Today's conversation is one I believe every woman deserves to hear - regardless of age, stage, or current health status.
I sat down with Meghan Rabbitt, an award-winning health journalist and the author of The New Rules for Women's Health, to talk about something many of us feel but rarely name clearly: modern medicine was not designed with women in mind - especially across midlife.
This isn't about blame. And it isn't about distrust of doctors. It's about understanding the system we are navigating, and learning how to advocate for ourselves within it.
Meghan brings a rare perspective to this conversation. She has spent years interviewing hundreds of clinicians and researchers across women's health, brain health, heart disease, menopause, autoimmune conditions, and longevity. What she uncovered is both sobering and empowering: women have been left out of research, diagnostics, and treatment models for decades, but knowledge changes outcomes.
In this episode, we talk about why women must become active participants in their own healthcare, not passive recipients. We explore what it means to be the "CEO of your health" - tracking symptoms, preparing for appointments, understanding your body, and engaging in true shared decision-making with your clinicians.
We also walk through the body systems where these gaps show up most clearly:
- Why women represent the majority of Alzheimer's cases—and what midlife has to do with brain health
- Why heart disease remains the leading cause of death in women, yet awareness is declining
- How menopause is a neurological transition, not just a hormonal one
- Why autoimmune disease disproportionately affects women—and why answers are still lagging
- How gut health, bone health, hormones, and the brain are deeply interconnected
Perhaps most importantly, we talk about midlife not as a period of decline, but as a window of opportunity. The choices we make in our 40s and 50s - how we train, eat, sleep, manage stress, and engage with our doctors - have profound implications for how we age.
This conversation is also about compassion. About pain being dismissed. About women apologizing for symptoms. About loneliness in midlife, and how simply being listened to can be transformative.
Meghan shares how writing this book changed her own health: from strength training and prioritizing protein and fiber, to rethinking alcohol, to having more informed conversations about hormone therapy. Not perfection - just intention.
If you've ever felt unheard in a medical setting, unsure whether something was "normal," or overwhelmed by conflicting advice, this episode is for you.
This is not about doing everything. It's about knowing enough to ask better questions.
And that changes everything.
Timestamp: Intro (00:00:00) How One Question Changed Everything (00:01:28) The Problem No One Likes to Admit (00:03:58) What Happens When Women Stop Waiting for Permission (00:09:30) The Rules Women Are Expected to Follow (But Shouldn't) (00:18:37) The Real Reason Change Is So Hard (00:24:44) Habits That Changes More Than Your Body (00:29:53) The Risk Women Rarely Worry About But Should (00:32:08) What Your Body Is Trying to Tell You (00:39:42) When the Body Turns Against Itself (00:42:49) Why Information Changes Everything (00:45:40) The Moment Everything Became Personal (00:50:40)
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