Salad With a Side of Fries Nutrition, Wellness & Weight Loss · Jenn Trepeck

Top 10 of 2025

·52 min·3 clips

Heart rate variability is “like having a speedometer for your physiology.”

1. Salad With a Side of Fries uses episode 288 to list 10 favorite 2025 episodes from the show. 2. Jen Trebek hosts the recap, and Dawn joins as a listener and post-production team member. 3. The episode asks which conversations from 2025 were most useful for real-life wellness decisions. 4. Jen and Dawn describe the list as five picks from each person, plus a few honorable mentions. 5. Episode 324, “Have Your Cake and Feel Great,” centers on enjoying favorite foods without shame. 6. Jen ties that episode to holiday eating, consistency, and stopping the “shoulds.” 7. Dawn says food is not morally good or bad, and Jen says some foods nourish the physical body while others nourish the soul. 8. Episode 302, “The Yes And in Healthcare,” features Andrea Nakayama. 9. Jen says Nakayama’s approach combines Western medicine with holistic lifestyle medicine. 10. Dawn recalls Nakayama’s husband receiving a diagnosis and feeling treated like a statistic rather than a human. 11. Jen highlights Nakayama’s “three roots, many branches” framework. 12. Episode 313, “Rigid Versus Flexible Habits,” features Monica Packer. 13. Dawn connects the episode to her own tendency toward the “I should” mindset when she knows she needs rest. 14. Jen says perfectionism is a spectrum and that couch days can become their own extreme. 15. Jen describes an “aha moment” about finding moments of rest instead of long stretches of collapse. 16. Episode 312, “Daily Habits That Serve or Sabotage Your Health and Hormones,” focuses on the “but what about” questions around common wellness advice. 17. Jen says context is everything, and the same habit can help or harm depending on execution. 18. Episode 312 also leads into “Hormones Are Your Check Engine Light” with Jillian Greaves. 19. Jen says Jillian’s biggest point is that symptoms are the body communicating what it needs, not rebelling. 20. The episode sounds conversational and reflective, and people who like practical wellness frameworks will likely want it.

As heard by us

An annual picks entry that turns heart rate variability into a practical listen.

Salad With a Side of Fries keeps its annual tradition centered on 10 episodes from this calendar year, selected by personal judgment, and episode 288, Use Your Heart Rate Monitor to Improve Your Health with Torquil Farrow, earns its place by making heart rate variability feel…

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