Can you sit down on the floor and stand back up without using your hands? That simple move, called the sitting-rising test, may predict how long you’ll live better than most of what shows up on your annual bloodwork. And almost no doctor is measuring it.

In this episode, I walk you through the science behind one of the most fascinating longevity tests I’ve come across, developed by an exercise medicine researcher in Rio de Janeiro and now backed by more than 25 years of data. We talk about why your body works like a load-bearing structure, how it can weaken from the inside while your labs and your weight look perfectly fine, and why the floor asks every system, strength, power, balance, flexibility, and body composition, to show up at the same time. I’ll also cover the 10-second one-legged balance test and what a low score really tells you about fall risk and healthy aging. Then I give you a specific, targeted plan to improve your score, matched to whichever weakness cost you points, so you’re not just told to “exercise more.”

What you’ll learn in this episode:

* How the sitting-rising test works and how to score yourself at home

* Why each one-point improvement is linked to a meaningful drop in mortality risk

* What the 10-second one-legged stand reveals about your balance and longevity

* The four common reasons people lose points and how to fix each one

* Simple strength, mobility, balance, and flexibility exercises that need no equipment

* How to build a safety margin that protects your independence as you age

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/can-you-sit-down-and-stand-up-without

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Want to reverse type 2 diabetes naturally and lower your A1c without white-knuckling it? Most people quit their new eating plan around day 10 or 14, convinced nothing is working. In this episode, I explain why that is the single worst moment to stop, and what is actually happening inside your body when you can’t see it yet.

I walk you through the story of Dennis, a patient who came off 54 units of insulin and five additional medications, and I break down the five biological “clocks” that reset your blood sugar at different speeds. You’ll hear how insulin resistance really develops, why fasting glucose is the hardest number to move, and how your liver, your gut microbiome, your muscles, and even the simple act of tracking each work on their own timeline. All five converge around 30 days, which is why consistency through that window changes everything.

This is science-forward and practical, the kind of thing you can start at your next meal.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

* Why anchoring every meal with protein and fiber flattens blood sugar spikes

* How a 10-minute post-meal walk clears glucose without needing insulin

* Why your gut microbiome shifts within 48 hours, and what feeds the good bacteria

* How a continuous glucose monitor rewires your food choices through simple attention

* What a realistic 30-day plant-based blood sugar reset actually looks like, week by week

A note: if you take diabetes medication, do not stop or adjust it without your doctor. A change this powerful can lower your blood sugar fast enough that your doses need adjusting.

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/what-if-30-days-could-dramatically

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Your grip strength may be the single most powerful predictor of how long you’ll live, stronger than your blood pressure, and the good news is you can improve it at any age. In this episode I explain why a simple dead hang reflects the health of your entire body, and how a 90-year-old set a Guinness World Record in just 30 days.

I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and this episode starts with Ann Crile Esselstyn, who at 90 hung from a bar for nearly three minutes after barely a month of practice. What her body did wasn’t magic, it was neuroscience, and it points to one of the most overlooked markers in medicine: grip strength. I walk through the research linking grip strength to all-cause mortality, cardiovascular risk, and healthy aging, why muscle power fades before muscle size, and the difference between grip endurance and the maximal grip strength that tracks with longevity. Then I give you a simple, evidence-based way to train it at home, whether you’re starting from zero or ready to add load. If you’ve worried about staying strong, steady, and independent as you age, this one is for you.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

* Why grip strength is a stronger predictor of all-cause mortality than blood pressure

* How the dead hang builds grip strength, decompresses your spine, and protects shoulder health

* Why muscle power fades faster than muscle mass with aging, and what that means for fall risk and independence

* The difference between grip endurance and the maximal grip strength linked to longevity

* Simple, evidence-based ways to improve grip strength at home, including hand grippers and kettlebells

* How a whole food plant-based diet and lifestyle medicine support strength at any age

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/how-did-a-90-year-old-woman-just

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Your body has a hidden safety margin, and it’s been shrinking for years without you noticing. In this episode, I explain physiological reserve: the buffer your organs carry far above what daily life demands, and why it quietly declines with age even when your bloodwork looks normal. Doctors call this slow narrowing homeostenosis, and it’s one of the most important ideas in healthspan that almost no one talks about.

