Live Like a Girl with Dr. Mindy Pelz

Insulin resistance can develop gradually, sometimes long before you notice changes in your blood sugar. And while genetics and other health factors play a role, the habits you practice every day can have a meaningful impact on your metabolic health.

In this solo episode of Live Like a Girl, Dr. Mindy Pelz shares six practical habits that can help support insulin sensitivity, particularly for women navigating midlife and hormonal changes.

She explains why the quality of your carbohydrates matters, how a 10-minute walk after meals can influence your blood sugar response, and why building muscle is one of the most valuable things you can do for your metabolism as you age.

You'll also learn how fiber and fermented foods support gut health, why sugary beverages deserve a closer look, and how your sleep routine can affect the way your body responds to insulin.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• What insulin resistance is and how it develops
• Why carbohydrate quality matters for blood sugar regulation
• How pairing carbohydrates with protein or fat can support a steadier glucose response
• The benefits of walking for 10 minutes after meals
• Why resistance training and muscle mass matter for women over 40
• How fiber, legumes, and fermented foods support gut health
• The impact of sugary beverages on blood sugar
• Why sleep consistency matters for insulin sensitivity
• Three practical habits you can start today

Resources Mentioned

• Wise Goat Organics
• Ben Bikman Interview

For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep378

Connect with Dr. Mindy:

• Join Reset Academy
• Watch the episodes on YouTube
• Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
• Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

Food activist and Food Babe founder Vani Hari returns to Live Like a Girl to break down what's actually hiding in many of the foods we buy every day.

We get into ultra-processed foods, ingredient labels, added flavors, artificial sweeteners, food dyes, MSG, cooking oils, food noise, and the simple grocery-store habits Vani uses with her own family. Vani also shares how to make the transition toward more real food without making food boring or giving up birthdays, holidays, French fries, pizza, and the traditions you love.

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IN THIS EPISODE: 

• How to identify ultra-processed foods
• What Vani looks for on ingredient labels
• Ingredients she personally avoids
• Food noise and highly palatable foods
• Helping kids develop a wider palate
• Easy real-food swaps
• Navigating holidays and celebrations

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RESOURCES MENTIONED

• Food Babe Feast Cookbook
• Vani’s speech at HHS in Washington DC 
• Vani’s speech at HHS in Washington DC 
• Vani’s Senate Testimony 

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MORE ON VANI HARI

Vani Hari, widely known as the Food Babe, is a food activist, author, entrepreneur, and founder of FoodBabe.com. For more than two decades, she has investigated ingredients used in the American food supply and advocated for changes in the way major food companies formulate their products.

• Facebook: @thefoodbabe
• Instagram: @thefoodbabe
• YouTube: @thefoodbabe

For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep377

Connect with Dr. Mindy:

• Join Reset Academy
• Watch the episodes on YouTube
• Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
• Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

GLP-1 is a hormone your body naturally produces, and the foods you eat can influence its release. In this episode, I'm walking you through 10 everyday foods that support your natural GLP-1 response, satiety, and gut health, with practical ways to start adding them to your meals.

We get into fiber, protein, resistant starch, fermented foods, polyphenols, and why I've become increasingly focused on building meals around protein and fiber. I'll also show you what happens when you cook and cool potatoes, why plant variety matters, and some of the foods currently sitting in my own refrigerator.

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IN THIS EPISODE:

• How your body naturally produces GLP-1
• 10 foods to add to your grocery list
• Fiber and food noise
• Protein and satiety
• Supporting your gut microbiome
• Why plant diversity matters
• How I build a protein-and-fiber-forward meal
• Simple ways to put these foods together

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RESOURCES MENTIONED:

• Fasting 101 Guide
• Dr. Ben Bikman Episode
• Fresh-Pressed Olive Oil 
• Wise Goat Organics 
• MyFitnessPal

For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep376

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CONNECT WITH DR. MINDY:

• Join Reset Academy
• Watch the episodes on YouTube
• Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
• Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

Leanne Morgan spent more than 20 years pursuing comedy before her career exploded in her 50s. Now, at 60, she's selling out arenas, starring in her own Netflix series, and living a life that once felt almost impossible.

In this conversation, we talk about what changed when Leanne stopped worrying so much about what everyone else thought and started trusting herself. We get into menopause, imposter syndrome, aging, ambition, health, family, and what happens when a woman's life gets bigger at the exact age she was taught it should start getting smaller.

