All articles
527 evidence-based articles, checked against primary sources.
Weight & Metabolism
The Galveston Diet: An Honest Review
The Galveston Diet is built on three pillars: a 16:8 fasting window, "anti-inflammatory" whole-food eating, and a macro shift toward fat and protein. We grade each one against the evidence — because they are not equally strong, and knowing which is which is the only useful thing you can do with the programme.
July 13, 2026 10 min
Periods & Menstrual Health
Nausea During Your Period: Causes and What Helps
Period nausea is not vague or imaginary: prostaglandins released as the uterine lining breaks down act on gut smooth muscle too, disturbing gastric emptying and triggering queasiness. That is why the worst nausea usually tracks the worst cramps. Here is how to tell prostaglandin nausea from menstrual migraine, a vasovagal reaction, PMDD, endometriosis and adenomyosis — plus what actually helps, what perimenopause changes, and the red flags that mean stop reading and get help.
July 13, 2026 9 min
Heart Health
Heart Attack Symptoms in Women: What Gets Missed
Chest discomfort is still the single most common heart attack symptom in women. But women are more likely than men to present without it — with breathlessness, nausea, jaw or back pain, or profound fatigue that started days earlier — and more likely to be misdiagnosed when they do seek help. This guide explains why the presentation differs (referred nerve pathways, plaque erosion, microvascular disease), gives the full symptom table, and covers the women-specific risks: menopause, pre-eclampsia, autoimmune disease, SCAD, and MINOCA.
July 13, 2026 10 min
Thyroid Health
Levothyroxine and Supplements: What Blocks Absorption
Levothyroxine is only absorbed at about 70–80% on an empty stomach, and it has a narrow therapeutic index — small losses show up as a rising TSH and returning symptoms. Here is what binds it in the gut, what raises stomach pH, why coffee matters, and why biotin can wreck the blood test without touching the drug.
July 13, 2026 9 min
Weight & Metabolism
What Women Actually Weigh — and Why the Average Tells You Nothing
The CDC's latest measured data puts the average American woman at 171.8 pounds and 63.5 inches tall — a mean BMI of exactly 30.0. That number describes a population, not a health target, and it is the wrong thing to compare yourself against. Here is the honest data, plus the measurements that actually track risk: waist circumference, waist-to-height ratio, and what happens to body composition in midlife when the scale barely moves.
July 13, 2026 9 min
Vaginal Health
Is My Vulva Normal? Almost Certainly, Yes
If one side is longer, or the inner lips hang below the outer ones, or the colour is darker than you expected — that is ordinary anatomy. Studies that measured real vulvas found fivefold ranges in length with no standard shape. What matters is not symmetry; it is new lumps, non-healing sores, persistent itch, or skin that has changed colour or texture.
July 13, 2026 9 min
Vaginal Health
Should You Douche? The Short Answer Is No
Douching means rinsing the inside of the vagina with fluid — water, vinegar, iodine or a shop-bought product. It has no proven benefit, because the vagina is already self-cleaning and acidic. Here is exactly what it does to your pH, what the best prospective studies actually found (the honest numbers, not the scary ones), why the odour keeps coming back, and what to do instead — including why midlife is the riskiest time to start.
July 13, 2026 11 min
Periods & Menstrual Health
Heat for Period Pain: What the Evidence Actually Shows
A heating pad is not a consolation prize. In head-to-head randomised trials, continuous low-level topical heat relieved menstrual pain about as well as ibuprofen 400 mg, and adding heat to ibuprofen cut the time to noticeable relief roughly in half. The catch is that duration — not temperature — is the active ingredient, and prolonged direct heat carries a real skin risk. Here is the evidence, the practical specifics, and the line where heat stops being enough.
July 13, 2026 9 min
Periods & Menstrual Health
Period Poop: Why Your Bowels Change With Your Cycle
Loose stools on day one and constipation the week before aren't two separate problems — they're two ends of the same hormonal swing. Progesterone slows the gut in the luteal phase; then prostaglandins released to contract the uterus spill over onto the bowel. Plus the cyclical bowel symptoms that can mean bowel endometriosis, missed for years.
