The Hotflash inc podcast

Hotflash inc

Hotflash inc is an evidence, expert and human-experience driven podcast looking for the true truth in perimenopause, menopause and beyond.  In more than 200 episodes menopause and midlife journalist and host Ann Marie McQueen has spoken to a wide range of experts from around the globe, including practitioners, activists, researchers, doctors and industry leaders about this perplexing transition we still know too little about. She’s talked about her own frustrations and personal experiences. And she has connected with a perimenoposse of powerful women in the midst of a perplexing transition. As of March 2026, Hotflash inc Podcast is number 1 on GoodPods in Women's Health Podcasts. It is amongst the top 3% percentile on Listen Notes and in the Top 60 Menopause podcasts on Feedspot. *Last updated January 2026

  1. Jul 24

    218 Anissa Nova on Reclaiming Menopause with Traditional Chinese Medicine

    🔥 Breaking news! Get The Hot Truth About Hormone Therapy – it's out now! This is a digital guide to help women and the women who care for them to navigate the chaos. Anissa Nova spent years in corporate tech before retraining as a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine, acupuncture, herbalism and energy work. Now she runs Pure Alchemy in Sydney, Australia, where she blends strength training, breathwork and rest with acupuncture and energy alignment to help women reconnect with their bodies. Highlights 02:04 – The Yellow Emperor's Classic and the 7-year cycle 03:52 – Yin, blood, and turning inward 06:59 – The liberation of no longer being "fertile" 09:05 – Hormone therapy isn't the only solution 10:30 – "We weren't built incorrectly" 12:06 – Helping women transition off HRT when it's not working 17:23 – The energetic nature of herbs 21:43 – What medical qigong actually is 26:12 – Mind, emotion, and energy shaping reality 28:31 – Applying a modern model to ancient medicine 29:47 – Why clinical trials don't reflect real-world treatment 31:06 – Where science's gold standard falls short 31:48 – Appreciating the placebo effect 36:11 – Emotions are energy — clean up now or later 37:30 – Acupressure vs. acupuncture 38:41 – Those electric zaps during acupuncture, explained Connect with Anissa Nova Website: Pure Alchemy LinkedIn: Anissa Nova Instagram: @Purealchemytcm Pure Alchemy — Sutherland Shire, Sydney, Australia Connect with Hotflash inc TikTok: @hotflashinc.menopause Instagram: @hotflashinc X: @hotflashinc YOUTUBE @hotflashinc Facebook: @hotflashinc LinkedIn: Ann Marie McQueen Disclaimer This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice. Always speak with a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your treatment, supplements, or lifestyle.

  2. Jul 17

    217 ADHD, Perimenopause + the Female Nervous System with Adele Wimsett

    🔥 Need help right now? Hotflash inc has got you: The Hot Truth About Hormone Therapy is a clear + comprehensive guide to understanding the entire landscape of prescribing approaches – at least 12 – to empower you to make the right decision, for you. The free Fix It Fast Perimenopause List offers quick, practical non-hormonal relief options. Or cover all your bases and get both! Adele Wimsett spent 20 years working in the criminal justice system before a health crisis of her own – her period stopped due to "healthy" habits like fasted training and keto – sent her down the rabbit hole of gender bias in medical research. She retrained as a women's health practitioner, and after her own ADHD diagnosis at 41, turned her science-nerd brain toward a question almost nobody was asking: what do hormones actually do to the ADHD brain? Highlights 10:06 – The "perfect storm": ADHD plus declining progesterone 12:26 – The problem with medicine's obsession with estrogen 18:35 – Organized at work – trauma connection 19:37 – The hidden cost of decades of masking 23:26 – Estrogen and testosterone through a neurodivergent lens 31:08 – Is an ADHD diagnosis essential? 35:57 – 3 practical daily tools Connect with Adele Wimsett: Instagram: @adele_wimsett Free SKOOL Community ADHD & Hormones Connect with Hotflash inc TikTok: @hotflashinc.menopause Instagram: @hotflashinc X: @hotflashinc YOUTUBE @hotflashinc Facebook: @hotflashinc LinkedIn: Ann Marie McQueen Disclaimer This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice. Always speak with a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your treatment, supplements, or lifestyle.

