HER

Online skin "experts" are everywhere. How should you really take care of your skin?Beauty bloggers and Internet “experts” have become the modern go-to for skin advice. What would a doctor who has studied skin conditions recommend? First, think about where you’re getting your information. If you’re following the recommendations of someone who wants to sell you something, make sure that person is credentialed. Be certain what they’re saying makes sense. Second, don’t get overwhelmed by scientific-sounding ingredients. Look these things up. Fragrance is unnecessary and can cause allergic reactions. It’s unnecessary for treatment of the skin. It doesn’t improve how the product performs. Skin Care Basics Protect by day. Antioxidants and sunblock are your friends. Apply before leaving your house each morning. Most products contain some sunblock and it’s okay to layer them. Repair by night. Consider a serum that improves specific skin conditions before applying a cream. Your serum should contain a higher percentage of active ingredients than your moisturizer. Facial masks are more about the luxury and fun. They can give a temporary boost in surface hydration but don’t have any long-term benefits. Beware scrubbing. Don’t treat your skin like it’s a linoleum floor. Gentle scrubbing is acceptable but heavy scrubbing can inflame and damage your skin. Listen as Dr. Tabasum Mir joins Dr. Pamela Peeke to give you simple skin care advice you can easily follow. Sponsor: Smarty Pants Vitamins

You may not have to give up foods you love in order to lose weight.Intermittent fasting (IF) and time restricted feeding (TRF) could revolutionize your weight loss. Intermittent fasting is a period of not eating, followed by a period of fasting. Fasting days have limited feeding, perhaps as few as 500 calories on those days. Feast days don’t have calorie or food-type limits. One IF plan has fasting every other day. Another has two fasting days per week. Time restricted feeding limits the timing of your food intake. Your eating window lasts about eight hours each day. You consume all of your food within that window and drink water the rest of the day. With alternate day fasting, you have one fasting day alternating with one feasting day. You can have your 500 calories in one meal or spread it out over the fasting day. People enjoy this because there is a break from dieting every other day. There’s no need to totally change the pantry. Listen as Dr. Krista Varady joins Dr. Pamela Peeke to share how fasting and feasting may help you lose weight. Sponsor: Smarty Pants Vitamins

There is a new option for creating a family: embryo adoption.Embryo adoption is a way to birth a child when in vitro fertilization with your own embryos is unsuccessful. Donation of embryos is free with the National Registry for Adoption. If you’ve stored embryos and no longer need them, you can donate those embryos to waiting families. You can choose a family to receive your embryos. Waiting families can join NRFA for a small monthly fee and search for available embryos. Adoptive families can create profiles and wait for embryos. The adoption contract is only $350. The expensive side of embryo adoption is IVF implantation, which varies by state and facility. With an estimated 28 families in line for every newborn available for adoption, getting a baby from a birth mother can be expensive, slow and heartbreaking. One in six couples in the United States is dealing with infertility issues. Listen as Katie Cline and Charis Boone, founders of the National Registry for Adoption, join Dr. Pamela Peeke to share details on embryo adoption. Resources: www.prebornkids.com/her Sponsor: Smarty Pants Vitamins

You can work on getting stronger, no matter your fitness level.Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg is a real booty kicker. She’s spry and active, especially for a busy Federal Judge of a certain age. Want to get fit like the notorious RBG? Exercise is the great equalizer. No one can do it for you. You have to show up. Assess, adjust and adapt to the curve balls life throws you. Don’t let one stressor prevent you from your goal of getting stronger. If you’re getting treatment that prevents you from working out, start doing something that works for your current condition. Ease into functional fitness. Don’t sell yourself short. Do what works for you but be sure to get it done. Listen as RBG’s personal trainer Bryant Johnson joins Dr. Pamela Peeke to share how to get fit like the Supreme Court Justice. Sponsor: Smarty Pants Vitamins

