Menopause, Melanin & Aging Like A Queen

Send us Fan Mail When is the last time you went dancing? Not swaying in your living room — really dancing. Out somewhere. In your body. Not thinking about how you look. If that question made you pause, this episode is for you. Sam Montpetit-Huynh is talking about the summer body myth — decades of diet culture that taught women their bodies needed to be smaller, thinner, and more acceptable before...

Send us Fan Mail Guess what? I never had a single hot flash. Not one night sweat in over two years of perimenopause. What I had instead: hives the size of a deck of cards from a single mosquito bite, sneezing attacks out of nowhere, and ears that itched so badly at 3am I used to dream about taking a razor blade to them. That's not in any of the ads. In this episode, I'm breaking down the...

Send us Fan Mail This isn't your average menopause content — and Sam wants you to know that right up front. Recorded on Juneteenth, this episode steps away from strength training and hormone talk to go somewhere more personal: what George Floyd's murder on May 25th, 2020 cracked open in Sam, and everything she's learned — and is still learning — since. Sam walks through the real his...

Send us Fan Mail Two weeks ago I got a callback after my mammogram. I hung up the phone and cried. In this episode, I'm sharing what those two weeks between my first appointment and my follow-up were really like — the fear, the sleepless nights, and the moment I made a conscious decision to choose peace over panic even when my mind wanted to go somewhere dark. I also take you back 15 years to...

Send us Fan Mail One hundred episodes. And for this one, Sam did something she has never done before — she invited her firstborn daughter, Rio, to sit across from the microphone and tell the truth. Rio is almost 25 years old. She grew up with one of Canada's leading fitness coaches and menopause specialists for a mother. She heard the podcast recordings from the other room. She watched Sam pi...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever tried on something you loved — and felt crushed when it no longer fit? This week, Sam gets personal after a client reached out needing to be "talked off the ledge" — all because a dress she bought last year no longer fits her body. But here's the thing: this woman is doing everything right. She strength trains. She sleeps well. She eats well. And yet,...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Sam dives deep into the number one complaint she hears from menopausal women — sleep. This is not a "go to bed earlier" conversation. We're talking about what is actually happening inside your body while you sleep, why menopause makes sleep a completely different challenge, the real health risks of chronic under-sleeping (including a cancer connecti...

Send us Fan Mail You know that feeling when everything is finally clicking? The work is landing, the opportunities are flowing, and for the first time in a long time you think — okay, this is it. And then something hits you sideways and your brain goes straight to: I knew it was too good to be true. Yeah. That happened to me. In this episode, I'm getting personal about a really good stretch,...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever felt like your body was betraying you and had no idea why? Like you were doing everything right and still waking up exhausted, snapping at people you love, lying awake at 2am wondering if something was seriously wrong with you? You are not going crazy. But nobody told you that — and that is exactly the problem. In this episode, Sam shares the real, unfiltered stories...

Send us Fan Mail Two weeks ago, Sam went for a walk. And something shifted. In this deeply personal episode, Sam Montpetit-Huynh shares what has been happening since she returned to the green trails of Taylor Creek Park — the clarity, the big ideas, the sense of being reborn after one of the harshest winters in recent memory. She also opens up about navigating life just over a year after separatin...

Send us Fan Mail We just wrapped the annual Stress-Less in Menopause Challenge — and ladies, the women who showed up for that challenge? They walked in nervous, vulnerable, and unsure of themselves. They walked out supported, motivated, and ready for the next level. So what made the difference? In this episode, Sam Montpetit-Huynh gets real about why change is so hard — not because you are weak, b...

Send us Fan Mail I have been using a CPAP machine for almost twenty years. And I will tell you right now — it is one of the best health decisions I have ever made. But for a long time, I did not fit anyone's picture of a "sleep apnea patient." I was not overweight. I was not the person in the pamphlets. I was just a mom, running on empty, sleeping nine to ten hours a night and wakin...

Send us Fan Mail For the past 12 days, I've been sick. Not sniffly, push-through-it sick — completely flattened. No cough, no fever, no sore throat. Just relentless congestion, dizziness, lightheadedness, and nausea that wouldn't quit. My doctor thinks it may have been Covid. We don't know. What I do know is that my body forced me to stop — and I had no choice but to listen. In this...

