The Habit Healers

Bladder leaks are one of the most common problems women quietly live with, and one of the least talked about. If you leak urine when you laugh, cough, sneeze, or exercise, or a sudden, hard-to-put-off urge sends you racing for the bathroom, this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast is for you.

I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and today I’m walking you through the two main patterns behind urinary incontinence in women: stress incontinence, where pressure from a cough or a laugh triggers the leak, and urge incontinence, the pattern behind what many people know as overactive bladder. They can look identical by the time you’re changing your clothes, but they start in very different places, and that difference shapes which treatment your doctor should consider first. We’ll talk about why “just do Kegels” is incomplete advice, what pelvic floor exercises actually did in randomized trials, how bladder training really works, and what mixed incontinence means when both patterns show up in the same week. Then I’ll give you the Leak Pattern Decoder, a simple three-day bladder diary that captures what happened in the seconds before each leak, so you can bring your doctor a pattern instead of a guess.

What you’ll learn:

* The difference between stress incontinence and urge incontinence, and why it matters

* What pelvic floor exercises and Kegels can and cannot fix

* How bladder training for overactive bladder actually works

* How to keep a three-day bladder diary your doctor can use

* The warning signs that mean you should see your doctor first

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/what-happened-right-before-your-bladderCheck out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Can you actually slow biological aging with small daily habits? New research on epigenetic clocks says yes, and the effect sizes might surprise you, because they look tiny until you run them forward over twenty-five years.

In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and I’m breaking down three recent clinical trials that measured biological age and pace of aging in real people. One found that a daily multivitamin slowed epigenetic aging by about four months over two years. Another showed that omega-3, vitamin D, and simple home exercise stacked together outperformed any single intervention. And a caloric restriction trial found that eating about twelve percent less each day slowed the pace of aging by two to three percent, a shift researchers compared to the mortality benefit of quitting smoking. I’ll also share the deposit almost nobody counts: social connection, and why isolation shows up in the molecular markers of aging, especially for men. Then I’ll walk you through a five-part biological aging audit covering movement, nutrition, dietary quality, connection, and sleep, so you know exactly where your highest-return habit change is hiding.

What you’ll learn:

* How epigenetic clocks measure your biological age and pace of aging from a blood test

* What the multivitamin, omega-3, and caloric restriction trials actually found

* Why stacking small healthy aging habits beats one dramatic intervention

* How social connection and loneliness affect biological aging

* A five-category audit to slow aging naturally and protect your healthspan

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/what-if-your-body-earns-compoundCheck out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

The moment that got me was when Chef Martin Oswald took a plain batch of hummus and turned it into a curry sauce.

He loosened it with a little liquid, added yellow curry, fresh ginger, and a small amount of soy sauce, then folded in roasted vegetables he had already cooked. Minutes earlier, that same hummus had been spread on rye bread. Now it was doing a completely different job.

This was Martin’s answer to the meal-prep photos we all see online. You know the ones. Rows of perfectly packed containers are lined up across the refrigerator, and the whole project looks as if it took all afternoon.

His alternative comes straight from a restaurant kitchen. Prepare a few flexible components, keep them separate, and decide later what they will become.

If you missed the first step in this series, Martin gathered it in How to Start Eating Healthy. That conversation was about finding the first change worth making. This one was about making that change easier to live with.

Prep components instead of finished meals

Martin began with four basics he had made ahead of time. There was cooked quinoa, a large tray of roasted vegetables, hummus, and a basil pesto made with silken tofu.

None of them was a complete meal. That was the advantage.

The quinoa could land in a soup, stir-fry, or bowl. The roasted tray held eggplant, peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, potatoes, and tempeh. The hummus could stay thick enough for bread or become a light sauce. The pesto could lead one dish and sit quietly in the background of another.

You don’t have to surrender an entire Sunday to do this. Roast one tray, cook one grain, make one bean puree, and choose one sauce you enjoy. The decisions get smaller during the week because the longer jobs are already done.

Use the knife to manage the cooking time

One of Martin’s best lessons happened before the tray went into the oven.

Vegetables do not all soften at the same rate, so he changed the size of the pieces. Ingredients that needed more time, including the potatoes and eggplant, were cut smaller. That helped the whole tray finish together.

His demonstration tray roasted for about 18 minutes at 425°F, or 220°C. Martin emphasized that the timing depends on how large you cut the pieces. A knife can solve part of the timing problem before the oven ever has to.

Let one base do more than one job

Then the components began changing shape.

First, Martin spread hummus on rye bread and added roasted pepper, whole chickpeas, red pepper flakes, and a few olives. He served it as a simple lunch with salad.

Next, he chopped some of the roasted vegetables into vegetable stock, added quinoa, and finished the bowl with a spoonful of basil pesto. A tray of vegetables had become soup without starting again from raw ingredients.

For the stir-fry, he turned the hummus into that yellow curry sauce, added ginger and soy sauce, then warmed the roasted vegetables through it. He finished with a small amount of basil pesto. It sounded Italian on its own, but here it worked as a background herb flavor.

