Hello, Hot Flash: Christian Menopause, Weight Loss, Hormones & Midlife Health

Stephanie Shaw
  • 4.9 (45)
  • Mental Health
  • Updated Weekly

If you're a Christian woman navigating perimenopause or menopause — and you're exhausted, gaining weight, not sleeping, and not getting real answers from your doctor — you found the right place. Hello, Hot Flash is a faith-informed, science-based menopause podcast hosted by Stephanie Shaw — a menopause advocate who saw 18 doctors, visited two world-renowned medical facilities, and spent $20,000 out of pocket before finally finding relief. She built this show so you don't have to go through what she did. Each week, Stephanie talks with gynecologists, menopause specialists, hormone experts, functional medicine doctors, nutritionists, and real women who've been there — breaking down the most-searched menopause topics in plain language: Menopause weight loss and belly fat · hot flashes and night sweats · sleep problems and 3AM wake-ups · HRT vs. BHRT vs. natural remedies · hormone health and estrogen · testosterone and libido · brain fog and focus · anxiety and depression · insulin resistance and metabolism after 40 · sugar cravings · heart health and bone density · hair loss, joint pain, and heart palpitations · vaginal dryness · irregular periods and frozen shoulder Women who listen to Hello, Hot Flash get real answers to the questions that keep them up at night — and the faith to trust that God designed this body and this season with purpose: HRT vs. Bioidentical HRT vs. natural remedies — what's actually right for you? How to balance your hormones naturally and effectively. What really works for hot flashes and night sweats. How to sleep all night and finally beat insomnia. How to lose weight and keep it off after 40. How to reduce brain fog and sharpen your focus so you can show up fully — at work, at home, and in your calling. How menopause affects your sex drive and your relationships — and how Jesus meets you even there. The best foods and supplements for midlife health. How much protein you need, how much water you should drink, and what your body is actually asking for. How menopause impacts your bones, your heart, and your long-term health — and why the Holy Spirit is as much a part of your healing as any hormone panel. This is a show where your faith and your health belong in the same conversation. Hello, Hot Flash is ranked in the Top 3% of Podcasts Worldwide (Listen Notes) and named one of Feedspot's Top 25 Best Menopause Podcasts of 2025. Real questions. Real answers. No dismissals. Subscribe now and join women around the world who are taking back this season — with clarity, confidence, and faith. Show notes, resources, and bonuses at https://hellohotflash.com If this show has helped you, please leave a review — no woman should have to navigate menopause alone.

  1. 5d ago

    What A Client Learned When She Changed One Thing | 300

    This week we are doing something we have never done on this podcast before. A case study. A real woman, a real story, and real results from the first cohort of Reclaimed: 40 Days — the faith-integrated sugar reset I created this summer for women navigating perimenopause and menopause. Tanisha Taylor signed up for Reclaimed in June. She had been eating sugar by habit for years — Starbursts, Skittles, ice cream, the full pint. She had gained weight she was quietly blaming on menopause. She went on a birthday trip, saw herself in a bathing suit, and had the moment of honesty that changed everything: “This is ridiculous. What happened to me?” She came home. She found Reclaimed. She did the 40 days. And the results were so visible I could see them in her face. This conversation is for every woman who has blamed menopause for something that may be partly about choices — not out of shame, but out of power. Tanisha says it herself: yes, some things are menopause. Yes, some things are genetics. But a lot of things are what we are doing personally in our choices. And that is not something to be ashamed of. That is something to act on. She also talks about the scale, and what it does to women emotionally. She refused to weigh herself during the program because she knew — from experience — that the number would trigger anxiety, depression, and a spiral she did not want. So she tracked how she felt instead. Her sleep improved. Her hair grew. Her nails strengthened. Her face changed. And at day 20, when she had one fat boy ice cream sandwich, she did not quit. She continued. Because that is what this program teaches: you are not starting over. You are just continuing. If you want to join the next cohort of Reclaimed — starting September 14 — the link is in the show notes. What You Will Learn What a daily sugar habit actually looks like before you realize how much it is affecting your body — and the birthday bathing suit moment that forced Tanisha to stop blaming menopause and start looking at her choices Why the scale can be a trauma trigger for some women — and what Tanisha tracked instead that gave her more accurate, sustainable, and emotionally safe feedback on her progress What 40 days without sugar actually did — better sleep, hair growth, stronger nails, clearer thinking, and a mindset shift that moved her from trying to get back to a past body to intentionally building her ‘new 50-year-old’ self About Our Guest Tanisha Taylor is a community member and graduate of the inaugural Reclaimed: 40 Days cohort. She came to the program after a wake-up moment on a birthday trip, having spent years in various fitness programs and realizing she needed something faith-based, flexible, and sustainable. She is a coach herself and brings a sharp, self-aware perspective on why programs succeed or fail — and why Reclaimed worked when others had not. To learn more about this episode, click here: https://hellohotflash.com/episodes/reclaimed-case-study-tanisha-taylor Join Reclaimed: 40 Days The next cohort of Reclaimed: 40 Days begins September 14. A faith-integrated 40-day sugar reset with live coaching calls, a private community, a full education library, and a 10-episode private podcast. https://hellohotflash.com/reclaimed Sponsor This episode is sponsored by FlexBeam by Recharge Health — the most powerful red and near-infrared light therapy device of its kind. Trusted by 45,000+ users worldwide, FlexBeam energizes your mitochondria, supports deeper sleep, faster recovery, stronger immunity, better gut health, and hormonal balance — all drug-free, FDA cleared, and with no known side effects. Use code HOTFLASH15 for 15% off: recharge.health

