From Diagnosis to Deadlifts: Strength, cancer, and rewriting your body’s story with Jean Edelstein
Release Date: 07/28/2025
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info_outlineAlissa is joined by her friend, across the street neighbor, and client Jean Hannah Edelstein. Jean also happens to be an accomplished journalist and author of her new memoir Breasts: A Relatively Short Relationship. Jean shares her candid, funny, and fierce experience navigating life with Lynch Syndrome, receiving a breast cancer diagnosis, and choosing to undergo both a double mastectomy and hysterectomy.
Jean shares how her relationship to her body changed from something to tolerate, to something to train. She also talks about how CrossFit, Pilates, and getting super freaking strong helped her reclaim her body and advocate more confidently in medical settings. Her journey is a testament to resilience, body autonomy, and redefining what strength truly means.
In This Episode, We Talk About:
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Lynch Syndrome and Jean’s predisposition for different forms of cancer shaped her medical decisions
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What it’s really like to navigate advocating for your body in work and medical settings
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Her path to self-described “CrossFit weirdo” and Pilates enthusiast
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How physical strength changed her approach to medical appointments and self-advocacy
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Why she no longer sees her body as just a “vehicle for her mind”
About Jean Hannah Edelstein:
Jean is a journalist and author whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The New York Times, The Cut, and more. Her latest book, Breasts: A Relatively Short Relationship, is a memoir that examines womanhood, illness, identity, and the cultural weight of having (or not having) breasts.
She is also Alissa’s across the street neighbor!
Follow Jean:
📖 Buy the book
📸 Instagram: @jeanhannahedelstein
🌐 Website: www.jeanhannahedelstein.com
Connect with Alissa:
Website: www.alissaalter.com
Instagram: @alissaalter
YouTube: Strategic Training with Alissa Alter
Listen & Subscribe:
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