You can almost guess by her name that Zlata Sushchik has an interesting story.  Immigrating from Russia to Alaska as a teen, and new to the English language, she stumbled into a saving grace when a friend convinced her to join a bodybuilding competition.

She went on the win many titles, and learned a lot about nutrition, fitness and motivation along the way.  She now runs an online coaching business called SexyFit which has helped many women lose weight and feel great in a healthy way.

You can also check out her podcast, where I was a guest on episode #30.

I consider myself a half-way fit person, but I know very little about the best ways to work out in comparison to Zlata.  She shares in this interview a comparison of different work out methods, and some advanced ways to approach your gym work out.

She also shares her views on food, which include not being too rigid, eating whole foods, and avoiding scammy weight loss products.  She has also learned that in order to really get fit and lose weight, you need to identify your 'big why' to keep yourself motivated.

Having burned out her adrenals in the early years of her competition days, she had to cut back on exercise a lot to recover.  So she is well versed in meeting women where they are, and choosing the right exercise for each stage.

I really enjoyed this interview with Zlata, and I know you will too!

For more about your host, Bridgit Danner, please see bridgitdanner.com.

In this fun interview, I talk with Dr. Lauren Noel, aka Dr. Lo, of Shine Natural Medicine in Solana Beach, CA on how to use a primal lifestyle and diet to boost libido.

In our busy modern lives, stress can inhibit our hormone production. Learn how the attributes of a primal / ancestral lifestyle can be brought into your life, and increase your natural sex drive.

Here's a preview:

• What Dr. Lo considers to be the #1 killer of sex drive
• How many hours a week cavemen worked (hint: you probably work at least double)
• What is the best kind of exercise to feel good and increase your libido
• Is coffee helping or hindering your sex drive?
• How common is low libido?

Here are some of Lauren's favorite aphrodisiac foods:

• Honey
• Cinnamon
• Oysters
• Figs
• Avocado
• Dark chocolate

You can find out more about Dr. Lo at drlaurennoel.com and pick up her free Tired but Wired ebook.  You can also look find her popular podcast, the Dr. Lo Radio Show, on iTunes or other podcast players.

To find out more about your host, Bridgit Danner, please see bridgitdanner.com.  She offers a free Hidden Health Stressors quiz for women there.

 

Holly Morello is a mother of three boys, a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and a certified GAPS diet practitioner.  She is also a project manager for author and health coach Diane San Filippo. 

As she tried to help her youngest son's health through nutrition, she began to blame herself when outcomes were not as good as expected.  She struggled with how much her family got involved, with public eating settings, and with isolating herself.

She comes clean on this episode about all she went through, and how she came out on the other side.  

She also shares how simply being on a wrong type of diet (a low-fat diet) contributed to the lack of results for her son's health.

In the end she re-connected with her family, her kids actually chose to get on board with dietary changes (more in the healthy fats/ whole foods camp), and her kids' health improved.

She now has a much healthier attitude about food and family and has "ditched the perfectionism."

If you are a parent struggling with how to feed your kids, or being hard on yourself because of your kids' health, please listen in and you won't feel alone.

Learn more about Holly's services at NourishingExcellence.com.

 

Style:  Informational

Dr. Anh Nguyen always wanted to be a pharmacist, and enjoyed many aspects of the work.  But she realized people were just getting on more and more medications, and were never really coming off of them.  

She was curious about how she could help people come off medications safely, and how to use food as medicine instead.  

This led her to study health coaching and functional medicine.  She also got interested in bodybuilding and started to train for competitions.  Meanwhile she was dealing with illness in her family, which led to her own compromised health.

She shares some of her learnings with us on this interview.  Here's what we talk about:

• How to approach pharmaceuticals in a safer way
• How pharmaceuticals can cause nutrient depletions
• How pharmaceuticals can cause thyroid symptoms
• Which nutritional supplements she recommends to restore thyroid health

and much more.  

Dr. Anh hosts a popular weekly podcast called Food As Medicine that you can find on iTunes or through her website, Dranh.com.  

I was her guest on episode 49, talking about Fertility After Age 35.  

Thanks for checking out the show!  If you're not yet subscribed, please take a moment to do so through your podcast player.

You are also welcome to get to know me better at my website, bridgitdanner.com.  

Money has power, and energy.  How do you relate to money?  

Do you label money as good, or bad?

Do you overspend it, only to feel guilty later?

Do you avoid it, never checking your bank account?