  2. Sep 8

    What Sugar Is Doing to Your Hormones During Perimenopause | 299

    Women in perimenopause and menopause who have felt capable on the inside and completely depleted on the outside — who have stood somewhere and felt their body stop cooperating with their life without fully understanding why — this episode is the conversation that starts where you actually are. Stephanie has never told this story on the podcast before. Her mom is 70 years old — sharp, active, and fiercely loving. And on one particular Tuesday afternoon, she drove to Stephanie’s house, picked her up, walked beside her through every aisle of the grocery store, and then carried her bags and loaded them into the car. Stephanie was in her forties. She didn’t have an injury. She wasn’t recovering from anything anyone could see. She was just gone. And standing in that parking lot watching her mother carry her bags, what she felt wasn’t just embarrassment. It was grief. Because she had been capable. She had been the one who handled things. And somewhere in the middle of perimenopause, in the middle of stress, in the middle of habits she didn’t even recognize as habits, she had become someone who needed her mom to carry her bags. In this opening episode of the Reclaimed private podcast series, Stephanie explains in plain language what was happening inside her body on that Tuesday — and what most women in this season have never been told. When estrogen begins declining in perimenopause, the body becomes significantly less efficient at managing blood sugar. Insulin sensitivity drops. Cortisol, already elevated by midlife stress, spikes more easily and stays elevated longer. And cortisol and sugar have a relationship: when cortisol spikes, the body craves sugar. Blood sugar rises fast, then crashes. Cortisol spikes again. The reaching starts. This is not a willpower cycle. It is a hormonal one. She also takes the episode somewhere most health conversations never go: Proverbs 4:23. Guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. She had always read that verse as spiritual instruction. In this season, she started understanding it differently. The heart. The body. The physical vessel God gave us to live this life in. Guard it. Tend it. Not out of vanity. Not out of obsession. But because everything flows from it. She could not show up for her family from that parking lot. She could not serve well. She could not pray with focus or lead with clarity because her body was in a constant state of crisis. And part of what had kept her in that crisis was something so ordinary she had stopped seeing it entirely. The episode ends with three concrete actions and a soft close pitching the September 14 cohort of Reclaimed: the 40-day faith-integrated sugar fast Stephanie built because she needed it and it didn’t exist. What You Will Learn Why estrogen decline in perimenopause and menopause directly disrupts blood sugar regulation — how the hormonal shift creates a cortisol-sugar loop that runs on its own whether you are paying attention or not, and why this is not a willpower problem but a physiological one How chronic sugar consumption in a body navigating hormonal transition contributes to adrenal exhaustion, cardiovascular strain, brain fog, anxiety, and the bone-deep fatigue that makes carrying your own groceries feel impossible — and why the body is communicating, not betraying What Proverbs 4:23 has to say about the body, why guarding your heart includes tending your physical health, and why bringing your habits — including the sugar ones — to God in honest conversation is not too small a thing to pray about Additional Resources Reclaimed: 40 Days — September 14 Cohort The next cohort of Reclaimed: 40 Days begins September 14. A faith-integrated 40-day sugar reset designed for Christian women in perimenopause and menopause — with live 90-minute Monday coaching calls, a private community, a full digital content library (videos, 40-day workbook, Hidden Sugar Field Guide, Meal Prep Game Plan, Reclaimed Prayer Framework, and 10 private podcast episodes), and group text support Tuesday and Thursday mornings. The investment is $250. Enrollment is open now: https://hellohotflash.com/reclaimed Hello Hot Flash Quiz — What Is Your Soul Trying to Tell You Right Now? If menopause has been stirring up more than physical symptoms — a deeper restlessness, a quiet question about what this season is for — this quiz is for you. In just a few minutes you will receive a personalized reflection on what your body and soul may be asking you to pay attention to right now. Take it free: https://hellohotflash.com/quiz Christian Women and Menopause — Limited Series Podcast This 21-episode limited series goes deep into what the Bible says about the midlife transition — stress, anxiety, identity, purpose, confidence, and faith. If you are a Christian woman navigating menopause and want to bring your whole self — body and spirit — into this conversation, this is the series that will meet you there. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen: https://hellohotflash.com/christian-women-and-menopause

