The Healing Pause

We spend so much time treating aging as something to fight or hide. But what if getting older is really about becoming more of who we already are?

Heidi Wagner and I only met a few months ago, but it feels like I've known her my whole life. We met this summer at a Wisconsin Public Education Network event at UW Superior, bonded over her photography, and within minutes we were talking about menopause and aging. I knew right away I wanted her on the podcast.

Heidi is a professional photographer and the creator of the Passion Project, a series photographing older adults doing the things they love. The idea grew out of her time in a community of elders, where she kept meeting people living active, full lives. 

Through her lens, aging looks like vitality and purpose. When Covid made it unsafe to keep photographing elders, she turned her camera toward kids and public education, because ageism works on both ends of the spectrum.

WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT

Passion doesn't have an expiration date, and it doesn't have to be grand. Maybe it's cribbage. Maybe it's a walk in the woods.

Menopause can be a time of peeling away the roles that just don't fit anymore and coming back to who you've always been.

You don't get to decide when you grow up, so stop putting things off and do it now.

Community is one of the biggest things we know of that slows aging down.

Menopause hit my mental health harder than anything else, and Heidi's story mirrored mine in so many ways.

We have to be our own advocates. Find a doctor who understands menopause long before you think you need one.

This conversation isn't only for women in menopause. If someone you love is going through this, you belong here too.

OUR FAVORITE QUOTES

"I don't really care if I live to be 120 years old. I just want to go until my wheels fall off."

"Nobody should be shoulding on anybody. Stop shoulding on you."

"Enough isn't a quantity, it's a decision."

"Sometimes it's just coming back to who you've always been, without all the roles we start to peel away."

CHAPTERS

01:29 What if aging means becoming more

06:17 How the Passion Project began

18:19 Gigi stops taking a back seat

20:01 You don't get to decide when you grow up

27:39 When menopause hit my mental health

29:12 Ageism on both ends of the spectrum

46:53 I can't dry brush my way out of this

YOUR TURN

If someone photographed you doing the thing you love most right now, what would the picture show? And when was the last time you gave yourself time for it?

CONNECT WITH HEIDI

Heidi Wagner Photography: https://thepassionsproject.com/ 

🌿 STAY CONNECTED WITH THE HEALING PAUSE

If today’s conversation resonated with you, I’d love for you to stay connected and continue the journey with us.

Connect with me on Instagram: ✨ Follow along for daily reflections, education, and community conversations around perimenopause, menopause, and holistic women’s health.👉 Instagram: @kintopchiro https://www.instagram.com/kintopchiro/ 

Join Us In Person – The Women’s Symposium: A day created by women, for women—focused on health, healing, and empowerment through this season of life.👉 Learn more & upcoming dates: https://www.kintopchiropractic.com/ 

Explore Holistic Support & Resources: From nutrition and movement to mindset and hormone conversations, you’ll find tools to support your whole self.👉 Resources & offerings: https://www.kintopchiropractic.com/ 

⭐ Help This Podcast Reach More WomenIf this episode supported you, informed you, or made you feel less alone, one of the most powerful ways you can help is by leaving a 5-star rating and review.

It helps The Healing Pause reach more women who are searching for these conversations—and it truly means so much.

And if you know a woman who needs this message, please share this episode with her.

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Today I got to sit down with my friends Kyle Leia and Sarah Brokke, the authors behind Irrevocable Wholeness, a book that has genuinely become my Bible. It lives in my bag, it lives next to my bed, and I have gifted more copies of it than I can count. 

Kyle is a poet, a trauma conscious teacher, a yoga guide, a mystic. Sarah is a painter and muralist who teaches art at Saint Scholastica. Together they wove poetry and painting into a body of work that started with a literal dream Sarah had one day, and grew into something neither of them could have planned on their own.

We talked about what it means to reinvent yourself in this season, or maybe more accurately, to remember yourself. We got into imposter syndrome, grief, rest, ancestry, and what it looks like to finally choose yourself after years of choosing everyone else.

