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Dr. Michele Sherwood Discusses Fasting, Metabolic Flexibility and Healthy Aging

Women's Journal Staff on September 11, 2026

For most of human history, eating was naturally interrupted by periods without food. We didn’t have refrigerators, stocked pantries, or the ability to eat from the moment we woke up until shortly before bed. Our bodies evolved to function through periods of both nourishment and scarcity.

Today, food is available almost continuously, and many of us move from breakfast to snacks to lunch to more snacks to dinner without giving our metabolism much of a pause. This is one reason fasting has become such an interesting area of research, and such a popular topic in the longevity conversation.

But fasting needs perspective. It isn’t magic, and longer isn’t automatically better. If we become so focused on how many hours we can go without eating that we neglect muscle, nutrition, sleep, or overall metabolic health, we may undermine some of the very things we’re trying to protect as we age.

For me, the more interesting question isn’t simply, “Should I fast?” It’s how metabolically flexible my body is, and what I can do to preserve that flexibility throughout my life.

What Happens When We Fast?

When we stop eating for a period of time, the body makes a series of coordinated metabolic adjustments. Insulin generally falls, stored glycogen begins to be used, fat mobilization increases, and, as carbohydrate availability decreases sufficiently, the liver begins producing ketone bodies, particularly beta-hydroxybutyrate, or BHB.

This allows the body to shift away from relying predominantly on incoming glucose and make greater use of stored energy.

Our metabolism was designed with options. We can use glucose, fatty acids and ketones. The ability to move efficiently between those different fuel sources is what we mean by metabolic flexibility, and I believe that flexibility is an important part of healthy aging. Fasting is one way of challenging that system, but fasting itself can mean different things. Time-restricted eating may simply involve consuming food within a consistent daily window. Intermittent fasting can include longer fasting periods on selected days, while periodic fasting may extend beyond 24 hours and requires considerably more caution. These approaches don’t produce identical effects, and they aren’t appropriate for everyone.

What Does the Research Tell Us?

There is meaningful human evidence supporting some cardiometabolic benefits associated with intermittent fasting. Research has found improvements in measures such as waist circumference, fat mass, fasting insulin, triglycerides, and cholesterol in adults with overweight or obesity.

However, fasting has not consistently been shown to outperform a well-designed continuous calorie-restriction approach. For some people, its greatest advantage may simply be practicality. A defined eating window can be easier to maintain than continually counting calories, and sustainability matters far more to me than an extreme protocol someone follows for a week.

We also need to be careful when metabolic benefits are translated into claims that fasting will make us live longer. Animal studies have shown that energy restriction and fasting-related pathways can influence lifespan, but we don’t currently have decades-long human trials proving that a particular fasting schedule extends human life.

Research such as the CALERIE trial, which studied sustained calorie restriction rather than intermittent fasting, has reported a modest slowing in one measure of the pace of biological aging. That’s encouraging, but it isn’t the same as proving longer lifespan.

As a clinician, I think we should be comfortable saying both things. The science is promising, and there is still much we don’t know.

Metabolic Flexibility Matters More Than Chasing Ketosis

One mistake I see in the wellness world is turning a normal physiological state into something we believe we need to pursue constantly. Ketosis is a good example. When carbohydrate availability becomes sufficiently low, the liver can produce ketones that provide energy to tissues including the brain, heart, and skeletal muscle. That’s an incredibly useful metabolic adaptation, but I don’t believe most people need to remain in ketosis every hour of every day.

I’m more interested in whether the body can adapt. Can it manage glucose effectively after a meal? Can it access stored fat when appropriate? Can it produce and utilize ketones when carbohydrate availability decreases? Can it respond appropriately to exercise, nourishment, and periods without food?

My husband, Dr. Mark Sherwood, and I approach health through this broader lens at the Functional Medical Institute. Nutrition affects metabolism. Metabolism affects hormones. Sleep influences glucose regulation and appetite. Stress can influence inflammation and metabolic health. Muscle plays an enormous role in glucose disposal and physical resilience. One laboratory value, supplement, or dietary strategy rarely tells the whole story.

Muscle Must Be Part of the Longevity Conversation

This is an area where I particularly want women to pay attention. The wellness world can sometimes present fasting as though more must always be better. But human physiology isn’t that simple. As we age, maintaining lean muscle becomes increasingly important. Muscle isn’t simply about appearance or athletic performance. It is metabolically active tissue, an important site of glucose disposal, and essential to strength, balance, mobility and our ability to remain physically independent. That makes muscle a longevity asset.

Repeated aggressive fasting without adequate nutrition, protein, and resistance training can work against that objective, particularly in older adults, lean individuals, and women vulnerable to low energy availability.

I don’t want a woman pursuing longevity while gradually sacrificing the muscle she will need to remain strong and independent later in life.

For many people, a consistent overnight fasting interval may be useful. But so is eating enough quality protein. So is resistance training. So is recovery, restorative sleep, and providing the body with the nutrients it needs.