  3. Sep 3

    Delta Dental and Midi Health: Women Navigating Menopause Now Have Support | 298

    Full Show Notes Women navigating perimenopause and menopause know the feeling: you go from doctor to doctor, get treated for anxiety here, insomnia there, brain fog somewhere else — and nobody ever stops to ask whether hormones might be the thread connecting all of it. This episode is about two women who got tired of watching that happen and built something different. Sarah Chavarria is the CEO of Delta Dental Insurance, one of the largest dental insurance organizations in the country, serving over 35 million members. Joanna Strober is the founder and CEO of MIDI Health, the integrated women’s health telehealth platform that combines the best practices of OB-GYN, internal medicine, endocrinology, and cardiology into expert-led, AI-supported care protocols for women in perimenopause and menopause. Both of them went through the transition themselves. Both of them were undertreated. And both of them decided to do something about it. This conversation covers ground that most menopause discussions miss entirely. Sarah explains the biology behind why declining estrogen directly affects the mouth — reducing saliva, changing gum tissue, triggering burning tongue and dry mouth — and why the dentist, who sees you twice a year in a genuinely intimate clinical relationship, may be one of the best-positioned healthcare providers to catch hormonal changes early. Joanna walks through exactly what happens when Donna signs up for MIDI Health: the 30-minute intake, the iterative care model, the AI-supported protocols that give every clinician access to the best practices across four specialties, and the vision of being a 20-year care companion rather than a one-and-done visit. They also both speak from personal experience — Sarah powering through monthly migraines while traveling, not realizing perimenopause was the cause. Joanna sitting in a primary care office, describing anxiety and insomnia, being handed an SSRI and a sleeping pill and sent home. That experience, she says, is what 25% of midlife women are living right now. And it is exactly what MIDI was built to fix. The three takeaways Stephanie closes with say it best: your mouth is not separate from your hormones. At your next dental visit, say out loud that you are in perimenopause or menopause. And if you have Delta Dental coverage, find out if you have access to MIDI Health through your plan. What You Will Learn Why declining estrogen affects the mouth directly — reducing saliva, changing gum tissue, and triggering burning tongue and dry mouth — and why the dentist may catch these hormonal changes before any other provider does How MIDI Health’s integrated, AI-supported care model works — combining OB-GYN, internal medicine, endocrinology, and cardiology expertise into one iterative 30-minute visit that treats you as a whole woman rather than a collection of symptoms Why 25% of midlife women are currently on SSRIs for symptoms that may be hormonal, why perimenopause is still not part of the conversation in most primary care offices, and what the Delta Dental and MIDI partnership is doing to close that gap through insurance and employer benefits About Our Guests Sarah Chavarria is the CEO of Delta Dental Insurance, one of the nation’s largest dental insurance organizations serving more than 35 million members. A menopause navigator herself, she has channeled her personal experience into building awareness, innovative product design, and partnership strategies that connect oral health to whole-body women’s wellness. Learn more: ddins.co/menopause Joanna Strober is the founder and CEO of MIDI Health, a women’s health telehealth platform that delivers integrated, evidence-based perimenopause and menopause care through expert clinicians and AI-supported protocols. Her mission: make great menopause care covered by insurance and accessible to every woman, not just those who can afford concierge care. Learn more: joinmidi.com To listen to this episode, click here: https://hellohotflash.com/episodes/delta-dental-midi-health-strober-chavarria Additional Resources Reclaimed: 40 Days — Starts September 14 The next cohort of Reclaimed: 40 Days begins September 14. A faith-integrated 40-day sugar reset designed for women in perimenopause and menopause — with live coaching calls, a private community, a full education library, and a 10-episode private podcast. Join us: https://hellohotflash.com/reclaimed Hello Hot Flash Quiz — What Is Your Soul Trying to Tell You Right Now? If menopause has been stirring up more than physical symptoms — a deeper restlessness, a quiet question about what this season is for — this quiz is for you. In just a few minutes you will receive a personalized reflection on what your body and soul may be asking you to pay attention to right now. Take it free: https://hellohotflash.com/quiz Christian Women and Menopause — Limited Series Podcast This 21-episode limited series goes deep into what the Bible says about the midlife transition — stress, anxiety, identity, purpose, confidence, and faith. If you are a Christian woman navigating menopause and want to bring your whole self — body and spirit — into this conversation, this is the series that will meet you there. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen: https://hellohotflash.com/christian-women-and-menopause

