#1 Menopause Gut Expert: Why Your Microbiome CONTROLS Hormones, Mood & Bone Loss | Cynthia Thurlow | #145
Release Date: 01/27/2026
Female Longevity After 40: 10 Simple Ways to Stay Strong and Healthy | Dr Vonda Wright | #146
The Dr Vonda Show
Get Dr. Vonda’s latest insights on strength, bone health, longevity, and aging with power delivered straight to your inbox. Join her free health & longevity newsletter here: Today I want to talk with you about how women age, and why so many of us feel surprised by what happens to our bodies in midlife. This is not an episode about chasing youth or fearing wrinkles. It is about understanding why women are not taught how longevity really works in our bodies, and why the years leading up to menopause matter far more than we were ever told. I have learned, through decades of caring...
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#1 Menopause Gut Expert: Why Your Microbiome CONTROLS Hormones, Mood & Bone Loss | Cynthia Thurlow | #145
The Dr Vonda Show
Get Dr. Vonda’s latest insights on strength, bone health, longevity, and aging with power delivered straight to your inbox. Join her free health & longevity newsletter here: There’s a moment many women reach in midlife where things don’t feel wrong but they don’t feel right either. Digestion changes. Bloating appears out of nowhere. Sleep feels lighter. Inflammation lingers. And no one ever told us these systems might all be connected. I sat down with Cynthia Thurlow, a nurse practitioner and intermittent fasting expert, to talk about a topic that is still vastly underexplored...
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Why Menopause Is Aging Your Teeth, Gums & Sleep (Dentist Explains) | Dr Carlos Melendez | #144
The Dr Vonda Show
Get Dr. Vonda’s latest insights on strength, bone health, longevity, and aging with power delivered straight to your inbox. Join her free health & longevity newsletter here: There’s a quiet shift many women notice in midlife that rarely gets talked about in the doctor’s office, changes in their mouth. Gums that feel more sensitive. Teeth that suddenly seem fragile. Dryness, inflammation, or dental issues that appear despite “doing everything right.” I sat down with Dr. Carlos Melendez, a general dentist and practice owner, to talk about what really happens to oral health...
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The Vagina Whisperer: Why 80% Of Women Experience Pelvic Floor Dysfunction | Dr. Sara Reardon | #143
The Dr Vonda Show
Get Dr. Vonda’s latest insights on strength, bone health, longevity, and aging with power delivered straight to your inbox. Join her free health & longevity newsletter here: This is a conversation many women don’t realize they need until something starts to feel off. I sat down with Dr. Sara Reardon, a pelvic floor physical therapist known as The Vagina Whisperer, to talk about a part of women’s health that quietly affects how we move, train, recover, and age. It is rarely discussed until symptoms begin to interfere with daily life. We explore the life stages when pelvic health...
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#1 Women’s Health Journalist: Why Medicine Was NEVER Built for Women | Meghan Rabbitt | #142
The Dr Vonda Show
Today’s conversation is one I believe every woman deserves to hear - regardless of age, stage, or current health status. I sat down with Meghan Rabbit, an award-winning health journalist and the author of The New Rules for Women’s Health, to talk about something many of us feel but rarely name clearly: modern medicine was not designed with women in mind - especially across midlife. This isn’t about blame. And it isn’t about distrust of doctors. It’s about understanding the system we are navigating, and learning how to advocate for ourselves within it. Meghan brings a rare...
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The Midlife Hormone Reset: Brain, Metabolism & Balance with Dr. Mariza Snyder | HFYH #141
The Dr Vonda Show
In this episode of Hot For Your Health, Dr. Vonda Wright sits down with Dr. Mariza Snyder, a functional practitioner and bestselling author known for translating complex hormone science into actionable, empowering care for women. Together, they explore what’s actually happening in a woman’s body during perimenopause and midlife—and why so many symptoms are misunderstood, dismissed, or normalized when they shouldn’t be. Dr. Snyder breaks down the hormone–brain–metabolism connection, explaining how blood sugar dysregulation, chronic stress, and neuroinflammation contribute to...
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Sexual Health Is Whole Health: Desire, Aging & Connection with Dr. Juliana Hauser | HFYH #140
The Dr Vonda Show
In this episode of Hot For Your Health, Dr. Vonda Wright sits down with her friend and colleague Dr. Juliana Hauser, a licensed couples and family therapist, renowned sex educator, and author of A New Position on Sex. Together, they reframe sexuality as a vital component of whole-person health, longevity, and self-development—not just a set of sex acts. Dr. Hauser introduces her holistic framework for understanding sexuality, including the importance of agency, connection, and self-trust, and explains why sexual health deserves the same attention as other medical “vital signs.” The...
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What Women Aren’t Told About Perimenopause & Menopause with Drs. Menn & Dombo | HFYH #139
The Dr Vonda Show
In this episode of Hot for Your Health, Dr. Vonda Wright is joined by Dr. Corinne Menn and Dr. Kudzai Dombo, board-certified physicians and menopause specialists in active clinical practice with Alloy Health. Together, they unpack what women are not being told about perimenopause and menopause—and why so many women are dismissed, misdiagnosed, or told to “wait it out” during one of the most biologically disruptive decades of their lives. Drs. Menn and Dombo explain the science behind hormonal fluctuations in perimenopause, clarifying why symptoms can be debilitating long before a woman...