Fasting has to be considered as part of a larger health strategy, not in isolation.

Mitochondria and Metabolic Resilience

Metabolic flexibility also connects to mitochondrial health, something Mark and I have become increasingly focused on through our clinical and educational work. Mitochondria produce much of the usable energy our cells require. Your brain needs energy to think. Your muscles need energy to contract. Your heart requires a continuous supply of energy. Repair, immune function, and recovery all depend on it.

This thinking is part of the Sherwood Mitochondrial Clinical Framework™, which considers interconnected factors involved in cellular energy, metabolism, and resilience rather than searching for one isolated answer to every health concern. From this perspective, I don’t see fasting as a trick for losing weight or achieving a particular ketone reading. I see it as one potential metabolic stimulus. Exercise is another. Nutrition provides the materials for repair. Sleep supports recovery. Stress management helps prevent the body from remaining under constant physiological demand. Longevity is built through the interaction of all of these things.

Why Fasting Should Be Personal

We also need to be careful about turning fasting protocols into universal recommendations, particularly for women. Nutritional and metabolic needs change throughout life. Age, body composition, activity level, hormonal status, pregnancy, breastfeeding, menopause, medications, and existing health conditions can all influence whether fasting is appropriate and how it should be approached.

Fasting may require medical supervision or may not be appropriate for people who are pregnant or breastfeeding, underweight or frail, have a current or previous eating disorder, have type 1 diabetes, use certain glucose-lowering medications, or have significant kidney, liver or cardiovascular disease.

This isn’t about making fasting frightening. It’s about remembering that personalized health should actually be personal. I don’t believe in giving every patient the same diet, fasting schedule, or supplement regimen. The question should be: What are we trying to accomplish for this person, and what is the safest, most sustainable way to get there?

The Fundamentals Still Win

Longevity has become an exciting field, but that excitement can make health seem more complicated than it needs to be. We hear about fasting, ketones, peptides, hormones, supplements, continuous glucose monitors, biological-age testing, and new longevity technologies. Some of these tools are fascinating and may have an appropriate place. But none replaces the foundation.

We still need movement, muscle, quality nutrition, restorative sleep, metabolic health, stress management and appropriate hydration. And we also need relationships, emotional wellbeing, and purpose. You can optimize every biomarker available to you, but longevity means very little if you don’t have the health, connection, or sense of purpose to enjoy the years you’re working so hard to preserve.

Ultimately, the most compelling thing about fasting isn’t how long we can go without food. It’s what fasting teaches us about adaptability. The human body can move between fuels, mobilize stored energy, and alter its metabolism in response to availability and demand. Healthy aging should be about preserving as much of that resilience as possible.

That philosophy is also at the heart of the new book Mark and I have written together, Authentic Longevity: Unlocking Lifelong Vitality, The Sherwood Way.

After decades of clinical experience and working with tens of thousands of patients, we wanted to create a practical roadmap that moves beyond the idea that longevity can be found in one diet, supplement, or breakthrough technology. We begin with what we can control: nutrition, movement, sleep, stress, and hydration, and then explore where we may need help, including genetics, peptides, supplements, hormones, and laboratory testing.

Importantly, we also address something many longevity conversations leave out: the relationship between body, mind and spirit. Healthy aging isn’t about winning a competition to see who can fast the longest or follow the most complicated biohacking routine. It’s about creating a body that remains metabolically capable, physically strong, and resilient enough to adapt as life changes. Adding years to life is valuable only if we’re also working to add life to those years. That’s what authentic longevity means to me.

About Dr. Michele Sherwood

Dr. Michele Sherwood, DO, is a physician, educator, author, and speaker, and co-founder of the Functional Medical Institute in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Together with her husband, Dr. Mark Sherwood, ND, a traditional naturopathic doctor and clinician, she focuses on personalized, whole-person health with an emphasis on prevention, metabolic health, healthy aging, performance, and longevity. The Sherwoods are also behind the Countdown Method, their health and performance brand offering products designed to support energy, nutrition, movement, recovery, and overall wellness. Through their clinical work, wellness brands, books, podcasts, speaking engagements and educational outreach, the Sherwoods have dedicated their careers to helping people better understand their health and become proactive participants in their long-term wellbeing.

Their new book, Authentic Longevity: Unlocking Lifelong Vitality, The Sherwood Way, combines decades of clinical experience, real patient stories, and actionable science to explore nutrition, movement, sleep, stress, hydration, genetics, peptides, supplements, hormones, and laboratory testing alongside the often-overlooked role of emotional and spiritual health.

Authentic Longevity: Unlocking Lifelong Vitality, The Sherwood Way is available HERE.

Disclaimer: This article is intended for general informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered medical, nutritional, fitness, or other professional healthcare advice. Fasting, dietary changes, exercise strategies, and approaches to metabolic health may affect individuals differently depending on factors such as age, health status, medications, activity level, pregnancy or breastfeeding status, and personal medical history. The information presented is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or replace guidance from a qualified healthcare professional. Readers should consult an appropriately licensed medical provider before starting a fasting protocol, making significant dietary changes, using supplements, or modifying an existing health routine, especially if they have an underlying medical condition or specific health concerns. References to research, wellness approaches, or individual experiences do not guarantee specific health, longevity, or performance outcomes.

