High Performance Health

Olympic medalist turned health-tech founder Andrew Steele says the problem isn't you: it's that "normal" and "optimal" are two different things. In this episode, he breaks down how DNA, microbiome, and blood testing expose what's really behind your fatigue, brain fog, and bloating. And why one test, one time, will never tell you the full story.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

- Why small, consistent daily habits move the needle on longevity more than big lifestyle overhauls

- How the ACTN3 gene explains why "average" training and health advice doesn't work for everyone

- What DNA methylation is, and why taking more B vitamins can backfire if you have an MTHFR variant

- Why "normal" bloodwork isn't the same as optimal health

- How the PhenoAge biological age test measures how fast you're really aging

- Why bloating and brain fog in midlife women are often linked to the estrobolome and gut bacteria

- Why microbiome and blood testing needs to be repeated over time, not done once

- The best way to prepare for accurate blood and microbiome test results

- The three biomarkers Andrew recommends testing first: methylation, gut-brain axis, and ApoB

- Why wearables alone can't give you the full picture of your health

- How Stride is integrating oral microbiome testing and wearable data

- Why data and dashboards alone don't change behavior without human coaching

- What's inside Stride's ST01 liposomal multivitamin and why it's formulated around methylation



TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Small Daily Habits, Genetics And The ACTN3 Gene Story

09:35 DNA Methylation, MTHFR And Why More B Vitamins Isn't Always The Fix

13:15 Why "Normal" Bloodwork Isn't Optimal, And The Biological Age Test

20:45 The Gut-Hormone Link In Midlife Women, And Why You Need To Retest

31:00 How To Get Accurate Results, And The 3 Biomarkers Worth Testing

36:45 The Future Of Health Tracking: Wearables, Oral Microbiome And Multiomics

40:30 Stride Membership Availability And Discount Code

43:45 Why Data Alone Won't Change Your Health Without Human Coaching

46:30 Inside Stride's ST01 Supplement, And Final Thoughts On Aging Well

VALUABLE RESOURCES

A BIG thank you to our sponsor who make the show possible:

• Stride - Find out your biological age and how your daily habits are influencing it with DNA, bloodwork and microbiome testing with a Stride One membership

https://www.getstride.com/angela/ for 10% off

- Follow Andrew on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrewsteele/

ABOUT THE GUEST



Andrew Steele is a former Olympic medalist sprinter turned genomics entrepreneur. He co-founded DNAFit in 2013 and has spent over a decade building consumer genomics, microbiome, and blood-testing products. He is now the founder of Stride, a multi-omic health platform combining DNA, microbiome, and blood testing with in-house practitioner consultations to help people move from "normal" to optimal health.
Want to go deeper? Start here:

💌 Fresh Start Sundays NewsletterYour weekly 3-minute guide to creating the healthiest, most vibrant version of you.
Each Monday, get one simple habit to boost energy, balance hormones, and enhance longevity - joined by 25,000+ women worldwide.
👉 https://angelafosterperformance.com/

🌸 The 21-Day Hormone ResetDoing everything right but still don't feel like yourself? The 21-Day Hormone Reset helps you understand your hormones, restore your energy, and start working with your body instead of against it.
👉 https://www.highperformance-health.com/

🥗 The Ultimate Guide to Creatine for Women👉 https://academy.angelafosterperformance.com/

⚡ 10 Habits That Helped Me Reverse My Biological Age by 25 Years During Perimenopause👉 https://academy.angelafosterperformance.com/

👩‍💼 About Angela Foster

Angela Foster is a corporate lawyer turned health and performance coach, keynote speaker, and creator of the BioSyncing® Method. She is the host of the High Performance Health Podcast, featuring over 500 conversations with world-leading experts in longevity, hormones, neuroscience, nutrition, and female performance.

Angela's mission is to help one million ambitious women optimise their hormones, energy, cognitive performance, and longevity—so they never have to choose between success and their health.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who would benefit from it.