KEY THEMES + TAKEAWAYS

Menopause isn't an ending, it's a return to who we've always been underneath all the roles we've played

The book came from a literal dream, and trusting that kind of deep intuition takes real bravery

Imposter syndrome shows up for almost every woman, and the question isn't why me, it's why not me

Rest is not lazy. Sometimes the most radical thing you can do is stop producing and just be held

Grief and hope live side by side in this season, and tending to unattended sorrow is part of the healing

We carry our grandmothers with us, and the healing we do now moves backward and forward through generations

Trusting the unfolding of your life, even when it doesn't look how you planned, is its own kind of faith

OUR FAVORITE QUOTES

“Maybe menopause isn't asking us about becoming somebody new. Maybe it's inviting us to become more fully who we were always meant to be.”

“You do not have to produce to be worthy.”

“Leap and the net will appear.”

“Fail spectacularly forward.”

“We are just a vessel of what has happened and where we're meant to give our gifts.”

CHAPTER MARKERS

00:00 Menopause as invitation, not ending

04:42 A poem before we even begin

06:19 The dream that started the book

19:54 Taking up space and finding your voice

27:53 The poem Deep Breaths and the painting that started it

43:12 Grandma Edna and the generations behind me

52:55 What I'd tell the woman at the threshold

YOUR TURN

This week I want you to sit with this one. Where in your life have you been choosing everyone but yourself, and what would it look like to finally choose you?

CONNECT WITH KYLE AND SARAH

Kyle Leia

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kyle.leia/

Website: https://www.kyleleia.com/

Shop (order Irrevocable Wholeness): https://www.kyleleia.com/shop

Trauma Conscious Yoga Certificate: https://www.svalja.yoga/trauma-conscious-yoga-certificate

Sarah Brokke

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahbrokke/

Website: https://sarahbrokke.wordpress.com/

Their book Irrevocable Wholeness is available now through the shop link above. You can also catch them and their book at our next symposium on November 7th.

🌿 Stay Connected with The Healing Pause

Join Us In Person – The Women’s Symposium: A day created by women, for women—focused on health, healing, and empowerment through this season of life.👉 Learn more & upcoming dates: https://www.kintopchiropractic.com/ 

Explore Holistic Support & Resources: From nutrition and movement to mindset and hormone conversations, you’ll find tools to support your whole self.👉 Resources & offerings: https://www.kintopchiropractic.com/ 

⭐ Help This Podcast Reach More WomenIf this episode supported you, informed you, or made you feel less alone, one of the most powerful ways you can help is by leaving a 5-star rating and review.

It helps The Healing Pause reach more women who are searching for these conversations—and it truly means so much.

And if you know a woman who needs this message, please share this episode with her.

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I used to think breast cancer and testosterone belonged in two completely different conversations. Then my friend and colleague Dr. Brianne Brandt Griffith sat across from me and showed me just how tangled those two threads really are.

Brianne has been on the show before, and every time we talked, we kept saying the same thing. That subject needs to be its own podcast. This time we finally did it. Brianne is an OBGYN, a breast cancer survivor, and one of the most honest voices I know when it comes to what it actually feels like to go from doctor to patient overnight. She opened up about her diagnosis at 39, the choices she made, and what she wishes every woman understood about her own risk and her own options. Then we took what might sound like a strange pivot and talked about testosterone, because the two are more connected than most women realize.

WHAT WE GET INTO

Brianne walks through her own diagnosis story, from a strange discharge she almost brushed off to the moment she read the words invasive breast cancer in her patient portal with no phone call first

We break down the real numbers behind breast cancer risk, and why body weight and alcohol use may matter more than hormone therapy ever did

Brianne explains why she does not take hormone replacement therapy herself, and what she does instead to manage menopause as a cancer thriver

We talk about the FDA quietly removing its black box warning from estrogen products, and what that means after decades of fear

Brianne makes the case for vaginal estrogen as basic maintenance, not a big scary decision

We get into testosterone in women, why it matters for bone health, brain fog, and mood, and why it still is not FDA approved for us