Jennifer Aitken Explores the Quiet Battle Between Self-Doubt and Becoming Who You’re Meant to Be

Women's Journal Staff on September 11, 2026

By: Robert Mitchell

Fantasy loves a visible enemy. Armies gather. Kingdoms fall. Darkness advances. Heroes discover powers they never knew they possessed. But some of the hardest battles are considerably quieter.

In Shadows & Kings, Jennifer Aitken places her characters inside a sweeping world of mythology, power, and Universal energies, but beneath the scale of the story is something strikingly familiar: the struggle to believe we are capable of becoming more than we currently believe ourselves to be. For Aitken, that struggle isn’t merely something she invented for her protagonist, Lucius. It’s one she knows personally.

“Lucius’ crisis of confidence is a reflection of myself,” she says. “It’s always been important to me to have an underlying message in my stories. Whether this is about overcoming what may seem like an insurmountable obstacle or looking inwards and overcoming things like self-doubt and insecurities.”

Aitken admits that self-doubt runs through her work as an author and her personal life alike, a constant companion she continues working to shed. That admission reveals something important about the novel. For all its fantasy elements, Lucius’ journey isn’t simply about acquiring enough strength to defeat whatever stands against him. His deeper challenge is learning to recognize the strength that already exists within him.

It’s a distinctly human problem.

The Life We Imagine, and the Life We Actually Get

Most people begin adulthood with some version of a story already written. We imagine who we’ll become, what success will look like, who will stand beside us, where we’ll live and what we’ll accomplish. Perhaps most importantly, we develop an idea of the person we expect ourselves to be when we get there.

Then life starts editing.

“I think when we are children or young adults we have a very romantic idea of what life is going to be like, what we will become and the successes ahead,” Aitken says. “But life always has surprises in store, and the events we encounter, how we respond to them, and the people we surround ourselves with has a lot to do with the person you’ll become.”

Those surprises can change more than our circumstances. They can change our identities. The people we meet, the choices we make, the disappointments we endure, and the unexpected doors that open all participate in creating someone who may look very different from the person we once imagined. Aitken doesn’t necessarily see that as a loss. “Just because the picture of your life or yourself changes, it isn’t always a bad thing.”

That idea sits beneath Lucius’ story. His journey asks a question that extends far beyond fantasy: What happens when the person you’re becoming no longer resembles the person you thought you were supposed to be? Perhaps growth isn’t finding your way back to the original plan. Perhaps it’s having the courage to let the plan change.

The Shadows We Carry

Aitken has always wanted her stories to contain something beneath the adventure. She wants to explore what it means to confront something that appears insurmountable, but she is equally interested in the obstacles people carry within themselves: insecurity, fear, and the nagging voice that says we may not be capable of doing what needs to be done.

In Lucius, those ideas become deeply personal. Aitken describes him as someone struggling with identity and lacking the confidence to take control of his own life or make necessary changes because he’s afraid. Fear doesn’t necessarily leave him incapable of change. Instead, it makes change feel impossibly large.

“We have all experienced moments or periods in our life where we feel like we’re drowning in a life that doesn’t belong to us,” she says. “And just like Lucius, it takes little steps, tiny changes, to begin to see how much strength and confidence we all already possess. We sometimes simply forget it’s there.”

It’s a surprisingly grounded truth inside a genre famous for dramatic transformations. There isn’t always a single moment when fear disappears, and confidence arrives in its place. Sometimes courage is considerably less cinematic. It’s making one decision, then another, and discovering along the way that perhaps you were stronger than you thought.

The People Who See Us Before We See Ourselves

One of Aitken’s favorite moments in Shadows & Kings belongs to Elowen. Lucius is struggling to shoulder the Universal energies writhing within him when Elowen agrees to help carry them, despite knowing that eventually the burden may become too much for her.

“She sees his potential, sees where he is weak, and she can help and doesn’t think twice about the sacrifice, only what Lucius will be able to accomplish for the entire Universe with her help,” Aitken says. “It’s a very powerful scene in my mind, and it makes me fall in love with her character every time I read it.”

There’s something beautifully human beneath the magic of that scene. Sometimes becoming who we are capable of becoming requires someone else to see that person first.

For Aitken, those people were her parents. She describes them as her rock and the foundation of her thinking, the people who supported her dreams while leading by example. When other people questioned whether something was too difficult or suggested she might be making a mistake, her parents didn’t tell her to abandon the dream.

They told her, “Go for it.”

“They taught me to follow my dreams no matter what,” Aitken says. “They never said it was too hard, or impossible.” That unwavering support helped her build the confidence to pursue the life she imagined.