Finally, he arranged the same components in a bowl with greens, potatoes, tomato, tempeh, hummus, and fruit. It looked as though he had cooked for hours. Martin called it cheating.

I had to correct him.

“No, you’re efficient.”

Change the flavor before flavor fatigue arrives

The separation matters because one large batch can become tiresome when every bite tastes the same.

Martin called this flavor fatigue. His answer was to use the strong flavors strategically. A spoonful of pesto finished the soup. Curry and ginger pulled the vegetables in another direction. Red pepper flakes and olives gave the bread its own flavor.

The base ingredients stayed familiar while the meal changed around them.

Martin also gave us permission to substitute what we already have. Farro, brown rice, black rice, or lentils could stand in for quinoa. The components could become a taco, a rice plate, or even a pizza. You are preparing possibilities, not locking yourself into a menu.

That may be the most useful way to think about meal prep. Do enough work ahead of time to make tomorrow easier, then leave yourself room to want something different.

If you want help turning kitchen ideas like this into habits you can actually use, join Chef Martin and me inside The Habit Healers community on Skool.

If you struggle with chronic insomnia, wake up at 3 AM with your mind racing, or feel tired but wired no matter how perfect your sleep hygiene is, this episode is for you. I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and on today’s episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I’m walking you through what the research actually says about why some people can’t sleep, and the surprising first-line treatment that works better than sleeping pills.

Here’s the part most people miss: chronic insomnia usually isn’t a broken sleep drive. It’s a wake system stuck in overdrive, a state researchers call hyperarousal. And many of the things we do to fix it, like napping, sleeping in, and going to bed early, are the exact behaviors that keep insomnia locked in place. I’ll explain the 3P Model of how insomnia develops, the conditions that masquerade as insomnia, including restless legs syndrome, sleep apnea, and circadian rhythm disorders, and why Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) is now the gold standard treatment. Then I’ll give you a simple protocol you can start tonight.

What you’ll learn:

* Why chronic insomnia is a disorder of hyperarousal, not a lost ability to sleep

* The 3P Model: how a few bad nights become chronic insomnia disorder

* Red flags for sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, and circadian rhythm disorders

* How CBT-I and sleep restriction therapy rebuild your natural sleep drive

* The Stop Trying Sleep Protocol: the quarter-hour rule, anchor wake time, light exposure, and scheduled worry time

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/why-is-it-that-the-harder-you-tryCheck out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

Daylight saving time is not just an annoying clock change. The spring forward transition disrupts your circadian rhythm in ways that measurably increase heart attack risk, worsen blood sugar and insulin sensitivity, and cause real sleep deprivation that can take days to recover from.

In this episode, I break down the three clocks running inside your body: the central clock in your brain, the peripheral clocks in your liver, pancreas, and heart, and the social clock your schedule imposes on you. When those clocks fall out of sync, whether from the time change, jet lag, or shift work, your metabolism and cardiovascular health pay the price. I also explain social jet lag, why night owls carry higher diabetes risk, and why roughly 20 medical organizations now support permanent standard time. Then I give you my complete clock reset protocol: morning light exposure, meal timing, gradual sleep shifts, and the research on low-dose melatonin and creatine for circadian disruption.

What you’ll learn:

* Why the spring time change increases heart attack risk and fatal traffic accidents

* How circadian rhythm disruption affects blood sugar, insulin sensitivity, and diabetes risk

* What social jet lag is and how to know if you have it

* A day-by-day plan to adjust to daylight saving time or time zone travel

* How to use morning light exposure and meal timing to reset your internal clock

* When and how to use melatonin as a timing signal, not a sleeping pill

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/are-you-part-of-the-largest-uncontrolledCheck out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

If you keep waking up at night to pee, you’ve probably blamed the water you drank before bed, your age, or your bladder. In this episode, I explain why frequent urination at night, known as nocturia, is often a metabolic health signal tied to insulin resistance and blood sugar, not just a bladder problem.

I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and on this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast I walk you through the research connecting insulin resistance to nighttime urination, the two way cycle between nocturia and poor sleep quality, and a fascinating study where a sleep treatment alone reduced nighttime bathroom trips. Then I give you my complete four week Nocturia Reset: fluid timing, sleep consolidation, daily movement, and the early research on glycine for overactive bladder symptoms and better sleep. If you’re over 45 and getting up two or more times a night, this one is for you.

What you’ll learn:

* Why insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome are linked to frequent urination at night

* How nocturia fragments deep sleep and why that raises fall risk and long term health risks

* A fluid timing strategy to stop waking up at night to pee, including caffeine and alcohol cutoffs

* Why spending less time in bed can actually mean fewer nighttime bathroom trips

* The leg elevation habit that addresses an overlooked cause of nighttime urination after 50

* How glycine is used before bed, the dose studied, and what to expect within four weeks

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/what-are-your-nighttime-bathroomCheck out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

What if the most important moment of your doctor’s appointment is the first sentence you say? Research shows physicians redirect patients after an average of just 23 seconds, and most patients never finish describing their concerns. In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I share how to talk to your doctor so the concern that matters most actually gets heard.

