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474: Why I Chose Disc Replacement Over Spinal Fusion + 5 Weeks Post-Surgery Reality Check with Dr. Jared Ament

Midlife Conversations with Natalie Jill

Release Date: 08/26/2025

493: She Beat Leukemia By Building Muscle: The Truth About Building Muscle After 50 with Helen Fritsch show art 493: She Beat Leukemia By Building Muscle: The Truth About Building Muscle After 50 with Helen Fritsch

Midlife Conversations with Natalie Jill

What happens when a 56-year-old woman who's never lifted weights walks into a gym and decides to compete in bodybuilding, and then were diagnosed with leukemia at 57? Most people would scale back, play it safe, maybe give up entirely. But Helen Fritsch did the opposite – she doubled down on building muscle. Helen never entered a weight room until her late 50s - she thought it was "for boys only." As a flight attendant and certified wine specialist, she spent decades doing cardio and avoiding heavy weights. At 56, she gave herself one month to prep for her first competition (most people take...

info_outline 492: Leaky Gut, Histamine Nightmare, and Your Nervous System: The Hidden Connection Making You Sick with The Gut Genie Laura Frontiero show art 492: Leaky Gut, Histamine Nightmare, and Your Nervous System: The Hidden Connection Making You Sick with The Gut Genie Laura Frontiero

Midlife Conversations with Natalie Jill

Join us for our free masterclass   Is your gut secretly controlling your brain, sabotaging your weight loss, and destroying your health – all while conventional medicine tells you it's "just stress"? After diving deep into the research on histamine, mast cells, and the gut-brain connection (and texting Laura Frontiero approximately a million questions), I discovered why so many midlife women are struggling with mysterious symptoms that doctors can't explain. Laura reveals the shocking truth about leaky gut that has nothing to do with digestive symptoms, why fermented foods and bone...

info_outline 491: Hidden Nail Salon Dangers, Risks of Gel Nails, and What To Do About It with Lanna Dang show art 491: Hidden Nail Salon Dangers, Risks of Gel Nails, and What To Do About It with Lanna Dang

Midlife Conversations with Natalie Jill

Did you know that the paraffin wax from your last pedicure might have been peeled off someone else's feet and reused on yours? Gross, and…the health surprises lurking in the nail salon go FAR beyond that.  Lanna Dang, owner of Pampr'd Soul in Scottsdale, completely transformed how I think about nail salons. Growing up inside her parents' nail salon, Lanna witnessed practices that would make your skin crawl: from tools that are barely sanitized between clients to name-brand polish bottles being secretly refilled with toxic knockoffs. She reveals why that "healthy" dip powder is actually...

info_outline 490: When Your Body Won’t Calm Down: What I Learned About Histamine, Mast Cells, and the Hidden Cause Behind My Mysterious Reactions show art 490: When Your Body Won’t Calm Down: What I Learned About Histamine, Mast Cells, and the Hidden Cause Behind My Mysterious Reactions

Midlife Conversations with Natalie Jill

You know how they say "what happens in Bali stays in Bali"? Yeah… not so much. Mine came home with me in the form of hives, food reactions, and what I now call my PhD in histamine. In this episode, I'm sharing the wild story of how a little post-Bali "food poisoning" turned into a full-blown case of histamine intolerance and mast cell activation syndrome. Think: red blotches, racing heart, and me Googling every bite before eating it. I'll walk you through the chaos of misdiagnosis, the "aha!" moment when we figured out it was actually Scombroid poisoning (yes, that's a real thing from bad...

info_outline 489: Histamine Intolerances, Mast Cells, Our Nervous System, and Liver with Dr. Jess Peatross show art 489: Histamine Intolerances, Mast Cells, Our Nervous System, and Liver with Dr. Jess Peatross

Midlife Conversations with Natalie Jill

Could your racing thoughts and underlying anxiety be causing your mysterious hives, heart palpitations, and unexplained allergic reactions? After my own shocking hive outbreak following surgery and Bali belly, I dove deep into the world of histamine and mast cells. Dr. Jessica Peatross, the MD who's become known as the "surgeon of figuring out what's really going on," reveals why your nervous system might be the hidden trigger behind your mystery symptoms. She explains why midlife women suddenly develop histamine issues out of nowhere, the shocking connection between anxiety and mast cell...

info_outline 488: How To Fix Your Finances So You Don’t Have To Work Forever with Bret Johnson show art 488: How To Fix Your Finances So You Don’t Have To Work Forever with Bret Johnson

