[powerpress]
When you hear the term ‘menopause,’ what immediately springs to mind?
Is it hot flashes? Mood swings? The end of fertility?
Menopause is, unfortunately, a reductive term. One that medicine has treated as a narrow, reproductive event for centuries. But the reality is more complicated than that. What happens to a woman’s body in midlife extends far beyond periods ending. It’s brain health. Cardiac health. Metabolic health. It’s insulin resistance and visceral fat accumulation. Sleep disruption and cognitive fog. And for most women, these shifts begin years—sometimes a decade—before menopause itself, during a liminal phase called perimenopause that most doctors never mention.
Helping us make sense of all this is Dr. Elizabeth Poynor.
Elizabeth is a gynecologic oncologist who spent 16 years at a major cancer center before pivoting to a more holistic, patient-centered approach. She now serves as Chair of Women’s Health at Atria Health Institute and hosts the podcast Decoding Women’s Health. What I appreciate most about Elizabeth is that she responsibly weds clinical rigor with genuine holistic care.
So set aside what you think you know about aging, and prepare to have your assumptions challenged.
“Many times women are told, ‘Oh, you’re just getting older.’ No—you’re having real hormonal fluctuations and changes that we can actually help you with.”
- DR. ELIZABETH POYNOR
Today we discuss:
- Why Women’s Health Has Been Siloed for Centuries
- Modern Hormone Therapy & The WHI Myth
- The Estrogen-Brain Connection
- Metabolic Shifts in Midlife
- GLP-1s & Emerging Pharmacology
- Lifestyle Pillars: Strength, Sleep, Protein
- What Men Need to Understand
But the through line is simpler than all of that. It’s agency. Midlife isn’t resignation, it’s the inflection point where women take control of how they’re going to age.
For those who prefer a visual experience, the conversation is available on YouTube. As always, the audio version streams wild and free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Peace + Plants,
Listen, Watch, & Subscribe
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- Connect with Elizabeth: Website | Instagram | YouTube | LinkedIn
- Podcast: Decoding Women’s Health
- Article: Everything to Know About “Decoding Women’s Health,” a New Podcast From Dr. Elizabeth Poynor
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Thank The Team: I do not do this alone. Send your love to Jason Camiolo for audio engineering, production, show notes and interstitial music; with additional audio engineering by Cale Curtis and additional music by Moby; Blake Curtis & Dan Drake for video, & editing; graphics by Jessica Miranda & Daniel Solis; portraits by Davy Greenberg, Grayson Wilder & Gizelle Peters; copywriting by Ben Pryor; and theme music by Tyler Piatt, Trapper Piatt & Hari Mathis.
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