The Habit Healers

Can the number of push-ups you can do say something about your heart health? On this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I’m unpacking the well-known firefighter push-up study, what the headlines got wrong, and how to start strength training as a beginner, at any age.

I’ll tell you about one of my patients, a woman in her 60s who started with two counter push-ups and worked her way up to sixty in a few months. Her story is a perfect example of how small habits add up. Then we’ll look at what the research actually found when firefighters did push-ups during routine checkups, and why your push-up number is best used as a free, simple check on your overall fitness rather than a guarantee about heart disease risk.

You’ll also learn why a push-up works like a wheelbarrow, why a raised surface can be easier than the classic knee push-up, and how bodyweight exercise at home stacks up against the bench press. I’ll walk you through a six-step plan that takes you from the wall to the floor, plus the warning signs that mean you should stop.

What you’ll learn:

* What the firefighter push-up test revealed about heart health, and its limits

* Why strength training is linked to lower risk of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes

* How to start push-ups as a beginner, from the wall, a counter, or a stair

* How often to do bodyweight exercise at home for healthy aging

* Good push-up form and when to stop and call your doctor

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/how-to-get-strong-with-push-ups-in

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

Can poor sleep raise your blood sugar during menopause? If your fasting glucose is creeping up even though you’re eating well, broken sleep from hot flashes and night sweats may be the hidden driver nobody has asked you about. I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast is about treating sleep as metabolic medicine.

I start in an unlikely place, the apple storage warehouses of eastern Washington, where fruit stays fresh for nine months on a knife’s edge of oxygen. Your body runs a similar system every night, and perimenopause insomnia can crack the door open for years before anyone notices. I walk you through a randomized trial showing that sleeping about ninety minutes less each night raised insulin resistance in women within six weeks, with no weight gain, and why the effect was stronger after menopause. We also talk about why deep sleep matters as much as total hours, and why the usual over-the-counter sleep aids can work against you.

Then I give you the evening-to-morning protocol I use with my patients, from a simple post-dinner walk to the options I discuss when hot flashes are still waking you up.

What you’ll learn:

* How short or fragmented sleep drives insulin resistance and higher fasting glucose

* Why menopause and perimenopause sleep problems raise type 2 diabetes risk

* A bedtime routine for better deep sleep, including warm showers, kiwifruit, and cyclic sighing

* How to handle hot flashes and night sweats at night without wrecking your sleep

* Where hormone therapy, gabapentin, low-dose doxepin, and CBT-I fit for menopause insomnia

* Why consistent sleep and wake times and morning light protect your blood sugar

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/if-your-fasting-glucose-is-creeping

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

Thank you Helene Broitman, Heather in 🇬🇷, David Hawkins, Afsi, Karen Frye, and many others for tuning into my live video with Chef Martin Oswald! Join me for my next live video in the app.

Can a weighted vest help prevent osteoporosis and improve insulin resistance? The research says a small amount of added weight, worn while you walk or do everyday chores, may be one of the simplest ways to protect your bones and your metabolism as you age.

In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I walk you through the science of putting gravity back into your life. You’ll learn how your body’s internal gravity sensor, called the mechanostat, decides how strong your bones need to be, and why it cares more about load than calcium. I share a five-year study where postmenopausal women wearing light weighted vests kept their hip bone density while women without them lost it, plus an eight-week study where “skinny fat” women who wore a vest during circuit training cut their insulin resistance by 27 percent. Then we talk about the minimal effective dose, why more weight isn’t better, and how to build a weighted vest walking habit without hurting your knees or joints.

What you’ll learn:

* How a weighted vest supports bone density and may help slow osteoporosis after menopause

* Why weighted vest workouts improved insulin resistance and body composition

* What “skinny fat” means and why looking thin doesn’t always mean metabolically healthy

* The minimal effective dose: why 5 to 10 percent of your body weight is the sweet spot

* How weighted vest walking and everyday chores can turn into strength training

* Why consistency matters more than intensity for long-term bone health

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/is-a-weighted-vest-the-cure-for-the

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

Why is it so hard to be alone with your thoughts, and why does your hand reach for your phone the second you’re bored? In one famous study, people chose to give themselves an electric shock rather than sit quietly with their own minds for fifteen minutes.

In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I walk you through that research and what it reveals about boredom, distraction, and why we reach for screens. Your phone, a book, and music all do the work for you, like a player piano. Your own mind is more like a regular piano, where every note has to come from you. That takes real effort, and it’s why quiet time feels so uncomfortable. The good news is there’s a simple fix backed by follow-up studies, and it doesn’t require meditation experience or a digital detox. It takes one index card and a few minutes. I’ll show you how to make one, where to keep it, and what to put on it so your quiet moments become something you actually enjoy.

What you’ll learn:

* Why being alone with your thoughts feels so hard, and why it’s not a sign your mind is broken

* How phone habits fill every bored moment, and what to reach for instead

* The simple “thinking card” that made quiet time more enjoyable in research studies

* Which kinds of thoughts boost enjoyment, and why to leave work off your list

* What doesn’t help, including planning your daydream in detail or fidgeting

* How to start a screen-free habit tonight in under five minutes

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/how-to-enjoy-your-own-imagination

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

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

Can two meals with identical nutrition labels affect your insulin, blood sugar, and metabolism differently? A new study on ultra-processed foods says yes, and I think it changes how you should read every package in your kitchen.