Send us Fan Mail It's 2026 and somehow, we're moving backwards. In this episode, Sam gets real about something that's been sitting heavy on her — the culture of thinness that is tightening its grip on women, and the menopause space in particular. From Oprah's very public Ozempic journey to Serena Williams' post-retirement scrutiny, to Lizzo and Queen Latifah pivoting from...

Send us Fan Mail What if the exhaustion you've been pushing through actually has a name? A cause? A solution? In this episode, Sam gets real about one of the most overlooked — and most important — aspects of navigating perimenopause and menopause: learning to listen to your body instead of overriding it. Inspired by a recent coaching call with two of her clients, Sam shares a story that so ma...

Send us Fan Mail The menopause wellness industry is booming — and it is also one of the most predatory spaces women over 40 will ever navigate. In this episode, Sam gets real about the GLP-1 explosion, AI-generated before-and-after photos, and why "thinner" is not the same as healthier, stronger, or happier. With one billion women currently in some stage of perimenopause or menopause, th...

Send us Fan Mail Are you tired all the time? Waking up at 3 AM for no reason? Feeling irritable, foggy, and like a stranger in your own body — but convinced it's just stress or a busy life? What if it wasn't? In this episode of Menopause, Melanin, and Ageing Like a Queen , we are pulling back the curtain on perimenopause — the long, often invisible transition that can begin as early as y...

Send us Fan Mail Last week, we talked about the need. This week, we're talking about the reality. After months of dreaming and weeks of planning, the Men-On-Pause event finally happened. Twenty-five men walked through the doors at Nickel 9 Distillery in Toronto—and what happened next exceeded every expectation. In this episode, I'm breaking down the entire night: the nerves leading up to...

Send us Fan Mail The highest rate of divorce occurs between the ages of 45 and 55—and the majority are initiated by women. Is it just "empty nest syndrome," or is there something deeper going on? Host Sam gets personal in this episode, sharing her own journey through perimenopause and separation after 30 years of marriage. She breaks down the startling statistics linking menopause to mar...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when everything goes wrong just days before your second annual menopause retreat? A health scare, a check engine light, and a weather forecast predicting rain EVERY single day in paradise. In this heartfelt Valentine's Day episode, I get raw and real about my second annual Flip Flops & Hot Flashes retreat in Cahuita, Costa Rica. What started as a stress-induc...

Send us Fan Mail In this deeply personal episode, host Sam shares a raw story fabout the moment she received a terrifying "overdue notice" from her own body—a health scare that forced her to confront a pattern she sees in all of us. Navigating her first year single after a 30-year marriage, Sam thought she was coping—until a snowstorm and a constellation of mysterious bruises sent her in...

Send us Fan Mail After a historic snowstorm in Toronto forced a digital blackout, host Sam found herself staring down the raw headlines of a world in crisis. This episode is a deeply personal, unfiltered conversation born from that silence. We explore the haunting question: What if our exhausting, all-consuming focus on our changing midlife bodies—the diets, the “anti-aging” pressures—is a designe...

Send us Fan Mail In this powerful and relatable episode, Sam unpacks a transformative conversation with a client that echoes the journey so many women face in midlife. We begin by looking back at past extremes—like post-baby competition training or aggressive "best shape of my life" goals—and explore the hidden drive behind them: the need to prove our strength in a society that expects w...

Send us Fan Mail Feeling stuck in a winter fitness rut? You're not alone. In this week's episode, Sam tackles the real reasons our motivation vanishes during the long, grey months—and it's not a lack of willpower. Starting with a relatable story of chasing a fleeting five minutes of winter sun, this episode dives into why we must first stop "shoulding" on ourselves and aba...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we’re having a real talk about why the classic New Year’s reset often feels so wrong. I share why I’ve completely removed diets, weight-loss promises, and “before and after” messaging from my brand and my coaching—and what I focus on instead. We’ll explore the powerful question of “why?” Why is being smaller the default goal? What if we focused on taking up more s...