There’s an interesting echo between that experience and Elowen’s relationship with Lucius. Elowen doesn’t magically remove Lucius’ burden. She helps him carry it because she can see what he may eventually be capable of doing himself. Sometimes that’s what support looks like in real life, too. Someone believes in us long enough for us to begin believing in ourselves.

Writing Without Permission

Aitken’s battle with confidence followed her into writing. Looking back at the version of herself who first dreamed of creating Legends of Light & Shadows, she knows what she would tell that younger writer now: don’t be scared.

“Not to fear what other people might think of her ideas, or how she chooses to articulate them,” she says. Early on, Aitken found herself asking questions familiar to countless writers. Who will read this? What will they think? Am I writing like other fantasy authors? Those worries didn’t help the work. Instead, she says, they held back her progress.

What eventually mattered more was writing the story she herself wanted to read.

“There is an audience for everyone,” Aitken says, “but the most accomplishing feeling is writing the story you want to read and being happy with the end result.”

It’s difficult not to see Lucius in that evolution. Creator and character are confronting different versions of essentially the same question: What becomes possible when you stop allowing fear to decide who you’re allowed to be?

Finding Ourselves in Fantasy

Aitken doesn’t want readers to finish Shadows & Kings remembering only its mythology, battles, or magical world. She wants them to recognize something in the people inhabiting that world. Maybe even something in themselves.

“I hope as they read through Shadows & Kings, they find a connection to one of the characters,” she says. “I want them to feel so invested in their journey, they find links that mirror their own and can see themselves in this plot, fighting to keep shadows at bay.”

Perhaps that’s one reason fantasy remains so powerful. It allows us to make internal battles visible. Fear becomes darkness. Responsibility becomes a burden that can almost physically crush us. Transformation becomes a journey across kingdoms and worlds. And the person who believes in us can literally step forward and help carry an impossible force.

Yet underneath all of it remain questions people encounter in considerably less magical lives. Who am I becoming? What am I afraid of? What happens if the life I imagined isn’t the life I’m meant to have? And what strength might already exist inside me that I simply haven’t learned to see?

Jennifer Aitken may have created Lucius to explore those questions through fantasy, but she has spent years confronting versions of them herself. Perhaps that’s why his struggle feels so familiar.

The shadows aren’t always monsters waiting somewhere in the darkness. Sometimes they’re the voices inside us insisting we’re not ready, not capable, not enough.

And sometimes defeating them begins with taking one small step forward anyway.

Shadows & Kings by Jennifer Aitken is available through Amazon and major booksellers.

Research Questions Whether Workplace Flexibility Is Enough for Mothers

Womens Journal Staff 2 on September 11, 2026

Workplace flexibility for mothers is showing a more complicated effect than a simple work-from-home benefit. New U.S. labor data and 2026 research indicate that remote options can support employment, while childcare costs, schedule predictability and unequal caregiving demands can still limit how much flexibility changes daily work-family pressure.

Key Takeaways

  • U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that 68.0% of mothers with children under 6 participated in the labor force in 2025, compared with 78.2% of mothers whose youngest child was 6 to 17.
  • Among adults living with children under 6, women spent 2.8 hours a day on primary childcare in 2025, compared with 1.7 hours for men.
  • A 2026 National Tax Journal study found that greater work-from-home feasibility was associated with narrower motherhood employment gaps.
  • Federal Reserve Bank of Boston research linked flexible schedules and paid sick leave with lower odds that working mothers would forgo needed childcare.

Workplace flexibility for mothers has become central to how employers approach retention, scheduling and family responsibilities. The latest evidence suggests flexibility can matter, particularly in jobs with rigid time demands, but its effect depends on the conditions surrounding the arrangement.

That distinction matters because working from home does not remove childcare or household responsibilities. It changes where work happens and, in some positions, when it happens. Recent women’s workplace advancement research has also examined how family-friendly workplace conditions intersect with professional experiences.

Workplace Flexibility for Mothers Can Support Employment

Evidence for flexibility is particularly visible in research examining whether mothers remain employed.

A study by Emma Harrington and Matthew E. Kahn, published in the National Tax Journal in June 2026, examined differences in the feasibility of working from home across college-degree fields before the pandemic. The researchers found that as work from home became more feasible, motherhood gaps in employment narrowed.

For every 10% increase in work-from-home feasibility, mothers’ employment rates increased by 0.78 percentage points relative to other women, according to the study. The effect was concentrated in occupations with inflexible time demands. Panel data also indicated that women able to work from home before childbirth were less likely to leave the workforce.

The findings do not mean remote work removes caregiving pressures. Bureau of Labor Statistics data help illustrate the distinction.

Among adults living with children under age 6, women spent an average of 2.8 hours per day providing primary childcare in 2025, compared with 1.7 hours for men. BLS also reported that employed women were more likely than employed men to perform some work at home on days worked, at 38% and 31%, respectively.

Those figures cover employed adults broadly rather than mothers and fathers alone for the work-at-home measure. They nevertheless show that remote work can coexist with substantial differences in how time is spent on care.

