Living Inspired - A Functional Approach to Women’s Health, Energy, and Resilience

Rachel Carta, RN
  • 5.0 (10)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Weekly

Living Inspired is a podcast for women who feel overwhelmed by their health, frustrated by normal lab results, and are looking for a calmer, more grounded way to feel better. Hosted by Rachel Carta, RN, Functional Nutrition Counselor, and Life Coach, this podcast explores women’s health through a functional, root-cause approach. We talk about fatigue, stress, hormonal changes, sleep issues, metabolism, and chronic symptoms, and how small, sustainable changes can restore energy and build resilience—without quick fixes or rigid protocols. Learn More: RachelCartaRN.com IG: @peaceinperimenopause

  1. 1d ago

    118. Finding Joy in Midlife When Life Feels Like Work

    What happens when you’ve built the life you thought you wanted, but you aren’t enjoying it? In this episode of Living Inspired, I’m joined by Sass Schaeffer, a registered dietitian, personal trainer, former Philadelphia Golden Gloves boxing champion, comedian, and coach. We talk about rebuilding after difficult seasons, listening to your own preferences, and finding more enjoyment in everyday life. Sass shares her perspective that positivity is “a muscle, not a mood,” along with practical ways she brings that idea into her day. Our conversation explores how small actions, moments of connection, and a little playfulness can offer a different approach to things we’ve been trying so hard to change. I also share my experience of questioning an old belief about being athletic, taking a walk without my phone, and practicing gratitude in a way that asks me to keep looking for something new. In this episode How staying busy can keep us from asking what we actually want. Reconnecting with yourself through small, everyday decisions. Making room for quiet when there’s always something to listen to or scroll through. What Sas means by practicing positivity. Bringing fun into habits and tasks that have started to feel like work. A gratitude practice with one condition: choose something different each day. Looking more closely at beliefs you’ve carried about yourself. Resources and Mentioned: Connect with Sass: IG: https://www.instagram.com/sass_schaeffer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sassschaeffer Site: www.jointeampositive.com Ted Talk Mentioned: "Good" and "bad" are incomplete stories we tell ourselves | Heather Lanier Rachel's Resources: Mood Swings? Get the 5 minute audio to calm them now. https://rachelcartarn.com/sos Do you want to understand more of what's changing in your body in midlife and get a few simple tools to feel better now? Get the free guide: The Real Reason You Still Feel Off. Ready to Talk: Book a Clarity & Relief Session here. Want a lab review: Book it here. Eat Well Made Easy Course

  2. Oct 17

    117. Understanding Trauma in Midlife: How Past Experiences Shape Our Responses Today

    Have you noticed that things you used to be able to handle don’t feel quite so manageable anymore? Maybe you’re more easily overwhelmed, more emotional, or finding yourself reacting to things in ways you don’t really understand. We talk a lot about hormones during perimenopause, but hormones aren’t the whole story. In this episode, I sit down with Susan Decker, a licensed professional counselor, to explore trauma, the experiences we carry into midlife, and how those experiences can shape our beliefs and responses today. I originally recorded this conversation for my functional nutrition counseling program, and I wanted to share it here because I think it’s something more women need to understand. We talk about what trauma means, how past experiences can affect the body and nervous system, and why patterns that once helped us get through difficult times may no longer be helping us now. We also explore the connection between our early experiences and beliefs about rest, worth, productivity, and having to be strong all the time. From there, we talk about what support can look like. Susan shares how curiosity and self-compassion fit into understanding our reactions, why the relationship with a therapist matters, and when deeper work needs professional support. You don’t have to have experienced something you’d consider a major trauma for this conversation to be helpful. Sometimes understanding why we respond the way we do is the beginning of being able to respond differently. In this episode: What trauma means and why the lasting impact of an experience matters How past experiences can influence present-day reactions Trauma, the body, and the nervous system Perimenopause, hormonal changes, and our experience of stress How early experiences can shape beliefs about ourselves Recognizing coping patterns that may no longer serve us Curiosity, awareness, and self-compassion The difference between practices you can explore on your own and work that needs a therapist Finding a therapist you can connect with What becomes possible with appropriate support About Susan Decker Susan Decker is a licensed professional counselor working as an outpatient therapist in a medical facility. Her experience includes crisis intervention, community mental health, and work with incarcerated populations. Much of her postgraduate training has focused on trauma. This episode is for education only and isn’t medical advice, mental health treatment, or a diagnosis. I’m an RN, functional nutrition counselor, and life coach, not a therapist. Please speak with a qualified healthcare or mental health professional about your individual needs. Rachel’s Free Resources Mood swings? Get the 5-minute audio to calm them now. Do you want to understand more of what’s changing in your body in midlife and get a few simple tools to feel better now? Get the free guide: The Real Reason You Still Feel Off. Ready to Talk? Book a Clarity & Relief Session here. More Resources Want a lab review? Book it here. Eat Well Made Easy Course Connect With Rachel Instagram: @peaceinperimenopause Website: RachelCartaRN.com

