The Habit Healers

Nearly half of all dementia cases are linked to risk factors you can actually do something about, and most of them have nothing to do with your genes. In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I break down the 14 modifiable risk factors for dementia identified by the 2024 Lancet Commission, and exactly what they mean for protecting your brain.

I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, a board-certified lifestyle medicine physician, and I want to make dementia prevention feel doable instead of frightening. We’ll talk through why seven of these factors are metabolic or vascular, which means the same habits that steady your blood sugar, lower your LDL cholesterol, and protect your heart are quietly building a brain that resists Alzheimer’s disease. I’ll cover the everyday habits that move the needle most, from exercise and a plant-forward Mediterranean diet to sleep, social connection, and stress management. Then I’ll walk you through the appointments worth booking and the exact numbers to ask your doctor about, because the brain-protective target is often more aggressive than standard care. This is practical, science-forward brain health you can start using today.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

* Why 45 percent of dementia cases are tied to modifiable risk factors, and what that means for you

* How exercise and a Mediterranean diet protect against cognitive decline

* Why hearing loss and high LDL cholesterol are two of the biggest risk factors for dementia

* The blood pressure, A1c, and cholesterol numbers to ask your doctor about for brain health

* How sleep helps clear the proteins linked to Alzheimer’s disease

* Simple first steps to lower your dementia risk starting this week

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/what-if-fourteen-risk-factors-explained?r=4t8jxg

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

Can you lower your blood sugar while sitting? It turns out there’s a small muscle in your calf that may let you do exactly that, and almost no one has heard of it. In this episode I break down the soleus push-up, a seated movement that helped blunt after-meal blood sugar spikes by up to 52 percent in early research.

Most of us sit for ten or more hours a day, and we’ve all been told the fix is to stand up and walk. That works, but it isn’t always realistic in the middle of a workday. What the research on the soleus muscle shows is something different and a little surprising: this one muscle is built almost entirely from slow-twitch endurance fibers, which means it can quietly pull glucose straight out of your bloodstream for hours without getting tired. I’ll walk you through what the studies actually found, where the science is still early and unproven, and exactly how to do the movement yourself while you read email or sit in a meeting. This is lifestyle medicine at its most practical: a small, painless habit you add to time you were already going to spend sitting.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

* Why the soleus muscle handles blood sugar differently than any other muscle in your body

* What the soleus push-up is and how to do it correctly with your knee bent at 90 degrees

* How seated calf movement may improve post-meal blood sugar and insulin sensitivity

* What the early research says, and why it isn’t proven yet

* A simple way to start building this habit during long periods of sitting

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/your-body-has-a-built-in-blood-sugarCheck out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Why does some people’s strength training transform their body while yours just leaves you sore? If you’ve ever wondered why your workouts aren’t working, this episode is for you. I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and today on The Habit Healers Podcast I’m using one of the oldest crafts on earth, blacksmithing, to explain exactly how your body builds muscle, energy, and strength at any age.

The science of building muscle runs on the same cycle a smith uses at the forge: a training signal, the biological remodeling that follows, and the recovery phase where the change actually sets. Most people pour everything into the first two and cut the third one short. That’s the mistake we fix today. I walk you through why mechanical tension, not time on the treadmill, is what tells your muscles to grow, why your first month of strength gains comes from your nervous system before your muscles ever change size, and why recovery is the step that turns effort into something that lasts.

And if you’re over 50, 60, or 70, here’s the part I most want you to hear: the largest review ever done on this confirms your body can still build new muscle and mitochondria, regardless of age, sex, or menopause.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

* Why resistance training, not cardio alone, sends the real signal to build muscle after 50

* How progressive overload refines your body the way repeated forge cycles refine steel

* Why the protein synthesis and recovery window means spacing sessions 48 hours apart

* How sleep drives the muscle repair and growth hormone release you can’t train without

* The early warning signs of overtraining and what to do when you see them

* A simple 4-week plan to start or restart strength training the right way

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/there-are-only-three-steps-between

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

Chronic inflammation is one of the biggest hidden drivers of aging, heart disease, and metabolic decline, and most of us have no idea where we stand. In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I’m walking you through “inflammaging,” the slow, silent rise in inflammation that accumulates as we age, using a surprising parallel from nature that finally makes the whole process click.