Childcare Costs and Predictable Schedules Shape Flexibility

Work location is only one part of the equation. Childcare availability and cost can affect whether a flexible work arrangement functions effectively, especially when parents need uninterrupted hours for meetings, deadlines or customer-facing responsibilities.

Child Care Aware of America calculated the national average annual childcare price at $13,184 in 2025, using data from 47 states. Its analysis also found that the number of licensed childcare centers declined 1% from 2024 to 2025 among states with complete data. Prices and supply vary considerably by location, but the findings provide national context for the constraints facing working families.

Research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston adds another factor. Using survey data from nearly 2,100 mothers in New England, the analysis examined relationships between job characteristics and access to childcare.

Mothers who had both flexible schedules and paid sick leave had substantially lower odds of forgoing needed childcare. Unpredictable schedules, by contrast, were associated with higher odds of going without needed care. Because the analysis is observational, it does not establish that those workplace conditions alone caused the outcomes.

The findings instead suggest that flexibility may function differently when combined with predictable schedules and other workplace supports. A similar distinction appears in women’s health benefit access, where having a benefit available does not necessarily mean employees can easily use it.

The Caregiving Gap Changes How Flexible Work Functions

The broader issue is not simply whether mothers can work from home. It is whether the structure around that work provides usable time when job requirements and family needs overlap.

BLS reported that women spent an average of 2.38 hours per day on household activities in 2025, compared with 1.58 hours for men. Women were also more likely to participate in household activities on an average day, at 86.7%, compared with 74.9% of men.

Among adults with children under 13, women spent an average of 5.74 hours per day providing secondary childcare while engaged in other activities, compared with 4.27 hours for men. Secondary childcare means a child was in the adult’s care while the adult was primarily doing something else.

Those time-use differences help explain why identical workplace policies can operate differently from one household to another. A remote day can eliminate commuting and make school pickup or an appointment easier to manage. It can also place paid work and caregiving in the same location during overlapping hours.

Labor-force data reinforce the importance of that distinction. In 2025, 68.0% of mothers with children under 6 were in the labor force, compared with 78.2% of mothers whose youngest child was between 6 and 17. The overall labor-force participation rate among mothers with children under 18 was 73.9%.

The available evidence therefore presents workplace flexibility for mothers as one factor within a larger system of work and care. Remote and flexible arrangements may reduce rigid time constraints and help some mothers remain employed, while childcare availability, predictable schedules, leave access and the distribution of caregiving continue to influence how useful that flexibility becomes.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does workplace flexibility for mothers include?

Workplace flexibility for mothers can include remote work, hybrid arrangements and greater control over working hours. Research reviewed here indicates that schedule predictability and access to leave can also affect how useful flexibility is for parents managing childcare.

Does working from home help mothers remain employed?

A 2026 National Tax Journal study found that greater work-from-home feasibility was associated with narrower motherhood employment gaps. The findings were strongest in occupations with relatively inflexible time demands.

Why does childcare remain important with remote work?

Remote work changes where an employee performs a job, but it does not remove the need for childcare during working hours. National data also show substantial childcare costs and differences in the amount of time women and men spend providing care.

Is workplace flexibility for mothers enough on its own?

The research does not establish one arrangement that works for every family or occupation. Available evidence suggests workplace flexibility for mothers can be useful, but its effect is tied to childcare access, schedule stability, leave options and caregiving responsibilities.

Financial Stress Doesn’t Stay at Home and How Dr. Darla Bishop Is Rethinking Workplace Financial Wellness

Women's Journal Staff on September 11, 2026

When an employee walks through the office door, or logs into a morning Zoom meeting, they do not leave their financial life behind.

The unexpected car repair is still there. The student loan payment is still there. So is the rising grocery bill, the childcare expense, the aging parent who needs help, and the nagging question of whether there will be enough money left after everything is paid.

And according to Dr. Darla Bishop, that is exactly why the conversation about workplace financial wellness needs to get bigger.

Bishop, a Workplace Financial Wellness Strategist, author, and speaker, approaches money from an unusual direction. She did not begin her career in banking, investing, or traditional financial planning. Her training is in public health.

She holds a Doctor of Public Health in Health Policy from George Washington University and a Master of Public Health in Health Behavior and Health Education from the University of Michigan. For more than 15 years, she has worked at the intersection of health, education, and the decisions people make in everyday life.

That background fundamentally changed the way she thinks about money.

In public health, knowing what is healthy does not guarantee that someone will do it. People know they should exercise. They know they should get enough sleep. They know certain foods are better choices than others.

But behavior is affected by much more than information.

Environment matters. Resources matter. Stress matters. Habits matter. And perhaps most importantly, the choices actually available to a person matter.

Bishop believes money works much the same way.

More Information Isn’t Always the Answer

Bishop’s approach to financial wellness was shaped by something deeply personal. Her own search for answers pushed her to look past the usual advice.

Determined to better understand money, careers, and personal development, she read more than 100 books.

She learned plenty.

She also became frustrated.

