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Tag: metabolism

Mini Pause #83: Your Gut Has Trust Issues

Posted on by stephanie-estima

TL;DR

What if your gut doesn't just digest food but also… decides if you're safe? According to Dr. Steven Gundry, your microbiome is like your body's border patrol. And when it senses something dangerous, whether it's a food or a feeling, it shuts everything down. Chronic inflammation, autoimmune flare-ups, even low energy? All signs your gut no longer trusts you.

WHY

We're used to thinking of food as fuel but a more accurate way to think about this is food is a signal.

If your gut senses something unfamiliar or threatening, it doesn't ask questions. It assumes danger and triggers a full-body immune response.

And it's not just what you eat:

  • It's how you eat
  • It's when you eat
  • It's what emotional state you're in when you eat it.

WHAT

🧠 The Gut-Brain Axis Runs the Show: Your gut bacteria send signals directly to your brain—especially when they sense a threat. Ever feel foggy, anxious, or fatigued after eating “healthy” food? It might be your microbiome’s red alert.

🥬 Plant Defense Mechanisms Are Real: Some plants don’t want to be eaten. Lectins (like those in beans, tomatoes, and grains) can punch tiny holes in your gut lining—what Gundry calls “gut wall breach.” Once that barrier is compromised, immune chaos begins.

⛅ Your Immune System is Exhausted: If your gut keeps encountering “danger” every day—whether from poor diet, stress, or over-exercise—it eventually becomes hyperreactive. The result? Autoimmunity, joint pain, mood swings, and sluggish metabolism.

🧃 Green Juice ≠ Gut Health: Even some “clean” foods might be inflammatory to your body. The key isn’t eating less—it’s eating what your gut recognizes as safe.

HOW

🧭 Test & Learn: Your gut’s tolerance is personal. Elimination diets aren’t trendy—they’re necessary. Strip down to the basics and slowly reintroduce foods to see what sets off the alarm.

🍽️ Food Order Matters: Start meals with leafy greens or a gentle fat (like avocado) to coat your gut lining. Then add protein. Save carbs for last.

⏳ Time-Restricted Eating = Immune Reset: Giving your gut long breaks between meals (12–16 hours) helps it repair damage and calm inflammation—no pills required.

🧘 Stress is a Gut Saboteur: Cortisol alters your microbiome composition within hours. If you’re eating kale while stressed, your gut still hears “danger.”

NOW

  • Audit Your “Healthy” Foods: What are you eating that might  be triggering your body's defense systems?
  • Reframe Your Gut: It's not a garbage disposal. It's an intelligent filter deciding what's safe.
  • Think Like a Diplomat: Your goal isn't to “fight inflammation” – it's to earn back your gut's trust.

WHAT I LOVE THIS WEEK

FRESH PRESSED OLIVE OIL Award-winning, farm-direct olive oil at peak freshness. Try your first bottle for just $1 shipping.

Here's what most people don't know about olive oil: freshness changes everything. The difference between fresh-pressed and store-bought isn't just taste – it's nutritional potency.

While commercial oils sit on shelves for months (sometimes years), losing their beneficial compounds and developing off-flavors, T.J. Robinson's Fresh-Pressed Olive Oil Club delivers oils straight from award-winning artisanal farms at their nutritional peak.

Robinson partners with gold-medal-winning producers worldwide, timing deliveries around harvest seasons to ensure you're getting oil that was literally pressed weeks – not years – ago. The result? Oils bursting with the vibrant flavors and antioxidant profiles that make olive oil a true superfood.

Once you experience the peppery bite and complex aromatics of genuinely fresh olive oil, store-bought versions taste flat and lifeless by comparison. It's like comparing sun-ripened tomatoes to cardboard – there's simply no going back.

To prove the difference, T.J. will send you a $39 bottle for just $1 shipping. No strings attached, no commitment required. Just the chance to taste olive oil the way it's meant to be: fresh, potent, and alive with flavor.

Click Here for Your $39-Bottle-for-a-Buck.1

Maui Nui Venison: The Midlife Nutrition Game-Changer

What if there was a protein so nutrient-dense that just 3.5oz delivers a significant percentage of your daily vitamins and minerals in only 107 calories? Meet Maui Nui venison – wild-harvested Hawaiian axis deer that's literally healing an ecosystem while transforming midlife nutrition.

These deer, originally from India, were destroying Hawaii's native plants and water systems. Enter Jake Muise, the “lava cowboy” who turned this ecological crisis into the most nutrient-dense red meat on the planet. His team stress-free night-harvests these animals across volcanic lava fields, creating meat with an unmatched nutritional profile.

For midlife women especially, Maui Nui is revolutionary: 19% of your daily iron needs per serving (crucial for energy and stamina), 338% of selenium (essential for thyroid function), plus the most balanced omega ratio of any red meat. Their venison sticks pack 10g of protein in just 60 calories – perfect for sustained energy without the crashes.

This isn't just meat; it's medicine that supports hormone balance, muscle maintenance, and energy levels while honoring both animal welfare and environmental restoration.

Right now, Maui Nui is offering a free 12-pack of their jerky sticks with your first order of $79 or more. Just go to mauinuivenison.com/better to grab yours.2

Hydration Hero for Midlife Women

As we navigate the hormonal shifts of midlife, our bodies face unique challenges that often go unaddressed. One crucial element? Electrolyte balance. Dr. Stephanie Estima consistently recommends LMNT because it's specifically formulated to support women during this transformative phase.

Unlike typical sports drinks loaded with sugar, LMNT delivers the precise sodium, potassium, and magnesium ratios your body craves—without the junk. During perimenopause and menopause, declining estrogen affects our ability to retain electrolytes, leading to fatigue, brain fog, and disrupted sleep. LMNT helps restore this delicate balance.

Whether you're dealing with hot flashes, supporting your metabolism, or simply wanting sustained energy throughout the day, proper hydration with quality electrolytes is non-negotiable. LMNT makes it effortless and delicious.

Special Offer: Get a free 8-count Sample Pack of LMNT's most popular drink mix flavors with any purchase at drinklmnt.com/drestima. Find your favorite LMNT flavor, or share with a friend.3

🌟 Love these recommendations? Find more resources to support your health in midlife in my Health Toolkit!

