High Performance Health

Naturopathic doctor and author of The Cortisol Cure, Dr. Erin Kinney, explains why cortisol isn't the villain we think it is, but a "fix it" hormone you earn through rest and spend through everything else. She unpacks why decades of overspending leave midlife women with a depleted account, why that stubborn belly fat took years to build via insulin resistance, and why the instinct to push harder with more cardio and fewer calories only drains you further.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

- Why cortisol is your "fix it" hormone, not just a stress villain

- Why your midlife belly fat took years to build, and why you need cortisol to lose it

- How the body robs your sex hormones, then floods you with tired-but-wired adrenaline

- Why pushing harder with more cardio and fewer calories backfires

- How to tell your account is overdrawn, from morning fatigue to crashing after workouts

- Why building muscle, not cardio, is the top lever for flipping insulin resistance

- Which everyday activities are secretly a spend versus a deposit

- Which adaptogens and nutrients refill the account, and why carbs matter more than you think

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - The Cortisol Bank Account: Why Midlife Leaves You Overdrawn When You Need It Most

08:00 - Why Your Belly Fat Took Years to Build: Insulin Resistance, Low Cortisol & Why You Can't Burn It

16:11 - HRT, Thyroid & the Signs Your Account Has Hit Zero: Fatigue, Caffeine and Crashing After Workouts

20:24 - Why More Cardio Is a Mistake: Building Muscle to Flip Insulin Resistance & Your Two Nervous System Muscles

28:36 - Adaptogens & the Brain's Off Button: Ashwagandha, Rhodiola, Magnesium and What Actually Calms You Down

38:26 - Morning Workouts, Carbs Without Fear & Learning to Work With Your Seasons

44:05 - Training Your Nervous System: HRV, Meditation as a Skill and Going to Bed Before Midnight

VALUABLE RESOURCES

- Dr. Erin Kinney's new book: The Cortisol Cure

A different way to think about stress, built around the cortisol bank account, with a Cortisol Debt Assessment to score where your account stands.

- Take the Cortisol Debt Score assessment: https://www.drerinkinney.com/the-cortisol-debt-score

- Follow Dr Erin Kinney on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drkinney

- Subscribe to Dr Kinney on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrKinney

ABOUT THE GUEST

Dr. Erin Kinney is a naturopathic doctor, speaker, and author of The Cortisol Cure. She helps high-achieving women understand and rebalance their stress physiology through her cortisol bank account framework, treating patients in clinical practice and reaching a wider audience through her book, her Cortisol Cure community, and The Dr Kinney Show podcast.

Want to go deeper? Start here:

Take the BioSyncing Quiz to help you understand what's actually happening in your body, and how to fix it

👉 https://biosyncing.scoreapp.com

🌸Reset your hormones, restore your energy, and reconnect with your body in just 21 days👉 https://www.highperformance-health.com

💌 Fresh Start Sundays Newsletter

Your weekly 3-minute guide to creating the healthiest, most vibrant version of you.

Each Monday, get one simple habit to boost energy, balance hormones, and enhance longevity - joined by 25,000+ women worldwide.

👉 https://angelafosterperformance.com/

🥗 The Ultimate Guide to Creatine for Women

👉 https://academy.angelafosterperformance.com/creatine-guide

⚡ 10 Habits That Helped Me Reverse My Biological Age by 25 Years During Perimenopause

👉 https://academy.angelafosterperformance.com/10-habits-optin-page

👩‍💼 About Angela Foster

Angela Foster is a corporate lawyer turned health and performance coach, keynote speaker, and creator of the BioSyncing® Method. She is the host of the High Performance Health Podcast, featuring over 500 conversations with world-leading experts in longevity, hormones, neuroscience, nutrition, and female performance.

Angela's mission is to help one million ambitious women optimise their hormones, energy, cognitive performance, and longevity, so they never have to choose between success and their health.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who would benefit from it.

Follow me for daily health and performance tips:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angelasfoster

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AngelaFosterPerformance

#AngelaFoster #HighPerformanceHealth #Women'sHealth #Menopause #Perimenopause #Cortisol #StressManagement #Longevity #HealthyAgeing

The 3 Best Supplements for Mitochondria, Energy & Longevity in Menopause

Get my free Longevity Stack Masterclass and Supplement Guide for women to learn how to build a personalised supplement stack: https://academy.angelafosterperformance.com/free-longevity-stack-masterclass

In this episode, Angela explains how mitochondria produce energy, why mitochondrial function can become less efficient with age and hormonal change, and the three advanced supplements she personally uses as part of her longevity strategy: NAD precursors, urolithin A and MitoQ.