Follow Angela for daily health and performance tips:

Instagram: @angelasfoster

Facebook: @AngelaFosterPerformance

#AngelaFoster #HighPerformanceHealth #Women'sHealth #Menopause #Perimenopause #StrengthTraining #Longevity #MuscleBuilding #HealthyAgeing

Feeling like your brain just isn't running at 100% anymore? You're not imagining it and it's not a discipline problem.

In this video, I break down the real science behind why focus, memory, and mental sharpness decline in your 40s and beyond and the exact protocol I use to get it back.

You'll learn about a critical brain molecule that starts declining with age, why women are especially affected by it, and the 4 most common mistakes that are quietly keeping your brain performance low (yes, even if you're already "doing everything right").

Then I walk you through my complete 7-step protocol - covering exercise intensity, targeted supplementation, specific foods, cognitive pacing, meditation, heat therapy, and sleep, all backed by research, all things you can start doing today.

In this video:

Why brain fog and slower thinking happen after 40



The molecule behind focus, memory, and mood, and why it drops with age



4 mistakes that are silently lowering your brain performance



My full 7-step protocol to rebuild focus, memory, and mental energy



The exact exercise, nutrition, and recovery habits that move the needle fastest



Want to go deeper? Start here:

💌 Fresh Start Sunday Newsletter

Your weekly 3-minute guide to creating the healthiest, most vibrant version of you.

Each Sunday, get one simple habit to boost energy, balance hormones, and enhance longevity - joined by 25,000+ women worldwide.

👉 https://angelafosterperformance.com/

🥗The Ultimate Guide to Creatine for Women -

👉 https://academy.angelafosterperforman...

⚡️ 10 Habits that Helped me reverse my Biological Age by 25 years in Perimenopause -

👉 https://academy.angelafosterperforman...

▶️ Watch Next:

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👩‍💼 About Me:

Angela Foster is a corporate lawyer turned health and performance coach, keynote speaker, and creator of the BioSyncing:registered: Method. Host of the High Performance Health Podcast with 500+ episodes featuring world-leading experts in longevity, hormones, neuroscience, and female performance science.

The most accomplished women have everything handled on the outside, but their hormones, energy, and nervous system are quietly paying the price.

The old playbook stops working in midlife.

This channel is designed to help high-performing women optimise energy, hormones, cognitive performance, and longevity using science-backed strategies built around female biology.

Angela’s personal mission is to help 1 million ambitious women perform better, age slower, and never have to choose between success and their health.

If you want to be part of that mission, make sure you subscribe and share the channel with a woman you care about.

Follow me for daily health and performance tips:

Instagram: @angelasfoster

Facebook: @AngelaFosterPerformance

Metabolic flexibility expert Ben Azadi joins me to explain why cortisol, not diet alone, drives stubborn belly fat in midlife women.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

Why cortisol, not just diet, is the real driver of stubborn belly and visceral fat in women over 35

What role carbohydrates actually play in lowering cortisol load and supporting recovery

Why the three hours before bed matter more for fat loss than your workout window

How to time fasted workouts around your menstrual cycle for the best hormonal response

Why sleep, steps and sunlight need to come before any diet or fasting protocol

How increasing protein and building muscle mass changes your insulin sensitivity

What's really causing your bloating, and why it may have nothing to do with your gut

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Metabolic Flexibility, Cortisol Belly Fat And The Overnight Fat-Burning Sleep Window

10:08 Fasted Training By Menstrual Cycle, Sleep Foundations And Building Muscle For Insulin Sensitivity

20:55 Why Stress Causes Bloating Plus Ben's Top Biohacks: Sauna, Red Light Therapy And Lymphatic Flow

27:00 Ben Azadi's Ketoflex Revised Book And Where To Connect With Him

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Ketoflex Revised (Ben's new book) https://ketoflexbook.com/

Ben Azadi's website https://benazadi.com/

Follow Ben on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thebenazadi/

Timeline - Support your mitochondrial health: Timeline Mitopure delivers Urolithin A at the clinically studied dose to support cellular renewal and energy production, helping counter the natural decline in mitochondrial function that comes with age.