Are you afraid of it, that you'll never have enough?

Do you feel worthy of spending money on your health, or your pleasure?

Is money the topic of a lot of arguments with your spouse/partner?

Today's interview is a bit out of the box of what you'd traditionally think of as health care, but I find this too-rarely-discussed subject very important.

Money can be a major source of worry, which can severely affect our health.  Money, or fear of spending it, can affect our health care decisions.  Money is also about the biggest reason that couples fight, which again affects our health and happiness.

I hope you can take a little time to listen to this conversation about money and women with our guest expert Janin Johnston of Fashionable Finance.  Janin is a really sweet and bright woman form Hawaii and she is actually an expert on finance and fashion...which is perhaps the goal of many women!

If you'd like to share anything about how you've learned to manage money in a healthy way, you can do so at our blog.

If you are not yet a part of our Women's Wellness community, sign up for our Hidden Health Stressors quiz on our main page, and you get our latest blogs, videos and interviews every week!

Low thyroid symptoms are most commonly known to be weight gain, hair loss or cold hands and feet.  Our guest expert today, Dr. Peter Kan, points out that brain symptoms such as brain fog, memory loss and balance issues could also be related to the state of the thyroid.

We also talk about how these 'brain farts' can be early stages of more serious brain disorders later in life, so it's important to address them.

"Thyroid physiology actually starts in the brain."

According to Dr. Kan, the brain needs:  1. fuel (oxygen and glucose) and 2. activation (which comes from movement.)

So the good news is that there is a lot we can do to improve brain health, such as:

• Use yoga to challenge your brain
• Learn new skills to activate your brain
• Drink salted water to increase blood pressure / circulation to brain and body as needed
• Eat regularly to get fuel your brain.

We talk about some surprising things like:

• How chronic toenail fungus can indicate poor neural enervation
• How facial asymmetries could be a sign of a brain issue.

Subscribe on iTunes or your Android podcast player so you get a new expert interview, free, in your hands (and ears) every week!

Dr. Peter Kan is a chiropractic functional neurologist running a clinic called Hope Integrative Wellness Center in Gilbert, Arizona.  He shares many free health videos on his site, AskDrKan.com.

Have you joined our Podcast Fan Club yet?  It's free, and you get private access to me and many of our expert guests.

Episode style:  Conversational

I got a request for a show about health initiatives in the workplace.  At first I had no idea who to invite, and then I thought of an old friend, Rachel Wagner.

Rachel has been an active person since childhood, and got a graduate degree in Health Promotion within the field of public health.  

Her first job out of graduate school was with a consulting firm to help businesses of all sizes get healthier.  She never pictured herself in corporate wellness, but she learned a lot.

She now runs wellness programs at a local liberal arts college, and finds her busy, young students have many of the same challenges to health as office workers did.

Rachel observed that people were most successful in improving their health when they made small steps.  She also saw that when health initiatives came from within the employee population, those initiatives worked better.  And when there was some kind of community accountability or reward system, that element of fun and togetherness helped people reached their goals.

A big thanks to Rachel for coming on the show, and a big thanks to our subscribers- we love you!

For more information on your host, Bridgit Danner, visit bridgitdanner.com.  Be sure to take our Hidden Health Stressors quiz when you're there!

 

 

Content type:  Specific

Migraines headaches have to be one of the worst experiences many women endure.  They can make you cancel important meetings, load up on potent pharmaceuticals, and miss out on life.

Luckily we have today as a guest Dr. Alexis Shields, who throws it down about where migraines come from, how to treat them, and also what we still don't know about them.

She explains that there is a dys-regulation of the electrical system of the brain that precipitates a migraine.  (Did you know that the vascular theory has been disproven??)

Dr. Shields talks about certain foods and food additives that are triggers. (Did you know that left-overs are more apt to cause a migraine??)

She also talks about the underlying factors, such as hormone imbalance, misalignment and more.  (Did you know oversleeping can be a problem??)

She gives specific apps, book and sites she likes, and I'll share a few of those below:

App: Headspace

Site: Yoga Glo

Book:  It Starts with Food

To learn more about Dr. Shields and her online practice, see her site here.

P.S.- I received a listener comment about our last episode not being specific enough, and the main take-away was 'buy the book.'  I can assure we never manipulate content to try to make anyone buy books.  However we have many published authors on the show, and you may occasionally want to buy a book that interests you, as we cannot possibly cover the whole book in 45 minutes.

