Perimenopause Isn’t Just About Hormones: What Every Perimenopausal Woman Should Know Before Starting HRT with Dr. Deanna Minich | Ep 368

The Funk'tional Nutrition Podcast

Erin Holt

Mental Health, Health & Fitness, Alternative Health, Nutrition

4.9 • 759 Ratings

🗓️ 15 July 2025

⏱️ 74 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can be a powerful tool, but it’s just one piece of the perimenopause puzzle.

In this episode, Erin is talking to renowned nutrition scientist and functional medicine expert Dr. Deanna Minich to challenge the “HRT or bust” narrative, diving into the deeper systems involved (like your gut, liver, and brain!) and how they shape your hormonal experience.

Dr. Minich introduces a root-cause framework that prioritizes the health of the entire endocrine system, not just hormone levels in isolation. You’ll learn about the five pillars of hormone processing (synthesis, transport, activation, metabolism, and excretion), the emerging role of endocrine disruptors, and why starting with gut health and detox pathways is essential before jumping into hormone therapy.

If you’re hormone-curious, this conversation will expand your understanding, AND your options.

In this episode:

Why jumping straight into hormone replacement therapy might bypass the real issues, like a dysfunctional endocrine system
The critical role of the HPTA-GLOA Axis and how it regulates your mood, your metabolism, detoxification, and inflammation
How to support the full hormone cascade (not just estrogen/progesterone)
A bold parallel between today’s HRT marketing and the diet fads of the '90s
How maca supports hormonal balance, especially when symptoms don’t require or respond to HRT

Transcript

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0:00.0	within functional medicine, we always look to the root cause. And the root cause of menopause is not just
0:06.2	looking at the decline of the ovaries. It's looking at the decline of the endocrine system. And so just like
0:13.2	you said for yourself, when things were kind of going down with your thyroid, with your gut,
0:18.0	all of that is precipitating and leading to these changes in hormone imbalances.
0:22.6	And for a premenopausal woman, this could actually start to look like perimenopause,
0:27.5	and then she could wrongly be given hormones to try to rebalance,
0:32.6	but it's not really about the end product of those hormones.
0:36.2	It's about her overall physiology working together
0:39.2	in this beautiful systems web. Welcome to the functional nutrition podcast, spell it with a K,
0:44.4	because we do things a little differently around here. I'm your host, Erin Holt, and I've got
0:48.3	15 years of clinical experience as a functional nutritionist and mindset coach, creating a new
0:53.2	model that I call intuitive functional medicine,
0:55.9	where we combine root cause medicine with the innate intelligence of your body.
1:00.4	This is where science meets self-trust.
1:03.1	Your body already knows how to heal,
1:05.2	and this show is going to show you how.
1:07.6	If you're looking for new ways of thinking about your health,
1:09.9	be sure to follow and share with
1:11.5	a friend because you never know whose life you might change. Hello, my friends. Today's show is
1:18.6	pretty next level. If I do say so myself, we are continuing on with the perimenopause,
1:23.7	menopause, HRT conversation that I started a couple months back, and I've been
1:28.1	speaking into a little bit more in my Instagram stories. I actually brought Deanna Minnick back
	...

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