December 2, 2025 • 46 mins
Absolutely no one warned us that midlife would be this loud—hot flashes, achy joints, bone density, belly fat, all competing for attention at once. And yet the message women still get is, “This is just how it is.”
In this episode, I’m joined by orthopedic sports surgeon and longevity visionary Dr. Vonda Wright, author of Unbreakable: A Woman’s Guide to Aging with Power. We dig into what it really takes to stay strong, mobile, and independent for decades—so you can carry your own groceries at 80 and stay out of the nursing home.
We cover:
- Why bones are an endocrine organ (yes, your skeleton is talking to the rest of your body)
- The truth about osteoporosis, fracture risk, and why waiting until 65 for a DEXA is a terrible strategy
- How to safely use impact, heavy lifting, and sprint intervals even if you’ve been told to “be careful”
- The role of estrogen, testosterone, and vitamin D in bone and muscle health
- Protein, leucine, vegan vs animal sources—and why under-proteining is keeping you weak and inflamed
- Weighted vests, jumping, Pilates and yoga: what actually moves the needle for strength and longevity
If you’re a woman in perimenopause, menopause, or beyond—and you want denser bones, stronger muscles, better balance, and a body that can keep up with the life you want—this conversation is your blueprint.
👉 Grab Dr. Wright’s book Unbreakable, A Woman's Guide to Aging With Power, and connect with her online.
Dr. Wright's website https://www.drvondawright.com/
Check out her new bone supplement, Unbreakable Bone, on her website.
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/drvondawright/
Dr. Wright's weighted jump rope https://amzn.to/3Mi91VU
Don’t forget to follow Asking for a Friend for more real talk on midlife health, fitness, hormones, and longevity.
_________________________________________
1:1 health and nutrition coaching or Faster Way - Reach me anytime at mailto:mfolanfasterway@gmail.com
If you’re doing “all the right things” and still feel stuck, it may be time to look deeper. I’ve partnered with EllieMD, a trusted telehealth platform offering modern solutions for women in midlife—including micro-dosed GLP-1 peptide therapy—to support metabolic health and longevity.
https://elliemd.com/michelefolan - Create a free account to view all products.
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🎤 In addition to coaching, I speak to women’s groups, moderate health panel discussions, and bring experts together for real, evidence-based conversations about midlife health.
Transcripts are created with AI and may not be perfectly accurate.
Disclaimer: This podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, or other professional healthcare services. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your qualified healthcare provider with any questions regarding a medical condition.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Michele Folan (00:00):
The new year is coming, and with it, that
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(01:27):
I'm your host, Michele Folan,and this is Asking for a Friend.
Welcome to the show, everyone.
Today's guest is the definitionof women's health powerhouse.
Dr.
Vonda Wright isn't just anorthopedic surgeon.
She's a longevity visionary whohas dedicated her career to
(01:50):
rewriting the narrative of agingfor women.
She's operated on professionalathletes and weekend warriors
alike.
But what drives her passiontoday is preventing the injuries
and decline she repairs in theoperating room.
Her latest book, Unbreakable (02:03):
A Woman's Guide to Aging with
Power, is the ultimate blueprintfor living strong, not
shrinking.
It's about stronger muscles,denser bones, better mobility,
and a mindset that says, I'mjust getting started.
In a world that still tellswomen to take it easy, Dr.
Wright is flipping the script.
(02:24):
She's teaching us to load thebar, to jump, to fuel our bodies
with purpose, and to treatmuscle like the currency of
aging.
Whether you're navigatingperimenopause, recovering from
injury, or simply ready toinvest in the decades ahead,
this conversation will show youhow to train your body and your
brain for lifelong independence.
If you want to stay out of thenursing home, keep your
(02:45):
confidence and carry your owndarn groceries at 80, you need
this conversation.
Dr.
Vonda Wright, welcome to Askingfor a Friend.
Thank you so much for havingme.
Well, I told Dr.
Wright before we startedrecording that I am quite the
fan, and I have been sharing herwisdom with my clients for
(03:06):
quite some time now.
And I know you have quite afollowing, and I wouldn't be
surprised if many of ourlisteners already are fans of
yours as well.
You know, you have spentdecades in orthopedics, and I'm
really curious what led you tothat specialty when you were
first starting out.
Vonda Wright, MD (03:25):
Well, you know, Michele, my first career
in medicine was as a cancernurse.
And in 1989, when I graduatedfrom college, uh, there was such
a uh shortage of nurses.
When I graduated with a biologydegree, they were offering
people another bachelor's and amaster's in three years if you
would come and be a nurse.
(03:45):
So I did that.
And my master's degree is incancer, as cancer nursing, as I
said.
And it was there that I think Ilearned the life lessons about
what's important, life anddeath, the value of a woman's
health, the suffering thatpeople go through.
And it really informed my wholecareer.
So that when it was time tochoose a different career,
(04:05):
because frankly, I progressedreally quickly in nursing and
and it was within a few years Ineeded to decide what direction
I was going.
When I went back to medicalschool, I really did expect to
go back into oncology.
And for a variety of reasons, Iwent into orthopedics, but it
fits so well.
Or it either retrofits so wellor it fits so well, it guided
(04:27):
this whole pathway, in that I donot believe that aging is an
inevitable decline from vitalityto frailty.
And orthopedics, especially thekind I do.
I'm an orthopedic sportssurgeon.
So if I shift my camera, you'llsee all these lanyards that
I've, and these are only a fewof them I've accumulated over
the years, because I'm thedoctor that stands on the
(04:49):
football field or whatever fieldand runs out there when people
are hurt, right?
So my job is reallyaspirational, meaning I am here
to make you walk again, makeyour shoulder work again, make
you able to feed your family.
And that is the same philosophythat I bring to the health of
midlife women.
Because frankly, I think whenwomen are told that, oh, you're
(05:12):
just getting old, or uh, youknow, why don't you act your
age?
That is the world's biggestcop-out, whether that comes from
your doctor, whether that comesfrom your friends, or whether
that comes from your own mind.
That is a cop-out to dyingslowly over 40 years.
And I just won't have it.
Michele Folan (05:30):
You know, and you've done surgery on thousands
of joints and bones.
And I've heard you talk aboutthose, those frail bones that
you come in contact with.
Can you talk about that alittle bit and how challenging
that can be as a surgeon to haveto deal with that?
(05:50):
Well, you know what?
Vonda Wright, MD (05:52):
It's uh I think nobody thinks about their
bones until the last year.
Thank goodness I introduced iton uh another podcast, Diary of
a CEO, and thank God it's caughton.
The world is talking aboutbones, because bones play so
many roles in our body fromstorehouse of minerals,
incubator of our blood cells,master communicator.
(06:14):
And yes, I can yet I can tendto you, nobody thinks about
their bones unless we're lookingat them uh during fashion week,
going walking down the runway,right?
Right.
And because we don't think,yeah, right?
Oh, cheekbones, collarbones,look at those.
But the reality is that many ofus don't build good bone
density when we're young.
You know, maybe we don't eatenough.
(06:35):
Maybe we we eat poor things,maybe we don't have periods for
long periods of time and thinkthat's a good thing when it's
actually a bad thing.
Or maybe when we're bearingchildren, we don't realize that
our our babies are going to eatour bones if we're not eating
enough healthy food, right?
And there's an entity calledthe osteoporosis of pregnancy
that is real and results inspine fractures.
(06:58):
And so, or maybe we don't thinkabout it until we hit
perimenopause and the rate ofbone resorption, which is the
taking away of bone, triplesbecause we no longer have
estrogen, which leaves us withvulnerable bones.
And and it is one thing for asurgeon, you ask the question,
(07:18):
how does it affect me?
Well, it affects me becausewhen bones are like butter, it's
hard to get instruments to stayin them.
But I'll get over that as asurgeon.
Women do not get over a majorfracture.
One in two women will have anosteoporotic fracture in their
lifetime.
And if that fracture happens tobe your wrist, that's painful
(07:39):
for three months.
Or maybe it's your ankle,that's painful for three months
and you're sitting around.
But if you break your hip, 70%of all hip fractures occur in
women.
30% of the time you die in thefirst year, and if you manage to
live, 50% of the time you donot get to go home to your own
house.
(07:59):
And so when we think aboutbones and osteoporosis is
translated as holes in bones,well, it's a serious matter that
we all need to think about.
Michele Folan (08:11):
You know, I was with my high school friends last
week, and we're all 60, 61years old.
And I was kind of surprised howmany women there have not yet
had a DEXA scan.
When do you typically recommendwe get our bones scanned?
Vonda Wright, MD (08:30):
Well, we don't get DEXA scans until later
because insurance will not payfor them.
Number one.
And number two, we don't thinkabout our bones.
I mean, I unless you break one,nobody thinks about them.
They just take them forgranted.
So it's not surprising to methat your girlfriends haven't
had a DEXA scan or a REMsultrasound to look at bone
quality.
But I get them on everybody.
(08:52):
And I find poor bone density in25-year-olds and 30-year-olds
and 40-year-olds in women whohave been doing everything
right.
They're lifting, they'reeating, they're jumping, still
poor bones.
And it's a really discouragingthing.
So I want everybody to get abone density or a REMS
ultrasound when they startgetting their mammograms around
(09:14):
40.
Because here's why.
If we catch you with bad bonesat 40, we have an entire 10-year
runway to get in front of itbefore you are 52, the average
age of your menopause.
If we wait through the 40s andfinally do it, you will have
already lost your bone density.
And it is harder to make thatup than to start a decade
(09:39):
earlier.
And data from the European UhOsteoporosis Society finds that
it takes about 10 years ofhormone optimization to affect
fracture risk.
So fine, if you catch it whenyou're 60, fine, we're behind
the eight ball.
I'd rather catch it when we're40.
Michele Folan (09:57):
Oh, wow.
Okay.
So that's interesting.
I did not know that about, youknow, when we are taking hormone
replacement, you know, likeestrogen, to how long it takes
to help really increase yourbone mass along with all the
other stuff that you're doing.
Vonda Wright, MD (10:14):
Well, what we want to do, Michele, is never
let it drop, right?