Next is guest speaking style.  Some speakers and topics lend themselves well to specific information.  Other guests want to tell more of their story, or we have more of a dialogue about a topic.  (Our next episode with Rachel Wagner is more dialogue.)

I try to pace these different types of episodes so you get some variety.  I actually don't know my guest's style until we start the recording!  Not every episode will be for you, but for another listener, it may be their favorite.  

I am experimenting with labeling the episode at the top of the show notes, so you know what is coming.  You can let me know what you think of this, or give me more feedback and guest ideas by joining our podcast fan club here. Please note this private space is for positive and constructive communication only.

Dr. Jessica Black, ND is an experienced clinician and accomplished author.  Her first book, which started as a compilation of the recipe suggestions she was giving to her clients, became very popular.  She has since written a second edition of The Anti-Inflammation Diet and Recipe Book, as well as a companion version, More Anti-Inflammation Diet Tips and Recipes.

She also co-authored a book about Living with Crohn's and Colitis, and is currently working on books about a blood sugar diet, and then pediatrics.  Somehow in all this she manages to see patients at her clinics in Portland, OR, and McMinnville, OR, raise two daughters, and eat tons a vegetables along the way!

With her varied background, we bounce around a bit, talking about picky eaters and how she's developed a strong plan for controlling blood sugar in her clinic.  But at the core of this conversation is the anti-inflammation diet.

This diet is so important because it prevents and treats so many diseases, from PCOS to joint pain to gastric distress.  Yes, we know there are so many fad diets, but when my clients ask me what diet I promote, I usually say the anti-inflammation diet.  It's safe, and treats the array of diseases caused by inflammation (much of which comes from inflammatory foods.)

Find out the tenets of the anti-inflammation diet at the player below.  To get these interviews delivered right to your phone every week, be sure to search "Womens Wellness Radio" in your podcast player.

Has an anti-inflammation diet helped you? Join in the conversation in the comments field at our blog.

Today's guest, Hannah Ransom, is a Certified Fertility Awareness Educator in the sympto-thermal method.  

Today we talk about:

• What is the symptom-thermal method?
• How can it be used for both conception and birth control?
• How effective is it?
• How does it work?
• How does it compare to other methods of birth control?

Hannah specializes in this system of monitoring your basal body temperature, symptoms and cervical mucus mainly for birth control.  I have used this type of cycle monitoring with my clients more for fertility.  So we have a nice dual set of perspectives that we can share with you.

Many women are interested in natural birth control, but are nervous if it will work. Getting educated can really dispel these worries.

Still other women were on chemical birth control for years, and are now trying to get pregnant. It is time to get to know their cycles and learn their fertile windows, and this is a great jumpstart for some, and a way to fill in some knowledge gaps for others.

So if you are:

• Thinking of switching your birth control method
• Are not happy with your current method
• Are worried about side effects of chemical birth control
• Are trying to gain more cycle awareness to help your health
• Are monitoring your cycle in order to get pregnant

This is a great episode for you!  

Find out more about Hannah at HolisticHormonalHealth.com.

Hannah's course

 

Caitlin Weeks blogs at her site, grassfedgirl.com, and is the author of several cooking books, including the paperback cookbook, Mediterranean Paleo Cooking, she co-authored with her husband, Nabil Boumrar and Diane San Filippo.  

Caitlin become a comfort food eater and a sugar and carb addict at a young age.  She lost 80 pounds with Weight Watchers, but was eating processed foods and doing tons of cardio.  

She later became a personal trainer, effectively making weight control a career choice, and got really into strength training.  She continued to experiment with dieting, trying low-fat, then vegetarian.  

With her busy schedule and low-fat, low-protein diet, she wasn't feeling great.  That is when she discovered the Weston A. Price type diet through a nutritionist, and it is also when she found out she had Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

There is a happy ending to this story, but you'll have to listen to find out!  Caitlin and I have a great conversation about her journey, plus about how she and her chef husband concocted the ideas and recipes for Mediterranean Paleo Cooking.  

I think there is a lot of value in sharing our health stories as women.  It is easy to feel alone in your health challenges, and easy to give up for lack of results.  But with persistence and open-mindedness, as Caitlin demonstrates, you can truly find your sweet spot.

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You are invited to take our quiz, Discover Your Hidden Health Stressors, at bridgitdanner.com.  

Have you heard about our Podcast Fan Club?  Check it out here!

The Gut Bone's Connected to the Brain Bone...

