In this episode, Laurel and Sarah are joined by Dr. Joe Schwarcz, Director of the Office for Science and Society at McGill University and one of the most experienced science communicators working today. They explore why pseudoscientific health claims spread so effectively, even among educated and well-intentioned people, and why wellness culture is so drawn to simple explanations for complex biological problems.

The conversation moves through three dominant narratives shaping modern health messaging: the obsession with finding a single root cause, the moralization of food, chemicals, and health behaviors, and the pressure to optimize every biological variable imaginable. Dr. Schwarcz explains how these narratives distort public understanding of science, create unnecessary anxiety, and distract from the few behaviors that reliably matter for health, like movement, nutrition, and basic risk management.

They also discuss how science actually works, including why it changes over time, how peer review can fail, how industry funding complicates research interpretation, and why cherry-picked studies and observational data are so easily weaponized in marketing. The episode closes with practical guidance on how to evaluate health claims, how to think about trust and expertise, and why asking better questions is often more powerful than finding definitive answers.

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RESOURCES

Dr. Schwarz's radio show

McGill University blog

McGill University YouTube

Book: The Certainty Illusion, by Timothy Caulfield

In this solo episode, Sarah takes the “doctor vs brand” framework that went viral on Instagram and runs it as a real-time case study on a real company. The target is Cadense, an adaptive shoe that claims to help with foot drop, toe catch, and neurologic walking difficulties using “variable friction” tech, basically a glide-to-grip outsole design meant to reduce toe snagging while still giving traction during stance and push-off. Sarah breaks down what foot drop is, who this type of device might help, who it might put at risk, and why any rehab-adjacent product should be judged on more than vibe, testimonials, or white-coat authority.

Then she gets into incentives, the part everyone wants to ignore until it’s their wallet. She walks through Cadense’s ambassador, coach, and affiliate pathways, and uses the full checklist to evaluate where Cadense lands on the clinician-led spectrum, including what they disclose well, what they oversimplify, and what they should tighten up if they want to be truly “do no harm” about a product that can literally change someone’s fall risk. Finally, Sarah looks at the actual research (yes, it exists, no, it’s not robust yet), explains what a five-person pilot study can and can’t prove, and lays out the line she personally won’t cross, recommending a product case-by-case versus becoming financially tied to a medical-ish purchase decision.

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RESOURCES
Instagram Post: When a Doctor Becomes a Brand
Cadense, Official Website
Cadense Coaches Program, Clinician Partnership
Pilot Study of Cadence, A Novel Shoe for Patients With Foot Drop, Evora et al. 2019
NIH Clinical Trial, Variable Friction Shoe vs AFO (NCT06234124)
Global Wellness Economy Reaches $6.8 Trillion, Global Wellness Institute

In this episode of the Movement Logic Podcast, Laurel Beversdorf revisits the advice to eat 30 different plants per week and explains why it sounds scientific while resting on a much shakier foundation than it appears. She reflects on encountering the claim, why her and Sarah’s initial reaction was skepticism, and how listener feedback led to a closer look at where the idea came from and how it spread.

Laurel breaks down what the American Gut Project actually showed: an observational association between self reported plant variety and gut microbiome diversity in a specific, self selected, largely affluent cohort. She explains why this type of research cannot identify an optimal number of plants or justify turning a statistical cutoff into a universal lifestyle rule, especially given the limits of how plant intake was measured.

She then examines how the venture backed consumer health company Zoe translated this association into a prescriptive target and built products around it, arguing that the clarity and certainty of the message functions as marketing rather than sound, science backed health advice. Finally, Laurel zooms out to the emotional and social impact of this advice, explaining how moralized wellness claims turn health into a performance metric while ignoring access, instability, and other social determinants of health.

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RESOURCES

113: Debunking Menopause Grifters

118: How Should We Eat To Be Healthy? with Abby Langer, RD

102: Moralizing Movement

American Gut Project

McDonald, 2018; PMID: 29795809

Book: The Certainty Illusion, by Timothy Caulfield

Guardian Article: ‘Personalising stuff that doesn’t matter’: the trouble with the Zoe nutrition app

Zoe + Science + Nutrition interview with Prof. Tim Spector

Post: Dr. Lauren Colenso-Semple's infographic on scientific process

Post: What Peter Attia gets wrong

Post: Attia & 30 plants/week

Post: Doctor vs. Brand

Testosterone is everywhere in menopause conversations right now, often framed as a solution for everything from low energy and brain fog to bone health and longevity. In this episode, Dr. Sarah Court breaks down what actually matters when it comes to testosterone for menopausal women, separating social media hype from clinical evidence. The real questions are not whether women have testosterone or whether levels change with age, but whether testosterone should be prescribed, for whom, and what the data truly supports.

Using current consensus guidelines, this episode explains why testosterone has one narrow, evidence-based indication, hypoactive sexual desire disorder, and why claims about mood, energy, cognition, bone health, and longevity are not supported by high-quality research. Dr. Court also walks through how testosterone is prescribed in the real world, why the lack of FDA-approved products for women creates problems, and what the safety data does and does not tell us about long-term risks. If you have heard confident claims about testosterone as a menopause cure-all, this episode provides the context you need to evaluate those messages with clarity and skepticism.

