome back, listeners, to the Menopause Disruptor Podcast. If you're new here, I'm so glad you found me, and if you are returning, thank you for your patience. It's been a while since I posted a podcast, and I talked about why in a recent episode on concussion. Well, I think I pushed it, and so I needed to take a longer pause. I don't know why I always feel like I need to explain or apologize, but at the same time, I also wanna show up real and authentic, and so this is my story. Took a bit of a pause. went off to the Love Your Brain Yoga Retreat in Portland, Oregon, at Camp Collins It was so beautiful. It was so healing. And one of the best qualities I mean, there were so many, but one of the best qualities about this retreat was the nutritious meals and nutrition is so helpful for brain health in menopause and healing from an injury, which is very apropos for my next guest. Today, I'm joined by Michelle Dwyer, a health coach based in Oakland, California, who specializes in helping women better understand their hormones, blood sugar, metabolism, and overall well-being during perimenopause and menopause. And If you've ever felt like you're doing all the right things and your body still seems to be working against you, well, this is an episode for you. what I loved about this conversation is that we go far beyond diet culture, calorie counting, and quick fixes. Michelle shares how her own profound health crisis 15 years ago became the catalyst for her to leave the education sector and step into helping women reconnect with their bodies in a more compassionate and informed way. We unpack why blood sugar regulation matters so much in midlife, how shifting estrogen levels can impact insulin resistance, energy, cravings, sleep, mood, visceral fat, and even brain fog, and why so many women are blaming themselves for physiological changes that are actually deeply connected to hormones. You'll hear practical strategies around protein intake and muscle health, healthy fats and satiety, continuous glucose monitors stress and cortisol, and how small, sustainable changes can create powerful long-term health outcomes. And honestly, one of my favorite parts about this conversation with Michelle is that she is so grounded, and she reminds us that health is not about perfection. It's about awareness- Nourishment and learning to work with your body instead of constantly fighting against it. So whether you're navigating perimenopause, menopause, blood sugar swings, or simply trying to feel more at home in your body again, I think you're gonna take a lot out of this episode. But before we dive in, here's something you need to know about Michelle. Michelle Dwyer is a health coach and nutrition consultant with a Master of Science degree in Health and Nutrition Education from Hawthorne University, and she trained as a Hormone Cure coach under Dr. Sara Gottfried, now Dr. Sara Szal, of Hormone Cure. She's a professional member and board-certified in holistic nutrition with the National Association of Nutrition Professionals, She's been recognized as a top health coach by Coach Foundations, one of the biggest names in the coaching industry. She empowers clients to feel their best by guiding them through their journey towards greater wellness, energy, and vibrancy. Her holistic approach means you will look at all aspects of your health, mind, body, and spirit. Mm. I just love that Please join me in welcoming Michelle Dwyer to the Menopause Disruptor Podcast. Welcome, Michelle joining me all the way from Oakland, California. but her clientele are all around the world. So happy to have you here, Michelle.

Michelle Dwyer 4:35

Ah, thanks for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

Mary 4:38

let's begin. What is the main, message or area of your expertise in your profession that you want to educate women on? And then bring us back to your why, why that has become your focal point in your career.

Michelle Dwyer 4:51

I would say, for our conversation today, empowering ourselves around these next chapters in our lives, that's my big why, right? How do we, get the information that we need to make sense of our bodies, to appreciate our bodies, to love our bodies? And one of the ways, there's a lot of different ways, but one of the ways is looking at blood sugar because I feel like for so many perimenopausal and menopausal women, there's sort of this like, "What happened?" Like, "I did nothing different, and everything's changing, and this feels harder, and suddenly I have pre-diabetes" or, "My triglycerides are going up" or, "There's this weight in my middle. What happened? I'm, I'm doing... I thought I was doing all the right things." And so I like to reduce the overwhelm. I like to bring clarity and really just, like, acknowledging, like, there's global things that are happening to our bodies as we're moving through perimenopause and menopause, and we're also just individual bodies moving through perimenopause and menopause. So yeah, so my big why, I mean, I would say empowering women to be in charge of their own health and wellbeing, but also recognizing we don't have to do this alone. Yeah.

Mary 6:04

a pain points that lead us to this journey. your journey into health coaching began through a long and difficult health struggle. So can you take us back to that time? was really happening to you physically and even emotionally?

Michelle Dwyer 6:18

So, um, so I've been in practice for 13 years, and approximately 15 years ago, uh, I would say, you know, we all have that sort of dark night of the soul where we're like really in the, in the depths of the belly of the beast. so I can tell you the exact day that I got sick. I woke up one day with a cold, and it didn't go away. It just kept getting worse. I had a chronic cough. I was getting chronic sinus infections. I was doing all the things that I thought were supposed to do, and I wasn't getting better. Went to the doctors, they're like, "You're fine." And I think... I'm thinking to myself, I'm a, I'm an active person, a high energy person in my late 30s. I can't walk up the stairs and you're telling me that I'm fine? So it was really hard, really frustrating, and it kept going. I got sick in middle of October, and it just kept going past the holidays. I would say the darkest moment was in February. There was a weekend where my husband was out of town visiting family, and I was too sick to go, so right there, right? Like, missing out on opportunities for family and connection. And I barely left the couch, and I definitely did not leave the house for the four days that he was gone, and I didn't see another soul. And I'm a, I'm a people person, so I thought, "This is, this is not okay." And so thankfully, I found a great health practitioner, a naturopathic doctor, started to heal my gut, heal my immune system, deal with food sensitivities. And on the other side of that, I was like, "This is what I wanna do." I wanna support people through their own deep, deep challenges and, and not feel so alone and not... 'Cause it was very isolating, you know? Anybody who's dealt with a health challenge, even if you have a great community, it can just feel really scary and overwhelming and very isolating And this was even 14, 15 years ago, you know. I'd go onto the internet trying to figure out how to support myself, and there's just, like, this overload of information. And so again, that's, the support and the clarity is just so important to me when I'm working with my own clients now. And on the other end of it, I felt better than ever. You know, once I started to heal and repair my body, it literally was like the phoenix rising from the ashes. And I thought, "Oh, my gosh," you know, "I'm this whole new level of optimal health and wellbeing, and then now how can I support others through their own experience?"

Mary 8:41

what was the turning point where you realized that this was menopause, the perimenopause journey?

