When you need help who do you turn to? Instagram? Facebook? Online advice can come loaded with judgment and inaccuracies, but it is accessible and relatable and that makes it potent. We talk to Dr. Margaret Quinlan and Bethany Johnson, the authors of "You’re Doing it Wrong! Mothering, Media, and Medical Expertise", on how mothers face criticism for their choices, from the historical medical expertise of the nineteenth century to the newsfeeds of today.
Sep 30, 2019•54 min•Ep. 28
Even with decades of experience as a cardiology nurse, Kristin O'Meara initially dismissed her own warning signs of a heart attack, relying on the fact she was healthy and active. Hours later, O'Meara would find herself in the emergency room recovering from a heart attack caused by a condition many otherwise healthy women suffer from: spontaneous coronary artery dissection, commonly referred to as SCAD . Many patients, paramedics, and even doctors are unaware of the condition, leaving them to as...
Sep 23, 2019•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 27
Back in '96, Shannon Miller led the Magnificent Seven to the gold at the Summer Olympics, earning the first-ever gymnastics win over Russia for the U.S. In 2011, Miller announced that she had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Following recovery, Miller went on to advocate for others with ovarian cancer. She discusses cancer's aftermath and how it caused her perspective to shift. Miller also talks on her experience growing up as an athlete in comparison to the pressure of youth sports today....
Sep 16, 2019•57 min•Ep. 26
In 1989, a team of anthropologists studying Hadza hunter-gatherers in northern Tanzania noticed how hard one particular group was working: the grandmothers. “They were well into their sixties and their productivity was just as great as the women who are still in the childbearing years,” Kristen Hawkes, one of the anthropologists involved, tells Emily. Historically, women’s primary contribution to society was to give birth– implying post-menopausal women offered no value. We now have scientific e...
Sep 09, 2019•57 min•Ep. 25
From the late reproductive stage to the final menstrual period, the female body goes through a great deal of change. The spikes in estrogen during menopause cause an unpredictability that makes the transition particularly difficult. Unlike the pattern of stocking up on tampons and Advil every 28 days, women are thrown for a loop when their hormones become erratic. Dr. Jan Shifren and Dr. Nancy Woods go in-depth about memory function, feeling unstable, and what women need to be aware of during me...
Sep 02, 2019•43 min•Ep. 24
Hormone therapy has a complicated history. We’ve heard hormone therapy causes cancer and we’ve heard it is perfectly safe. This episode sets the record straight. We unpack the Women’s Health Initiative and why it has been so widely misunderstood, why poor methods led to misleading analysis and how the misinformation has resulted in widespread confusion. Emily asks the country’s top perimenopause and menopause experts. Dr. Jan Shifren is the director of Massachusetts General Hospital’s Midlife Wo...
Aug 26, 2019•53 min•Ep. 23
As Nina Coslov reached her forties, she began questioning what her body was experiencing. Are these symptoms related to my hormones or something else? Could I be going through menopause this early? Her uneasiness led to research about the aging female body, thus learning about the late reproductive stage and perimenopause. Her newfound knowledge was a relief; she wasn’t unhappy or sick, she was just changing and it was normal. She wanted to provide other women with this reassurance, thus launchi...
Aug 19, 2019•50 min•Ep. 22
Investigative reporter Nina Teicholz was a vegetarian for over twenty years before taking a closer look at her own diet, ultimately leading to her New York Times bestseller "The Big Fat Surprise." Teicholz's work has disrupted orthodox nutrition beliefs, challenged the dietary guidelines, and debunked the weak science around dietary fat. Nina and Emily discuss how we got red meat so wrong, along with what studies show concerning women on a low-fat diet.
Aug 12, 2019•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 21
Sports medicine physiatrist Dr. Amy West explains how female bodies, specifically female athlete bodies, differ from male bodies. Should you be working out on your period? What do hormones have to do with injury recovery? Do transgender athletes and those with DSD have an advantage over cisgender athletes? What is RED-S and why is it often seen amongst young female athletes? West also discusses the links between the CrossFit movement and the field of physiatry.
Aug 05, 2019•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 20
While all mothers are constantly working on raising the next generation, moms who end up re-entering the workforce face difficult challenges. From accepting that being a stay-at-home mom may not be your thing to being discriminated in the workplace for being a mother, your career path gets complicated if and when you decide to have children. We are joined by the creator and host of the Double Shift Podcast, Katherine Goldstein which shares stories of current mothers in the workforce, along with ...
Jul 29, 2019•51 min•Ep. 19
Endometriosis is a disorder where the endometrial tissue– tissue similar to that of the uterus lining– appears in other parts of your body, usually in the pelvic region, but could spread as high as your lungs. An estimated one in ten American women have endo, however, many women remain undiagnosed. On average, it takes a decade to finally get a diagnosis. That’s a long time to deal with chronic pain, being dismissed, and the stress of it all. There is currently no cause or cure, leaving many in ...
Jul 22, 2019•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 18
This episode is a continuation from episode 16 of our conversation with investigative reporter Gary Taubes, author of "Good Calories, Bad Calories", "Why We Get Fat", and "The Case Against Sugar." Taubes has written extensively on how dogmatic beliefs around a low-fat diet are flawed and how bad science has contributed to that. If you haven't listened to that conversation from last week, we would suggest you do that first.
Jul 15, 2019•58 min•Ep. 17
Gary Taubes is an investigative science journalist who has spent the last 40 years covering controversial science. Back in 2002, his New York Times Magazine piece "What if It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?" led Taubes to gain recognition as one of the few reporters taking on the challenge of questioning the conventional dietary wisdom. The article turned into a deeper investigation of the medical science establishment, resulting in his best-selling books “Good Calories, Bad Calories” and “Why We Get ...