I walk you through the four load-bearing walls of your health, borrowing an engineer’s logic to inspect each one. We look at your metabolic reserve and why insulin resistance can build for decades while your fasting blood sugar stays fine. We talk about strength, and why muscle power fades years before you notice lost muscle, plus why grip strength predicts all-cause mortality better than blood pressure. We get into deep slow-wave sleep, your nightly recovery buffer, and how it shrinks as you age. And we cover social connection, the margin no one thinks to measure, even though weak social ties carry a health risk on par with smoking. Then I give you simple at-home tests for all four, and the first moves to widen whichever one is thinnest.

What you’ll learn:

* What physiological reserve is and how homeostenosis quietly erodes it with age

* Why insulin resistance hides behind normal blood sugar, and how to check your true metabolic health

* How to test grip strength, muscle power, and balance at home for fall prevention

* Why deep sleep is your recovery buffer, and how to protect it after a bad night

* The “2 AM test” for measuring your social connection and building redundancy

* How to rebuild your weakest margin first, the way an engineer repairs a bridge

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/how-to-build-a-resilient-body-that

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Why does the same food spike one person’s blood sugar and barely move another’s? In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I break down the science of personalized nutrition and why your blood sugar response is far more individual than any diet chart can predict.

For most of my career I told patients to build meals around whole foods, and that foundation still holds. But then I read a study that gave 800 people continuous glucose monitors and tracked more than 46,000 meals, and it broke apart an assumption most doctors share: that the food alone determines your blood sugar. It turns out counting carbs is a surprisingly weak predictor. Your gut microbiome, your sleep, your insulin sensitivity, and even what you ate at your last meal all shape what happens next. It’s why one person spikes on a banana but not a cookie, and why that afternoon energy crash you keep blaming on lunch might actually start with breakfast. This is bio-individuality, and understanding yours is one of the most practical steps you can take for your metabolic health.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

* Why the same food produces wildly different blood sugar responses in different people

* How gut bacteria, sleep, and insulin sensitivity drive your glucose response

* Why “available carbohydrates” matter more than total carbs

* How whole, plant-forward foods keep blood sugar steadier for nearly everyone

* A simple no-monitor habit to learn your own metabolic pattern this week

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/is-food-really-the-main-variable

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

If you have ever worn a continuous glucose monitor and felt a wave of panic watching your blood sugar spike after lunch, this episode is for you. I want to show you how to read a CGM the way it is meant to be read, as a short-term teacher, not a source of daily anxiety.

A CGM is basically a home inspection for your metabolism. Like any inspection, it turns up findings that look alarming but mean nothing, alongside a few that genuinely matter. In this episode I walk you through what normal glucose actually looks like, why healthy people spike above 140 every day, and how to tell a real finding from an artifact like a compression low or the dawn phenomenon. We look at what the research really says about glucose monitors for non-diabetics, including the risk of tracking tipping into disordered eating, and why the device is almost never the problem. Then I give you the exact two-week protocol I use with my patients, with simple experiments to see how a post-meal walk, meal order, sleep, and stress each change your curve.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

* Why healthy people see blood sugar spikes above 140 every day, and when a spike actually matters

* How a short walk after meals flattens your glucose curve, and why meal order changes your after-meal spike

* How stress and one bad night of sleep show up on a CGM with no food involved

* How to spot false readings like compression lows, sensor lag, and the dawn phenomenon

* What the science says about continuous glucose monitors for non-diabetics and metabolic health

* The exact two-week CGM protocol I use with patients, and when to see your doctor instead

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/your-glucose-hits-145-after-lunch

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Is rebounding on a mini trampoline real exercise, or just an infomercial leftover? In this episode I unpack the science behind rebounding and the famous NASA study everyone quotes, because the truth about that “68 percent” claim is not what the marketing says.

