Most women have spent years being told what to cut, what to avoid, and what to eliminate, yet despite following all the rules, they still feel confused, guilty, and exhausted by food. The problem is not willpower and it is not discipline. The problem is that the advice was never designed to be sustainable or to fit the real lives, cultures, and kitchens of actual women.

In this episode of The Whole and Complete Woman Podcast, Dr. Alicia Newsome sits down with Dr. Sabrina Falquier, a physician triple board certified in internal medicine, culinary medicine, and lifestyle medicine, and founder of Sensations Salud. Born and raised in Mexico City to Swiss and American parents, Dr. Falquier brings a deeply multicultural perspective to the intersection of food, culture, medicine, and health. After more than 15 years in primary care, she now works with universities, medical schools, teaching kitchens, and healthcare professionals around the world to help translate nutrition science into something people can actually use in their everyday lives.

This conversation goes deep on why 80% of chronic diseases are linked to food and lifestyle yet doctors receive almost no nutrition training in medical school, how to build a plate that is evidence based and genuinely enjoyable without turning every meal into a math equation, why cultural foods have been unfairly vilified and what that does to a person's identity and trust in the healthcare system, the 80/20 rule for eating that actually gives you permission to live, how batch cooking can transform your relationship with meal prep without eating the same sad leftovers all week, and why connection at the table, without screens, is one of the most underrated health interventions available to us right now. If you have ever felt guilty about enjoying food or overwhelmed by conflicting nutrition advice, this episode will change how you think about eating for good.

Chapters: 00:00 - Welcome and Introduction 04:00 - What Culinary Medicine Actually Is and Why It Changes Everything 07:26 - How to Build a Healthy Plate Without Counting a Single Calorie 14:15 - Batch Cooking, Spice Mixes, and the Art of Being Your Own Sous Chef 18:30 - Why Frozen and Canned Foods Deserve a Spot in Your Kitchen 23:13 - How to Stop Being a Perfectionist About What You Eat 28:40 - The Six Pillars of Lifestyle Medicine and How They Work Together 31:10 - Find the Physical Activity That Actually Brings You Joy 32:48 - The Truth About Protein and Why Eating It Is Not Enough on Its Own 37:00 - Why Cultural Foods Are Not the Problem and Vilifying Them Is 44:00 - Why Doctors Are Not Trained in Nutrition and What Is Changing 51:24 - Bringing Food, Connection, and Joy Back to the Table 53:02 - Rapid Fire and Giveaway Details

GIVEAWAY: Dr. Sabrina is giving away a gorgeous kitchen towel and bench scraper from Sensations Salud.

Resources and Links: Website: https://www.sensationssalud.com Instagram and Facebook: @SensationsSalud LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabrinafalquier/ Podcast (English): Culinary Medicine Recipe Podcast (Spanish): Medicina Culinaria Documentary: The Kitchenistas

Connect with Dr. Sabrina Falquier: Website: https://www.sensationssalud.com Email: info@sensationssalud.com Instagram and Facebook: @SensationsSalud

FREE RESOURCES FROM DR. ALICIA: www.draliciagifts.com

INVITE DR. ALICIA TO SPEAK: https://www.dralicianewsome.com/invite-to-speak/

SEE DR. ALICIA NEWSOME ON TV: https://youtube.com/watch?feature=shared&v=uMUmgzkSeMU

Follow us on Social Media to stay connected! 📱 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.alicianewsome 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-alicia-newsome/ ☕️ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dralicianewsome

Keywords: culinary medicine, nutrition science, women's health, food and culture, lifestyle medicine, healthy eating, functional medicine, root cause care, batch cooking, 80/20 rule, chronic disease prevention, Dr. Sabrina Falquier, Sensations Salud, The Whole and Complete Woman Podcast

Most women have been told their thyroid labs are normal and left the appointment feeling confused, because normal is not the same thing as optimal, and that gap is where so many women get stuck for years without answers.

In this special episode of The Whole and Complete Woman Podcast, originally recorded live at the All Things Women Summit, Dr. Alicia Newsome brings you a teaching session from Amanda Montalvo, a women's health dietitian and host of the Hormone Healing RD Podcast. Amanda's own thyroid health became her biggest concern after coming off hormonal birth control, and after years of working through her own hypothyroidism and PCOS, she has spent the last decade helping thousands of women understand what is actually driving their thyroid dysfunction. This session breaks down exactly how to read your thyroid labs, what your minerals are telling you, and how to find the real root cause behind your symptoms.

This conversation goes deep on how the thyroid sets the metabolic pace for nearly every system in the body, why chronic stress quietly blunts thyroid hormone production even when bloodwork looks fine, the optimal ranges for a full thyroid panel and why those differ from what most doctors are trained to look for, how hair mineral testing reveals whether your body can actually use the thyroid hormone it is making, and the five different root causes of thyroid dysfunction along with real case studies that show how each one shows up in real women's lives. If you have ever felt exhausted, dismissed, or confused by normal labs that do not match how you actually feel, this episode is for you.

Chapters: 00:00 - Welcome back and why this episode comes from the summit stage 02:09 - Meet Amanda Montalvo and the health crisis that started her thyroid journey 08:05 - What your thyroid actually does and why it touches every system in your body 12:04 - The real relationship between stress and your thyroid 15:15 - Four simple daily habits that support your thyroid and lower stress 22:41 - Thyroid blood labs and what optimal actually looks like 27:29 - What hair mineral testing reveals that blood work misses 36:04 - The five root causes of thyroid dysfunction 49:20 - Real case studies of women who got their thyroid back on track 1:09:35 - Closing thoughts and your invitation to the next summit

Resources and Links: Podcast: Hormone Healing RD Podcast Instagram: @hormonehealingrd Free mineral quiz: https://hormonehealingrd.com/guides-support/mineral-quiz/#

Connect with Amanda Montalvo: Podcast: Hormone Healing RD Podcast Instagram: @hormonehealingrd

ALL THINGS WOMEN SUMMIT: This session was originally recorded live at the All Things Women Summit. If you would like to attend the next summit or apply to be considered as a speaker, visit www.allthingswomensummit.com. The speaker application and summit registration are both linked there.

FREE RESOURCES FROM DR. ALICIA: www.draliciagifts.com

INVITE DR. ALICIA TO SPEAK: https://www.dralicianewsome.com/invite-to-speak/

SEE DR. ALICIA NEWSOME ON TV: https://youtube.com/watch?feature=shared&v=uMUmgzkSeMU

Follow us on Social Media to stay connected! 📱 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.alicianewsome 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-alicia-newsome/ ☕️ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dralicianewsome