  3. Jul 3

    216 Why Perimenopause Might Be the Perfect Time to Try Psilocybin

    🔥 The Hot Truth About Hormone Therapy is here — my guide mapping 12 different approaches to hormone therapy, built from 250+ practitioner interviews and six years of research. $47 until July 15th, then $97. 👉 The Hot Truth Eve Simonsen is a certified psilocybin facilitator and microdosing guide based in the US. We get into why it works, microdosing vs. macrodosing, real side effects and contraindications, what a retreat looks like, and why you should never get your information about this from mainstream media. Disclaimer This podcast is for informational purposes is not a substitute for medical advice. Always speak with a qualified healthcare professional before making decisions. Psilocybin remains illegal under federal law in many countries, including the US and in most jurisdictions outside of regulated state programs. Highlights 07:29 – Why perimenopausal women are drawn to this work 10:33 – Full journey vs. microdosing, explained 19:02 – Real side effects and contraindications 25:39 – Who actually shows up for this work 29:40 – The real fears that hold people back 38:58 – Where to actually go for good information Go deeper Eve's own research available via her Linktree.Psychedelic Passage is a referral network that connects people to vetted facilitators.MAPS is a nonprofit that's been funding psychedelic clinical research for 30+ years.Hystelica is a UK-based nonprofit specifically studying psychedelics and female biology.Deva Collective is a women's-health-and-psychedelics research nonprofit.Double Blind and Lucid News for responsible journalism. Connect with Eve Website: cycle-alchemy.com Connect with Hotflash inc TikTok: @hotflashinc.menopause  Instagram:  @hotflashinc X: @hotflashinc  YOUTUBE  @hotflashinc Facebook:  @hotflashinc Linked in:  Ann Marie McQueen

  4. Jun 26

    215: Think you know about calcium supplements? With Seen Nutrition's Dr Adrienne Bitar

    Dr. Adrienne Bitar has a PhD working on food studies scholarship and is the co-founder — along with pharmacist Dr. Jenny Han — of Seen Nutrition, a food-first bone health company born out of two very personal experiences with osteoporosis. Dr Bitar brings a deep understanding of how diet culture, food history, and the stories we tell about women’s bodies have shaped everything from how we supplement to when we get screened. Highlights 03:42 – Deconstructing the narrative of inevitable bone decline 05:40 – How personal osteoporosis stories built Seen 08:22 – The calcium confusion: what’s actually going on 12:30 – Types of calcium — what to look for, what to skip 13:40 – The “food matrix effect” explained 15:13 – Are there calcium supplements you shouldn’t take? 18:00 – The cardiovascular risk debate, debunked 27:50 – Balance and fall prevention — the other half of fracture risk 28:42 – Strength training and bone health 30:27 – How menopause accelerates bone loss 35:17 – Why waiting until 65 for a DEXA is too late 39:45 – Why third-party testing should be non-negotiable 44:45 – Why so much of the supplement market is gross and hard to trust 49:32 – DCE: three things to do for your bones this week For citations check the comments or this podcast episode on Substack. Connect with Dr. Adrienne Bitar & Seen Nutrition Website: www.seennutrition.com Instagram/TikTok: https://www.instagram.com/thecalciumqueens / https://www.tiktok.com/@thecalciumqueens Facebook Group: Osteoporosis Nutrition and Supplementation Phone: 607-216-8722 🔥 My long-awaited digital guide to hormone therapy is live — The Hot Truth About Hormone Therapy. Five short videos, five PDFs. Unbiased, BS-free, and you can get through it in under three hours. Practitioners, doctors, and women who want real information are already buying it. Connect with Hotflash inc TikTok: @hotflashinc.menopause Instagram: @hotflashinc X: @hotflashinc YouTube: @hotflashinc Facebook: @hotflashinc LinkedIn: Ann Marie McQueen Disclaimer This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice. Always speak with a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your treatment, supplements, or lifestyle.