Michelle Dwyer 8:48

So that actually wasn't... I was in my late 30s, although who knows, right? Who knows if that's what was the case. But I would say, you know, a little bit about my own perimenopausal journey. I'm still in perimenopause. I'm 52. Here we are. I'm in the chaos stage. Um, the thing that I will say as a practitioner and as a, as a person going through it, I got trained, uh, with Dr. Sarah Gottfried, now Dr. Sarah Szal, gosh, 12 years ago in the hormone cure, became a hormone cure coach, was supporting women, through diet, exercise, supplements, mindset, all the different things that I... were in my wheelhouse. And, you know, I was probably in perimenopause or early perimenopause at the time, but oh, boy, I did not know what was coming down the road. So I just know that, um, going through this whole experience, I, I feel even more the embodied experience of, of what perimenopausal challenges can feel like, what the chaos can feel like, what the support can look like. and for me, again, it was sort of this feeling of I know a lot and I'm doing all the right things, and my body still is feeling really, really challenged. So yeah, it's sort of been like a second, um, like next level of how to best support my clients. And I always say, too, you know, I've been looking at hormonal health for, like I said, you know, 12 years probably. But the, um, the amount of information that I've really, like, dived more deeply into in the last four or five years is, you know, five times what it was before that, so,

Mary 10:34

Yeah.

Michelle Dwyer 10:35

right? So and thanks to, podcasts like yours, speakers like all the amazing speakers that you've had, right? I really just think we're this generation that's like, this is not okay, right? We're gonna do things differently. and again, like, how do we get the information that we need? How do we get the support that we need? How do we empower our own selves and just keep, making that happen as best we can? 'Cause we're not gonna just sit and suffer.

Mary 11:02

Yes.

Michelle Dwyer 11:03

Yeah.

Mary 11:03

to your illness your experience in the chaotic, tumultuous journey through naturopath and, and understanding that most of it was residing in your gut, and we'll get to that,

Michelle Dwyer 11:15

Mm-hmm.

Mary 11:15

what were you doing prior to this, this journey, this experience?

Michelle Dwyer 11:19

Yeah, so I was in a completely different career. I was a high school English teacher, so it's, it's, it's kind of, um- It's really funny to me because I still feel like an educator. You know, I'm an educator by heart. It's just that now I'm educating folks around how to, you know, make sure they are taking care of

Mary 11:38

their

Michelle Dwyer 11:38

bodies how to have a proper mind and and to be in a state of love and kindness with our, our bodies. And I get to, teach and support, but I don't have to grade anybody. I don't have to tell anyone, like, "I'm gonna give you a B plus. Well, you ate your protein, but you only did your strength training once." Like, I don't have to grade anybody. I can just be fully in support mode, in cheerleading mode, in encouragement mode. So I, love it. it's great. I felt like I got to bring a lot of my skill set, and then also just serve in a completely different capacity. Do

Mary 12:12

you ever have the feeling that the work that we did prior to landing on that one specific area where we're serving ourselves, our sole purpose, Yeah. Ever feel that that foundational work had to be laid first before you could really step into your power?

Michelle Dwyer 12:29

Oh, 100%. You know, and I just also just recognize, like, me as a practitioner to be able to truly, hold space for my clients, to, be the support that they need while also taking care of my health and wellbeing, I probably could not have done that in my 20s and 30s, right? It really took me being in my late 30s through my 40s and now into my 50s to really, know that my health and wellbeing comes first so that my cup is full so that I can be really present with my clients, and my groups, and my workshops. Because if I'm depleted, if I'm tapped out, if I'm running on empty, I can't show up the way that I wanna show up. it's this kind of amazing field because, I'm taking care of myself because it's important so that I can do the things that I wanna do, and then I can also show that for my clients, too.

Mary 13:22

let's talk about that work that you do as a practitioner. Obviously, it was a steep learning curve, but a fast and furious one,

Michelle Dwyer 13:28

Yeah.

Mary 13:29

project to get all of your certifications,

Michelle Dwyer 13:31

Yes.

Mary 13:33

The Hormone Cure. Dr. Sarah Szal is one of our leading trailblazers, and,

Michelle Dwyer 13:38

Absolutely.

Mary 13:39

in the, in the ether that is really bringing to attention what conventional medicine has ignored

Michelle Dwyer 13:46

Yep.

Mary 13:47

education on.

Michelle Dwyer 13:48

Yep.

Mary 13:49

that is... That speaks volume to what you have to offer to women. So let's unpack that. A little bit about that type of work, The Hormone Cure, and why we have to have a better understanding about hormonal resistance, and how all the hormones work together. When there's one off, the whole system is off.

Michelle Dwyer 14:06

Yeah, no, and I think she's so great about that. I think her, analogy for that is, like, the Charlie's Angels, right? which I really love. I also have to say I'm coming off of, the Live Long Women's Health Summit in San Francisco, where Dr. Szal was one of the speakers, so it was so wonderful to get to see her. so many of the big names in the perimenopause and menopause sphere, and I will say one of the things that was so affirming... I mean, I'll get into, the, the nitty-gritty of insulin resistance and why we're paying attention to our metabolic syndrome and all these different pieces. But to take a zoom out, I also just wanna say, in this conversation about HRT and GLP-1s, and wearables, and AI and, you know, all this technology, the takeaway that so many, even these, top, top doctors, doctors in the field is, like, do we have community? Do we have connection? Are we, finding our joy? Are we finding our purpose and mission? So even though I'm gonna nerd out in just a second around blood sugar, because I do think it's such an important thing to pay attention to in perimenopause and menopause, and all the different hormones affect it, I also just wanted to, zoom out because we can get kind of so focused on all these, pieces, which are important. But also, these big picture pieces are just as important. So, uh, I mean, uh, this was part of Dr. Szal's message and so many different messages is that, as we know, estrogen receptors are everywhere in our body and affect all sorts of aspects of our health and wellbeing, and that includes our blood sugar and how our pancreas is functioning. As we move through perimenopause and menopause, how well our body's able to manage glucose. And so I can't tell you the number of clients that I've worked with they say, "I haven't changed anything. If anything, I've been more thoughtful about my eating," or, "I've added in my strength training, and I went to the doctor and they tell me I have pre-diabetes," or, "Suddenly I have high blood pressure," or, my cholesterol has been perfect my whole life, but now I have high trig- triglycerides. What's going on?" And, I just wanna validate, right, that our bodies are changing, that estrogen is changing, and it's changing basically how we're converting all of our fuel. And so it's really understanding that, and, I think you're gonna appreciate this one. It's like all this talk in our sphere about building muscle, which I know you're passionate about, too. Well, guess what? The more muscle mass we have, the better our blood sugar is. Right? It's the storage, it's the place where we store this excess glucose. So more muscle, more strength. It's not just about our bone health. And there's so many reasons, you and I both know, there's so many reasons to make sure we have that muscle mass. But, but muscle mass, right, is about blood sugar regulation. We c- we can talk about sleep support. I know you've had some great people on about sleep. Well, guess what? When we don't sleep well, when we're not getting the rest that we need, it affects our blood sugar or it affects our cravings. We're craving the carbs and the sugar, and then now we're just on this, this cycle. Or we talk about stress, you know, we talk about stress and cortisol, which is such an important hormone to talk about, right? 'Cause the cortisol affects the, the other hormones. But st- cortisol also affects insulin. And so when we are stressed... I've seen, so we'll get into kind of like the wearables a little bit, but I l- I've looked at hundreds of clients' continuous glucose monitors, and I've seen them eat the same thing on day one as they eat on day two. Day two, they're totally stressed out, phone call comes in, they get in a fight with their husband, like some sort of stressful thing happens. Eating the exact same thing, their blood sugar can be significantly higher just from the stress. And again, we get another feedback loop, 'cause of course the stress can also disrupt our sleep, make us crave the carbs, right? So we get in these, we get in these cycles. So why I love talking about blood sugar is all these things that we talk about for perimenopause and menopause, the strength training, getting our sleep managed and quality of our sleep, working on our cortisol and our stress levels, why we need to fuel our bodies and eat well, the blood sugar is this really great visual marker for many people that can help us direct some of these other shifts and changes that we wanna make.