I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and as a lifestyle medicine physician, I know both sides of the exam room. In this episode, I walk through the research on why doctors redirect so quickly, and why it comes from clinical training rather than carelessness. I share the study where one in three patients admitted leaving a concern unvoiced at a primary care visit, most often about sexual health or mental health, and the surprising finding that longer appointments do not fix the problem of feeling unheard. Then I give you the tool that does help: the First-Sentence Sheet, a simple seven-step way to prepare for a doctor’s appointment so your highest-stakes concern is the one that directs the visit.

What you’ll learn:

* Why doctors interrupt or redirect patients within seconds, and what triggers it

* The research on unvoiced concerns and feeling dismissed at medical appointments

* Why a longer appointment does not solve the problem of being unheard

* How to prepare for a doctor’s appointment with the seven-step First-Sentence Sheet

* How to describe symptoms with specific details your physician can act on

* The one question to write down before every visit

Dr. Marbas’s Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/how-to-get-what-you-need-from-a-15Check out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about

How much protein do you really need after 50? And do protein shakes actually build muscle, or is something else doing the heavy lifting? In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I dig into the research on protein, age-related muscle loss, and healthy aging, and what I found might surprise you.

I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and as a lifestyle medicine physician, protein comes up with my patients almost every day. So I went to the studies. A two-year trial gave healthy women in their seventies a protein shake every morning, and their muscle mass and strength declined at the same rate as the placebo group. Pooled trials of more than 1,600 older adults found the same thing. What actually built muscle in postmenopausal women was resistance training, and adding extra protein on top of training added nothing. I’ll walk you through why protein needs rise with age, what your real daily protein floor is, why strength training is the switch that makes protein count, and the one situation where your needs truly go up: intentional weight loss.

What you’ll learn:

* How much protein women over 50 and older adults actually need each day

* Why protein supplements without strength training did not slow sarcopenia, the age-related loss of muscle

* The simple resistance training protocol that built muscle and strength in postmenopausal women

* How to check your daily protein intake with a three-day food log

* Why protein timing around your workout does not matter

* When a protein powder makes sense, and how much to take

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/the-one-number-that-matters-more

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

One in three adults is walking around with fatty liver disease, and most have no idea. In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I break down how liver fat builds up, why this condition causes no symptoms for years, and the research showing you can reverse fatty liver naturally, sometimes faster than you would believe.

I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, a lifestyle medicine physician, and today I walk you through what doctors now call MASLD, formerly known as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease or NAFLD. You’ll learn where liver fat actually comes from, including the surprising share your liver manufactures on its own from sugar, and why insulin resistance opens the floodgates. We’ll talk about the critical difference between fructose in whole fruit and fructose in juice and soda, and I’ll share a four-phase plan built from clinical research: cutting added sugar, moving your body, shifting to a Mediterranean style plant-forward diet, and gradual weight loss for those who need it. Your liver wants to heal. This episode shows you how to let it.

What you’ll learn:

* The three sources of liver fat, and why your liver can manufacture fat from sugar around the clock

* Why whole fruit protects liver health while juice and sugar-sweetened beverages drive liver fat up

* The nine-day study where children’s liver fat dropped nearly in half without eating less

* Why the Mediterranean diet outperformed standard low-fat advice for lowering liver fat

* The weight loss thresholds linked to reversing steatohepatitis and even liver fibrosis

* The blood tests to ask your doctor about, including ALT and your FIB-4 score

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/one-in-three-adults-has-fatty-liver

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

Erectile dysfunction can be an early warning sign of heart disease, often showing up about three years before cardiac symptoms. And in women, real heart disease can hide behind a completely normal heart test. Both signals trace back to one structure: the endothelium, the one-cell-thick lining of every blood vessel in your body.

In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and I’m walking you through the science of endothelial function and blood vessel health. We’ll start with a discovery that stunned researchers: a protective coating called the glycocalyx that turned out to be a hundred times thicker than decades of standard lab methods had shown. Then we’ll connect it to nitric oxide, the Nobel Prize-winning signal that tells your arteries to relax, and to the everyday choices that determine how well that system works: movement, breaking up sitting time, a plant-predominant diet, sleep, and quitting smoking.

What you’ll learn:

* Why erectile dysfunction and heart disease are the same vascular problem, and why the smaller artery shows it first

* How endothelial function declines stepwise across the menopause transition, independent of traditional risk factors

* The small vessel disease found in 41 percent of patients whose angiograms looked normal, and why women are more likely to have it

* How sitting impairs leg artery function within an hour, and how a five-minute walk prevents it

* Why exercise intensity matters more than duration for endothelial function

* What a single high-fat meal does to your arteries for the next four hours

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/the-organ-that-controls-whether-yourCheck out the Habit Healers Community: https://www.skool.com/habithealers/about