1 Offer only available to US customers. Code limited to new customers only. Terms and conditions may apply.

2 Offer only available to US customers. One per customer. Terms and conditions may apply.

3 First time customers only.

Mini Pause #69: The Whoosh Effect: What It Means for Your Fat Loss Journey

Posted on by stephanie-estima

The Whoosh Effect: What It Means for Your Fat Loss Journey

🌸 SPECIAL MOTHER’S DAY GUIDE

This Mother’s Day, I want to remind my fellow mamas and all of my Bettys of something incredibly important: you deserve to be deeply nourished.

With this in mind, I’ve put together a Mom’s Day guide that will show you how to give yourself the most luxurious day possible. I’m also including free goodies and extra discounts on my self-care favs so you can pamper yourself without guilt.

Whether you follow it step-by-step or are simply inspired to take a few moments for yourself, believe that you deserve ALL of it! Today and every day. Here’s your 24-hour guide for resting, recharging, and treating yourself like the Queen you are.

TL; DR (Too Long; Didn't Read)

The Whoosh Effect is a phenomenon where your body rapidly sheds water weight after a period of stalled fat loss, resulting in a sudden, noticeable drop on the scale.

Understanding this process can help you stay motivated and patient throughout your fat loss journey. Follow the plan, not your feelings!

WHY

For women over 40, hormonal shifts and changes in metabolism can make fat loss feel slow and unpredictable. It can sometimes feel like one step forward, two steps back!

Recognizing the Whoosh Effect helps you maintain realistic expectations, manage frustrations, and stay consistent—even when the scale seems stuck.

The Whoosh Effect is one of the many reasons it’s crucial to stick with your plan, as consistency, hydration, and sleep ultimately trigger the Whoosh Effect and reveal the true progress you're making beneath temporary fluctuations and “stalled” weight loss.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Fat Cells and Water Retention: As fat cells release stored triglycerides, the body breaks them down into glycerol and fatty acids, which are then metabolized for energy. During this process, the emptied fat cells temporarily fill with water, maintaining their size and appearance.

  • This water retention can mask actual fat loss, making you think nothing is happening because the scale remains unchanged.

Stalled Progress: This water retention in the fat cell can lead to false plateaus or a sense of stagnant weight loss, causing confusion and frustration.

  • It's exactly during these frustrating times that we must remind ourselves to follow our plan, not our feelings, to stay focused and ensure continued progress toward our goals.

The Whoosh Moment: The moment you have been working toward, eventually, the body releases the stored water as hormonal balance improves, cortisol levels normalize, and the body's fluid retention mechanisms reset.

  • This release causes a sudden, noticeable drop in weight—a reassuring sign of true fat loss progress and evidence of successful metabolic adjustments.

Factors Influencing Whoosh: Dietary changes, such as reducing processed foods, limiting sodium intake, focusing on whole foods rich in fiber and nutrients, hydrating consistently, reducing stress levels, and improving sleep, can trigger the Whoosh Effect.

HOW TO ENCOURAGE THE WHOOSH EFFECT

🍽️ 🏋️‍♀️ Stay Consistent and Follow the Plan: Maintain your eating plan and regular exercise, even if immediate results aren't visible.

💦 Hydrate: Drinking ample water can signal your body to release retained water.

🧘‍♀️ Reduce Stress: Practice relaxation techniques like meditation, deep breathing, restorative yoga, and even Pilates to lower cortisol levels that encourage water retention. I always feel inexplicably happy and calm after Pilates!

😴 Prioritize Sleep: Aim for 7-9 hours of restful sleep each night to support hormonal balance and recovery. One of my favorite “treats” I give myself every Sunday is to sleep in. No 5 a.m. alarm. I just wake up when I wake up. It is the most delicious treat I give myself every week!

NOW

➡️ Trust the Process: Remember, fat loss isn't always linear, and occasional plateaus are a normal part of the process.

➡️ Monitor Beyond the Scale: Take measurements and progress photos to track your true progress. This is why I dislike the scale so very much. Not only does it play with your head, but it can’t actually show true change. Look for non-scale victories like energy, mood, skin health, and gut health as indicators that things are moving in the right direction.

➡️ Stay Patient and Positive: Celebrate small wins and remain committed to your healthy habits. At the end of every day, our family shares wins and gratitudes from the day. It is a simple yet unbelievably effective way to reduce stress in the evening and a way to celebrate yet another day in your life.

What I Recommend

WHY YOUR SKIN NEEDS PEPTIDES

When it comes to my health, I have a few rituals that are absolutely non-negotiable—applying SPF daily is one of them.

Like a lot of my Bettys, I started noticing changes in my skin in my 40s. Not just fine lines and wrinkles, but changes in texture, tone, and elasticity. My skin just felt… different. That’s why I was excited to discover OneSkin and their OS-01 peptide. OneSkin is founded and led by an all-woman team of skin longevity scientists, so everything they do is backed by clinical and lab data.

And like all of OneSkin’s topical supplements, FACE SPF 30+ is formulated with their proprietary OS-01 peptide. I love that it comes in tinted and non-tinted formulas. It’s the first ingredient scientifically proven to target skin aging at the cellular level.01,02,03

I’ve also been using the eye cream, OS-01 EYE, which has the highest concentration of OS-01. It’s great for crow’s feet and bags under the eyes, as well as the neck, hands, and other areas that are more prone to lines, wrinkles, and thinning skin.

If you’re ready to take your skin to the next level, visit OneSkin and use code DRSTEPHANIE at checkout to save 15%.

01 Zonari, A., et al. npj Aging, 2023
02 Zonari, A., et al. Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, 2024
03 Based on data from clinical studies and/or lab studies conducted on human skin samples, models, and cells in the OneSkin lab. Explore more at oneskin.co/claims.

🌟 Love these recommendations? Find more resources to support your health in midlife in my Health Toolkit!

Mini Pause #63: 8 Weeks to Feeling Younger, Energized & Stronger

Posted on by stephanie-estima

TL; DR (Too Long; Didn't Read)

If you missed it the first time around, I’m starting Cohort #2 for perimenopausal women in April.  I’ve designed an 8-week program to help you dial in nutrition, put muscle on in all the right places, and finally relax into your body.

WHY

I’m currently writing my second book with a focus on perimenopause. We are not really taught about the ebbs and flows of our hormonal landscape in midlife, and we most certainly are not educated on how to stack the deck in our favor in preparation for perimenopause.

With my focus and formal education in nutrition, exercise physiology, and biomechanics, I will once again be tailoring a program for women on nutrition, hormones, and building muscle.