  5. Jun 21

    "Why I Stopped Weighing Myself For Good": Anne Poirier on Body Neutrality

    🌿 The Hot Truth About Hormone Therapy digital guide is here. An unbiased, birds-eye view of what's happening that will help you cut through the confusion and have a real, informed conversation with your doctor about HRT. Get it now: go.hotflashinc.com/hottruth Anne Poirier is a nationally recognized body image expert, certified intuitive eating counselor, and author of The Body Joyful, where she traces her own path from self-loathing to self-acceptance. She's also a pioneer in the body neutrality movement – a middle ground that's often misunderstood but, as this conversation shows, might be exactly what so many of us need in midlife. Highlights 01:39 – How Anne's eating disorder started in 7th grade gym class 05:42 – Working in fitness while struggling with her own body image 07:28 – The cultural pendulum swinging back toward thinness 10:39 – How she quieted her own food noise without medication 14:31 – Why perimenopause can also trigger eating disorders 15:45 – Body positivity's origins vs. body neutrality 17:34 – Exhausting wellness trends: protein, heavy lifting, vibration plates 20:52 – Listening to her body instead of outside rules 25:15 – Why she refuses to weigh herself 27:00 – Where to begin 28:47 – Your body as "the vessel you get to experience your life in" Connect with Anne Poirier Books: The Body Joyful, Not a Fat Annie, The Body Neutrality Playbook Connect with Hotflash inc TikTok: @hotflashinc.menopause Instagram: @hotflashinc X: @hotflashinc YOUTUBE @hotflashinc Facebook: @hotflashinc LinkedIn: Ann Marie McQueen Disclaimer This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice. Always speak with a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your treatment, supplements, or lifestyle.

  6. Jun 10

    Episode 213: Why you're confused about hormone therapy (and why it's not your fault)

    🌿 Pre-order now: The Hot Truth About Hormone Therapy — A Journalist's No BS Guide to the Lay of the Land Five videos, five PDFs, and a bonus guide on talking to your doctor. Launches June 15th for $47. 👉 https://go.hotflashinc.com/hottruth After six years researching hormone therapy – interviewing more than 250 practitioners, following the money, tracking the influencers, and regularly reading the research – I've still had moments of being completely bamboozled. In this solo episode, I break down something I've been mapping for years: the 12 distinct belief systems around hormone therapy, from hormone maxxing through to the Estrogen-Free camp and finally, the groups that don't believe hormone therapy is required or even recommended. They're not just different opinions – they're entire belief systems, and most of them are convinced they are right. This episode is the clearest lay of the land you're going to find – and it's the foundation of my new guide, The Hot Truth About Hormone Therapy. Whether you're newly curious, deep in the weeds, or a practitioner trying to understand what your clients are navigating, this one is for you. Pre-order the guide now at https://go.hotflashinc.com/hottruth. Highlights 3:10 – The commercial forces shaping the HT conversation 4:30 – Research gaps: less data than hormone therapy in cows 5:50 – Why OBGYNs leading the charge is complicated 7:15 – The 12 belief systems, explained 16:20 – Why testing is a minefield 17:45 – Progesterone-forward prescribing and why it's been ignored 23:15 – Traditional medicine systems: TCM, Ayurveda, homeopathy 24:30 – The problem with tribalism inside belief systems 26:00 – What women actually need: a map before a decision Quotable "I think everyone just has pieces of the puzzle. Very few people have the whole picture." — Ann Marie McQueen, journalist and founder of Hotflash Inc Resources mentioned Dr. Felice Gersh episode: The Hormone Therapy Revolution You've Never Heard OfDr. Neal Barnard episode: Dr Neal Barnard is a Soy ManThe Hot Truth About Hormone Therapy guide: https://go.hotflashinc.com/hottruthConnect with Hotflash inc TikTok: @hotflashinc.menopause Instagram: @hotflashinc X: @hotflashinc YouTube: @hotflashinc Facebook: @hotflashinc LinkedIn: Ann Marie McQueen Disclaimer This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice. Always speak with a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your treatment, supplements, or lifestyle.