Mary 19:25

So let's bring it right down to square one. A

Michelle Dwyer 19:28

Yeah.

Mary 19:29

comes to see you. They're, as you described, doing all the right things, blood sugar level is still high. Or even if they're not testing that, they've got the visceral fat.

Michelle Dwyer 19:41

Yep. The visceral fat. Yep.

Mary 19:43

appears almost overnight, and they in this, this spiral of, "Well, maybe I need to go harder on the treadmill. Maybe I need to lift longer, harder,

Michelle Dwyer 19:55

Yep.

Mary 19:56

days. Maybe I need to cut back calories," uh, going into a calorie deficit, almost a starvation. I mean, all the things that we thought we needed to do that was promoted in the '80s and '90s, right? And they're beside themselves, and now with the GLP-1s, with the go- Wegovy, Ozempic, all of them, they're thinking, "Oh, I'll just take some of these peptides,"

Michelle Dwyer 20:18

Yep. Yep. Yep.

Mary 20:20

An overnight fix and my stress will go down because I'm back in my skinny jeans. Of course, those are only quick fixes, So let's talk about what happens, whether the listener is on their own journey or a client coming to work with you.

Michelle Dwyer 20:34

Yeah, so the first step is just understanding the biology, a little bit better. That there are shifts and changes, and that the drop in estrogen can affect your body's ability to make insulin. It can affect your ability to maintain muscle, so then things are not getting moved into the muscle. estrogen can affect even the, um, insulin kind of unlocking the energy to get the energy into the cell. And so there's just biological shifts and, and changes that are happening. So, one if of it is taking the shame and the guilt and the judgment out of it, right? That, that there is a biology to this, right? That you're not failing. This isn't a willpower issue. It's just that your body is asking to be fueled and energized in a completely different way, right? and again, you know, why I like the blood sugar and why I like using a continuous glucose monitor is that it can be very personalized and individualized. So I'll give you another example. Two different people can eat the exact same meal at the exact same time and have a completely different response into their blood sugar, And so for, some people, rice spikes their blood sugar. Other people, sweet potatoes, popcorn, pretzels. We don't have to guess. We're looking at data and going, like, "How is your body responding to these foods?" The other thing that I see a lot is what we're having when, right? So, uh, we're hearing all this talk about protein, and I believe that we do need adequate amounts of protein. Well, protein and healthy fats and fiber, right? We're also hearing lots about fiber. Slows that gastric emptying, allows your body to not break everything into sugar really quickly, and then your body has to respond. the quicker everything breaks down into sugar, the more your pancreas has to work. And then if we overwork our pancreas year after year after year after year, it gets tired, and it doesn't wanna work anymore, and that's when we move into that Type 1 diabetes, So if we wanna feel better in the moment, maintain better energy, better healthy weight, better even, you know- capacity and our strength training, whatever it is we're doing, our mood, our sleep. We can regulate our blood sugar, create this nice foundation, but it's also setting us up for success for later on for preventing some of these chronic diseases. it's, uh, almost like a in real time biometric marker that can help us navigate some of these things that we might be trying to bring into our, our capacity. But like you bring in, the undereating, right? Well, if someone's blood sugar tanks, and then they are like, "Oh my gosh, I'm so depleted," and then it makes them crave the sugar, then they're just on that roller coaster again. So it reinforces, I find, making sure we're eating adequate amount, making sure we're eating at the right times, that we're not, uh, stressing our bodies out by, you know, jumping on the treadmill on an empty stomach and then not eating for five hours, right? the body can't do what it needs to do if we're not giving it the resources that it needs to build that muscle. And of course, we know strong muscles means strong bones. I'm obsessed about our bone health, too, I love it as a, a beautiful center target because then we can ripple out sleep, stress, moving our bodies. one of my favorite little tips is if you like going for a walk after a meal is great, but if you're like, "Oh," say it's raining here, "oh, it's raining, I can't go for a walk," do some squats. They've actually, like, shown that that can be really helpful for getting that blood sugar to come down. Well, then it makes sense, right? 'Cause that glucose has some place to go, into those big muscles, So I love it 'cause it, it takes all these things that we're hearing, fiber, protein, strength training, sleep, stress management, all these different pieces that we're hearing so much about, and then we get to see why, and we get to see the effects that it's having on our body.

Mary 24:37

Through our blood sugar levels.

Michelle Dwyer 24:39

blood sugar levels, yeah.

Mary 24:41

So

Michelle Dwyer 24:41

Yeah.

Mary 24:41

woman who's not monitoring her blood, her

Michelle Dwyer 24:44

Yeah.

Mary 24:45

the best approach that she should take?