Much of the financial advice she encountered seemed to start from an assumption that if people were struggling financially, they simply did not know enough, had made poor choices, or lacked discipline.

Why live there? Why take out that loan? Why not buy the cheaper option?

Eventually, Bishop began questioning the questions.

Instead of asking why someone had made a supposedly “bad” financial decision, she became interested in understanding what made that decision reasonable at the time.

Consider something as simple as housing.

The cheapest apartment on paper might look like the smartest financial decision. But what if living there requires owning a car? What if another apartment costs more in rent but allows someone to walk to work or use public transportation?

Suddenly, “cheaper” becomes more complicated.

That realization became foundational to Bishop’s work.

Rather than beginning with judgment, she begins with curiosity.

What was happening when you made that decision? What options were actually available? Is that decision now interfering with something else you value? And what adjustment can you make from here?

It is an approach Bishop describes simply:

Start with love.

Taking Shame Out of the Money Conversation

Money can be one of the most emotionally loaded subjects in a person’s life.

Debt can carry shame. Salary can become tied to self-worth. Financial mistakes can become secret sources of anxiety. Even conversations intended to educate people can unintentionally leave them feeling judged.

Bishop believes that judgment can get in the way of meaningful change.

Her philosophy is not about pretending financial decisions do not have consequences. Nor does she dismiss traditional financial education. Budgets, saving, spending decisions, and financial knowledge all matter.

But information is only part of the equation.

If we want people to make better decisions, Bishop argues, we should also understand the context in which those decisions are being made.

That is where her background in behavior change becomes especially relevant.

People are much more willing to honestly examine a decision when they do not feel as though they are on trial for making it.

For employers, benefits leaders, and wellness professionals, that distinction may be particularly important.

A financial wellness program can provide employees with excellent information. But if the program does not acknowledge how people actually experience money, it may miss an opportunity to create meaningful engagement and behavior change.

Money Isn’t Your Only Currency

One of Bishop’s most compelling ideas is a framework she calls the Three Currencies: money, time, and energy.

We often treat these resources separately. In real life, however, people constantly exchange one for another.

A college student may have little money but considerably more flexibility in time.

A working parent may earn more money but have less available time and energy.

A professional caring for children and aging parents may have sufficient income but be operating with an almost empty tank of energy.

So what happens when financial advice considers only the money?

A decision that saves $100 but consumes six hours may not actually be a good trade for someone whose time is scarce.

A choice that generates additional income but leaves a person physically and emotionally depleted may carry a cost that never appears on a bank statement.

Bishop’s Three Currencies framework asks people to consider all three resources when making decisions:

Money. Time. Energy.

The goal is not to create a perfect formula. It is to help people make choices that make sense within the context of their actual lives.

That perspective also makes her approach particularly relevant to women.

Women frequently manage multiple roles at once, including professional, entrepreneur, spouse, mother, daughter, caregiver, and community leader. The financial conversation cannot always be separated neatly from the demands being placed on their time and energy.

Bishop understands that personally. She is a wife, mother, military spouse, Detroiter, public-health professional, author, and entrepreneur. Those experiences inform her worldview without defining the value of her work.

Her bigger question is not simply, “How do we teach people more about money?”

It is: How do we help people make better decisions within the lives they are actually living?

Photo Courtesy: Darla Bishop

When Financial Stress Comes to Work

That question becomes even more significant in the workplace.

Employees do not stop thinking about money simply because the workday begins.

Financial concerns can occupy mental space. They can influence decisions, relationships, health, and overall well-being. And because work is where many adults spend a significant portion of their lives, Bishop sees workplace financial wellness as an important part of the broader employee-wellness conversation.

Her perspective does not suggest that employers should solve every financial challenge their employees face.

Instead, she encourages organizations to think more expansively about the support they provide.

Financial education is valuable. But what happens when organizations combine information with a better understanding of behavior, context, and the pressures affecting working professionals?

That is the conversation Bishop wants to help lead.

Her work increasingly focuses on corporations, associations, professional organizations, and other audiences interested in employee financial well-being. Through keynote speaking, virtual education and thought leadership, she helps organizations examine financial wellness through a more human lens.

Building Impact Without Spending Every Currency

There is another interesting dimension to Bishop’s Three Currencies philosophy. She is applying it to her own career.

Like many accomplished women, Bishop has learned that visibility and profitability are not necessarily the same thing.

She has written books, including How to Afford Everything. She has appeared in national and local media, taught at the university level, spoken to professional and community audiences, and developed intellectual property around her ideas. She has been featured in Essence and has won multiple business pitch competitions.

But achievement has also taught her to become more intentional about where she spends her own time and energy.

She is no longer interested in building a business that requires her to say yes to everything.

Instead, Bishop wants to build something that demonstrates the philosophy she teaches, creating meaningful impact without endlessly exchanging more of her time and energy for money.

That means larger corporate and association stages, strategic partnerships, virtual education, intellectual property, and scalable opportunities that allow her ideas to travel even when she does not.

