What If It’s Not Hormones? Iron Deficiency Could Be the Missing Piece with Dr Libby Weaver
4/20/20261 hr 5 min
55% of women have some degree of iron deficiency. And it turns out… a lot of the symptoms you might be experiencing are connected. So today I’m sitting down with Dr Libby Weaver to unpack what midlife women actually need to understand about iron… and why it might be the missing piece you haven’t looked at yet. Dr Libby is a nutritional biochemist, author of 13 bestselling books, and someone who has spent decades helping women understand how their bodies actually work. In this conversation, we go way deeper than “just take a supplement” and really break down what’s going on under the surface. Key moments: 0:00 - The moment that completely shifted how Sarah understood her body thanks to Dr Libby 6:15 - Why iron became Dr Libby’s focus (and why it underpins more than you think) 10:03 - What’s actually happening inside your body when iron is low 23:07 - The signs most women brush off as “just being tired” 29:07 - What changes in perimenopause that can quietly drain your iron levels 32:43 - Why you can be eating well… and still not building your iron stores 36:43 - The hidden challenge for vegetarians and vegans when it comes to iron 40:26 - Where iron actually comes from in plant-based foods (and what makes a difference) 43:11 - Habits that could be blocking your iron without you realising 44:41 - Tips on getting enough iron across your day 46:35 - Navigating the red meat conversation (and when supplements make sense) 49:26 - The role of iron infusions, and why they’re often over-relied on 54:45 - “Normal” vs optimal: how to read your results properly 57:12 - When to start thinking about iron for your daughters 59:22 - What women notice when their iron finally improves If you want more from Dr Libby you can visit her at www.drlibby.com or find her on IG @drlibby. If you’re interested in Dr Libby’s Iron supplement ‘Iconic Iron’ or any of her other supplements, you can visit Bio Blends at www.bioblends.com Follow along and see the behind the scenes over at https://www.instagram.com/sarahrusbatch/?hl=en Join my latest challenge and find out more about my other programs here https://sarahrusbatch.com/ If you want to join a space where women feel safe to be seen, ask the questions they don’t always say out loud and connect with others going through the same as you,join my free Facebook group, Women’s Wellbeing Collective here. And if changing your relationship with alcohol is something you want to explore further, you can find my book Beyond Booze on Audible, Spotify, Kindle and Amazon. Click the link here.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsLibby Weaver· Guest0:00
You can't cold plunge away out of iron deficiency. A study was published a few years ago in New Zealand, 55% of women had some degree of iron deficiency, and that's not talked about enough. Iron is tied up in literally everything that goes on inside of us, so things like we need iron to make dopamine for motivation, and serotonin for contentment, and melatonin for sleep, and GABA for calm.
Sarah Rusbatch· Host0:22
And in terms of any other signs that we are iron-deficient, we all know tiredness. What would some of the other symptoms be, particularly in midlife women? Welcome, welcome back to another episode of Stronger, Bolder, Wiser. And I know I say it every single week, "Have I got a guest for you," but this week I really, really have got a guest for you, and I am so excited to bring to you Dr. Libby Weaver. Now, let me just set the scene for how I came across Libby. About 10 years ago, a friend of mine, a school mum, said, "Do you wanna come to this talk at a local school about hormones?" And I was like, "Ugh." I was still drinking. Health was not a number one priority for me back then. My priority was more, uh, did I n- have enough wine to get through the night. Went along to this talk not knowing what to expect, and literally spent an hour and a half with my jaw on the floor while Dr. Libby Weaver engaged the room in the most engaging, charismatic, incredible, educational way, that I felt like for probably one of the first times in my life I understood how my beautiful body worked and had a