Brianne shares why she calls herself a breast cancer thriver instead of a survivor, and what that shift in language actually changed for her

FAVORITE LINES FROM THIS ONE

This is not your mama's breast cancer rate anymore

I don't want to be a hypochondriac, but I also don't want to treat myself

You will have to pry hormone replacement therapy out of my cold dead hands because I am feeling human again

Testosterone is not going to give you a husband transplant

We deserve to thrive, not just survive

EPISODE CHAPTERS

2:25 The diagnosis Brianne almost waited too long to catch

13:12 What invasive cancer actually meant the day she read it alone

20:10 The breast cancer myth almost every woman believes

31:18 Why the FDA just pulled a decades old warning label

55:04 Vaginal estrogen explained without the fear

1:01:42 The pivot to testosterone nobody sees coming

1:16:49 Can testosterone actually help a breast cancer survivor

YOUR TURN

This week I want you to sit with this one. Where in your health story have you settled for surviving when you were actually built to thrive. What is one question you have been afraid to ask your provider. Write it down. Then ask it.

CONNECT WITH DR. BRIANNE BRANDT GRIFFITH

Learn more about Brianne and her practice at https://www.essentiahealth.org/find-doctor-provider/brianne-brandt-griffith

🌿 Stay Connected with The Healing Pause

If today’s conversation resonated with you, I’d love for you to stay connected and continue the journey with us.

Connect with me on Instagram: ✨ Follow along for daily reflections, education, and community conversations around perimenopause, menopause, and holistic women’s health.👉 Instagram: @kintopchiro https://www.instagram.com/kintopchiro/ 

Join Us In Person – The Women’s Symposium: A day created by women, for women—focused on health, healing, and empowerment through this season of life.👉 Learn more & upcoming dates: https://www.kintopchiropractic.com/ 

Explore Holistic Support & Resources: From nutrition and movement to mindset and hormone conversations, you’ll find tools to support your whole self.👉 Resources & offerings: https://www.kintopchiropractic.com/ 

And if you know a woman who needs this message, please share this episode with her.

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How many times have you sat in a doctor's office, been told your labs are normal, and walked out still feeling like something isn't right. What if it's not you. What if it's the research itself.

This episode is a little different. No guest today, just me, because this is something I needed to say directly. We're talking about the history of data bias in women's health research, why male bodies became the default in clinical trials, and what that has cost us.

This isn't about pointing fingers or making it a man versus woman conversation. It's about understanding why so many of us have been told our pain, our symptoms, and our experience just don't quite add up, and what we can actually do about it.

KEY THEMES + TAKEAWAYS

For most of modern medical research, male bodies and male animal models were the default, and it wasn't until the Revitalization Act of 1993 that women were legally required to be included in NIH funded clinical trials

Cardiovascular disease has been the number one killer of women since 1989, yet women remain underrepresented in cardiovascular trials, and something as common as aspirin has been shown to work differently in women than in men

A 21,000 person study across two countries found women were less likely to receive pain medication in the ER, even after accounting for reported pain levels

Menopause affects every woman who lives long enough to experience it, yet it's only recently been named a research priority by the NIH, after decades of being treated as simply the end of reproductive life rather than a major health transition

There's a real difference between intentional discrimination and unconscious bias, and most of what we're talking about here falls into the second category, which makes it harder to see and easier to dismiss

You can start advocating for yourself today by knowing your numbers, tracking your symptoms, and walking into appointments with real information instead of just "I don't feel right"

FAVORITE QUOTES

"If the underlying data is incomplete, the conclusions are incomplete as well."

"We can insist that women be included in the data, and we can support research that looks at women as women, not just smaller versions of men."

"Your body isn't an inconvenience that has to be managed. Your symptoms aren't something you have to apologize for."

"There's a difference between something being common and something being normal enough that we shouldn't investigate it."

"Informed women are powerful women."