I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and what I want you to understand today is that the inflammatory molecules damaging your tissues are the same ones that protect you when you’re sick or injured. The difference is the dose. We’ll talk about why one population with the highest inflammation researchers have ever measured also has the healthiest hearts on Earth, why the same molecule from exercise heals you while the same molecule from belly fat harms you, and why your blood markers may not budge for months after you start doing the right things. Then I’ll give you a clear, practical protocol you can actually follow.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

* What inflammaging is and how chronic inflammation accelerates aging and heart disease

* How to measure your own inflammation with a simple hs-CRP test and waist measurement

* Why visceral fat acts like a faucet feeding low-grade inflammation

* How an anti-inflammatory, Mediterranean and plant-predominant diet lowers your markers

* Why exercise and muscle are your body’s natural anti-inflammatory filtration system

* How long it really takes to see results, and why the lag is normal

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/this-type-of-inflammation-slows-aging

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

Loneliness is now considered a health risk on the level of smoking, and most of us have no idea how much modern life has quietly stripped human connection out of our days. In this episode, I break down what social disconnection actually does to your body, and the nine small habits that can rebuild it.

We’ve engineered face-to-face contact out of almost everything: banking, groceries, work. Each change solved a real problem, and each one removed a small moment of connection. But the research here is striking. People with stronger social connection have a 50% greater likelihood of survival, and that effect is largest for people woven into a community, not just those who live with someone. On the other side, social isolation is linked to chronic inflammation, the same low-grade stress response tied to heart disease, metabolic dysfunction, and dementia.

The good news is that the fix is made of tiny, repeatable behaviors. I walk you through all nine, from a daily appreciation text to the surprising power of weak ties, why we underestimate how much connection helps, and how to actually start this Monday.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

* Why social connection rivals smoking and high blood pressure as a longevity factor

* How social isolation drives chronic inflammation and long-term disease risk

* The prediction error that keeps us from reaching out, even when we want to

* Why weak ties and small interactions boost happiness and belonging

* Nine simple, science-backed habits to feel less lonely and more connected

* How to pick one habit and make it stick for seven days

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/what-if-nine-two-minute-habits-gave

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

If your brain won’t stop thinking about food, even when you’re not hungry, you’re experiencing something researchers now call food noise. In this episode, I explain what food noise actually is, why GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Mounjaro quiet it, and how to turn down the volume naturally, with or without medication.

For years, constant thoughts about food got blamed on willpower and poor self-control. The science tells a different story. Food noise is a gain problem in the brain’s reward system, more like tinnitus than hunger, and I’ll walk you through the surprising research that proves it, including a study that measured the actual brain frequency of food preoccupation. I’ll also explain why GLP-1 drugs like semaglutide and tirzepatide work more like masking than a cure, why food noise often returns when people stop the medication, and what the latest research says about building habits that last. If you’ve ever felt like food cravings and intrusive food thoughts run in the background of your whole day, this one is for you.

What you’ll learn:

* What food noise really is, and why it feels different from normal hunger

* How GLP-1 medications like Ozempic quiet food noise, and why the effect can fade

* The tinnitus and “central gain” connection that explains intrusive food thoughts

* How ultra-processed foods crank up your brain’s reward system

* Five science-backed ways to reduce food cravings and food noise naturally

* Why food noise was never a character flaw, and how to retrain your brain

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/your-brain-has-a-volume-knob-for

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

Your sense of smell may be one of the earliest warning signs for brain health and cognitive decline, and almost no one is paying attention to it. In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I explain why smell training could be one of the simplest things you do for your brain.

I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and in this episode I walk you through the surprising science connecting your nose to your memory. Smell is the only sense with a direct pathway to the brain’s memory center, the same regions Alzheimer’s disease tends to damage first. Research shows that a declining sense of smell can predict dementia risk years before symptoms appear, and that olfactory training, the simple practice of actively sniffing a few familiar scents each day, may strengthen those vulnerable brain regions. We look at what the studies on essential oils, smell training, and brain plasticity actually found, where the evidence is strong, and where it’s still early. Then I give you a practical two-minute smell practice you can start today with four jars and a few minutes of focus.

Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:

* Why your sense of smell is a direct line to memory and emotion in the brain

* How a declining sense of smell can be an early warning sign of cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease

* What the research on smell training and olfactory enrichment shows about brain health

* The surprising link between scent, inflammation, and the immune system

* A simple two-minute smell practice using four scents you may already have at home

* When a sudden loss of smell is worth talking to your doctor about

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/what-if-the-first-sign-of-alzheimers

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

I have a confession. When someone describes a baked good as “healthy,” my expectations drop. I start picturing dense, dry things that taste like obligation. The kind of food you eat because you should, not because you actually want to.