Why are we gonna let you lose15 to 20 percent and then try to
do something about it?
Why don't we maintain it atwhatever level it was, even if
it wasn't great?
Do you see the argument?
Michele Folan (10:29):
Yeah.
I yeah, I definitely do.
Yeah.
And I have osteoporosis, so Iwas diagnosed two years ago.
I am seeing improvements, soI'm doing all the stuff you tell
me to do.
And so it is possible.
So I don't want people to thinkit's hopeless, but you but you
gotta get on it.
Oh no, it's not.
Vonda Wright, MD (10:47):
Yeah, it's not hopeless unless you do nothing.
Yeah.
Because one in two women willhave a major fracture, right?
So statistically, it's eithergonna be me or you.
I mean, when I say things likethat, and women are looking at
their girlfriends across thetable, it really brings it home
because otherwise it's just astatistic.
Correct.
Michele Folan (11:06):
Yeah.
You've brought this up andmaybe on another podcast.
Oh, it may have been diarrheaCEO, where you talk about the
skeletal system as being anendocrine organ, and it had to
do with osteoblasts.
Yeah.
Can you go into that a littlebit?
Because I find that's reallyinteresting.
Vonda Wright, MD (11:22):
Well, an osteoblast is one of the two,
one of the many bone cells.
There's osteocytes, which arethe mature cells, the
osteoclast, which comes from abloodline of cells, actually,
that is responsible forresorbing bone so your body can
use the minerals, and theosteoblasts, which you
mentioned, which builds bone,right?
And they work in harmony.
(11:43):
Uh, our body loves homeostasis.
So we are always striving forthese two cells to be working
almost equally.
But the reason that bones arean endocrine organ, the
definition of an endocrine organor a gland, whether it's your
thyroid, your pituitary gland,or or muscle is an endocrine
(12:03):
organ, bone, is they talk tothemselves and other body parts
via secreted particles, right?
So secreted proteins.
So bones secrete hormonescalled osteocalcin, so many, but
the two I talk about justbecause it's a new concept to
people, we don't need too manynew words, are osteocalcin and
(12:26):
LCN2.
And for instance, here'ssomething that that I talk about
with less frequency thanosteocalcin.
LCN2 is a hormone produced bybone that is directly involved
in satiety, meaning, do I feelhungry or not?
Now, why in the world wouldbone be interested in whether
(12:46):
you feel hungry or not?
I have no idea.
Well, it's because bone has ahuge role.
Yeah, bone has a huge role inyour metabolism, whether it's
glucose metabolism, insulinresistance, or storing the
minerals you need.
So of course there's going tobe communication between your
(13:08):
bone and your gut forabsorption, and in the case of
LCN2, your bone and your brain,so that there's an interaction
saying, okay, I need more stuff,you better eat, or okay, I'm
full, you better stop.
Because fat, if we talk aboutanother musculoskeletal tissue
(13:29):
that falls in my wheelhouse, fatis noxious.
And being heavy doesn't meanyou have better bone because of
the hormonal interactions andthe inflammation that comes with
that.
So bone is an endocrine organbecause everybody's talking.
Nobody's silently living bythemselves.
All these organs are talking.
Michele Folan (13:48):
Okay, this is fascinating.
You talk about muscle being theyour aging currency, right?
But it's really your bone, too,is is involved in longevity.
Vonda Wright, MD (14:02):
Oh, I never say it's very popular right now
to say muscle is the organ oflongevity.
And I get it.
I mean, really the irony is Iwas first a muscle scientist in
a muscle lab.
We studied muscle-derived stemcells, which are now called
satellite cells.
Listen, we did all kinds ofthings to those muscle stem
cells to get them to workbetter.
So I started out in a musclelab.
(14:25):
And so it's very popular totalk about bone muscle as an
endocrine organ, which it alsois.
But what people forget ismuscle, bone, tendon, ligament,
fat, muscle stem cells, the discin our back, all come from the
same ancestor.
They all had a commongreat-grandmother cell called
the mesenchymal stem cell.
(14:45):
So of course they communicatewith each other.
Of course, they are part of thewhole equilibrium homeostasis
system in our body.
So, yes, muscle is an organ oflongevity.
Bone is an organ of longevity.
Because when you think aboutit, what is muscle without its
bone?
It's a heaping pile of steamingmetabolic tissue that just sits
(15:08):
there like a chicken breast onthe counter.
But when you put some bonesunder it, it becomes a person,
right?
Yeah.
Isn't that funny to thinkabout?
Yeah.
It's like hamburger versus acow.
Right.
The difference is bones, right?
Michele Folan (15:22):
So, Dr.
Wright, we're gonna take aquick break.
We come back.
I want to talk a little bitabout osteoporosis and jumping
and impacts.
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All right, we are back.
Before we took a break, Iwanted to talk a little bit
about impact and jumping becauseI know women that get an
osteoporosis diagnosisoftentimes are told not to do
too much impact.
(16:47):
How do we safely navigate thisand still getting the benefits
of impact for our bones?
Vonda Wright, MD (16:55):
Well, I think women are told of a lot of
things based on fear, not fact,as a baseline.
Okay.
So to tell a woman with fragilebones that she has to sit there
and protect herself with uhwhat is that?
Bubble wrap is just wrong,right?
Yeah.
Because I'm gonna tell you whathappens when you wrap yourself
in bubble wrap and don't doanything.
(17:16):
It's like me putting a cast onyour leg.
When I put a cast on your leg,within one week, that cast is
loose.
Do you know why?
Not because the plasterstretches, it's because you lose
muscle mass.
And if I look at your x-ray,you will have lost bone density.
Yes.
Right?
So sitting still and doingnothing wrapped in bubble wrap
(17:39):
is a surefire way to get weaker.
So there are lots of studiesthat show that even women with
osteoporosis can carefullyimpact their bones, lift heavy
weights, jump around.
Now, you have to be careful.
You have to work on yourbalance and your uh balance and
equilibrium, work on your footspeed.
(18:00):
So I will get to jumping, butthe full recipe for women with
osteoporosis is facts not fear,number one.
Number two, if you literallyare osteoporotic with a T-score
of less than minus 2.5 or 3.5,you really need to have a
science-based discussion ofwhether or not you want to be
(18:23):
medicated.
Because to sit around and say,oh my God, I don't want to take
medication, okay, that is yourchoice.
Um, but there is so much otherthings you need to do.
I mean, I don't think we canjust blanketly say, I'm not a
medicine person.
Well, sometimes we need to haveinterventions.
But what are the non-medicalways?
Well, even for women who wantto be as air quote natural as
(18:47):
possible, there is nothing morenatural.
Not yams, not uh what are theother things people like?
Not tofu, not uh soybeans,nothing more natural than body
identical estradiol, which iswhat your little ovary's been
making your entire life.
So women get a little hung upon it, comes as a prescription.
(19:09):
It comes from plants, people.
That's natural, and you makeit.
And it's critical for bones.
So you must make your decisionbased on facts, not fear.
In addition to that, we mustlift heavy weights to build bone
because muscle pulls on ourbones.
And there's a study by BelindaBeck out of Australia that shows
that even women with Frankosteoporosis can be taught to
(19:32):
learn heavy and do it safely.
Number three, my own studiesshow that uh we can uh maintain
bone density across our lifespanwith impact exercise.
So sorry if you're a swimmer,not as good as is hopscotch,
tennis, pickle, volleyball.
(19:52):
But you, if you haven't jumpedfor years, then don't try to
jump off the 24-inch box thatyou see me jumping on commonly.
You know, hop up and down onyour own feet.
Yeah.
And so jumping, but we mustlearn to balance.
We can learn to rebalance sothat we don't fall down by
standing on one leg when webrush our teeth.
(20:13):
So it's a series of things,last of which, and we talked
about this off-air, we got tofeed our bones, people.
Bones are 50% protein.
And so it takes good nutritionto build better bone.
Michele Folan (20:26):
Okay, I've got so many questions based on the
litany of things that you justsaid.
All right, first of all,estrogen.
We all know estrogen is vital.
What about testosterone?
What role does that play inbone strength?
Vonda Wright, MD (20:43):
Well, testosterone works uh by works
uh with the osteoblast to helpbuild bone.
Testosterone is not just a sexhormone at all.
That's what you know the FDAlikes to tell us.
It's only good for libido.
But in fact, women usetestosterone for muscle, for
bone, for brightness of mind.
(21:04):
And so I want women tounderstand, which hopefully
they've heard on your show, thattestosterone is not a male
hormone, it is a hormone.
And in fact, women make moreabsolute amount of testosterone
than we make estrogen.
It just affects us in adifferent way.
So when I'm prescribinghormones or sending people to
get their hormones prescribed,the considerations are uh
(21:27):
systemic estradiol, preferablyby a patch.
If you have a uterus,progesterone, when those are
when you've adjusted to those,adding testosterone, which has
to be added as a gel.
There is no FDA-approved femaleuh dosing of testosterone,
which is a little bit of aproblem that we're working on
with the FDA.
Michele Folan (21:47):
Yeah, don't get me started on that one.
Vonda Wright, MD (21:51):
Especially Kelly Casperson and Rachel Rubin
are leading the cause.
And then don't forget vaginalestrogen to work on your chronic
UTIs, your pelvic floor, tomake everything nice and juicy
like it always was.
But if you're gonna tell me, ifyou're thinking out there, oh,
she's telling me to jump, andwhen I jump, I'm incontinent.
(22:13):
Yes, you are because yourpelvic floor is skeletal muscle
and it must be rebuilt.
And if you want help with that,you put some vaginal estrogen,
which helps locally.
And then finally, don't forgetabout the collagen in your face.
If you're as vain as I am, youwant to keep it plumpy and uh
local facial estrogen can helpthat.
(22:35):
Yes, I do that.
Michele Folan (22:38):
I do that.
Me too.
As much as I can get away with.
Yeah.
Do you take collagen like apowder?
No.
Okay.
Do you find there's any benefitto doing collagen for tendons,
ligaments, bone?
Vonda Wright, MD (22:51):
You know, the data is so plus minus, that's
why I don't demand it of mypatients.