CHAPTER MARKERS

00:00 The question every woman has asked her doctor

01:51 Why male bodies became the medical default

04:28 The heart attack you're picturing is probably wrong

07:22 Are women's pain scores even being heard

11:18 Menopause, the transition research forgot

17:02 Know your numbers, become your own advocate

22:57 What we can start demanding right now

YOUR TURN

This week I want you to sit with this. Where in your health care have you stopped asking questions. And what would happen if you started again. Write it down. Bring it to your next appointment. Your symptoms are your data, so don't dismiss them.

🌿 Stay Connected with The Healing Pause

Connect with me on Instagram: ✨ Follow along for daily reflections, education, and community conversations around perimenopause, menopause, and holistic women’s health.👉 Instagram: @kintopchiro https://www.instagram.com/kintopchiro/ 

Explore Holistic Support & Resources: From nutrition and movement to mindset and hormone conversations, you’ll find tools to support your whole self.👉 Resources & offerings: https://www.kintopchiropractic.com/ 

⭐ Help This Podcast Reach More WomenIf this episode supported you, informed you, or made you feel less alone, one of the most powerful ways you can help is by leaving a 5-star rating and review.

It helps The Healing Pause reach more women who are searching for these conversations—and it truly means so much.

And if you know a woman who needs this message, please share this episode with her.

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Today I'm stepping outside our usual conversation about hormones and habits to talk about something we don't often connect to menopause. Public policy. I sat down with Wisconsin State Representative Angela Stroud, who represents Ashland, Bayfield, and Douglas County. 

Before she was elected, she spent years as a sociologist studying the systems that shape our lives, and that lens changes everything about how she talks about women's health. This isn't about parties or politics. 

It's about what happens when someone who understands both research and lawmaking turns her attention to the fact that women's health has been an afterthought for far too long.

KEY THEMES AND TAKEAWAYS

Wisconsin's aging population means nearly a third of older women are living in menopause right now, which makes this a statewide issue, not just a personal one

Two major bills passed this year in Wisconsin, extending postpartum Medicaid coverage and requiring insurance to cover secondary breast cancer screenings, both driven by women lawmakers across party lines

Rural communities face real shortages in primary care, mental health, and dental providers, and low state reimbursement rates are pushing healthcare providers out

Women's testosterone needs are routinely dismissed while men's are treated as standard care, a double standard rooted in a lack of research and understanding

Only 8 percent of NIH research funding goes toward women's health, and a fraction of a fraction of that touches menopause specifically

Naming what you're going through matters. Without language for it, menopause can feel like something happening to you rather than something you understand

Community, government, and access to affordable healthcare are deeply connected, and change happens when we stop treating them as separate problems

OUR FAVORITE QUOTES

"Would a man ever be declined Viagra?"

"If we don't have words to name something, it's controlling us. And it's a mystery."

"The moral thing and the economically smart thing is the same thing."

"What can I do to shift the world just an inch in the direction of justice."

CHAPTER MARKERS

04:35 Meet Representative Angela Stroud

08:05 Wisconsin's aging population and why menopause is a state issue

11:39 The two bills that just passed for women's health

16:14 Rural healthcare and the reimbursement problem nobody talks about

22:19 The testosterone double standard

43:00 Why only 8 percent of research funding reaches women

1:07:09 A ten year vision for what success could look like

YOUR TURN

Where in your own life have you felt like you had no words for what you were going through. What would it have meant to have language for it sooner.

CONNECT WITH REPRESENTATIVE ANGELA STROUD

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/repangelastroud/

and https://www.instagram.com/stroudforwi/ 

Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558709476416

and facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569496684121

Stay up to date with her work in the legislature: legis.wisconsin.gov/assembly/73/stroud 

🌿 Stay Connected with The Healing Pause

Connect with me on Instagram: ✨ Follow along for daily reflections, education, and community conversations around perimenopause, menopause, and holistic women’s health.👉 Instagram: @kintopchiro https://www.instagram.com/kintopchiro/ 

Explore Holistic Support & Resources: From nutrition and movement to mindset and hormone conversations, you’ll find tools to support your whole self.👉 Resources & offerings: https://www.kintopchiropractic.com/ 

⭐ Help This Podcast Reach More WomenIf this episode supported you, informed you, or made you feel less alone, one of the most powerful ways you can help is by leaving a 5-star rating and review.