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The Weightless Method: GLP-1s, Muscle & Metabolic Health with Dr. Rocío Salas-Whalen | HFYH #138
The Dr Vonda Show
In this episode, Dr. Vonda Wright sits down with triple board-certified obesity medicine specialist Dr. Rocío Salas-Whalen, author of Weightless, to unpack the emotional and metabolic weight so many women carry for decades. Dr. Rocío shares what she sees every day in her Manhattan practice—patients arriving exhausted, ashamed, and feeling like this is their “last stop”—and explains why weight is never just a number on the scale, but a story of muscle, visceral fat, metabolic health, and self-worth. Together, they dive into Dr. Dr. Rocío’s powerful GPS method—GLP-1s, Protein,...
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The Bone Health Crisis No One Talks About with Sanjeev Javia | HFYH #137
The Dr Vonda Show
In this episode of Hot For Your Health with Dr. Vonda Wright is joined by longtime friend, master formulator, and wellness innovator Sanjeev “Jeevers” Javia to break down one of the most overlooked—but most life-saving—topics in women’s health: bone health. Using real data and decades of clinical experience, Dr. Wright reveals why fractures are a preventable epidemic, why osteoporosis is a “disease of youth” that shows up in midlife, and how women lose up to 20% of their bone density during perimenopause. Sanjeev shares how bone operates as a dynamic...
info_outlineGet Dr. Vonda’s latest insights on strength, bone health, longevity, and aging with power delivered straight to your inbox. Join her free health & longevity newsletter here: https://www.drvondawright.com/resources/aging-longevity
There’s a moment many women reach in midlife where things don’t feel wrong but they don’t feel right either. Digestion changes. Bloating appears out of nowhere. Sleep feels lighter. Inflammation lingers. And no one ever told us these systems might all be connected.
I sat down with Cynthia Thurlow, a nurse practitioner and intermittent fasting expert, to talk about a topic that is still vastly underexplored in women’s health: the gut microbiome during perimenopause and menopause.
So many women are told their digestive symptoms, inflammation, mood changes, or recurrent infections are just “part of aging.” What Cynthia makes clear is that these experiences are deeply rooted in physiology and that when we understand what’s happening, we’re no longer powerless. This conversation matters because it replaces dismissal with clarity and fear with context.
We examine how this topic shows up in daily life:
- Why declining estrogen affects gut barrier integrity, immune response, and inflammation
- How “leaky gut” can contribute to bone loss, autoimmune risk, and metabolic changes
- The connection between gut health, mood, anxiety, and neurotransmitter signaling
- Why fiber and short-chain fatty acids become more important in perimenopause and menopause
- How fermented foods can support microbiome diversity and recovery after stress, illness, or antibiotics
- The gut–vaginal microbiome connection and why improving one can support the other
- How chronic stress and unprocessed trauma can accelerate hormonal aging and menopause timing
About Cynthia Thurlow:
Cynthia Thurlow, NP is a nurse practitioner, intermittent fasting expert, and educator specializing in women’s health, hormones, and longevity. Her work bridges functional and conventional medicine, with a focus on helping women understand the physiological changes of perimenopause and menopause through a science-based, compassionate lens.
📘 Book - The Menopause Gut
Balance Your Microbiome to Reclaim Your Health in Midlife and Beyond
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/777129/the-menopause-gut-by-cynthia-thurlow-np/
Connect with Cynthia Thurlow:
Website: https://www.cynthiathurlow.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cynthia_thurlow_/
Twitter: https://x.com/_cynthiathurlow
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CynthiaThurlow
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:30 What the Gut Microbiome Really Is (and Why It Matters for Whole-Body Health)
05:52 How Perimenopause Triggers Early Changes in the Gut Microbiome
15:23 Practical Gut Health Tips: Diet, Sugar, Sleep, and Inflammation
20:19 Alcohol, Emotional Awareness, and Its Impact on the Microbiome
26:03 Food as Comfort: Emotional Eating, Reflection, and Gut Health
27:52 Vaginal Microbiome Explained: Its Connection to Gut Health
30:26 Stress, Cortisol, Bone Health, and the Gut-Brain Connection
33:11 How Trauma Creates Long-Term Effects on the Body and Microbiome
40:28 Processing Trauma in Healthcare Workers and Physical Health Outcomes
45:02 Healing the Gut Through Awareness and Lifestyle Changes
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📖 Unbreakable: A Woman’s Guide to Aging with Power
Dr. Vonda Wright’s newest book, Unbreakable, is a bold guide for women ready to redefine what aging looks and feels like. Blending cutting‑edge science with real‑world strategies, it helps you build strength, resilience, and momentum through every decade of life. Discover how to turn aging into your greatest advantage and live with power, purpose, and vitality.
👉 Learn more or get your copy: https://theunbreakablebook.com
About Dr. Vonda Wright:
I’m Vonda Wright, an orthopedic sports surgeon and women’s healthy‑aging expert. For 20 years I’ve helped athletes and everyday women protect their joints, build muscle, and extend their health span. Here you’ll get science-backed strategies to age with power, so you can keep doing what you love for decades to come.
Connect with Dr. Vonda Wright:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drvondawright/
Read Dr. Vonda Wright’s Substack: https://drvondawright.substack.com/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drvondawright
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vonda-wright-md-ms-2803374
Website: http://www.drvondawright.com/