The Sweaty Pillow

The Sweaty Pillow We're not just about hot flashes and night sweats, we're a community of women navigating menopause.

What if menopause is not breaking your brain but rewiring it for power?What if the depression, brain fog, and identity s...
02/19/2026

What if menopause is not breaking your brain but rewiring it for power?

What if the depression, brain fog, and identity shift so many women feel is not failure but a biological reset you were never taught to understand?

For our season premiere stretch of conversations, we welcome one of the most important voices in women’s functional health. .mindypelz joins The Sweaty Pillow to decode what is happening to the female brain during perimenopause and menopause.

Want more details? You will have to tune in next Thursday to get them.

🎙️ Season 2, Episode 2: Inside the Menopause Brain with Dr. Mindy Pelz
Premiering Thursday, February 27th at midnight.
Perfect for the 3 AM wake-up crew.

~ Streaming on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.

02/14/2026

Why You Wake Up at 3 AM 👇
Cortisol is the hormone that helps manage your circadian rhythm. Think of cortisol as your body’s built-in alarm system. It is supposed to rise in the morning to help you wake up and fall at night so you can sleep. In midlife, as estrogen starts dropping, that balance becomes easier to disturb. Estrogen normally helps keep cortisol in check. When it declines, cortisol can spike at the wrong times, especially at night. Making us unwilling members of the 3 AM wake-up crew.

Learn more about the Vicious Cycle of Cortisol
during midlife in our latest episode with menopause specialist and CEO of , Cindy Topel.
Listen on Apple, Spotify, YouTube… or take the shortcut and tap the link in bio.

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Key learning we are taking home from Cindy Topel's episode: 1. Menopause belly is hormonal, not a calorie problem. Tip: ...
02/12/2026

Key learning we are taking home from Cindy Topel's episode:
1. Menopause belly is hormonal, not a calorie problem. Tip: Stop dieting harder. Start supporting your hormones and gut health through sleep, fiber, movement, and blood sugar balance.
2. High cortisol and poor sleep contribute to menopause belly. Tip: Eat within 90 minutes of waking, and walk for 15 minutes after meals to naturally lower cortisol and insulin.
3. Estrogen loss disrupts your gut health. Tip: Daily non-negotiables: fiber + fermented food. Think berries, chia, flax, yogurt, kimchi, or sauerkraut.

Listen to Cindy Topel on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube. Or take the shortcut and tap the link in bio if you haven't already! 🍿

02/07/2026

The three main causes of menopause belly.
First is insulin. As insulin sensitivity drops, your body stores more fat around the midsection.
Second is cortisol. Stress keeps it high, and high cortisol tells your body to hold onto belly fat like a safety reserve.
The third piece no one talks about enough is inflammation. When estrogen declines, inflammation rises. That shift changes how your body handles fat, energy, and hunger. It is why your waist can feel different almost overnight and your clothes suddenly fit wrong.

Menopause belly is not about eating less. It is about understanding insulin, cortisol, and inflammation and working with your body, not against it.

Do you want to know exactly how to combat these three causes?
Tap the link in bio and listen to our latest episode with Cindy Topel from

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"Menopause belly is not caused by too many calories. Therefore, cutting calories, fasting, killing yourself at the gym, ...
02/05/2026

"Menopause belly is not caused by too many calories. Therefore, cutting calories, fasting, killing yourself at the gym, or cutting carbs. None of that works to lose our menopause belly. It's a different kind of fat. It's almost an inflammatory tissue, and we go from having virtually none of this to 20%. The average woman entering this perimenopause phase will acquire 15 to 20% of this type of fat, called visceral fat." -Cindy Topel, CEO of The Menopause Path.

We need to talk about menopause belly. And no, we're not talking about calories. Because so many of us have been taught to blame ourselves. To eat less. Move more. Push harder. Sleep less. Try again. And when nothing changes, we quietly assume we failed. But Cindy asks us to throw everything we think we know about fat, weight gain in menopause, and calories out the window.
Let me be clear. This is not about willpower. It is not about calories.

Ready to throw calories out the window?
Start with Cindy. Season 2, Episode 1. in the Link in Bio.

02/02/2026

Menopause belly is not caused by eating too many calories. Let that sink in. During perimenopause and menopause, many women go from having almost no visceral fat to carrying 15 to 20 percent of it, sometimes without changing their diet, routine, or effort at all. That sudden change in your body that feels like it came out of nowhere is real. And the shame so many women feel because of it is deeply unfair.

This type of fat is different. It wraps around the internal organs, fuels inflammation, and is metabolically active. It is driven by hormonal shifts, not willpower. You did nothing wrong. Your body is responding to biology. When we understand what is actually happening, we can stop punishing ourselves and start choosing strategies that truly support our health.

If you have ever looked at your body and thought, “Nothing changed, so why did I?”
This episode is for you.

