Integrative Women's Health Podcast

Jessica Drummond
  • 5.0 (11)
  • Alternative Health
  • Updated Weekly

Welcome to the Integrative Women's Health Podcast with Jessica Drummond, your go-to resource for cutting-edge insights into women's health and wellness. Hosted by Dr. Jessica Drummond, DCN, CNS, PT, NBHWC, a renowned expert with over two decades of experience in pelvic health and clinical nutrition, this podcast is designed for health and wellness professionals specializing in pelvic health, fertility, perinatal, postpartum, perimenopause, menopause, and overall wellness. The "Integrative Women's Health Podcast" offers a unique blend of content formats to enrich your practice and knowledge. Expect enlightening interviews with innovative professionals in women's health, engaging conversations with students and graduates from The Integrative Women's Health Institute, insightful case studies with actual clients, and Dr. Drummond’s solo episodes on hot topics in integrative women's health practice. Our discussions will focus on the latest tools for supporting women's health, featuring functional nutrition, health coaching, exercise, sleep, and other therapeutic strategies. Through our episodes, you'll learn how to empower your clients to heal from complex health issues using evidence-based approaches. Dr. Drummond, founder and CEO of The Integrative Women's Health Institute, aims to provide practitioners with on-demand, evidence-driven continuing education. Our podcast mirrors this goal by offering valuable, practical information that you can apply in your practice. Stay connected and enhance your expertise in women's health by visiting our website, IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/), and following us on Instagram @IntegrativeWomensHealth (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/). Subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform and join us on this transformative journey in women's health.

  1. 2d ago

    The Vaginal Microbiome and Chronic Vaginal Infections with Wendy Strgar

    “We can't treat clearly when we don't know what community of bugs are there.” - Wendy Strgar For some women, vaginal infections are something to deal with once in a while and move on. But for others, it's a completely different experience. They keep getting the same symptoms, going back to the doctor, trying another round of antibiotics or antifungals, and hoping this time it will work. Sometimes this goes on for years. And one of the challenges is that we don't always have a clear picture of what's happening in the vaginal microbiome. Different infections can cause very similar symptoms, and the standard tests don’t always include all the organisms that could be causing the problem. As women's health practitioners, we have to think about what happens after we've treated an infection. Antibiotics can change the whole vaginal microbiome, including the beneficial bacteria that help protect against future infections. How do we help to restore that healthy environment? And what about women whose vaginal health has changed because of pregnancy, breastfeeding, perimenopause, or cancer treatment? These changes can affect everything from daily comfort to intimacy and quality of life, yet they're still often overlooked. We have an opportunity to provide more individualized care that supports the health of vaginal tissues and the microbiome over time. In today's episode, I'm joined by my longtime friend and colleague Wendy Strgar, founder of Good Clean Love and Good Clean Clinical Care. Wendy shares how her own experience with vaginal pain led her into women's sexual health research and product development. We talk about the limitations of conventional vaginal testing, the role of Lactobacillus and vaginal pH, why recurrent infections need a more comprehensive approach, how biomimicry can help support a healthier vaginal environment, vaginal health during menopause and cancer treatment, the importance of rebuilding the microbiome after treatment, how better access to care can help women with chronic vaginal infections, and more. Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together! --- Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/the-vaginal-microbiome-and-chronic-vaginal-infections-with-wendy-strgar/. Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/). Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).