Michelle Dwyer 24:47

So I do think getting some lab testing is a good idea so you know where your markers are, and that, is certainly, most people are getting their fasting glucose, which is fine. I'm not a huge fan of the fasting glucose. It's fine, but what I have seen with clients is fasting glucose can vary even in the hours of fasting or day to day. So it is just a one-day snapshot of where the fasting, blood sugar is. But getting that A1C can be very beneficial. That's measuring your blood sugar over a three-month period of time, so it can give a better picture. But it's not always the best either. I've seen clients with low A1C, and then they wear s- a continuous glucose monitor and their blood sugar is spiking. So it's not always the best measure. Fasting insulin is another one. most doctors are not gonna do it, but it is something that you can ask for and is in the conversation more and more, which is great, 'cause that's kind of like the canary in the coal mine. looking at your lipid panel, looking at your triglycerides in particular can be very beneficial. But the other one that I love, good old-fashioned tape measure. Measure that belly weight. Measure that waist circumference, right? Because we want that waist circumference to go down. And I always say, especially if you're about to start a new, exercise routine, is measure your belly weight, measure that waist circumference, A, because it's a lot less triggering for a lot of women. I don't make my clients get on a scale if they don't want to. Weight on the scale is not always the best measure. What's going on with our muscle mass? What's going on with our bone mass, right? Losing weight, if we're losing muscle, is not the win, but if we see that waist circumference come down, that's great, So

Mary 26:31

Hmm.

Michelle Dwyer 26:31

it could be as cheap as just measuring your waist and seeing for most women we want that under 30 to be in that kind of better metabolic state. then if someone doesn't wanna wear a continuous glucose monitor, then I think definitely this is where if you're like, "I'm just gonna apply some of these principles," getting that protein in in the beginning of of, the start I find how we start our day sets the tone for the rest of the day. I'll give you another example. Now, this one's a male client, okay? So different body, but I still think it's fascinating. So 75-year-old male wearing a continuous glucose monitor. He was highly motivated. He wanted to get off his belly weight. Men get belly weight too. And he was eating... And you're gonna, you're gonna laugh. He was eating Grape-Nuts. He was eating Grape Nuts with skim milk because he was trying to up his fiber. So he was doing something where he was trying to be good for his heart health. He's like, "I know I'm supposed to eat more fiber. You know, Grape Nuts have no added sugar. I'll do it with my skim milk." Well, it was spiking his blood sugar. You would have thought he had a pint of ice cream,

Mary 27:37

And it would have had the same effect as a pint of ice

Michelle Dwyer 27:40

Absolutely, the body doesn't know. The body doesn't know, "Oh, well it's Grape Nuts, so it's fine," So here's a perfect example where he's trying to do something good for his health, and And so starting the day with that good amount of protein. I always love if someone wants to add some vegetables at breakfast. That's always a bonus to get that good, start to the day. Making sure, for many of us, like, our biggest meal the middle of the day. I know it makes us feel like we're, like, our grandparents or something, but they had a wisdom. So making sure we're adequately getting our energy that we need to carry us through the day. paying attention to those afternoon blood sugar lows, So if you get kind of hungry at the end of the day, having, a nice healthy snack again that's got protein, healthy fats, those sort of things at the end of the afternoon. And then for most people, having their dinner on the earlier side. One of the things that I see that really affects a lot of people's sleep is eating too late or eating too close to bedtime, and then while they're sleeping, instead of their body doing all the things they need to do while they're sleeping, repairing, building muscle, building bone, clearing out all things from the liver and the brain, their body's trying to manage their blood sugar. And so, that's also not great either, right? Because your body doesn't need that energy, and it's gonna store it. So there are these really basic things that, we hear about, but I get to look at the benefit of hundreds of CGM data to be like, yeah, everyone's a little bit different, and also there's these commonalities, And so that, again, it's like are we eating enough protein? Are we getting in our fiber? Are we eating our... Mostly, I love mostly vegetables. Four and a half cups of vegetables. Maybe some fruits in there, especially those berries. Are we making sure we're eating throughout the day? Are we fueling our bodies for our strength training? 'Cause We're not gonna build that muscle if we're not giving it the energy that it needs to build that muscle.

Mary 29:33

it's the protein dosing

Michelle Dwyer 29:34

yeah.

Mary 29:35

'cause that's how the muscles stay fueled throughout the day with the amino acids. Exactly,

Michelle Dwyer 29:40

Absolutely. And, you know, the other thing too from a digestive perspective is that, the body doesn't wanna digest, I kinda joke, like, a brontosaurus burger, right? Like, that's a lot for the body to, to digest all at once. So if we're dosing our protein throughout the day, not only is it supporting our, our muscle growth, but it's also keeping our blood sugar stable, right? So we're keeping things nice and stable throughout the day. Uh, but it's also not overtaxing on our digestive system too, right? Because, too much protein at one time might be hard for the digestion to manage

Mary 30:13

There's so many different directions I could take this, Michelle, in terms of our food, nutrition, from our, fiber, the good carbs, our proteins, even our fats. of those three, and we- you did allude to the fact that proteins are significant for fueling muscle, and muscle being the most metabolically active in the body

Michelle Dwyer 30:31

Yep.

Mary 30:31

for a number of reasons. But women get confused. The ones that I speak with are just overwhelmed and confused, and they feel that one, one gram per pound of body weight is near impossible. It seems like an erroneous amount.

Michelle Dwyer 30:48

Yeah.

Mary 30:49

let's zone in on that for a second we're talking about proteins, the right amount and how actually simple

Michelle Dwyer 30:58

Yeah.

Mary 30:59

accumulate that amount

Michelle Dwyer 31:00

protein's definitely having its moment, right? And I think there's a lot of pluses to that, and we wanna be... I, I kinda joke sometimes that, I'm kind of this practical nutritionist, right? We don't wanna add any stress to people's lives and we don't want people to feel stressed about protein. You know what I mean? that's not helpful either. so I base it on weight, but I don't go as high. Now, if someone wants to do one gram per ideal pound of body weight, great. I do have a client, she's able to get her 150 grams of protein in a day. She's figured it out. She's got her system. She's doing it, right? She's doing it. But for someone else, that might be a really big reach. So I'm a big believer in incremental steps. and first, we gotta track it, right? And I don't think we need to track it forever. I don't wanna track my food every day all the time for the rest of my life. That does not bring me joy. If it brings someone joy, great. Like, it works so well for people. But we have to start with- Well, how much protein am I eating? And I have to, I really have to come back to basics in teaching people look, where to look for the protein, what's considered a pure protein source. talking about varieties of protein. so it kinda comes back to some of those basics. Tracking it is a great place to start so we just know, like, where are we starting. And then I explain to clients the RDA minimum is your weight in pounds times .36. That is the minimum. That is the, like, we don't want you in a diseased state, and I will tell you, Mary Lee, so many clients are not even getting that.

Mary 32:35

Yeah.