WHAT

I’ve long been a fan of hormone replacement therapy, but I’m going to give it to you straight–you cannot rely solely on hormones to get you through perimenopause.

  • HRT is not going to lift the weights for you.
  • HRT is not going to build meals for you.
  • HRT is not going to set boundaries for you.

Only you can do that.

So, I’m going to teach you how to major in the majors:

  • The what and how of muscle building (with modifications!)
  • The what and how of nutrition for a perimenopausal woman (to suit everyone).
  • The what and how of stress management in midlife.

It’s going to be you, me, and a group of awesome women. It’s going to be glorious!

HOW

You’ll be joining YES: Younger, Energized & Stronger. I’ll be leading you through this eight-week program with weekly live coaching calls. The program pillars include:

Younger

I am going to teach you how to eat and exercise to help your cells act like younger versions of themselves. In many cases, we will be actively getting rid of old cells in favor of new ones. This pillar is all about mitochondrial health and is designed to reduce your biological age.

Energized

I am going to teach you the strategies to increase your energy and reduce brain fog so you can meet the demands of your day with ease. This pillar is all about metabolic health and how to improve your glucose and insulin regulation. I’ve also created a nutrition plan that can be adapted to your specific needs. We’ll be going over the particulars together.

Stronger

I am going to teach you female-specific biomechanics so you can squat, lunge, and deadlift properly. I have designed a weight lifting program that we will be going over during the eight weeks that will specifically target glute growth and the upper body muscles that create an hourglass figure.

NOW

To be part of the new program, head over to yesprogram.co and register for the FREE first session on April 1,  7 p.m., ET. This is your opportunity to join me, learn what the program is about, and ask questions.

The first class is my gift to you with no obligation to continue.

If you’d like to join the first session, but can’t make that date & time, please go ahead and sign up at yesprogram.co, as we will be sending out the replay to everyone who registers!

Measure Your Metabolism, Get Better Results

Nutrition and strength are two foundations of my YES! Younger, Energized & Stronger program. That’s why I’m excited about the Lumen, a non-invasive handheld metabolic breathalyzer and app combination I’ve been using that supports these areas (and more) for my Bettys.

Lumen’s innovative technology–backed by science–identifies key factors affecting your body clock, such as dinner timing, workouts, and recovery, and provides recommendations to improve your metabolism. Lumen provides insights into how nutrition, sleep, exercise, and stress levels impact your body’s ability to burn fat. Here’s how it works:

  • First, the device analyzes your breath to determine how your metabolism is functioning and gives you immediate feedback on whether your body is using carbs or fats for fuel.
  • Then, the app shows you in real time how your day-to-day actions (the meals you eat, your daily movement, your stress levels, and more) impact your metabolism.

With Lumen’s insights into what’s happening in your body, you’ll get personalized tips to help you align your daily activities with your dietary, fitness, and lifestyle goals.

Check out the Lumen metabolic breathalyzer at LUMEN.ME and use code ESTIMA to get 20% off.

Tickets on Sale Now! Health Optimisation Summit

It’s official! I’m speaking at the Health Optimisation Summit in Austin, Texas! I'll be talking about perimenopausal strategies like muscle, meals, and stress management.

Europe’s biggest health event lands in Austin on April 12-13. You'll hear game-changing health insights from nearly 40 industry-leading experts covering topics from biohacking and nutrition to functional and preventative medicine.

Spend two full days at the Palmer Events Center surrounded by Paleo-inspired wisdom, innovative health tech, and a community that feels like family.

If you purchase your ticket now and use code DRSTEPHANIE, you'll save 10% on VIP or General Admission.

Reclaim Your Energy and Vitality with Cold Water Therapy

Posted on by stephanie-estima

If you’re navigating the rollercoaster of perimenopause and menopause, you know how disruptive the hormonal shifts can be in all areas of your life. From stubborn weight that won’t budge to brain fog and restless nights, the symptoms you’re likely experiencing during this time can feel overwhelming.

One thing I hear consistently from the Bettyverse is that women in their 40s and beyond are looking for real solutions that make a real difference.

Cold water immersion (or cold plunging) isn’t just for the elite athletes or biohackers you see all over social. It’s an incredible tool for women going through hormonal changes.

How Cold Eases Perimenopause & Menopause Symptoms

Midlife hormone shifts, especially the decrease in estrogen and progesterone, affect everything from your skin’s collagen production to how you sleep and manage stress. Cold plunging supports your body through these changes in many ways:

  • BETTER SLEEP: One of the most frustrating symptoms of peri & meno is disrupted sleep. Cold water immersion helps regulate your body temperature, making it easier to fall and stay asleep. It activates the parasympathetic nervous system, calming your body down and promoting deeper, more restful sleep.
  • SHARPER FOCUS & MENTAL CLARITY: Brain fog is a common complaint, and cold therapy increases blood circulation and reduces inflammation, helping to clear away the fog and sharpen your focus.
  • BOOSTED ENERGY & IMPROVED METABOLISM: If you’re feeling sluggish, cold water immersion offers a natural energy boost by increasing blood flow and stimulating the release of norepinephrine and endorphins. It also helps with metabolism, making it a valuable addition to your weight management efforts.
  • MUSCLE RECOVERY & REDUCED INFLAMMATION: Whether you’re working out or dealing with the physical toll of daily life, cold therapy reduces inflammation, eases sore muscles, and helps your body recover faster.

You’ll want to start slowly with 3x a week, 3-4 minutes per session. (If that’s too much at first, take it even slower with 1-2 minutes and work your way up.) The ideal water temperature for women is about 10C-16C / 50F-60F.

In just a few minutes each week, cold therapy can help you feel more like yourself again by improving sleep, sharpening your focus, boosting energy, and helping your body recover faster.

Click HERE to learn about Coldture barrels and tubs, and use code DRSTEPHANIE to get an exclusive discount.

The Nutritional Deficiency That’s Affecting Your Metabolic, Liver & Heart Health

Posted on by stephanie-estima

A recent scientific discovery may explain why some of us are aging faster than we should, resulting in impaired metabolic, liver, and heart health. This condition is called Cellular Fragility Syndrome [*] and it’s caused by a deficiency in a nutrient called C15:0.

Cellular Fragility Syndrome is likely impacting as many as 1 in 3 people, so let’s take a closer look at this syndrome and what it means to those of us who are already feeling the real effects of aging during our perimenopausal and menopausal years.