You are not broken. You deserve better support.

🎧 Season 2, Episode 1 with Cindy Topel is now live, streaming on all major platforms.

01/31/2026

Plot twist: breakfast helps you sleep. Your cortisol wakes up ready to party first thing in the morning. If you skip eating, it stays loud all day and then wonders why you cannot fall asleep at night.

Meet Cindy’s 90 Minute Breakfast Rule.
Eat within 90 minutes of waking and you tell your stress hormones to calm down. Cortisol comes down, stops bouncing all over the place, and your body gets the signal that it is safe to rest later.

Less cortisol drama. Better sleep. Better recovery. Bonus points for helping with menopause belly too.

Who knew a morning habit could upgrade your nights?
Go to the Link in Bio to hear the full conversation.

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How does the perfect breakfast actually look? And what should we eat in the first 90 minutes of the day when our body is...
01/29/2026

How does the perfect breakfast actually look? And what should we eat in the first 90 minutes of the day when our body is basically begging for nutrients? Most mornings, reality looks very different. We roll out of bed, grab a coffee, rush out the door, and call it a win. There are emails to answer, kids to dress, meetings to make, and traffic to beat. Breakfast becomes an afterthought. Sometimes it disappears completely from our day-to-day.

Cindy Topel from gently grabbed us by the shoulders and asked, "What happened to breakfast?"
Remember the all-American breakfast era. A real plate. A real moment. Not just morning stress and caffeine on an empty stomach until noon. She explains that what we eat early in the day does far more than we think. It sets our energy levels, our cravings, our hormones, and even our sleep. Her “superpower breakfast” is built around five simple components: protein, fiber, healthy fats, fermented foods, and berries. That combination fuels your body for the day ahead and helps lower cortisol, the stress hormone that quietly sabotages sleep later at night. In other words, eat breakfast and you will genuinely sleep better.

Cindy left us with no excuses. For those rush mornings, she keeps it realistic. Her solution is a scoop of protein powder mixed with a little cold espresso or cold coffee. Something you can sip on while moving, still giving your body what it needs.

Consider this your daily menopause memo.
Eat breakfast. Feed your gut. Be the best version of yourself by switching to simple, smart habits.
Get your daily meno tips in the link in bio.

America skipped breakfast and didn’t even notice. When was the last time you actually ate in the morning? Whatever happe...
01/27/2026

America skipped breakfast and didn’t even notice. When was the last time you actually ate in the morning? Whatever happened to the All‑American Breakfast? A nation once fueled by eggs and toast is now running on caffeine fumes. In this episode of The Sweaty Pillow, Cindy delivers a much‑needed wake‑up call and keeps it simple: breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Period.

Curious why it matters so much? Head to the link in our bio and catch Cindy’s latest episode "Goodbye Menopause Belly (And Every Lie You Were Ever Told About It).” Listen now on YouTube and all major podcast platforms.

01/23/2026

Have you ever noticed how some mornings just feel harder than others?
The grogginess.
The hunger an hour later.
The low energy before your day even really starts.

We tried Cindy’s superpower breakfast… and honestly, we get it now.
It is simple. It is filling. It actually tastes good.
And the biggest surprise? We felt better. Calmer. More steady. More like ourselves in the morning.
No crash. No overthinking food. No complicated routine.
Just one bowl that makes you feel taken care of before the world asks anything from you.

If you are in your midlife era, your healing era, your tired-of-guessing era… you are not alone.

We are all just trying to feel better in our own bodies. And sometimes, that starts with breakfast.
If you try it, tell us how you feel 🤍

One bowl. A whole lot of benefits. Cindy’s superpower breakfast is what she eats almost every morning:20g protein Greek ...
01/22/2026

One bowl. A whole lot of benefits. Cindy’s superpower breakfast is what she eats almost every morning:

20g protein Greek yogurt
Chia seeds
Flax seeds
A little granola
Your favourite berries

This combo delivers about 12 to 13 grams of fiber at breakfast alone. That is roughly half of the daily fiber most women need.

In Cindy's Superpower breakfast bowl you are getting:
• A third of your daily protein
• Half your daily fiber
• Fermented foods for your gut health
• Healthy fats to keep you full
• Support for digestion and inflammation
• A steadier start to your day
• Even, help blunting that morning cortisol

Simple ingredients. Real nourishment. Powerful results. Saving this for tomorrow morning.

01/17/2026

Menopause belly has officially entered the chat.

We spend most of our lives enjoying the perks of estrogen. Curves, energy, and yes, even a little extra perkiness where it counts. Then midlife shows up and quietly changes the rules. When estrogen drops, visceral fat shows up. Same body, but new rules.

The good news? Cindy knows all the rules, the rules of weight loss during midlife, and we break them all down in this episode.
Tune in to finally understand what on earth is menopause belly. Plot twist: it is not your fault.

Now streaming on all major platforms.

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