Insulin Resistance, Fertility, and Taking Your Health Back

Insulin resistance doesn’t just affect blood sugar — it impacts hormones, fertility, energy, and long-term health.

In this episode, Tracy sits down with PA and women’s health coach Chelsea Hayman to unpack how insulin resistance shows up in real life, why “normal labs” don’t always tell the full story, and what clinicians and patients can do to break the cycle of crashes, cravings, and burnout.

They explore fertility struggles, continuous glucose monitors, stress physiology, and practical strategies for stabilizing hormones and blood sugar — without extreme diets or unsustainable routines.

Whether you’re supporting patients with PCOS, infertility, fatigue, or metabolic dysfunction — or navigating this yourself — this conversation will change how you think about women’s health.

• How insulin resistance affects fertility and hormone balance
• Why A1C can be normal — and problems still exist
• The “protein + fiber first” strategy
• How stress worsens blood sugar regulation
• When CGMs can be helpful (even without diabetes)
• Small, sustainable changes that actually work
• Why women must stop putting their health last

Timestamps:

[2:30] Meet Chelsea Hayman

[3:30] Blood Sugar and Fertility

[4:45] Chelsea’s Struggles with Infertility

[9:00] Defining Insulin Resistance

[11:00] Blood Sugar Control & Fertility Outcomes

[13:00] Stress & Hormones

[16:00] Implementing Lifestyle Changes

[17:00] Choosing a Continuous Glucose Monitor

[23:00] How to Plan Your Plate

[25:00] Self Care & Meeting Your Own Basic Needs

[29:00] Connect with Chelsea & Where to Find Her

Connect with Chelsea:

Website: www.empowerglucose.com

LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/empoweredglucose

Social: @empoweredglucose at https://www.instagram.com/empoweredglucose/

Keywords: insulin resistance, blood sugar, hormone imbalance, fertility, infertility, PCOS, continuous glucose monitor, CGM, women’s metabolic health, metabolic health, PA podcast, women’s health, wellness, clinician wellness, hormones, gestational diabetes, insulin resistance

SPONSORS:

ADVANCED PRACTICE PLANNING, LLC: advancedpracticeplanning.com/fi

SIDE GIG GUIDE https://www.tracybingaman.com/gig

CONNECT

⁠FREE 30-MINUTE COACHING CONSULT⁠ ⁠⁠https://calendly.com/the-pa-is-in/gen-call⁠ ⁠

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⁠

CONNECT WITH TRACY

⁠LINKEDIN ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracybingaman/⁠⁠

⁠INSTAGRAM ⁠https://www.instagram.com/mrstracybingaman/⁠⁠

WEBSITE⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://www.tracybingaman.com⁠

After 13 years of practicing medicine, I’m not here to pretend I have it all figured out. I am here to share what experience has quietly, steadily taught me.

In this episode, I’m reflecting on 13 lessons I’ve learned in my 13 years as a PA—from why people and schedules matter more than specialty, to how burnout isn’t something you beat but something you learn to monitor, to why there is absolutely no award for doing it the hard way.

This isn’t a how-to episode or a deep clinical dive. It’s an honest, human reflection on what it takes to build a career in medicine that actually lasts. Consider this an invitation to pause, reflect, and ask yourself: what have I learned in my own years of practice?

Inside this episode, we talk about:

• Why culture, autonomy, and respect matter more than we’re taught

• How your real legacy lives outside the hospital or clinic

• Why medicine is an Ironman, not a sprint

• Burnout as a chronic condition—not a personal failure

• The power of mentorship, sponsorship, and turning around to help others

• Negotiation as a skill we were never taught—but desperately need

• Why part-time practice still counts

• And the truth about martyrdom (spoiler: there’s no prize)

Reflection isn’t indulgent. It’s how we make this work sustainable—for ourselves and for the clinicians coming behind us.

SPONSORS:ADVANCED PRACTICE PLANNING, LLC: advancedpracticeplanning.com/fi

SERMO https://app.sermo.com:443/?sermoref=39d97a2c-f699-4f8b-b2f9-1eb131e18c75&utm_campaign=tell-a-friend

CONNECT

⁠FREE 30-MINUTE COACHING CONSULT⁠ ⁠⁠https://calendly.com/the-pa-is-in/gen-call⁠ ⁠

⁠1-ON-1 NEGOTIATION CONSULT ⁠https://calendly.com/the-pa-is-in/negotiate⁠⁠

CONNECT WITH TRACY 🤝

⁠LINKEDIN ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracybingaman/⁠⁠

⁠INSTAGRAM ⁠https://www.instagram.com/mrstracybingaman/⁠⁠

WEBSITE⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://www.tracybingaman.com⁠

🎁 Bonus Freebie: Grab your free guide with 48 healthcare-specific side hustle ideas at 👉 tracybingaman.com/gig

Keywords: PA career longevity, lessons from practicing medicine, healthcare burnout recovery, physician associate career advice, sustainable medical careers, clinician burnout prevention, work life balance for PAs, part time medicine, negotiation in healthcare, PA mentorship, healthcare boundaries, career reflection medicine, avoiding burnout in healthcare, clinician identity, long term medical careers, PA professional development

Most clinicians don’t need to work harder to earn more — they need better strategy.

