Thrive Beyond Size

Welcome to another interview episode, friends! I’m excited to bring this one to you because it’s with a physician who does a lot of work on sleep. As you know, sleep is a topic I’m passionate about because it’s important to almost every aspect of being our best selves. Thriving begins with sleep. So today I talk with Dr. Dylan Petkus, a physician, researcher, and health optimization expert who takes an integrated approach to sleep apnea. Dr. Petkus coaches and educates others on lifestyle changes and natural therapies that optimize health and improve sleep. Today he and I dig into all the reasons, questions and possible solutions for sleep conditions and sleep apnea to help you all get your best sleep.

Dr. Dylan Petkus came to the topic of sleep research fourteen years ago through his own struggle with sleep. After his sleep fell apart, as he describes it, he did “me-search” to try to understand more about sleep. That led him to where he is today. Dr. Petkus works with sleep apnea but also with people who have autoimmune disorders, Hashimoto’s, or other issues that affect sleep. He talks about all the things that can affect sleep, like snoring, and how they occur. Inflammation in airways, tongue position, bad breathing patterns, and other issues. But what can be done? Surgery is an option but not a cure, and more of a last resort at best. Dr. Petkus lays out all the other factors we can work on to improve our sleep patterns: breathing mechanics, circadian rhythms, nervous system regulation, and environmental factors. There is so much fascinating and useful information here about why we snore, why we struggle with sleep, and what to do about it. I hope you find this conversation as fruitful as I did.

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About Dr. Dylan Petkus
Introducing Dr. Dylan Petkus—a physician, researcher, and health optimization expert who takes an integrated approach to sleep apnea.

As a peer-reviewed published author and award-winning researcher with a medical degree, a master's degree in endocrinology, and a master's degree in public health, Dr. Petkus focuses on how oxygen metabolism is at the core of sleep apnea.

For over a decade, Dr. Petkus has coached and educated others on lifestyle changes and natural therapies to optimize health. His goal is to share practical advice for improving sleep, energy levels, and mental clarity.
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Resources discussed in this episode:

• Tired To Inspired podcast
• Snore Lab app

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Learn more about Dr. Dylan Petkus:

• Website: PetkusMD.com
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Youtube
• Tiktok

Learn more about Dr. Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

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Hey friends, remember the episode when I finally had my husband Rob on and you all got to meet him? Not only was that a lot of fun, but in that episode Rob and I talked about our ongoing struggles with meal planning and how it’s something we’re working on. That led me to want to talk to an expert in meal planning and today I’m excited to introduce the expert I found to all of you! Meet Courtney Genereux, a registered nurse who recently completed her level one Precision Nutrition coaching certification. Courtney is passionate about meal planning and how it changed the way meals happen for her family. So join me in learning some motivating tips from Courtney so we can look at meal planning in a whole new light. 

Courtney came to meal planning after working a lot of shift work as a registered nurse. She suddenly realized that she simply wasn’t taking the time to care for herself and the meal choices she made affected her kids and family too. She got serious about meal planning after that and has fit it into her busy lifestyle in a way that really works. When I explained to Courtney that one of the pain points with Rob and me in meal planning was that we really tried to get innovative and make new recipes every night, and how that really didn’t work, Courtney revealed how she shares meal picking duties with her husband and kids and they find meals that are easy prep for everyone. Courtney’s advice centres around putting the joy back into food and planning meals, finding ways to make additional meals for lunches while working on dinner, freezing extra, finding a fast breakfast that works and having it ready to go in the mornings, and so many other tips that just make sense. Her enjoyment of the process is infectious and I hope will inspire you like she inspired me. 

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About Courtney Genereaux
Courtney is an energetic, active and driven woman, with a passion for helping others learn that caring for yourself is not selfish and that caring for yourself is actually the greatest gift you can give your loved ones! Courtney is a registered nurse, who has worked for the last 17 years in emergency departments in western Canada. After getting married, having two children and working years of shift work, Courtney found herself no longer prioritizing her own health and wellness. Courtney believes that health and wellness is more about your journey and state of being, rather than a number on the scale. Courtney has recently completed her Precision Nutrition Level 1 and is building her coaching business.
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Resources discussed in this episode:

• Precision Nutrition
• “Atomic Habits” by James Clear
• Goodfood

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Learn more about Courtney Genereux:

