Dr Natalie Fox

I hear this ALL the time from women:

“I was told I need to eat more protein.”

And they’re not wrong.

But I think we’re missing a pretty important part of the message.

Eating more protein alone isn’t enough to protect your muscle as you age.

A systematic review and meta-analysis in postmenopausal women found that whey protein supplementation without resistance training did not significantly improve lean mass or strength.

But when protein was paired with resistance training? That’s where researchers found improvements in lower-limb lean mass and some measures of strength.

And a larger meta-analysis of 49 studies found that adding protein to resistance training produced additional gains in muscle and strength, with gains in fat-free mass leveling off around ~1.6 g/kg/day on average.

So yes — eat your protein.

But remember:

Resistance training creates the stimulus.
Protein helps support the adaptation.

If maintaining muscle as we age is the goal, we still have to give that muscle a reason to stay. 💪

Apparently training my deep core has become my whole personality.

I wish more women knew that some of the best core exercises are the ones that look almost too easy.

Because deep core training isn’t always about making an exercise harder.

Sometimes it’s about making a simple exercise incredibly precise.

Pelvis supported.
Ribs connected.
Exhale through the movement.
Slow toe taps without letting the hip flexors take over.



The goal isn’t more reps.

It’s learning to control your pelvis and trunk while your legs move — without your back arching, your ribs flaring, or your hip flexors doing all the work.

And that’s why these exercises can be humbling.

The ones that look the easiest often expose exactly where you’re compensating.

Better core training isn’t always harder.

Sometimes it’s just better executed.

A male patient asked me the other day what I do with “all my extra time” in the summer.

For context, I drop down to treating patients three days a week in the summer.

Partly because it’s a little slower.

But mostly because my kids are off school and — wild concept — I actually want to spend time with them.

When he asked me that, I had two immediate thoughts:

1. You have obviously never run a business.
2. I wonder if you would have the gull to ask a man the same question.

Because the hours you see available in my online booking schedule are a very small fraction of the hours I actually work.

I’m in my fourth year of owning a business, and for all of that time I have been the chiropractor, the admin, the cleaner, the marketer, the hiring manager, the website editor, the person answering emails, returning calls, sending exercises, doing charting, managing a team, solving problems behind the scenes…

None of that shows up on Jane.

And somewhere in between all of that, I’m also a mom and a wife — two roles I actually really value and want to have time for.

I think we need to stop equating the number of hours a woman is physically at her workplace with how hard she works, how ambitious she is, or how seriously she takes her career.

Building a business that allows me to take my foot off the gas a little in the summer and spend more time with my kids isn’t something I need to justify.

In fact, it’s kind of the point.

So the next time you feel tempted to ask a business owner — particularly one who is also raising a family — what she possibly does with all her “extra time”…

Respectfully,

[insert the response I’m not supposed to say as a regulated health professional]. 😂

Apparently, the way my toes naturally spread is hilarious. 😂

My daughters were making fun of my feet the other day — and after defending my impressive toe-spreading abilities, I realized… this is actually a post. Because being able to spread and control your toes is a good thing. 👣

Your feet are your foundation.

If your feet are weak, stiff, or your toes can’t spread, it can change how force is absorbed and transferred through your body — influencing movement at the ankles, knees, hips and pelvis.

One of the simplest things you can do? Train your feet.

👣 Practice spreading your toes and controlling them independently.
👣 Build strength with foot doming/short-foot exercises and single-leg balance.
👣 Spend some time barefoot on safe surfaces and actually let your feet work.

And here’s something people don’t always think about: your feet and your pelvic floor work together.

Your feet provide sensory input and stability from the ground up, while changes in foot position and lower-limb mechanics can influence what’s happening through the hips and pelvis. Your pelvic floor is part of that larger system — especially during standing, walking, balancing and lifting.

Does strengthening your feet magically fix pelvic floor dysfunction? No. But having strong, responsive feet can absolutely be part of building a body that manages load and movement well.

So yes, my daughters can continue making fun of my weirdly spread-out toes.

I’ll be over here calling them functional. 😂👣

Your shoes support your feet.
Your muscles should too.