What is C15:0, and how have we become deficient in this good fat?

C15:0 (also known as pentadecanoic acid) is an odd-chain saturated fat. While we’ve long been taught to lower our dietary intake of all saturated fats, it ends up that C15:0 is a good fat. C15:0 is the first essential fatty acid to be discovered in over 90 years, since omega-3.

“Essential” means that our bodies must have a certain level of C15:0 to maintain long-term health. Essential fatty acids create better skin, hair, and nails, repair age-related damage to cells, and activate pathways that regulate sleep and mood.

Since our bodies don’t make enough C15:0, we have to get it routinely from our diet.

A primary source of C15:0 has long been whole-fat dairy products. Unfortunately, C15:0 levels have decreased because people generally are eating less whole-fat dairy. Additionally, C15:0 levels naturally decline as you get older.

What are the symptoms of a C15:0 deficiency (aka Cellular Fragility Syndrome)?

C15:0 is a sturdy fat that keeps your cells strong. When your cells don’t have enough C15:0, they become fragile and age faster. And when your cells age, your whole body ages, too.

This is why the symptoms of Cellular Fragility Syndrome may include fatigue, poor sleep, and general feelings of “getting older.” As C15:0 deficiency advances, it can negatively affect your metabolic, liver, and heart health.

Is there a test for C15:0 deficiency?

Yes. Some doctors already routinely test for C15:0 levels as part of a fatty acid panel. There is also an at-home C15:0 test available. Currently, people who have C15:0 blood levels < 0.2% of total fatty acids are considered deficient.

Just as importantly, your doctor can test for clinically relevant signs of Cellular Fragility Syndrome, including high red blood cell distribution width (RDW), high ferritin, and elevated liver enzymes.

How do you optimize your C15:0 levels?

The good news is that C15:0 deficiencies can be fixed. A team of scientists and doctors from the U.S. Navy spent 10 years developing fatty15, a pure, vegan-friendly, and science-backed C15:0 supplement that provides just the right amount of daily good fat–without the saturated fats that are present in dairy products.

Even better news? In addition to improved long-term health, over half of fatty15’s customers report feeling better, including experiencing deeper sleep and a calmer mood, or improved joint comfort within two weeks of consistent use.

Fatty 15 helps reverse 36 clinically relevant and aging-associated changes at the cellular level, effectively protecting your cells (and you) against age-related breakdown.

Learn more about how to restore your C15:0 levels and strengthen your cells against aging at fatty15. Use code DRSTEPHANIE to get an exclusive 10% discount on the 90-day subscription starter kit.

Mini Pause #24: How to Make Friends with Carbs

Posted on by stephanie-estima

Food, Female Athletes & Fertility

TL;DR (Too Long; Didn't Read)

Women need to eat more overall calories to appropriately fuel and perform in their workouts. We want to think about how to maximally take advantage of food by strategically thinking about total calories (and in particular) carbohydrates in the peri-exercise time. In other words, carbs are your friend.

WHY

If you’re an active female who is either lifting weights, engaging in cardiovascular activity, or both, there is a chance you may not be eating enough calories to fuel adequate performance in your sport of choice and your basic, day-to-day functions. This is commonly referred to as Low Energy Availability or LEA.

Lack of food intake is rampant in female athletes because of societal pressures to look a certain way as a female athlete [*][*]. This might be coming from media, including social media (and the dreaded comments section), as well as teammates and coaches who may believe there are perceived performance enhancements if the athlete is leaner.

And you don’t need to be on a team or in a competitive environment to also feel this pressure.

Many women begin working out for aesthetic reasons (I was one of these women), and there is an inherent expectation of body composition changes when combining energy manipulation in the form of caloric restriction and an exercise intervention.

Dieting can mess with our heads.

I have seen this firsthand in females who initially participate in a ketogenic or a low-carbohydrate diet. The results are immediate and welcome! A drop in water weight, the scale moving in the right direction, and we can make the cognitive error that we have found the diet for us.

And it does work.

It works wonderfully while we are metabolically unhealthy or consuming too many calories. Restricting carbohydrates works to reduce total calorie intake, decrease inflammation, and fuel weight loss.

Until it doesn’t.

WHAT

I’ve seen this countless times with women–they love the results of carb restriction so much that they hold onto the idea that that is the only way to drop weight and keep it off.

Clinically I have seen this NOT be the case. After a time, excessive carbohydrate restriction begins to wreak havoc on the thyroid. Dom D’Agostino and I [*] discussed this on the podcast a few years back–excessive carbohydrate restriction often leads to a hypoactive thyroid.

I like to explain this phenomenon–a diet working and then over a period of time it stops working–as exhausting the area under the curve [*]. While this term is used in pharmacokinetics (how long should a drug be dosed for), we can also apply this term to the therapeutic intervention of diet.

Said another way… the diet that heals you isn't the diet you should follow long term.

When women restrict too aggressively with the same intervention for too long, maladaptions can occur.

When you’re in a chronic energy deficit–either through over-exercising or under-eating –your reproductive capacity is downregulated via nutrient-sensing pathways [*], which also can affect your metabolism and body composition.

HOW

After a long period of carbohydrate restriction, if you notice that your weight loss has stalled, or it is feeling harder and harder to stick to it, it might be time for a change.

Change might mean increasing total calories, and reintroduction of carbohydrates specifically.

Realizing the anxiety this may invoke in some of you, think about strategic dosing of carbohydrates in the peri exercise time. Either immediately preceding a workout, immediately after a workout, or both (!) is a fantastic time to consume your carbohydrates.

Remember your muscle is one of the primary sites for insulin activity, glucose storage, glucose utilization, and fat utilization. So timing your carbohydrates around your exercise ensures this fuel will be sequestered and used for muscle activity. You are the most insulin-sensitive immediately after a workout!

NOW

If you are a cycling woman, consider initially increasing carbohydrates (and therefore total calories) in the luteal phase of your cycle. This is the 12- to 16-day period after ovulation, and before your period begins. I detail this in “The Betty Body,” which also has meal plans to show you exactly how to do this.

Typically I am for an initial increase of 10% of total calories to be increased.

If your cycles are irregular and unpredictable, or you are menopausal, you can increase your calories right now irrespective of where you are in the cycle. See how that affects your performance and endurance in your gym sessions.

