The Ovary Club with Alisa Vitti

12: PMOS Part 1: The PMOS Symptoms Women Are Told Are Normal

Note: This episode was recorded before PCOS was renamed PMOS, Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome. Throughout this episode and some original episode materials, you may hear or see the former name PCOS used. Before I ever built FLO Living or created the Cycle Syncing® Method, I was a teenager who knew something was wrong with my body and had no language for it. I didn't get my first period until almost 16. Then my period disappeared for months at a time. By 19, my skin, weight, hair growth, sleep, mood, and energy were all telling the same story, but no one could tell me what it meant. In this episode of The Ovary Club, I'm sharing the part of my PMOS story I rarely get to tell in full. I walk through what it felt like to live with painful cystic acne, unexplained weight gain, excess body hair, insomnia, anxiety, depression, brain fog, and missing periods before I finally found a possible answer in a medical journal and received a PMOS diagnosis seven years after my first bleed. I also break down what PMOS actually is, why elevated androgens can disrupt ovulation, why the condition can look different from woman to woman, and why a diagnosis is not always as simple as one symptom, one scan, or one lab result. Before we get into triggers and the protocol in Part 2, this episode gives you the foundation for understanding what your body may have been trying to tell you all along. Want to go deeper with this episode? Insiders get to submit questions and receive monthly Q&As directly from Alisa. Join here: alisavitti.kit.com/products/the-ovary-club [https://alisavitti.kit.com/products/the-ovary-club] What's Discussed: (05:55) Why I'm sharing the PMOS story I rarely tell in full. (09:48) Getting my first period late, missing cycles for years, and knowing something was off. (11:43) How acne, weight gain, hair growth, insomnia, anxiety, depression, and brain fog showed up together. (17:17) The medical journal moment that finally gave me a lead. (18:59) What changed when I finally got a PMOS diagnosis after years without answers. (27:36) What PMOS actually is and why elevated androgens matter. (35:05) The symptoms and diagnostic criteria women should know before they are told everything is "normal." If your symptoms feel disconnected, confusing, or easy to dismiss, this episode will help you understand why they may be part of the same bigger hormonal picture. Thank You to Our Sponsors: MyFLOⓇ App: Download the MyFLOⓇ App at floliving.com/pages/app [https://floliving.com/pages/app] and use the code FREEMONTH Ovary Club Insiders: Ovary Club: Join us at alisavitti.kit.com/products/the-ovary-club [https://alisavitti.kit.com/products/the-ovary-club] Learn more about Alisa Vitti: Instagram: @alisa.vitti [https://www.instagram.com/alisa.vitti/] Website: alisavitti.kit.com/ [https://alisavitti.kit.com/]

11: The Early Signs of Perimenopause Most Women Miss with Dr. Robin Berzin

Perimenopause is one of those phases women are often taught to recognize only after it becomes obvious. The cycle can still look regular, labs can still look normal on paper, and one appointment may not give enough context to explain why the body suddenly feels different. In this episode of The Ovary Club, I'm joined by Dr. Robin Berzin to talk about how to build a clearer picture of early perimenopause before symptoms become impossible to ignore. We get into what women should start paying attention to, why tracking patterns over time matters, how stress, blood sugar, thyroid, and adrenal health can overlap with hormonal changes, and what to ask for when you want more useful answers. Dr. Robin Berzin is a Columbia-trained internal medicine physician, functional medicine pioneer, and founder and CEO of Parsley Health, the first national functional medicine and longevity clinic in the US. She is also the author of State Change: End Anxiety, Beat Burnout, and Ignite a New Baseline of Energy and Flow and one of the leading voices helping women understand the physical root causes behind symptoms they are too often told to brush off. Want to go deeper with this episode? Insiders get to submit questions and receive monthly Q&As directly from Alisa. Join us at alisavitti.kit.com/products/the-ovary-club [https://alisavitti.kit.com/products/the-ovary-club] What's Discussed: 01:54 – Why so many women miss the early perimenopause window. 03:36 – The symptoms that can show up before perimenopause looks "obvious." 06:58 – Why this stage matters for your long-term health span. 10:23 – Where HRT fits into the bigger perimenopause conversation. 14:57 – What testing can help clarify when everything feels confusing. 23:13 – Why stress and metabolism can make perimenopause harder to read. 33:43 – The brain and focus changes women do not always connect to hormones. Thank You to Our Sponsors: FLO Living (supplement): Get 25% off with the code podcast25 at floliving.com [http://floliving.com] Ovary Club Insiders: Ovary Club: Join us at alisavitti.kit.com/products/the-ovary-club [https://alisavitti.kit.com/products/the-ovary-club] Learn more about Alisa Vitti: Instagram: @alisa.vitti [https://www.instagram.com/alisa.vitti/] Website: alisavitti.kit.com/ [https://alisavitti.kit.com/] Learn More About Dr. Robin Berzin: Website: www.parsleyhealth.com [https://www.parsleyhealth.com] Instagram: @parsleyhealth [https://www.instagram.com/parsleyhealth/] and @robinberzinmd [https://www.instagram.com/robinberzinmd/] X: @parsley_health [https://x.com/parsley_health] and @robinberzinmd [https://x.com/robinberzinmd] LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/robin-berzin-md [https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-berzin-md] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/parsleyhealthwww.facebook.com/parsleyhealth [http://www.facebook.com/parsleyhealth]

