Dr. Laura Pipher, Naturopathic Doctor, Barrie, ON (2026)

12/08/2025

Inflammation speeds up every aspect of aging, including how quickly your ovaries age. The hard part is that inflammation can come from many places, which is why symptoms feel vague or unpredictable.

One of the most common root causes I see is gut imbalance. IBS, bloating, irregular digestion and chronic GI irritation can fuel low grade inflammation that affects your hormones, energy and metabolism long before bloodwork picks it up.

If this sounds familiar and you want to understand your metabolism and inflammation more clearly, the HER Metabolic Confidence Lab starts in the new year. This program teaches you how your metabolism actually works and gives you step by step strategies to support digestion, energy, cravings, blood sugar and hormone balance.

Early bird pricing is available until December 24.
Save your spot through the link in my bio.
Comment ME if you want the link directly.
Questions ? Comment below .

12/04/2025

Regular cycles but not ovulating? Yes, it happens.
And it is one of the most common reasons women feel exhausted, bloated, and off, even when their period looks normal on paper.

Here is the mini-lesson I wish more women were given:

❤️You can bleed without ovulating.
A regular cycle does not guarantee an LH surge, a mature follicle, or a strong progesterone response.

🥚You can ovulate without getting a period.
This is especially common in stress-heavy seasons, postpartum, or when your metabolism is under pressure.

❤️Anovulatory cycles mean low progesterone.
Low progesterone often shows up as irritability, sleep disruption, bloating, spotting, cravings, and cycles that suddenly feel different than they used to.

🥚The cause depends on your life stage.
• PCOS or insulin resistance often means ovulation is delayed or does not happen
• High stress and nervous system overload can suppress the ovulation signal
• Approaching midlife often shifts egg quality, which makes ovulation less predictable

❤️The first step is not bloodwork. It is tracking ovulation.
LH strips, temperature patterns, and cervical mucus can tell you more than most basic tests.

Once you know if you are ovulating, you can finally understand your progesterone and your symptoms start making sense.

If your cycles are regular but your symptoms are not, this is the place to look.

12/03/2025

Hot flashes, weight gain, cravings… but is it menopause or metabolism?

Most women are told to blame hormones.
But here’s what actually shows up first: metabolic changes.

Fatigue
Cravings
Midsection weight gain
Irritability
Poor sleep
Nighttime waking
Feeling puffy or inflamed
Brain fog
Afternoon crashes

These often start years before official hormonal changes.
Your metabolism shifts long before your bloodwork does.

So if your labs look “normal”… but you definitely don’t feel normal… this is usually why.
You can have normal estrogen and progesterone, but if insulin is unstable, inflammation is high, or your stress system is overloaded, your symptoms explode.
Hormones are downstream. When the metabolism underneath is wobbly, your hormones take the blame.

This is why so many women feel like nothing is working.
You try progesterone.
You try supplements.
You clean up your diet.
You try all the “hormone balancing” trends.
And you still feel off.

Because the real issue isn’t the hormones.
It’s the system the hormones are trying to function in.

So the question isn’t “Is this menopause?”
The real question is: Is my metabolism stable enough for my hormones to function properly?

If you’re stuck in the “Is it hormones or metabolism?” loop and want clarity on what to do first, that’s exactly what we cover inside the HER Metabolic Confidence Lab.

We walk through what’s metabolic, what’s hormonal, and how to build stability so you can actually feel like yourself again.

12/02/2025

So many women tell me they have low progesterone… but before we even talk about progesterone, we have to look at ovulation.

You cannot make progesterone without ovulating.
And this is where the confusion usually starts.

A person can have:

• A regular period and still not ovulate
• No period and still ovulate
• A cycle that looks “normal” but isn’t producing enough progesterone
• A cycle that changes with age, stress, or metabolic health long before labs show anything

So the first step isn’t guessing.
It’s understanding whether you actually ovulated.

How to make sense of it:

1. Track your LH surge.
Use LH strips. If you never see a surge, ovulation didn’t happen.
No ovulation means no progesterone.
There is no reason to test progesterone when ovulation never occurred.

2. If you do see an LH surge, you can confirm with progesterone testing.
We check it 5 to 7 days after ovulation to see if you made enough.

3. Why ovulation might not be happening depends on the phase of life.
• PCOS: Often driven by insulin issues that block ovulation
• Insulin resistance without PCOS: Same ovulation roadblock
• Perimenopause: Lower egg quality and more anovulatory cycles, which naturally lowers progesterone even if periods still come regularly

This is why so many women feel “off” long before their labs say anything is wrong.
Understanding ovulation is the foundation for understanding progesterone.

If this brought clarity, comment below or ask your questions.
And save this for your next cycle.

12/01/2025

Most women are taught that PCOS is a “period issue.”
But the real driver begins before cycles change or hormones show up abnormal on labs.
Here’s what often goes unexplained:
The metabolic system and the reproductive system are constantly communicating.
When insulin is high, it amplifies LH signalling — and that combination increases androgen production.
Once that pattern starts, ovulation becomes inconsistent and symptoms follow.
So the mood shifts, cravings, long cycles, and energy crashes aren’t “just hormones.”
They’re the downstream effects of a metabolic signal that hasn’t been addressed.
When we support insulin sensitivity, stabilize blood sugar, manage stress load, and strengthen the nervous system, the hormone picture becomes much clearer — and symptoms start to improve because the upstream drivers are being supported.
If you’ve been dealing with long cycles, cravings, or symptoms that don’t add up, HER Metabolism and HER Thriving help you understand your patterns and build a plan that actually fits your physiology.