Question of the Week:

Q: Can you clarify some questions about sunscreen?

This question from Doris about sunscreen comes at a great time. She writes, “Thanks for your podcast episodes on skin health–love them all! Regarding sunscreen: I am a proponent of wearing it daily, but I have some clarifying questions.”

  • If you work indoors all day but in front of computer screens, does that still warrant daily use?
  • How often is it recommended that one reapplies sunscreen?
  • When you are indoors, and then when you are outdoors (and outdoors, when it's April in Toronto and we might not be outdoors for long and the sun isn't strong, and when it's truly summertime)?

Sunscreen is such a polarizing topic, isn’t it?!

I would say that timing and dosing of sun (and of course light) is what’s most important to consider here.

On the one hand, chronic UV exposure (sitting out on a beach all day in the middle of summer, with no sunscreen) is going to increase your risk for skin cancers. And if you do require surgery to remove the cancer, it’s awful, usually induces bad disfigurement and scarring, and the recovery is more difficult than I think people realize.

On the other hand, insufficient sun exposure is a real problem [*] and has direct consequences for human health. As we have moved to working primarily indoors, we do have to be mindful of getting adequate sun exposure.

Here are my best recommendations:

  • Get early morning sun exposure. Go outside in the morning when the sun is low in the sky, full of blue and green lights that rev up our circadian rhythms. You can opt for sunscreen if you like (I do).
  • Indoors, it is less important to be concerned with the application and reapplication of sunscreen if you are not exposed directly to sunlight coming in.
  • Avoid sunbathing between 10 am to 2 pm when the sun is typically at its highest point in the sky and at its strongest. Personally, if I do spend time in the sun, it is usually after 4 pm.
  • Wear a hat with a brim and sunglasses to avoid squinting.
  • If you are lighter skinned and pasty pale from the winter months, be very cognizant of your initial weeks in the sun as you are hopefully developing a little base of color without turning into a tomato.

YOUR TURN!

I’ll be answering your questions every week right here in the Mini Pause! Let me know what’s on your mind. I’ll be checking for both questions and feedback at support@drstephanieestima.com.

What I Recommend: OneSkin

I’m super curious about advances in skin care that target both skin health and anti-aging. That’s why I’m obsessing about the OneSkin product line–especially the tinted facial SPF and the new body SPF with additional collagen support.

Four female Ph.D.-level longevity scientists experienced in stem cell biology, skin regeneration, aging, and bioinformatics founded OneSkin to specifically research the root causes of skin aging. They optimize skin biology at the cellular level.

OneSkin's flagship ingredient, OS-01, is a novel peptide that targets what’s called “cellular senescence” a root cause of why your skin ages.

Learn more about OneSkin peptide science and try the sunscreens for yourself this summer (and all year round). You’ll be SO glad you did! Use code DRSTEPHANIE at checkout to save 15%.

How Minerals Slow Down Aging

Posted on by stephanie-estima

I talk a lot about how you can feel (and look) amazing at any age. As women, we’re often taught to fight against our bodies, but it’s incredible how much can change when instead, you start supporting your body.

A few simple shifts in your daily habits can make you look 10 years younger—and add 10 years to your life.

One of the easiest changes you can make is to add full-spectrum minerals to your routine. Every single cell in your body relies on minerals, and they play an essential role in everything from hormones to metabolism to brain function. The sad fact is that, since most of us are mineral-deficient, many women struggle to maintain healthy function in these areas.

Here’s a quick look at how minerals can nourish your body and help you look and feel your best, especially as you age.

Why Do Minerals Matter for Aging?

Minerals play an essential role in almost every major biological process in your body. They’re involved in:

  • Hormone production (especially estrogen, progesterone, and thyroid hormone synthesis)
  • Fat burning (your metabolism slows if you don’t have enough minerals)
  • Food cravings (cravings are often a sign of mineral deficiency)
  • Sleep (you won’t create melatonin, your body’s sleep hormone, without adequate magnesium and potassium)
  • Stress response (mineral deficiencies make you more reactive to cortisol)
  • Mood (minerals make up the neurotransmitters that regulate your emotions)
  • Mental clarity, memory, and other aspects of brain function

Minerals also are essential to mitochondrial function (energy production), which is important in aging. Your mitochondria are the power plants of your cells: they make ALL the energy that keeps your body alive.

As you get older your mitochondria struggle to produce energy. [*] Your metabolism slows, collagen production in your skin decreases, you feel fatigued more easily, your body struggles to manage inflammation, and so on.

One of the biggest drivers of mitochondrial decline is a lack of minerals. [*] Your body needs more minerals as you age, and if you don’t get them, your mitochondria begin to break down.

As a result, you age much faster when you don’t have enough minerals. [*] They’re essential to keeping your cells young and your body healthy.

The trouble is that almost everyone needs more minerals. A 2022 study from the CDC found that 97% of Americans are mineral-deficient. [*] We’re all aging a lot faster than necessary!.

Support Your Body with Minerals

The good news is that replenishing your minerals is easy. The right supplement routine will refill your mineral stores and support your mitochondria. That allows you to slow down aging and help your body to work better than it has in years.

In the past, replenishing your minerals meant taking a cabinet full of individual supplements: magnesium, potassium, zinc, calcium, iron, manganese, and so on.

That’s why I was so happy to find BEAM Minerals. They offer a full-spectrum liquid supplement that provides all the minerals your body needs, in the right ratios, with close to 100% bioavailability.

You can take a one-ounce shot of liquid in the morning (don’t worry; it tastes like water) and refill all your mineral stores at once.

BEAM Minerals also contain flavonoids that deliver mineral cofactors directly to your mitochondria, which makes them especially good for anti-aging. They help your mitochondria get stronger as you age, not weaker.

The best part is how easy BEAM makes it. In 30 seconds a day, you can refill all your body’s mineral stores at once, nourish your cells, and access a younger, brighter version of yourself.

If you decide to give BEAM Minerals a try, make sure you enter BETTER at checkout for 20% off your first order.

And however you choose to do it, I highly recommend finding a good mineral supplement. Minerals make a night-and-day difference in the aging process, and taking them is one of the simplest things you can do to look and feel your best.

With one shot of liquid in the morning, you can replenish every essential mineral your body needs!

It takes just 30 seconds, and you’ll feel the difference in your energy, focus, and more. Head to BEAM Minerals and use code BETTER for 20% off.