In this episode of The PA Is In, Tracy breaks down three proven ways clinicians can increase their income without adding more clinic hours or sacrificing their sanity.

Whether you’re stuck with tiny annual raises, feeling underpaid for your productivity, or craving more financial flexibility, this episode gives you practical steps you can take right now.

• Why negotiating where you already work is one of the most overlooked income strategies

• How to advocate for higher base pay, clearer bonus metrics, and better schedules

• When commission-based or productivity pay can work in your favor

• How to diversify income with side gigs that don’t require more shifts

• Real-world examples of paid surveys, advisory panels, remote work, and flexible clinical roles

• Why strategic job changes often lead to the biggest pay jumps — and how to negotiate them properly

• What to negotiate beyond salary (spoiler: it’s not just money)

• Free Side Gig Guide (48 ideas for clinicians): www.tracybingaman.com/gig

• Negotiation Consults: www.tracybingaman.com/negotiation-consult

• Clinician Income Lab (self-paced negotiation course): www.tracybingaman.com/CIL

You don’t have to pick just one strategy. Many clinicians combine all three — negotiating where they are, adding flexible income streams, and making intentional career moves — to build income that actually supports their life.

If you found this episode helpful, leave a review and share it with a clinician who needs to hear it.

SPONSORS: ADVANCED PRACTICE PLANNING, LLC: advancedpracticeplanning.com/fi

SERMO https://app.sermo.com:443/?sermoref=39d97a2c-f699-4f8b-b2f9-1eb131e18c75&utm_campaign=tell-a-friend

CONNECT

⁠FREE 30-MINUTE COACHING CONSULT⁠ ⁠⁠https://calendly.com/the-pa-is-in/gen-call⁠ ⁠

⁠1-ON-1 NEGOTIATION CONSULT ⁠https://calendly.com/the-pa-is-in/negotiate⁠⁠

CONNECT WITH TRACY 🤝

⁠LINKEDIN ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracybingaman/⁠⁠

⁠INSTAGRAM ⁠https://www.instagram.com/mrstracybingaman/⁠⁠

WEBSITE⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://www.tracybingaman.com⁠

🎁 Bonus Freebie: Grab your free guide with 48 healthcare-specific side hustle ideas at 👉 tracybingaman.com/gig

In this episode, you’ll learn:Resources mentioned:
Keywords: clinician income strategies, how clinicians earn more money, physician assistant salary negotiation, PA pay raise, clinician negotiation tips, healthcare salary negotiation, side gigs for clinicians, paid medical surveys for clinicians, CERMO surveys, diversify clinician income, clinician side hustle ideas, remote work for healthcare providers, part time clinical work, job change salary increase healthcare, negotiate clinician salary, RVU bonus negotiation, commission based clinician pay, financial flexibility for clinicians, clinician burnout finances

Most PAs don’t wake up one day hating medicine.

Instead, they wake up tired. Numb. Disconnected. Still competent. Still caring. Still showing up — but quietly wondering where the spark went.

In this episode of The PA Is In, Tracy speaks directly to the clinician who didn’t fall out of love with medicine, but feels weighed down by how it’s practiced today. She reframes burnout as information — not failure — and explains why self-care, PTO, and vacations can help temporarily, but won’t fix a career that’s structurally misaligned with your life.

Tracy walks through the invisible work that drains clinicians, how values drift over time, and why so many PAs internalize system-level problems as personal shortcomings. She then offers a grounded, realistic four-step process to help you begin redesigning your career without blowing up your life, quitting tomorrow, or burning bridges.

This episode is a reminder that you’re not broken — and that you’re allowed to evolve. You can love medicine and love your life. And you can practice in a way that feels like you again.

Mentioned in this episode:Find Your Why by Simon Sinek

SPONSORS:

ADVANCED PRACTICE PLANNING, LLC: advancedpracticeplanning.com/fi

SERMO https://app.sermo.com:443/?sermoref=39d97a2c-f699-4f8b-b2f9-1eb131e18c75&utm_campaign=tell-a-friend

CONNECT

⁠FREE 30-MINUTE COACHING CONSULT⁠ ⁠⁠https://calendly.com/the-pa-is-in/gen-call⁠ ⁠

⁠1-ON-1 NEGOTIATION CONSULT ⁠https://calendly.com/the-pa-is-in/negotiate⁠⁠

CONNECT WITH TRACY 🤝

⁠LINKEDIN ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracybingaman/⁠⁠

⁠INSTAGRAM ⁠https://www.instagram.com/mrstracybingaman/⁠⁠

WEBSITE⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://www.tracybingaman.com⁠

🎁 Bonus Freebie: Grab your free guide with 48 healthcare-specific side hustle ideas at 👉 tracybingaman.com/gig

Keywords: PA burnout recovery, physician associate burnout, loving medicine but burned out, healthcare burnout not personal failure, PA career redesign, values drift in medicine, portfolio career for clinicians, reigniting passion in medicine, sustainable PA careers, clinician burnout coaching

Breaking up is hard — and breaking up with your financial advisor after 10+ years? Still hard.