  4. Aug 27

    The Impact of Sugar on Anxiety and Perimenopause May Surprise You | 297

    Women in perimenopause and menopause who struggle with anxiety, tingling hands, eye twitching, or a nervous system that won’t settle — this episode is the explanation you have been looking for and the permission you did not know you needed. There is a verse most Christian women in midlife know by heart. Philippians 4:6: Be anxious for nothing. And many of them have stood in their own kitchens, or at the top of their own stairs, or at 2am in the dark — and felt quietly, profoundly ashamed that they could not seem to live it. Not because they lacked faith. Because they were fighting a biochemical reality with spiritual discipline alone, and their body needed something more. In this solo episode, Stephanie shares the season when her eyes started twitching and her hands started tingling — and the long road to understanding that what she was experiencing was not a faith failure. It was physiology. Blood sugar dysregulation, magnesium depletion from excess sugar consumption, cortisol spikes producing every physical symptom of anxiety, all running against the backdrop of declining estrogen that used to buffer the nervous system and no longer could. She walks through exactly what happens in the nervous system when blood sugar crashes after a sugar spike — the adrenaline release, the sense of dread, the shallow breathing, the inability to focus — and why that anxiety is not thought into existence but produced by body chemistry. She also returns to Philippians 4:6 with fresh eyes: not as a standard to achieve but as an invitation to present. To bring her body — the tingling, the twitching, the confusion, the fear — to God. And the wisdom she received when she finally did pointed her toward what she was eating. The tingling stopped. The eye twitching stopped. The anxiety that had felt like a character flaw revealed itself as what it actually was: a symptom. One that responded to change. What You Will Learn Why blood sugar dysregulation directly irritates the small nerve fibers in your extremities — and why magnesium depletion from excess sugar consumption is one of the most common and overlooked causes of eye twitching, muscle spasms, and the tingling sensation that sends women to Google at midnight How a blood sugar crash produces every physical symptom of anxiety — racing heart, shallow breathing, sense of dread, inability to focus — and why women who pray Philippians 4:6 over their anxious bodies and feel nothing change are not lacking faith but addressing a physiological problem that needs a physiological response How to pray Philippians 4:6 differently — not as a standard to achieve through willpower but as an invitation to present: bringing your body, your confusion, your symptoms, and your fear to God and trusting that He receives all of it Additional Resources Reclaimed: 40 Days — September 14 Cohort The next cohort of Reclaimed: 40 Days begins September 14. A faith-integrated 40-day sugar reset designed for Christian women in perimenopause and menopause — with live 90-minute Monday coaching calls, a private community, a full digital content library (videos, workbook, Hidden Sugar Field Guide, Meal Prep Game Plan, Reclaimed Prayer Framework, and 10 private podcast episodes), and group text support Tuesday and Thursday mornings. The investment is $250. Enrollment is open now: https://hellohotflash.com/reclaimed Hello Hot Flash Quiz — What Is Your Soul Trying to Tell You Right Now? If menopause has been stirring up more than physical symptoms — a deeper restlessness, a quiet question about what this season is for — this quiz is for you. In just a few minutes you will receive a personalized reflection on what your body and soul may be asking you to pay attention to right now. Take it free: https://hellohotflash.com/quiz Christian Women and Menopause — Limited Series Podcast This 21-episode limited series goes deep into what the Bible says about the midlife transition — stress, anxiety, identity, purpose, confidence, and faith. If you are a Christian woman navigating menopause and want to bring your whole self — body and spirit — into this conversation, this is the series that will meet you there. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen: https://hellohotflash.com/christian-women-and-menopause