Mini Pause #6: Your Metabolism & Body Composition

Posted on by stephanie-estima

Is Your Metabolism Slowing Down as You Age? The Surprising Answer

TL;DR

Welcome to this part of the internet where we consider how both lifestyle (nutrition, muscle building) AND hormone changes contribute to body composition changes in women in their 40s and 50s.

The online debates have been spicy lately, and I’ll get in the ring with some data and clinical insights to help you better understand your changing physiology. It is not simply calories in, calories out OR just hormones.

Turns out, like most things, the truth lies somewhere in the forgotten middle.

WHY

For decades now, women have been told to “suck it up buttercup” when it comes to body changes as we age:

“This is just part of aging.”

“This is your new normal.”

“Your metabolism isn't what it used to be.”

Debates continue on the mechanism for excess and unwanted fat deposition for women in perimenopause and menopause. So many women in the Bettyverse have told me that despite dialing in nutrition and exercise they have continued to gain weight (usually through the midsection) DESPITE these efforts.

When we are told to simply eat fewer calories to compensate for the weight gain, or to increase our physical activity — this advice fails to encompass the totality of what is happening. It is part of it, but not all of it.

So is it metabolism? Is it hormones? What’s driving this persistent change in our body composition?

WHAT

Metabolism — Does it Change With Age?

Conventional thinking tells us that as children, our metabolism is elevated and reaches a peak in our mid-20s. This does not seem to be true.

This study set out to investigate the effects of age, sex, and body composition on total body expenditure and other components of metabolism. It was a nice size (6421 participants, with 64% of them female) with geographically diverse backgrounds from 29 different countries. They looked at men and women from 8 days of age to 95 years old.

A few interesting trends emerge from this study.

  • First: In the cohort of 20- to 60-year-olds, metabolism remains virtually unchanged. This remains true even during pregnancy! It is only around the 63-year-old mark that metabolism begins to decline.
  • Second: The single biggest predictor of your metabolism is directly related to your fat-free mass. For an in-depth look at FFMI, listen to my Better! podcast conversation with Dr. Tommy Wood.

Both of these findings are great news for Bettys navigating perimenopause and menopause! Why? Because it gives us a sense of agency, at least partially, over our bodies in our 40s and 50s.

The biggest predictor of your metabolism is how much muscle tissue you have (and by way of extension your bone density). That IS something you can control. Type A personalities rejoice and say it with me, “WE CAN CONTROL SOMETHING!”

However, metabolism is only a part of body composition. How many calories burned is one thing, but fat distribution, type of fat accumulation, insulin resistance, and the loss of anabolic hormones (estradiol and testosterone) contributing to the loss of lean muscle mass is quite another.

During perimenopause and menopause, your tissues become more insulin resistant as a natural consequence of aging. This makes it harder for your cells, tissues, and organs to get the nutrients they need to produce energy.

We know that insulin resistance shows up in skeletal tissue for decades despite euglycemic levels. Said another way: Your muscles can be insulin resistant for YEARS and yet, you can have normal blood sugar because your pancreas can pump out more insulin to counteract the rising blood sugar levels.

The net effect of insulin resistance is ​​fat production and accumulation in the liver (referred to as de novo lipogenesis) — also known as visceral fat. This is often the reason why women see their cholesterol levels skyrocket in perimenopause and menopause despite “doing everything the same.”

But wait, there’s more!

Declining estrogen levels during perimenopause are also part of the reason you see visceral fat distribution favored over subcutaneous fat deposition in your 40s and 50s.

The phenotype of fat literally changes during menopause where your body will preferentially begin to accumulate fat on your organs versus accumulating fat under your skin.

The fat under your skin is largely harmless despite your general disdain for it.

The fat that accumulates around your organs, however, has terrible consequences for your health including skyrocketing the development of cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, type 2 Diabetes, cerebrovascular disease, and stroke.

There also is ample evidence that visceral fat is incredibly inflammatory. This leads to premature aging of your cells, tissues, and organs, and generally makes you feel awful.

So, you must consider BOTH lifestyle and hormonal interventions.

HOW

Lifestyle Interventions

 

1. Consider the composition of your calories.

  • In my book, The Betty Body, I detail a female–centric ketogenic diet for women looking to lose weight, and more specifically, lose visceral fat.
  • The ketogenic diet ( high fat, moderate protein, and low carbohydrate) has been shown to improve all measures of body composition including body weight, body mass index, waist circumference, fat mass, fat–free mass, lean body mass, visceral adipose tissue, and body fat percentage

2. Lift heavy weights with the intention of putting on muscle mass.

  • “Heavy” means different things to different people, but as a general guideline, the last few repetitions of a set should be very difficult.
  • You should still be able to rep out good form, but the intensity should be an 8 or 9 out of 10. Forget 3 sets of 15.
  • Work until the muscle is done like dinner.

3. Exercise snack your way through the day.

  • I detailed the utility of exercise snacks and their benefits on lipids, body composition, and overall health here.
  • We are designed to have a lot of low-grade activity throughout the day. If you are someone who sits at a desk for several hours a day, consider investing in an under-desk treadmill and a convertible desktop stand to be able to get some consistent walking through the day. It doesn’t need to be fast: 1.0–1.5 mph is plenty!

Hormone Replacement Therapy

 

  • I’m a big fan of HRT, and think this can and should be started as soon as there is evidence your body is struggling to produce adequate levels of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.
  • I always recommend getting blood work every six months to monitor your levels — or sooner if you think something is up.
  • Consider starting HRT in perimenopause when things go awry and plan to be on them for the long haul.
  • Don’t go it alone. Make the HRT decision in tandem with your doctor.

Bonus! Take a listen to my in-depth discussion about the Women’s Health Initiative and why it was a colossal failure for our beautiful menopausal women — check it out here.

NOW

  • Pick up a copy of The Betty Body to learn how to apply the ketogenic diet as a mechanism to reduce body weight, body mass index, waist circumference, fat mass, visceral adipose tissue, body fat percentage, and increase fat–free mass and lean body mass.
  • Book an appointment with your doctor to discuss HRT. At the very least, get some blood work done!
  • Start lifting weights intending to increase muscle mass. Intensity is key here. Work the muscle close to (but not at) muscle failure. For most women, rate your set intensity between 8 or 9 out of 10.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Q: Post-workout soreness: How much is considered normal? (If any?)