In this interview with functional medicine expert Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, we talk about the rarely acknowledged gut-brain connection.  With modern research, we are gaining a deeper understanding of how digestion and the gut micro-biome effects the brain, and common symptoms of mood disorder, and poor concentration.

You don't always connect that your:

• Headache
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Brain Fog

...are coming from the foods you eat or the damage that has been done to your gut.  When we get into habits of eating on the run, eating processed foods, eating gluten, etc, we may not notice a direct correlation between the meal and the brain symptom.  But in fact the internal inflammatory response could be increasing every time you eat.

Dr. Ritamarie is like a walking encyclopedia of health knowledge, and she is very generous about sharing it.  Here are some things we cover in the interview:

1.  How are the gut and brain connected?

2.  How do we make neurotransmitters and what do they do?

3.  What can go wrong in the gut that leaves us not digesting and absorbing nutrients?

4.  How do we come to have parasites and candida in the gut, and what damage do they do?

5.  What are some of the worst habits/things we do to our guts?

6.  What are a few reparative things we can start doing right away?

Dr. Ritamarie shared some helpful links both to help educate practitioners on this important relationship, and to give everyone more tools to nourish their own gut-brain axis.

Practitioner Gut-Brain Webinar

Gut Health Quiz

Happy Belly Recipe Book

Dr. Ritamarie is offering a live training program in Austin, Texas this Oct 30- Nov.1, 2015.  This will included high-level lectures on gut health and the brain from a variety of top experts.  Learn more here.

Hormones are such a mystery! One month your cycle is behaving, the next month it's not.  Why I love lab testing for hormones is that it reveals the cold, hard facts, and from there you can take the best action to get great results.

Our expert today is Ann Melin, who is a Clinical Nutritionist, a Clinical Master Herbalist, a yoga teacher, and a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition practitioner.  

I invited her over to talk to us about DUTCH, or the Dried Urine Test of Comprehensive Hormones.  

Here are some things we cover:

• What is the dutch test and why do you use it?
• How do you take a dutch test? 
• What does it include and cost?
• What can you learn from your DUTCH test?
• How would you develop a protocol based on these results?

Ann also shares two really interesting case studies that help you see how the symptoms, tests and protocols come together.

You can find out more about Ann at her website.  Ann offers a complimentary consult for prospective clients at this link.  

Listen to my interview with Ann through the player below, and be sure to also get subscribed to our weekly interviews at iTunes or most podcast players.

Does what you eat matter for your mental health? According to Dr. Ann Childers, MD, it sure does.  

Dr. Childers is a child and adult trained psychiatric physician with a passionate interest in regaining our physical and mental health through nutrition and sleep. 

 

Dr. Childers was 'trying to eat right' when the low-fat craze was going on in the U.S.  Despite her best efforts, she was getting increasingly dizzy and anxious, and had become pre-diabetic.  

 

Since then she's adopted a ketogenic (high-fat, low-carb, moderate protein) diet, with great results for her own health.  She also works with her pyschiatric clients to establish this diet, along with healthy sleep habits, for improved mental health.

 

We talk about her nutritional experiences, plus the new dietary guidelines for Amercians, in this episode.  Dr. Childers is thrilled that the new guidelines, based on scientific evidence, are letting fats back into our diets, while limiting sugars.  

 

Learn more about Dr. Childers, who blogs regularly and has a private practice in Lake Oswego, OR, here.

 

Learn more about yor host, Bridgit Danner, and pick up her free hormone guide, here.

Are you trying to reduce the amount of carbohydrates in your diet, but don't know what to cook instead?  Come check out this episode with Maria Emmerich, co-author of the Ketogenic Cookbook:  Nutritious Low-Carb, High-fat, Paleo Meals to Heal Your Body. See our past episode"Should You Try a Ketogenic Diet?" with author Jimmy Moore for more on the theory and practice of ketogenic eating. Learn more about your host, Bridgit Danner, at bridgitdanner.com.

I get beyond 'just eat paleo' and get real about a paleo lifestyle that is balanced and healthy for women in this interview with my guest Noelle Tarr of Coconuts and Kettlebells. Noelle is very savvy about nutrition and fitness but also very realistic about women's health, in the sense that we can't all look like super models and we can't be perfect about our diets 100% of the time.   I love that Noelle crosses the bridge between, yes, let's have good nutrition and habits, and, yes, let's also embrace our bodies "as-is" and embrace a full life (without the need to count calories or miles run).  It's a bridge that's not crossed enough in conversations about women's health. I hope you can check out this episode with Noelle Tarr, and you can also check out the podcast she co-hosts, The Paleo Women podcast.   You can also learn more about your host, Bridgit Danner, and grab her resources on Ease and Gratitude, plus how your cycle works at bridgitdanner.com.