It helps The Healing Pause reach more women who are searching for these conversations—and it truly means so much.

And if you know a woman who needs this message, please share this episode with her.

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A year ago if you'd told me I'd be talking about my algorithm and asking for ratings and reviews, I'd have said you were insane. Today I want to ask you something different. Who are you becoming?

We just wrapped our first ten episodes of The Healing Pause, and I am overwhelmed with gratitude. We covered the whys behind why we started this show, perimenopause and menopause symptoms, nutrition, hormone replacement therapy, pelvic floor therapy, strength training, bone health, heart health, financial health, and the power of community. We are officially coming back for ten more episodes.

But as I sat with what should come next, I realized something. The first season was about what is happening to our bodies. This season I want to explore who we are becoming. Because menopause is not just about our hormones. It is about our souls. So today I am starting with the idea of joy span, a concept I pulled from Dr. Kerry Knight's book Joy Span, and it is changing how I think about this next chapter.

KEY THEMES AND TAKEAWAYS

Joy span asks a different question than lifespan or health span. It asks how many of our years we are actually, fully alive.

You can be physically healthy and still feel empty. Many women lose touch with what brings them joy while they are busy caring for everyone else.

Joy does not disappear. It waits beneath the responsibilities and the exhaustion until we go looking for it again.

Recreation is a better word than reinvention. You are not becoming someone new, you are remembering the pieces of yourself that were always there.

Joy is not just emotional, it is biological. Purpose and positive emotion are linked to lower cardiovascular risk, better immune function, and greater resilience.

We build a joy portfolio the same way we build a financial one. Small daily deposits matter more than one big vacation every few years.

Joy is contagious. When you give yourself permission to feel it, you give the people around you permission too.

FAVORITE QUOTES

"Menopause isn't simply what's happening to my hormones. It's really about what's happening to our souls."

"Joy does not disappear. It waits beneath the responsibilities, beneath the expectations."

"That is not becoming less. That is becoming more."

"Every joyful moment is a deposit, not into your bank account, but into your soul."

"Healing isn't just about living longer, it's about living deeper."

CHAPTER MARKERS

00:53 Why The Healing Pause exists

02:28 A new season, a new question

06:57 The sandwich generation and shifting hormones

08:13 The chrysalis metaphor

09:03 Introducing joy span

11:29 When joy becomes optional

16:09 Recreation instead of reinvention

19:28 Building a joy portfolio

21:17 Three journal questions to ask yourself

YOUR TURN

Grab a journal and sit with these three questions. What used to bring me joy that I stopped making time for? What new joy am I curious about? Who am I when I am experiencing joy?

🌿 Stay Connected with The Healing Pause

If today’s conversation resonated with you, I’d love for you to stay connected and continue the journey with us.

Connect with me on Instagram: ✨ Follow along for daily reflections, education, and community conversations around perimenopause, menopause, and holistic women’s health.👉 Instagram: @kintopchiro https://www.instagram.com/kintopchiro/ 

Join Us In Person – The Women’s Symposium: A day created by women, for women—focused on health, healing, and empowerment through this season of life.👉 Learn more & upcoming dates: https://www.kintopchiropractic.com/ 

Explore Holistic Support & Resources: From nutrition and movement to mindset and hormone conversations, you’ll find tools to support your whole self.👉 Resources & offerings: https://www.kintopchiropractic.com/ 

⭐ Help This Podcast Reach More Women

If this episode supported you, informed you, or made you feel less alone, one of the most powerful ways you can help is by leaving a 5-star rating and review.

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What if the missing piece in your wellness journey has been sitting in a junk drawer of unopened statements and unanswered questions? Today we are adding a fourth pillar to the conversation: financial health.