  3. Oct 10

    116. You Can’t Out-Supplement Your Daily Habits: Where To Start in Perimenopause and Beyond

    There’s more conversation about menopause than ever, but knowing what to do with all that information can be difficult. More protein, another supplement, hormone therapy, gut health: what actually deserves your attention first? In this solo episode, I walk through four areas I consider when working with women in midlife: sleep, blood sugar, digestion, and the nervous system. Supplements and hormone therapy can have a useful role. But we also need to understand what your body is experiencing and what daily life is asking of you. We also talk about insulin as part of the hormone conversation, a food-first starting point, digestive symptoms you may have learned to tolerate, and why feeling overwhelmed deserves more attention than simply being told to manage stress. The goal isn’t to leave you with four things to fix. It’s to help you choose one place to begin: a step that fits your circumstances and could make other changes easier. In this episode The shift from silence about menopause to information overload. Why supplements are a tool, not the whole strategy. The difference between not making time for sleep and wanting to sleep but being unable to. Asking what nighttime scrolling gives you before trying to change the habit. How sleep and insulin sensitivity connect. Why I consider insulin alongside glucose when looking at metabolic health. Practical food-first ideas, including breakfast and movement after meals. Why persistent digestive symptoms deserve attention. Looking at overwhelm in the context of food, sleep, responsibilities, and support. Mentioned in this episode Episode 114: Exploring Hormone Therapy in Midlife With Lauren Caldwell, FNP. The Energize Summit, October 16–18 - Sign up for the free event here. Rachel's Resources: Mood Swings? Get the 5 minute audio to calm them now. https://rachelcartarn.com/sos Do you want to understand more of what's changing in your body in midlife and get a few simple tools to feel better now? Get the free guide: The Real Reason You Still Feel Off. Ready to Talk: Book a Clarity & Relief Session here. Want a lab review: Book it here. Eat Well Made Easy Course This episode is for education only and isn’t medical advice. Talk with your healthcare provider about persistent symptoms, appropriate testing, and treatment decisions.

  4. Oct 2

    115. Fatigue Doesn't Have One Cause: Connecting the Dots With Dr. Arwa Hussain

    So many women are walking around exhausted and treating it as normal. In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Arwa Hussain, a clinical pharmacist and Integrative Health Practitioner who helps women understand fatigue, brain fog, and hormone changes, to talk about what may be behind that exhaustion and where to start. Arwa shares her own story, from doing all the "right" things in her 20s without results to years of running on two hours of sleep as a new single mom, and the moment a health coach helped her see how much stress her body was carrying on the inside. We talk about why fatigue rarely has one cause, why normal labs aren't always optimal, and three labs worth asking about: ferritin, T3, and fasting insulin. From there we get practical. Arwa walks through how blood sugar, sleep, stress hormones, digestion, and perimenopause affect each other, and shares the simple tracking habit that showed her patterns in her own energy across four months of her cycle. We also talk about how medication and lifestyle work can go together instead of against each other. We close with The Energized Summit, the virtual women's health summit Arwa is hosting October 16 to 18, where I'm speaking on Sunday, October 18 about perimenopause and why so many of us feel more exhausted at this stage of life. This episode is for education only and isn't medical advice. Please talk with your own healthcare provider about what's right for you. Connect with Dr. Arwa Hussain:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drarwahussain/ Free Brain Fog Guide for Living Inspired listeners: Here The Energized Summit, October 16 to 18, 1:00 to 3:30 PM ET. Save your seat here. Go deeper with Living Inspired:Download The Real Reason Guide: https://rachelcartarn.com/lastinghealth Join my newsletter here. Curious about the Living Inspired Life Lab? Let's Talk: https://rachelcartarn.com/lifelab