You’ll discover how each targets a different aspect of mitochondrial health — energy production, mitochondrial renewal and protection against oxidative stress — and why supplements work best when layered on top of the fundamentals of sleep, nutrition, exercise, cardiovascular fitness, stress management and, where appropriate, optimising hormones.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Why Energy Can Change in Menopause — Declining oestrogen can influence mitochondrial biogenesis and the efficiency of cellular energy production.

NAD for Cellular Energy — NAD plays a critical role in helping mitochondria convert food and oxygen into ATP, the energy currency of your cells.

Urolithin A for Mitochondrial Renewal — Urolithin A supports mitophagy, the body’s natural process for clearing damaged mitochondria and making room for healthier ones.

MitoQ for Mitochondrial Protection — MitoQ is designed to reach the mitochondria directly and help protect them against oxidative stress generated during energy production.

TIMESTAMPS AND KEY TOPICS

01:38 — Three different ways to support mitochondrial health

02:50 — Supplement #1: NAD and cellular energy production

04:10 — Supplement #2: Urolithin A and mitophagy

06:22 — Supplement #3: MitoQ and oxidative stress

08:01 — Why supplements should come after the foundations

08:16 — Angela’s longevity supplement protocol and free masterclass

Want to go deeper? Start here:Take the BioSyncing Quiz to help you understand what’s actually happening in your body — and how to fix it. https://biosyncing.scoreapp.com/

Reset your hormones, restore your energy, and reconnect with your body in just 21 days. https://www.highperformance-health.com

Fresh Start Sunday NewsletterYour weekly 3-minute guide to creating the healthiest, most vibrant version of you.Each Sunday, get one simple habit to boost energy, balance hormones, and enhance longevity - joined by 25,000+ women worldwide. https://angelafosterperformance.com/

The Ultimate Guide to Creatine for Women - https://academy.angelafosterperformance.com/creatine-guide️

10 Habits that Helped me reverse my Biological Age by 25 years in Perimenopause - https://academy.angelafosterperformance.com/10-habits-optin-pageAbout Me:

Angela Foster is a corporate lawyer turned health and performance coach, keynote speaker, and creator of the BioSyncing:registered: Method. Host of the High Performance Health Podcast with 500+ episodes featuring world-leading experts in longevity, hormones, neuroscience, and female performance science.

The most accomplished women have everything handled on the outside, but their hormones, energy, and nervous system are quietly paying the price.The old playbook stops working in midlife.This channel is designed to help high-performing women optimise energy, hormones, cognitive performance, and longevity using science-backed strategies built around female biology.

Angela’s personal mission is to help 1 million ambitious women perform better, age slower, and never have to choose between success and their health.

If you want to be part of that mission, make sure you subscribe and share the channel with a woman you care about.

Follow me for daily health and performance tips:Instagram: @angelasfosterFacebook: @AngelaFosterPerformance

ZOE nutritionist Dr. Federica Amati explains why basal metabolic rate barely changes in perimenopause, but postprandial metabolism does, glucose, fat, insulin, and inflammation stay elevated longer after meals, partly via gut microbiome shifts. She unpacks why "thin" can mask sarcopenic obesity, why calorie labels carry ~20% error, why a nutrient-dense breakfast curbs cravings, and why a 70,000-woman ZOE study saw a 35% symptom drop from diet changes alone.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

- Why basal metabolic rate isn't the problem in perimenopause, but postprandial metabolism is

- What's actually driving new midsection fat storage as estrogen declines

- Why calorie counting fails as a long-term strategy, from label error to the food matrix effect

- How satiety hormones like GLP-1, PYY, and GIP shift after menopause, and why breakfast is the highest-leverage meal of the day

- Why looking thin doesn't mean you're metabolically healthy, and what sarcopenic obesity reveals about muscle as an organ

- What HRT actually changes about your metabolism, muscle mass, and visceral fat, and what it doesn't

- How a 70,000-woman study found a 35% drop in menopause symptoms from diet changes alone, and why brain fog improved most

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 – Intro

08:00 – Inside ZOE's Age-Matched Study: Why Postprandial Metabolism Shifts After Menopause

16:00 – Same Meal, Different Response: Satiety Hormones, Carb Cravings & Why Under-Eating Backfires

25:00 – Weight Set Point, Calorie Quality & the Sarcopenic Obesity Trap

34:00 – Why Calorie Counting Fails: Label Error, Nutrient Absorption & the Food Matrix Effect

40:00 – The 70,000-Woman Study: A 35% Symptom Drop From Diet Alone (and Why Breakfast Matters Most)

45:00 – What HRT Actually Does (and Doesn't Do) for Metabolism, Muscle & Visceral Fat

52:00 – Building Your Metabolic Buffer Before Menopause in an Obesogenic World

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Dr Federica Amati's new book: The Appetite ResetHow appetite really works, what GLP-1 medications are actually doing in the body, and how to eat to support your natural appetite signals, on medication or not.👉https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/482823/the-appetite-reset-by-amati-dr-federica/9780241833209

Follow Dr Federica Amati on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.fede.amati/

ABOUT THE GUEST

Dr Federica Amati is a medical scientist, Association for Nutrition registered nutritionist, and Head Nutritionist at Zoe, where she leads research on nutrition, gut health and disease prevention across the life course. She holds a PhD in Clinical Medicine Research from Imperial College London, where she also teaches, alongside a Master's in Public Health and a background spanning pharmacology and clinical nutrition. She runs a clinical practice with Well Founded Health, a concierge medical company.

