The FitSister Podcast

Listeners! We are so excited this week as Sarah sits down with our sister-in-Law Ellie Knaus. Ellie and our older brother Adam co-wrote the new movie Let’s Have Kids starring Karen Gillan and Zoe Chao. (And our brother Adam directed it!) Let’s Have Kids is the story of two best friends who decide to try out motherhood together, but like we all know, things never go as planned, especially when it comes to pregnancy. The movie goes where so many movies have never gone before-- the often gnarly journey of fertility, listening to your friend complain of the pains of pregnancy while all you keep seeing are negative tests, wanting to kill your husband while also really needing him to love and support you. Ellie and Sarah talk about all of it and of course-- the heart and soul of Let’s Have Kids-- the importance of female friendship. Show notes:Make sure to follow Ellie on Instagram at ellie.breathe. Let's Have Kids is available for streaming on Prime Video and AppleTV. Make sure to sign up for Moo's newsletter because everyone needs a Fit Sister!

Listeners, is your social media feed suddenly telling you all about bone density? Let me guess, influencers (as in not doctors or experts in the field) are sending you fearful messages only to push their products on you. Enough! We here at the FitSister podcast say, that’s enough. Today Sarah sits down with Dr. Jennifer Han, a clinical pharmacist and cofounder of Seen Nutrition. Dr. Han serves on the Medical Advisory Board for the National Menopause Foundation and is a corporate advisor to the Bone Health and Osteoporosis Foundation. AND at the age of 30, she had her own encounter with pregnancy-lactation osteoporosis. Here at the FitSister Pod, we want this episode to be your one-stop shop episode for all things bone health. This is a complicated topic and not all the answers fit in an eleven second clip. We got you! Actually, Dr. Han’s got you! Thanks for listening!Show Notes!Dr. Han’s website, Seen Nutrition, has a ton of information on calcium and bone strength. Sign up for her newsletter, check out the articles or get yourself some Calcium Chews. She is on Instagram with her cofounder @TheCalciumQueens.

Hello listeners! Welcome back to the FitSister podcast. If you are a woman in your 40s who is navigating the perimenopause space, this is the episode.  In this interview, Moo speaks with Dr. Shieva Ghofrany, an OBGYN board certified physician who has been practicing medicine for 25+ years. She is also a cancer survivor. She brings her expertise and real life experience to answer so so many questions about: how to avoid the wrong people on Instagram, the vitamins that you might want to ask your doctor about, the truth about HRT, reducing perimenopausal symptoms without HRT, what to say to your doctor at the appointment, the nuances of the health insurance system and why they matter to US, the patients. The bottom line is we need an education on women's health now more than ever, but the information overload is not helping. Dr. Shieva breaks it down in a way that leaves you feeling empowered with language and information to get the help you need. Proactive, not paranoid. Thanks Dr. Shieva! 

Listeners! Hello and happy summer. Welcome to the FitSister Podcast. In this episode, Sarah interviews her former Crossfit teammate and friend, Shondelle. Shondelle is a former Crossfit athlete and gym owner who recently pivoted away from the career she had most of her life to pursue a dream she was deeply passionate about. Shondelle has launched Black Woman Move; a movement focused on empowering black women to prioritize their health, honor their bodies and build lives grounded in strength, vitality, longevity and sisterhood. Listen along as Shondelle explains how she knew it was time for a career change, how black women face unique challenges that are often not addressed by the fitness industry, how behavior changes for all of us are rooted in our own beliefs about our identity and how any of us can make easy changes to make movement and health the priority that it should be.

What is the secret ingredient to developing fitness habits that last? Is it the outfit? Is it the expensive gym membership? Is it doing the thing that one fitness influencer told you to do? It is in fact none of those things. In this episode we explore the profound importance of belonging, specifically in the world of health and fitness. Moo and I discuss how a sense of belonging impacts motivation, confidence, and overall well-being, especially in midlife. As always, thanks for listening!

Listeners, this week you are in for a real treat. Moo sits down with New York Times Best Selling author, Tiffany Crum. Over spring break Moo read Tiffany's debut novel This Story Might Save Your Life. In addition to loving the book, Moo also loved the acknowledgements. Tiffany explains that she had the dream of writing a novel 18 years ago when her son was born. Too often we see the success of the bestseller, but we don’t ask about what it looked like to pursue a dream for 18 years. In this interview, Moo and Tiffany talk about what it takes to set a goal and stay with it for nearly two decades. Tiffany talks about the dream, the real life realities, the rejection (oh the rejection) and what it feels like to hold her book in her hands. You don’t want to miss this.

Greetings listeners. For a long time, Moo and I have wondered about Pilates. But recently, something happened. We kept seeing articles and posts on social media that seemed to spark a Pilates controversy. Articles asked questions like who is it for really? Does it exclude a certain body type? But what was more interesting than these articles themselves, as we both quickly noticed, were the comments. No matter what the article said, people in the comments were overwhelmingly positive about their Pilates experience. Moo, the Pilates outsider that she is, wanted to know more. What is happening in these studios that so many people are not only enjoying, but willing to continuously defend on social media? On this episode, Moo interviews Rikki Heiken, owner of Sweat Studio in Miami, Florida. Rikki has been in the fitness industry for over 20 years. In addition to reformer classes  and a Pilates teacher training program, Sweat Studio also offers  its own strategically designed fitness method. Rikki answers Moo’s curious questions about Pilates, Pilates-inspired fitness and why strong is for everyone.

Do you constantly feel like your brain is a cluttered mess of thoughts? Do you ever walk into a room to get something while also looking at Team Snap to see what the latest message is about only to realize you totally forgot what you’re looking for? Do you find yourself scrolling through social media just so you can quiet the nagging reminders and the simultaneous realization that you’ll never get everything done? If so, this episode is for you. Moo recently had four days to herself in her own house and she loved how the countertop of her brain finally got cleared off. But how can we do that more regularly? Moo and share stories of how we have succeeded and failed at getting our brains to do less. Thanks for listening!

In this episode Moo and I discuss goal-setting in your 40s. Moo recently read a book and in the acknowledgements the author discussed how the dream of writing a novel took 18 years. 18 years?! We are all old enough to know that real goals take time, like decades! So yes, live your best life, but also, we are wise enough to realize the logistics of chasing our dreams are actually really complicated. So what do we do with that? Moo and I explore the nuanced realities of setting and pursuing long-term goals in your 40s and it involves the importance of process, personal values, and private victories over social media validation.

Hey hey, fit listeners. Welcome back to another week of the pod.  In this episode, Moo and I explore the complex relationship between stress and emotional eating. I share a personal story involving Trader Joe’s Ketchup chips while Moo shares scientific insights and practical strategies to manage binge eating and stress responses effectively. Before you go rolling your eyes, just know that sometimes the strategy is to actually eat the chips, but also know that the chips do not control you. Say it with me, the chips do not control us! Happy Monday. Let’s do this!