Could Insulin Resistance Be Increasing Your Cancer Risk? What Women Need to Know

<p>➡️ Get the 30 Gram Breakfast Cheat Sheet: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://estherblum.com/protein" target="_blank">https://estherblum.com/protein</a>?<br /><br />What if some of the biggest warning signs for cancer are showing up years before a diagnosis — and we're simply not looking for them?<br /><br />In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Lorna Brudie, a dual board-certified OB-GYN and gynecologic oncologist who spent years treating women at the point when cancer was already a reality. Today, she's looking at women's health through a very different lens: prevention.<br /><br />We dig into the connection between insulin resistance and cancer risk, chronic inflammation, visceral fat, metabolic dysfunction, hormones, and the warning signs that can develop long before conventional bloodwork raises a red flag.<br /><br />Dr. Brudie also shares her own shocking experience discovering that her fasting insulin was 31 — despite weighing just 119 pounds, exercising regularly, strength training, and being hormonally optimized. It's an important reminder that you can look healthy on the outside while metabolic dysfunction is quietly developing underneath.<br /><br />We also unpack the Women's Health Initiative and the fear it created around hormone replacement therapy, why Dr. Brudie believes hormones have been unfairly blamed for cancer, what women with a history of cancer need to know about HRT, and why cancer survivorship should mean much more than simply being cancer-free.<br /><br />We cover:<br /><br />• The connection between insulin resistance, inflammation, and cancer risk<br />• Why fasting insulin may reveal problems that glucose doesn't<br />• How metabolic dysfunction can exist at any body size<br />• The role visceral fat may play in hormone-driven cancers<br />• Why Dr. Brudie believes cancer prevention needs to start years earlier<br />• What the Women's Health Initiative got wrong about hormone therapy<br />• Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy and cancer risk<br />• Hormone therapy after cancer treatment<br />• Why testosterone deserves a bigger place in women's health<br />• GLP-1 medications, metabolic health, and emerging cancer research<br />• Why cancer survivors deserve comprehensive hormonal, metabolic, cardiovascular, sexual, and psychological care<br />• How to advocate for yourself when you're told your labs are “normal”<br /><br />If you've ever been told everything looks normal even though you know something