Midlife Conversations with Natalie Jill

Is everyone around you planning dream retirements while you're wondering if you'll be working forever? If you're lying awake at night worried about finances, feeling like you're the only one who didn't figure out this money thing, you’re not alone, and this episode is your wake-up call + your action plan rolled into one. I invited my friend, an accomplished investor and financial savvy expert, Bret Johnson to share the exact strategies he used to transform his financial future later in life. From being behind the eight-ball to traveling abundantly and living without money stress, Bret breaks...

info_outline 487: Zombie Cells: How Cellular Senescence Is Secretly Aging You From Within with Dan Pardi show art 487: Zombie Cells: How Cellular Senescence Is Secretly Aging You From Within with Dan Pardi

Midlife Conversations with Natalie Jill

What if the reason you can't lose weight, feel exhausted, and struggle with inflammation has nothing to do with your diet or exercise routine – but with zombie cells lurking in your body? In this game-changing episode, I sit down with Dan Pardi, Chief Health Officer at Qualia Life, to uncover the hidden world of cellular senescence and why these "zombie cells" might be sabotaging your health without you even knowing it. We dive deep into how damaged cells that refuse to die are creating chronic inflammation, accelerating aging, and potentially blocking your body's ability to heal itself. Dan...

info_outline 486: Why Breathwork is the Missing Piece in Your Midlife Wellness Journey with Samantha Skelly show art 486: Why Breathwork is the Missing Piece in Your Midlife Wellness Journey with Samantha Skelly

Midlife Conversations with Natalie Jill

What if the secret to calming your nervous system, improving your sleep, and even slowing down aging was as simple as changing how you breathe? Today's conversation with breath work expert Samantha Skelly reveals why most of us are only using 30% of our lung capacity and how this impacts everything from our stress levels to our cellular health. Learn the exact technique that can shift your nervous system from fight-or-flight to rest-and-repair in just 3-5 minutes. Samantha shares her personal transformation story and breaks down the science of why breath work works where other practices fail -...

info_outline 485: Perimenopause vs Menopause: Understanding Your Hormone Changes and What Actually Works with Mariza Snyder show art 485: Perimenopause vs Menopause: Understanding Your Hormone Changes and What Actually Works with Mariza Snyder

Midlife Conversations with Natalie Jill

You're exhausted, can't sleep, gaining weight despite doing "all the right things," and your doctor hands you an antidepressant or birth control pills. Sound familiar? In this raw and revealing conversation, integrative doctor and perimenopause expert Dr. Mariza Snyder pulls back the curtain on what's really happening to your hormones during this massive transition—and why the standard medical approach is leaving millions of women struggling unnecessarily. We're breaking down the confusion between perimenopause and menopause, revealing why your progesterone tanks first (and what that means...

info_outline 484: Bali Broke My Gut (and what I learned) with the Gut Genie Laura Frontiero show art 484: Bali Broke My Gut (and what I learned) with the Gut Genie Laura Frontiero

Midlife Conversations with Natalie Jill

I found out the hard way that Bali Belly is no joke. What started as a bucket-list dream vacation turned into a battle with my gut health that I'm still fighting as we record this. And the kicker - I thought I was prepared to dodge it: I had my enzymes, my probiotics, I was careful with food and water. But what I didn't know about environmental exposure through skin contact, contaminated water sources, and the reality of underdeveloped infrastructure cost me my normally great health. In this conversation, I'm joined by functional nurse practitioner Laura Frontiero (aka "The Gut Genie") to...

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Five weeks ago, I could barely sit without pain. Bending over to brush my teeth required a strategic plan involving core activation and glute squeezing. Sneezing meant grabbing onto furniture for dear life. Today? I'm sitting comfortably having this conversation with my neurosurgeon about why disc replacement surgery changed everything. 

In this episode, join me and Dr. Jared Ament as we dive deep into the world of motion-preserving spine surgery. You'll discover why spinal fusion became the "standard of care" (hint: it wasn't because it was the best option), how disc replacement technology has evolved to achieve 96% success rates, and why insurance companies still call a procedure with 20+ years of data "experimental."

Dr. Ament reveals the shocking truth about why most surgeons don't offer disc replacement, the real recovery differences between fusion and motion preservation, and what actually happens when you go "through the stomach" for spine surgery. We also tackle the controversial emotional vs. mechanical pain debate, discuss when stem cells actually help (and when they don't), and explore why chronic NSAID use might be sabotaging your healing.

Whether you or a loved one suffer from degenerative disc disease, bulging or ruptured discs, this episode is packed with valuable insights from both a patient's and a surgeon’s perspective. Also, discover the benefits of nootropics in surgical recovery and daily cognitive function. 

 

Catch the full episode on YOUTUBE HERE: https://bit.ly/MidlifeConversationsYouTube 

 

Learn More About Dr. Jared Ament:  

Instagram ➜ https://www.instagram.com/drjaredament

Website ➜ https://www.nsg-la.com/ 



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