If it was profound data, Iwould demand it.
There are some data, but not somuch that I'll say these this
is one of the tenets.
Is gonna harm you?
Probably not.
So that's where I stand today.
People constantly want to arguewith me about it, and I'm open
(23:12):
to learning, but I haven't seenreally big studies that make me
demand it yet.
Michele Folan (23:17):
All right.
No, I think that's very fair.
I know a lot of women take itjust, I think, for more of their
their skin, but uh when justget your thoughts on that.
And then on that same vein, wetalk about protein all the time.
Do you have preferences interms of animal protein versus
vegan?
Vonda Wright, MD (23:35):
Well, I don't care where you get it, I care
that you get it, but you have toconsider the quality of the
protein, right?
And the volume of food andcalories.
So when you think about a vegandiet, think about cows and
bulls.
They're all vegans.
Cows and bulls are vegans, andthey're full of muscle, but they
(23:58):
eat all the time.
It is their job to eat.
So, can you get enough proteinfrom a vegan diet?
Sure, you can.
You gotta friggin' eat all thetime and get enough protein in,
but you also must be mindful ofthe leucine load in your
protein.
Leucine is an uh essentialamino acid, meaning your body
(24:22):
can't make it.
It's a branch chain amino acid,and it is the most powerful
stimulator of muscle proteinsynthesis.
And different foods have it indifferent quantities.
The number one source ofleucine is whey protein isolate
that you get from milk.
And the best source of wheyprotein isolate is mother's
(24:43):
milk.
So nature knew what it wasdoing when it made mothers able
to produce the best kind ofhigh-quality protein for our
babies.
Well, adults, we get it fromobviously animals from cows.
So whey protein isolate hasabout 12% leucine in it.
And you and meat comes afterthat, eight to ten.
(25:03):
All the way down at the bottomis plant-based protein, which
has four to six percent leucine.
So not only do you have to eatmore protein because it has
lower protein content, but youalso have to double up on
leucine.
So that's my explanation.
I'm not, I don't care how youget it.
You can be a vegan if you wantto for whatever reason.
(25:25):
You just gotta not use as anexcuse to underprotein.
Michele Folan (25:29):
All right.
No, that's great advice.
And and I appreciate thatbecause that does come up all
the time with my clients.
And so I wanted to kind ofclear that up.
And you did bring up howswimming doesn't really allow
for impact to do what it needsto do to build uh bone.
But what about Pilates andyoga?
(25:50):
Because those are superpopular, and I think people may
be doing that in lieu of liftingweights.
Why do you think it's sopopular?
I think they find it veryrelaxing.
Yoga.
Is that the point of workingout?
Well, not in my mind.
Addressing your people, right?
Uh what are we even in the gymfor, right?
(26:10):
Yeah.
Vonda Wright, MD (26:11):
Yeah.
Well, you know what?
The only kind of Pilates that Imean, and I don't do, I mean, I
don't do yoga unless it's hotyoga, which makes me feel like
I'm running a marathon.
So there are kinds of yoga thatmake me feel the same way.
So I don't come at this from ayogi or from the perspective of
having done 3,000 Pilatesclasses, which frankly I don't
(26:32):
get it.
But women who do do Pilates andyoga, they count their classes.
Yeah.
They're like, I've done 3,000Pilates classes.
Well, that's a lot, that's veryexpensive, people.
Will it get you where you needto go?
Well, when I prescribeexercise, I prescribe it, as
you've read in Unbreakable, mybook.
The acronym is Face YourFuture, F-A-C-E.
(26:53):
Pilates and yoga fit in F,which is flexibility and joint
range of motion.
We must maintain that as we ageso that we don't become hunched
over old people shufflingalong.
So I am not against Pilates andyoga.
Throw it in a couple times aweek.
Go meet your girlfriends, dowhatever you do there.
(27:14):
But it is never going to buildthe muscle that is going to keep
you strong enough to do whatyou want to do when you want to
do it.
Because I have plenty of reallyskinny, fat people who only do
that who end up frail.
Michele Folan (27:27):
Yeah.
And I want to know you likewhat do you do in terms of
cardio?
Because I know you're you'rebig on lifting weights, and I am
too, but I have added somecardio, more uh like sprint type
cardio in here lately.
What do you do for cardio?
Vonda Wright, MD (27:43):
Yeah, so let's just go down the face acronym.
We already talked about F.
Okay.
A is aerobic, so that's cardio.
Now I come from a place likeeverybody else.
In the 80s, I was doing JaneFonda in my living room, doing
all aerobics all the time.
And I was a dancer, so aerobicsand dancing.
And then when I quit dancing,then I started running
(28:05):
marathons.
So I am of that generation,right?
Cardio all the time.
FA now, I do very uh eitherside of the spectrum, and this
is what pro athletes do.
Not every workout is in themiddle ground, which is what I
see all the time.
People are sweating it out,they're they're killing
themselves, but at a moderateheart rate, and and they're
(28:27):
doing a lot of reps.
So that is not intense enoughto really shift the needle, and
it's too intense to preventyourself from getting injured.
So the way I prescribe it nowis three hours a week of base,
low heart rate base training onevery app any apparatus, 181
minus your age, which is anestimate of your lactate
(28:49):
threshold.
If you come work with medirectly, as some people do, uh,
we measure your lactatethreshold.
So I'll say your heart rate inbase training is 126 to 136, for
instance.
Three hours a week, broken upinto 45-minute sessions.
So there's that.
Twice a week after you get donewith that, you sprint your guts
(29:11):
out.
So that means not sprinting ona track like Shakira Richardson.
Any apparatus will do.
In fact, I think the the Alpinemachine is harder than running
on a on a treadmill, but you'regetting your heart rate up to as
fast as it will go for 30seconds, and then you completely
recover.
So base training and sprintintervals.
(29:32):
Hold on to the thought ofsprint intervals.
I am FAC is carry a load,lifting weights.
We have to progressively learnto lift heavy.
This morning I lifted, I was adeadlift day.
So I haven't deadlifted in awhile because I was I've been on
tour for this book.
So I started at a lower rate, alower weight than I ended up
(29:53):
with, and just progressed up inmy four sets uh to heavy
lifting.
So F A C.
See, it is the heavy liftingand the sprint intervals that I
find in myself and others thatcause the recomposition of your
body.
So if you want to go fromskinny fat to lean, in my
(30:14):
opinion, in my experience, thatis the way to do it while you're
managing your nutrition,because you can never out
exercise what you're eating.
And then FACE, equilibrium, andfoot speed as fall prevention.
So those are the four things,and that's how I do aerobics for
myself and those I prescribefor.
Michele Folan (30:36):
Okay.
I love this.
And I feel really good becauseI've been really encouraging my
clients to really do more sprinttype work because we come from
the get on the elliptical eraand do an hour on the
elliptical.
And I'm I that's just not thatdoesn't make sense to me now
(30:58):
based on things that I'velearned from you and following
you.
Vonda Wright, MD (31:03):
You can do that, but you'll never move the
needle.
Right.
You'll do the same hour on theelliptical for years, and you'll
wonder why your body doesn'tchange.
Michele Folan (31:12):
Right.
Well, and you mentioned aboutheavier load.
And I know when I first workwith clients, their propensity
is to do three sets of 12 or 14reps.
And I think what you're sayingis fewer reps, heavier weight.
(31:33):
Work up to that.
Vonda Wright, MD (31:34):
Michele, people need to ask themselves
what they're lifting for.
If you're a marathon runner andyou're lifting for endurance,
then lift the lightest weightpossible 30 times because you're
building endurance.
If you're building just to popout big muscles, then lift for
hypertrophy.
What you're describing islifting for hypertrophy.
There's nothing wrong with it.
But even at 10 to 15 reps, thelast rep you must be at failure.
(32:00):
Not, oh, I could do thatanother 30 times.
You must be at failure.
So you have to lift heavyenough to be at failure with
those reps.
But what are we lifting for inmidlife and beyond?
We are lifting for strength andpower.
It is power that predicts yourfitness and longevity.
That's thus heavy and thenultimately heavier with speed.
(32:22):
Right.
So you got to ask yourself whatyou're lifting for.
Because what I find is therewas a study of this.
I think women underestimatedhow strong they were more than
50% of the time.
Think about this.
You go to the gym, you've gotyour lightweight in some pastel
color that you're doing a lot oftimes.
And then you go home and youclean your basement and you're
(32:43):
lifting 40 or 50 pound tubs offthe ground.
It makes no sense to me.
Why we underestimate what we'recapable of?
Now, what makes sense to me isif you don't want to be injured,
and that's when hiring a reallygood trainer who understands
the midlife women's body isimportant.
Michele Folan (33:00):
Yeah.
And I've I've actuallyrecommended, I don't know what
you think about this, but I umfor women that do have an
osteoporosis diagnosis, is towork with a PT so that they
learn proper form and function,so that they're lifting
correctly.
But you know, I I but I hearwhat you're saying.
It's just sometimes we have toinvest a little bit at the front
(33:22):
end to just guide us so that wefeel confident.
Vonda Wright, MD (33:26):
I think PTs are this is the way I do it,
this is the way I do it in myoffice.
For people midlife women whocome in with knee pain, yeah,
who haven't gotten off the couchin years but have a desire to,
I send them to PT first to buildtheir butt core and hip
strength and to gain theconfidence that they're not
going to become wrecked.
But that's mainly what it's forbecause they're not gonna get
lifting advice from a physicaltherapist.
(33:47):
That's not their job.
Once they feel confidentenough, they should hire a
midlife personal trainer.
I've got a personal trainer inthe performance center.
We've got excellent uh strengthcoaches.
They're not just person, that'sthe other thing, ladies,
listening.
You need to hire a personaltrainer who is more
knowledgeable than just gettingtheir certificate off the
(34:08):
internet.
You need a strengthconditioning person, honestly.
And I'm not trying to piss offpersonal trainers, but they're
it's not everybody's createdequally.
So find somebody who is anexercise physiology major or is
a strength conditioning coach,has done the harder work.
Because you will get injured ifsomebody is lifting you for
their own ego.
