Integrative Women's Health Podcast

“I always pair the exercise and nutrition plan with the medication because the goal is to foster positive behavior changes to reinforce the changes occurring with the medication. That's what maintains the weight loss.” - Dr. Elizabeth Sharp Losing weight can be very challenging, and many people get stuck in a vicious cycle where they are making positive changes but not seeing their desired results...

“When we recognize that a stress and trauma response is about movement in the body, then it makes sense that the recovery response is also about movement.” - Richmond Heath Trauma is an underlying factor for many chronic illnesses. From digestive issues to autoimmune diseases and problems with the nervous system, in many instances, one of our physiologic systems is stuck due to a traumatic pattern...

“All the coaching skills are important, but without the vision, the rest are really hard to put in place.” - Bianca Siravo When you’re in a traditional healthcare field, you can feel boxed into a cog-in-the-wheel role. With most clinical professionals having minimal time to interact with clients and patients, visits are rushed, and you simply don't have time to do the important work of listening a...

“You can't isolate the thyroid from the rest of the endocrine system.” - Dr. Dana Gibbs Thyroid health issues commonly go beyond the endocrine system and involve the metabolic and immune systems. The siloed nature of conventional medicine specialties combined with inadequate testing means that many women continue to live their lives in suboptimal health due to undiagnosed thyroid conditions. Today...

“Health happens at home, and it happens with the decisions that you make every single day.” - Dr. Jenn Simmons Cancer doesn't come out of nowhere. An increasing number of factors in our everyday environment contribute to cancer and many other chronic diseases. Unfortunately, changing our habits and eliminating these factors can feel so overwhelming to people that it stops them from getting the bes...

“The hardest thing to do is to be yourself in every moment because we all want to be so spiritually evolved and perfect.” - Alexandra Cousins TW: If you’re living with chronic illness, some of this may feel hard to hear. We talk about how navigating chronic illness has some difficult aspects spiritually and emotionally and how that can keep people stuck. Healing is about much more than physical he...

“Your brain has a lot to do with the way that pain is showing up in your life.” - Sally Brown There’s a chronic pain epidemic among women in midlife, and it shows up in a lot of different ways, from stress to lack of sleep, and more. While there's a lot we can do to have healthier hormone levels and more stress resilience, another element that can make a big difference is creating a daily practice...

“None of us deserve to suffer needlessly.” - Dr. Mariza Snyder The menopause transition typically begins somewhere in our late 30s to mid-40s, and most of us don’t come into it with absolutely optimal health. Despite that, the reality is that only 6% of women in perimenopause are getting any kind of treatment at all, much less comprehensive, integrative treatment that takes care of all of the pre-...

“With health coaching, the self-revelation kicks in. It's a very magical tool.” - Silvana Yee As clinicians, we often see patients becoming their own worst enemies. They’ve heard our recommendations, know exactly what to do, and understand it will help them, but still, they don’t follow through. That’s where health coaching can make a significant difference. Health coaching is not a cookie-cutter...

“Mindfulness is one of the most important life skills we can give to our teenagers.” - Dr. Elisa Song Our kids are under stress more so now than ever before. Their easy access to smartphones and social media also means they have fewer opportunities to blow off steam with simple activities like hanging out, chatting with friends, or riding a bike to a neighbor’s house. Like anything else, kids need...

“I wanted to do the work I was trained to do and to help treat their cancer, but also to help them live well in the long term.” - Dr. Allison Quick Sometimes, when people consider training in health coaching skills, there’s a lingering worry that they’ll have to completely leave the conventional system they’re already a part of. Whether you’re a physician, nurse practitioner, physical therapist, o...

“I feel like fitness is a gateway to health coaching.” - Mary Vidal When we think about health and wellness, it seems like a linear process—either you’re sick or healthy. That’s hardly ever the case. Each of our health journeys is dynamic and individual. Often, when one thing gets solved, something else comes up, and that’s one of the central reasons why having a coach with the experience and skil...