Michelle Dwyer 32:35

So let's start there you know what I mean? let's start with those basics, and then we slowly build from there. And so generally what I find that can be a little bit more of a reachable goal is current body weight times, in pounds, times .6, right? That tends to be a little bit more reasonable, and for most women that I'm working with, it's somewhere in that 80 to 100 grams of protein, which tends to be a more doable marker. But again, I do like using body weight because, I have a client who's 100 pounds. She does not need to be eating the same amount of protein as my client who's 180 pounds, right? that just doesn't make sense. So I do like using weight as a starting point so that we're really kind of personalizing it, and then slowly building it from there, and then finding really easy ways to do it. Now, this is where it gets a little tricky 'cause I do work with a lot of plant-based clients, and certainly we can get our protein through plant sources, but it takes a little bit of extra effort. even with my clients who eat meat, they're like, "Michelle, I can only eat so much chicken," and I'm like, "Agreed," right? So I do think variety is important. I'm- I love things like bone broth for the base of a soup. I love adding things like beans and legumes if- if the body tolerates them well. I love things like lupini beans, which are higher protein and lower carb. I like things like edamame, which also is, super high fiber and protein. If someone wants to be more plant-based, making sure they're getting the non-GMO organic soy or tempeh, and then if someone eats fish and eggs, you know, really kind of going for a variety of those sources. and then it's like a little building block, I like kind of a modular way of thinking. So if you're like, "Okay, I've got, you know, my chicken or my fish or my tofu," and then maybe I just increase that portion by a little bit, right? It doesn't have to, double in size, but just, like, a little bit. Oh, and then what if I added some legumes to that, or what if I put that in a bone broth? the biggest thing that I see is that when we add the protein and then we're making sure we're getting enough of our vegetables, which my recommendation is at least a cup per meal, If not more. When we get all that in there, there's not that much room for other things, right? And so we don't have to be like, "Carbs are bad," or, "Don't eat your carbs," or don- you know what I mean? Like, we don't have to do that because we've pushed forward our protein, we've pushed forward our plant, plant foods from our vegetables, and then, the little bit that's left on the plate can be your rice or your potato or your sweet potato or whatever it is you're going for.

Mary 35:20

So how important also to add into the plate that we haven't talked about yet is our fats?

Michelle Dwyer 35:25

Yeah. Absolutely. Well, I'm a big fan of healthy fats, and I wanna say that as a recovering fat-phobic person, right? I'm 52. I grew up in the era of fat-free everything, that fat was the devil. and I'll tell you, Mary Lee, I mean, I'm 20 years old, eating my fat-free Saltines and my fat-free bagel and my box of, fat-free Snack Wells And I'm like, "I wonder why I have all these problems." Like, you know, I thought I was being healthy, I mean, as a 20-year-old, I could kinda get away with it, but I look back at that 20-year-old and oh my gosh, and I understand these other extraneous health things that were going on, why that was happening. So, healthy fat is so important. first of all, I'm gonna start with from the pleasure perspective, Fat makes food yummy, so let's talk about how yummy fat is, right? I think fat is also important for our brain health, right? 60% of our brain is actually fat. It's also satisfying and satiating. It also helps all of our fat-soluble vitamins get into the body. So those eras of our fat-free dressing that was full of sugar, and then we didn't put any fat in our salad, it's like we're not getting in that vitamin K or vitamin E or all these things that we needed 'cause we were so afraid of the fat. So I'm a big believer in bringing in the fat. Now, depending on each person's body or what they're doing, certainly if they're doing more of like a ketogenic diet, that's gonna be a way higher fat. If someone doesn't have a gallbladder, they might need to be way more mindful of their fat, right? So what fat looks like for every body, especially in perimenopause and menopause, is gonna look different, but at least some healthy fat on the plate is really important. I'm not saying it only has to be this, but I love the, plant fats, so things like avocado. I love tahini. nut butters. nuts and seeds. I like something that's giving us some other nutrition while we're also getting our healthy fats. So doesn't mean you can't get it from other sources that are animal fats, but I love that way. And it adds texture, It adds creaminess. It adds flavor. So that's, that's how I like to think about the healthy fats.

Mary 37:45

one of the things I learned in the Girls Gone Strong coaching program, you can use your hand to measure. Palm Of the hand, grams. Of course,

Michelle Dwyer 37:53

Yep.

Mary 37:54

cottage cheese or Greek yogurt in there, it'll just spill over and seep through the cracks of your fingers.

Michelle Dwyer 37:59

Yep

Mary 38:00

Two fist bumps for your veggies.

Michelle Dwyer 38:02

Yep.

Mary 38:03

Double thumbs up for your fats,

Michelle Dwyer 38:04

Yeah, exactly. I love that. I love that.

Mary 38:07

an easy, it's an easy way to remember. Nevertheless, is one thing, quality is quite another, and I

Michelle Dwyer 38:16

100%.

Mary 38:17

are afraid of not getting it right

Michelle Dwyer 38:20

Mm-hmm.

Mary 38:20

and perfect, which we're prone to do,

Michelle Dwyer 38:23

Yep.

Mary 38:23

and then failing and giving up. So what are the things that you can coach your clientele around?