(34:28):
They should be totally focusedon you, knowing what midlife
women are capable of, knowingwhy we're lifting, and the
science behind endurance,hypertrophy, and strength.
And eventually you're trying tolearn to be able to do it
yourself.
Yeah, that's great advice.
Michele Folan (34:47):
Thank you for that.
I I saw you have this big oldheavy jump rope that you're
using, this big pink thing.
And I I'm so fascinated.
Vonda Wright, MD (34:57):
I it's not heavy, it's only a two-pound
jump rope, it's not heavy.
Yeah, but it looks awesome.
Oh, I love it.
And you know, everybody wantsto know.
Shoot, I wish I made it.
I probably could have sold athousand of them because
everybody wants to know where Igot it.
So I'm trying to get that.
Michele Folan (35:13):
Well, if you if you get the link for that, I
will put it in the show notesfor for the listeners.
And then the other the otherquick question I had about
equipment was weighted vests.
Are they helpful forosteoporosis?
What is your goal with with aweighted vest?
Because I know you wear one.
Vonda Wright, MD (35:34):
Well, I wear a weighted vest for surprise for
a surprising reason.
But weighted vests alone haveshoddy data at best for building
bone density alone.
Weighted vest plus lifting hasbeen found to be helpful, but
lifting alone has been found tobe helpful.
I'm not anti-weighted vest.
(35:55):
In fact, I'm pro-weighted vest.
But weighted vests, what theyreally do is add about 10% load
to your workout.
Here, for instance, here's howit manifests in me.
I wear a 20-pound weighted vestwhen I am on a treadmill.
The work it takes me to get myheart up to 130, which is my
lactate threshold, which is mybase training heart rate, the
(36:16):
work it takes is 10% less whenI'm wearing this weighted vest
because it adds that workloadon.
So you can do more with lesssettings on the treadmill.
For instance, I can get myheart rate up with less incline
and less speed when I wear myweighted vest because it adds
the load.
So that's one way to do it.
(36:37):
So if you're out walking, itadds load to walking and gets
more cardiovascular fitnessgoing.
Because, you know, none of usare wearing 50-pound weighted
vests to actually make it aweightlifting phenomenon, right?
Uh-huh.
And, you know, plus, I am forwomen already with osteoporosis,
I'm not thrilled about havingweight on their thoracic spine
(36:57):
like that, which is wherecompression fractures happen.
So we are about ready toannounce a different design that
I've created that that I thinkwill be safer for women.
Plus, what do you do with thestrap?
Where do your boobs go?
Above, below?
They were designed for men,honestly.
Yeah.
But here is something that mostpeople don't think about their
(37:17):
weighted vest.
I also have I have a standardweighted vest.
I have this new one I'vedesigned, but there is a
weighted vest that I also usethat's like a jacket vest that
you would wear to a stadium whenit's cold.
And it has these little cinchythings on the side.
And I cinch it up, and oh myGod, when I first wore that in
(37:40):
my house, I didn't take it off.
And my daughter's like, Mom,you're what are you doing
vacuuming the house in yourweighted vest?
I'm like, Bella, I don't knowwhat to tell you, but this is
like a giant hug.
And then as I started lookinginto it, it is the same reason
people sleep better withweighted blankets.
Or why some children who are onthe spectrum settle down when
(38:02):
they're embraced, is it's it'sbecause the pressure and the hug
of it calms our nervous system.
Michele Folan (38:09):
Yeah.
Vonda Wright, MD (38:09):
So that is another surprising reason to
wear a weighted vest duringperimenopause when people are a
little anxious anyway, is it canhelp that calming feeling.
Michele Folan (38:20):
Oh, right?
That's hey, interesting.
I know.
Yeah, yeah.
And yeah, I and I love the ideaof the weighted blanket,
because actually when you wakeup middle of the night.
Vonda Wright, MD (38:33):
I love weighted blankets.
About ruined my marriage, butwe have figured that out.
Because I'm my poor husband,I'm like, I love this weighted
blanket.
I am not scooting over towardsyou.
I'm staying under my littlehalf of the bed with the
weighted blanket on it.
Michele Folan (38:46):
I know, right?
But yeah.
Oh my gosh.
Okay.
One one thing that comes upquite often, Dr.
Wright, is blood tests.
Are there certain blood teststhat we should be getting in
midlife to ensure that we areadequately addressing our
nutrition?
Vonda Wright, MD (39:04):
I think it takes a lot of poor nutrition to
affect your blood tests, likeyour calcium or your liver
function.
I mean, I think that's a reallyrough estimate.
B12.
But I think every woman shouldhave their blood drawn at least
every year.
Those, you know, the longevitypeople I take care of, we do it
every six months.
Some people do it every threemonths if you're really on top
(39:25):
of everything.
But we need to know what yournormal organ function is, your
immune function.
We should look at at least yourtestosterone.
I'm not a big proponent ofmeasuring estrogen, but we
certainly can.
We can look at yourinflammatory markers, which we
do.
I mean, I do draw a lot ofblood when I'm working with
people one-on-one.
And there are some specializedlabs, but I often have people
(39:46):
come to me and when we'repreparing for surgery or
something, I'll say, and whatmedical problems are you being
treated for?
What medications do you take?
And they very often say, I donot have any medical problems
and I take no medication.
To which the follow-up questionis, when was the last time you
went to the doctor?
Because not having a problem isnot the same as not knowing you
(40:09):
have a problem.
Right.
Right?
Because your body's talking toyou all the time through your
blood, and you just don't know.
So if you haven't had an annualphysical, go make an
appointment to have one.
Michele Folan (40:18):
Yes.
Vonda Wright, MD (40:19):
And if you want to get deep into the woods
on modifying your lifestyle andthe effect that it has and your
lipids, then get someone whowill draw your blood every six
months and then do the hard workin between.
Michele Folan (40:31):
Yeah.
How about vitamin D?
We didn't bring that up.
But vitamin D, is thatsomething we should get levels
on?
What about vitamin D?
Vonda Wright, MD (40:38):
Yes, vitamin D.
Okay.
Most of us are low on it.
And it's important for yourimmune system, for your brain,
for helping calciumreabsorption.
Vitamin D itself does notdirectly build bone, but it
helps with calcium reabsorption.
Okay.
Michele Folan (40:52):
All right.
I just wanted to make sure Iasked you that.
You know, Dr.
Wright, you're a wife, mother,author, surgeon.
Yes.
Absolutely a leader in thisspace.
What are your ownnon-negotiables for staying
strong physically, mentally, andemotionally?
Vonda Wright, MD (41:09):
I go to bed every night by 9:30 and I'm up
at five.
This weekend it meant leaving awedding early, and my husband
was not that happy about it, butit's a non-negotiable for me.
So sleep wake times, sleepgo-to-bed times and wake times.
Number one.
Number two, I am reallyconscious about the protein I
(41:30):
eat, eating a fibrous carb diet,not a simple carb diet.
I'm not against carbs, it justhas to be the right kind of
carbs.
And then I have completely cutout sugar in my life.
Although, to be honest, I hadbought my husband some little
ice cream things and I ate one.
It's a 70 calorie, the tiniestlittle ice cream thing you've
ever seen.
But it's not the calories, it'sthe sugar that I really didn't
(41:52):
want.
But I most days I do not eatany kind of simple sugar at all
because it's it's huge forinflammation.
Women are surprised when theytake my advice and get off it
because they they feel so muchless inflamed.
They're less painful.
So those are non-negotiables.
Uh non-negotiables are when I'mnot writing books and sitting
(42:13):
at my desk for six months at atime, uh, a lifting, preferably
three to four times a week.
And then uh I follow my ownadvice.
In fact, the workout in thisbook, the lifting workout in
page 251 of this book is thelast one I did.
Oh.
I mean, it's I've I've givenyou my last heavy workout, work
(42:35):
my last six-week heavy liftingworkout, just as an example.
So I actually just do what Itell people to do in this book.
Michele Folan (42:44):
So your book, Unbreakable, A Woman's Guide to
Aging with Power, you wrote itfor midlife women, I believe.
But would a my daughter, who isthey're they're 28 and 30,
would they benefit from readingthis book right now?
Vonda Wright, MD (42:59):
Absolutely, because it's my goal never to
lie to my daughters, who areyour daughter's age, right?
We have we have a blendedfamily of six children.
So between my daughters and mydaughters-in-law, there are six
women in our family who arehaving their one is 18, but the
rest of them are having theirchildren right now.
It is my goal never to lie tothem.
Meaning, I want them to be ableto do whatever they want to do
(43:23):
when they want to do it, butunless, unless I help the world
solve for this perimenopausething, they're gonna hit a wall
like I did.
And so my goal for them is toset their standards during this
critical decade that they're in.
I call the critical decade 35to 45, when you still have
enough estrogen to make profoundchange in your lifestyle and
(43:44):
and your and your bodycomposition.
So uh this book can be foreveryone, it's specifically for
really 35 and beyond, but it'sit's fabulous information and
not only for women, but for themen who love them.
Yes, yes.
Michele Folan (44:01):
I and I I love that.
I I and so I do a newsletter,and I'm gonna put your your book
in my newsletter and justsuggest this hey, if you're
buying it for yourself, havehave your guy also read it
because I think I I think menhave a lot to learn too in in
terms of what's going on at thisstage of life.
Vonda Wright, MD (44:22):
Oh, Michele, do you know that it's estimated
by Mayo and by Louise Newsomthat 70% of all midlife
divorces, meaning divorces after25, 30, 35 years of marriage,
can be attributed at least inpart to a gap in understanding
between what the guy is goingthrough and what the woman is
going through.
Because think about it.
(44:43):
Women don't even know whatthey're going through by
themselves, let alone tocommunicate it.
And men, when they're feelinglow or they have erectile
dysfunction, they go to thedoctor, they get hormones, they
get their ED pill, and then theytrot home thinking that
everything's gonna be better,not realizing that for their
partners in perimenopause andmenopause, that sex feels like
(45:04):
razor blades.
Their brain is starved ofestrogen and testosterone, and
that there needs to becommunication about what's
actually going on.
It's not that you stoppedloving this person, it's that
physiologically you're adifferent person.