Want to go deeper? Start here:

💌 Fresh Start Sundays NewsletterYour weekly 3-minute guide to creating the healthiest, most vibrant version of you.Each Monday, get one simple habit to boost energy, balance hormones, and enhance longevity - joined by 25,000+ women worldwide.👉 https://angelafosterperformance.com/

🌸 The 21-Day Hormone ResetDoing everything right but still don't feel like yourself? The 21-Day Hormone Reset helps you understand your hormones, restore your energy, and start working with your body instead of against it.👉 https://www.highperformance-health.com/

🥗 The Ultimate Guide to Creatine for Women👉 https://academy.angelafosterperformance.com/

⚡ 10 Habits That Helped Me Reverse My Biological Age by 25 Years During Perimenopause👉 https://academy.angelafosterperformance.com/

About Angela Foster

Angela Foster is a corporate lawyer turned health and performance coach, keynote speaker, and creator of the BioSyncing® Method. She is the host of the High Performance Health Podcast, featuring over 500 conversations with world-leading experts in longevity, hormones, neuroscience, nutrition, and female performance.

Angela's mission is to help one million ambitious women optimise their hormones, energy, cognitive performance, and longevity—so they never have to choose between success and their health.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who would benefit from it.

Follow Angela for daily health and performance tips:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angelasfoster/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AngelaFosterPerformance/

Get my free Longevity Stack Masterclass and Supplement Guide for women to learn how to build a personalised supplement stack: https://academy.angelafosterperformance.com/free-longevity-stack-masterclass

If I were starting over at 40, five supplements would form my foundation: magnesium (and which forms support brain, sleep and heart), omega-3 dosed to an 8–12% index, vitamin D3 with K2 to steer calcium into bone, not arteries, creatine at 3–5g (more for bone), and glycine for collagen, glutathione and sleep. I cover the doses, why testing beats guessing, and why supplements only come third - after food, strength and sleep.

What you’ll learn:

Which single supplement I'd keep if I had to give up every other one — and why

How the different forms of magnesium map to brain, sleep and cardiovascular support

Why your omega-3 index matters far more than how many capsules you swallow

What vitamin K2 actually does that makes taking vitamin D3 on its own a mistake

Why creatine isn't just for building muscle, and what it does for your brain and bones

How glycine quietly supports collagen, glutathione and deeper sleep as you age

Why loading up on supplements can age you faster, and the food-first order that doesn't

Timestamps:

00:00 - The 5 Supplements I'd Take If I Started Over at 40

01:15 - Magnesium: The One I'd Keep, Plus Forms for Brain, Sleep and Heart

03:15 - Omega-3 for Inflammation, Brain Health and Your Omega-3 Index

04:45 - Vitamin D3 With K2: Immunity, Muscle and Directing Calcium to Bone

06:15 - Creatine for Muscle, Brain and Bone Strength in Midlife

07:45 - Glycine: Collagen, Glutathione and Deeper Sleep

09:00 - Recap, Food-First Philosophy and the Advanced Supplements Coming Next

Want to go deeper? Start here:

Take the BioSyncing Quiz to help you understand what’s actually happening in your body — and how to fix it.

https://biosyncing.scoreapp.com/

Reset your hormones, restore your energy, and reconnect with your body in just 21 days.

https://www.highperformance-health.com

Fresh Start Sunday Newsletter

Your weekly 3-minute guide to creating the healthiest, most vibrant version of you.

Each Sunday, get one simple habit to boost energy, balance hormones, and enhance longevity - joined by 25,000+ women worldwide.

https://angelafosterperformance.com/

The Ultimate Guide to Creatine for Women -

https://academy.angelafosterperformance.com/creatine-guide

️ 10 Habits that Helped me reverse my Biological Age by 25 years in Perimenopause -

https://academy.angelafosterperformance.com/10-habits-optin-page

About Me:

Angela Foster is a corporate lawyer turned health and performance coach, keynote speaker, and creator of the BioSyncing:registered: Method. Host of the High Performance Health Podcast with 500+ episodes featuring world-leading experts in longevity, hormones, neuroscience, and female performance science.

The most accomplished women have everything handled on the outside, but their hormones, energy, and nervous system are quietly paying the price.

The old playbook stops working in midlife.