Learn what your vagina needs for best health.The vagina is ever changing. It changes over a lifetime and over the course of a single menstrual cycle. Bacteria: Home Team & Visiting Team Understanding the ecology of your vagina is important. You can have the best vaginal hygiene yet still get an infection.  Every woman has vaginal bacteria: the home team and visiting team.The home team contains probiotics like Lactobacillus. These are the bacteria you want. It’s good for your vagina to be acidic so the home team survives. The visiting team is not your friend. Members include STIs and viruses; both can disturb the ecosystem in your vagina. The visiting team has a better chance at sticking around for women in perimenopause or menopause when the area isn’t moisturized by estrogen. The bad guys prefer a more alkaline environment. Some members of your home team are a bit more inviting to the visiting team, making it easier for other bacteria to hang around longer. Blood has a higher pH than your vagina’s preferred acidity. The spread of infections can be more of a problem during the menstrual flow. Detoxifying Your Vagina? First, anything that’s supposed to give you a pleasant aroma should be avoided. Vaginal tissue is quite sensitive. Don’t irritate it with allergens and scented products. Second, the vagina is like a self-cleaning oven. It doesn’t need to be steamed. Don’t risk burning it with steam because the vagina is delicate. Finally, you want happy, healthy vaginal flora. Don’t monkey with them in the name of detoxification. Listen as Dr. Mary Jane Minkin joins Dr. Pamela Peeke to share how you can support your vagina’s optimal health. Sponsor: Smarty Pants Vitamins

Wouldn't it be nice to get personal fitness training without having to leave your house?Starting a fitness regimen with vigor is the easy part. Sticking to it is the challenge. Maybe a video conference with your trainer would help. Would you believe there’s an app for that? GymGO enables you to communicate directly with a certified trainer online. You reserve a free spot with a trainer for an assessment via video conference. You don’t have to worry about going to your trainer or having one come to your house. Weather and traffic won’t interrupt your ability to get to your session. GymGO works via app, tablet or computer. You just need a camera for your trainer to see you in order to guide you on your fitness journey. National ertification is important. Certified fitness professionals have studied and passed testing with an eye on health conditions that could affect training. Injuries and physical conditions must be considered when helping clients with fitness goals. Listen as GymGO founder Donavan Cox joins Dr. Pamela Peeke to share how online and app-based personal training may help you reach your goals. Sponsor: Smarty Pants Vitamins

Develop some simple habits to kick off the new year with improved nutrition.It’s easy to be confused and overwhelmed by all of the options for your new year nutrition. You need help to sort the wheat from the chaff. The Mediterranean diet is a great place to start. Consider what is found locally in the Mediterranean. Whole grains, fish, nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables, olives and oil are main components. Portion size plays another key role in good nutrition. Prepare fruit and vegetables for snacks. Spend some time each week getting your snacks and meal components ready. You have to create a new routine. You may have snack attacks for certain foods. These foods make you want to binge. Look for healthier replacements for these foods or don’t buy your trigger foods. There will be some trial and error. Nutrition should make you feel good. Take care of yourself by eating the foods that help your body function properly. Simple Habits Drink plenty of water. Find a buddy for fitness and food prep. Keep your pantry and refrigerator stocked with the basics to throw together healthy eats. Listen as Chef Abbie Gellman joins Dr. Pamela Peeke to share how you can nourish your body in the new year. Sponsor: Smarty Pants Vitamins