In this episode:

• Leanne's 27-year road to success
• Almost giving up in her early 50s
• Menopause and finding confidence
• Prioritizing health while touring
• Aging, body image, and longevity
• Why Leanne won't “fake peace” anymore
• Family, friendship, and learning to say no
• Reinventing yourself later in life

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MORE ON LEANNE MORGAN

• Leanne Season 2 Airing on Netflix
• The Time of Our Lives Tour
• What in the World?! by Leanne Morgan
• Instagram: @leannemorgancomedy
• Facebook: @leannemorgancomedy
• X: @leannecomedy
• YouTube: @LeanneMorganComedy
• TikTok: @leannemorgancomedy

For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: https://www.drmindypelz.com/ep375/

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CONNECT WITH DR. MINDY

• Join Reset Academy
• Watch the episodes on YouTube
• Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
• Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

Chronic stress can influence your metabolism, sleep, appetite, blood sugar, and where your body tends to carry fat—which makes your nervous system an important part of the belly-fat conversation.

In this solo episode, I’m breaking down what happens to cortisol after you wake up and sharing the simple 10-minute morning routine I want you to try for the next 30 days.

We’ll talk about morning light, your phone, breathwork, movement, hydration, exercise, and how to identify the stressors that may be setting the tone for your entire day. I’ll also explain what I mean by becoming “cortisol flexible” and how you can start working with your stress response instead of constantly feeling controlled by it.

In this episode:

• Cortisol, chronic stress, and belly fat
• What happens to cortisol after waking
• Why morning light matters
• The problem with reaching for your phone immediately
• A five-minute breathing practice
• When to move and exercise
• How to perform a morning stress audit
• Becoming more "cortisol-flexible"
• My 10-minute morning routine
• A 30-day challenge you can start tomorrow

Plus: Take my free Nervous System Questionnaire below to discover your current nervous system state and the practices that may support you.

Resources Mentioned

• Nervous System Questionnaire 
• Reset Academy
• Who Are You Becoming? Card Deck  
• Sunlighten Sauna

For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep374 

Connect with Dr. Mindy:

• Join Reset Academy
• Watch the episodes on YouTube
• Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
• Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

So many women believe they’ll finally feel better about themselves when they lose the weight, change their body, or reach the goal. But changing the outside doesn’t always change how we feel on the inside.

Psychologist and author Dr. Marisa G. Franco joins me to explore where our sense of self-worth actually comes from and how old experiences can continue shaping the way we see ourselves years later.

We talk about body image as we age, menopause, insecurity, nervous system patterns, reparenting, vulnerability, and why learning to acknowledge the parts of ourselves we’d rather push away may be an important part of building genuine self-worth.

In this episode:

• Self-worth vs. confidence
• Body image and menopause
• How old memories shape the way we see ourselves
• Why insecurity can feel protective
• Reparenting and Internal Family Systems
• Interrupting negative thought spirals
• Vulnerability and deeper relationships
• Learning to value who you are now

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RESOURCES MENTIONED

• FREE Nervous System Questionnaire 
• NEW! Book Worth
• Best Selling Book Platonic

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MORE ON MARISA FRANCO

• Instagram: @drmarisagfranco
• Substack Newsletter: Attached by Dr. Marisa Franco
• LinkedIn: Dr. Marisa G Franco
• Website: https://drmarisagfranco.com/
• NEW! Book Worth
• Best Selling Book Platonic

For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep373

Connect with Dr. Mindy:

• Join Reset Academy
• Watch the episodes on YouTube
• Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
• Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

Think creatine is only for bodybuilders or worried it's going to make you bulky or gain weight? Let's talk about what creatine actually does.

In this episode, I'm breaking down the research on creatine, including studies looking specifically at women, and showing you how I personally use it as part of my strength and muscle-building routine.

We'll talk about creatine monohydrate, dosage, consistency, water retention, resistance training, protein, loading phases, and why maintaining muscle becomes increasingly important as we age.

I'm also giving you a simple challenge you can start today: 30 days of consistent creatine paired with two strength-training sessions each week.

In this episode:

•  What creatine actually does 
•  Why creatine isn't just for men 
•  Does creatine make you gain weight? 
•  Creatine and water retention 
•  Why training matters 
•  The type of creatine I use 
•  How much creatine to take 
•  Why I take creatine every day 
•  Whether you can put creatine in coffee 
•  Creatine and protein 
•  Simple resistance exercises you can do at home 
•  My 30-day creatine challenge 

Resources Mentioned

• Qualia Creatine+, use code MINDY at checkout for 15% off
• FREE Nervous System Questionnaire
• Reset Academy
• Age Like a Girl
• Resistance Bands

For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep372

Connect with Dr. Mindy:

• Join Reset Academy
• Watch the episodes on YouTube
• Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
• Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

Are carbs actually bad for you, or have we been asking the wrong question? In this episode, I'm sitting down with metabolic scientist Dr. Ben Bikman to unpack one of the most confusing nutrition conversations happening right now.

