Healing your nervous system does not always feel peaceful at first.

In this solo episode of Live Like a Girl, Dr. Mindy explains why fatigue, crying, irritability, digestive changes, and even discomfort with stillness can sometimes show up as your nervous system begins moving out of a chronically activated state.

She breaks down the relationship between heart rate variability, vagal tone, the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, and why learning to move more easily between stress and recovery may be one of the most important skills you can build for your health.

Resources Mentioned

• FREE Nervous System Questionnaire
• Qualia Magnesium
• Reset Academy
• Find a Fast Like a Girl Coach

In this episode you'll learn:

• Why increased fatigue may appear when your body finally begins resting
• Why crying and irritability can surface during nervous system healing
• How your digestion reflects your nervous system state
• Why stillness can feel unsafe when your body is accustomed to constant activation
• How 4-7-8 breathing can support the parasympathetic nervous system
• Why nature can be one of the simplest nervous system tools
• How magnesium and sleep routines may help
• Why humming, gargling, and chanting can support vagal tone
• When getting support from a practitioner or community may be helpful

For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep360

Connect with Dr. Mindy:

• Join Reset Academy
• Watch the episodes on YouTube
• Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
• Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

I’ve been teaching fasting for years, but this conversation with Dr. Jason Fung made me rethink a few things.

Dr. Fung joins me to share how his thinking has evolved since publishing The Obesity Code, including what newer research suggests about longer fasts and why modified fasting may be more useful than many people realize.

We talk about whether a strict water-only fast is always necessary, how fasting aids such as bone broth, avocado, or olives may help someone continue longer, and why using a little support during a fast is not automatically “cheating.”

Dr. Fung also breaks down the three types of hunger and explains why food noise is not always a sign that your body needs fuel. Sometimes hunger is physical. Sometimes it is emotional. And sometimes it is simply a pattern your brain has learned from your environment.

This conversation reminded me that fasting does not have to be rigid to be effective. The goal is not to win at fasting. The goal is to use it in a way that supports your metabolic health and still works in your real life.

In this episode you'll learn:

• How Dr. Fung’s thinking has evolved since writing The Obesity Code
• Why the calorie-focused model of weight loss leaves out hormones
• What the body decides to do with the calories you eat
• The difference between water-only fasting and modified fasting
• Why modified fasting may be easier to sustain
• Whether eating during a fasting window automatically eliminates the benefits
• Dr. Fung’s perspective on GLP-1 medications
• How to approach the first meal after a fast
• Dr. Fung’s three foundational rules for metabolic health

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Resources Mentioned:

• Bone Broth - Use code MINDY10 for 10% off
• Organic Olive Oil

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More on Dr. Jason Fung

Dr. Jason Fung is a physician, researcher, and bestselling author known for his work on fasting, insulin resistance, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic health. He is the author of The Obesity Code, The Complete Guide to Fasting, The Diabetes Code, The Cancer Code, and The Hunger Code. He is also a co-founder of The Fasting Method, an online community that provides education, coaching, and support on fasting and metabolic health.

• The Hunger Code
• Website: doctorjasonfung.com
• YouTube: @drjasonfung
• Instagram: @drjasonfung

For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep359

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Connect with Dr. Mindy:

• Join Reset Academy
• Watch the episodes on YouTube
• Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
• Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

For decades, women have been taught to lose weight by eating less, doing more cardio, and watching the number on the scale.

But losing weight is not always the same as becoming healthier.

In this solo episode, Dr. Mindy breaks down a recent meta-analysis showing that adults between 60 and 75 years old were able to lose body fat, gain lean muscle, improve blood pressure, and build functional strength through resistance training.

She also challenges five of the most persistent weight-loss myths women have been taught, including the idea that cardio is the best way to burn fat, hunger is a willpower problem, and the scale is the most important measure of progress.

You’ll learn how protein, resistance training, sleep, blood-sugar tracking, and progressive challenge can help you improve body composition without sacrificing your muscle or metabolic health.

Weight loss is not a character test. It is a strategy, and most women were simply given the wrong one.

Resources Mentioned

• Continuous Glucose Monitor
• Ketone Monitor
• Fast Like a Girl

For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep358

Connect with Dr. Mindy:

• Join Reset Academy
• Watch the episodes on YouTube
• Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
• Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

Most women know they should move their bodies, eat well, and protect their sleep. But creativity rarely makes the list.

In this conversation, Dr. Mindy sits down with Dr. Daisy Fancourt to explore the growing body of research showing that art is far more than entertainment or decoration. Music, reading, dancing, crafting, storytelling, and even spending time with a painting can affect stress, mood, cognition, connection, and the nervous system.

Daisy explains why creative activities can help the brain enter a state of flow, how music can slow the heart rate, and why reading fiction may strengthen empathy by allowing us to experience the world through another person’s perspective. She also shares why knitting, singing, dancing, and other so-called “grandmother hobbies” are finding their way back into modern life.