Yeah.
So if we can save somemarriages by this work we're
doing, it would be worth it.
Michele Folan (45:24):
Absolutely.
All right, on that note, Dr.
Von der Wright, where can thelisteners find you and your
wonderful work?
Vonda Wright, MD (45:33):
Yeah, so every single day I'm on Instagram,
which is Dr.
Von to Wright.
I have a YouTube channel withby the same name, which has all
kinds of long form because 90seconds is never going to be
enough.
I have a podcast called Hot forYour Health.
Listen, I am everywhere.
And then, of course, if youwant to know my deep thoughts
(45:53):
get Unbreakable on Amazon or anybookseller has it actually.
Michele Folan (45:57):
Yes, absolutely.
I will put all the links in theshow notes.
Dr.
Von da Wright, thank you, thankyou, thank you for being here
and speaking to my audience.
Um, this was so delightful, andI'm happy you're here.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you for listening.
Please rate and review thepodcast where you listen.
(46:20):
And if you'd like to join theAsking for a Friend community,
click on the link in the shownotes to sign up for my weekly
newsletter where I share midlifewellness and fitness tips,
insights, my favorite finds, andrecipes,
The new year is coming, and with it, that
familiar crossroad.
Another year of saying, This isit.
I'm really doing it this time.
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built for the body that you'reliving in right now.
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We're removing the taboo fromwhat really matters in midlife.
(01:27):
I'm your host, Michele Folan,and this is Asking for a Friend.
Welcome to the show, everyone.
Today's guest is the definitionof women's health powerhouse.
Dr.
Vonda Wright isn't just anorthopedic surgeon.
She's a longevity visionary whohas dedicated her career to
(01:50):
rewriting the narrative of agingfor women.
She's operated on professionalathletes and weekend warriors
alike.
But what drives her passiontoday is preventing the injuries
and decline she repairs in theoperating room.
Her latest book, Unbreakable (02:03):
A Woman's Guide to Aging with
Power, is the ultimate blueprintfor living strong, not
shrinking.
It's about stronger muscles,denser bones, better mobility,
and a mindset that says, I'mjust getting started.
In a world that still tellswomen to take it easy, Dr.
Wright is flipping the script.
(02:24):
She's teaching us to load thebar, to jump, to fuel our bodies
with purpose, and to treatmuscle like the currency of
aging.
Whether you're navigatingperimenopause, recovering from
injury, or simply ready toinvest in the decades ahead,
this conversation will show youhow to train your body and your
brain for lifelong independence.
If you want to stay out of thenursing home, keep your
(02:45):
confidence and carry your owndarn groceries at 80, you need
this conversation.
Dr.
Vonda Wright, welcome to Askingfor a Friend.
Thank you so much for havingme.
Well, I told Dr.
Wright before we startedrecording that I am quite the
fan, and I have been sharing herwisdom with my clients for
(03:06):
quite some time now.
And I know you have quite afollowing, and I wouldn't be
surprised if many of ourlisteners already are fans of
yours as well.
You know, you have spentdecades in orthopedics, and I'm
really curious what led you tothat specialty when you were
first starting out.
Vonda Wright, MD (03:25):
Well, you know, Michele, my first career
in medicine was as a cancernurse.
And in 1989, when I graduatedfrom college, uh, there was such
a uh shortage of nurses.
When I graduated with a biologydegree, they were offering
people another bachelor's and amaster's in three years if you
would come and be a nurse.
(03:45):
So I did that.
And my master's degree is incancer, as cancer nursing, as I
said.
And it was there that I think Ilearned the life lessons about
what's important, life anddeath, the value of a woman's
health, the suffering thatpeople go through.
And it really informed my wholecareer.
So that when it was time tochoose a different career,
(04:05):
because frankly, I progressedreally quickly in nursing and
and it was within a few years Ineeded to decide what direction
I was going.
When I went back to medicalschool, I really did expect to
go back into oncology.
And for a variety of reasons, Iwent into orthopedics, but it
fits so well.
Or it either retrofits so wellor it fits so well, it guided
(04:27):
this whole pathway, in that I donot believe that aging is an
inevitable decline from vitalityto frailty.
And orthopedics, especially thekind I do.
I'm an orthopedic sportssurgeon.
So if I shift my camera, you'llsee all these lanyards that
I've, and these are only a fewof them I've accumulated over
the years, because I'm thedoctor that stands on the
(04:49):
football field or whatever fieldand runs out there when people
are hurt, right?
So my job is reallyaspirational, meaning I am here
to make you walk again, makeyour shoulder work again, make
you able to feed your family.
And that is the same philosophythat I bring to the health of
midlife women.
Because frankly, I think whenwomen are told that, oh, you're
(05:12):
just getting old, or uh, youknow, why don't you act your
age?
That is the world's biggestcop-out, whether that comes from
your doctor, whether that comesfrom your friends, or whether
that comes from your own mind.
That is a cop-out to dyingslowly over 40 years.
And I just won't have it.
Michele Folan (05:30):
You know, and you've done surgery on thousands
of joints and bones.
And I've heard you talk aboutthose, those frail bones that
you come in contact with.
Can you talk about that alittle bit and how challenging
that can be as a surgeon to haveto deal with that?
(05:50):
Well, you know what?
Vonda Wright, MD (05:52):
It's uh I think nobody thinks about their
bones until the last year.
Thank goodness I introduced iton uh another podcast, Diary of
a CEO, and thank God it's caughton.
The world is talking aboutbones, because bones play so
many roles in our body fromstorehouse of minerals,
incubator of our blood cells,master communicator.
(06:14):
And yes, I can yet I can tendto you, nobody thinks about
their bones unless we're lookingat them uh during fashion week,
going walking down the runway,right?
Right.
And because we don't think,yeah, right?
Oh, cheekbones, collarbones,look at those.
But the reality is that many ofus don't build good bone
density when we're young.
You know, maybe we don't eatenough.
(06:35):
Maybe we we eat poor things,maybe we don't have periods for
long periods of time and thinkthat's a good thing when it's
actually a bad thing.
Or maybe when we're bearingchildren, we don't realize that
our our babies are going to eatour bones if we're not eating
enough healthy food, right?
And there's an entity calledthe osteoporosis of pregnancy
that is real and results inspine fractures.
(06:58):
And so, or maybe we don't thinkabout it until we hit
perimenopause and the rate ofbone resorption, which is the
taking away of bone, triplesbecause we no longer have
estrogen, which leaves us withvulnerable bones.
And and it is one thing for asurgeon, you ask the question,
(07:18):
how does it affect me?
Well, it affects me becausewhen bones are like butter, it's
hard to get instruments to stayin them.
But I'll get over that as asurgeon.
Women do not get over a majorfracture.
One in two women will have anosteoporotic fracture in their
lifetime.
And if that fracture happens tobe your wrist, that's painful
(07:39):
for three months.
Or maybe it's your ankle,that's painful for three months
and you're sitting around.
But if you break your hip, 70%of all hip fractures occur in
women.
30% of the time you die in thefirst year, and if you manage to
live, 50% of the time you donot get to go home to your own
house.
(07:59):
And so when we think aboutbones and osteoporosis is
translated as holes in bones,well, it's a serious matter that
we all need to think about.
Michele Folan (08:11):
You know, I was with my high school friends last
week, and we're all 60, 61years old.
And I was kind of surprised howmany women there have not yet
had a DEXA scan.
When do you typically recommendwe get our bones scanned?
Vonda Wright, MD (08:30):
Well, we don't get DEXA scans until later
because insurance will not payfor them.
Number one.
And number two, we don't thinkabout our bones.
I mean, I unless you break one,nobody thinks about them.
They just take them forgranted.
So it's not surprising to methat your girlfriends haven't
had a DEXA scan or a REMsultrasound to look at bone
quality.
But I get them on everybody.
(08:52):
And I find poor bone density in25-year-olds and 30-year-olds
and 40-year-olds in women whohave been doing everything
right.
They're lifting, they'reeating, they're jumping, still
poor bones.
And it's a really discouragingthing.
So I want everybody to get abone density or a REMS
ultrasound when they startgetting their mammograms around
(09:14):
40.
Because here's why.
If we catch you with bad bonesat 40, we have an entire 10-year
runway to get in front of itbefore you are 52, the average
age of your menopause.
If we wait through the 40s andfinally do it, you will have
already lost your bone density.
And it is harder to make thatup than to start a decade
(09:39):
earlier.
And data from the European UhOsteoporosis Society finds that
it takes about 10 years ofhormone optimization to affect
fracture risk.
So fine, if you catch it whenyou're 60, fine, we're behind
the eight ball.
I'd rather catch it when we're40.
Michele Folan (09:57):
Oh, wow.
Okay.
So that's interesting.
I did not know that about, youknow, when we are taking hormone
replacement, you know, likeestrogen, to how long it takes
to help really increase yourbone mass along with all the
other stuff that you're doing.
Vonda Wright, MD (10:14):
Well, what we want to do, Michele, is never
let it drop, right?
Why are we gonna let you lose15 to 20 percent and then try to
do something about it?
Why don't we maintain it atwhatever level it was, even if
it wasn't great?
Do you see the argument?
Michele Folan (10:29):
Yeah.
I yeah, I definitely do.
Yeah.
And I have osteoporosis, so Iwas diagnosed two years ago.
I am seeing improvements, soI'm doing all the stuff you tell
me to do.
And so it is possible.
So I don't want people to thinkit's hopeless, but you but you
gotta get on it.
Oh no, it's not.
Vonda Wright, MD (10:47):
Yeah, it's not hopeless unless you do nothing.
Yeah.
Because one in two women willhave a major fracture, right?
So statistically, it's eithergonna be me or you.
I mean, when I say things likethat, and women are looking at
their girlfriends across thetable, it really brings it home
because otherwise it's just astatistic.
Correct.
Michele Folan (11:06):
Yeah.
You've brought this up andmaybe on another podcast.
Oh, it may have been diarrheaCEO, where you talk about the
skeletal system as being anendocrine organ, and it had to
do with osteoblasts.
Yeah.
Can you go into that a littlebit?
Because I find that's reallyinteresting.