This week’s live cooking session with Chef Martin Oswald changed that. He walked the audience through a muffin recipe where every ingredient pulls double duty, and I spent the rest of the day thinking about it because it was flat-out delicious.

It started with a bag of sunflower seeds.

Most people walk right past sunflower seeds at the store. They’re not glamorous like cashews or trendy like almonds. But sunflower seeds are the cheapest nut or seed you can buy, and they’re rich in vitamin E and antioxidants that help protect your DNA by neutralizing free radicals. When you blend them with water in a high-powered blender, they turn into a creamy seed butter that replaces dairy butter in baking. And by the time you account for the water, that seed butter actually costs less than the dairy butter it replaces, while also delivering protein and fiber.

Every Ingredient Doing Double Duty

Every ingredient in this recipe has to earn its place twice.

The ground flaxseed mixed with water becomes a flax egg that replaces the binding power of a regular egg, but flaxseed also brings omega-3 fatty acids and fiber to the muffin. The apple puree adds moisture and natural sweetness, and the pectin in the apple skin acts as a natural gelling agent that holds everything together. I pointed out during the session that pectin also binds cholesterol in your digestive tract when you eat it.

The apple cider vinegar sounds alarming in a muffin, but it reacts with the baking soda to help the muffin rise, and it adds a depth of flavor you can’t quite identify but would miss if it weren’t there. Martin mentioned that old grandmother recipes often include it, and you’ll never taste it in the finished product.

The sweetener is whole dates, blended right into the wet ingredients. Martin was honest with the audience about the balance involved. If you’re managing diabetes or actively trying to lose weight, you might use fewer dates. You want enough sweetness to enjoy the muffin, but not so much that it works against you.

A Few Techniques Worth Watching the Replay For

Martin toasted the sunflower seeds before anything else, at low heat for about eight minutes, until they were just lightly golden rather than dark brown the way you’d toast hazelnuts. Even though the seeds will bake inside the muffin, pre-toasting gives them a completely different flavor. He challenged the audience to try one muffin with toasted seeds and one without.

He sifted the whole wheat flour before mixing it with the baking powder and baking soda, not to remove the fiber or make it behave like white flour, but to aerate it. Sifting breaks up the clumps and introduces air, which helps the muffin rise more evenly in the oven.

Martin also tasted the batter partway through and realized he’d forgotten the vanilla. Chefs taste constantly while they cook, not because they’re hungry, but because tasting is the only reliable way to catch what’s missing, and even an experienced professional forgets things.

When he mixed the wet and dry ingredients by hand, he stressed scraping from the bottom of the bowl each time. Flour accumulates at the bottom and in the corners, and if you don’t scoop it out, you end up with dry pockets in your muffins. Clean the bowl, he kept saying. Always clean the bowl.

No Squishy Muffins

Martin declared this the “no squishy muffin zone.” He wants every bite to have something to encounter, a crunch or a chew that keeps things interesting.

He folded whole toasted sunflower seeds and dried barberries into the finished batter. Barberries are a less common choice than raisins, but Martin prefers them because they contain berberine, a compound that research has connected to blood sugar regulation. He also mentioned that you could swap in diced dried apricots or prunes, and that prunes in particular work well for anyone dealing with digestive issues.

The Macerated Apricot Topping

While the muffins baked for 25 minutes, Martin demonstrated a macerated apricot topping that brought the whole thing to restaurant level.

Macerating fruit means tossing sliced fruit with a little sweetener and citrus to draw out the natural juices. Martin sliced fresh apricots thin, emphasizing that the slices need enough surface area to actually release their juice. He tossed them with about two teaspoons of maple syrup and a squeeze of fresh lemon, then let everything sit while the muffins baked.

Then he took a single leaf of fresh basil, rolled it tightly and sliced it into thin ribbons before folding them into the apricots. Most people wouldn’t think of basil in a dessert, but Martin told the audience it’s common in high-end restaurant kitchens. The amount is tiny, just a few ribbons, but it creates a flavor you notice without being able to name.

He plated the finished muffin with the macerated apricots and a dollop of vanilla plant-based yogurt, finishing with barberries scattered on top and a drizzle of the apricot juice right onto the cut muffin. I wanted to reach through the screen.

The Recipe at a Glance

The full recipe with exact measurements has been published on Chef Martin’s Substack. For those of you who were taking notes during the live, here’s what went into the muffins.

The wet ingredients all go into a high-powered blender and get pureed until smooth. Martin used one cup of toasted sunflower seeds, one cup of water, three tablespoons of ground flaxseed, three-quarters of a cup of apple puree (made with the peel on for pectin), one cup of pitted dates, a splash of apple cider vinegar, and about two tablespoons of vanilla extract.

