709: GLP-1 Medications, Gut Health, and Food as Medicine: A Smarter, Personalized Approach for Women in Midlife with Ashley Koff

Jan 6, 2026

Ashley Koff, a registered dietitian and founder of The Better Nutrition Program, dives into GLP-1 agonists for midlife women, offering a refreshing perspective on their role in metabolic health. She addresses common stigma, emphasizing self-advocacy and the importance of personalized nutrition. Ashley highlights practical strategies for optimizing hormone health and discusses how GLP-1s can influence athletic performance and address weight-health issues. With her extensive experience, she encourages listeners to listen to their bodies and make informed health choices.

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ANECDOTE

Personal Journey From Digestive Issues To Hormones

Ashley Koff shared her lifelong struggle with digestion, antibiotics, and weight that reframed her approach to nutrition and hormones.
Meeting a gastroenterologist who said her body lacked what it needed changed her trajectory toward focusing on incretin and weight-health hormones.

INSIGHT

Incretins Are Key Weight‑Health Signalers

GLP-1 and related incretin hormones are central regulators of appetite, blood sugar, and body composition beyond simple willpower narratives.
Semaglutide and tirzepatide are biosimilar agonists that act differently than bioidentical hormones and thus require nuanced understanding.

INSIGHT

Medication Reveals Social Weight Bias

GLP-1 agonists revealed cultural weight bias and provoked judgment toward users rather than constructive health conversations.
Many people experienced steady, sustainable weight loss when supported by holistic care rather than instant celebrity-driven narratives.

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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

https://peri-revolution.com/

Ashley’s Book: Your Best Shot

GLP-1 Optimization Assessment

The Better Nutrition Program Website

Ashley on Instagram

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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