I met Wendy Homstad, Senior Vice President of Investments at Raymond James Wealth Management, a couple of years ago at a LEAP event. I will be honest, I zoned out during her talk. Fast forward two years and I found myself neglecting my own financial health, so I reached out to her. That first meeting, I told her the truth: I am one of those women they warn you not to be. I had not handled our finances in years and I was not interested in them. Wendy made me interested. This conversation is the one I did not know I needed, and I think a lot of you will feel the same way.

KEY THEMES AND TAKEAWAYS

Financial health belongs alongside physical, emotional, and spiritual health as a true pillar of wellness

Money is emotional, not just numerical, and our financial decisions are tied to our hopes, fears, and self-worth

It is never too late to start, no matter your age or how much or little you have

Community and honest conversation remove the shame around not knowing enough

Family meetings about money, including with kids, normalize the topic for the next generation

Small steps count. Reviewing a bank statement or canceling an old subscription is progress

Women bring real strengths to financial planning: organization, empathy, and big picture thinking

FAVORITE QUOTES

“What is your financial why. Your financial plan is not just about the numbers, it is about your goals, your dreams, your hopes”

“Debt is a lot like weight. Easy to put on, hard to take off”

“It is not being a nerd, that is being an empowered woman”

“Start where you are at, no matter where you are with that very simple first step”

CHAPTER MARKERS

03:31 Meeting Wendy and admitting I had checked out

06:57 Why finances get pushed to the wayside

14:11 Financial health as the fourth pillar

17:18 The link between community and brain health

20:47 A vulnerable story about hormones, healthcare, and cost

39:12 The three financial priorities everyone should know

44:57 Taking the first small step, whatever that looks like

YOUR TURN

This week, take one small step toward your own financial healing pause. Maybe it is opening that account you have been avoiding, maybe it is one honest conversation with your partner. Where are you ready to trade avoidance for awareness?

FREE FINANCIAL RESOURCE

Finding and Funding Your Why

🌿 Stay Connected with The Healing Pause

If today’s conversation resonated with you, I’d love for you to stay connected and continue the journey with us.

Connect with me on Instagram: ✨ Follow along for daily reflections, education, and community conversations around perimenopause, menopause, and holistic women’s health.👉 Instagram: @kintopchiro https://www.instagram.com/kintopchiro/ 

Join Us In Person – The Women’s Symposium: A day created by women, for women—focused on health, healing, and empowerment through this season of life.👉 Learn more & upcoming dates: https://www.kintopchiropractic.com/ 

Explore Holistic Support & Resources: From nutrition and movement to mindset and hormone conversations, you’ll find tools to support your whole self.👉 Resources & offerings: https://www.kintopchiropractic.com/ 

⭐ Help This Podcast Reach More WomenIf this episode supported you, informed you, or made you feel less alone, one of the most powerful ways you can help is by leaving a 5-star rating and review.

It helps The Healing Pause reach more women who are searching for these conversations—and it truly means so much.

And if you know a woman who needs this message, please share this episode with her.

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What if everything you were ever taught about exercise and your body was actually working against you?

Anna McGee has been in my corner for years, and I mean that literally. She's my trainer, my friend, and one of the most no-nonsense voices on women's health I know. Anna owns AP Training, a private women's fitness studio right here in Duluth, and she's spent 40 years watching what happens to women's bodies, and women's beliefs about their bodies, when nobody ever taught them the right things.

This conversation came out of years of real talk between us, including the Women's Symposium where Anna had women picking up resistance bands for the very first time. We went deep on why strength training is the thing so many women are missing, and why it's so much more than what happens in a gym.

KEY THEMES + TAKEAWAYS

Your body shape can change even when your weight on the scale doesn't, and hormonal shifts starting in your 30s are a big reason why.

Muscle loss happens slowly and quietly. By the time most women notice, it's been happening for years.

Strength training builds bone density. Muscles and bones work together, and if you don't give your muscles a signal to stick around, they won't.

Cardio is not the enemy, but it's not enough on its own. Two full-body strength sessions a week can make a real difference.

