Hey Heather, What About...The Exquisite House Pilates & Wellness Podcast

About Hey Heather, What About...The Exquisite House Pilates & Wellness Podcast

Midlife feels hard—like someone changed the rules and forgot to tell you. Welcome to a podcast crafted for women who want to work smarter, not harder. Heather Shaw, Certified Functional Nutrition Coach, Pilates Educator, and 80-lb weight-loss success story, dives into all things movement, metabolism, menopause, and more—including the lifestyle shifts, nutrition myths, wellness noise, and fitness fads no one warned you about. I tell it like it is—with a wink, a hug, and just enough irreverence to keep it interesting. Perfection? Overrated. We're here for progress and perspective.

Publisher

Exquisite House Pilates and Wellness

Category

health & fitness

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

14 Aug 2025

Latest episode

9 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

30 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   9 Oct 2026

   Food as Medicine: Why Eating Less Isn't the Answer in Midlife

   What if the answer to midlife weight gain, stubborn belly fat, fatigue, and changing metabolism isn't eating less—but learning how to nourish your body differently? In this episode of Hey Heather, What About?, I'm sharing my talk, Food as Medicine: Functional Nutrition for Women in Midlife, originally presented to a local Young Men's Service League group. For decades, women have been told that if their weight goes up, they need to eat less and exercise more. But as we move through perimenopause, menopause, and the years beyond, our physiology changes. And the strategies that worked at 30 may not serve us at 50. I'm sharing my own journey of losing 80 pounds, navigating menopause, and discovering that my body wasn't betraying me. It needed a different approach. We'll explore: Why muscle matters for metabolism, blood sugar, and healthy aging. How protein, fiber, quality carbohydrates, and healthy fats support metabolic health. Why food quality matters more than labeling entire food groups as good or bad. How food order and resistant starch can influence the body's response to carbohydrates. The importance of strength training, sustainable movement, and recovery. How to stop thinking about food as restriction and start using it to support your health. This isn't another conversation about dieting your way to a smaller body. It's about building a metabolically healthier body that supports the life you want to live for decades to come. Because your body didn't suddenly forget how to be healthy. The conditions changed. And when the conditions change, the strategy has to change with them. So here's the question I want you to consider: What does your body need from you now? Learn more about my approach to functional nutrition and wellness at www.theexquisitehouse.com (http://www.theexquisitehouse.com/).

2. 

   23 Sept 2026

   Birth Trauma: You're Allowed to Heal

   Birth trauma doesn’t always end when you leave the hospital. For some women, the birth was years or even decades ago. The baby was healthy. Life moved forward. And yet something from that experience never quite did. In this episode of Hey Heather, What About?, I sit down with Licensed Professional Counselor and trauma-informed therapist Leah Harlan for a powerful conversation about birth trauma, the nervous system, and what it means to heal. We talk about the experiences women often minimize: an emergency C-section, an unexpected intervention, a NICU stay, pregnancy or infant loss, feeling unheard during labor, losing a sense of control, or simply experiencing birth in a way that felt frightening or unsafe. We also talk about what can happen afterward. Birth trauma can affect the way you feel in your body, your relationships, intimacy, parenting, future pregnancies, and the way your nervous system responds to stress long after the birth itself is over. But this episode is ultimately about healing. Healing doesn’t require you to forget what happened or convince yourself that it “wasn’t that bad.” And there isn’t an expiration date on getting help. If you’ve ever looked back at your birth experience and thought, I should be over this by now, this conversation is for you. No matter how much time has passed, your experience still matters. And healing is still possible. To contact Leah Harlan: https://leahharlan.com/ (https://leahharlan.com/) To contact Heather Shaw or visit us in studio: https://www.theexquisitehouse.com/ (https://www.theexquisitehouse.com/)

3. 

   13 Sept 2026

   Friendly Fire: When Your Immune System Turns on You | Autoimmune Disease Explained

   Autoimmune disease can feel like a collection of unrelated problems: fatigue, joint pain, brain fog, digestive issues, skin changes, thyroid problems, or symptoms that seem to come and go without explanation. But what if those symptoms are connected? In this episode of Your Body Has a Story, Heather takes a closer look at autoimmune disease and what happens when the immune system designed to protect you begins targeting your own tissue — a kind of biological friendly fire. We talk about why autoimmune disease can take years to diagnose, why women are disproportionately affected, and how hormonal changes may influence immune activity. We also look at where autoimmune disease can show up throughout the body, including the gut, thyroid, skin, joints, connective tissue, and more. Heather breaks down lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and ME/CFS, including her own experience developing chronic fatigue syndrome at 19 and learning how closely nutrition, inflammation, stress, sleep, gut health, and immune function can interact. And most importantly: what can you actually do with this information? We talk about testing, tracking symptoms and triggers, anti-inflammatory nutrition, gut health, sleep, stress, medical treatment, and why supporting your body doesn't have to mean choosing between conventional medicine and lifestyle care. Your symptoms may not be separate problems. Your body has a story. Sometimes you have to connect the dots to hear what it's saying. To contact Heather: info@exhspilates.com (info@exhspilates.com) To visit us in studio or find out more about The Plan visit www.theexquisitehouse.com (https://www.theexquisitehouse.com)

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Contact Hey Heather, What About...The Exquisite House Pilates & Wellness Podcast

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.