Libsyn Directory

What You’re Eating Is Making Menopause Worse | Andrea Donsky

The Girlfriend Doctor w/ Dr. Anna Cabeca

Release Date: 06/04/2026

Midlife Isn't a Breakdown, It's Your Upgrade | Chalene Johnson

The Girlfriend Doctor w/ Dr. Anna Cabeca

Have you done everything right and still watched the scale refuse to move? I sat down with fitness industry veteran Chalene Johnson, who built her career telling women exactly how to lose weight, and then walked straight into that same wall herself in perimenopause. Her hormone panel came back "dialed in." She was still doing every workout, every macro track, every habit that used to work. The weight stayed anyway, until she found the piece nobody had pointed her toward, the link between cortisol, insulin resistance, and a metabolism that stops cooperating no matter how hard you push. We get...

Why Your Sexless Marriage Isn't About Sex | Tressa Yonekawa

The Girlfriend Doctor w/ Dr. Anna Cabeca

She shut down. Walked out of the room. And you spent the next three days replaying the one sentence that did it. That right there is a trigger talking to a trigger. And it's exactly what my guest today spends her career untangling. Tressa Yonekawa holds a graduate degree in cognitive neuroscience for communication. Twenty five years in, she's used it with corporate leaders, celebrity clients, and couples who feel more like roommates than lovers. We get into her own near drowning at four years old, the voice she heard underwater that redirected her entire life, and how her father's war trauma...

Dry, In Pain, and Told It's Just Aging? Not So Fast | Dr. Anna Cabeca

The Girlfriend Doctor w/ Dr. Anna Cabeca

She was 63, hadn't been intimate with her husband in years, and was told by every doctor, "This is just aging." Dr. Anna Cabeca had one thing to say back: No, it isn't. Dr. Anna Cabeca, The Girlfriend Doctor—a triple board-certified OB/GYN specializing in menopause, hormones, and women's vitality—shares her fully updated vaginal health protocol. This isn't the "just use a lubricant" advice you've heard before. It's a whole-body approach built from more than 26 years of clinical practice, her own experience with early menopause, and the patients who refused to accept "normal" as the final...

The Cinderella Organ: Fascia, Trauma, and the Physics of Healing | Dr. Catherine Clinton (Quantum Biology, Part 2)

The Girlfriend Doctor w/ Dr. Anna Cabeca

What if the key to reducing chronic pain, improving mobility, sleeping better, and even slowing the effects of aging has been hiding in plain sight? In this fascinating episode of The Girlfriend Doctor Podcast, Dr. Anna Cabeca welcomes back naturopathic physician and quantum biology expert Dr. Catherine Clinton, author of Optimize, for a deep dive into one of the body's most overlooked healing systems: fascia. Together, they explore why fascia has been called the body's "Cinderella organ"—overworked, underappreciated, and essential for healthy movement, energy production, nervous system...

Why You Wake Up at 3 AM (And It's Not a Melatonin Problem) | Dr. Catherine Clinton Part 1 (Quantum Biology, Part 1)

The Girlfriend Doctor w/ Dr. Anna Cabeca

You're not broken. Your light environment is. If you're waking up at 3 AM and staring at the ceiling for hours, struggling with menopause insomnia, or feeling exhausted despite getting "enough" sleep, this episode reveals the missing piece almost nobody is talking about. Dr. Anna sits down with Dr. Catherine Clinton—licensed naturopathic physician, educator, author of Optimize, and Founder of the Quantum Biology Health Institute—to explore the emerging science of quantum biology and how light, circadian rhythms, mitochondria, and your environment influence sleep, hormones, metabolism, and...

Is Your Home Making You Sick? What I Learned About Feng Shui and Hormones | Marie Diamond

The Girlfriend Doctor w/ Dr. Anna Cabeca

Can your home be affecting your hormones, stress levels, sleep, and overall health? In this eye-opening episode of The Girlfriend Doctor Podcast, Dr. Anna Cabeca welcomes internationally renowned Feng Shui Master, bestselling author, and The Secret teacher Marie Diamond for a fascinating conversation about how your environment influences your physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Marie shares her remarkable journey from surviving a near-death experience to becoming one of the world's leading experts on feng shui, energy, and manifestation. Together, she and Dr. Anna explore how the...

Sex After Menopause, Energy, and the Science of Reigniting Your Spark | Connie Kean

The Girlfriend Doctor w/ Dr. Anna Cabeca

What if your body already knows the answers — and you just need to learn to listen? If you've been feeling shut down, disconnected, or like the fire that used to drive you has simply gone out, this episode is for you. Whether you're navigating the energy crashes of perimenopause, moving through grief after losing a partner, or just quietly wondering if desire, vitality, and joy are still available to you — Dr. Anna and her guest Connie Kean are here to tell you: they absolutely are. Connie Kean is a Reiki Master, Energy Practitioner, and founder of Quantum Energy Infusion (QEI) — an...