In this episode you'll learn:

• Why creativity became separated from everyday life
• How to choose music that meets your nervous system where it is 
• How regular creative activity may support healthier cortisol patterns 
• Why book clubs provide more than a reason to read 
• What the research suggests about art, brain fog, and cognitive reserve 
• Whether online creative classes offer the same benefits as meeting in person 
• Simple ways to bring more creativity into everyday life

Resources Mentioned

• Art Cure by Daisy Fancourt
• Instagram: @daisy.fancourt

More on Daisy Fancourt

Dr. Daisy Fancourt is a researcher and author whose work examines the effects of arts and cultural engagement on health and well-being.

Her research explores how activities such as music, reading, crafting, dancing, and visiting cultural spaces may influence mental health, stress, cognition, social connection, and physical health. She has published extensively in the field and works on projects examining the biological, psychological, and social effects of creative participation.

For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep357

Connect with Dr. Mindy:

• Join Reset Academy
• Watch the episodes on YouTube
• Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
• Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

If you are hungry all the time, exhausted after meals, craving sugar, or suddenly gaining weight around your middle, your body may be signaling something deeper than a need to eat less.

In this solo episode, Dr. Mindy explains why nearly four in ten American adults now meet the criteria for metabolic syndrome—a collection of warning signs that can include elevated blood sugar, high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol, increased waist circumference, and changes in liver health.

She breaks down four common drivers that can quietly push the body toward metabolic dysfunction: unstable blood sugar, chronic stress, poor sleep, and inflammation associated with excess body fat.

You will also learn why crash dieting, excessive cardio, and relying on appetite-suppressing supplements rarely address the real problem. Instead, Dr. Mindy shares five practical ways to support your metabolism through food order, walking after meals, resistance training, better sleep, and a more flexible approach to fasting.

Your body is not working against you. It may simply need a different strategy.

In This Episode

•  What metabolic syndrome is and why it is better understood as a group of warning signs 
•  The role insulin plays in deciding whether glucose is used for energy or stored 
•  Why crash dieting and aggressive calorie restriction may make matters worse 
•  Why cardio alone is not the best strategy for improving metabolic health 
•  How to build a blood-sugar-stabilizing plate 
•  Why resistance training is especially important for women 
•  How muscle acts as a storage site for glucose 
•  Practical ways to build strength without spending hours in the gym 
•  What “flex fasting” means 

Resources Mentioned

• FREE Nervous System Questionnaire 
• Fast Like a Girl
• Min-Chex by Standard Process
• Qualia Magnesium+ 
• Berberine Breakthrough

For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep356

Connect with Dr. Mindy:

• Join Reset Academy
• Watch the episodes on YouTube
• Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
• Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

LeAnn Rimes joins Dr. Mindy for a deeply honest conversation about what perimenopause has brought to the surface in her life.

She opens up about the unpredictability of her hormones, the exhaustion of trying to maintain the same pace she has carried for decades, and the difference between anxious thoughts and anxiety that lives in the body. 

Together, LeAnn and Dr. Mindy explore why perimenopause can make old wounds feel louder, why hormone therapy can help without solving everything, and what it looks like to slow down when your identity has always been tied to performing, producing, and pushing through.

This is a conversation about hormones, but it is also about identity, capacity, anger, rest, and the question so many women begin asking in midlife: who do I want to be now?

In this episode you'll learn:

• The difference between mental anxiety and physical “body anxiety” 
• Why LeAnn has had to change her relationship with rest 
• What happens when your life still demands more than your body can give 
• The grief women may experience around motherhood, identity, and missed choices 
• Why hormone replacement therapy is not always a simple fix 
• How perimenopause can force women to reconsider who they have always been

More on LeAnn Rimes

LeAnn Rimes is a 2x Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, performer, and actress whose career has spanned more than 30 years. She rose to fame as a teenager and has since built a career across music, television, writing, and live performance. In recent years, LeAnn has also spoken openly about mental health, trauma, psoriasis, anxiety, and the realities of growing up in the public eye. She currently stars in 9-1-1: Nashville and is touring in celebration of the 30th anniversary of her album Blue.

• Website: leannrimes.com
• LeAnn's Tour Dates
• LeAnn's Substack: @leannrimescibrian
• Instagram: @leannrimes
• Soul of EverLe Candles

For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep355 

Connect with Dr. Mindy:

• Join Reset Academy
• Watch the episodes on YouTube
• Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
• Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

Why are so many women doing everything "right" and still struggling to lose weight?

In this solo episode, Dr. Mindy explains why the missing piece may not be your diet or workout routine, it may be your nervous system. When your body is stuck in chronic fight-or-flight, it prioritizes survival over fat burning, making weight loss feel impossible despite your best efforts.

You'll learn how chronic stress impacts cortisol, cravings, digestion, sleep, and metabolism, the five signs your nervous system may be keeping you stuck, and practical ways to help your body shift back into a state where healing and sustainable weight loss become possible. From fasting and food to movement, sleep, and simple daily habits, Dr. Mindy shares actionable strategies to help your body feel safe enough to finally let go of stubborn weight.