Vonda Wright, MD (11:22):
Well, an osteoblast is one of the two,
one of the many bone cells.
There's osteocytes, which arethe mature cells, the
osteoclast, which comes from abloodline of cells, actually,
that is responsible forresorbing bone so your body can
use the minerals, and theosteoblasts, which you
mentioned, which builds bone,right?
And they work in harmony.
(11:43):
Uh, our body loves homeostasis.
So we are always striving forthese two cells to be working
almost equally.
But the reason that bones arean endocrine organ, the
definition of an endocrine organor a gland, whether it's your
thyroid, your pituitary gland,or or muscle is an endocrine
(12:03):
organ, bone, is they talk tothemselves and other body parts
via secreted particles, right?
So secreted proteins.
So bones secrete hormonescalled osteocalcin, so many, but
the two I talk about justbecause it's a new concept to
people, we don't need too manynew words, are osteocalcin and
(12:26):
LCN2.
And for instance, here'ssomething that that I talk about
with less frequency thanosteocalcin.
LCN2 is a hormone produced bybone that is directly involved
in satiety, meaning, do I feelhungry or not?
Now, why in the world wouldbone be interested in whether
(12:46):
you feel hungry or not?
I have no idea.
Well, it's because bone has ahuge role.
Yeah, bone has a huge role inyour metabolism, whether it's
glucose metabolism, insulinresistance, or storing the
minerals you need.
So of course there's going tobe communication between your
(13:08):
bone and your gut forabsorption, and in the case of
LCN2, your bone and your brain,so that there's an interaction
saying, okay, I need more stuff,you better eat, or okay, I'm
full, you better stop.
Because fat, if we talk aboutanother musculoskeletal tissue
(13:29):
that falls in my wheelhouse, fatis noxious.
And being heavy doesn't meanyou have better bone because of
the hormonal interactions andthe inflammation that comes with
that.
So bone is an endocrine organbecause everybody's talking.
Nobody's silently living bythemselves.
All these organs are talking.
Michele Folan (13:48):
Okay, this is fascinating.
You talk about muscle being theyour aging currency, right?
But it's really your bone, too,is is involved in longevity.
Vonda Wright, MD (14:02):
Oh, I never say it's very popular right now
to say muscle is the organ oflongevity.
And I get it.
I mean, really the irony is Iwas first a muscle scientist in
a muscle lab.
We studied muscle-derived stemcells, which are now called
satellite cells.
Listen, we did all kinds ofthings to those muscle stem
cells to get them to workbetter.
So I started out in a musclelab.
(14:25):
And so it's very popular totalk about bone muscle as an
endocrine organ, which it alsois.
But what people forget ismuscle, bone, tendon, ligament,
fat, muscle stem cells, the discin our back, all come from the
same ancestor.
They all had a commongreat-grandmother cell called
the mesenchymal stem cell.
(14:45):
So of course they communicatewith each other.
Of course, they are part of thewhole equilibrium homeostasis
system in our body.
So, yes, muscle is an organ oflongevity.
Bone is an organ of longevity.
Because when you think aboutit, what is muscle without its
bone?
It's a heaping pile of steamingmetabolic tissue that just sits
(15:08):
there like a chicken breast onthe counter.
But when you put some bonesunder it, it becomes a person,
right?
Yeah.
Isn't that funny to thinkabout?
Yeah.
It's like hamburger versus acow.
Right.
The difference is bones, right?
Michele Folan (15:22):
So, Dr.
Wright, we're gonna take aquick break.
We come back.
I want to talk a little bitabout osteoporosis and jumping
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All right, we are back.
Before we took a break, Iwanted to talk a little bit
about impact and jumping becauseI know women that get an
osteoporosis diagnosisoftentimes are told not to do
too much impact.
(16:47):
How do we safely navigate thisand still getting the benefits
of impact for our bones?
Vonda Wright, MD (16:55):
Well, I think women are told of a lot of
things based on fear, not fact,as a baseline.
Okay.
So to tell a woman with fragilebones that she has to sit there
and protect herself with uhwhat is that?
Bubble wrap is just wrong,right?
Yeah.
Because I'm gonna tell you whathappens when you wrap yourself
in bubble wrap and don't doanything.
(17:16):
It's like me putting a cast onyour leg.
When I put a cast on your leg,within one week, that cast is
loose.
Do you know why?
Not because the plasterstretches, it's because you lose
muscle mass.
And if I look at your x-ray,you will have lost bone density.
Yes.
Right?
So sitting still and doingnothing wrapped in bubble wrap
(17:39):
is a surefire way to get weaker.
So there are lots of studiesthat show that even women with
osteoporosis can carefullyimpact their bones, lift heavy
weights, jump around.
Now, you have to be careful.
You have to work on yourbalance and your uh balance and
equilibrium, work on your footspeed.
(18:00):
So I will get to jumping, butthe full recipe for women with
osteoporosis is facts not fear,number one.
Number two, if you literallyare osteoporotic with a T-score
of less than minus 2.5 or 3.5,you really need to have a
science-based discussion ofwhether or not you want to be
(18:23):
medicated.
Because to sit around and say,oh my God, I don't want to take
medication, okay, that is yourchoice.
Um, but there is so much otherthings you need to do.
I mean, I don't think we canjust blanketly say, I'm not a
medicine person.
Well, sometimes we need to haveinterventions.
But what are the non-medicalways?
Well, even for women who wantto be as air quote natural as
(18:47):
possible, there is nothing morenatural.
Not yams, not uh what are theother things people like?
Not tofu, not uh soybeans,nothing more natural than body
identical estradiol, which iswhat your little ovary's been
making your entire life.
So women get a little hung upon it, comes as a prescription.
(19:09):
It comes from plants, people.
That's natural, and you makeit.
And it's critical for bones.
So you must make your decisionbased on facts, not fear.
In addition to that, we mustlift heavy weights to build bone
because muscle pulls on ourbones.
And there's a study by BelindaBeck out of Australia that shows
that even women with Frankosteoporosis can be taught to
(19:32):
learn heavy and do it safely.
Number three, my own studiesshow that uh we can uh maintain
bone density across our lifespanwith impact exercise.
So sorry if you're a swimmer,not as good as is hopscotch,
tennis, pickle, volleyball.
(19:52):
But you, if you haven't jumpedfor years, then don't try to
jump off the 24-inch box thatyou see me jumping on commonly.
You know, hop up and down onyour own feet.
Yeah.
And so jumping, but we mustlearn to balance.
We can learn to rebalance sothat we don't fall down by
standing on one leg when webrush our teeth.
(20:13):
So it's a series of things,last of which, and we talked
about this off-air, we got tofeed our bones, people.
Bones are 50% protein.
And so it takes good nutritionto build better bone.
Michele Folan (20:26):
Okay, I've got so many questions based on the
litany of things that you justsaid.
All right, first of all,estrogen.
We all know estrogen is vital.
What about testosterone?
What role does that play inbone strength?
Vonda Wright, MD (20:43):
Well, testosterone works uh by works
uh with the osteoblast to helpbuild bone.
Testosterone is not just a sexhormone at all.
That's what you know the FDAlikes to tell us.
It's only good for libido.
But in fact, women usetestosterone for muscle, for
bone, for brightness of mind.
(21:04):
And so I want women tounderstand, which hopefully
they've heard on your show, thattestosterone is not a male
hormone, it is a hormone.
And in fact, women make moreabsolute amount of testosterone
than we make estrogen.
It just affects us in adifferent way.
So when I'm prescribinghormones or sending people to
get their hormones prescribed,the considerations are uh
(21:27):
systemic estradiol, preferablyby a patch.
If you have a uterus,progesterone, when those are
when you've adjusted to those,adding testosterone, which has
to be added as a gel.
There is no FDA-approved femaleuh dosing of testosterone,
which is a little bit of aproblem that we're working on
with the FDA.
Michele Folan (21:47):
Yeah, don't get me started on that one.
Vonda Wright, MD (21:51):
Especially Kelly Casperson and Rachel Rubin
are leading the cause.
And then don't forget vaginalestrogen to work on your chronic
UTIs, your pelvic floor, tomake everything nice and juicy
like it always was.
But if you're gonna tell me, ifyou're thinking out there, oh,
she's telling me to jump, andwhen I jump, I'm incontinent.
(22:13):
Yes, you are because yourpelvic floor is skeletal muscle
and it must be rebuilt.
And if you want help with that,you put some vaginal estrogen,
which helps locally.
And then finally, don't forgetabout the collagen in your face.
If you're as vain as I am, youwant to keep it plumpy and uh
local facial estrogen can helpthat.
(22:35):
Yes, I do that.
Michele Folan (22:38):
I do that.
Me too.
As much as I can get away with.
Yeah.
Do you take collagen like apowder?
No.
Okay.
Do you find there's any benefitto doing collagen for tendons,
ligaments, bone?
Vonda Wright, MD (22:51):
You know, the data is so plus minus, that's
why I don't demand it of mypatients.
If it was profound data, Iwould demand it.
There are some data, but not somuch that I'll say these this
is one of the tenets.
Is gonna harm you?
Probably not.
So that's where I stand today.
People constantly want to arguewith me about it, and I'm open
(23:12):
to learning, but I haven't seenreally big studies that make me
demand it yet.
Michele Folan (23:17):
All right.
No, I think that's very fair.
I know a lot of women take itjust, I think, for more of their
their skin, but uh when justget your thoughts on that.
And then on that same vein, wetalk about protein all the time.
Do you have preferences interms of animal protein versus
vegan?
Vonda Wright, MD (23:35):
Well, I don't care where you get it, I care
that you get it, but you have toconsider the quality of the
protein, right?
And the volume of food andcalories.
So when you think about a vegandiet, think about cows and
bulls.
They're all vegans.
Cows and bulls are vegans, andthey're full of muscle, but they
(23:58):
eat all the time.
It is their job to eat.
So, can you get enough proteinfrom a vegan diet?
Sure, you can.
You gotta friggin' eat all thetime and get enough protein in,
but you also must be mindful ofthe leucine load in your
protein.
Leucine is an uh essentialamino acid, meaning your body
(24:22):
can't make it.
