Many women in midlife are told that their only options are prescriptions, hormone therapy, or “just learning to live with it.” But what if healing doesn’t start with another pill—what if it starts with understanding how your whole body works together?

In this episode, Stephanie Shaw is joined by Victoria Maizes, MD, founding executive director of the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine, to explore how women can support healing, energy, and resilience without relying solely on medication. Dr. Maizes brings decades of clinical and academic experience to a conversation that reframes symptoms not as failures, but as signals.

You’ll learn how integrative medicine looks at the whole person—nutrition, movement, stress, sleep, environment, and meaning—rather than isolating symptoms. This approach is especially powerful during menopause, when hormonal shifts can affect energy, weight, mood, and motivation all at once.

Rather than pushing extreme routines or perfection, this episode focuses on practical, sustainable ways to support your body’s natural healing capacity. If you’re exhausted by conflicting advice, tired of “all-or-nothing” health plans, or feeling disconnected from your body’s signals, this conversation offers clarity, compassion, and a grounded path forward.

• Why whole-body healing requires addressing lifestyle, stress, nutrition, and environment—not just symptoms
• How integrative medicine supports energy, metabolism, and vitality during midlife transitions
• The role of food, movement, sleep, and mindset in restoring balance without extreme protocols
• Why women’s bodies often need a different approach to healing during menopause
• How to work with your body’s innate healing ability instead of fighting it

About Our Guest

To learn more about our guest, click here: https://hellohotflash.com/episodes/heal-without-hormones-victoria-maizes

Grief in midlife is different.

When you’re navigating perimenopause and you lose someone you love, the emotional weight doesn’t just sit in your heart—it moves through your body. Sleep changes. Blood sugar swings. Energy drops. Irritability rises. You question your strength. You wonder why you’re not “handling it better.”

In this Tuesday solo episode of Hello Hot Flash, I share personally about losing my last great aunt—the keeper of our family history—and my sister, who fought cancer with courage and strength. And I teach what’s actually happening inside your body when grief and hormonal change collide.

We’ll explore how cortisol, the HPA axis, estrogen shifts, and nervous system dysregulation all interact during seasons of loss. And we’ll look at how faith, lament, and community are not emotional crutches—they are biologically supportive tools that help your body process stress.

This episode will help you stop criticizing yourself about the way you grieve and help you to start understanding your body.

Grief and menopause are both transitions. And both require informed stewardship, not self-judgment.

• What happens to cortisol, blood sugar, sleep, and immunity when you experience grief during perimenopause or post-menopause
• How the HPA axis and fluctuating estrogen can intensify emotional and physical symptoms in midlife
• Why pushing through, staying busy, or “praying harder” can prolong stress physiology instead of resolving it
• How lament, prayer, and safe community relationships help regulate your nervous system
• Practical strategies to support your body, metabolism, and faith during seasons of loss

This is a Tuesday Solo Episode with Stephanie Shaw, host of Hello Hot Flash. Stephanie teaches midlife women how to navigate menopause with science-backed strategy, metabolic clarity, and faith-informed confidence.

To learn more about this episode, click here: https://hellohotflash.com/grief-loss-and-menopause

Listen to the limited-series podcast Christian Women and Menopause: https://hellohotflash.com/christian-women-and-menopause

If you’re eating “healthy,” doing all the right things, and still dealing with stubborn weight, brain fog, fatigue, or digestive issues, your gut—not your willpower—may be the missing link.

In this episode, Stephanie Shaw is joined by board-certified functional health coach Anu Simh, founder of Nine Arms of Wellness, to explore how gut health acts as a command center for hormones, metabolism, inflammation, and energy—especially during perimenopause and menopause.

As estrogen levels decline, the gut microbiome becomes more vulnerable, influencing everything from blood sugar regulation and mood to how energized or depleted you feel after meals. Anu explains why many women feel worse after eating, why restrictive plans often backfire, and how stress, ultra-processed foods, poor sleep, and chronic dieting quietly disrupt gut balance.

Rather than pushing extreme protocols or “all-or-nothing” routines, this conversation offers a more compassionate, sustainable approach to wellness—one that focuses on nourishment, resilience, and understanding how your body actually works in midlife.

If you’re tired of conflicting nutrition advice, overwhelmed by where to start, or frustrated that your body no longer responds the way it used to, this episode will help you stop blaming yourself and start supporting your gut, hormones, and energy with clarity and confidence.

• Why gut health plays a central role in hormone balance, energy, metabolism, and brain function during menopause
• How declining estrogen impacts gut permeability, inflammation, and nutrient absorption
• The difference between probiotics, prebiotics, and fiber—and why all three matter for midlife health
• How stress, poor sleep, alcohol, and ultra-processed foods quietly disrupt the microbiome
• Simple, sustainable ways to support gut health without extreme dieting or perfection

About Our Guest: Anu Simh is a board-certified functional health coach and founder of Nine Arms of Wellness. She specializes in helping busy women improve gut health to support hormones, energy, weight, and brain function. Anu is the author of Microbiome Flourish From Within and trains coaches in a holistic, microbiome-centered approach to wellness.

To learn more about our guest, click here: https://hellohotflash.com/episodes/gut-health-anu-simh

Learn how to feel clear, steady, and in control again: https://hellohotflash.com/assessments

Listen to the limited-series podcast Christian Women and Menopause: https://hellohotflash.com/christian-women-and-menopause

This Episode’s Sponsor is Reverse Health Check out Reverse Health and use promo code HOTFLASH for 10% off: https://www.rgds43jd.com/G1S938/7XDN2/