This is a great question! I’m going to nerd out and break this down into the different components that might be contributing to your soreness. Let’s also look at whether or not they are “common” or “normal.” Much of it has to do with different fatigue types related to recovery.

Muscular Fatigue / Soreness

This is the soreness in the muscle/muscle groups you’ve trained.

There are many reasons for muscle soreness and fatigue. The most common one being a novel stimulus. If you went to the gym on Monday, found your groove, felt like Woman Woman, and decided to either change up some exercises in your routine and/or add weight to the exercises, this can elicit soreness in your muscles.

DOMS (delayed onset of muscle soreness) can occur up to 72 hours after the stimulus as the muscle tissue repairs and remodels itself.

This type of soreness is not required each time you train, but out of the different types I’m going to describe it is the most desirable one. If you trained your glutes on Monday, and on Tuesday your glutes are sore, it’s an indication that the novel stimulus has been directed at the target muscle group. If you’re sore in your biceps after training glutes, that’s a problem.

To develop strength (hypertrophy), you don’t always need to be sore. It is not an indication that you had a successful lifting session.

Said another way: If you’re NOT sore in your glutes on Tuesday when you trained them on Monday, it doesn't necessarily mean nothing happened.

This is normal to feel or not to feel. I love it when I can feel some muscle soreness, but I don’t hinge the success of my lifting session based on it.

Joint, Tendon, Connective Tissue Fatigue / Soreness

This is soreness originating from the joints, connective tissues, or tendons.

We really want to minimize this type of soreness both during the workout and in the recovery period afterward. Feeling pain or soreness in these elements can indicate that there may be a technique issue with compensatory movement patterns present.

For example,  you really shouldn’t feel pain in your shoulder joint when doing a side lateral raise, or pain in your knee when doing a squat. If you are, it is a possible indication of aberrant mechanics during the move itself. This partially translates the force to the non-contractile tissue. This could be muscle movement patterning, a lack of mobility at the joints themselves, or both. It could also be that for your biomechanics, that particular movement isn’t optimal for YOU. There are many other ways to shred your legs and grow your shoulders.

You want this type of fatigue and soreness to be as close to zero as possible. It is certainly not normal to be feeling this kind of soreness all the time.

Axial Fatigue / Soreness

This is the fatigue and soreness through the spine and back from spinal loading.

It’s anything that loads weight on your spine top to bottom (e.g., putting a barbell on your back) or from hinge movements like a deadlift where a lot of the lower, mid, and upper back muscles, as well as the deep muscles of the back, are involved in stabilizing and executing the movement.

While not inherently good or bad, we want to be mindful of excessive axial loading being the limiting factor in lower limb progression.

For example, when I’m training my legs, I have to be mindful in between sets that both legs are sufficiently recovered AS WELL AS my lower back before I start again. My glutes can be ready, but if my lower back still needs a minute I wait until any secondary mover (in this example my lower back) is ready again. Otherwise, it’s going to be my back that limits my execution, energy, and form on the next set.

Your back is designed to carry heavy loads and with training, you will necessarily experience some axial loading. Fatigue is normal.

Ensure you’re 1) giving yourself sufficient rest in between sets, and 2) giving yourself adequate time between leg days.

Overall or Systemic Fatigue

This is the fatigue that occurs after too many days of poor recovery. It can be many weeks or months before you feel the effects.

You might notice that you begin to experience brain fog after workouts, or you’re generally less excited about training in general.

Other markers like poor sleep, excess or prolonged soreness, or any other types of fatigue above are beyond what you would consider normal.

This lack of desire when you have been able to demonstrate a consistent training schedule in the past is usually a gentle reminder to take a break.

A lot of women dealing with autoimmune conditions might experience systemic fatigue when they have pushed it too far in the gym. Learning how to stimulate — not annihilate — your muscles when dealing with an autoimmune condition might be tricky, but it’s fundamental to train at 40–50% less capacity so you don’t overwhelm an already overwhelmed immune system.

When you experience overall fatigue like this, it might be time for a deload week (another topic I will be exploring), or taking a few days off altogether.

What I Recommend: LMNT

Because you lose water and sodium when you sweat, you have to replace it. The water? Pretty easy. The sodium? It's got to be the right kind of electrolyte mix. LMNT combines sodium, potassium, and magnesium. This trio helps prevent muscle cramps, headaches, and energy dips.

For my Bettys in a cold climate, your hydration needs go up in winter. And while I'm truly a fan of LMNT's limited-edition Chocolate Medley for hot drinks, the Chocolate Mint was a surprise. (I actually don't like chocolate mint anything.) I wanted give it a fair shot, though, and ended up loving the taste. I mixed it with hot water. Super simple and the perfect complement to a snowy day at home this past week.

For my Bettys in a hotter climate, you'll want to try the Watermelon for some refreshingly fruity, zero-sugar hydration.

When you go to drinklmnt.com/drestima, you'll get a free LMNT Sample Pack of flavors with your order. I know you all love recipes, so be sure to visit LMNT's “Recipes” section for some salty inspo.

P.S.

HEALTH TOOLKIT: I've put together a toolkit for you on my brand new website. I designed these resources for my Bettys who are menstruating, experiencing perimenopause or have gone through menopause. There are commonalities between the categories and also specifics for each one. Everything I recommend, I use myself. That's my rule. I invite you to take a look!

Mini Pause #3: Add ‘Exercise Snacks’ To Your Movement Menu

Posted on by stephanie-estima

Exercise Snacks: An Easier (Better?) Way to Stick to Your Goals


TL; DR (too long, didn't read)

Exercise Snacks (exercising in small 5- to 10-minute increments through the day) yield the same, if not slightly better, results than one big session at the gym.   

And we are not just talking about waistline — exercise snacking demonstrates improvement across fasting insulin, fasting glucose, lipids, and cardiorespiraory fitness. They also show a slightly better outcome in body weight and LDL cholesterol!  

WHY

January is a busy month for gyms. If you’ve just joined a gym, or even if you're a seasoned muscle mommy like me, you may be feeling some of your original New Year's goals already falling by the wayside. But have no fear — if you’ve set a goal and are having a hard time keeping up with an aggressive gym schedule you’ve set for yourself — I have a solution for you!

Simple exercise snacks.

Since the pandemic, more and more people work from home either permanently or have a hybrid model working from home and being in an office. What has emerged are new work norms that allow you more freedom to find opportunities in your day for movement.  