• Website: EverydayMealsForYou.ca
• Instagram

Learn more about Dr. Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

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I’ve been thinking about grief and how it relates to weight loss because I don’t think we honor the grief process enough in this journey. When you make the decision to stop all the dieting, restrictions, and deprivation and really allow yourself to be an intuitive eater, it’s a beautiful thing. It really is! But there is another aspect to that when we consider how much of our lives we spend focused on dieting and weight loss. Now that we’re not doing that, what do we do with ourselves? Can we truly be happy if we abandon weight loss? And these five stages of grief that we go through need to be acknowledged so we can stay on the intuitive eating path we’ve chosen. 

My husband identified the five stages of grief in me as an Oilers fan which, if you follow hockey, you’ll understand intimately when the Edmonton Oilers start losing playoff games. But these five stages are present in a lot of things and definitely in our weight loss journeys too. Stage one is denial. Stage two is anger. Stage three is bargaining. Stage four is depression, which is really tough to sit with. And finally, stage five is acceptance. What do these look like when applied to giving up dieting? How do we navigate them on our journey to intuitive eating? What can we do to help ourselves at each stage of grief? I’ve navigated, or been navigating, all these stages myself and I am here to help you. I’ll talk about each of these stages today and look at why it’s necessary to feel these things and how to move past them. Grief is a process that isn’t always desirable but always teaches us something valuable.

About Dr. Michelle Tubman

Dr. Michelle Tubman is a physician and health coach. She helps women ditch dieting and thrive at any size. For the longest time, she believed that weight loss was the answer to all her problems. But decades of yo-yo dieting and restriction left her miserable, unhealthy, and exhausted. Now she teaches women how harmful dieting can be and shows them the way to true health and wellness.

As a physician specializing in both emergency and obesity medicine, with additional training in nutrition, eating psychology, and coaching, Michelle can tell you with certainty that dieting is dangerous. Studies associate compromised health more with yo-yo dieting than higher body weight. Yet, everywhere you turn, shrinking your body is hailed as the solution. Women don't need to change. Attitudes do. So let's stop self-shaming, speak out against sizeism, and fiercely champion unconditional self-celebration!

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Learn more about Dr. Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

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Friends, it’s 2024 and I can’t even believe it! I’m actually recording this at the end of 2023 and Rob and I just came back from an amazing trip to Costa Rica. His 50th birthday trip! On one of the last days of our trip, I had an experience that was pretty profound for me. After that, Rob looked at me and said I had to do a podcast episode about it. At the time I didn’t think it had anything to do with the podcast but he insisted there were so many parallels. As I thought about it, I realized he was right. So here we are in 2024 and I’m going to tell you about my experience in Costa Rica and how it led to this episode about facing fears and being bold in conquering those fears. Are you ready? I’m excited to share, so let’s go!

The story is about a diving platform on a two-storey catamaran that Rob and I went on. I wanted so badly to jump off that 15 ft high platform into the gorgeous water but fear kept me from doing it. I’m afraid of heights and I would just get paralyzed when I stood on the platform. I couldn’t do it. But when we sat down for lunch it was nagging at me that I hadn’t jumped and I just realized I needed to do it. So I handed my food to Rob, marched over to that platform, and jumped. And friends, the exhilaration of that jump! I felt so powerful. It was so much fun but also I had conquered a profound fear by facing it. The parallel is in our health journeys. I had started intuitive eating before I recently made the shift for good but didn’t approach it right and gave up. I was afraid of giving up the control that diets seemed to give me. This time, though, I faced that fear and approached intuitive eating with my desire for health. I conquered that fear. This episode is all about conquering fears, facing our fear of letting go, facing our own judgement and paralysis. What are you afraid of? How are you going to jump off the boat this year? I want to encourage you to find and face that fear, and then write to me about how you did it and how you feel. Welcome to 2024 and jumping off the boats! 

About Dr. Michelle Tubman

Dr. Michelle Tubman is a physician and health coach. She helps women ditch dieting and thrive at any size. For the longest time, she believed that weight loss was the answer to all her problems. But decades of yo-yo dieting and restriction left her miserable, unhealthy, and exhausted. Now she teaches women how harmful dieting can be and shows them the way to true health and wellness.