10: The Ultimate 5 Biohacks for Women

When you scroll through wellness content nowadays, you are going to see a lot of influencers sharing the next biohack women should try to balance their hormones, increase energy, reduce inflammation, or finally feel like themselves again. Cold plunges, supplement stacks, red light devices, fasting protocols, expensive wearables, and morning routines that look impossible to keep up with. And if you are someone who is desperate to support your hormonal health, you have probably tried a few of them. But what if those "biohacks" are actually doing less for your hormones than the free things your body was designed to respond to? In this episode of The Ovary Club, I'm breaking down the five most powerful biohacks for women's hormones, and none of them require a supplement stack, a wellness gadget, or another expensive protocol. Because after decades of working with women's hormones, one thing has become incredibly clear to me: the female body responds most powerfully to the things modern culture keeps teaching women to deprioritize. Want to go deeper with this episode? Insiders get to submit questions and receive monthly Q&As directly from Alisa. Join us at alisavitti.kit.com/products/the-ovary-club [https://alisavitti.kit.com/products/the-ovary-club] What's Discussed: (02:10) Why expensive wellness trends are not always the most powerful tools for women's hormones. (04:35) Why ovulation is not just about fertility, but one of the clearest signs of hormonal health. (07:42) How progesterone supports sleep, mood, and nervous system regulation. (10:18) Why orgasm is a real hormonal event and how pleasure affects cortisol, DHEA, and cycle health. (14:26) Why sleep is non-negotiable for cortisol, blood sugar, ovulation, and hormonal repair. (19:08) How morning sunlight affects circadian rhythm, vitamin D, serotonin, and melatonin. (23:44) Why community and social connection directly affect cortisol, oxytocin, and hormonal resilience. (28:12) Why the free inputs women often dismiss are actually the biological requirements their hormones depend on. If you've been feeling exhausted, hormonally overwhelmed, disconnected from your body, or like wellness has become another impossible standard to keep up with, this episode will help you understand what your hormones are actually asking for and how to support them in a way that feels sustainable, grounded, and biologically aligned instead of stressful and performative. Thank You to Our Sponsors: FLO Living (supplement): Get 25% off with the code podcast25 at floliving.com [http://floliving.com] Ovary Club Insiders: Ovary Club: Join us at alisavitti.kit.com/products/the-ovary-club [https://alisavitti.kit.com/products/the-ovary-club] Learn more about Alisa Vitti: Instagram: @alisa.vitti [https://www.instagram.com/alisa.vitti/] Website: alisavitti.kit.com/ [https://alisavitti.kit.com/]

9: Why "Balancing Your Hormones" Is BS

"Balance your hormones" sounds like the goal. It is on supplement labels, wellness posts, detox programs, hormone hacks, and every quick-fix promise that makes women feel like their body is a problem to solve. But your hormones do not get "balanced." They respond. They respond to whether you are eating enough, sleeping deeply, managing stress, clearing estrogen, moving with your cycle, and living in a way your endocrine system can actually regulate. So if you keep trying to fix estrogen, progesterone, cortisol, or PMS directly, you may be chasing the output instead of correcting the inputs. In this episode of The Ovary Club, I break down why the hormone balance conversation is misleading, what your endocrine system is actually responding to, and the five foundations of the WomanCode FLO Protocol that help your body regulate hormones naturally instead of forcing quick fixes that never last. Want to go deeper with this episode? Ovary Club Insiders get a special download: Your Ovarian Scorecard — find out exactly where your hormones need the most support and get a 30-day plan to fix it. Become an Insider here: alisavitti.kit.com/products/the-ovary-club [https://alisavitti.kit.com/products/the-ovary-club] What's Discussed: (01:24) Why "balancing your hormones" is the wrong framework. (04:09) How detoxes, cleanses, restriction, and overtraining can worsen hormonal symptoms. (06:00) Why hormones are outputs, not the starting point. (09:00) How sleep, stress, food timing, and lifestyle inputs affect progesterone and ovulation. (13:33) Why no single supplement or quick fix can solve hormonal dysfunction. (19:16) How blood sugar stability becomes the first foundation of hormone regulation. (23:06) Why cortisol and stress signals can shut down reproductive priorities. (24:31) How gut health and estrogen metabolism affect PMS, bloating, heavy periods, and inflammation. (34:00) Why cycle syncing reduces stress on the endocrine system. (39:49) How rest, pleasure, and connection support the nervous system and hormonal health. If you have been trying to "balance your hormones" and still feel like nothing is working, this episode will show you why the goal was wrong from the beginning. Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Thank You to Our Sponsors: FLO Living (supplement): Get 25% off with the code podcast25 at floliving.com [http://floliving.com] Ovary Club Insiders: Ovary Club: Join us at alisavitti.kit.com/products/the-ovary-club [https://alisavitti.kit.com/products/the-ovary-club] Learn more about Alisa Vitti: Instagram: @alisa.vitti [https://www.instagram.com/alisa.vitti/] Website: alisavitti.kit.com/ [https://alisavitti.kit.com/]