  5. Aug 20

    How Red Light Therapy Can Support Menopause Symptoms with Dr. Natalia Sadowski | 296

    Midlife women navigating perimenopause and menopause often describe their fatigue as bone-deep — the kind that sleep does not fix and that no one around them seems to fully understand. There is a biological reason for that. And it starts at the cellular level, inside the mitochondria, where your body makes every unit of energy it uses for healing, thinking, moving, and getting through the day. When those systems are taxed by hormonal transition, the entire body feels it. In this episode, Dr. Natalia Sadowski walks through exactly what red and near-infrared light therapy is doing at the cellular level — not the marketing version, but the actual mechanism: light absorbed by the mitochondria, ATP production stimulated, inflammation signals calmed, blood vessels relaxed, lymph flow increased. She explains why red light and near-infrared are not the same thing and why that distinction matters for what you are actually trying to address. She covers dosing, skin tone, the difference between acute injuries and chronic conditions, hair loss, wound healing, and the research base — including over 11,000 published articles on photobiomodulation. She is also honest about what red light therapy cannot do. It is a supplement, not a cure. It works best when your foundations are in place — sleep, whole foods, protein, movement, stress reduction, community, and purpose. She talks about all of that too, in the direct and warm way of someone who genuinely loves helping women understand their own bodies. And at the end, she addresses who can and who should not use red light therapy — including pregnant women, active cancer patients, and the surprising clinical application of photobiomodulation for head and neck cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. What You Will Learn Why the fatigue so many women experience in perimenopause and menopause is cellular — why your mitochondria are working harder during this hormonal transition and what gives your body more ATP to work with The critical difference between red light and near-infrared light — which one to use for skin, wounds, and collagen, which one to use for joints, muscles, deep inflammation, and chronic injuries, and why skin tone affects dosing What the FlexBeam actually is, how to use it, when not to use it, and the research — including wound healing, hair regrowth, NASA’s use on space shuttles, and the complementary cancer care applications you have probably never heard of About Our Guest Dr. Natalia Sadowski — physician, photobiomodulation specialist, and medical science advisor to Recharge Health — specializing in integrative approaches to recovery, vitality, and whole-person wellness.  Recharge.Health Additional Resources Free Menopause Webinar Join Stephanie for a FREE live workshop — "Why Can't I Stop Eating Sugar?" — designed for women in perimenopause and menopause who are tired of starting over. In 90 minutes you will discover the neurochemical reason sugar wins every time, the direct connection between sugar and your worst menopause symptoms, and what the Bible says about fasting and why a sugar fast may be the most powerful spiritual practice of your midlife season. All sessions include scripture, science, and real community. Register free at hellohotflash.com/workshop https://hellohotflash.com/workshop   Hello Hot Flash Quiz — What Is Your Soul Trying to Tell You Right Now? If menopause has been bringing up more than just physical symptoms — if you have been feeling a deeper restlessness, a quiet question about what this season is for — this quiz is for you. In just a few minutes you will get a personalized reflection on what your body and soul may be asking you to pay attention to right now. Take it free: https://hellohotflash.com/quiz   Christian Women and Menopause — Limited Series Podcast This 21-episode limited series goes deep into what the Bible has to say about the midlife transition — stress, anxiety, identity, purpose, confidence, and faith. If you are a Christian woman navigating menopause and want to bring your whole self — body and spirit — into this conversation, this is the series that will meet you there. It is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen. https://hellohotflash.com/christian-women-and-menopause Our Sponsor This episode is sponsored by FlexBeam by Recharge Health — the most powerful red and near-infrared light therapy device of its kind. Trusted by 45,000+ users worldwide, FlexBeam energizes your mitochondria, supports deeper sleep, faster recovery, stronger immunity, better gut health, and hormonal balance — all drug-free, FDA cleared, and with no known side effects. Use code HOTFLASH15 for 15% off.  Website: recharge.health

