Women’s Health
How To Balance Your Hormones At Any Age
As a woman, you’re on a hormonal roller coaster ride most of your life. My books The Hormone Cure, The Hormone Reset Diet, Younger and my latest, Brain Body Diet were born of my passion to help women, one hormone at a time. I want to help you do that so you can stay looking and feeling…
Read MoreHow to Resolve Constipation and Maintain a Healthy Gut
Many women hesitate to bring up the topic of constipation with their doctor. While it’s common, few women want to talk about it. But constipation is not an issue you want to keep under wraps. When your bowel movements are regular, chances are that your hormones—cortisol, estrogen, and thyroid—are working at their best.[1] Below are…
Read MoreMy Prophylactic Mastectomy: What Led Me to Go Under the Knife
I woke up from anesthesia two months ago, certain that I made the right choice to undergo a bilateral prophylactic mastectomy for a faulty breast cancer gene. I snapped a quick selfie, unadorned and very raw, in my hospital bed and wanted to share it with you (see photo). Breasts are an important symbol of…
Read MoreThe Melatonin Effect: Could Nighttime Light Cause Female Cancers?
Are you routinely awake at night with the lights on? Your health might be more at risk. For one, studies on almost two hundred thousand [1] night-shift workers showed increased risk of coronary heart disease among women. Other studies show correlations between night-shift work and higher rates of metabolic syndrome,[2] inflammation,[3] obesity,[4] and depression/anxiety.[5] Beyond…
Read MoreHow to Overcome PMS and Painful Periods
You’re crampy and crabby, bloated and bothered. You sense that it’s that time of the month again, and whoops! – you better buy tampons. Many of us view our periods as a routine nuisance. For some, the premenstrual and menstrual symptoms are particularly daunting: sore breasts, extreme mood swings, insatiable cravings, migraines, heavy blood flow,…
Read More5 Secrets to Turn Back the Clock
Jennifer was a forty-four-year-old patient who arrived in my office feeling defeated, worn out, and “older than her years” as she put it. As a third-shift nurse who worked grueling twelve-hour nights – frequently picking up overtime – the stressful struggle to balance sleep, two kids, and an unemployed husband drained her sanity, and took…
Read MoreHow Stress Harms Your Health and Aging
Mary was a thirty-nine-year-old patient who visited me complaining she felt burned out. Her sixty-hour workweeks left her beyond fatigued, with frequent headaches, miserable colds, and raging tension that cut into her sleep. On top of that, she confessed that lately life had become meaningless, which she attributed to an early midlife crisis, and her…
Read MoreWhy Can’t I Lose Weight and Keep It Off? (Hint: It’s Not Your Fault)
Have you tried every diet imaginable, and still find it hard to lose weight? Or maybe you lose weight, only to gain it back within a few months? Chances are your metabolism is broken. A broken metabolism is intertwined with what I call hormone misfires, which make you store fat no matter what diet you…
Read More5 FAQs on Hormones and Weight Loss Resistance
What happens in the body regarding weight gain and loss when estrogen and progesterone are out of balance? Estrogen is the primary female sex hormone. It gives women hips and breasts, buffers mood, and keeps you on task by regulating serotonin. Estrogen is responsible for the first half of your menstrual cycle, it boosts sex…
Read More8 Ways Birth Control Pills Might be Harming Your Health
Millions of women take birth control pills (BCP) for contraception and/or to treat an underlying hormone imbalance. BCPs block ovulation and thicken your cervical mucus so that sperm have a reduced chance of meeting up with a fertilized egg. But are they a good idea? That depends. As a gynecologist practicing functional medicine, I have…
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