I’ve always said moving consistently through the day trumps one big workout followed by sitting for 12 hours. And there's robust scientific evidence to back this up.

WHAT

This meta-analysis looked at 19 studies with a total of 1080 participants. They were looking for studies that evaluated whether one bout (continuous) of exercise was better, worse, or equal to the same exercise broken into smaller pieces through the day (cumulative or what I am referring to as “exercise snacking”).

They controlled for intensity of the exercise, duration, and type of exercise. Said another way: they were looking for the exact same workout either 1) completed in a single session, or 2) broken up into smaller chunks over the course of the day.

Results showed that the exercise snack group and the single bout group both reduced their total body mass, but the exercise snack group fared slightly better. The exercise snack group and the continuous exercise group both improved their LDL cholesterol, with the snackers faring slightly better here as well.

Both groups improved their total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, fasting blood glucose, and fasting insulin.

Bottom line: both a continuous session at the gym AND exercise snacks can yield comparable results.

There's mounting evidence that exercise snacks have incredibly positive benefits on your health:

  • like this study looking at exercise snacks on blood glucose levels after a meal
  • or this one on how exercise snacks lower blood lipids after a meal
  • This study showed that 1 minute of all-out sprints (broken down into 3 x 20-second sprints, bookended by 2-minute warmup and cool down) improved cardiometabolic and mitochondrial health AS MUCH AS individuals doing cardio for 45-50 minutes. That's five times less time and volume!

Pretty compelling, right?

Exercise snacks also alleviate the pressure to get in a big exercise session every day. If you're able to replicate a 1-hour workout in smaller pieces through the day, the results seem to be equivalent at worst, and superior in terms of body mass and cholesterol levels at best.

HOW

You've got two options on how to implement exercise snacks. You can use either option or a combination of both.

  • Option 1: Replace your Gym Session with Exercise Snacks


In order for this to work, you have to think about the intensity and duration of your regular workouts. You'll want to match your regular, continuous workout by breaking it down into smaller bits.  

So, if you are working out for 60 minutes, your exercise snacks should add up to 60 minutes over the course of the day. That could be 6 x 10-minute sessions, or 12 x 50-minute sessions. And you MUST match the intensity of your regular workout.  

Intensity is subjective, but you can think about it on a scale of one to 10: One being pretty low intensity, and 10 being all out. If your continuous workout was an eight, the exercise snacks also have to be an eight.

This is a GREAT option if you struggle with the time commitment for a bigger gym session, if you travel frequently, or if you're the family chauffeur driving kids to after-school activities.

  • Option 2: Keep Your Gym Session and Incorporate Exercise Snacks


In full transparency, this option is what I like to do. I'm one of those people who actually enjoys going to the gym. But after researching this topic for this week's newsletter, I'm going to incorporate more exercise snacks into my day — even on days I get in a workout.   

Exercise snacks are a blessing on travel days, when I’ve slept in and don't make it to the gym, or for hectic days when I'm just not getting to the gym that day. It's reassuring to know that these days aren't a regression, but a progression.

And frankly, these exercise snacks are one of the few reasons I get my sprint training in on my CAROL Bike. I can pop on it and in 5 minutes, I've done 3 x 20 second all-out sprints — and haven't broken a sweat! (If you find you're interested in a CAROL Bike, you'll get a discount using code DRSTEPHANIE.)

NOW

Here are some of my favourite exercise snacks. I encourage you to try these and be creative with your own based on how you like to exercise.

  • While I’m making dinner: 20 pushups, 20 air squats, 20 switch lunges
  • While I’m waiting for a plane: walking lunges back and forth near the boarding gate; wall sits; decline pushups at the gate chair
  • When I have 10 minutes before a meeting starts: CAROL Bike sprints (30-second sprint, 90-second recovery, then repeat 3x), or 30 box jumps on plyo boxes I have at home.
  • When I can opt for walking meetings : I’ll take a call and go for a walk around the block. Pro tip: if you have an iPhone, put the “Voice Isolation” mode on. This prioritizes your voice over background noise. I have taken calls at loud airports and at my kids' soccer games where people are screaming. The lucky caller on the other end of the line cannot hear anything but me.
  • When I'm on soccer mom duty: I alternate lunges on the side of the pitch while my boys practice, and in the summer I sprint around the track (if there is one). This helps me feel less like an Uber driver.

Submit Your Exercise Snacks!

Let us know if you already have some great exercise snacks. Or, if you're inspired to create new ones, share those, too. Reply to this email and we'll compile some of the best ideas from you in a downloadable PDF!

Question of the Week

Q: What do you eat after one of your workouts?

I'm preparing a bigger newsletter for you on peri-exercise fuel, but here are some guidelines following a workout.

RESISTANCE TRAINING & CARDIO

I always follow any lift session or cardio with a combination of protein and carbohydrates.  On mornings when I exercise early, this will be breakfast. One recent morning I had five egg whites + one whole egg omelette on a piece of sourdough toast. On the side was 1/4 avocado and some fruit. I also treat myself to a cappuccino with whole fat milk. Not a Starbucks triple grande venti purple long short with sprinkles and foam (or whatever the cool cats are drinking these days) but a regular 3/4 cup-sized cappuccino cup.

If I am about to get my period, I'll also add in one scoop of protein in water as my “drink” instead of water. I do this because I know I'm going to be hungrier in week four of my cycle, and I preempt that with more calories and specifically more protein.

(If you want to learn more about eating around your cycle, check out my book, The Betty Body.)

YOUR TURN!

I'll be answering your questions every week right here in the Mini Pause! Let me know what's on your mind. I'll be checking for both questions and feedback at support@drstephanieestima.com.

What I Recommend: BON CHARGE

Sometimes all the “steps” for skin care can feel overwhelming. I like efficiency, and I prefer a simple daily routine that doesn't take a lot of time. I also want great skin.

When I found the Bon Charge Red Light Face Mask, it checked all the boxes and more. It combines red and near-infrared light to diminish fine lines, scars, and blemishes. No matter what your skin type, you can experience a brighter, healthier complexion and firmer, more youthful skin using this mask. I love the results I've gotten.

I keep this mask beside my desk and work with it on because it molds comfortably and easily to my face. I can choose the intensity and wear it for as little as 10 minutes and still get all the benefits.

I invite you to visit Bon Charge to learn more about the Red Light Face Mask. Use code DRSTEPHANIE to save 15% sitewide.