Do you feel like stress has become your norm?  Or that you are way too busy but can't see how to reduce your load?  Do you have trouble letting go of stressful events, and end up in constant anxiety? Our guest on the podcast today is Linda Wilson, a doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine, a hypnotherapist and an Faster Emotional Freedom technique who is based in Melbourne, Australia.  She is also the author of Stress Made Easy:  Peeling Women Off the Ceiling. "It's about the degree of stress and how we interpret it." Here's a few things you'll learn from Dr. Linda: Under stress, blood moves away from the forefront of the brain, involved in connection, creativity, problem solving Chronic stress effects your heart, your gut, your immune system Weight gain, insomnia, headaches are common complaints in chronic stress The fatigue of chronic stress can cause negative thinking and emotions The Faster Emotional Freedom Technique, which uses the meridians of Chinese Medicine, touch, images and language to create change. Please see our blog to access Linda's free video guide to practicing Faster EFT. Join our newsletter at our homepage to get a weekly update on new women's health resources.

Mira and Jayson Calton are super passionate and knowledgable about micronutrients, and my podcast recording with them is a taste of the fun and adventure they've created in their lives. Mira was a busy, super thin publicist in New York City, living the dream, except for increasing, debilitating pain.  She was diagnosed with advanced osteoporosis, and advised to move home with her family and recuperate.   In her search to figure out her osteoporosis, she met Jayson Calton, a clinical nutritionist who did not specialize in osteoporosis,  but agreed to dive into this project with Mira.  Her osteoporosis became completely reversed, and meanwhile she and Jayson fell in love and got married. The podcast covers the tenets of their new book, The Micronutrient Miracle:  The 28 Day Plan to Lose Weight, Increase Your Energy, and Reverse Disease. In this episode, we talk about: How BPA is in more places than you'd think, and how it raises your insulin levels How adequate vitamin C can moderate your stress response Why iron should be taken away from most other supplements The best form of chromium (it's polynicotinate) The most important nutrients for thyroid health Their new book is highly educational, but also very practical.  There are quizzes to find out where you might be deficient, and plans to follow (including meals for a whole month) for different health goals.   Click here to check out the book.

Our little adrenal glands (we've got a one sitting atop each kidney) are getting more attention nowadays.  Why?  In one word - stress.  The stresses of modern life- whether it's traffic, deadlines, pollution, processed food, or late night tv- are really taking a toll on our adrenals.   In today's interview, Dr. Saman Rezaie, NMD of the Integrative Health clinic in Scotsdale, AZ, explains: How our adrenal glands work The difference between adrenal disorder and adrenal disease The stages of adrenal disorder Why getting tested for adrenal fatigue is not performed in a standard MD's office A few simple things you can do to be nice to your adrenals Please visit us at bridgitdanner.com to join our newsletter and stay up to date with all our happenings!

I met Tom Malterre on a dance floor getting sweaty to hip hop music.  Yup. We were both at health conference with a party event, and there were a few of us who clearly shared a love of dancing full on, late night.   Tom is a certified Functional Medicine Practitioner through the Institute of Functional Medicine, and he holds a master's degree in Nutritional Science.   He co-authored a new book with his wife, Ali Segersten, called The Elimination Diet:  Discover the Foods that are Making You Sick and Tired, and Feel Better Fast. He and his wife have also co-authored two other books mentioned in my podcast interview with Tom: Nourishing Meals:  Healthy Gluten Free Recipes for the Whole Family The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook:  Over 300 Delicious Whole Food Recipes, including Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free and Egg Free You can find all their books, plus The Elimination Diet support program on their site, WholeLifeNutrition.net.   On this episode of the podcast, Tom talks about: How removing inflammatory foods eliminates symptoms throughout the body How doing an elimination diet can be as easy as learning a dozen new recipes How children's moods (and adults!) can be effected by foods Why we are sensitive to foods in the first place If you enjoyed this episode, we appreciate your rating and review on iTunes, thanks!

