499: Anxiety, Depression & Nervous System Regulation for Midlife Women with Dr. Kristine Gravino
Midlife Conversations with Natalie Jill: Fat Loss, Hormones & Health for Women Over 40
Release Date: 12/23/2025
Midlife Conversations with Natalie Jill: Fat Loss, Hormones & Health for Women Over 40
Save your seat in the free Thyroid and Hormone class If you are a woman in midlife who has been told everything is fine when you know in your body that something is NOT fine, this episode is going to change everything. I have Dr. Amie Hornaman, The Thyroid Fixer, back on the show, and we are going somewhere we have never gone before. One in eight women will develop a thyroid condition in her lifetime. Eighty-eight percent of us are metabolically unhealthy. And yet most doctors run ONE test, look at one number, tell us we are normal, and send us home with an antidepressant. Meanwhile we...
info_outlineMidlife Conversations with Natalie Jill: Fat Loss, Hormones & Health for Women Over 40
If you are a woman in midlife who is exhausted, foggy, losing your hair, and being told it is just aging — this episode is going to change how you look at your body forever. I sat down with Julie Sawaya, the co-founder of Needed, and what I learned blew my mind. Julie is a trained nutritionist with a Stanford MBA. She was doing EVERYTHING right — farmer's market every Sunday, nutrition certifications, incredibly intentional about every bite. And then she tested herself. Almost every nutrient came back in the red zone. If two trained nutritionists were massively depleted, what is happening...
info_outlineMidlife Conversations with Natalie Jill: Fat Loss, Hormones & Health for Women Over 40
What if everything you've been doing to heal your body has been quietly undermined by something inside your mouth? Natalie sits down with Dr. Dominik Nischwitz, widely regarded as the world's leading biological dentist, who has spent over two decades revealing the connection between dental health and chronic disease. People with gum disease face an 86% higher risk of stroke, a 36% higher risk of heart attack, and if tooth loss conditions are present, the risk of Alzheimer's triples. And almost nobody is connecting these dots. Dr. Dominik explains why root canals become silent, chronic...
info_outlineMidlife Conversations with Natalie Jill: Fat Loss, Hormones & Health for Women Over 40
What if the protein you've been so carefully tracking is giving you a fraction of the muscle-building benefit you think it is? That question stopped me in my tracks, and I think it's going to stop you too. I brought Angelo Keely back to the show for exactly this conversation. Angelo is the CEO and co-founder of Kion, and he works alongside the top scientists in protein and amino acid research. Our last episode together changed how I think about protein entirely, and this one went deeper. Here's what we get into: your protein needs don't decrease as you age, they actually go up, and most of us...
info_outlineMidlife Conversations with Natalie Jill: Fat Loss, Hormones & Health for Women Over 40
What if the cholesterol medication your doctor insists could save your life is actually increasing your risk of the very disease it's supposed to prevent? A board-certified cardiothoracic surgeon who has personally performed over 3,000 open-heart surgeries joins us this week with a message he says most cardiologists will not say out loud: the majority of his patients should never have ended up on his table. Dr. Philip Ovadia lost nearly 100 pounds while operating on other people's hearts, reversed his own prediabetes, and spent the last decade asking a question his colleagues are not...
info_outlineMidlife Conversations with Natalie Jill: Fat Loss, Hormones & Health for Women Over 40
What if the belly fat, the exhaustion, and the 3 a.m. wake-ups were never about willpower or effort at all? In this episode, Dr. Siobhan Mitchell, a neuroscientist with 25 years of nutrition and cellular health research behind her, breaks down exactly what is happening inside the body during midlife and why the same habits that worked at 35 stop working at 45. Dr. Mitchell is currently the Chief Science Officer at MitoQ, a cellular health company with over $60 million in research, and she brings a level of scientific depth to this conversation that is genuinely rare. What unfolds is not the...
info_outlineMidlife Conversations with Natalie Jill: Fat Loss, Hormones & Health for Women Over 40
What if the bloating, brain fog, sleepless nights, and stubborn weight you've been blaming on menopause are actually a gut problem in disguise? Nurse practitioner Cynthia Thurlow has 25 years of clinical experience, a TEDx talk with over 15 million views, and the number four nutrition podcast in the country. But it wasn't until a near-death experience in 2018 — a ruptured appendix, 13 days in the hospital, and a perimenopause nobody had caught — that she truly understood what declining estrogen does to a woman's gut, immune system, and entire body. That experience became the foundation of...
info_outlineMidlife Conversations with Natalie Jill: Fat Loss, Hormones & Health for Women Over 40
What if everything you were taught about building wealth was designed to keep you exactly where you are? Hannah Hammond became a self-made millionaire before 30, not because she had a head start, but because she stumbled onto a completely different framework for money at age 13 and refused to let go of it. In this episode, she breaks down the asset vs. liability distinction that most of us were never taught, why your house probably isn't building your wealth the way you think it is, and how compound interest can still work powerfully in your favor no matter where you're starting from in...
info_outlineMidlife Conversations with Natalie Jill: Fat Loss, Hormones & Health for Women Over 40
What if the thing you thought was finally going to free you from a lifetime of food obsession is actually feeding the very cycle you have been trying to escape? This week on Midlife Conversations, I sat down with hormone expert and host of The Hormone Solution podcast, Karen Martel, for one of the most unexpectedly layered conversations I have had in a long time. Karen grew up with a mother who ran a Nutrisystem weight loss center, which meant that food restriction and body scrutiny were not just things she observed but the constant backdrop of her entire childhood. That early environment...
info_outlineMidlife Conversations with Natalie Jill: Fat Loss, Hormones & Health for Women Over 40
What if the reason you cannot sleep, cannot relax, and cannot seem to get unstuck in midlife has nothing to do with your hormones, your diet, or your effort... and everything to do with the four walls around you? This conversation with Marie Diamond stopped me in my tracks. Marie is one of the world's most recognized feng shui masters, a featured teacher in The Secret, and someone who has spent decades helping people understand how their physical environments are quietly shaping their subconscious minds, their brain waves, their stress levels, and their ability to attract health, love, and...
info_outlineIf you're lying awake with racing thoughts, feeling constant overwhelm, or wondering if your midlife anxiety is "normal" or something more serious, this conversation will change how you think about mental health. Dr. Kristine Gravino, a psychologist specializing in midlife women, reveals why one out of two women struggle with anxiety and depression during this phase and it's directly connected to your dropping estrogen levels.
We're diving deep into the questions you're actually asking: When is Xanax okay? Is that nightly wine helping or hurting? What does "regulating your nervous system" actually mean beyond the trendy Instagram posts? And most importantly, what CAN you do about racing thoughts and constant anxiety without buying more gadgets or taking more pills?
Dr. Gravino shares the breathing technique you're probably doing wrong (hint: it's not the inhale that calms you down), why your brain desperately needs carbohydrates even though you've been told to fear them for 30 years, and the bare minimum strategies that actually work when you're feeling completely paralyzed by overwhelm.
Plus, I'm opening up about my recent health journey with histamine intolerance and how it completely changed my understanding of the nervous system-cortisol-anxiety connection. This isn't just another conversation about "self-care", rather, it’s about understanding what's actually happening in your body and getting real, science-backed tools to feel better now.
Catch the full episode on YOUTUBE HERE: https://bit.ly/MidlifeConversationsYouTube
Learn More About Dr. Kristine Gravino
Instagram ➜ https://www.instagram.com/DrKGravinoWellness
Website ➜ https://drkgravinowellness.com/
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