  5. Sep 26

    114. Exploring Hormone Therapy in Midlife With Lauren Caldwell, FNP

    Your sleep has changed, your mood has shifted, your energy isn't what it was, and your labs still come back "normal." Then you start looking into hormone therapy and find more questions than answers. In this episode, I sit down with Lauren Caldwell, a board-certified family nurse practitioner and founder of Meridian Health and Wellness in Woodstock, Georgia, to talk through some of those questions. We start with the symptoms that most often bring women to Lauren's office, and why so many of us were told to stay away from hormones for years. Lauren explains how the Women's Health Initiative shaped that fear, what the FDA's recent labeling changes mean, and the difference between bioidentical and synthetic hormones. From there we get practical. Lauren shares why she treats labs as one piece of the puzzle, how she thinks about progesterone for sleep and mood (including for women who've had a hysterectomy), and why she checks free testosterone as well as total. We also talk about weight changes, brain fog, and whether hormone therapy can still help after menopause. We close on something that matters to both of us: hormones are one tool, and they tend to work best when the foundations are in place. Blood sugar, stress, strength training, and the small daily choices you make all shape how your body responds. This episode is for education only and isn't medical advice. Please talk with your own healthcare provider about what's right for you. In this episode: Common signs that hormones may be part of the picture Why the Women's Health Initiative made so many women afraid of hormones Bioidentical vs. synthetic hormones How Lauren uses labs, and why ratios matter in perimenopause Oral micronized progesterone vs. progesterone cream Testosterone for women: symptoms, free vs. total, and dosing Weight changes and brain fog in midlife Starting hormone therapy after menopause Why blood sugar and stress affect how well hormones work Connect with Lauren Caldwell, FNP:Website: https://www.meridianhealthatl.comEmail: info@meridianhealthatl.com Mentioned in this episode:Episode 72 with Brooke Davis Go deeper with Living Inspired: Mood Swings? Get the 5 minute audio to calm them now. https://rachelcartarn.com/sos Do you want to understand more of what's changing in your body in midlife and get a few simple tools to feel better now? Get the free guide: The Real Reason You Still Feel Off. Ready to Talk: Book a Clarity & Relief Session here. Eat Well Made Easy Course

  6. Sep 18

    113. The Mouth-Body Connection: What Your Gums Are Telling You About Your Hormones

    You floss, you see a little pink, and you rinse and move on with your night. You've pushed through the fatigue, the headaches, the feeling that something is off, because you've got kids and a career and aging parents and there just isn't room to stop and ask what your body is actually trying to tell you. This episode is for the woman who has been managing her symptoms instead of listening to them. My guest, Christine Horton, is a dental hygienist and health coach with a specialty in PCOS and PMOS awareness. She was diagnosed with PCOS at seventeen and has spent decades since connecting a field most of us have never heard of, oral systemic health, to the hormone and metabolic symptoms so many women are told to just live with. If you've ever wondered why your gums, your gut, and your hormones might actually be having a conversation with each other, this one is for you. In This Episode The recent PCOS to PMOS name change, and what polyendocrine and metabolic reveal about the condition that the old name never capturedOral systemic health, the field connecting what's happening in your mouth to what's happening everywhere else in your bodyThe bidirectional relationship between your gum health and your blood sugar or A1C numbersBleeding gums as a warning sign, and what that little bit of pink when you floss is actually telling youThe overlooked connection between mouth bacteria and gut healthPregnancy gingivitis, and what it reveals about hormones and tissue sensitivity even in women with excellent oral hygieneOne in eight women living with PCOS or PMOS, and why most of them don't know it yetChristine's actual nighttime oral care recommendations, and why individualized care beats any one size fits all protocol Find Christine Horton Health coaching: fusionhealthcoach.com Social media: @pmospcosglowhygienist on Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest PCOS Awareness Association: pcosaa.org — including the monthly support groups she co-hosts on second Wednesdays PCOS CON: September is PMOS/PCOS Awareness Month, and the one-day virtual conference with experts from around the world is at pcoscon.org Listen to the full episode of Living Inspired, and if this was useful, share it. Women's health progress right now is grassroots. We get better care by passing the information to each other. More Resources Mood Swings? Get the 5 minute audio to calm them now. https://rachelcartarn.com/sos Do you want to understand more of what's changing in your body in midlife and get a few simple tools to feel better now? Get the free guide: The Real Reason You Still Feel Off. Ready to Talk: Book a Clarity & Relief Session here. Eat Well Made Easy Course