“It’s important to look at food first before supplementation.” - Margie Bissinger For most people, bone health is not a topic that comes into focus until later in life or when an issue arises. Bone health is strongly linked to quality of life, so it’s never too early or too late to start supporting strong and healthy bones. Optimizing your overall health in areas like reducing inflammation, optimi...

“Our brain and our thoughts change our biology and chemistry in the body.” - Jane Hogan When someone is diagnosed with an autoimmune disease or chronic pain condition, there’s a common pathway we tend to explore. It starts with conventional medicine and medications to suppress symptoms or stabilize the immune system. Then, going deeper to address the root cause, they’ll turn to a functional medici...

“Change is terrifying, especially change when it’s somewhat subversive.” - Dr. Sara Sohn DPT, WCS Choosing to go in a different direction from what society tells you to do can be difficult. Making decisions like not overworking, not giving to the ends of your depth, and not focusing on external measures of productivity goes against what many of us have been taught, but that’s what’s necessary if y...

“If we can, at the grassroots level, start getting to the patients and the community providers and then start moving up the chain, we can do a lot of amazing work.” - Dr. Juan Michelle Martin The pregnancy and postpartum periods are huge eye-openers for most women. There’s such a lack of education around pregnancy and birth that women are often not even aware of their options and the different opt...

“Once I started the program and began practicing and learning, it's hard to describe the freedom and excitement that it brought.” - April Haberman Are you wondering about the next step in your career? If you love supporting women and are passionate about women’s health, healing, and helping women lead meaningful lives, women’s health coaching might be for you. Today, I’m excited to be joined by Ap...

“I'm 31 and feel better than I’ve felt since I was 14. There is hope for you to feel better.” - Camille [TRIGGER WARNING: Suicidal ideation] Having to carry on, believe in yourself, and find answers is extremely hard to do when you're in pain. In today’s episode, I’m joined by pelvic health expert Dr. Shanti Mohling and Camille, a woman who has navigated her own experience of healing from endometr...

“Let's empower patients to help themselves. That's going to be the best way to affect change.” - Iris Kerin Orbuch, MD Endometriosis is a condition with neurologic, immune-inflammatory, and autoimmune components. While surgical excision is the cornerstone of treatment and necessary for most people to recover fully, we need a multidisciplinary approach to address endo's massive impact on the body c...

“Strengthening your gastrointestinal system is foundational to strengthening your immune system.” - Dr. Jessica Drummond In this post-COVID world, we’re constantly exposed to serious viruses daily. Knowing this, we must optimize our digestive, immune, and nervous systems to improve our resilience to infections, especially if we are high risk or working in a health facility or in other situations w...

“A COVID infection often reveals deeper vulnerabilities that you didn’t know were there.” - Dr. Jessica Drummond The COVID virus can be difficult to deal with, even when you’re very healthy. So many factors can influence how your body responds, and we still have a lot left to learn. Unfortunately, that means that for those of us who are struggling with long COVID and the chronic health struggles t...

“There are multiple - often overlooked - causes of depression.” - Dr. Achina Stein Depression is more than just a mental health issue. Years of research show that it can be related to your nutrition, chronic infections, environmental toxins, stress, hormones, or problems with cellular metabolism. Many of us in integrative and functional medicine have recognized this multi-factorial issue, and the...

“Even the smallest changes, if they are consistently applied, will result in something positive.” - Kirstin Nussgruber Cancer isn’t something that just happens out of the blue. Like every other complex chronic illness, it’s influenced by various environmental and individual factors. As practitioners, we can help our clients optimize their health by supporting them holistically with everything from...

“Reproductive health is the Wild West. You cannot protocol this; you must be willing to create it.” - Dr. Yeni Abraham Reproductive care is some of the deepest work you can do in the human experience. You can’t go in without empathy, and you have to be prepared to bear witness to the highest highs and lowest lows in the lives of your patients or clients. For black women in the US, the black matern...

“As women transition through pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause, and menopause, the physiology is dynamic. We have to check in regularly.” - Dr. Jessica Drummond A whole-body approach is essential when working on complex cases involving multiple conditions. As a clinician, this is why the pillars of my seven-step protocol for navigating hormonal health are foundational. In part two of my intervi...