In this episode, Tracy shares a deeply personal (and wildly uncomfortable) story about ending a long-standing relationship with her financial advisor — why it stopped feeling right, how she navigated the guilt and fear, and what ultimately helped her reclaim agency over her money.

What started as a financial decision quickly revealed powerful parallels to clinical medicine, career decisions, and the ways clinicians stay too long in professional relationships that quietly stop serving them.

This episode is about trusting your gut, demanding transparency, and remembering that you get to decide who walks alongside you — in your finances, your career, and your life.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• What finally made Tracy realize her advisor relationship wasn’t working anymore
• Why “just trust me” is not education — in medicine or money
• How using ChatGPT helped remove the emotional labor of writing a hard email
• The striking parallels between financial advising and clinical burnout
• What good financial advisory support should actually look like
• Why understanding fiduciary responsibility matters more than most people realize
• How reclaiming agency in your finances mirrors reclaiming agency in your career

Key takeaways:

• You deserve to understand how your advisor is paid
• Transparency is non-negotiable
• Your advisor should be a teacher and partner
• Your intuition is data — listen to it
• You are allowed to outgrow long-standing relationships

Alignment matters more than familiarity
SPONSORS:

ADVANCED PRACTICE PLANNING, LLC: advancedpracticeplanning.com/fi

CM&F INSURANCE
www.cmfgroup.com/ThePAIsIn

🎧 Listen now and ask yourself: Where am I staying out of comfort instead of alignment?

Keywords: financial advisor breakup, switching financial advisors, fiduciary financial advisor, how financial advisors get paid, fee only vs commission advisor, clinician finances, money for physician assistants, trusting your gut in finances, financial education for clinicians, reclaiming agency, burnout and finances, financial planning for PAs, advanced practice provider wealth building, transparency in investing, choosing a financial advisor

CONNECT

⁠FREE 30-MINUTE COACHING CONSULT⁠ ⁠⁠https://calendly.com/the-pa-is-in/gen-call⁠ ⁠

⁠1-ON-1 NEGOTIATION CONSULT ⁠https://calendly.com/the-pa-is-in/negotiate⁠⁠

CONNECT WITH TRACY 🤝

⁠LINKEDIN ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracybingaman/⁠⁠

⁠INSTAGRAM ⁠https://www.instagram.com/mrstracybingaman/⁠⁠

WEBSITE⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://www.tracybingaman.com⁠

🎁 Bonus Freebie: Grab your free guide with 48 healthcare-specific side hustle ideas at 👉 tracybingaman.com/gig

Dave Mittman is back—and we’re talking about what’s next for the PA profession. After 50 years in advocacy and leadership (including serving as AAPA President), Dave breaks down why the “experiment worked,” why PA modernization is the real conversation (not “scope creep”), and what changes are already reshaping our day-to-day practice.

We dig into full practice and practice-level decision-making, title change momentum, why self-governance matters (hello, PA boards), and how interstate compacts could transform telemedicine and multi-state work. We also get practical: how you introduce yourself, how your clinic markets you, why your referrals should come back to you, and why the white coat conversation isn’t about vanity—it’s about clarity and credibility.

If you’ve ever felt like the profession is evolving faster than your workplace policies… this episode is your roadmap.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• Why PA “modernization” is bigger than one policy change—and why it’s happening now

• The shift from legislation-driven rules to practice-level determination of scope and competence

• Why “scope creep” is a distraction (and what PAs are actually asking for)

• How title change impacts public understanding—and why waiting for laws may be unnecessary

• What interstate compacts could unlock for telemedicine, specialty care, and access

• The professionalism pieces that matter: intros, signage, marketing, referrals, and perception

• Why advocacy can’t be “someone else’s job” anymoreSPONSORS:

CM&F INSURANCE

www.cmfgroup.com/ThePAIsIn Keywords: PA modernization, physician associate, physician assistant profession future, full practice authority PAs, PA title change, PA board of medicine, PA self-governance, practice-level scope of practice, interstate compact for PAs, PA licensure compact, PA telemedicine multi-state, scope creep AMA, administrative burden PAs, PA advocacy, professional identity in healthcare, PA white coat patient perception, DMSC for PAs, PA doctorate, PA specialty competency, CAQ, PA leadership