  7. Sep 11

    112. Why Trying Harder To Be Healthy Wasn’t the Answer

    What happens when you already know a lot about health, you’re trying hard to take care of yourself, and you still don’t feel like yourself? In this episode, I’m talking with my friend and client Johanna about what changed when we stopped looking for another plan and started looking at the whole picture. We talk about anxiety, grief, perimenopause, overwhelm, nervous system load, and why healthy habits are so much harder to follow when your body is already at capacity. Johanna also shares one of my favorite shifts from our work together: seeing her past attempts at change as practice instead of proof that she had done something wrong. If you’ve ever thought, “I know what I should be doing, so why can’t I just do it?” this conversation is for you. In this episode, we talk about: Why we didn’t start with food How stress, grief, and hormonal changes can stack up Why more discipline is not always the answer What it means to treat healthy habits like a practice How small experiments can work better than another complete overhaul Finding your way back to yourself in midlife Mentions from the Show: Lizard Toes Yoga: facebook.com/lizardtoesyoga Runaway Stroller: facebook.com/runawaystroller Johanna’s album, Why Would I Sing?: available on major streaming platforms. Episode 36: Shift Your Mind, Change Your Life: Chris Chitty's Inspiring Health Transformation Secrets to Authentic Happiness: by Rachel Carta More Resources: Mood Swings? Get the 5 minute audio to calm them now. https://rachelcartarn.com/sos Do you want to understand more of what's changing in your body in midlife and get a few simple tools to feel better now? Get the free guide: The Real Reason You Still Feel Off. Ready to Talk: Book a Clarity & Relief Session here. Eat Well Made Easy Course

  8. Sep 5

    111. Your Hormones Aren't the Whole Story of Perimenopause

    Some mornings you feel completely like yourself. Other mornings you don't recognize your own body before your feet hit the floor. If you're exhausted, not sleeping, or thinking "I don't feel like myself anymore," this one's for you. Rachel breaks down why the hormone-only conversation leaves so much out, and introduces the Living Inspired Life Lab, a small group opening September 21st for Perimenopause Awareness Month. In this episode: The moment Rachel's fourteen-year-old daughter put words to something most women spend years trying to explainWhy "get the patch and you're good" misses most of the pictureThe Three Roots framework and the terrain underneath a hormonal transitionWhy two women with the same hormonal shifts can have completely different experiencesThe real link between a client's headaches, her digestion, and a workday with zero transitionWhy a nightly dessert habit was never about disciplineThe Vital Six: sleep, movement, nutrition, hydration, relationships, stress resilienceWhat's inside the Living Inspired Life Lab and who the September group is for Resources Living Inspired Life Lab (12-week group, begins September 21st )RachelCartaRN.comInstagram: @peaceinperimenopause Rachel's Free Resources: Mood Swings? Get the 5 minute audio to calm them now. https://rachelcartarn.com/sos Do you want to understand more of what's changing in your body in midlife and get a few simple tools to feel better now? Get the free guide: The Real Reason You Still Feel Off. Ready to Talk: Book a Clarity & Relief Session here.

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About

Living Inspired is a podcast for women who feel overwhelmed by their health, frustrated by normal lab results, and are looking for a calmer, more grounded way to feel better. Hosted by Rachel Carta, RN, Functional Nutrition Counselor, and Life Coach, this podcast explores women’s health through a functional, root-cause approach. We talk about fatigue, stress, hormonal changes, sleep issues, metabolism, and chronic symptoms, and how small, sustainable changes can restore energy and build resilience—without quick fixes or rigid protocols. Learn More: RachelCartaRN.com IG: @peaceinperimenopause

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