In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I walk you through a fascinating experiment. Researchers built two trays, one ultra-processed and one less processed, matched on calories, carbs, fat, protein, fiber, sodium, and even glycemic index. Blood sugar came out about the same after both. But insulin ran higher after the ultra-processed meal, the body was slower to switch to burning the carbs it had just eaten, and brain scans showed people’s reward areas sizing up the two kinds of food differently. I also take you back to Wilbur Atwater, the scientist whose calorie numbers are still on your food labels 130 years later, to explain why counting calories and macros only tells part of the story. Then I give you a simple, practical way to act on all of this tonight.

What you’ll learn:

* Why ultra-processed foods can raise insulin even when blood sugar looks normal

* What metabolic flexibility is and how food processing may affect it

* Why a continuous glucose monitor alone can miss what’s happening with insulin

* How to identify ultra-processed foods with a one-look test of the ingredient list

* Easy whole food swaps for cereal, bread, chips, and other packaged foods

* Why “high protein” or “made with whole grains” on the front of the box doesn’t tell you how a food was made

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/how-to-tell-if-a-food-is-ultra-processed

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

Healthy holiday eating gets so much easier when you decide what you’ll do before you’re hungry, tired, and sitting at someone else’s table. In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I’m sharing a simple four-line plan to help you handle holiday stress, travel, and family food pressure without giving up the meals and traditions you love.

Most of us plan the holiday menu, but the hardest moments usually happen around the food: the dinner that runs two hours late, the long road trip with no lunch stop, the cousin who comments on your plate. I’ll show you how professional cooks prepare before the dinner rush, and how you can borrow that same idea to get ready for the season. We’ll walk through what the research says about deciding ahead of time, then I’ll share three real-life plans from start to finish, including how to politely decline seconds and how to make room for connection when the holidays feel lonely.

I’ll also tell you about Healthy Through the Holidays and Into the New Year, a nine-week experience we’re doing together on Substack from November 9 through January 10.

What you’ll learn:

* A four-blank plan for healthy eating during the holidays that takes minutes to write

* How to eat well on a holiday road trip without packing your whole kitchen

* A simple, kind way to say no to seconds without hurting anyone’s feelings

* How to plan ahead for holiday loneliness and quiet afternoons

* Why deciding in advance helps you avoid holiday weight gain and stress more than willpower does

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/how-to-take-care-of-yourself-through

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

Chronic back pain that has lasted for years, plus an MRI that says disc degeneration or a disc bulge, can make it feel like your spine is simply wearing out. In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I walk you through a clinical trial of pain reprocessing therapy that tells a very different story about chronic low back pain relief.

I’m Dr. Laurie Marbas, and here’s what I want you to know: the findings on your scan are very common in backs that don’t hurt at all. By age 50, eight in ten adults without back pain show disc degeneration, and six in ten show disc bulges. In the trial, people who had lived with back pain for about ten years spent four weeks learning to treat their pain as safe, and two out of three finished pain free or nearly pain free without anyone treating a disc. A year later, they were still doing far better than the groups that didn’t get the therapy.

I’ll also share a surprising traffic experiment that explains how pain can keep going with nothing wrong underneath it, and a practical, doctor-guided way to try this approach yourself. This is back pain relief without surgery, rooted in how your brain and nervous system process pain.

What you’ll learn:

* Why disc degeneration and disc bulges on an MRI often don’t explain chronic back pain

* How pain reprocessing therapy works and what the trial actually found

* How fear of movement and the belief that pain means damage can keep pain going

* Which warning signs need a doctor, or emergency care, first

* How to find a clinician trained in pain reprocessing therapy and check your progress at four weeks

* Why another scan or the same routine rarely brings lasting relief

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/can-years-of-back-pain-be-unlearned

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

Are lectins in beans dangerous? Can you cook dried kidney beans in a slow cooker? Here’s the truth: your beans were never the problem. The problem is a pot that never boiled long enough.

In this episode of The Habit Healers Podcast, I walk you through a file of kidney bean poisonings that public health investigators collected over nearly thirteen years, most of them in ordinary home kitchens, including one where the beans had been cooked for two full hours. You’ll learn what phytohemagglutinin is, why raw kidney beans carry so much more lectin activity than cooked ones, and why temperature matters far more than minutes when it comes to destroying it. I also share what potters learned about trusting heat, and why a soft bean can fool you into thinking it’s done. If you love a plant-forward diet and want to cook dried beans with confidence, this one is for you.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

* Why cooking kidney beans in a slow cooker on low isn’t enough to break down the lectin

* How to soak and boil dried beans so the lectin is gone

* Why a rolling boil, held long enough, is your kitchen’s safety check

* How pressure cookers and canned beans fit into safe bean cooking

* How to cook beans at high altitude, where water boils at a lower temperature

* The signs of bean lectin poisoning and when to see a doctor

Dr. Marbas Substack Article: https://drlauriemarbas.substack.com/p/are-the-lectins-in-beans-dangerous

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