A Bigger Conversation About Financial Wellness

Dr. Darla Bishop is not asking us to throw out what we already know about financial education.

She is asking us to add something to it.

Context. Behavior. Curiosity. And a little more humanity.

Because behind every budget is a person making choices.

Behind every employee benefit is a human being deciding whether and how to use it.

And behind every financial decision is a story involving far more than dollars and cents.

When organizations recognize that people are managing not one but three currencies (money, time, and energy), the financial wellness conversation changes.

It becomes less about simply telling people what they should do and more about helping them understand the choices available to them.

It becomes less about shame and more about behavior change.

And perhaps most importantly, it acknowledges something Bishop’s public-health background taught her long ago:

Knowing better is important.

Understanding what helps people do better may be even more powerful.

For Dr. Darla Bishop, that is where the future of workplace financial wellness begins.

Dr. Darla Bishop is a Workplace Financial Wellness Strategist, author of How to Afford Everything, and creator of the Three Currencies framework. She speaks to corporate, association, and professional audiences about the intersection of money, health, behavior, and workplace well-being. Learn more about Dr. Bishop, her speaking programs, and financial wellness work at DarlaBishop.com.

Disclaimer: This article is intended for general informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered financial, investment, legal, tax, employment, or other professional advice. Personal financial situations vary based on individual circumstances, goals, income, expenses, obligations, and risk tolerance. The ideas, frameworks, and perspectives discussed are intended to encourage reflection and financial wellness awareness and are not a substitute for advice from a qualified financial professional or other appropriate advisor. Readers should evaluate their own circumstances and seek professional guidance when making significant financial decisions. References to workplace financial wellness strategies, educational programs, or personal experiences do not guarantee specific financial outcomes or improvements.

Is Pilates Really Strength Training? Juanita Ostrem Explains Why the Answer Is More Complicated Than You Think

Women's Journal Staff on September 11, 2026

By: PilatesBridge, Editorial Staff

Strength training has become one of the dominant conversations in women’s fitness. Women are being encouraged to lift heavier weights, preserve or gain muscle, support bone health, and prioritize resistance training as they age.

That advice has also created a question for the millions of people practicing Pilates: Does Pilates actually count as strength training?

Juanita Ostrem believes the answer is yes, but the question deserves a closer look.

Ostrem is the owner of Aspen & Pine Pilates, a Classical Pilates studio in Helena, Montana, and her perspective comes from more than Pilates alone. She has spent more than 25 years working in fitness and strength training and is an NSCA Certified Personal Trainer who was nominated for the organization’s Personal Trainer of the Year award in 2007. Her later education in Classical Pilates included extensive certification, apprenticeship, mentorship, reassessments, and advanced study with respected teachers in the method.

That combination has shaped a view that is less interested in whether an exercise uses a barbell, dumbbell, or Reformer and more interested in what the muscles are actually being asked to do.

Strength Is Not Defined by the Equipment

One reason the debate becomes confusing is that strength training is often pictured in a very specific way: heavy weights, barbells, racks, and gym machines.

Ostrem argues that equipment alone does not define strength.

“Strength is not defined by equipment. It is defined by force control, joint alignment, and the ability to manage load through movement,” she says.

A movement as familiar as stepping onto a platform can illustrate the point. The working leg has to generate force, control the body’s weight, stabilize the hip and knee, and manage the descent. Adding external weight can increase the challenge, but the strength demand already exists.

Resistance and progression are more useful measures than the type of equipment being used.

Muscles adapt when they are asked to work against sufficient resistance and when that challenge increases as the body becomes more capable. In exercise science, this is called overload. Traditional weight training provides one obvious way to accomplish that. Classical Pilates uses a different set of tools.

Classical Pilates training with an expert instructor is a form of strength training because resistance, leverage, body position, range of motion, and exercise difficulty can all be progressed over time.

The key is that the progression is intentional. Simply making an exercise exhausting is not the same as helping someone become stronger.

Pilates Springs Change the Strength Equation

One of the biggest misunderstandings about Pilates centers on the springs.

To someone accustomed to dumbbells or weight machines, springs can appear to offer relatively light resistance. Ostrem sees them as part of a much more sophisticated resistance system.

“Classical Pilates is something very different. It is a full variable-resistance strength system,” she says.

Unlike a dumbbell, which has the same mass from the beginning of an exercise to the end, spring tension changes as the spring lengthens. Resistance therefore changes through the movement.

Springs also create another important strength challenge: eccentric contraction, which occurs when a muscle produces force while lengthening. In a squat, this happens as the body lowers toward the floor. In Pilates, it happens when a client controls the return of the Reformer carriage or resists the pull of the springs instead of allowing them to snap back.

Eccentric contraction is essential in building strength for everyday life as well as improving athletic performance. Ostrem shares, “The eccentric phase is where many of the ‘real-world’ skills live: deceleration, joint centration under load, and controlling end ranges without collapsing.” As she explains in her discussion of eccentric training in Classical Pilates, “In Classical Pilates, springs make that eccentric phase unavoidable.” The body must continue producing force while controlling the movement back to its starting position.

