9 to 5 Wellness

The other day, my 15-year-old son Aiden cleaned out our pantry without anyone asking him to. As he threw out the chips and crackers, he said, "I don't eat unhealthy like that anymore." I haven't stopped thinking about that sentence. He wasn't talking about a diet, a macro plan or a coach's rules. He was telling me who he is now.

In this episode, I look at why so many health goals fail when willpower runs out, and why changing how yo...

If you could track one number that shows how long and how well you'll live, it would be your VO2 max. In this episode of the 9 to 5 Wellness podcast, I'm diving into VO2 Max: what it is, why researchers treat it as a longevity biomarker, and how busy professionals can raise it.

Many of my clients and patients put it this way: "I don't feel old, and I want to stay this way." If that sounds like you, start here.

In this episode, you'll...

It's a listener Q&A episode — two questions, no fluff. First: why core muscles don't show up no matter how hard you train them. Second: why "doing everything right" for your health can still leave you completely exhausted.

Key takeaways

• Ab definition is a body-fat story, not just a training story
• You can't out-crunch a bad diet
• "Toned" isn't a separate physiological state — it's muscle plus low body fat, earned slow...

Ever wondered why you can nail a presentation with friends but completely freeze when it's time to deliver it to your team or at a big pitch? In this episode of 9 to 5 Wellness, Aesha is joined by Dr. David Lee Fish — a communication expert who's spent decades helping professionals, performers, and athletes close the gap between their expertise and their delivery under pressure.

Dr. Fish's approach has an unusual origin story:...

Forget January — fall is the smartest, most natural time to reset your goals. In this episode, we break down the science of why autumn motivation actually works better than New Year's resolutions, walk through a practical 90-day goal review framework, and dig into specific healthspan and fitness goals worth building into your fall.

What You'll Learn

• Why January is biologically and psychologically one of the worst times to s...

I hear it all the time from my male patients and clients: "I don't have time to work out." So in this episode, I wanted to dig into that excuse with someone who lives it himself. I sat down with Coach Brian Parana, a men's health coach with over 23 years of experience helping busy professionals and elite athletes — including an Olympic silver medalist and a CrossFit world champion — improve their body, energy, and day-t...

This episode of the 9 to 5 Wellness Podcast features a conversation with Kristina, a nutritionist specializing in anti-inflammatory nutrition. The discussion covers women's nutritional needs across menstrual phases and life stages, including pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause, and menopause.

Topics covered include:

Cycle Syncing
An overview of the four menstrual phases—menstruation, follicular, ovulation, and luteal—...

On this episode of the podcast, I sat down with Lisa Dougherty, founder and CEO of the nonprofit MedFit Education Foundation, to talk about advancing education at the intersection of healthcare, fitness, and wellness.

Lisa shared that she launched the foundation in 2017 to address the fitness industry's lack of training for working safely with chronic disease, medical conditions, and disabilities. She started with free weekly webina...

In this episode of 9 to 5 Wellness, I dig into why organizations really win or lose the talent war — and it's not about pay or flashy perks. It comes down to the day-to-day reality of culture.

I talk about the "values versus reality" gap: employees don't judge culture by what's written in the handbook, they judge it by how time off requests, deadlines, and tough quarters actually get handled. I walk through a few composite exa...

In this 9 to 5 Wellness Podcast episode, I interview Dr. Melissa Durham, Associate Dean of Organizational Success and Wellbeing at USC Mann School of Pharmacy, about reframing DEI as measurable belonging and organizational health rather than performative effort. We discuss why demographic metrics and self-reported data are limited, why retention and performance depend on systems that support diverse employees, and how to measure be...

In this episode of 9 to 5 Wellness, I sit down with Bosee Akheduri — motivational speaker, corporate trainer, author, and CEO of Goal and Grind LLC — to talk about workplace burnout, disengagement, and the unsustainable cultures so many of us are working in. Bosee makes the case that joy isn't just a nice-to-have — it's a strategic tool that drives better leadership, performance, and retention.

We dig into how joy ...

On this episode of 9 to 5 Wellness, I sat down with Coach Brian to dig into a question I get asked constantly: should you train fasted or fed? We broke down what fasted training actually means — working out on an empty stomach after going roughly 10 to 12 hours without eating — and talked through the real benefits, like the modest fat-loss edge over fed training, better metabolic flexibility, and potential boosts to ins...

This 9 to 5 Wellness podcast episode we're reframing skeletal muscle as a highly active organ with major roles beyond movement. You'll learn muscles role as the body’s primary “glucose sink,” taking up an estimated 70–80% of post-meal glucose via insulin-driven GLUT4 and storing large glycogen reserves, with inactivity, aging, and metabolic disease contributing to insulin resistance. 

Muscle is also ...

On this episode of 9 to 5 Wellness, we're joined by Terry Chang and neurologist Dr. Ulrike Kaunzner, the co-founders of Two Moons Health, to dig into seed cycling and what it can mean for women's hormonal health. You can get started on your hormonal health journey today by ordering two moons health here - https://twomoonshealth.co/products/seed-cycle-capsules-bundle

Get $25.00 OFF with the code “AESHASUMMER25 ” at the ch...

In episode I'm celebrating the show’s milestone of over 9,000 downloads and reflecting on the podcast’s mission to help busy professionals prioritize health and well-being as the foundation for everything else. 

A conversation with a friend helped me see the show’s broader ripple effect by also giving speakers, coaches, and brands a stage to amplify their impact. I'm addressing the most common question I get i...

In this episode I'm discussing tight shoulders and chronic headaches that hurt focus and productivity with Dr. Jono Taves, a Mayo Clinic-trained doctor of physical therapy and headache specialist who runs Novera Headache Center. 

Dr. Taves explains many migraine and headache diagnoses are symptom-based “primary headaches” without objective drivers, so care often becomes medication-focused after scans rule out danger...

In this episode I'm interviewing, Rick Howard, an associate professor of applied sports science at West Chester University, about translating adult fitness guidelines into actionable steps for busy professionals. 

We are seperetaing general physical activity from exercise prescriptions, review the guideline targets of 150 minutes/week of moderate activity or 75 minutes/week vigorous activity, and discuss why focusing only on nu...

If you want a deep dive into intermittent fasting (IF) this episode is it!

It is an eating pattern focused on meal timing—not a diet—and outlines three common methods (16/8, 5:2, and eat-stop-eat), including what’s allowed during fasting windows. They describe key physiology (lower insulin, fat burning, and autophagy) and potential benefits like weight loss, reduced insulin resistance, and improved focus, while emp...

In this episode I’m talking with chiropractic physician and author, Dr. Michael Guadagnino,  about building strength and reducing pain at every age without unnecessary drugs or surgery. We’re discussing common misconceptions about aging and fitness—especially feeling it’s too late to start— comparing yourself only to yourself, setting written goals, and reverse-engineering small daily steps. 

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