Bulking up is not what happens when women lift weights. It takes enormous intention and very dialed-in nutrition to get there.

Community might be the single greatest predictor of long-term health and longevity. You get both in one place when you show up to train with other women.

Protein matters more than most women realize, and most women are getting far less than they think. Start by tracking what you're actually eating before trying to overhaul everything.

OUR FAVORITE QUOTES

"If you don't give your muscles a signal to stick around, they're not going to."

"Women who stay strong, stay independent."

"Keeping your body strong, there's just no downside."

"It's not about weight loss. It's about maintaining muscle mass so we can stay vital in those longevity years."

"Our bodies are so resilient. They'll adapt to the couch. They'll adapt to weights."

CHAPTER MARKERS

0:00 Welcome

3:24 Forty years of watching women's bodies change

7:37 Why we were told cardio was enough

10:07 The real reason your metabolism feels broken

17:45 Fear, community, and why women don't show up

23:27 Bones, brain health, and why strength training protects both

40:44 What to eat and how much protein is enough

49:03 The one thing to start with this week

YOUR TURN

This week's reflection: What would it feel like to stop chasing a number and start training for how you want to live? Where in your body do you want more strength, more steadiness, more confidence?

🌿 Stay Connected with The Healing Pause

If today’s conversation resonated with you, I’d love for you to stay connected and continue the journey with us.

Connect with me on Instagram: ✨ Follow along for daily reflections, education, and community conversations around perimenopause, menopause, and holistic women’s health.👉 Instagram: @kintopchiro https://www.instagram.com/kintopchiro/ 

Join Us In Person – The Women’s Symposium: A day created by women, for women—focused on health, healing, and empowerment through this season of life.👉 Learn more & upcoming dates: https://www.kintopchiropractic.com/ 

Explore Holistic Support & Resources: From nutrition and movement to mindset and hormone conversations, you’ll find tools to support your whole self.👉 Resources & offerings: https://www.kintopchiropractic.com/ 

⭐ Help This Podcast Reach More WomenIf this episode supported you, informed you, or made you feel less alone, one of the most powerful ways you can help is by leaving a 5-star rating and review.

It helps The Healing Pause reach more women who are searching for these conversations—and it truly means so much.

And if you know a woman who needs this message, please share this episode with her.

Today I sat down with a dear friend, Dr. Lynn Goerdt. Lynn is a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin Superior, a social work educator, a researcher, and the heart behind the Live Well program through the Pruitt Center for Mindfulness and Wellbeing. But before any of that, she was a woman standing in her own doctor's office saying the words, "I need you to save me from myself."

I think a lot of us have had that moment, or something close to it. Lynn and I have been running in the same circles for years, and when we both found ourselves in the thick of the menopause journey at the same time, something clicked. We started talking. We screened a documentary together, we asked the questions nobody else was asking, and somewhere in all of that, we both started to find our footing again. This episode is the continuation of that conversation, and honestly, it might be my favorite one yet.

Quotes:

"I needed them to know why things were so hard because they didn't know me in any other way."

"You don't have to build a community. You can find one to be a part of."

"Start with one curiosity. Just be curious."

"If you're not sharing with the world, that's actually very selfish. You have these beautiful skill sets."

Chapter Markers: 

00:00 Welcome to The Healing Pause 

03:26 When menopause hit harder than expected 

07:03 Screening the M Factor and finding our people 

08:33 Was there a turning point? 

10:44 The day Lynn told her students 

14:26 Becoming the pivotal moment for others 

22:06 Community as the #1 biohack for brain health 

23:24 What is Live Well, and how did it start? 

30:15 The Prescription to Live Well research findings 

35:14 The results that surprised even Lynn 

38:52 The owl, the walk, and learning to find glimmers 

42:43 Rediscovering confidence and owning your next chapter

Your turn:

Where in your life have you been waiting for permission to say what you're actually going through out loud? And what might open up if you did?