Resources Mentioned

• Free Nervous System Guide
• Fast Like a Girl
• Burn Fat Like a Girl Reset

For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep354

Connect with Dr. Mindy:

• Join Reset Academy
• Watch the episodes on YouTube
• Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
• Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

Millions of women have been told they have PCOS. Millions more have been told nothing is wrong at all.

Now, one of the most common hormonal conditions affecting women has a new name: PMOS, Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome. The change reflects what experts have long understood, this condition is about far more than the ovaries. It's deeply connected to metabolism, insulin resistance, inflammation, and hormone balance.

In this episode, Dr. Mindy is joined by Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi, renowned OB-GYN and co-host of the She MD podcast, along with entrepreneur and women's health advocate Mary Alice Haney. Together, they unpack why so many women go undiagnosed, why insulin resistance isn't always visible on the outside, and how lifestyle, nutrition, and early intervention can dramatically change a woman's health trajectory.

They also discuss the growing impact of environmental toxins, breast cancer risk, fertility, metabolic dysfunction, and what every woman should know before walking into her next doctor's appointment.

In this episode you'll learn:

•  Why PCOS was renamed to PMOS and what the change means 
•  The three criteria used to diagnose PMOS 
•  Why up to 80% of women with PMOS remain undiagnosed 
•  How insulin resistance affects both lean and overweight women 
•  Why birth control alone doesn't address the root cause of PMOS 
•  Practical nutrition, lifestyle, and medical approaches to improving insulin sensitivity 
•  How to become a stronger advocate for your own healthcare 

More on Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi & Mary Alice Haney:

• IG: @shemdpodcast
• IG: @drthaisaliabadi
• IG: @haneyofficial
• IG: @oviihealth
• shemdpodcast.com
• draliabadi.com
• ovii.com

For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep353

Connect with Dr. Mindy:

• Join Reset Academy
• Watch the episodes on YouTube
• Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
• Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

Losing weight is one challenge. Keeping it off is another.

Research shows that most people regain the weight they've lost within a few years, not because they lack willpower, but because they were never taught what comes after weight loss.

In this episode, Dr. Mindy breaks down the science behind weight regain and shares the eight most common reasons people struggle to maintain their results. From metabolic flexibility and hormone balance to muscle, stress, and sleep, she explains why lasting success requires a different approach than simply losing weight.

You'll also learn five practical steps to help your body adapt to its new weight, support a healthy metabolism, and build habits that last long after the scale changes.

If you've ever lost weight only to gain it back, this episode will help you understand why and show you a different path forward.

Key Takeaways

•  Why losing weight and maintaining weight loss require different strategies 
•  What "catch-up fat" is and how it influences weight regain 
•  How your fat cells develop a "memory" after weight loss 
•  How flexible fasting supports maintenance better than chronic fasting 
•  The role hormones play in preventing weight regain 
•  Five daily habits that support healthy weight maintenance 

Resources Mentioned

• Free Nervous System Questionnaire
• Dr. Mindy's Books
• Reset Academy
• Burn Fat Like a Girl Reset

For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep352

Connect with Dr. Mindy:

• Join Reset Academy
• Watch the episodes on YouTube
• Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
• Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

What if the biggest thing standing between you and better health isn't your diet, your workout routine, or your hormones?

What if it's the relationship you've built with yourself?

In this conversation, I sit down with psychologist and bestselling author Dr. Nicole LePera to explore how our earliest experiences shape the way we move through adulthood. From emotional eating and food noise to perfectionism, people pleasing, burnout, and the struggle to trust ourselves, so many of the habits we think are personality traits are actually learned survival strategies.

We also explore why healing isn't about becoming someone new. It's about reconnecting with the parts of yourself that have always been there.

If you've ever wondered why you know what to do for your health but still struggle to follow through, this conversation offers a completely different way to understand yourself.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why the first five years of life shape the way your nervous system responds to stress
• Why food noise and emotional eating often point to deeper unmet needs
• How small daily promises help rewire your brain and build confidence
• The difference between guilt and shame, and how each affects your decisions
• Why learning to rest can feel uncomfortable for so many women
• Practical ways to reconnect with your body and begin healing old patterns

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More on Dr. Nicole LePera

Dr. Nicole LePera is a holistic psychologist, trained at Cornell University, The New School for Social Research and The Philadelphia School of Psychoanalysis. She is the founder of the global community healing membership SelfHealers Circle and the author of #1 NY Times Bestseller "How to Do the Work" "How To Meet Your Self" and "How To Be The Love You Seek"

• Website: theholisticpsychologist.com 
• Instagram: @the.holistic.psychologist
• TikTok: @theholisticpsychologist
• Reparenting Your Inner Child 
• SelfHealers Circle

For more resources related to today's episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep351

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Connect with Dr. Mindy:

• Join Reset Academy
• Watch the episodes on YouTube
• Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
• Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.