The Best of Health

This week I’m joined by two women I only recently discovered, and I’m so glad I did. Jinty Sheerin and Lou Hockings-Thompson are the voices behind WomenKind Collective, a podcast now in its 17th season that began over FaceTime during lockdown (with a duvet and a laundry basket for soundproofing!).
Their new book, Tackling Gender Bias in Healthcare: What Patient Stories Teach Us About Implementing Systemic Change, grew out of years of listening to women’s stories. Some of those stories are hard to hear, and Jinty and Lou share them with real care, honesty and, as only close friends can, moments of humour too.
We discuss:
✅ Why women have been treated as “small men” in healthcare for far too long
✅ The hidden curriculum of bias passed down through medical training
✅ Weight bias, disordered eating, and why these demons can return in menopause
✅ Self-silencing, and how women can advocate for themselves in the consulting room
I LOVED Lou’s simple tip for anyone who feels dismissed by a clinician: ask them to note in your records that you’re in pain and they’re dismissing it. Calm, clear and incredibly powerful.
For practitioners listening, Jinty and Lou also share what action looks like on our side of the desk, starting with accepting that we all carry bias and doing the work to unlearn it.
Grab your cuppa and tune in.
Find Tackling Gender Bias in Healthcare here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tackling-Gender-Bias-Healthcare-System/dp/1805018817
Listen to WomenKind Collective: https://shows.acast.com/womenkind-collective

Season 7 of The Best of Women’s Health podcast is LIVE today 🎉 and I couldn’t think of a better guest to open it with than Paul McGee of Profortus, back for his third visit.
Long-time listeners will remember Paul and Sarah sharing their story with us, and Paul has been instrumental in my own bone health journey since my ‘diagnosis’ of osteoporosis. This time we go deeper into a question that surprises so many women: if density isn’t the whole story of fracture risk, what is?
We discuss:
✅ Bone density vs bone strength, and why microarchitecture matters
✅ What DEXA does brilliantly, and where its blind spots lie
✅ Why holding your bone density steady after 50 is a real win
✅ Are we screening too late, when bone loss speeds up well before menopause?
I LOVED Paul’s bridge analogy. Give a team of structural engineers and a team of ten-year-olds (fresh from an ice cream) the same pile of materials, and ask yourself which bridge you’d walk across. Same density, very different strength.
Paul also shares the story of a patient who went from deadlifting 30kg to 75kg, and what that did for her scan results. His closing reminder has stayed with me since we recorded: “If you’re blindly going through life without any eyes on your bone health, then at some point you’ll have a fracture and it’ll be a surprise.”
Paul and I are also planning an in-person education event together in 2027, so watch this space 👀
Find out more about Paul and REMS at Profortis: https://www.profortis.co.uk/about-paul-magee

Coinciding with World Osteoporosis Day this special episode features two fabulous people: Sarah and Paul McGee - who have an incredible story to share (and have been instrumental in my own journey after a ‘diagnosis’ of Osteoporosis).
In the episode Sarah shares her journey from an osteoporosis diagnosis at 53 after two stress fractures and her journey supported by husband Paul, a sports therapist, packed with science-backed practices that took her from osteoporotic to osteopenic in just 5 years.
In the episode we discuss the differences in the REMS scanner vs DEXA, learn more about fragility scores and discuss the exercise that supports bone density health - especially for women in perimenopause.
I know this episode will inspire and empower other women (as the McGees did for me) to challenge everything you thought about osteoporosis being inevitable or irreversible.

After seeing the polarized menopause space in 2018, Ann Marie McQueen (founder of Hot Flash Inc) has dedicated 5 years to interviewing 150+ experts and cutting through the noise. Her mission? Help women make informed decisions without handing over agency to someone else.
Some of the discussion points we touch upon:
HRT vs MHT - Why Words MatterThe Authority Bias ProblemThe Information Cherry-Picking Crisis
The Double Stack Trend
One of the many things that Ann Marie so expressively shared was, "Your body is exquisite - it's an ecosystem. When you mess with one thing, there's a chain reaction."
This is a great episode and truly inspiring for women in mid-life to inform and education yourself. As Ann Marie explains: Don't outsource decisions. Learn enough to know what YOU'RE doing - it affects the rest of your life.

This episode features two powerhouse practitioners joining me to discuss why nutritional therapy needs to reclaim it’s heart alongside the science.
Dawn Waldron and Emma Beswick talk about their own personal journeys that lead them to nutrition, nutrigenomics and functional health.
Despite knowing these two women well, lucky me - they are friends as well as colleagues, I learnt a lot from this conversation as we delved into the central role of the mitochondria and metabolism in health, and how this understanding has shaped Dawn's work in integrative oncology. Emma explains how her Metabolics Report aims to provide practitioners with a comprehensive view of mitochondrial function and cellular energy production. 
We openly talk about our shared belief that we've lost the therapy in nutritional therapy. The rush to order tests (gut, hormones, adrenals) means we're not listening to the information sitting in front of us - the client's story. Tests should illuminate, not replace, clinical reasoning.
Emma’s musical analogy has been ringing in my brain since we recorded - our genes are the sheet music, but nutrients, movement, and circadian rhythm are the performance instructions - they tell your genes HOW to play.
Both Emma and Dawn share more gems of insights, reminders that as practitioners, we're meant to hold space for the art AND science - not just prescribe based on data reports.
Emma & Dawn are also (of course) on my Expert Panel of Beyond The Lesions: Unravelling The Endometriosis Puzzle Livestreamed Masterclass 3rd November (booking details 🔗).