Ep. 173 | Why Your Metabolic Health Is Driving Everything From Fertility to Menopause with Rachel Swanson, MS, RD

Written By Avanti Kumar-Singh
Image right side: Rachel is leaning on a white tiled wall wearing a white blazer and black top underneath. She has long black hard split in the middle and has it swept over her shoulder. She is wearing big diamond earrings with her makeup

You're tired. Not sleepy tired, bone tired. The kind where you woke up feeling like you didn't sleep at all. You're foggy by lunch. You're craving sugar by 3pm. Your body is changing in ways that don't make sense. And maybe your doctor ran your labs and said everything looks "normal", but nothing about how you feel is normal.

And here's the part that really doesn't get talked about: some of you are trying to get pregnant in your late 30s or early 40s while also starting to feel perimenopausal symptoms. Hot flashes, irregular periods, anxiety, weight gain around the middle. Two things happening at the same time and everyone treats them as separate problems.

They're not. And the root cause connecting both might surprise you because it's not your estrogen. It's not your progesterone. It's your metabolic health.

In this episode I sit down with Rachel Swanson, a Registered Dietitian, Nutrition Director at LifeSpan Medicine, and author of the new book Trying, to talk about why metabolic health is the upstream driver of everything from egg quality to hot flashes to cardiovascular risk. And we get really practical about what to do about it.


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What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

  • (05:56) Why metabolic health is a root cause that affects fertility, perimenopause/menopause

  • (07:59) How poor metabolic health shows up in your daily life

  • (11:25) Three labs every woman should know

  • (17:20) What your plate should look like at every meal

  • (21:13) The gut-hormone connection most people miss

  • (25:45) Environmental toxins: where to start, what to skip

  • (26:00) Why high toxin exposure = menopause four years earlier

By the end of this episode, you'll understand the threads that connect metabolism with fertility, perimenopause, and menopause, and learn simple lifestyle shifts that can improve your metabolic health.

About Rachel Swanson:

Rachel Swanson, MS, RD, LDN, is a Registered Dietitian and one of America's most sought-after nutritionists. She holds a Master of Science in Clinical Nutrition from NYU, completed clinical rotations at Mount Sinai Hospital, and is the Nutrition Director at LifeSpan Medicine and founder of Diet Doctors, LLC. She works with professional athletes, celebrities, C-suite executives, and physicians, specializing in metabolic health, fertility optimization, and personalized preventative care. Her new book, Trying: A Nutritionist's Guide to Fertility, Metabolic Health, and Whole-Body Healing, brings clinical-grade strategies previously available only through elite concierge practices to every woman navigating her reproductive health.

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The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

Avanti Kumar-Singh
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Ep. 172 | There’s So Much Coming At You Right Now—And It’s Affecting Your Nervous System (Here’s How to Take Care of Yourself)