👉 Get 20% off Mitopure when you visit http://timeline.com/ANGELA and use code ANGELA.

ABOUT THE GUEST

Ben Azadi, FDN-P, is the founder of Keto Kamp and host of the award-winning Metabolic Freedom Podcast. After releasing 80 pounds and reversing his own metabolic dysfunction in 2008, he became known as "The Health Detective" for his root-cause approach to metabolic health. He's a NYT best-selling author on ketosis, fasting and metabolic flexibility, including his latest book, Ketoflex Revised.

Want to go deeper? Start here:

💌 Fresh Start Sundays NewsletterYour weekly 3-minute guide to creating the healthiest, most vibrant version of you.Each Monday, get one simple habit to boost energy, balance hormones, and enhance longevity - joined by 25,000+ women worldwide.👉 https://angelafosterperformance.com/

🌸 The 21-Day Hormone ResetDoing everything right but still don't feel like yourself? The 21-Day Hormone Reset helps you understand your hormones, restore your energy, and start working with your body instead of against it.👉 https://www.highperformance-health.com/

🥗 The Ultimate Guide to Creatine for Women👉 https://academy.angelafosterperformance.com/

⚡ 10 Habits That Helped Me Reverse My Biological Age by 25 Years During Perimenopause👉 https://academy.angelafosterperformance.com/

👩‍💼 About Angela Foster

Angela Foster is a corporate lawyer turned health and performance coach, keynote speaker, and creator of the BioSyncing® Method. She is the host of the High Performance Health Podcast, featuring over 500 conversations with world-leading experts in longevity, hormones, neuroscience, nutrition, and female performance.

Angela's mission is to help one million ambitious women optimise their hormones, energy, cognitive performance, and longevity—so they never have to choose between success and their health.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who would benefit from it.

Follow Angela for daily health and performance tips:

Instagram: @angelasfoster

Facebook: @AngelaFosterPerformance

#AngelaFoster #HighPerformanceHealth #Women'sHealth #Menopause #Perimenopause #StrengthTraining #Longevity #MuscleBuilding #HealthyAgeing #EricHelms

At a leading longevity clinic, my nervous system testing showed 80% sympathetic dominance, yet my body composition, grip strength (30kg) and hormone panel, cortisol, testosterone, DHEA, IGF-1, told a different story: strong muscle mass, low visceral fat and balanced anabolic markers. I break down what sympathetic dominance really means, why muscle protects you through perimenopause, and how treatments like Watsu bodywork and breathwork helped my nervous system finally downshift. (485 chars)What you’ll learn:- What my 80% sympathetic dominance score actually means and why "coping well" can still mask a nervous system stuck in fight-or-flight- How my body composition and hormone panel told a completely different story than my nervous system data, and what that reveals about resilience- Why muscle mass becomes even more critical for metabolism, bone density, and cortisol regulation as estrogen declines in perimenopause- What my full hormone panel, including testosterone, DHEA, IGF-1, and morning cortisol, showed about whether my body was building or breaking down- How quickly my nervous system markers shifted once I gave it the right recovery inputs, and what changed in just 48 hours- Why grip strength is one of the strongest predictors of healthy aging, and how you can test it at home- What made Watsu bodywork the most unexpectedly profound treatment of my week, and what it revealed about the tension I'd been carrying without realizing itWant to go deeper? Start here: The 21-Day Hormone Reset Doing everything right, but still don't feel like you anymore? The 21-Day Hormone Reset fixes that — giving you the science, the strategy, and 21 days to teach you how start syncing with your body again https://www.highperformance-health.com/ Fresh Start Sunday NewsletterYour weekly 3-minute guide to creating the healthiest, most vibrant version of you.Each Sunday, get one simple habit to boost energy, balance hormones, and enhance longevity - joined by 25,000+ women worldwide. https://angelafosterperformance.com/The Ultimate Guide to Creatine for Women - https://academy.angelafosterperformance.com/creatine-guide️ 10 Habits that Helped me reverse my Biological Age by 25 years in Perimenopause - https://academy.angelafosterperformance.com/10-habits-optin-page

