In this episode, Melissa hosts Dr. Tabatha Barber, a triple board certified OB GYN who specializes in using functional medicine in women’s health. Her concentrations focus on hormonal imbalances, hot flashes, mood swings, pms, skin disorders, irregular cycles, endometriosis, and pelvic pain. Melissa and Tabatha discuss topics around women’s health including gut health, foods, fasting, and hormones.
In this episode you’ll learn:
02:48 Functional Medicine
09:28 Gut Health
21:23 Research
29:20 Food
44:10 Fasting
49:28 HRT
Functional Medicine
Tabatha opens up about her journey in the medical field as a traditional OB GYN. She talks about how it really weighed on her both mentally and physically to keep working in an area that was only providing temporary solutions to women’s health concerns. She knew women deserved a broader look into ways to help relieve issues, which brought her to practicing functional medicine.
Gut Health
Your bowels lay on top of the uterus, which means that if something is off in the gut, it’s going to work its way into your reproductive organs. Bacteria from the gut plays a part in hormone levels, which can lead to fluctuations if not managed properly. Traditional medicine looks at quick, temporary fixes for these problems versus addressing what is happening within the whole system.
Research
To this day, women don’t talk about what is going on in the body as much as they should. It’s important to have conversations and do research. There is usually a root cause to problems that don’t always have to be solved with surgeries or medicine. A lot of times it involves imbalances that can be changed through diet, exercise, or lifestyle. Listening to your body is also important to adapting to the changes we go through.
Food
The body needs healthy fats to burn for fuel to keep it running. Tabatha talks about the science behind animal protein as a great source of healthy fats as well as unprocessed, natural whole foods. Tabatha also mentions that neurotransmitters go off in the brain when we eat certain processed foods in a similar way to drugs or alcohol. Processed foods are empty and addicting, so it’s best to stay away from them.
Fasting
Tabatha is a big supporter of fasting and making it a part of our daily eating habits. Women need to listen to their bodies when it comes to fasting and decide how long of a fast they should do based on their current needs and age. It should also not be about less food, it should be about spreading food out to give our bodies time for rest and recovery between meals.
HRT
One inaccurate study back in the day gave a bad report on hormone replacement therapy, which put a pause on this for many women. Since then, many studies have found the usefulness of this, especially women going through menopause. Tabatha suggests connecting with the right practitioner who will consider all options very carefully. She also talks about taking care of yourself through exercise, sleep, and moving (preferably outdoors).
Resources from this episode:
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Thank you so much for listening to this episode! I’m honored and excited to be on this journey toward personal growth, a healthy lifestyle, and a greater more confident you. I’d love to hear from you. So please share this episode with anyone that you think needs to hear this message and remember to rate, review and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. My name is Melissa McAllister. And until next time, thank you for being your own health advocate.