As a physician specializing in both emergency and obesity medicine, with additional training in nutrition, eating psychology, and coaching, Michelle can tell you with certainty that dieting is dangerous. Studies associate compromised health more with yo-yo dieting than higher body weight. Yet, everywhere you turn, shrinking your body is hailed as the solution. Women don't need to change. Attitudes do. So let's stop self-shaming, speak out against sizeism, and fiercely champion unconditional self-celebration!

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Learn more about Dr. Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I’m excited to introduce you to my guest today because she and I have had so many rich conversations about what intuitive eating and the anti-diet approach mean to us. She speaks so eloquently on all these subjects and part of the challenge we all face when we start this journey is just talking about it, right? This episode will help us all out with starting the conversation. So I’m thrilled to introduce you all to Leah Hortin. Leah is a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor and a Master Health and Life Coach who specializes in helping women get off the diet roller coaster. 

Leah defines what she means when she talks about “anti-diet culture” by aligning it with the health at every size approach. It means not focusing on changing your body, or the more aesthetic goals of diet culture, but instead paying attention to your relationships with food, exercise, and your overall well-being. We talk about what a diet actually is and the ways in which diets have changed their messaging to seem more health-focused. Leah shares her journey with calorie counting and the mathematics of weight loss that she tried (that didn’t work) and how she came to advocate for women finding confidence in the new language of health at any size now. We talk about enjoying holidays without food concerns motivating us, without worrying about our appearance or “saving up” calories for a dessert. Leah just really opens up the conversation around dieting and changing perspectives to focus not on how we look but on how we feel. It’s a beautiful episode with an eloquent and knowledgeable guest that I just know you’ll all love.

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About Leah Hortin
Leah Hortin is a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, Master Health and Life Coach specializing in helping women get off the diet rollercoaster for good. Using the principles of Intuitive Eating, she empowers women to find their food freedom, love their bodies and redefine what health means to them.

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Learn more about Leah Hortin:

• Website: AntiDietHealthCoach.com
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Facebook Group: AntiDietHealthClub.com

Learn more about Dr. Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

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I’m talking about something near and dear to my heart in this episode: the journey through perimenopause. If you’ve been listening regularly you’ll know I’m on this journey right now and have been struggling with it. Why do we not talk about perimenopause regularly? Why is it so hard to get the information we need? That’s going to change in this episode because I’m talking with Amita Sharma, co-founder of Nourish Doc, a global holistic wellness platform for peri-to-post-menopausal women. Please remember that neither Amita nor I are your healthcare professionals so if you have questions about your own specific perimenopausal journey, please do contact your own healthcare provider.

Amita speculates that information and discussion around perimenopause and the menopausal journey as a whole are largely taboo because women are still thought of generally in terms of fertility. With menopause, our fertility and reproductive era ends and society’s overarching thought is that we’ve had our day. We haven’t had our day, we’re still very much here, and very much in need of open conversations about the menopausal journey. So Amita and I define perimenopause and menopause, common symptoms, practical issues like hot flashes and wearing a diaper due to sudden blood flow, sleep issues, and all the ways Ayurvedic health practices can help us through this stage. From herbs to self-massage to oil-pouring sleep treatments, Amita shares knowledge on everything we women didn’t know we needed to know about perimenopause. This conversation is a game-changer, friends!

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About Amita Sharma
As a co-founder of NourishDoc, a global holistic wellness platform for peri to post-menopausal women, Amita is on a mission to bring affordable wellness to every woman in the world. NourishDoc has designed evidence-based and culture-sensitive holistic wellness programs for women wellness, self-care and prevention. With menopause as a taboo globally and over 1 billion women reaching menopause, wellness for women at this stage should be at the forefront.
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Resources discussed in this episode:

• Nadi Shodhan Pranayama (alternate nostril breathing)
• Sheetali Pranayama (the cooling breath)
• Ayurveda Self-Massage (Abhyanga)
• Ayurvedic herbs for menopause
• Triphala
• Ashwagandha
• Shirodhara (sleep oil treatment)

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Learn more about Amita Sharma

• Website: NourishDoc.com
• X / Twitter
• Instagram
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• YouTube

Learn more about Dr. Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

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This is it, this is the episode where you finally get to meet my husband, listeners! I’m so excited to introduce you to my better half, Rob Issa. I talk so much about him and he has gone through a lot as I’ve worked on my business and this podcast and now you get to hear directly from him. Rob and I talk about some of the individual struggles we faced on our own health journeys as well as how we navigate our marriage with having sometimes differing health goals. I know some of you wonder how your health decisions and journeys might affect your partners or families, and I believe Rob can shed some light on the best ways to support each other as well as how we worked through our own differences.