It's a branch chain amino acid,and it is the most powerful
stimulator of muscle proteinsynthesis.
And different foods have it indifferent quantities.
The number one source ofleucine is whey protein isolate
that you get from milk.
And the best source of wheyprotein isolate is mother's
(24:43):
milk.
So nature knew what it wasdoing when it made mothers able
to produce the best kind ofhigh-quality protein for our
babies.
Well, adults, we get it fromobviously animals from cows.
So whey protein isolate hasabout 12% leucine in it.
And you and meat comes afterthat, eight to ten.
(25:03):
All the way down at the bottomis plant-based protein, which
has four to six percent leucine.
So not only do you have to eatmore protein because it has
lower protein content, but youalso have to double up on
leucine.
So that's my explanation.
I'm not, I don't care how youget it.
You can be a vegan if you wantto for whatever reason.
(25:25):
You just gotta not use as anexcuse to underprotein.
Michele Folan (25:29):
All right.
No, that's great advice.
And and I appreciate thatbecause that does come up all
the time with my clients.
And so I wanted to kind ofclear that up.
And you did bring up howswimming doesn't really allow
for impact to do what it needsto do to build uh bone.
But what about Pilates andyoga?
(25:50):
Because those are superpopular, and I think people may
be doing that in lieu of liftingweights.
Why do you think it's sopopular?
I think they find it veryrelaxing.
Yoga.
Is that the point of workingout?
Well, not in my mind.
Addressing your people, right?
Uh what are we even in the gymfor, right?
(26:10):
Yeah.
Vonda Wright, MD (26:11):
Yeah.
Well, you know what?
The only kind of Pilates that Imean, and I don't do, I mean, I
don't do yoga unless it's hotyoga, which makes me feel like
I'm running a marathon.
So there are kinds of yoga thatmake me feel the same way.
So I don't come at this from ayogi or from the perspective of
having done 3,000 Pilatesclasses, which frankly I don't
(26:32):
get it.
But women who do do Pilates andyoga, they count their classes.
Yeah.
They're like, I've done 3,000Pilates classes.
Well, that's a lot, that's veryexpensive, people.
Will it get you where you needto go?
Well, when I prescribeexercise, I prescribe it, as
you've read in Unbreakable, mybook.
The acronym is Face YourFuture, F-A-C-E.
(26:53):
Pilates and yoga fit in F,which is flexibility and joint
range of motion.
We must maintain that as we ageso that we don't become hunched
over old people shufflingalong.
So I am not against Pilates andyoga.
Throw it in a couple times aweek.
Go meet your girlfriends, dowhatever you do there.
(27:14):
But it is never going to buildthe muscle that is going to keep
you strong enough to do whatyou want to do when you want to
do it.
Because I have plenty of reallyskinny, fat people who only do
that who end up frail.
Michele Folan (27:27):
Yeah.
And I want to know you likewhat do you do in terms of
cardio?
Because I know you're you'rebig on lifting weights, and I am
too, but I have added somecardio, more uh like sprint type
cardio in here lately.
What do you do for cardio?
Vonda Wright, MD (27:43):
Yeah, so let's just go down the face acronym.
We already talked about F.
Okay.
A is aerobic, so that's cardio.
Now I come from a place likeeverybody else.
In the 80s, I was doing JaneFonda in my living room, doing
all aerobics all the time.
And I was a dancer, so aerobicsand dancing.
And then when I quit dancing,then I started running
(28:05):
marathons.
So I am of that generation,right?
Cardio all the time.
FA now, I do very uh eitherside of the spectrum, and this
is what pro athletes do.
Not every workout is in themiddle ground, which is what I
see all the time.
People are sweating it out,they're they're killing
themselves, but at a moderateheart rate, and and they're
(28:27):
doing a lot of reps.
So that is not intense enoughto really shift the needle, and
it's too intense to preventyourself from getting injured.
So the way I prescribe it nowis three hours a week of base,
low heart rate base training onevery app any apparatus, 181
minus your age, which is anestimate of your lactate
(28:49):
threshold.
If you come work with medirectly, as some people do, uh,
we measure your lactatethreshold.
So I'll say your heart rate inbase training is 126 to 136, for
instance.
Three hours a week, broken upinto 45-minute sessions.
So there's that.
Twice a week after you get donewith that, you sprint your guts
(29:11):
out.
So that means not sprinting ona track like Shakira Richardson.
Any apparatus will do.
In fact, I think the the Alpinemachine is harder than running
on a on a treadmill, but you'regetting your heart rate up to as
fast as it will go for 30seconds, and then you completely
recover.
So base training and sprintintervals.
(29:32):
Hold on to the thought ofsprint intervals.
I am FAC is carry a load,lifting weights.
We have to progressively learnto lift heavy.
This morning I lifted, I was adeadlift day.
So I haven't deadlifted in awhile because I was I've been on
tour for this book.
So I started at a lower rate, alower weight than I ended up
(29:53):
with, and just progressed up inmy four sets uh to heavy
lifting.
So F A C.
See, it is the heavy liftingand the sprint intervals that I
find in myself and others thatcause the recomposition of your
body.
So if you want to go fromskinny fat to lean, in my
(30:14):
opinion, in my experience, thatis the way to do it while you're
managing your nutrition,because you can never out
exercise what you're eating.
And then FACE, equilibrium, andfoot speed as fall prevention.
So those are the four things,and that's how I do aerobics for
myself and those I prescribefor.
Michele Folan (30:36):
Okay.
I love this.
And I feel really good becauseI've been really encouraging my
clients to really do more sprinttype work because we come from
the get on the elliptical eraand do an hour on the
elliptical.
And I'm I that's just not thatdoesn't make sense to me now
(30:58):
based on things that I'velearned from you and following
you.
Vonda Wright, MD (31:03):
You can do that, but you'll never move the
needle.
Right.
You'll do the same hour on theelliptical for years, and you'll
wonder why your body doesn'tchange.
Michele Folan (31:12):
Right.
Well, and you mentioned aboutheavier load.
And I know when I first workwith clients, their propensity
is to do three sets of 12 or 14reps.
And I think what you're sayingis fewer reps, heavier weight.
(31:33):
Work up to that.
Vonda Wright, MD (31:34):
Michele, people need to ask themselves
what they're lifting for.
If you're a marathon runner andyou're lifting for endurance,
then lift the lightest weightpossible 30 times because you're
building endurance.
If you're building just to popout big muscles, then lift for
hypertrophy.
What you're describing islifting for hypertrophy.
There's nothing wrong with it.
But even at 10 to 15 reps, thelast rep you must be at failure.
(32:00):
Not, oh, I could do thatanother 30 times.
You must be at failure.
So you have to lift heavyenough to be at failure with
those reps.
But what are we lifting for inmidlife and beyond?
We are lifting for strength andpower.
It is power that predicts yourfitness and longevity.
That's thus heavy and thenultimately heavier with speed.
(32:22):
Right.
So you got to ask yourself whatyou're lifting for.
Because what I find is therewas a study of this.
I think women underestimatedhow strong they were more than
50% of the time.
Think about this.
You go to the gym, you've gotyour lightweight in some pastel
color that you're doing a lot oftimes.
And then you go home and youclean your basement and you're
(32:43):
lifting 40 or 50 pound tubs offthe ground.
It makes no sense to me.
Why we underestimate what we'recapable of?
Now, what makes sense to me isif you don't want to be injured,
and that's when hiring a reallygood trainer who understands
the midlife women's body isimportant.
Michele Folan (33:00):
Yeah.
And I've I've actuallyrecommended, I don't know what
you think about this, but I umfor women that do have an
osteoporosis diagnosis, is towork with a PT so that they
learn proper form and function,so that they're lifting
correctly.
But you know, I I but I hearwhat you're saying.
It's just sometimes we have toinvest a little bit at the front
(33:22):
end to just guide us so that wefeel confident.
Vonda Wright, MD (33:26):
I think PTs are this is the way I do it,
this is the way I do it in myoffice.
For people midlife women whocome in with knee pain, yeah,
who haven't gotten off the couchin years but have a desire to,
I send them to PT first to buildtheir butt core and hip
strength and to gain theconfidence that they're not
going to become wrecked.
But that's mainly what it's forbecause they're not gonna get
lifting advice from a physicaltherapist.
(33:47):
That's not their job.
Once they feel confidentenough, they should hire a
midlife personal trainer.
I've got a personal trainer inthe performance center.
We've got excellent uh strengthcoaches.
They're not just person, that'sthe other thing, ladies,
listening.
You need to hire a personaltrainer who is more
knowledgeable than just gettingtheir certificate off the
(34:08):
internet.
You need a strengthconditioning person, honestly.
And I'm not trying to piss offpersonal trainers, but they're
it's not everybody's createdequally.
So find somebody who is anexercise physiology major or is
a strength conditioning coach,has done the harder work.
Because you will get injured ifsomebody is lifting you for
their own ego.
(34:28):
They should be totally focusedon you, knowing what midlife
women are capable of, knowingwhy we're lifting, and the
science behind endurance,hypertrophy, and strength.
And eventually you're trying tolearn to be able to do it
yourself.
Yeah, that's great advice.
Michele Folan (34:47):
Thank you for that.
I I saw you have this big oldheavy jump rope that you're
using, this big pink thing.
And I I'm so fascinated.
Vonda Wright, MD (34:57):
I it's not heavy, it's only a two-pound
jump rope, it's not heavy.
Yeah, but it looks awesome.
Oh, I love it.
And you know, everybody wantsto know.
Shoot, I wish I made it.
I probably could have sold athousand of them because
everybody wants to know where Igot it.
So I'm trying to get that.
Michele Folan (35:13):
Well, if you if you get the link for that, I
will put it in the show notesfor for the listeners.
And then the other the otherquick question I had about
equipment was weighted vests.
Are they helpful forosteoporosis?
What is your goal with with aweighted vest?
Because I know you wear one.
Vonda Wright, MD (35:34):
Well, I wear a weighted vest for surprise for
a surprising reason.
But weighted vests alone haveshoddy data at best for building
bone density alone.
