How to Age Strong: Bones, Biohacking & Hormones with Gerontologist Zora Benhamou

The Alli Worthington Show

Alli Worthington

Education, Self-improvement, Society & Culture, Health & Fitness

4.9 • 646 Ratings

🗓️ 1 June 2026

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Join the Uplift Community App TODAY! If you are in your 40s or 50s and notice your body changing faster than you expected, you are not imagining it. Most women never receive the information they need until something feels off. That is why I wanted this conversation so much. Zora Benhamou is a gerontologist with a master’s degree from USC who studies aging from every angle. She hosts the Hack My Age podcast and helps women understand what is really happening in their bodies during perimenopause and menopause so they can take action with confidence. Zora is warm, direct, and honest about how research evolves. In this episode, we discuss practical biohacking tips for women over 40, strengthening bone health, balancing hormones, and boosting brain health. You’ll walk away with simple daily habits and science-backed knowledge to help you age strong and feel empowered. You are going to love her. What You'll Learn in This Episode: Why women who are "trying everything" often aren't eating enough, and how over-training and under-eating is quietly backfiring What biohacking actually means (and why it's not just for gym bros) The real story on bone health, osteopenia, and why fear is the worst response to a DEXA scan The diet approach that shows up again and again in longevity research Why GLP-1s is concern Zora has for women who don't need them The surprising blood flow restriction tool she used to maintain muscle through two hip replacements What the research actually says about cognitive decline in your 80s (it's better than you've heard) The billboard message Zora wants every woman to see about estrogen and cancer Timestamps: (02:34) - What is biohacking, and why women need to be in this conversation (04:53) - The Harvard study on longevity and why the foundation matters more than the fancy stuff (05:14) - Alli's experience with Function Health labs and her DEXA scan at 47 (05:59) - What women are missing about bone health (and why fear is making it worse) (07:26) - The six prunes a day hack and other diet approaches for bones (07:56) - How much protein do you actually need, and the right formula for getting it in (15:25) - Under-eating, GLP-1s, and the conversation about women's bodies nobody is having loudly enough (16:17) - The Mediterranean diet and the research behind whole-food eating for longevity (18:23) - Why 1,200 calories a day was always the wrong number (19:06) - What Zora thought about aging at 35 versus now, and the research on ageism (19:26) - Cognitive decline in your 80s: the data is more hopeful than the headlines (20:41) - Crystallized vs. fluid intelligence, and why lifelong learning actually protects your brain (23:01) - The thing that surprised Zora the most in the last year (25:12) - Blood flow restriction bands: what they are, why they work, and who they're for (27:53) - OsteoStrong and biodensity machines: Zora puts the brakes on a recommendation (28:37) - The billboard every woman over 40 needs to see: estrogen does not cause cancer Links to great things we discussed: Hack My Age Podcast Blood Flow Restriction Bands - Katsu & Suji Zora’s Movie Recommendation: F1 Zora’s Book Recommendation: Nourishing Menopause Zora’s Product Recommendations: Vitali Copper Peptide Skincare Collection Function Health Uplift App Wise Woman Era Alli on YouTube I hope you loved this episode! 🎉Don’t forget to hit that subscribe button on Apple Podcasts and Spotify so you never miss a thing. And guess what? We're on YouTube! If you're loving the content, show us some love by leaving a review and giving us some stars. It means the world to me! Take care, and stay fabulous! xo, Alli

Transcript

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0:00.0	Women in my community tend to eat one meal a day or two meals a day. So it's really hard.
0:05.0	Wait. What? Yes, they come to me because they're exercising as hard as they possibly can, eating as little as they can. And this is why this is having some problems. So I tend to attract these kind of women. And they're trying really hard. They're doing all the biohacks.
0:22.3	They're doing it too hard.
0:24.0	And it was because when they were in their 20s and 30s, they could just eat less and exercise more, and it was fine.
0:29.4	So formula worked, and it doesn't work anymore.
0:50.4	If you're in your 40s and you feel like your body is quietly changing in ways nobody prepared you for, maybe it's your energy or your metabolism or your bones or your weight or your hormones, whatever it is you're not imagining it.
0:55.5	You just might be missing some information that women don't get until something goes wrong. Today's guest has spent her career studying exactly what happens to women's bodies as we age,
1:01.6	and she's here to help us know what the research actually shows and what we can do about it.
1:07.0	Her name is Zora Benamu. Zora Benamu is a gerontologist, which means she understands aging from
1:14.4	a biological and sociological and psychological perspective all at once. She's got her master's in
1:22.1	gerontology from USC. She hosts the Hack My Age podcast, and she has built her entire body of work,
1:30.1	helping women optimize what's happening in their bodies during perimenopause and menopause.
1:35.2	Today, we're diving into what you need to know to age with strength and confidence.
1:39.2	But before we get started, I want to tell you.
1:42.1	Okay, let's dive in with my new friend Zora. I am so thrilled you're on the
1:47.5	show. Thank you for joining me. I want to just start with this question. You study aging, how to age well,
1:53.7	how to hack my age, if I can say that. And you're looking through all the data, you're reading all
2:00.2	the studies, you're helping women every day.
2:02.6	What pattern shows up over and over again that women are still missing?
2:07.1	Oh, my goodness.
2:07.9	Where to start?
2:08.6	What pattern?
	...

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