On Health for Women

The connection between my love of quiet introspective time and my highly chatty nature is that I love to learn, gather information, make sense of it, digest it, and then share it with you, my course students, my patient, and anyone who will listen, in useful and understandable ways. That is, I’m a deeply curious maker who also loves to share.Getting to create a podcast is especially fun because it brings together my love of learning, my love of communicating and my love of sharing. I’m super delighted to share this episode's very special guest: Dr. Robynne Chutkan, with you.Robynne is not only a kickass smart board certified gastroenterologist in clinical practice, like I am, she’s curious, passionate about the microbiome, leaky gut, and the connection between gut health and our total health, and passionate about sharing that information which she’s done in her books. Listen in to our amazing conversation.

While there’s a clear relationship between diet, nutrition, and PCOS, most doctors aren’t talking about it enough, or at all with patients, beyond women with PCOS being told all too often, and sometimes in a shaming, blaming way, to just “lose the weight” – as if that were the only answer – and as if it were just that simple to do!In this episode I’m going to show you how you can use food to take charge of your PCOS symptoms, how you feel, and your weight, too if that’s one of your symptoms. We’ll focus on the relationship between diet and PCOS, and food solutions for PCOS – what to eat and what to avoid. You can make a huge difference in the severity of your PCOS, and sometimes even reverse your diagnosis, by getting to the roots of imbalance in this complex hormonal and metabolic condition. For an accompanying article, go to avivaromm.com/the-pcos-diet/

Jonathan Fields believes that we’re all born with an “imprint” for the work that makes us come alive - that sparks us. This "Sparketype®” is a DNA-level driver of work that lets you know when you’re doing what you’re here to do. Join me for this rich conversation with my 'brother from another mother" as we dive deep into work, passion, alignment, and his brand-new book - Sparked - to explore insights into what drains you, what fills you up, and how to use this to your best personal advantage, as well as to understand your colleagues, teammates, and even parters and children better, so we can all be the live the best expression of ourselves, with the greatest ease and joy.

In this episode you are going to meet an unusual and wonderful couple, Tallene and Sirak Hacatoryan. 10 years ago, at age 18, Tallene was diagnosed with PCOS. After being put on birth control and having her PCOS symptoms take over her life, she started focusing on diet & lifestyle to reverse her symptoms.. Scared and confused, without much information or guidance from her practitioner, and unsatisfied with the generally accepted belief that birth control is the only way to manage a PCOS diagnosis, Tallene began to focus on diet & lifestyle-based solutions. She studied nutrition science and discovered that eliminating gluten and dairy was a huge key for her to live healthier with PCOS. Together with her husband Sirak (a personal trainer), Tallene developed a podcast and programs meant to make living with the diagnosis easier to both understand and embrace. Join me for this informative and fun conversation during PCOS Awareness Month with Tallene and Sirak.

Join my conversation with Dr. Robin Berzin as we talk about our experience working in the integrative space for women’s care, the root causes of these conditions, how our medical system has failed us, and what we are each doing to and what we are each seeing in support of women regaining control over their hormonal and overall health.Robin is the founder and CEO of Parsley Health, a holistic medical service specialized in supporting women with chronic conditions. She founded Parsley to address the rising tide of chronic disease in America through personalized, holistic medicine that puts food, lifestyle, and proactive diagnostic testing on the prescription pad next to medications.

For many, the advent of a COVID-19 vaccine was a welcome relief allowing for greater social connection and a return to life as we knew it - or sort of. For many, the advent of vaccinations was incredibly confusing.Now, with Delta, the cards seemed to be shuffled differently. the playing field has shifted, and there's a lot of uncertainty again. More choices often means exhausting internal decision-making loops. Add to the mix the vaccine now becoming available for young people 12-18, and vaccine or testing mandates in many workplaces.In this episode I go through the data of the vaccine and what you need to know regarding its impact on hormonal health, autoimmune, fertility, pregnancy, and children’s health. My goal in sharing this episode is simple: to provide you with my interpretation of the most recent, trusted data out there, so that you can make informed decisions for yourself and your loved ones when applicable. I hope that it does just that.

So many of us only start to get to know our cycles when we’re looking to get pregnant. But the truth is, tracking and getting to know our cycles is one of the most critical and powerful forms of ‘me-search’ you can practice – at any age: those looking for natural contraceptive, those looking to learn how to use their cycle as a key indicator of their health, and, for those women who are anywhere on their conception journey – from thinking about getting pregnant soon to seeking fertility support, and everywhere in between – to identifying the changes that herald perimenopause and menopause.In this episode, I share a Hormone Intelligence Chat (you can learn all about those here) in which I sat down with Lisa Hendrickson-Jack to discuss her menstrual health journey – and how and why cycle-tracking and fertility-awareness can empower you to take control not just of your fertility, but of your overall health, and your life.

Uterine fibroids (‘fibroids’) are solid, well-defined, non-cancerous growths of muscle tissue in the uterus. They’re highly prevalent in the US, where a woman’s lifetime risk of developing them is estimated to be as high as 75% (the often cited 20% to 50% is likely a significantly underestimated range) by age 50, and as high as an 80% lifetime risk for Black women.Given their remarkably high incidence, their significant impact on women's health, and the high rate of hysterectomies as a result of fibroids, it’s incredibly important for all women to know how to prevent uterine fibroids, and the strategies that are available to reduce them to avoid unnecessary surgery – and possibly unnecessary medications.Like so many chronic women’s health conditions, fibroids may be a symptom of reversible environmental and dietary factors that can be associated with other medical conditions. An integrative approach can therefore not only prevent and reduce fibroids, but can be part of a plan for lifetime hormonal and total health. Join me for today's episode to learn how, and for an accompanying article go to avivaromm.com/uterine-fibroids/

I started tracking my menstrual cycles 40 years ago. It was 1981, I was 15 years old, not yet sexually active, but curious about my body and already on the path to studying midwifery.Tracking my cycles taught me how my innate hormonal blueprint shows up in my life – my moods, food preferences, energy, sleep, creativity, and so much more – month in and month out, so much so that its patterns allowed much more predictability in my life. I hope it's something you'll start doing as a daily practice, because it also gives you a few minutes each day to ‘drop in' on yourself – to see how you're doing – and use this moment of awareness to ask yourself what you really need right now for hormone health and balance. And I hope, if you have daughters or nieces, you'll let them in on the secrets of cycle self-awareness and the beauty of their hormonal blueprint with this episode.For a companion article go to avivaromm.com/menstrual-cycle-tracking/

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a condition that causes millions of Americans to suffer with intestinal cramping, bloating, gas, constipation and/or diarrhea. And it affects women twice as often as men. Some of my patients have had such significant problems that they are anxious about social events, and what should be normal activities like going grocery shopping or having to travel any more than short distances for fear of needing a bathroom quickly.If you've been there, I don't need to tell you how uncomfortable it can be. While I want us to let go of the stigma of bloating, and the eternal quest for a flat belly, I also know that you feel very real discomfort - so let's get to the bottom of that so you can be free of all that! And that is possible. For a companion article, go to avivaromm.com/irritable-bowel-syndrome-fixable/