Michelle Dwyer 38:30

I think this is where we also have to keep in mind, availability and lifestyle and budget, right? So I think there's some really important, factors to keep in mind. I think you have access to it in Canada. There's the environmental working group every year puts out their clean 15 and their dirty dozen. So when it comes to our fruits and vegetables, if you can't afford to get all organic or you don't have it available to you or it's being shipped from, you know, Chile, right? Well, that, that may not be like the greatest option either. You can look at, that for the clean 15 for the fruits and veggies that it would be okay to not get organic, and then the dirty dozen, which is the, these are the ones that it's worth it. Things like strawberries and peaches and those sort of things. So that's one of my recommendations. as much as we can, eating a real food, whole food diet plan if we wanna feel vibrant and alive and juicy and luscious, that's what we need to be eating. I mean, we literally are what we eat. There's nothing else, right? other than if you take a medication that you have to take orally. We literally put food into our bodies, and it gets broken down and then becomes our bodies, So, I think that's really, really important. I would say with the proteins is, depending on budget. And I wanna just acknowledge the budget thing. our household budget for food is higher probably than others. we prioritize it and Even now I'm like, I go to the grocery store, and I'm like, holy moly, I cannot believe that... You know? So I also think, growing your own food can also be a fun way to kinda know where your food's coming from. And if you're like, "I don't have room to grow food," even just growing some herbs in your front, you know, front window or something like that, getting fresh herbs in. I love, the 30 plant variety, so that's kind of a fun way to do it, and that's a fun thing to do as a family too is trying to get, over the course of a week, 30 different plants. But, herbs and spices count as well, so that's kind of like a fun little thing to do. with the protein, again, getting in the best quality protein that you can afford, and looking at those ingredients lists, like the Michael Pollan, eat food, mostly plants, not too much. If you look at a ingredients list and it just keeps going, going, going, going, you know, it's a turkey burger and the ingredients list is 20 ingredients long, maybe that goes back on the shelf versus you pick up a different turkey burger and there's, three ingredients and you're like, I know what all of those are, So I think just simple things like that can be really important. I'm a recommender for dairy if you can, getting organic, or grass-fed if you, if it's available to you and it's affordable to you, 'cause, whatever that animal was fed is gonna go into their milk and is gonna go into their flesh. But I know that's not available for everybody. being thoughtful about, you know, it's always, time or money, right? So if someone is like, "I don't have a lot of time and I wanna increase my vegetables," okay, well, then, get the pre-chopped veggies or get frozen veggies that are good quality, right? being very practical about that 'cause I would rather you get those than, buy a whole bunch of vegetables that just rot in the refrigerator, that's wasting money, and that's wasting food, and that's why I like, the baby steps. what's one little thing that you can add, or what's one little swap that you can do? What's one little switch that you can make happen?

Mary 41:58

results and see how it lands in the body, how it feels.

Michelle Dwyer 42:01

Yeah.

Mary 42:01

that as motivation to try yet another little shift, and

Michelle Dwyer 42:06

Yeah.

Mary 42:07

of a month, you've made these pretty significant shifts

Michelle Dwyer 42:10

Yeah.

Mary 42:11

eating healthy. But

Michelle Dwyer 42:12

Yeah.

Mary 42:13

still fearful, and there's still so much... or there, not still, but there's more and more talk around the bad stuff in

Michelle Dwyer 42:21

Sure.

Mary 42:22

good

Michelle Dwyer 42:22

Sure.

Mary 42:24

to altering the wheat germ for preservation

Michelle Dwyer 42:28

Yeah? Yep.

Mary 42:30

know, chicken breasts are now puffed up to full size in six weeks versus nine months

Michelle Dwyer 42:34

Yep.

Mary 42:35

Which is

Michelle Dwyer 42:35

Yeah. Ah.

Mary 42:36

we go grass-fed beef or can we just go for the grain-fed? Well, the grain is just as i- for the cow as it is,

Michelle Dwyer 42:45

Right.

Mary 42:45

would be for us. So how do

Michelle Dwyer 42:47

and I'll say even from a blood sugar perspective, the fructose levels and the sugar levels of our fruit, even if it's not GMO, has increased. So the apple that we're eating is not our great-grandmother's apple. So we have bred fruit, not even as a GMO things, just like we've just made fruit sweeter and sweeter and sweeter And so, I'll have clients, and I don't like to demonize anything, but like I'll have clients eat a fruit and their blood sugar goes through the roof, and you're like, "What? It's a whole food. It's a real food. There's all this fiber," right? So even something natural, and I think that's where it can get really confusing 'cause you're like, "Well, it's chicken," or, "It's an apple," right? But if it's, if it's being kind of shifted and modified, you know, and this is definitely a conversation for another day, but this is, where, food policy and food dollars matter. Where we put our... What I like to say is we do also vote with our dollars, if you have a farmers market if you have a local CSA, uh, a community, sustained agriculture. If you have a local butcher, right? even if you can't do it for everything, but if you can get a l- just a little more informed or be a little more intentional, even just if it's just like one thing, right? Um, I think those sort of things can matter. Now, I say that as a person who lives in California. we've got so much agriculture Also, the weather's great. We have year-round farmers markets, right? So I definitely recognize that, I am in a, privileged space and place to have access to all of that. But that's where, again, it's like make that one small, tiny change, right? if there's just like one, one shift that you can do, you're letting go of the perfectionism. One of my favorite phrases is, "Good enough is best," right? So what is good enough for this week? And then we, like you're saying, build, build, build, from there. I don't ever want us to be fearful of our food 'cause I just think energetically that's not a great thing to do. However, there's legitimate reasons to be thoughtful and mindful about where we're getting our food.

Mary 44:53

Yes. It's taking radical responsibility, not just for how we are treating our changing bodies and responding to the changing levels in our hormones, as we spoke about earlier, it's the radical responsibility that extends out into the community and to

Michelle Dwyer 45:08

100%. Yep.

Mary 45:10

And in turn, know that you're getting perhaps better quality, not always gonna be perfect, but

Michelle Dwyer 45:15

Yep.

Mary 45:15

quality

Michelle Dwyer 45:16

Yeah.

Mary 45:17

let's face it, even dining out. there's few companies that are the suppliers. If you got farm to table, wonderful,

Michelle Dwyer 45:23

Yeah.

Mary 45:23

and check the menu to say, "We support

Michelle Dwyer 45:25

Yeah.

Mary 45:25

farmers

Michelle Dwyer 45:26

Yes.

Mary 45:27

beef, or pork, or dairy," whatever that might be.

Michelle Dwyer 45:30

Yeah.

Mary 45:32

suppliers are using those additives, preservatives, altered chemicals to ensure that those products... So even when you

Michelle Dwyer 45:41

Absolutely.

Mary 45:41

out,

Michelle Dwyer 45:43

Absolutely.

Mary 45:44

end, not always the best. And I would say that a lot of restaurateurs don't even recognize this either, so radical responsibility. But you're right, this is an entirely different conversation

Michelle Dwyer 45:55

Yeah. Yeah.

Mary 45:56

altogether. One I'm very passionate about, but nevertheless.

Michelle Dwyer 45:59

mean, it, it does all, it does all matter, right? And again, if we're thinking about, our overall holistic health and wellbeing, you know, it is recognizing, when we're talking about hormones, we're talking about our endocrine system, and there are these outside things that are endocrine disruptors, right? That affect... So, again, it's like taking that personal responsibility. for me, it's reducing my pesticide consumption as much as I can, buying organic as much as I can, being thoughtful about what I put on my own body. Um, and again, I use the Environmental Working Group for that. So it's again, kind of coming full circle. So the first thing I said is empowerment, there's this delicate dance of, of being empowered and taking a step forward without the overwhelm, right? And feeling like it has to be done perfectly. any action forward is the right action forward, if that makes sense, right?