  6. Aug 13

    Cannabis, HRT, and Menopause Relief: What Every Woman Needs to Know Before She Tries It | 295

    One in four postmenopausal women is already using cannabis for menopause symptom relief. One in four. And most of them figured it out on their own — because their doctor wasn’t talking about it, the dispensary person didn’t know anything about menopause, and nobody told them that their postmenopausal body metabolizes cannabis differently than every other body in the store. Dr. Lauren Streicher did not want to leave that gap. She went out and surveyed nearly 1,000 postmenopausal women. She stood in dispensaries pretending to be a woman asking for help — to see what they’d actually say. She tracked the emergency room visits. And she brought all of it to this conversation. This episode is part of our August Best-Of celebration. If you’ve heard it before, there’s something new in it today. If you’re new here — you found a good one. What You Will Learn What the endocannabinoid system is — and why it matters that cannabis works with a system already inside you What nearly 1,000 postmenopausal women reported about cannabis and their symptoms — and why Dr. Streicher’s reaction is more nuanced than you might expect Why postmenopausal women metabolize cannabis significantly more slowly — and why that is directly linked to ER visits The delivery method Dr. Streicher calls the safest for postmenopausal women — and the one she warns against The entourage effect — what happens when cannabis and hormone therapy are used together The breast cancer myth about estrogen that a re-evaluation of the Women’s Health Initiative actually debunked — including the 22% decreased risk most women have never heard What you must tell your anesthesiologist — even if you tell no one else — before any procedure About Our Guest Dr. Lauren Streicher is a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and the founding medical director of the Northwestern Medicine Center for Sexual Medicine and Menopause. She is a Senior Research Fellow at The Kinsey Institute at Indiana University, a certified menopause practitioner of The Menopause Society, and Medical Director of Community Education and Outreach for Midi Health. She is a bestselling author and host of the #1 menopause podcast on Apple. To learn more about our guest, click here: https://hellohotflash.com/cannabis-HRT-menopause Website: www.drstreicher.com | Instagram: @DrStreicher Additional Resources A great resource if you are concerned about how this may impact your Christian walk: https://www.believers.cc/messages/would-jesus-smoke-weed----pastor-ryan Take the Hello Hot Flash Quiz — What Is Your Soul Trying to Tell You Right Now? https://hellohotflash.com/quiz Hello Hot Flash Workshop: https://hellohotflash.com/workshop Christian Women and Menopause — a limited-series podcast on faith, science, and the midlife transition: https://hellohotflash.com/christian-women-and-menopause

  7. Aug 6

    What the FDA Panel Means for Woman in Menopause With Dr. Cat Brown from Winona | 294