The dry ingredients get sifted and mixed separately. He used one and a quarter cups of whole wheat flour, half a teaspoon of baking soda, and two teaspoons of baking powder.

Fold the wet into the dry by hand, scraping the bowl as you go. Add whole toasted sunflower seeds and a couple tablespoons of dried barberries for texture. Spoon into muffin cups (Martin recommended a light spray of natural oil or using silicone molds to prevent sticking), tap the tin gently to release air pockets, and bake for 25 minutes.

For the macerated apricot topping, slice fresh apricots thin, toss with maple syrup and lemon juice, add thin ribbons of fresh basil, and let sit for 20 to 30 minutes.

If You Need to Adapt the Recipe

If you don’t have a high-powered blender like a Vitamix, you can substitute store-bought sunflower seed butter for the whole sunflower seeds. Cashew butter works similarly, though the flavor will shift a bit. Peanut butter is another option, though Martin noted it changes the recipe more.

For a gluten-free version, he recommended using a quality gluten-free flour blend, one that combines multiple flours rather than relying on rice flour alone, and adding psyllium husk as a binder. Without gluten, the muffin needs something else to hold it together, and psyllium husk creates a gel when it contacts liquid that does exactly that.

Why This One Matters

I spend a lot of time thinking about what makes a recipe actually sustainable for people working on their metabolic health. A recipe can taste amazing, but if it costs too much or spikes your blood sugar or takes all afternoon, you’re not going to make it twice. This muffin doesn’t have any of those problems. Sunflower seeds are the cheapest option in the nut and seed aisle, and dates provide sweetness without refined sugar. The whole wheat flour and flaxseed bring fiber that slows glucose absorption. The whole thing comes together in about 35 minutes, bake time included.

If you want to watch the full session and see Martin walk through every step, the video replay is right above this article.

And if this kind of recipe is what you’ve been looking for, I’d love for you to join us inside The Habit Healers community on Skool. We built it around reversing insulin resistance, and it includes the Insulin Resistance Reversal Roadmap course to guide you through the process, Chef Martin’s full Healing Kitchen recipe vault with all of his cooking videos and recipes, and my weekly live Tuesday sessions where we dig into the science behind metabolic health. It’s the place where recipes like this one connect to the bigger picture of getting your health back.

Why are so many healthy, active women being diagnosed with atrial fibrillation? If you or someone you love recently got an AFib diagnosis and can’t understand why, this episode is for you.

In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I answer a letter from a longtime reader: three active women in their seventies, all diagnosed with afib in the same year, all already eating well and staying active. I walk through why atrial fibrillation is reaching people who seem to be doing everything right, and why the usual risk-factor list doesn’t tell the whole story. We get into the hidden drivers of AFib that so often get missed, including blood pressure that looks normal but isn’t, visceral and epicardial fat, alcohol, sleep apnea in women, subclinical thyroid changes, blood sugar, and the surprising link between high-volume endurance exercise and heart rhythm problems. I also explain why afib in women is diagnosed so late, what menopause has to do with it, and most importantly, what the research actually shows about improving your rhythm through lifestyle, even after a diagnosis.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

* Why atrial fibrillation is rising in healthy, active people and postmenopausal women

* The hidden AFib risk factors that most people, and even some doctors, miss

* How blood pressure, visceral fat, alcohol, and sleep apnea quietly drive heart rhythm problems

* Why high-volume endurance exercise can actually increase afib risk

* What the LEGACY and ARREST-AF studies reveal about reversing afib naturally through lifestyle changes

* Why the first 90 days after an AFib diagnosis matter more than you’d think

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/what-are-the-atrial-fibrillation

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

After 50 years of eating plant-based, my guest, Victoria Moran, was already doing almost everything right, and her cholesterol still had room to drop. Then she added four specific things to her plate, and her total cholesterol fell from 156 to 127. No statin.In my practice, I hear the same frustration constantly: "I eat clean, so why are my numbers stuck?" Victoria's story shows that the Portfolio Diet, a food-first approach developed by Dr. David Jenkins, can move the needle even for people who think they have already maxed out their diets. This is also a conversation about aging well, because at 76, Victoria is living proof, and her own yoga teacher is 101 and still teaching a class every week.Victoria's Website: https://www.victoriamoran.com Main Street Vegan Academy: https://www.mainstreetvegan.com Victoria's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/VictoriaMoranNYC Dr. Marbas Substack: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about