That matters because strength is not only the ability to push, pull, or lift something. It also includes the ability to slow movement down and control force. Walking downstairs, lowering into a chair, changing direction, and absorbing impact all require this type of strength.

The resistance itself is only one variable in Pilates. An instructor can also change lever length, body position, range of motion, tempo, support, apparatus and exercise selection.

Sometimes a heavier spring makes an exercise harder. In other exercises, a lighter spring removes assistance and forces the body to do more of the work.

That combination of variable resistance and controlled eccentric movement is one reason judging Pilates simply by the amount of weight being moved misses much of what is happening.

Photo Courtesy: Aspen & Pine Pilates

Not Everything Called Pilates Produces the Same Result

Not every workout carrying the Pilates name provides the same training stimulus.

Today, Pilates can refer to everything from traditional Classical Pilates to large group Reformer workouts and fitness formats that borrow Pilates-inspired exercises. Instructor education, equipment, exercise selection, and progression can vary considerably.

Ostrem does not argue that attending any Pilates class automatically fulfills every strength-training goal. The quality of the instruction matters.

For strength to improve, the body eventually has to encounter a challenge beyond what it has already adapted to. Within Classical Pilates, that does not always mean adding more resistance.

An instructor may change the springs, extend a lever, reduce support, increase range of motion, alter the body’s position, or progress a client to a more demanding exercise on a different piece of Pilates apparatus.

That requires judgment.

A comprehensively trained Pilates instructor has to recognize what a client can control, where compensation is occurring, and when the body is ready for the next challenge. The goal is not simply to complete the same sequence repeatedly. It is to create appropriate demands while maintaining control and quality of movement.

Pilates Is More Than the Reformer

The popularity of Reformer classes has also created the impression that the Reformer and Pilates are essentially the same thing.

Classical Pilates is a larger system, and the strength work happens throughout that system rather than on the Reformer alone.

Joseph Pilates developed exercises using the Reformer, Cadillac, chairs, barrels, and other apparatus. Each gives the instructor another way to add resistance, provide assistance, change leverage, or help a client develop the strength needed for a particular movement.

At Aspen & Pine Pilates in Helena, Montana, Pilates classes and private training are taught within the Classical Pilates system using a fully equipped studio. This allows instructors to match exercises and apparatus to a client’s experience, abilities, and goals.

A client who struggles with a movement on one piece of equipment may build the necessary strength somewhere else in the system and then return to the original exercise with better control.

That ability to move through the complete system is one of the differences between expert Classical Pilates instruction and simply repeating a familiar Reformer workout.

Where Pilates and Traditional Weight Training Differ

Calling Pilates strength training does not mean Pilates and traditional weight training are identical.

Traditional resistance training can be particularly effective when the goal is to increase the amount of external weight a person can lift. Pilates approaches strength differently.

Classical Pilates places greater emphasis on combining strength with coordination, joint control, alignment, balance, and the ability to organize the whole body during movement.

For some women, well-programmed Pilates may serve as a primary form of resistance training. Others may benefit from combining Pilates with traditional lifting.

The right approach depends on the individual. A woman training for a powerlifting competition has different needs from someone who wants to feel strong enough to hike, ski, travel, garden, carry groceries, and move confidently for decades to come.

That distinction matters because strength is most useful when it supports the life a person actually wants to live.

Pilates Is Strength Training

The debate around whether Pilates “counts” as strength training often gets stuck on what strength training is supposed to look like.

Ostrem takes a broader view. If the body is working against resistance, controlling force, and being progressively challenged over time, strength is being trained.

Classical Pilates does exactly that.

The springs, apparatus, changing leverage, body position, and exercise progressions all create ways to increase demand as a client becomes stronger. What makes the method distinct is that strength is developed alongside alignment, coordination, balance, and control.

“At Aspen & Pine Pilates, we view Pilates as intelligent strength training, one that prioritizes alignment, control, and longevity,” Ostrem says.

That philosophy guides both the Pilates classes and private training offered at Aspen & Pine Pilates in Helena, Montana.

The goal is not simply to make an exercise harder. It is to build strength in a way that the body can use well, continue progressing, and sustain over time.

For Ostrem, that makes the answer to the original question clear.

Yes, Pilates is a form of strength training. Classical Pilates simply approaches strength through a more integrated system than many people expect.

Disclaimer: This article is intended for general informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered medical, fitness, rehabilitation, or other professional health advice. Exercise needs, abilities, and responses vary by individual, and Pilates or other forms of resistance training may not be appropriate for everyone. Readers should consult a qualified healthcare professional, physical therapist, or appropriately credentialed fitness professional before beginning or significantly changing an exercise program, particularly if they have an injury, medical condition, mobility limitation, are pregnant, or are recovering from surgery. Statements and opinions attributed to individuals or organizations in this article reflect their respective perspectives and should not be interpreted as guarantees of specific health, strength, or performance outcomes.