About Dr. Lynn Goerdt:

Dr. Lynn Goerdt is a full-time faculty member at the University of Wisconsin Superior with over 15 years teaching social welfare policy and macro practice. She holds a Master's in Social Work and a Doctorate in Education, and brings 20 years of human services research experience, primarily in mental health. She recently joined UW Superior's Pruitt Center for Mindfulness and Wellbeing as a leader of the Live Well initiative, a community-based program connecting people with each other and the outdoors. She is also the author of the open-source educational textbook Macro Skills for Community and Organizational Change.

Pruitt Center for Mindfulness and Well-Being Live Well Calendar Harvard Flourishing Measure

🌿 Stay Connected with The Healing Pause

If today’s conversation resonated with you, I’d love for you to stay connected and continue the journey with us.

Connect with me on Instagram: ✨ Follow along for daily reflections, education, and community conversations around perimenopause, menopause, and holistic women’s health.👉 Instagram: @kintopchiro https://www.instagram.com/kintopchiro/ 

Join Us In Person – The Women’s Symposium: A day created by women, for women—focused on health, healing, and empowerment through this season of life.👉 Learn more & upcoming dates: https://www.kintopchiropractic.com/ 

Explore Holistic Support & Resources: From nutrition and movement to mindset and hormone conversations, you’ll find tools to support your whole self.👉 Resources & offerings: https://www.kintopchiropractic.com/ 

⭐ Help This Podcast Reach More WomenIf this episode supported you, informed you, or made you feel less alone, one of the most powerful ways you can help is by leaving a 5-star rating and review.

It helps The Healing Pause reach more women who are searching for these conversations—and it truly means so much.

And if you know a woman who needs this message, please share this episode with her.

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Estrogen isn't just a reproductive hormone, and in this episode, Dr. Christina Kintop breaks down why that matters deeply for every woman moving through perimenopause and menopause.

We often associate estrogen with fertility, cycles, or hot flashes. But what about bone density? Heart health? Cognitive function? Today we look at midlife not as a decline, but as a whole-body transition that deserves real, informed support.

Chapter Markers:

00:00 – Welcome & Episode Overview

01:48 – The Big Picture: Why Women Are at Higher Risk

03:51 – Bone Health & Osteoporosis: The Estrogen Connection

08:29 – Diet, Nutrition & Bone Support

10:17 – Calcium, Vitamin D+K2 & Magnesium

16:03 – Exercise for Bone Density: Resistance Training & Heel Drops

19:45 – HRT & Bone Protection

21:37 – Cardiovascular Disease: The #1 Killer of Women

25:55 – Diet & Supplements for Heart Health

29:34 – Exercise & Blood Sugar Regulation

37:46 – Brain Health & Dementia: The Estrogen-Brain Link

39:42 – Dementia as "Type 3 Diabetes"

46:20 – Exercise, Nutrition & Supplements for Brain Protection

50:13 – Sleep, Stress & Cortisol 

52:52 – The Power of Community & Connection

55:33 – Closing Thoughts & Recap

🌿 Stay Connected with The Healing Pause

If today’s conversation resonated with you, I’d love for you to stay connected and continue the journey with us.

Connect with me on Instagram: ✨ Follow along for daily reflections, education, and community conversations around perimenopause, menopause, and holistic women’s health.👉 Instagram: @kintopchiro https://www.instagram.com/kintopchiro/ 

Join Us In Person – The Women’s Symposium: A day created by women, for women—focused on health, healing, and empowerment through this season of life.👉 Learn more & upcoming dates: https://www.kintopchiropractic.com/ 

Explore Holistic Support & Resources: From nutrition and movement to mindset and hormone conversations, you’ll find tools to support your whole self.👉 Resources & offerings: https://www.kintopchiropractic.com/ 

⭐ Help This Podcast Reach More WomenIf this episode supported you, informed you, or made you feel less alone, one of the most powerful ways you can help is by leaving a 5-star rating and review.

It helps The Healing Pause reach more women who are searching for these conversations—and it truly means so much.

And if you know a woman who needs this message, please share this episode with her.

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