  7. Jun 5

    Episode 212: 'Menopause was the most important event of my life'

    🌿 Grab my new expanded and improved free Fix It Fast Perimenopause List. 🔥 Get on the waitlist for The Hot Truth About Hormone Therapy: A Journalist's No-BS Guide to the Lay of the Land (in Under 3 Hours) – it drops June 15. Luce Beaulieu is a certified menopause coach, researcher-turned-guide, and founder of the Midlife Temple community. She came to this work from the design and business world after being hit simultaneously with menopause, a traumatic breakup, and a toxic workplace in her late 40s, all during COVID. She clawed her way through, found HRT, healing practices and a 4,000-year-old myth called Inanna — and now she helps women do the same. If you like what you hear, lucky you! Luce has opened the doors to Portals of Liberation, her 4-week guided deep dive into the four thresholds your body is already asking you to cross. Don't wait! It starts June 22. Highlights 04:30 – Menopause as the most impactful event of Luce's life 05:02 – Why treating it as "physical deterioration" misses the point 05:27 – Grasping for resources beyond the purely medical 08:00 – Leadership, peak career, then menopause hits like snakes and ladders 08:30 – Ageism: from sought-after to invisible 10:21 – 20–30 hot flashes a day, no sleep, depression, suicidal ideation 13:16 – Why she'd assumed she wouldn't "need" hormones 20:30 – The U-shaped descent 23:13 – Getting back into the body through somatic work 29:57 – The missing archetype between mother and crone 32:24 – What a spiritual awakening actually feels like Connect with Hotflash inc TikTok: @hotflashinc.menopause Instagram: @hotflashinc X: @hotflashinc YouTube: @hotflashinc Facebook: @hotflashinc LinkedIn: Ann Marie McQueen Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice. Always speak with a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your treatment, supplements, or lifestyle.

  8. May 29

    211 When Hormones Don't Work: Dr. May Hindmarsh on Histamine, Epigenetics, and Trusting Your Body

    🌿 Grab the free Fix It Fast Perimenopause List so you can make sense of what's happening and what to do about it. 👉 http://go.hotflashinc.com/fix-it-fast 🔥 Join the waitlist for The Hot Truth About Hormone Therapy — the only in-depth guide that looks at all the approaches so you can make an informed decision for your body. Out June 15! 👉 http://go.hotflashinc.com/hottruth-waitlist Dr. May Hindmarsh is a Canadian-trained family medicine doctor who — along with her husband, also an MD — has been questioning the medical establishment long before it was fashionable to do so. Their podcast, BS Free MD, was born from decades of clinical experience that didn't match what the pharmaceutical reps, the government, or the studies said it should. May has seen it all and she's landed on team what actually works for each individual woman. May is also speaking as a patient who spent three years convinced something was catastrophically wrong with her, while she was already on hormone therapy and working with hormone specialists. Highlights02:04 – Training as scientists vs. trusting pharmaceutical reps 12:39 – Practicing before the Women's Health Initiative — what Mai actually saw clinically 17:47 – How the WHI hit her practice and why the data didn't match what she was seeing 20:25 – Her own perimenopause begins: libido tanks, testosterone at zero, migraines spike 26:17 – When things started to go wrong 35:40 – MTHFR, COMT, and why genetic variations change everything 45:06 – What mast cells actually are and what histamine does in the body (way beyond allergies) 51:22 – Why nutraceuticals can be just as overwhelming as pharmaceuticals 53:11 – Why "just optimize more" culture is so harmful 57:06 – What she's doing now 1:01:14 – Why you have to trust yourself over your practitioner Connect with Hotflash incTikTok: @hotflashinc.menopause Instagram: @hotflashinc X: @hotflashinc YouTube: @hotflashinc Facebook: @hotflashinc LinkedIn: Ann Marie McQueen DisclaimerThis podcast is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice. Always speak with a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your treatment, supplements, or lifestyle.

4.5
out of 5
30 Ratings

About

Hotflash inc is an evidence, expert and human-experience driven podcast looking for the true truth in perimenopause, menopause and beyond.  In more than 200 episodes menopause and midlife journalist and host Ann Marie McQueen has spoken to a wide range of experts from around the globe, including practitioners, activists, researchers, doctors and industry leaders about this perplexing transition we still know too little about. She’s talked about her own frustrations and personal experiences. And she has connected with a perimenoposse of powerful women in the midst of a perplexing transition. As of March 2026, Hotflash inc Podcast is number 1 on GoodPods in Women's Health Podcasts. It is amongst the top 3% percentile on Listen Notes and in the Top 60 Menopause podcasts on Feedspot. *Last updated January 2026

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