Mary 46:48

Michelle. Thank you for bringing it back

Michelle Dwyer 46:51

Yeah.

Mary 46:52

It's the empowerment. Knowledge is power. Feeling

Michelle Dwyer 46:54

Knowledge is power.

Mary 46:55

and knowing that even small steps, baby steps, can still be working towards a better healthy lifestyle. We didn't speak at great length about the wearables,

Michelle Dwyer 47:06

Yeah.

Mary 47:06

if a woman was interested, or even men who are, listening to it... Now, personally, and I don't have to worry about blood sugar le- well, I never thought I did, but I like the pin prick one. draw a little bead of blood and beep-beep. and I did, I did that- Only because I want to have a better appreciation and understanding about blood sugar level. Dr. Sarah Szal is big promoter of the wearable. the arm. So let's just talk briefly about the options if one wants to track glucose

Michelle Dwyer 47:35

any time we're deciding to measure anything, I was just having this conversation with a client.

Mary 47:39

Oh.

Michelle Dwyer 47:40

We always wanna be thoughtful So I run continuous glucose monitor groups. I do continuous m- monitors, with clients. Yeah, I love it as a group 'cause it's kind of fun. We get to all do this together. But the first page after I introduce who I am is setting An intention. Why are you doing this, right? Because I do think it's really important any time we're gonna measure anything to know what is, with the data that I'm going to get, is this, again, coming to empowerment. Um, is this gonna empower me to make choices? or is it gonna just cause fear, concern, or whatever? So I do think intention is really important. However, what I love about the CGM versus the pin prick, the pin prick is telling you in that one moment,

Mary 48:27

Good

Michelle Dwyer 48:28

moment. A continuous glucose monitor is 24 hours times two weeks, so we get to see all the variations. So even in just one hour, I can see a client's blood sugar going from 90 up to 180, right? So under 100 would be kind of a good blood sugar. 180 starts to be, like, too high. In one hour it could do that. And when did you do your pin prick? Did you do it when it was at 90, and you're like, "Hey, it's good," or did you do it when it was at 180, and you're like, "Whoops, that's, that's a little higher." So I love the continuous glucose monitor because you also get to see how high does it go, how long does it stay high. Also, you're not gonna measure your blood sugar in the middle of the night. You're not gonna be like, "Oh, it's 2:00 AM, and I just woke up. I should go check, check my blood sugar." And I mean this for someone who has, either pre-diabetes or is just, that A1C starting to creep up, or they're just perimenopausal and menopausal. This is not for people with type one or type two, so they're in their own category. Wanna be very clear about that. But most of us are not gonna wake up in the middle of the night and be like, "Oh, it's so weird I woke up. What's my blood sugar doing?" But if you have a continuous glucose monitor and you're like, "Oh, how interesting. I had that glass of wine at 8:00 PM, and then at 2:00 AM my blood sugar tanked. Huh, I wonder if there's a connection there," right? So we get to just be kind of curious about our bodies. and then again, whenever someone gets something that's a little bit higher of a blood sugar spike, I'm like, "Okay, do it again another day. Do it again another day," right? Because you wanna see, Is that just, like, a one-day time that that happened, or is this something that you're doing all the time, and every single time you're doing it, it's spiking your blood sugar? So that's why I like the wearable. It's only for two weeks, so it's a pretty low investment of time and energy. And, um, you know,

Mary 50:19

we know that

Michelle Dwyer 50:20

what

Mary 50:20

we pay attention

Michelle Dwyer 50:21

to, is, like, if we wanna shift or change something, we have to pay attention to it. So it just gives a nice opportunity to pay attention to it for two weeks, get some personalized data. I never have to tell anyone ever again to eat this, don't eat that. I'm like, "Hey, let's see what your body does."

Mary 50:38

Yeah.

Michelle Dwyer 50:38

so in terms of options these days, at this exact moment in time, there are the prescription ones that you need a doctor's prescription. those have some benefits in that they're, they're pretty accurate, but you have to kind of turn off a lot of things and adjust a lot of things 'cause they're designed for people with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes.

Mary 50:57

Okay.

Michelle Dwyer 50:57

At this current moment, there are ones available over the counter. my personal preference, this is not an endorsement, I get no money, I am not an affiliate, I do not do... this is just what I like to use, is right now I'm preferring the Stelo, which is the, the Abbott version of the over-the-counter. This exact date and time, it's $55, so the price point's pretty affordable. When I ordered my last one, it came in a day, so for convenience, availability, ease of use, I think it's a great option. but there are other options out there. I think it can be a great tool in the toolbox just to get some clarity, to get some interesting data. And then again, the key thing is, What do I wanna do with this data, I have a client whose A1C was going up. She's menopausal, breast cancer survivor. really wanted to get her weight down, and wanted to do so in a very thoughtful, sustainable way, and she's done amazing. also started to see her A1C creep up, and was like, "Why didn't anybody tell me?" It had actually been creeping up for a while, but no one had talked to her about it. So she's wearing a continuous glucose monitor. She works at a high-end tech company, and they have delicious cookies for free every day. All the ones, all the cookies she could possibly... She loves these cookies. She's like, "You know what? It's spiking my blood sugar. What happens if I have a quarter of a cookie after lunch, after my protein?" And she can have it. Her blood sugar goes up, she goes for a walk, she has her little cookie. So it's like, how do we, still have the little bit of cookie and help her achieve her goals, So it's not, throwing any baby out with the bathwater. It's really getting intentional. It's not required, doesn't work for everybody. but it can be a really great tool. However, and I'm not saying this just so people join my group, 'cause there's lots of other groups out there, there's some great books out there. I do think it is best if you're going to wear a continuous glucose monitor to at least work with someone or do some research of, like, what is reasonable so you're not just freaking out and going, "Oh my God, this is terrible," when everything is fine, right? Because we don't wanna like, have misinformation about how to read it, right?

Mary 53:10

Exactly,

Michelle Dwyer 53:11

Yeah. Yeah.

Mary 53:12

that note, Michelle, tell our listeners where they can find you, what your offerings are

Michelle Dwyer 53:17

Thanks. Yeah. So, uh, my website's very easy. It's healthcoachmichelle.com, and that's M-I-C-H-E-L-L-E. And I work with clients one-on-one, all around the country. I'm telehealth. I do run continuous glucose monitor groups. those are about quarterly, and I try to make that a really easy price point to come in so you get a lot of information, you get kind of the camaraderie of the group, and you walk away with some new tools in your toolbox. I also run a program. I'm the founder of Whole Life Nourishment, so it's looking at all aspects of our health and wellbeing. and that's a four-month group program that it's like really nourishing our body, mind, and soul. And then I also do, talks. So I love doing corpor- corporate wellness or wellness talks, either locally or, online. So yeah, Health Coach Michelle. And that's all my handles, too. My LinkedIn, my Instagram, everything's all Health Coach Michelle.