    As a midlife Christian woman, you’ve been feeling it. The dismissals. The ‘this is just part of aging.’ The pamphlets about hot flash management instead of real conversations about what’s happening to your body. You are not imagining it — and the FDA advisory panel that convened in July 2025 finally said so out loud. I connected with Dr. Cat Brown the moment it ended. Because she watched that panel the same way I did — and as Medical Director of Winona, one of the leading national menopause telehealth providers, she had been waiting for this moment for years. What she told me about what actually happened inside that room — and what it means for you — is why this became one of our most downloaded episodes ever. Today, as part of our August Best-Of celebration, we’re bringing it back. If you heard it before, you’ll want to hear it again. If you’re new here — this is the episode to start with. What You Will Learn What actually happened at the 2025 FDA Advisory Panel on hormone replacement therapy — and what it signals for the future of your care Why an orthopedic surgeon’s comments about osteoporotic fractures may be the most powerful thing said in that room The black box warning on vaginal estrogen — what it says, why it’s wrong, and the deadly chain that runs from untreated vaginal atrophy to UTI to sepsis The complete absence of FDA-approved testosterone options for women — and what that reveals about how medicine prioritizes women’s health What shared decision-making and individualized care should actually look like in your doctor’s office What to say when you walk into an appointment and want to be heard How Winona’s asynchronous telehealth model gives women real access — including at 2am when symptoms peak About Our Guest Dr. Cathleen Brown — Dr. Cat — is a board-certified OB-GYN with over two decades of experience in women’s health and Medical Director at Winona, a leading national menopause telehealth provider. She is a Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (FACOG) and a Menopause Society Certified Practitioner (MSCP). Dr. Brown earned her medical degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and served 12 years on active duty in the U.S. Army, providing women’s health care to service members and their families. Winona: www.bywinona.com | Instagram: @DoctorCatOBGYN Check out the episode here: https://hellohotflash.com/episodes/FDA-menopause Additional Resources Take the Hello Hot Flash Quiz — What Is Your Soul Trying to Tell You Right Now? https://hellohotflash.com/quiz Hello Hot Flash Workshop: https://hellohotflash.com/workshop Christian Women and Menopause — a limited-series podcast on faith, science, and the midlife transition: https://hellohotflash.com/christian-women-and-menopause Sponsor This episode is sponsored by FlexBeam. Red and near-infrared light therapy — FDA cleared, drug-free, and designed to support your energy, recovery, and cellular health in midlife. Use code HOTFLASH15 for 15% off: recharge.health.

  8. Jul 30

    What Happens In Perimenopause When You Stop Listening To Your Body | 293

    As a Christian woman navigating menopause, many of you have done the therapy. You have done the mindset work. You have read the books, taken the courses, journaled through the hard seasons. And perimenopause still hit you like a freight train. If that sounds familiar, this episode is not going to tell you to try harder. It is going to tell you why the approach you have been using was always missing half the equation. Jen Aks is the author of Your Body Is Speaking and the creator of the Body Set framework — the somatic counterpart to mindset. She has given a TEDx talk, barefoot, because her body told her to take her shoes off before she walked on stage. That detail is not a quirk. It is exactly the point. The body knows before the mind does. And for women in perimenopause who have spent decades living from the neck up — thinking their way through stress, overriding exhaustion, pushing past what their body was quietly asking for — that gap between what the mind says and what the body knows becomes impossible to ignore. In this conversation, Jen walks through her Body Set to Reset framework: a somatic practice that begins with placing one hand on the heart and one on the stomach, closing the eyes, and asking — without judgment, without shame, without the pressure to articulate it — what the body actually needs right now. Maybe it needs a nap. Maybe it needs food. Maybe it needs movement, or tears, or simply to be acknowledged. She also explains the science behind gesture — why the hands hold more cortical tissue than any other body part, how embodying an emotion through movement creates a feedback loop that interrupts the pattern, and how the body set to reset framework moves through recognition, embodiment, visualization, and transformation in seconds. This episode is for "Donna". For every woman who has been so busy taking care of everyone else that she forgot her body was speaking to her the whole time. And for every woman who is ready, finally, to start listening. What You Will Learn Why mindset work alone is not enough during perimenopause — how decades of societal conditioning teach women to override their bodies, and what happens hormonally and emotionally when those suppressed signals finally surface in midlife How to use Jen’s Body Set to Reset framework — the hand-on-heart, hand-on-stomach practice that uses gesture, visualization, and somatic awareness to recognize, embody, and transform difficult emotions in seconds Why somatic intelligence is equal to cognitive intelligence — what it means to live from the whole body rather than the neck up, and how trusting your body’s signals leads to more authentic decisions, deeper relationships, and real freedom in the second half of life About Our Guest Jen Aks is the author of Your Body Is Speaking, a guide to body intelligence and somatic awareness designed to help people access the innate wisdom they have been conditioned to ignore. She is the creator of the Body Set framework and a coach who works with individuals and leaders on using gesture, body awareness, and somatic intelligence as tools for transformation. She has delivered a TEDx talk on the power of listening to the body — barefoot, because her body told her to — and her mission is to awaken body intelligence as the most underused leadership asset available to every person. To learn more about our guest, click here: https://hellohotflash.com/listen-to-your-midlife-menopausal-body-with-jen-aks Website: jenaks.com Book: Your Body Is Speaking — available on Amazon Instagram and LinkedIn: @jen_aks TEDx talk: search Jen Aks TEDx on YouTube Additional Resources Join me for an interactive workshop where together, we will map out a practical menopause meal plan using simple macro principles so you understand how protein, carbohydrates, and fats support energy, metabolism, and hormonal changes. You will also build a daily faith practice to help anchor your mindset, strengthen resilience, and stay steady through this season of transition. https://hellohotflash.com/workshop The limited-series podcast Christian Women and Menopause teaches what the Bible says about stress, anxiety, health, and confidence in midlife. Listen here: https://hellohotflash.com/christian-women-and-menopause Sponsor This episode is sponsored by Reverse Health. Finally, a fitness and weight loss app for women 40+. Use promo code HOTFLASH for 10% off: https://www.rgds43jd.com/G1S938/7XDN2/ This episode is also sponsored by Delta Dental. Protecting more than smiles. Visit the Delta Dental Institute to discover how they are advancing menopause care: https://DeltaDentalIns.com Learn more about menopause and oral health here: https://www1.deltadentalins.com/wellness/menopause-oral-health.html

