480: Sara Gottfried on Women, Food and Hormones (Calories Matter but Hormones Matter More)

Today’s guest is Dr. Sara Gottfried and this episode goes deep on women, food and hormones . She is such a wealth of knowledge and she is also a personal friend. She is a board-certified physician and practices evidence-based, integrative, precision and functional medicine and we touch on so many different areas today. We talk about new studies on when metabolism actually changes, a better model of health for women and how to reverse the negative diet mindset, why BMI is a poor metric, the reason that hormone-related problems are on the rise right now, and why hormones are more important than calories. We also touch on the most common endocrine abnormalities, why women are more sensitive to stress, how testosterone is the most abundant hormone in the female body (which I didn’t know), and so much more. Such a fun and informative episode as always! Let’s get ready to join Dr. Sara! Episode Highlights With Dr. Sara Gottfried Why doctors are trained to gaslight women about weight and metabolism How metabolism doesn’t change until over age 60 A better model of health for women and how to reverse the negative mindset Why BMI is a poor metric that is often not helpful for women The reason hormone related problems are on the rise right now What the most common endocrine abnormality is in women and why this is important Why women are more sensitive to stress and how to understand how to manage it How cortisol can disrupt other hormones in a cascade Why testosterone is the most abundant hormone women have The 400 jobs estrogen has in the body What range to aim for optimal testosterone for women Natural ways to balance hormones, especially testosterone How coffee can lower testosterone in women The way to leverage exercise to improve hormone levels Why calories matter but hormones matter more The reason some people don’t do well with high levels of saturated fat Why keto doesn’t work for some women and how to adapt it How to be metabolically flexible and how to know if you aren’t A reason to cycle everything How to support hormones through menstrual cycles, perimenopause and menopause Resources We Mention Sara Gottfried MD website Dr. Sara’s books Become a patient of Dr. Gottfried’s Levels monitor How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan Dr. Christiane Northrup’s PBS Special More From Wellness Mama 506: Dr. Daniel Kalish on Aging, Mitochondria, Hormones, and Longevity 309: How I Overcame Trauma (and Lost 50 Pounds)