Mary 54:14

Beautiful. We'll get all those links in the show notes, but before we say goodbye, we're gonna go into quick lightning round. This makes it insightful and playful. So I'll fire the questions, and you give us your expertise. Tell us one thing you do for your morning ritual.

Michelle Dwyer 54:32

Hmm. my favorite thing to do in the morning is to read. I love to read even just for about 10 or 15 minutes in the morning. I, I... it just sort of grounds me for the day. It sort of starts my day off joyfully.

Mary 54:47

Beautiful. A food you'll never give up.

Michelle Dwyer 54:51

Oh, goodness. Oh, that's so hard. Knowing how, how much my body has changed. You know, it's funny, if this was 15 years ago, it would've been cheese, and, uh, my body can't do dairy anymore, so,

Mary 55:06

I

Michelle Dwyer 55:06

been able to for 15 years. So, you know, it's funny how these things, I'm like, "Oh, I don't wanna jinx myself." Um, oh, avocado probably. I love avocados. Tell,

Mary 55:17

was

Michelle Dwyer 55:17

tell me you're a California girl without telling me. Born and raised. I love my avocados.

Mary 55:23

Yeah, I would, I would agree with you on that one.

Michelle Dwyer 55:26

Yeah.

Mary 55:27

Most underrated health habit.

Michelle Dwyer 55:30

Ooh. I don't know if it's underrated, but I love it because it's so important, is, is friends, community, connection, being with people, being with people that lift your spirit, people that fill your cup and, um, actually does so much for our health and wellbeing, so yeah.

Mary 55:50

our brain health, dopamine, serotonin.

Michelle Dwyer 55:53

Exactly.

Mary 55:54

it.

Michelle Dwyer 55:54

Oxytocin. We get those hugs in, right?

Mary 55:57

All the good stuff, yep. and then what's the most overrated health trend?

Michelle Dwyer 56:03

Oh, that's a great one. Anything that's designed for men's bodies, anything that is, like, based on research that has been done on a male body and not been done on a body that had a uterus or ovaries. overrated. we gotta call that into question. So I think, um, there's, there's a lot of things that fall into that category, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna put that as a general, a general statement. Hmm.

Mary 56:29

before we go into the last two mic drops, one more. What are you currently unlearning?

Michelle Dwyer 56:39

I would say personally, it's always people pleasing. Right? Letting, letting go of that, that people pleasing. And then I would say professionally, it's really keeping an open mind between data and evidence and foundational things that have served us for hundreds of years, right? So holding... The unlearning, I suppose, is staying in that state of curiosity and openness about what's new information, and this is helping us to move forward, and also, let's not abandon the foundationals.

Mary 57:20

Okay, so finding that delicate balance.

Michelle Dwyer 57:23

Mm-hmm. Discernment. Yep.

Mary 57:26

Very good. Okay, Finish this sentence: True health is...

Michelle Dwyer 57:31

Hmm. Holistic. Mind, body, spirit. It's gotta be. Otherwise, it's not true health.

Mary 57:37

Next one: would feel so much better if they just stopped...

Michelle Dwyer 57:43

Hmm. judging, shaming, guilting themselves. We cannot hate ourselves to health. We just can't. We cannot tell our bodies that we're hating them and then think we're gonna get to a state of vibrational health. And it's a daily practice. We gotta take that guilt, judgment, shame, overwhelm, whatever it is, and be like, "Okay, I see you, and I'm putting you in the compost bin," so.

Mary 58:10

Love that. So good. I thought you were gonna say something like booze and sex, but

Michelle Dwyer 58:16

The

Mary 58:17

keep the sex,

Michelle Dwyer 58:18

right kind of sex.

Mary 58:24

Great. We're, we're won't go any further. We've had about

Michelle Dwyer 58:29

That's for, that's again for another expert.

Mary 58:33

topic, another day. Michelle, this has been great. We're gonna get all of your terrific links in the show notes to share with our listeners. I am so glad to have had you. and I thoroughly loved your energy, your enthusiasm, your expertise, and sharing your story, being vulnerable and sharing with us the journey, 'cause that truly is where connections are made.

Michelle Dwyer 58:52

Thank you.

Mary 58:53

Thank you. You can see now why Michelle has been ranked as one of those top coaches in her field. She has such contagious energy. Before we wrap up today's episode, though, I wanna leave you with a few really important takeaways from this conversation with Michelle. First, so many of the changes women experience in perimenopause and menopause are not about laziness, lack of discipline, or falling off track. Hormonal shifts, especially changes in estrogen, can directly impact blood sugar regulation, insulin sensitivity, your energy, cravings, sleep, mood, and even the way women store fat. And one of the markers we talked about was A1C. A1C is a blood test that measures your average blood sugar levels over roughly the past few months. It looks at how much glucose or sugar is attached to your red blood cells over time. So rather than it being a snapshot of one moment, it gives you a bigger picture view of how your body is managing blood sugar overall. And you don't have to have type one or type two diabetes to benefit from wearing a continuous glucose monitor. And why does this matter in midlife? Because rising insulin resistance and unstable blood sugar can contribute to a number of things: brain fog, energy crashes, increased abdominal fat, inflammation, disrupted sleep, and even long-term cardiovascular and cognitive health risks. Another huge takeaway from today's conversation is that blood sugar regulation isn't about avoiding sugar. It's deeply connected to muscle mass, stress and cortisol, sleep quality, our protein intake and healthy fats, movements, and of course, nervous system health. Michelle also reminded us that health doesn't have to be overwhelming. Small shifts like prioritizing protein at breakfast, building muscle through strength training, balancing meals with healthy fats and fiber, or simply becoming more aware of how your body responds to certain foods can have profound long-term impacts. And I really love her perspective that tools like continuous glucose monitors aren't meant to shame or control us. They can simply offer information and awareness so we can work with our bodies more intelligently and compassionately. And most importantly, this episode is a reminder that your body is not betraying you in midlife, it's communicating with you. And when you understand the physiology behind these changes, we can move from self-judgment into self-support and agency. So if today's conversation resonated with you, be sure to share this episode with another woman, a friend, a colleague, a family member. who may need to hear it. And as always, thank you for being here. for being curious, and for continuing to advocate for your health and your well-being