Get the sleep you need and be more productive in your life.There are two systems in the body for sleep: a drive for sleep and a rhythm for sleep. The drive is much like hunger. The rhythm is when your body is accustomed to getting sleep. Your internal biological clock has a rhythm. Following that circadian rhythm will help balance out your life so you function better. Finding your chronotype can help you determine when you are naturally most productive and when you should sleep. The Four Chronotypes Lion: Early to bed, early to rise, this person gets a lot done early in the day. This master of the to-do list is productive but has difficulty being social because she’s tired at the end of the day. Bear: Society is built on her schedule. She’s extroverted, fun and gets work done. The 9-5 schedule is built for her. Wolf: Her nature isn’t to hit the sack early. She’s often very creative. This individual has trouble completing the to-do list. Dolphin: While she gets a lot done in a day, she has trouble sleeping. Her sleep is broken and she may call herself an insomniac. The dolphin also gets a lot done in a day. Many people become lions or dolphins after age 50. Ways to Improve Your Sleep Find one sleep schedule and stick to it. Wake up at the same time every day. Weekends aren’t excluded. Stop consuming caffeine by 2 p.m. Its effects can last six to eight hours. Alcohol is fine with dinner. Consume no more than two drinks. Stop drinking alcohol three hours before bed so you get a good night’s sleep. Alcohol can prevent deep sleep, leading to hangovers. Get 20 minutes of exercise daily. It improves sleep quality. Go outside within 30 minutes of waking for ten minutes of daylight. It resets your circadian rhythms. Listen as Dr. Michael Breus joins Dr. Pamela Peeke to share more about chronotypes and sleep apnea. Sponsor: Smarty Pants Vitamins

Your resolutions shouldn't be based on social pressures, and you shouldn't have to wait for the new year to start implementing change.New Year’s resolutions are a thing of the past. You were raised to talk about these resolutions as a social topic. A resolution is a goal. You should always have a goal. January 1 is not a magical date that makes change stick. They’re based on what you think you should be doing but not necessarily on what you want to do. Every morning you wake up is an opportunity to begin again. If you slip up on your intended regimen, then you can pick it back up the next day. The fitness industry sees a surge in January and February. After six to eight weeks of trying to get fit, the gyms see an exodus in March. What goal means something to you on a personal level? That resolution can stick. It doesn’t have to wait until January. What can you do today to get closer to reaching your goal? Start small. Identify the small habits and start fixing those habits. Why are you sitting on the couch with a snack before making dinner? Maybe you’re looking for comfort. Find the root of that behavior, and find an alternate way to address that need. The body will fight you on large, rapid changes. Find the right physical activity for yourself. Try things. If you don’t like running, then don’t run. What feels good and is enjoyable for you? Your body is designed to move. It’s okay if your best friend’s fitness activity isn’t right for you. Your body will fight you if you didn’t have a great experience and will push you to avoid an unpleasant activity. Your physical activity should feel like work, but it should still be enjoyable. It takes 30 days to create a habit. You don’t have to do it perfectly all the time. Try to hit it 80 percent of the time. Allow yourself 20 percent of the time to be a human being. Just trying is making you stronger. Pay attention to sustainable progress. Don’t expect to make a huge change in a short amount of time. Weight will fluctuate, but a new range is proof that your actions are working. Look at how you feel with the changes you’re making. Focus on what will really make a difference in your life and what you really want. Think about how you will feel when you achieve that goal. Your goals should be for you and only you. Listen in as Liz Corah shares how you can make a change any day. Sponsor: Smarty Pants Vitamins

There's more to breasts than meets the eye.Who doesn’t want to know more about breasts? Modern Americans tend to only consider breasts as being sexual objects. There’s a lot more to them than that. The Gracie Award-winning podcast, Breasts Unbound, explores cultural perceptions, opinions and misunderstandings about breasts. For example, breasts were highly sexualized starting in the 1950s in the United States. During the 1940s, women fulfilled men’s jobs in factories. They started gaining confidence through the work we were doing. They started moving out of traditional gender roles. Enlisted men and veterans then returned from World War II. It was time to put women back in their place: in the home. Hollywood starlets like Jane Mansfield and Marilyn Monroe were ideals with their soft curves. Breasts were sexualized, heightening the role of women staying at home and out of the workplace. Listen as Florence Williams joins Dr. Pamela Peeke to share some tidbits about breasts and details on her podcast series focused on the mammaries. Sponsor: Smarty Pants Vitamins