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If you're a Christian woman navigating perimenopause or menopause — and you're exhausted, gaining weight, not sleeping, and not getting real answers from your doctor — you found the right place. Hello, Hot Flash is a faith-informed, science-based menopause podcast hosted by Stephanie Shaw — a menopause advocate who saw 18 doctors, visited two world-renowned medical facilities, and spent $20,000 out of pocket before finally finding relief. She built this show so you don't have to go through what she did. Each week, Stephanie talks with gynecologists, menopause specialists, hormone experts, functional medicine doctors, nutritionists, and real women who've been there — breaking down the most-searched menopause topics in plain language: Menopause weight loss and belly fat · hot flashes and night sweats · sleep problems and 3AM wake-ups · HRT vs. BHRT vs. natural remedies · hormone health and estrogen · testosterone and libido · brain fog and focus · anxiety and depression · insulin resistance and metabolism after 40 · sugar cravings · heart health and bone density · hair loss, joint pain, and heart palpitations · vaginal dryness · irregular periods and frozen shoulder Women who listen to Hello, Hot Flash get real answers to the questions that keep them up at night — and the faith to trust that God designed this body and this season with purpose: HRT vs. Bioidentical HRT vs. natural remedies — what's actually right for you? How to balance your hormones naturally and effectively. What really works for hot flashes and night sweats. How to sleep all night and finally beat insomnia. How to lose weight and keep it off after 40. How to reduce brain fog and sharpen your focus so you can show up fully — at work, at home, and in your calling. How menopause affects your sex drive and your relationships — and how Jesus meets you even there. The best foods and supplements for midlife health. How much protein you need, how much water you should drink, and what your body is actually asking for. How menopause impacts your bones, your heart, and your long-term health — and why the Holy Spirit is as much a part of your healing as any hormone panel. This is a show where your faith and your health belong in the same conversation. Hello, Hot Flash is ranked in the Top 3% of Podcasts Worldwide (Listen Notes) and named one of Feedspot's Top 25 Best Menopause Podcasts of 2025. Real questions. Real answers. No dismissals. Subscribe now and join women around the world who are taking back this season — with clarity, confidence, and faith. Show notes, resources, and bonuses at https://hellohotflash.com If this show has helped you, please leave a review — no woman should have to navigate menopause alone.

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