  2. Oct 6

    What really is "Nervous System Regulation?" with Michael Roesslein

    “Nervous system regulation is the ability to feel strong emotions and sensations, not get lost and stuck in them, and return to a baseline state that is balanced and alive and present.” - Michael Roesslein Nervous system regulation has become one of those phrases we hear everywhere, but there’s still a lot of confusion around what it actually means. We tend to associate it with things that make us feel calmer, like breathwork or meditation, but feeling calm in the moment and having a regulated nervous system aren’t necessarily the same thing. It’s normal to feel anxious sometimes. We’re supposed to get angry, excited, sad, and overwhelmed. Nervous system regulation is about having the capacity to experience all of that without getting stuck and to come back to a place where we feel present and connected again. Understanding this is especially important when we’re working with women who have spent years dealing with chronic illness, pain, or medical gaslighting. By the time she gets to us, her nervous system may have had years of experiences where she didn’t feel heard, believed, or safe. On top of that, we bring our own nervous systems into the treatment room too. If we’re overwhelmed, activated, or uncomfortable with what a patient is sharing, she may feel that. So this work isn’t only about giving our patients more nervous system tools. It’s also about building our capacity to stay present, get curious about what safety looks like for each person, and become better co-regulators for the people we serve. In today’s episode, I’m joined by Michael Roesslein, founder of Anima, to dig into what nervous system regulation means and why it’s so much more individualized than we sometimes make it sound. We talk about fight, flight, fawn, freeze, and shutdown states, why constantly trying to calm an activated nervous system can actually be counterproductive, medical gaslighting, trauma, the ways women learn to experience safety from a very young age, why doing all the “right” things for your health sometimes still isn’t enough, increasing our capacity for difficult emotions as well as joy, working with our own nervous systems as practitioners, learning to recognize what each individual patient may need to feel safer and more supported, and more. Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together! --- Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/what-really-is-nervous-system-regulation-with-michael-roesslein/. Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/). Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).

  3. Sep 29

    "Is it all in your head?" Healing Chronic Illness with Nervous System Regulation with Dr. Cathleen King

    “You have to find a way to find safety within the world.” - Dr. Cathleen King When someone has been living with chronic illness for years, talking to them about the nervous system can be really tricky. So many of our patients have already been told that their symptoms are due to anxiety, their tests look “normal,” or they just need to push through. The last thing we want to do is make someone feel like we're saying their illness isn't real. Because it is. There may be infection, inflammation, immune dysfunction, environmental exposures, pain, or other very real physiological issues happening, and the nervous system is also responding to everything the body has been through. This is why we need so much more nuance around nervous system regulation and chronic illness. Helping someone build more resilience doesn't mean pretending that every environment is safe or that we can think our way out of a physiological illness. We can reduce environmental risks where we can, support the physiology, and use tools like breathwork, somatics, co-regulation, and trauma work to help the nervous system feel safer too. And somewhere in all of that, we also have to help our patients get back to living. Healing shouldn't become a full-time job where they need to constantly monitor whether they're doing everything perfectly. In today’s episode, I’m joined by physical therapist and neuroscience-based mind-body practitioner Dr. Cathleen King, founder of Primal Trust™ Academy & Community. Cathleen shares her own experience with complex chronic illness and how nervous system work became such an important part of her recovery, the physiology behind nervous system regulation, medical trauma, why sequencing matters in chronic illness care, building a sense of safety when life doesn't always feel safe, and the identity shifts that can happen as someone begins to get better, and more. Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together! --- Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/is-it-all-in-your-head-healing-chronic-illness-with-nervous-system-regulation-with-dr-cathleen-king/. Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/). Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).

  4. Sep 22

    Menopause and The Gut Microbiome with Cynthia Thurlow

    “All these things that we think are adaptive, become maladaptive.” – Cynthia Thurlow So many of the women we work with have spent decades being really good at pushing through. We can function on too little sleep, fit in the hard workout, restrict our food when our weight starts creeping up, take care of everyone, build a career, and keep going. Then we hit perimenopause and suddenly those same strategies don’t work the way they used to. Recovery is slower, sleep changes, body composition shifts, and our tolerance for stress is different. Trying harder won’t necessarily get us where we want to go. There’s also a gut piece to this that we don’t talk about enough. As estrogen shifts through perimenopause and menopause, the gut microbiome changes too, with downstream effects on the immune system, brain, heart, bones, metabolism, and hormonal health. Then layer chronic stress, under-fueling, poor sleep, or too much intense exercise on top of that, and we can start to understand why simply prescribing more protein, more exercise, or intermittent fasting isn’t always the right answer. Sometimes the most therapeutic thing we can help a woman do is eat enough, recover better, slow down, and gradually rebuild resilience. In today’s episode, I’m joined by Cynthia Thurlow, nurse practitioner, Everyday Wellness podcast host, and author, to talk about the gut microbiome in perimenopause and menopause. We discuss how declining estrogen changes the microbiome, the connection between gut and immune health, autoimmune and post-viral conditions, and why stress management has to be part of the clinical conversation, how her approach to intermittent fasting has changed, when fasting may do more harm than good, the importance of eating enough protein and fiber, protecting muscle and bone as we age, diet culture and GLP-1s, why midlife often requires women to rethink the habits that got them here, and more. Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together! --- Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/menopause-and-the-gut-microbiome-with-cynthia-thurlow/. Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/). Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).