Jul 08, 2019•56 min•Ep. 16
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in men and women alike, but the symptoms, causes, and outcomes differ among the sexes. Heart disease is a catch-all for many cardiovascular conditions, so for this episode, we are focusing on small vessel disease. Women tend to get blockages in the small vessels, whereas men have plaque build-up in their large arteries. Cardiologists Dr. Janet Wei of the Barbara Streisand Women's Heart Center at the Cedars-Sinai Smidt Heart Institute and Dr. Giulia She...
Jul 01, 2019•44 min•Ep. 15
We spend a great deal of time on Empowered Health discussing how sex differences affect culture and science, but accounting for gender identity is key to an all-encompassing understanding of health issues. Author and activist Sarah McBride joins us to discuss the complexity of gender identity. McBride is a transgender advocate who works as the press secretary of the Human Rights Campaign. During her senior year at American University, known for its hyper-politicized campus in the heart of D.C., ...
Jun 24, 2019•53 min•Ep. 14
In Italy, pregnant women are likely to enjoy a glass of wine once a week. In Japan, sushi remains a staple for dinner even during the third trimester. In America, women are told over and over again that these items, and a laundry list of others, must be restricted during pregnancy. Economist Emily Oster breaks down the typical pregnancy recommendations with data-driven research in "Expecting Better" to provide women a better understanding of the choices they can make during pregnancy. Oster's la...
Jun 17, 2019•39 min•Ep. 13
Nearly 12 million U.S. women and girls aged 12 to 52 are living in poverty. This 40-year age range spans the average American's menstruating years. If most of these females are struggling to afford food, how can they be expected to buy tampons? For low-income menstruators, the financial burden of menstruating makes the monthly occurrence even worse. The American College of Obstetrics estimates two-thirds of low-income women don't have enough money to buy menstrual products at least one time per ...
Jun 10, 2019•59 min•Ep. 12
In November 2018, Chinese scientist He Jiankui announced the birth of the first CRISPR babies. You may have seen CRISPR popping up in science news over the past few years, but still don't really understand what it is. This week, bioethicist Francoise Baylis breaks down what exactly this gene-editing technology could mean for humanity, from futuristic super senses to disease-resistant babies.
Jun 03, 2019•52 min•Ep. 11
Every hour an American veteran dies by suicide. Behind every one of them, a wife, girlfriend, partner and often young children are left trying to process the loss and their new future. Who cares for these survivors? How do we, as a country, honor them? Turns out until recently we weren’t. This episode will answer those questions and draw a parallel between those veterans who are traumatized by a comrade’s death abroad and the women who have a similar experience when they lose their loved ones at...
May 27, 2019•1 hr•Ep. 10
Pornography in the United States is a massive business; some reports estimate it brings in approximately one trillion dollars in annual revenue. In this episode, we look at the differences in how women and men consume porn, how it impacts relationships and its influence on society at large. We discuss pornography's cultural implications with Samuel Perry, professor of sociology and religious studies, Cindy Gallop, CEO of MakeLoveNotPorn, and Dr. Gail Dines, anti-porn scholar and CEO of Culture R...
May 20, 2019•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 9
Author Sarah McColl discusses her memoir "Joy Enough", a tribute to her late mother. McColl joins Empowered Health for a conversation on the mother-daughter dynamic, transitioning through periods of loss, and experiencing joy during life's ups and downs.
May 13, 2019•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 8
There has been a commonly held belief that there was nothing one could do to prevent Alzheimer's. Dr. Dale Bredesen has found that your memory's fate isn't necessarily sealed with an APOE4 gene. The neuroscientist's research shows that lifestyle changes may actually be the key to starving off the disease before it's too late.
May 06, 2019•59 min•Ep. 7
The solution to the U.S. maternal mortality crisis lies in understanding the problem. Data collection, bias taught in medical school, government intervention, moms advocating for other moms, rouge-OB determined to disrupt the status quo, a not-for-profit invested in getting this right and one mother's story of how she almost died– we get into it all in just an hour.
Apr 29, 2019•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 6
Over the past few decades, the maternal mortality rate has continued to decline in all the developed countries– except for the United States. Women today are twice as likely as their mothers to die before, during, or after childbirth. For black mothers, this risk is even greater.
Apr 22, 2019•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 5
Could your time of the month alter the way you experience marijuana? This week we look at how estrogen heightens the effects of THC, what getting high during pregnancy means for the fetus, and why CBD is all the rage right now.
Apr 15, 2019•50 min•Ep. 4
In this bonus episode of Empowered Health, we did a follow up with Dr. Gabbay and Dr. Hallberg in response to Monday's episode on diabetes
Apr 09, 2019•44 min
For years, type two diabetics have been treating themselves with insulin injections and other medications. The medical team at Virta Health has introduced a new method to not only treat type two diabetes but potentially reverse it: a low-carbohydrate diet.
Apr 08, 2019•47 min•Ep. 3
Bottling up anger has been linked to a degrade in overall health, especially in autoimmune diseases where 75% of American patients are female. We discuss this and other ways women are psychologically and physically suppressed in society with Soraya Chemaly, author of the bestselling book ”Rage Becomes Her.”
Apr 01, 2019•44 min•Ep. 2
Earlier this month, the media began pumping out headlines about "keto crotch", an unpleasant odor downtown plaguing women on the ketogenic diet. The timing of this media blitz and the lack of research on the phenomenon seemed suspicious, so we decided to investigate.
Mar 25, 2019•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 1
Created and hosted by journalist Emily Kumler, Empowered Health stems from a history of frustration in finding reliable information on women’s bodies and how to best care for them. Each week, we will be breaking down the barriers of health misinformation and arming women with the knowledge they need to live healthier, happier lives.
Jan 28, 2019•3 min