Weighted vest plus lifting hasbeen found to be helpful, but
lifting alone has been found tobe helpful.
I'm not anti-weighted vest.
(35:55):
In fact, I'm pro-weighted vest.
But weighted vests, what theyreally do is add about 10% load
to your workout.
Here, for instance, here's howit manifests in me.
I wear a 20-pound weighted vestwhen I am on a treadmill.
The work it takes me to get myheart up to 130, which is my
lactate threshold, which is mybase training heart rate, the
(36:16):
work it takes is 10% less whenI'm wearing this weighted vest
because it adds that workloadon.
So you can do more with lesssettings on the treadmill.
For instance, I can get myheart rate up with less incline
and less speed when I wear myweighted vest because it adds
the load.
So that's one way to do it.
(36:37):
So if you're out walking, itadds load to walking and gets
more cardiovascular fitnessgoing.
Because, you know, none of usare wearing 50-pound weighted
vests to actually make it aweightlifting phenomenon, right?
Uh-huh.
And, you know, plus, I am forwomen already with osteoporosis,
I'm not thrilled about havingweight on their thoracic spine
(36:57):
like that, which is wherecompression fractures happen.
So we are about ready toannounce a different design that
I've created that that I thinkwill be safer for women.
Plus, what do you do with thestrap?
Where do your boobs go?
Above, below?
They were designed for men,honestly.
Yeah.
But here is something that mostpeople don't think about their
(37:17):
weighted vest.
I also have I have a standardweighted vest.
I have this new one I'vedesigned, but there is a
weighted vest that I also usethat's like a jacket vest that
you would wear to a stadium whenit's cold.
And it has these little cinchythings on the side.
And I cinch it up, and oh myGod, when I first wore that in
(37:40):
my house, I didn't take it off.
And my daughter's like, Mom,you're what are you doing
vacuuming the house in yourweighted vest?
I'm like, Bella, I don't knowwhat to tell you, but this is
like a giant hug.
And then as I started lookinginto it, it is the same reason
people sleep better withweighted blankets.
Or why some children who are onthe spectrum settle down when
(38:02):
they're embraced, is it's it'sbecause the pressure and the hug
of it calms our nervous system.
Michele Folan (38:09):
Yeah.
Vonda Wright, MD (38:09):
So that is another surprising reason to
wear a weighted vest duringperimenopause when people are a
little anxious anyway, is it canhelp that calming feeling.
Michele Folan (38:20):
Oh, right?
That's hey, interesting.
I know.
Yeah, yeah.
And yeah, I and I love the ideaof the weighted blanket,
because actually when you wakeup middle of the night.
Vonda Wright, MD (38:33):
I love weighted blankets.
About ruined my marriage, butwe have figured that out.
Because I'm my poor husband,I'm like, I love this weighted
blanket.
I am not scooting over towardsyou.
I'm staying under my littlehalf of the bed with the
weighted blanket on it.
Michele Folan (38:46):
I know, right?
But yeah.
Oh my gosh.
Okay.
One one thing that comes upquite often, Dr.
Wright, is blood tests.
Are there certain blood teststhat we should be getting in
midlife to ensure that we areadequately addressing our
nutrition?
Vonda Wright, MD (39:04):
I think it takes a lot of poor nutrition to
affect your blood tests, likeyour calcium or your liver
function.
I mean, I think that's a reallyrough estimate.
B12.
But I think every woman shouldhave their blood drawn at least
every year.
Those, you know, the longevitypeople I take care of, we do it
every six months.
Some people do it every threemonths if you're really on top
(39:25):
of everything.
But we need to know what yournormal organ function is, your
immune function.
We should look at at least yourtestosterone.
I'm not a big proponent ofmeasuring estrogen, but we
certainly can.
We can look at yourinflammatory markers, which we
do.
I mean, I do draw a lot ofblood when I'm working with
people one-on-one.
And there are some specializedlabs, but I often have people
(39:46):
come to me and when we'repreparing for surgery or
something, I'll say, and whatmedical problems are you being
treated for?
What medications do you take?
And they very often say, I donot have any medical problems
and I take no medication.
To which the follow-up questionis, when was the last time you
went to the doctor?
Because not having a problem isnot the same as not knowing you
(40:09):
have a problem.
Right.
Right?
Because your body's talking toyou all the time through your
blood, and you just don't know.
So if you haven't had an annualphysical, go make an
appointment to have one.
Michele Folan (40:18):
Yes.
Vonda Wright, MD (40:19):
And if you want to get deep into the woods
on modifying your lifestyle andthe effect that it has and your
lipids, then get someone whowill draw your blood every six
months and then do the hard workin between.
Michele Folan (40:31):
Yeah.
How about vitamin D?
We didn't bring that up.
But vitamin D, is thatsomething we should get levels
on?
What about vitamin D?
Vonda Wright, MD (40:38):
Yes, vitamin D.
Okay.
Most of us are low on it.
And it's important for yourimmune system, for your brain,
for helping calciumreabsorption.
Vitamin D itself does notdirectly build bone, but it
helps with calcium reabsorption.
Okay.
Michele Folan (40:52):
All right.
I just wanted to make sure Iasked you that.
You know, Dr.
Wright, you're a wife, mother,author, surgeon.
Yes.
Absolutely a leader in thisspace.
What are your ownnon-negotiables for staying
strong physically, mentally, andemotionally?
Vonda Wright, MD (41:09):
I go to bed every night by 9:30 and I'm up
at five.
This weekend it meant leaving awedding early, and my husband
was not that happy about it, butit's a non-negotiable for me.
So sleep wake times, sleepgo-to-bed times and wake times.
Number one.
Number two, I am reallyconscious about the protein I
(41:30):
eat, eating a fibrous carb diet,not a simple carb diet.
I'm not against carbs, it justhas to be the right kind of
carbs.
And then I have completely cutout sugar in my life.
Although, to be honest, I hadbought my husband some little
ice cream things and I ate one.
It's a 70 calorie, the tiniestlittle ice cream thing you've
ever seen.
But it's not the calories, it'sthe sugar that I really didn't
(41:52):
want.
But I most days I do not eatany kind of simple sugar at all
because it's it's huge forinflammation.
Women are surprised when theytake my advice and get off it
because they they feel so muchless inflamed.
They're less painful.
So those are non-negotiables.
Uh non-negotiables are when I'mnot writing books and sitting
(42:13):
at my desk for six months at atime, uh, a lifting, preferably
three to four times a week.
And then uh I follow my ownadvice.
In fact, the workout in thisbook, the lifting workout in
page 251 of this book is thelast one I did.
Oh.
I mean, it's I've I've givenyou my last heavy workout, work
(42:35):
my last six-week heavy liftingworkout, just as an example.
So I actually just do what Itell people to do in this book.
Michele Folan (42:44):
So your book, Unbreakable, A Woman's Guide to
Aging with Power, you wrote itfor midlife women, I believe.
But would a my daughter, who isthey're they're 28 and 30,
would they benefit from readingthis book right now?
Vonda Wright, MD (42:59):
Absolutely, because it's my goal never to
lie to my daughters, who areyour daughter's age, right?
We have we have a blendedfamily of six children.
So between my daughters and mydaughters-in-law, there are six
women in our family who arehaving their one is 18, but the
rest of them are having theirchildren right now.
It is my goal never to lie tothem.
Meaning, I want them to be ableto do whatever they want to do
(43:23):
when they want to do it, butunless, unless I help the world
solve for this perimenopausething, they're gonna hit a wall
like I did.
And so my goal for them is toset their standards during this
critical decade that they're in.
I call the critical decade 35to 45, when you still have
enough estrogen to make profoundchange in your lifestyle and
(43:44):
and your and your bodycomposition.
So uh this book can be foreveryone, it's specifically for
really 35 and beyond, but it'sit's fabulous information and
not only for women, but for themen who love them.
Yes, yes.
Michele Folan (44:01):
I and I I love that.
I I and so I do a newsletter,and I'm gonna put your your book
in my newsletter and justsuggest this hey, if you're
buying it for yourself, havehave your guy also read it
because I think I I think menhave a lot to learn too in in
terms of what's going on at thisstage of life.
Vonda Wright, MD (44:22):
Oh, Michele, do you know that it's estimated
by Mayo and by Louise Newsomthat 70% of all midlife
divorces, meaning divorces after25, 30, 35 years of marriage,
can be attributed at least inpart to a gap in understanding
between what the guy is goingthrough and what the woman is
going through.
Because think about it.
(44:43):
Women don't even know whatthey're going through by
themselves, let alone tocommunicate it.
And men, when they're feelinglow or they have erectile
dysfunction, they go to thedoctor, they get hormones, they
get their ED pill, and then theytrot home thinking that
everything's gonna be better,not realizing that for their
partners in perimenopause andmenopause, that sex feels like
(45:04):
razor blades.
Their brain is starved ofestrogen and testosterone, and
that there needs to becommunication about what's
actually going on.
It's not that you stoppedloving this person, it's that
physiologically you're adifferent person.
Yeah.
So if we can save somemarriages by this work we're
doing, it would be worth it.
Michele Folan (45:24):
Absolutely.
All right, on that note, Dr.
Von der Wright, where can thelisteners find you and your
wonderful work?
Vonda Wright, MD (45:33):
Yeah, so every single day I'm on Instagram,
which is Dr.
Von to Wright.
I have a YouTube channel withby the same name, which has all
kinds of long form because 90seconds is never going to be
enough.
I have a podcast called Hot forYour Health.
Listen, I am everywhere.
And then, of course, if youwant to know my deep thoughts
(45:53):
get Unbreakable on Amazon or anybookseller has it actually.
Michele Folan (45:57):
Yes, absolutely.
I will put all the links in theshow notes.
Dr.
Von da Wright, thank you, thankyou, thank you for being here
and speaking to my audience.
Um, this was so delightful, andI'm happy you're here.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you for listening.
Please rate and review thepodcast where you listen.
(46:20):
And if you'd like to join theAsking for a Friend community,
click on the link in the shownotes to sign up for my weekly
newsletter where I share midlifewellness and fitness tips,
insights, my favorite finds, andrecipes,
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