This channel is designed to help high-performing women optimise energy, hormones, cognitive performance, and longevity using science-backed strategies built around female biology.

Angela’s personal mission is to help 1 million ambitious women perform better, age slower, and never have to choose between success and their health.

If you want to be part of that mission, make sure you subscribe and share the channel with a woman you care about.

Follow me for daily health and performance tips:

Instagram: @angelasfoster

Facebook: @AngelaFosterPerformance

If you're training hard, eating well, and still watching your waist thicken, I want you to hear this: you are not lazy, and your metabolism is not broken. Something else is going on, and once you see it, belly fat stops feeling like a mystery you can't crack.

So I called in four people I trust most on this, Ben Azadi, Dr Sarah Berry, Cynthia Thurlow, and Mary Claire Haver. Together we get into why cortisol parks fat right around your middle, how losing estrogen quietly reroutes fat from your hips to your belly, and why the exact same meal spikes your blood sugar far more after menopause than it did before. We go deep on the pieces most women never get told about, the muscle you're losing, the gut and estrobolome shifts, and the insulin exposure that makes this fat feel so stubborn.

Then I hand you the fix. My five levers, in the order that actually works, from breaking up long sitting to resistance training, smart HIIT, whole-food carbs, and protecting your sleep and stress. And I tell you honestly where fasted training helps and where it just becomes another way to punish yourself.

If you're a busy woman over 40 who's done with "eat less, move more" and wants to know which lever your body needs first, this one's for you.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

- Does cortisol cause belly fat in women over 40?

- Why does fat move to your belly during menopause?

- Is menopause belly fat caused by a slow metabolism?

- What is visceral fat and why is it dangerous?

- Can you gain visceral fat even if the scale doesn't move?

- Why do post-menopausal women have higher blood sugar spikes?

- How does insulin resistance drive stubborn belly fat?

- Does the gut microbiome affect body composition in midlife?

- How does breaking up sitting improve insulin sensitivity?

- Does resistance training help you lose belly fat after 40?

- Does HIIT reduce abdominal fat in women?

- Does fasted training help burn visceral fat?

TIMESTAMPS

- 00:00 Why Cortisol Drives Stubborn Belly Fat In Women Over 35

- 03:00 Insulin Resistance, Estrogen Loss And Why Menopause Moves Fat To Your Belly

- 09:44 How Muscle Loss And Your Gut Control Midlife Body Composition

- 16:11 Why Menopause Belly Fat Is Dangerous And How To Shift Visceral Fat

- 17:59 The 5 Levers To Lose Midlife Belly Fat Without A Broken MetabolismVALUABLE RESOURCES

Timeline - Support your mitochondrial health: Timeline Mitopure delivers Urolithin A at the clinically studied dose to support cellular renewal and energy production, helping counter the natural decline in mitochondrial function that comes with age.

👉 Get 20% off Mitopure when you visit http://timeline.com/ANGELA and use code ANGELA.

Want to go deeper? Start here:

Take the BioSyncing Quiz to help you understand what’s actually happening in your body — and how to fix it.

👉 https://biosyncing.scoreapp.com/

🌸Reset your hormones, restore your energy, and reconnect with your body in just 21 days.

👉 https://www.highperformance-health.com

💌 Fresh Start Sunday Newsletter

Your weekly 3-minute guide to creating the healthiest, most vibrant version of you.

Each Sunday, get one simple habit to boost energy, balance hormones, and enhance longevity - joined by 25,000+ women worldwide.

👉 https://angelafosterperformance.com/

🥗The Ultimate Guide to Creatine for Women -

👉 https://academy.angelafosterperformance.com/creatine-guide

⚡️ 10 Habits that Helped me reverse my Biological Age by 25 years in Perimenopause -

👉 https://academy.angelafosterperformance.com/10-habits-optin-page

👩‍💼 About Me:

Angela Foster is a corporate lawyer turned health and performance coach, keynote speaker, and creator of the BioSyncing:registered: Method. Host of the High Performance Health Podcast with 500+ episodes featuring world-leading experts in longevity, hormones, neuroscience, and female performance science.

The most accomplished women have everything handled on the outside, but their hormones, energy, and nervous system are quietly paying the price.

The old playbook stops working in midlife.

This channel is designed to help high-performing women optimise energy, hormones, cognitive performance, and longevity using science-backed strategies built around female biology.

Angela’s personal mission is to help 1 million ambitious women perform better, age slower, and never have to choose between success and their health.

If you want to be part of that mission, make sure you subscribe and share the channel with a woman you care about.

Follow me for daily health and performance tips:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angelasfoster/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AngelaFosterPerformance

#AngelaFoster #HighPerformanceHealth #Women'sHealth #Menopause #Perimenopause #StrengthTraining #Longevity #MuscleBuilding #HealthyAgeing