I’ve had more patients ask me about rebounders than almost any other piece of equipment, so let’s talk about what the research actually shows. Rebounding is a low-impact workout that changes the way force arrives at your body, spreading each landing across your whole skeleton instead of slamming it into your ankles and knees the way running on pavement does. That makes it gentle on your joints while still delivering a moderate-to-vigorous cardio workout. The strongest evidence is for balance and fall prevention, which matters enormously as we age, but there’s also solid data on blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol. I’ll also tell you where the hype falls apart, including the lymphatic “detox” claim, and cover the two real risks most people never hear about: pelvic floor leakage and spine safety. Then I’ll give you a simple four-phase plan to start safely.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

* What the NASA rebounding study really measured (and why it was never about calories)

* Why a mini trampoline is easier on your joints than running on a hard surface

* How rebounding improves balance and helps with fall prevention for older adults

* The cardiovascular and blood sugar benefits backed by real research

* The truth about the lymphatic detox claim and bone density

* Pelvic floor and spine safety, plus a beginner-friendly rebounding routine

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/the-workout-that-protects-your-joints

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

If you can’t stop googling your symptoms, re-reading old lab results, or lying awake worrying that every ache is something serious, this episode on health anxiety is for you. I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and I want to show you why your attention gets stuck on health fears, and the simple, science-backed way to redirect it.

On this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I unpack what the research actually shows about health anxiety. Here’s the part that surprised me most: anxious minds don’t notice health threats faster than anyone else, they just can’t let go of them once they do. I explain how that kind of chronic worry and rumination puts a real, measurable load on your body, raising blood pressure, heart rate, and cortisol, even when nothing is actually wrong. Then I walk you through a gentle approach drawn from acceptance and commitment therapy, and I share my Windshield Protocol, a five-habit system for shifting your attention away from the fears you can’t control and toward the forward-facing health habits you can act on today.

What you’ll learn:

* Why people with health anxiety struggle to disengage from threats, not detect them

* How worry and rumination quietly raise blood pressure, heart rate, and cortisol

* What the research says about symptom checking, reassurance seeking, and compulsive online searching

* A science-backed way to redirect your attention using acceptance and commitment therapy

* The five-habit Windshield Protocol for building controllable, plant-forward health habits

* The red flags that mean health anxiety is worth talking to a professional about

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/are-you-driving-your-health-while?r=4t8jxg

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

If joint pain has slowly pushed you out of the activities you love, water therapy for joint pain might be the most underrated place to start. In this episode, I explain why aquatic exercise works so well for arthritis and knee osteoarthritis, and how simply standing in chest-deep water can take most of the load off your aching joints.

For years, many of us were told the same thing about joint pain: that our cartilage is wearing out and that movement makes it worse. On this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and I’m walking you through why that wear-and-tear story gets it backwards, and why your joints actually depend on movement to stay healthy. We’ll talk about how buoyancy, warm water, and gentle resistance work together to ease pain, what the research really shows when water exercise is compared to land-based exercise, and how to pick a starting point that fits where your body is right now. Whether you’re dealing with knee pain, hip pain, or stiffness that’s kept you from the gym, this is a practical roadmap for low-impact exercise that doesn’t hurt while you do it.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

* How much body weight aquatic exercise takes off your joints, and why warm-water therapy eases arthritis pain

* Why the “wear and tear” model of joint pain is backwards, and how movement helps protect your cartilage

* A simple four-week water protocol for knee osteoarthritis and joint pain relief

* Land-based options for low-impact exercise when you don’t have pool access, including stationary cycling and tai chi

* When to talk to your doctor before starting any exercise program for joint pain

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/your-painful-joints-dont-need-rest?r=4t8jxg

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Is leaky gut real, or just a wellness buzzword? In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I separate the real science of intestinal permeability from the zonulin tests and supplements being sold around it, and I show you how a leaky gut wall can quietly drive inflammation and high blood sugar even when you have no gut symptoms at all.

Here’s what I want you to know: the gut wall really does leak, and researchers have measured it for over thirty years in conditions like type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and fatty liver disease. The biology is real. What the wellness industry got wrong is the products built on top of it. In this episode I walk through what actually damages the gut barrier, why common pain relievers like ibuprofen and naproxen matter more than most people realize, and how the gut connects to your metabolism through your liver. Then I give you a practical, research-backed gut barrier repair protocol you can start this week.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

* Why “leaky gut syndrome” isn’t a real diagnosis, but increased intestinal permeability is real and measurable

* How NSAIDs, alcohol, stress, and ultra-processed foods damage your gut wall

* The link between gut health, insulin resistance, and chronic inflammation

* How to build a fiber and butyrate floor to repair the gut lining

* What the research says about probiotics and zinc carnosine for gut barrier support

* The sleep and stress habits that drive overnight gut wall repair

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/why-is-your-gut-leaking-and-what?r=4t8jxg

Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about