I encourage Rob to share some of how he has felt as he’s been with me through navigating my health journey and working hard to develop Wayza Health. He delves back into the struggles I had before even embarking on my business journey that led to where we are today and admits it hasn’t always been easy but that he always saw his job as just to be there for me and support me in whatever I needed to go through. Rob shares about his own unhealthy food journey and where he is now as well as how he views all the things we try together. Have there been conflicts? Of course there have been. Especially when we talk about how much my hatred of my body would affect him emotionally in the way I’d deflect his compliments. There’s a lot that we broach here, including our mutual challenge with meal planning, and almost everything comes down to communication. We need to talk to each other, we need to know how each other is feeling, and we need to keep that communication going. I love Rob to pieces and I’m so happy to share this very honest conversation with you all.

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Resources discussed in this episode:

• Yin and yang

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Learn more about Dr. Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

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Friends, I’m so excited to share today’s guest with you. Every so often I interview a podcast guest who changes my life and I believe Meghan Johnston is one of those people. Meghan is a life coach and a restorative yoga teacher with over 12 years of experience in holistic wellness, space holding, and experiential learning. And if you’ve been listening to the past few episodes here, you’ll know that I recently went through a little period of burnout, so this interview with Meghan is so well-timed. I put into practice some of the things she and I talk about today, including some restorative yoga, and I feel better than I have in months! So Meghan and I are going to talk in depth about all the ways you can feel this way too.

Meghan shares the story of how burnout at a young age brought her into the space of really learning how we view rest, individually and as a society. She and I talk about how rest has become this thing that we view as lazy or something we don’t deserve because we are meant to always be achieving. Meghan explains the importance of rest and uses the analogies of annual seasons of blooming and decay, and of the philosophy of the yin and yang. I love when she says “You don’t have to earn rest. You’re worthy of rest as you are” because that is often the opposite of the messaging we get in society. Meghan talks more about what restorative yoga is, the balance of rest and activity, what healthy stress is for, and the “three P’s of energy”. I really am so pleased to bring this episode to you all and I hope you can find the life-changing moments in it that I did. We all deserve to change our thinking around rest and restoration.

About Meghan Johnston:

Meghan is a Life Coach and Restorative Yoga teacher with over 12 years of experience in holistic wellness, space-holding, and experiential learning. Through her classes/workshops, coaching and podcast (ranked top 5% globally: With Heart And Wonder), she's supported hundreds of tender-hearted high achievers to reclaim their energy and shine as their brightest selves.

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Resources discussed in this episode:

• Yin and yang
• “Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom” by Rick Hanson PhD with Richard Mendius PhD
• Spark Sessions with Meghan Johnston

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Learn more about Meghan Johnston:

• Website: MeghanJohnston.com
• Podcast: With Heart and Wonder
• Instagram

Learn more about Dr. Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

After attending the lifestyle medicine conference a week or so ago, I was reminded of what my values and my purpose in life and career are. I had the opportunity to rest and connect with like-minded people and it was just what I needed. I also discovered a group called Walk With A Doc and I’ve decided to open a chapter in my hometown. It’s a great way to volunteer in a way that’s aligned with my passion and to talk through these concepts of helping people in alignment with personal values, I’ve invited Kirsten Beske to the show today. Kirsten is a mindset and transformation expert, a Harvard graduate, an experienced psychotherapist, and a mindset coach. So I’m going to talk all about what is required for transformation and connecting with our higher purpose with Kirsten. 

Kirsten talks about accepting limitations and being kind to ourselves through change and struggle because we will find peace on the other side of it. When we understand our values and we know what we want our impact on the world to be, we can keep moving forward with that in mind and know we’re doing the right thing. Kirsten points out that some things are out of our control so when we come up for air, it’s important to check in and make sure we’re okay. We talk about the value of making space, the importance of journaling (I love journaling), and the definition of positive psychology and how it’s applied in our lives. This conversation was enlightening and really hit on many points I’ve been pondering in my own life. Kirsten’s knowledge and advice are exactly what I needed and I hope you feel the same when you listen to our conversation.

