Style:  Informational

Dr. Anh Nguyen always wanted to be a pharmacist, and enjoyed many aspects of the work.  But she realized people were just getting on more and more medications, and were never really coming off of them.  

She was curious about how she could help people come off medications safely, and how to use food as medicine instead.  

This led her to study health coaching and functional medicine.  She also got interested in bodybuilding and started to train for competitions.  Meanwhile she was dealing with illness in her family, which led to her own compromised health.

She shares some of her learnings with us on this interview.  Here's what we talk about:

• How to approach pharmaceuticals in a safer way
• How pharmaceuticals can cause nutrient depletions
• How pharmaceuticals can cause thyroid symptoms
• Which nutritional supplements she recommends to restore thyroid health

and much more.  

Dr. Anh hosts a popular weekly podcast called Food As Medicine that you can find on iTunes or through her website, Dranh.com.  

I was her guest on episode 49, talking about Fertility After Age 35.  

Thanks for checking out the show!  If you're not yet subscribed, please take a moment to do so through your podcast player.

You are also welcome to get to know me better at my website, bridgitdanner.com.  

Money has power, and energy.  How do you relate to money?  

Do you label money as good, or bad?

Do you overspend it, only to feel guilty later?

Do you avoid it, never checking your bank account?

Are you afraid of it, that you'll never have enough?

Do you feel worthy of spending money on your health, or your pleasure?

Is money the topic of a lot of arguments with your spouse/partner?

Today's interview is a bit out of the box of what you'd traditionally think of as health care, but I find this too-rarely-discussed subject very important.

Money can be a major source of worry, which can severely affect our health.  Money, or fear of spending it, can affect our health care decisions.  Money is also about the biggest reason that couples fight, which again affects our health and happiness.

I hope you can take a little time to listen to this conversation about money and women with our guest expert Janin Johnston of Fashionable Finance.  Janin is a really sweet and bright woman form Hawaii and she is actually an expert on finance and fashion...which is perhaps the goal of many women!

If you'd like to share anything about how you've learned to manage money in a healthy way, you can do so at our blog.

If you are not yet a part of our Women's Wellness community, sign up for our Hidden Health Stressors quiz on our main page, and you get our latest blogs, videos and interviews every week!

Low thyroid symptoms are most commonly known to be weight gain, hair loss or cold hands and feet.  Our guest expert today, Dr. Peter Kan, points out that brain symptoms such as brain fog, memory loss and balance issues could also be related to the state of the thyroid.

We also talk about how these 'brain farts' can be early stages of more serious brain disorders later in life, so it's important to address them.

"Thyroid physiology actually starts in the brain."

According to Dr. Kan, the brain needs:  1. fuel (oxygen and glucose) and 2. activation (which comes from movement.)

So the good news is that there is a lot we can do to improve brain health, such as:

• Use yoga to challenge your brain
• Learn new skills to activate your brain
• Drink salted water to increase blood pressure / circulation to brain and body as needed
• Eat regularly to get fuel your brain.

We talk about some surprising things like:

• How chronic toenail fungus can indicate poor neural enervation
• How facial asymmetries could be a sign of a brain issue.

Subscribe on iTunes or your Android podcast player so you get a new expert interview, free, in your hands (and ears) every week!

Dr. Peter Kan is a chiropractic functional neurologist running a clinic called Hope Integrative Wellness Center in Gilbert, Arizona.  He shares many free health videos on his site, AskDrKan.com.

Have you joined our Podcast Fan Club yet?  It's free, and you get private access to me and many of our expert guests.

Episode style:  Conversational

I got a request for a show about health initiatives in the workplace.  At first I had no idea who to invite, and then I thought of an old friend, Rachel Wagner.

Rachel has been an active person since childhood, and got a graduate degree in Health Promotion within the field of public health.  

Her first job out of graduate school was with a consulting firm to help businesses of all sizes get healthier.  She never pictured herself in corporate wellness, but she learned a lot.

She now runs wellness programs at a local liberal arts college, and finds her busy, young students have many of the same challenges to health as office workers did.

Rachel observed that people were most successful in improving their health when they made small steps.  She also saw that when health initiatives came from within the employee population, those initiatives worked better.  And when there was some kind of community accountability or reward system, that element of fun and togetherness helped people reached their goals.

A big thanks to Rachel for coming on the show, and a big thanks to our subscribers- we love you!

For more information on your host, Bridgit Danner, visit bridgitdanner.com.  Be sure to take our Hidden Health Stressors quiz when you're there!