8: How Your Hormones, Stress, and Lifestyle Affect Biological Age with Dr. Kara Fitzgerald

Women are often told that aging is something that simply happens to them, especially once hormones begin to shift. But Dr. Kara Fitzgerald explains that stress, poor sleep, hormone changes, extreme dieting, and lifestyle patterns can all affect how fast your body ages. That means your biological age may be older than the number of birthdays you have had. But if your daily choices can push your body to age faster, could they also help you slow that process down? In this episode of The Ovary Club, Alisa sits down with Dr. Kara Fitzgerald to unpack what biological age actually means and why it matters for your hormones, ovaries, mitochondria, stress response, and long-term health. You'll learn how DNA methylation reflects the way your body is aging, why menopause is not the starting line for women's aging, and how food, sleep, movement, stress reduction, and lifestyle changes can help shift your biology in a better direction. Dr. Kara Fitzgerald is a naturopathic physician, functional medicine practitioner, researcher, and author of Younger You: Reduce Your Bio Age and Live Longer, Better. Her clinical research showed that an eight-week diet and lifestyle intervention reduced biological age by over three years on average, and she later replicated that work specifically in women. She is also a faculty member at the Institute for Functional Medicine and host of New Frontiers in Functional Medicine®. What's Discussed: (01:12) Why biological age may matter more than chronological age for women. (05:22) How hormone shifts can affect how fast your body ages. (08:23) What DNA methylation is and why it matters for biological aging. (21:28) Why mitochondrial health is deeply connected to ovarian function. (24:08) How stress, sleep, cortisol, trauma, pregnancy, and recovery affect biological age. (32:23) Why extreme fasting, over-exercising, and restrictive eating can be pro-aging for women. (37:09) How food, polyphenols, sleep, supplements, and lifestyle can help slow biological aging. Listen to this episode of The Ovary Club to understand what your biological age may be telling you, why your hormones and ovaries are connected to how fast your body is aging, and what you can start doing now to support a slower, healthier aging process. Thank You to Our Sponsors: Ovary Club Insiders: Ovary Club: Join us at alisavitti.kit.com/products/the-ovary-club [https://alisavitti.kit.com/products/the-ovary-club] MyFLO App: Download the MyFLO App at floliving.com/pages/app [https://floliving.com/pages/app] and use the code FREEMONTH Learn more about Alisa Vitti: Instagram: @alisa.vitti [https://www.instagram.com/alisa.vitti/] Website: alisavitti.kit.com/ [https://alisavitti.kit.com/] Learn more about Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Website: drkarafitzgerald.com/ [https://www.drkarafitzgerald.com/] Podcast: drkarafitzgerald.com/fxmed-podcast/ [https://www.drkarafitzgerald.com/fxmed-podcast/] Webinars: drkarafitzgerald.com/webinars/ [https://www.drkarafitzgerald.com/webinars/] Instagram: @drkarafitzgerald [https://www.instagram.com/drkarafitzgerald/] Facebook: DrKaraFitzgerald [https://www.facebook.com/DrKaraFitzgerald] YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UC7jYgG7WMnqPeC4uwslqdfQ [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7jYgG7WMnqPeC4uwslqdfQ] X: x.com/kfitzgeraldnd [https://x.com/kfitzgeraldnd] Podcast: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33844651/ [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33844651/] Potential reversal of epigenetic age using a diet and lifestyle intervention: a pilot randomized clinical trial: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36947707/ [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36947707/] Dietary associations with reduced epigenetic age: a secondary data analysis of the methylation diet and lifestyle study: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40266024/ [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40266024/]