Dr. Andrea Maxim is our guest on the podcast today, and she is sharing some great insights on commonly overlooked symptoms of intestinal parasites, bacterial imbalance, and systemic candida. Dr. Maxim is the author of the book, Maximized Health:  The New, Intelligent System for Optimal Digestion and Hormones.  Her clinic, in the Hamilton, Ontario region of Canada, were voted 'best naturopathic clinic' by the Hamilton Reader's Choice for the past three years.   Andrea is passionate about spreading the message of Maximized Health.  You can find her video blogs, her book, and information about becoming a patient at her website, The Maxim Movement.  In this episode, we talk about: The possible signs and symptoms of a gut infection How she tests for infections How we become infected in the first place  How often she finds gut bugs (this may shock you!) Some of Andrea's favorite supplements and protocols for infections For further show notes, please use this link to go to our blog.  Thanks!

I am a yoga-loving American woman, having practiced for over a decade, but still don't know much about Ayurveda.  If you're like me, Ayurveda curious, then enjoy this new podcast with my old friend, Jeevani Eigen.   Jeevani will give us some context, taking the elements and how they influence Ayurvedic theory.  Then we'll dive into one theory within Ayurveda, the tri-doshic theory.   The three doshas are:  Vata, Pitta, and Kapha.  When there are imbalances in these subtle energies, it can signal a pre-curser to disease.  For show notes, including a description of the 3 doshas and Jeevani's resources, please follow this link to our blog.

Cindy Haas was a Dental Hygienist for many years before also becoming a Certified Holistic Health Coach. She published a book called Over the Lips and through the Gums to teach others about the mouth and how our choices effect our oral health.  She also educates dental professionals who want to incorporate more holistic methods into their practices at Integrative Dental Concepts.   Cindy was nice enough to answer my myriad of questions about oral hygiene.  It's a long episode, but I encourage you to listen through to the end when we give some practical tips. Here are some things you'll learn on the show: What is the bacterial environment in the mouth? How do teeth get nutrients versus get decayed? What are the most important foods to eat or avoid for oral health? Are brushing and flossing getting the job done? What about these dental options:  fluoride, xylitol, MI paste, oil pulling and water pics? How can we help our babies develop a healthy mouth? This is really exciting and important information that is sadly still hard to find.  I hope you enjoy the show and share it with a friend who needs it!  

I had a great conversation on the podcast with Dr. Jolene Brighten, ND about thyroid conditions, and how they effect our fertility, our baby's health and our own post-partum health. I would say that we speak the most on the subject of post-partum, as it's a subject close to my own heart, as well as Jolene's, who discovered well past childbirth that she had post-partum autoimmune thyroiditis. One thing I think is important to understand deeply is that our reproductive stages are linked, and minding this continuum is critical to our health as we try to conceive, carry a child, and then support a new baby. Dr. Brighten talks about: Why and which thyroid markers to test pre-conception How an untreated thyroid condition can lead to miscarriage and developmental deficits Why it's important to test thyroid markers in weeks 6-12 of pregnancy if you are autoimmune thyroid Why changes in our immune system potentiate thyroid imbalance after childbirth Which underlaying factors to consider of you have autoimmune thyroid Why getting support is needed for post-partum health complaints If you are an autoimmune mom, a mom suffering with post-partum symptoms, a woman diagnosed with autoimmune thyroiditis, or someone curious about thyroid disorders (which are highly on the rise in women,) I think you'll benefit from the info-packed interview with Dr. Brighten. To learn more about Dr. Brighten, visit drbrighten.com.  

If you are experiencing new hormonal symptoms as you age, check out this episode.   Our guest Andrea Thorpe, of Lotus Center of Integrative Medicine in Los Angeles, is an acupuncturist, a functional medicine practitioner, and PhD candidate in Chinese Medicine.  She specializes in treating women's health and infertility in her practice, and is often treating women who are 35 and up and stuggling with their hormones. You don't have to be in menopause to have symptoms.  Symptoms like: Irregular cycles Brain fog Mood swings Depression Night sweats Weight gain can arrive as young as 35, when perimenopause actually begins. Andrea explains how the body systems are effected by changing hormones levels, and how pre-existing imbalances can send you into a hormonal tailspin.   Andrea is also a food enthusiast, making sauerkraut, cooking and gardening.  Learn her tips for nutritional choices that can ease symptoms in this life period, including high fats and minerals. See Andrea's last appearance on Women's Wellness Radio on Hashimoto's here. Learn more about your host, Bridgit Danner, at bridgitdanner.com, and grab your free guide to Understanding Your Cycle.