  5. Sep 15

    Your Shifa Precision AI Powered Molecular Twin with Dr. Neena Haider

    “Your body's working as one unit. Your body's not working in fragmented, siloed specialties.” - Dr. Neena Haider AI is becoming part of healthcare, whether we’re ready for it or not. On one hand, there are real concerns around privacy, accuracy, and relying too heavily on technology when clinical judgment is still essential. But on the other hand, these tools can help us do what humans simply aren't very good at: holding enormous amounts of information at once and recognizing connections across genetics, medications, labs, the microbiome, medical history, and different areas of clinical research. Going that deep and wide has huge potential in women's health, where our clients rarely fit neatly into one specialty. Hormones could be interacting with the gut, nervous system, immune system, medications, nutrition, genetics, and an existing chronic illness all at the same time. As practitioners, we still have to ask good questions, understand the person sitting in front of us, and use our clinical judgment. But the right AI tools could help us bring together more of her story, see connections we might otherwise miss, and make better-informed decisions without losing the human relationship that makes good healthcare possible. In today’s episode, I’m joined by Dr. Neena Haider, geneticist and founder and CEO of Shifa Precision, to talk about how AI can be used more thoughtfully in clinical care. We discuss using genetics, microbiome data, biomarkers, medical records, and other health information to build a more complete picture of an individual patient, how AI can help clinicians work across specialties and reduce errors, why general AI chatbots are very different from tools designed specifically for clinical decision support, how to think about AI and privacy, AI hallucinations, environmental costs, gaps in women’s health research, why learning to use these technologies responsibly is becoming an important part of being a healthcare practitioner, and more. EEnjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together! --- Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/your-shifa-precision-ai-powered-molecular-twin-with-dr-neena-haider/. Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/). Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).

  6. Sep 8

    How to Have Clean Water, Food, and Air in Homes, Schools, and Offices with Justin Liberman of Jaspr

    “If you don't have an air filter, your lungs become the air filter.” - Justin Liberman We’ve spent decades shifting our thinking about the quality of our food and water, but most of us are only beginning to have the same conversation about the air we breathe. Unlike food or water, we’re breathing all day and all night without really thinking about what might be in that air. Mold spores, smoke, viruses, allergens, chemicals from furniture and building materials, and other tiny particles can all become part of the indoor environment where our clients and we are trying to work, sleep, exercise, learn, and recover. For women’s health practitioners especially, this gives us another piece of the environment to consider when a client is struggling with brain fog, fatigue, poor sleep, chronic illness, or frequent infections. While can’t control every exposure, creating healthier air doesn’t have to mean completely rebuilding a home or clinic. Sometimes opening windows when appropriate and adding effective air filtration to the rooms where people spend the most time is a practical place to start. The same is true in our clinics, our children’s classrooms, and other spaces where we want people to breathe, think, heal, and function well. In today’s episode, I’m joined by Justin Liberman of Jaspr to talk about indoor air quality and how we can begin creating healthier spaces for ourselves, our families, and our clients. We discuss why indoor air can be more polluted than outdoor air, what to look for when choosing an air filter, HEPA and carbon filtration, filtering mold, viruses, smoke, and chemicals, how room size and ceiling height affect filtration, how often filters need to be changed, cleaner air in schools and clinical spaces, what we’re learning about air quality and illness, why clean air deserves a place alongside clean food and water as one of the foundations of health, and more. Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together! --- Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/how-to-have-clean-water-food-and-air-in-homes-schools-and-offices-with-justin-liberman-of-jaspr/. Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/). Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).