About Kirsten Beske:

Kirsten Beske, J.D., M.A., ICF Certified Business & Life Redesign Coach and Change Expert.

Kirsten is a Life Redesign Coach who guides mid-career professionals into their next chapter of life and work for more joy, energy, impact and a sense of fulfillment. Her zone of genius is guiding people to inventory their accumulated knowledge, skills, expertise, strengths and wisdom and to use them as a compass to map out the next amazing chapter of life and work.   

In her first chapter, Kirsten was a litigation attorney for 14 years and a law firm partner. Then each of her children had near-death health challenges as infants, right as the 9/11 attacks occurred. Reconciling these events led her to reevaluate her values, priorities and sense of purpose in life.  She decided to leave her law practice, got a Master's Degree in Clinical Psychology, and ran her private psychotherapy practice for over a decade.  

Kirsten has always been fascinated with the question of how people thrive.  Now, as a Life Redesign Coach, she loves sharing evidence-based science on how everyone can live their best lives at each unique phase of life. She also is a Certified Applied Positive Psychology practitioner and an ICF Certified Life Coach, so she can be trusted to safely guide clients into their next chapter of life and work. 

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Resources discussed in this episode:

• Martin Seligman and Positive Psychology

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Learn more about Kirsten Beske:

• Website: KirstenBeske.com
• Instagram
• Facebook
• LinkedIn

Learn more about Dr. Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

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I attended a lifestyle medicine conference in Denver, Colorado not long ago and it got me very energized because I felt I was with my people; the people who shared common values with me. But as much as I’m excited about diving into lifestyle medicine, I’m always frustrated by the fact that nobody addresses the question of why people don’t stick to these healthy habits. One of the speakers at the conference did, however, address it by stating that sometimes we’re in stress response and that stress makes it impossible for us to take on new changes. Which is why I’m so thrilled to have Brittany Cano on the show today. Brittany is a personal trainer, holistic health coach, mindfulness and emotional freedom technique practitioner, Reiki healer, and Yin yoga instructor. She is an expert in nervous system regulation and that’s what I want to share with you all today.

Brittany and I talk about how carrying shame, being in a shame cycle, tends to cause us to make poorer health choices, just like stress responses do. The carrying of shame and stress connects to us in physical ways. I would get digestive upset and heartburn when I didn’t take my stress into account, which is a connection Brittany also experienced. The holistic care route is connected to the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and to our social lives. As Brittany says, “It's easier to make a change when your nervous system is regulated and you're not in survival mode” and that’s part of the key to not just discovering lifestyle medicine but making those healthy choices stick. The conversation I have with Brittany about stress, regulation modalities like tapping, finding community, and learning to connect with our own emotional experiences is so inspiring and so encouraging, and I want you to feel the same beautiful revelation that I did through our talk. 

About Brittany Cano:

Brittany grew up in an environment that taught her so much about resiliency & the power of wellbeing practices. Her mission to promote health and well-being runs very deep.

Brittany Cano is a passionate advocate for holistic health and wellness, for individuals and for communities. She is renowned for her diverse expertise, including 15+ years as a critical care nurse, and dedication to empowering others to connect with their self-agency to lead healthier, more fulfilling lives.

Brittany has become a sought-after public speaker, personal trainer, holistic health coach, mindfulness and EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) practitioner, Reiki healer, and yin yoga instructor. Her medical knowledge allows her to bridge the gap between conventional medicine and holistic wellness, offering a well-rounded perspective on health and healing.

Through mindfulness, movement, & lifestyle medicine, she guides you to experience the importance of nourishing the whole self to achieve lasting well-being.

Brittany shares, "When I work with someone, whether it's an individual or a large group, my intention is to create an authentic connection. My focus is to inspire you to unite more deeply with your heart & to prioritize your well-being and the well-being of your community. I am known as a compassionate & kind creator of safe space. I excel at guiding you to take inspired action and create positive forward-moving change."

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Learn more about Brittany Cano:

• Website: HolisticNurseCoaches.com
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Youtube
• LinkedIn

Learn more about Dr. Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

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