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Instagram: Professor Susan Davis
Instagram: Dr. Kelly Casperson

Global Consensus Position Statement on the Use of Testosterone Therapy for Women — Davis et al., 2019, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism

ISSWSH Clinical Practice Guideline on Systemic Testosterone for Women — Parish et al., 2021

Testosterone Therapy for Women, Systematic Review & Meta-analysis
(Lancet Review) — Islam et al., 2019

Androgen Therapy in Women, A Reappraisal — Davis & Wahlin-Jacobsen, 2015

Kelly Casperson blog post — Testosterone Can Help With Libido, Energy, Focus, & More During Menopause

You Are Not Broken Podcast — Kelly Casperson, MD

YouTube Short: Testosterone and Bone Health

YouTube Short: Testosterone, Motivation & Vitality

In this episode of the Movement Logic Podcast, Laurel and Sarah talk with registered dietitian and longtime myth buster Abby Langer, RD, about what it actually means to eat in a healthy, sustainable way. Abby brings clarity to some of the most confusing and overhyped nutrition messages online, explaining the meaningful difference between dietitians and nutritionists, why food guidelines get so much misplaced blame, and why simple habits like eating more fiber, plants, and whole foods still matter far more than clean eating, hormone-balancing diets, or supplement-driven solutions. She breaks down ultra processed foods, weight gain misconceptions, what causes overeating, and why carbs, fruit, sugar, and seed oils have all become targets of unnecessary fear.

The conversation also explores protein needs, plant versus animal protein, the role of fiber in digestion and satiety, what gut health is and isn’t, and why probiotic claims are often overstated. Abby shares how her decades of experience in hospitals, primary care, and private practice have shaped her evidence-based approach, and she offers grounded advice on how to build a sane, less anxious relationship with food in a culture that thrives on extremes.

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RESOURCES

abbylangernutrition.com
Substack: Bite Me
Instagram: @abbylanger

In this episode of the Movement Logic Podcast, Sarah discusses two primary methods for measuring bone density: DEXA (Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry) and REMS (Radiofrequency Echographic Multi-Spectrometry). The episode explains what each method measures, their technologies, reliability, and practical applications. It compares their availability, cost, accuracy, and limitations. DEXA is recognized as the clinical gold standard but has some limitations, while REMS, although newer, shows promise with advantages in certain clinical situations.

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References:

77: Are You Getting DEXA Scammed?

FRAX tool

Best Practices for Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry Measurement and Reporting

New technology REMS for bone evaluation

Could radiofrequency echographic multispectrometry (REMS) overcome the overestimation in BMD by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) at the lumbar spine?

DXA beyond bone mineral density and the REMS technique

Cost-effectiveness of radiofrequency echographic multi-spectrometry for the diagnosis of osteoporosis in the United States

In this episode of the Movement Logic Podcast, Laurel Beversdorf talks with strength coach James Lederach, MS, CSCS, about the deeper side of coaching and how helping someone get stronger often means helping them grow as a person. Together, they explore the benefits of strength development for adults and kids, training that supports rather than interferes with sport, the downsides of early sport specialization in youth, and the broader life lessons that strength training offers beyond physical health and performance.

James and Laurel reflect on how training develops resilience, self-reliance, and emotional steadiness for both kids and adults. They discuss how good coaching balances structure with empathy, how strength training teaches self-trust, and why the most meaningful outcomes of training have less to do with performance and more to do with who we become through the process.

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RESOURCES

Bell, 2018; PMID: 30135085

DiFiori, 2014; PMID: 24463910

Post, 2017; PMID: 28288281

Post, 2016; PMID: 27807260

VISIT James Lederach's Gym Heavy Athletics

FOLLOW @james_lederach on Instagram

In this episode of the Movement Logic Podcast, Laurel Beversdorf and Dr. Sarah Court examine the enduring myths and misinformation around the aesthetic goal of “getting abs.” They analyze the anatomy and function of the abdominal muscles, the cultural evolution of ab training versus core strength and stability training, and the role mechanical tension, muscle length, and training volume play in hypertrophy (muscle growth). Additionally, they discuss how pursuing the aesthetic goal of "getting abs" is different from performance goals related to abdominal strength.

The hosts unpack popular misconceptions, such as “abs are made in the kitchen,” or that body composition changes work differently for women than men, or that core stability means never moving your spine. They contrast these myths with what current research on energy balance and hypertrophy training show. They also trace how Pilates, physical therapy, and social media helped shape the modern core strength and stability narrative—one that, in some circles, shifted from building strength through movement to “protecting” the lumbar spine by avoiding it.

Additionally, this episode aims to clarify all of the factors that influence the appearance of the abdominal region, and how gendered, moralized, and shame-based messaging about the midsection continues to distort public understanding of exercise and body image.

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RESOURCES

Clip: Mel Robbing Podcast interview with Stacy Sims about abs

67: Popular Explanations for SI Joint Pain are Wrong, Says Science

78: Behemoth Knee Myths

20: Pelvic Floor In-Depth with Stephanie Prendergast, MPT

54: Alignment Dogma - Spine

58: Alignment Dogma - Shoulders

48: Alignment Dogma - Pelvis

80: Posture Panic Pt. 3 with Author Dr. Beth Linker, PhD

50: Bracing versus Breathing

Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America, by Beth Linker

GHD Sit-Up

Hodges, 2001; PMID: 11181617

Kalantari, 2024; PMID: 38565979

Brown, 2011; PMID: 21325932

Cholewicki, 1999; PMID: 10521659