Integrative oncologist Dr. Nina Fuller-Shavel joins me to explain why cancer rates are climbing in midlife women, even those who look healthy on paper.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

- Why cancer rates are rising even in midlife women who look and feel healthy

- The gut-estrogen connection: how your microbiome affects hormone-driven cancer risk

- The 3 simple interventions that cut cancer risk by 60% in a landmark trial

- How strength training lowers inflammation and disease risk

- Why lifetime estrogen exposure matters more than the estrogen drop in perimenopause

- Why standard HRT dosing gets it wrong, and what blood levels to actually ask for

- Why TSH alone can't tell the full thyroid story, and what a full panel should include

- How chronic stress and trauma quietly drive long-term disease risk

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Why Cancer Rates Are Rising in Midlife Women

09:44 The Vitamin D, Omega-3 and Strength Training Protocol That Cut Cancer Risk by 60%

18:17 Perimenopause, Estrogen Exposure and Why HRT Dosing Alone Isn't the Answer to Cancer Risk

28:10 Hashimoto's, Thyroid Antibodies and Why TSH Alone Is Misleading You in Perimenopause

36:02 Inflammation, Cortisol and Chronic Stress: The Hidden Drivers of Disease Risk in Midlife

43:57 Trauma, Boundaries and Why Saying No Is a Non-Negotiable in Midlife Health

51:35 Full Body MRIs, Genetic Testing and Polygenic Risk Scores: What's Actually Worth Doing

59:03 Wearables, CGMs and the One Longevity Message Every High-Achieving Woman Needs to Hear .

VALUABLE RESOURCES

● Synthesis Clinic (Dr. Nina's integrative oncology practice) 👉 https://www.synthesisclinic.co.uk/

● Dr. Nina's personal site 👉 https://www.drninafullershavel.com/

● Follow Dr. Nina on Instagram 👉 https://www.instagram.com/drninafullershavel/

ABOUT THE GUEST

Dr. Nina Fuller-Shavel is a physician specializing in precision health and integrative oncology, and the founder of Synthesis Clinic, an award-winning integrative cancer care practice in the UK. She's also CEO of the National Centre for Integrative Oncology. Diagnosed with breast cancer at 33, she brings a deeply personal, root cause approach to hormone health, cancer risk, and women's longevity.

Want to go deeper? Start here:

💌 Fresh Start Mondays NewsletterYour weekly 3-minute guide to creating the healthiest, most vibrant version of you.
Each Monday, get one simple habit to boost energy, balance hormones, and enhance longevity—joined by 25,000+ women worldwide.
👉 https://angelafosterperformance.com/

🌸 The 21-Day Hormone ResetDoing everything right but still don't feel like yourself? The 21-Day Hormone Reset helps you understand your hormones, restore your energy, and start working with your body instead of against it.
👉 https://www.highperformance-health.com/

🥗 The Ultimate Guide to Creatine for Women👉 https://academy.angelafosterperformance.com/

⚡ 10 Habits That Helped Me Reverse My Biological Age by 25 Years During Perimenopause👉 https://academy.angelafosterperformance.com/

👩‍💼 About Angela Foster

Angela Foster is a corporate lawyer turned health and performance coach, keynote speaker, and creator of the BioSyncing® Method. She is the host of the High Performance Health Podcast, featuring over 500 conversations with world-leading experts in longevity, hormones, neuroscience, nutrition, and female performance.

Angela's mission is to help one million ambitious women optimise their hormones, energy, cognitive performance, and longevity—so they never have to choose between success and their health.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who would benefit from it.

Follow Angela for daily health and performance tips:

Instagram: @angelasfoster

Facebook: @AngelaFosterPerformance

#AngelaFoster #HighPerformanceHealth #Women'sHealth #Menopause #Perimenopause #StrengthTraining #Longevity #MuscleBuilding #HealthyAgeing #EricHelms