Dr. Felice Gersh is an OBGYN who has a passionate belief in holistic women’s healthcare and received a Fellowship in Integrative Medicine from the University of Arizona – She was one of the first dual board-certified Integrative Gynecologists in the United States.   In this interview, Dr. Gersh dives into the world of female hormonal production and regulation. Our bodies have evolved to associate stress with surviving famines, however the modern world has quickly changed what it means to be stressed.    We often go into stressed states but live where food is abundant and all of our physical needs are met. This is why Dr. Gersh strongly believes we must approach hormonal imbalance as a holistic issue as our mental health is also an indicator of the hormonal balance or imbalance.      Takeaways: [4:40] What do hormones do? Information delivery systems to your cells to do something  [6:17] The receptors in your hypothalamus regulates how you produce hormones [9:25]  Hormones have an incredible interplay between our emotions, our organ functionality and ultimately our emotions [12:55} The myth of “Estrogen dominance”  [16:12] Women evolved to store more fat for successful reproduction. Our metabolisms are different than men’s [20:40] Estrogen up-regulates Thyroid receptors so that they work better [22:41] How your stress affects your metabolic rate [27:30] Work on the stress. Calm the adrenal gland and its production of cortisol     Mentioned in the episode: Get access to this entire interview plus over 50 others from the Hormones, Health & Harmony series. hormoneseries.com/get-access.     Twitter:   “Women, for example, have dramatically higher incidents of both anxiety and depression compared to men”    “Women are much more prone when they have hormonal disregulation to develop a binge eating disorder and anorexia”      “Women's bodies were designed to hold onto fat so that they could have enough fat to get through a pregnancy.”   “How is your body going to utilize what is available when you are under stress? Your metabolism is going to naturally SLOW since it is assuming that you won't have food.”     Podcast disclaimer: https://resources.thespadr.com/the-womans-doctor/#disclaimer