  7. Sep 1

    Seed Cycling and Women's Health with Two Moons Health

    “We don't position seed cycling as a stand-alone intervention, and we'd probably be skeptical of any protocol that claims to do that.” - Terry Chang Seed cycling is one of the tools that comes up all the time in women’s health conversations. There’s a long history of using seeds and other plant-based approaches to support hormonal health, and plenty of women who feel better when they use them. At the same time, the conventional research on seed cycling is still relatively limited. As practitioners working across traditional, integrative, and conventional medicine, we need to be able to hold both of those things at once. We can stay open to tools that may be helpful while continuing to ask good questions about how they work, who they’re appropriate for, and what the research actually tells us. This doesn’t have to be an either-or conversation between seed cycling and something like hormone therapy. For some women, seed cycling can be another layer of support alongside nutrition, movement, stress regulation, and other foundational strategies. For others, it can offer a more natural option as they decide what they want to do next. There are also contraindications and times when it may not be appropriate, which is why understanding the physiology and the individual woman in front of us matters. In today’s episode, I’m joined by Terry Chang and Dr. Ulrike Kaunzner, co-founders of Two Moons Health, to take a deeper look at seed cycling and the emerging research behind it. We talk about how flax, pumpkin, sesame, and sunflower seeds may support different phases of the menstrual cycle, the role of nutrients, fiber, lignans, and chasteberry, early results from their clinical study on PMS symptoms, seed cycling through perimenopause, contraindications to be aware of, how practitioners can think about the current evidence, making traditional wellness practices more realistic for busy women, and more. Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together! --- Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/seed-cycling-and-womens-health-with-two-moons-health/. Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/). Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).

  8. Aug 25

    How to Rebuild a Healthy Gut Microbiome with Dr. Oscar Coetzee and Danielle Arnold, CNS

    “The microbiome world is moving from supplementation towards ecosystem restoration.” - Danielle Arnold For a long time, the functional medicine approach to gut health focused on getting rid of what shouldn’t be there. It was all about finding the overgrowth, using antimicrobials, adding probiotics, and rebuilding. Those tools are still useful, but our understanding of the microbiome has become much more sophisticated. Now, we can think about restoring the gut’s ecosystem, including the keystone species that help create an environment where beneficial bacteria can thrive, and opportunistic bacteria have a much harder time taking over. With the complex clients we see as women’s health practitioners, this shift becomes especially important. Someone with endometriosis, histamine intolerance, MCAS, long COVID, metabolic dysfunction, or significant digestive symptoms may not be able to jump straight into eating 45 grams of fiber a day. Sometimes we have to work in a very specific order, supporting digestion, reducing overgrowth, rebuilding beneficial species, and then gradually giving those microbes the fibers and polyphenols they need. The goal is not simply a better stool test. It’s a more resilient gut ecosystem that can better support the immune system, nervous system, hormone health, and the rest of the body. In today’s episode, I’m joined by Dr. Oscar Coetzee and Danielle Arnold, CNS, from Designs for Health for a wonderfully nerdy conversation about what we now know about rebuilding the gut microbiome. We talk about new research on keystone species like Akkermansia, Faecalibacterium, and Roseburia, how these microbes work together, when antimicrobials may still be useful, why the order of treatment matters for sensitive clients, histamine and hormone health, H. pylori, digestive function, fiber and polyphenols, stool testing, how better gut microbiome support can become part of our clinical thinking, and more. Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together! --- Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/how-to-rebuild-a-healthy-gut-microbiome-with-dr-oscar-coetzee-and-danielle-arnold/. Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/). Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).

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About

Welcome to the Integrative Women's Health Podcast with Jessica Drummond, your go-to resource for cutting-edge insights into women's health and wellness. Hosted by Dr. Jessica Drummond, DCN, CNS, PT, NBHWC, a renowned expert with over two decades of experience in pelvic health and clinical nutrition, this podcast is designed for health and wellness professionals specializing in pelvic health, fertility, perinatal, postpartum, perimenopause, menopause, and overall wellness. The "Integrative Women's Health Podcast" offers a unique blend of content formats to enrich your practice and knowledge. Expect enlightening interviews with innovative professionals in women's health, engaging conversations with students and graduates from The Integrative Women's Health Institute, insightful case studies with actual clients, and Dr. Drummond’s solo episodes on hot topics in integrative women's health practice. Our discussions will focus on the latest tools for supporting women's health, featuring functional nutrition, health coaching, exercise, sleep, and other therapeutic strategies. Through our episodes, you'll learn how to empower your clients to heal from complex health issues using evidence-based approaches. Dr. Drummond, founder and CEO of The Integrative Women's Health Institute, aims to provide practitioners with on-demand, evidence-driven continuing education. Our podcast mirrors this goal by offering valuable, practical information that you can apply in your practice. Stay connected and enhance your expertise in women's health by visiting our website, IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/), and following us on Instagram @IntegrativeWomensHealth (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/). Subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform and join us on this transformative journey in women's health.

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