We talk about how to know how many carbs your body can handle, why your muscle mass and activity level matter, how carbohydrate quality changes your metabolic response, and why the answer may be different depending on where a woman is in her hormonal life.

Ben also explains what happens to insulin sensitivity across the menstrual cycle and after menopause, why fiber matters, how he thinks about food pairing, what a CGM can tell you, and why his perspective on GLP-1 medications has evolved.

In this episode:

• Are carbs actually bad for you?
• How many carbohydrates should you eat?
• Good carbs vs. highly refined carbs
• Why fiber changes the conversation
• Why muscle gives you more metabolic “wiggle room”
• Carbohydrates, blood sugar, stress, and sleep
• Can food naturally stimulate GLP-1?

More on Dr. Ben Bikman

Dr. Ben Bikman is a metabolic scientist and professor whose research focuses on insulin resistance, metabolic health, and the ways nutrition influences human metabolism. He is the author of Why We Get Sick and the upcoming book The Carb Crisis, which explores carbohydrates through the lens of metabolism and other factors that may influence how our bodies respond to the foods we eat.

• The Carb Crisis Book: https://link.amazon/B096Jd0u4
• Website: http://benbikman.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benbikmanphd
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BenjaminBikmanPhD
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@benbikman
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@benbikmanphd
• X: https://x.com/BenBikmanPhD

For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep371

Connect with Dr. Mindy:

• Join Reset Academy
• Watch the episodes on YouTube
• Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
• Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

Fasting gets a lot of attention for what happens while you’re not eating, but what happens when you start eating again deserves just as much attention.

In this solo episode, Dr. Mindy breaks down one of the most overlooked parts of fasting: the refeed.

She explains why longer isn’t always better when it comes to fasting, how the eating and fasting windows work together, and why protein, carbohydrates, fiber, fermented foods, and plant diversity can all have a place in your fasting rhythm.

She also takes on some of the biggest conversations happening around fasting right now, including thyroid health, muscle loss, the gut microbiome, fasting after 45, GLP-1, autophagy, meal timing, and whether women really need to eat protein first thing in the morning.

In This Episode

• Why fasting longer isn’t necessarily fasting better
• Why your first meal after a fast deserves more attention
• What happens to thyroid hormones during extended fasting and refeeding
• Why carbohydrates and protein matter after longer fasts
• What fasting may change within your gut microbiome
• Why plant diversity and fermented foods matter during your eating window
• The debate around fasting for women over 45
• Why Mindy cycles fasting rather than using the same fasting window every day
• Whether you really need protein immediately after waking
• How to experiment with an eating window that works for your body and lifestyle
• The difference between your sugar-burning and fat-burning states
• How nutrients can stimulate your body’s natural GLP-1 response

For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/370 

Connect with Dr. Mindy:

• Join Reset Academy
• Watch the episodes on YouTube
• Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
• Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

Why can changing the way you eat feel so emotional, even when you know exactly what you want to change?

In this conversation, I sit down with therapist and Mother Hunger author Kelly McDaniel to explore the deeper emotional and relational layers that can become intertwined with food.

Through Kelly’s Mother Hunger framework, we look at how early experiences with nurturing, safety, attachment, and caregiving may influence the way some of us relate to food later in life—and why food can sometimes become connected with comfort, connection, routine, and relief.

We also talk about emotional eating, body image, nervous system regulation, fasting, food noise, GLP-1 medications, and the messages about our bodies that can be passed from one generation to the next.

This conversation gave me an entirely new way to think about some of the struggles I’ve seen women experience when changing how they eat, because sometimes there may be more happening beneath the surface than what’s on the plate.

In this episode:

• Kelly’s Mother Hunger framework
• Why food can become emotionally significant
• What Kelly means by “surrogate comfort”
• Why changing eating patterns can bring up difficult emotions
• Food and nervous system regulation
• What mothers can unintentionally teach daughters about their bodies
• Kelly’s perspective on food noise and GLP-1 medications
• How support and connection can help us create new patterns

MORE ON KELLY MCDANIEL

• Instagram: @kellymcdanieltherapy
• Mother Hunger, Revised Edition

For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep369

Connect with Dr. Mindy:

• Join Reset Academy
• Watch the episodes on YouTube
• Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
• Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.