She Reversed Her Biological Age by 12 Years After Breast Cancer | Bettina Gordon Wayne

The Girlfriend Doctor w/ Dr. Anna Cabeca

What if your diagnosis wasn't the beginning of the end — but the beginning of everything? Eight years ago, Bettina Gordon-Wayne was handed a breast cancer diagnosis on a beautiful spring day in Washington, D.C. She had a four-year-old at home, a healthy lifestyle, and zero warning signs. Today, she is eight years cancer-free and biologically 12 years younger than her chronological age. And she has the data to prove it. Bettina spent 30 years as an international journalist interviewing world leaders, billionaires, and global experts. She was always the one asking the questions — until life...

Your "normal" labs are making you sick | Dr. Shamita Trivedi

The Girlfriend Doctor w/ Dr. Anna Cabeca

Have you ever been told your labs are "normal"—but you still feel exhausted, gain weight despite doing everything right, struggle with brain fog, poor sleep, low motivation, or simply don't feel like yourself? In this eye-opening episode of The Girlfriend Doctor Show, Dr. Anna Cabeca sits down with endocrinologist and women's health expert Dr. Shamita Trivedi to uncover why "normal" lab results don't always mean optimal health. With nearly 20 years of experience in endocrinology and hormone health, Dr. Trivedi shares how she blends evidence-based medicine with a personalized, integrative...

The Truth About Progesterone | Dr. Felice Gersh

The Girlfriend Doctor w/ Dr. Anna Cabeca

Is progesterone the most misunderstood hormone in women’s health? For decades, women have been told that progesterone is only necessary to protect the uterus. But what if that’s only a small part of the story? In this fascinating and thought-provoking episode of The Girlfriend Doctor Show, Dr. Anna Cabeca welcomes renowned OB-GYN and integrative medicine pioneer Dr. Felice Gersh for a deep dive into the science, controversy, and clinical nuances of progesterone therapy in menopause. Drawing on more than 45 years of clinical experience, Dr. Gersh explains why she believes progesterone is...

More Episodes

What if the brain fog, exhaustion, anxiety, bloating, hot flashes, sleep struggles, and weight gain you’re experiencing in perimenopause aren’t “just aging”… but signs your body is asking for a completely different kind of nourishment?

In this empowering episode of The Girlfriend Doctor Show, Dr. Anna Cabeca sits down with nutritionist, menopause educator, and 7X published menopause researcher Andrea Donsky for a deeply validating conversation about the real science behind menopause symptoms—and what women can actually do to feel better.

Andrea shares how her groundbreaking menopause research uncovered more than 103 symptoms associated with perimenopause and menopause, with many of the most common symptoms linked to brain health, cognition, anxiety, mood, and sleep. Together, Dr. Anna and Andrea unpack why so many women feel dismissed by healthcare providers and how nutrition, digestion, blood sugar balance, sleep, stress reduction, and targeted supplementation can dramatically improve quality of life.

Andrea also introduces her BALANCE Blueprint from her new book Nourishing Menopause, a practical framework for supporting hormones, metabolism, gut health, and energy through midlife and beyond.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

Why blood sugar balance is critical during perimenopause and menopause
The surprising connection between gut health, hormones, mood, and brain fog
How digestion changes in menopause—and why constipation, bloating, and inflammation increase
Which foods and habits may worsen hot flashes, night sweats, and poor sleep
The foundational supplements Andrea recommends for midlife women
Why menopause symptoms are often misunderstood or dismissed by doctors
How mindset, self-compassion, and education can transform the menopause experience

If you’ve ever felt like “something is wrong” in your body but couldn’t explain it, this conversation will help you feel seen, informed, and empowered with practical tools to support your Second Spring.

Key Timestamps:

00:01 – Why more women are finally talking openly about perimenopause
Dr. Anna introduces the conversation around optimizing health during menopause and beyond.
01:52 – Andrea discovers there are over 100 menopause symptoms
Andrea shares how her menopause research journey began and what surprised her most.
02:54 – The shocking link between menopause and mental health symptoms
Discussion about anxiety, cognitive health, depression, and why women often feel “crazy” during hormonal shifts.
05:47 – What Andrea’s doctor visit survey revealed
The heartbreaking reality of women being dismissed, unheard, and misdiagnosed during perimenopause.
10:56 – What women are still not being told about menopause
Andrea explains why “just exercise more and lose weight” is not enough.
13:40 – The BALANCE Blueprint for nourishing menopause
Andrea breaks down her nutrition framework for supporting metabolism, hormones, gut health, and energy.
16:02 – Why blood sugar balance becomes essential in menopause
Discussion on insulin resistance, PCOS, metabolism, and protein needs during midlife.
20:47 – How menopause changes digestion and gut health
Andrea explains bloating, constipation, food sensitivities, inflammation, and the gut-brain connection.
26:58 – Nutrition strategies for better sleep and fewer hot flashes
Why late-night eating, alcohol, chocolate, and blood sugar spikes may worsen symptoms.
32:56 – Andrea’s foundational menopause supplements
Magnesium, omega-3s, fiber, vitamin D, and why supplementation matters during hormonal shifts.
37:47 – Rapid-fire menopause wisdom and mindset shifts
Andrea shares the habits, mindset changes, and self-care practices that transformed her own menopause journey.
42:27 – Where to find Andrea’s book, resources, and menopause research
Final thoughts on empowerment, pelvic health, and changing the menopause conversation together.