709: GLP-1 Medications, Gut Health, and Food as Medicine: A Smarter, Personalized Approach for Women in Midlife with Ashley Koff
Energized with Dr. Mariza
Why side effects reflect medication action
Ashley reframes side effects as expected pharmacologic effects and recommends monitoring hydration, electrolytes, and eating patterns.
Ready for a judgment-free conversation about GLP-1 agonists and what they can truly offer midlife women seeking better energy, metabolic health, and longevity?
In this podcast, hormone and nutrition expert Ashley Koff joins me to break down the noise and misinformation around GLP-1s, reframing them as one possible tool—not a magic fix—within a much bigger picture of whole-body health.
Ashley shares how to advocate for yourself as an empowered patient, ask better questions, and partner more effectively with your healthcare provider with confidence.
We also dive into why nutrition and lifestyle are essential foundations for optimizing hormones, whether you’re using GLP-1s or not. Most importantly, we emphasize listening to your body and making informed choices that support long-term vitality.
If you’re curious about GLP-1s and want clear, compassionate guidance for midlife health, this is a must-listen episode!
Ashley Koff, RD
Ashley Koff is the founder of The Better Nutrition Program (BNP), the Nutrition Course Director for UC Irvine’s Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute's Integrative and Functional Medicine Fellowship, and a faculty member at the Integrative and Functional Nutrition Academy (IFNA), where she teaches “An Integrative and Functional Nutrition Approach to Obesity and Weight Management.” She’s also the author of the upcoming book, Your Best Shot. As a practitioner for over 25 years, Koff has been recognized as one of CNN’s Top 100 Health Makers, featured in InStyle as “Hollywood’s Leading Dietitian,” and selected as Westin’s Global Nutrition Ambassador.
RESOURCES MENTIONED
Order my new book: The Perimenopause Revolution
The Better Nutrition Program Website
IN THIS EPISODE
- Ashley’s personal experience with GLP-1s and their success
- Addressing the judgment around GLP-1 usage in society
- Overcoming the hurdles regarding accessibility to GLP-1s
- Looking at trends in current women’s health and in children
- How to reset certain hormones naturally for optimal performance
- How to cut through the conflicting nutrition advice in the media
- Why hormones like GLP-1s need to be a part of the midlife conversation
- About Ashley’s new book and The Better Nutrition Program!
QUOTES
“That means your weight-health hormones are going to be impacted. And let's look at this whole thing systemically– I think there's a lot of ways we can go in this, but one of the things I'm very concerned about is the way that people are being judged.”
“I think in that way the biggest answer I would have for you is for us to stop blaming the medication for working the way the medication is supposed to work. And this is where I think the physician and dietician collaboration, comes in and says, actually, these are all the things that we need to experiment with or we need to explore, investigate if this is what your outcome is on the medication.”
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