July 13, 2026 9 min
Weight & Metabolism
BMI for Women: What It Misses, and What to Use Instead
BMI is a crude population screening tool built in the 1830s from data on European men. It cannot tell muscle from fat, cannot see where fat sits, and misses the midlife body-composition shift entirely. Here are the standard categories — and the measures that actually track risk in one woman.
July 13, 2026 9 min
Weight & Metabolism
Missed a GLP-1 Dose? What the FDA Label Actually Says
The FDA labels for Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, Zepbound and the oral semaglutide tablets each publish their own missed-dose window — and Ozempic's and Wegovy's are not the same, even though both are semaglutide. This is what each label says, what the labels say about restarting after several missed weeks, and why doubling up to catch up is the one thing all of them rule out.
July 13, 2026 11 min
Weight & Metabolism
How to Get a GLP-1 Online Without Getting Burned
Not every website selling semaglutide or tirzepatide is a pharmacy — the FDA says only about 5% of online pharmacy sites comply with US law. This guide shows what a legitimate telehealth path looks like, the red flags that mean an illegal source, how to verify a pharmacy licence with NABP and your state board, and what the manufacturers' own cash-pay channels charged as of 12 July 2026.
July 13, 2026 11 min
Menopause
HRT Doses Explained: Why "Lowest Effective Dose" Isn't the Whole Story
HRT dosing is titrated to symptom control, not to a blood level. We explain what the FDA labels publish for patches, pills, gels and vaginal estrogen, why saliva and blood "hormone panels" sold to set a dose aren't evidence-based, and why a woman with a uterus on systemic estrogen must have adequate progestogen.
July 13, 2026 8 min
Weight & Metabolism
Mounjaro Dosage: The Titration Schedule, Explained
The FDA label for Mounjaro (tirzepatide) starts everyone at 2.5 mg once weekly, moves to 5 mg after four weeks, and allows 2.5 mg increases after at least four weeks up to a 15 mg maximum in adults. Here is what that schedule is for, why it is deliberately slow, and why Mounjaro and Zepbound — identical molecules — are prescribed based on coverage rather than chemistry.
July 13, 2026 10 min
Weight & Metabolism
The GLP-1 Shortage Is Over. What That Changed
The FDA declared the tirzepatide shortage resolved in December 2024 and the semaglutide shortage resolved in February 2025 — and that single administrative act is what ended cheap mass-compounded GLP-1s. Here is the full timeline, the 503A vs 503B distinction that decides who can legally compound what, where the FDA's still-open 2026 proposal would leave things, and the one dangerous mistake to avoid if you are switching from a compounded vial to a brand pen.
July 13, 2026 8 min
Weight & Metabolism
Zepbound Cost: List Price, Savings Card and Cash Options
Zepbound's list price is about $1,086 a month, but almost nobody pays it. The commercial savings card can drop a covered prescription to $25 a fill — within limits most people never read. Lilly's self-pay channel sells vials and KwikPens for $299–$449. Medicare and Medicaid are shut out of the savings card, but a new $50 Medicare bridge, and Zepbound's sleep-apnea approval, change the answer for some women. Prices verified July 13, 2026.
July 13, 2026 10 min
Weight & Metabolism
Compounded Semaglutide vs Wegovy: The Honest Comparison
Compounded semaglutide is not FDA-approved: the agency does not review it for safety, effectiveness or quality, and has warned about 5-to-20-fold dosing errors from vials. Wegovy is approved and comes in a fixed-dose pen. Here is the legal status, the real documented harms, and the current price gap — checked July 2026.
July 13, 2026 9 min
Menopause
How Much Does HRT Actually Cost? Real Prices, Checked
Menopause hormone therapy has a huge price spread - the same symptom can be treated for $15 a month or $2,000 a year depending on the route, the product and who is billing you. We checked published US pharmacy pricing on 13 July 2026 and lay out the honest ranges, including the cost of the appointment, not just the drug.
July 13, 2026 11 min