👉 Share this with someone who needs clarity.
👉 Book a free alignment call to learn your next steps.

11/29/2025

Some insulin clues don’t require bloodwork — they show up on the skin.

Darker, thicker, velvety patches on the neck, underarms, groin, or even knuckles (Acanthosis Nigricans) are one of the most commonly missed signs that your metabolism is under more pressure than your labs suggest.

This doesn’t mean something is “wrong.”
It means something needs attention.

These skin changes often appear in the same women who tell me:

energy crashes are getting louder
cravings feel harder to manage
weight is shifting even with the same habits
sleep is lighter, restless, or broken
cycles feel different than they used to

And here’s the important part: basic bloodwork doesn’t always pick up early metabolic changes.
That’s why so many women feel dismissed when their symptoms don’t match their lab report.

Inside the HER Metabolic Confidence Lab, we break down:
✨ what these early metabolic signs mean
✨ how insulin resistance develops long before diabetes
✨ why stress, sleep, cravings, and hormones all tie into blood sugar
✨ the foundational steps that support your metabolism without extremes
✨ how to build metabolic stability that actually lasts

If you’re noticing signs your metabolism is working harder than it should, this program will help you understand what’s happening — and what to do next.

Early access is open now:
👉 www.laurapipher.com/hermetabolism

Save this post if you’ve seen these changes on yourself (or someone else) and didn’t know what they meant.

11/27/2025

DHEA gets talked about online like it is a magic hormone booster, but the truth is more nuanced.

Here is what it can actually help with:
• Supporting egg quality in specific fertility cases
• Improving symptoms of low androgens like low libido or low energy
• Helping in confirmed adrenal deficiency when levels are low

Here are the risks people forget about:
• Acne, chin hair, oily skin and hair thinning
• Testosterone rising too high
• Increased risk of side effects in post-menopause
• Not a precursor to progesterone
• Taking it without testing is one of the biggest hormone mistakes I see

DHEA can be useful when it is clinically indicated and monitored. It is not a supplement to self prescribe.

11/26/2025

If you’ve ever walked out of an appointment frustrated because your labs were “normal,” you’re not wrong to question it.

Women come in every week feeling exhausted, wired at night, bloated, craving sugar, or dealing with irregular cycles, and none of it is reflected in their bloodwork.

Most early changes in your 30s and 40s don’t show up on basic hormone tests.
What shifts first is your metabolism, inflammation, blood sugar regulation, stress load, and nervous system. These layers change long before estrogen or progesterone look abnormal.

So everything appears fine on paper, but nothing feels fine in real life.
✨That gap is where most women get stuck. Not because there are no answers, but because the right areas were never evaluated.

The HER Metabolic Confidence Lab was created for this exact problem. It’s the framework that helps you understand what is driving your symptoms: energy, cravings, cycles, sleep, metabolism, stress response, and gut health. Once you see the full picture, you know what to do next.

If you’re tired of being told everything looks okay while your body tells a different story, early-bird access to the Metabolic Confidence Lab is open now.

11/25/2025

Inositol isn’t a “quick fix,” but for the right woman it can be a game changer for cycle regularity, cravings, and metabolic stability.
It works by improving how your cells respond to insulin, which directly supports ovulation, cravings, mood, and energy.

You may be a good candidate if your cycles are long, your energy crashes after meals, or your cravings spike mid-afternoon. Most women need an 8–12 week trial to see meaningful change, and inositol works best when it’s paired with protein-first meals, walking, and consistent strength training , but always speak to your provider before starting any supplement or treatment plan.

If you’re unsure whether your symptoms are related to insulin resistance or something else, my programs can help you understand your patterns and decide whether inositol makes sense for you.

👉 Book a free alignment call to explore the next steps for your health.

11/24/2025

Your symptoms might look hormonal… but they usually start deeper.

Women come to me thinking their PMS, mood swings, fatigue, cravings, or midsection weight gain are all hormone problems…
but underneath those patterns, there’s usually something else driving the chaos:

✨ Chronic low-grade inflammation
✨ Insulin resistance starting years before menopause
✨ Blood sugar swings that keep your cortisol dysregulated
✨ Gut-driven inflammation that impacts hormone recycling

These are the things that disrupt estrogen, progesterone, and ovulation long before hormonal therapy is even a conversation.

Here’s what the research shows:
(And what I see in clinic every week.)

• Inflammation makes your ovaries less responsive
• Insulin resistance lowers progesterone
• Blood sugar instability worsens PMS, perimenopause symptoms, hot flashes, brain fog
• “Normal” labs often miss early metabolic dysfunction

This is why two women can have the same hormones on paper…
and feel completely different in real life.

👉 Your hormones are the messengers.
Your metabolism is the story underneath them.

If you’ve been told “everything looks normal” but you don’t feel normal , there’s a deeper layer to look at.

And this is exactly why I created HER Metabolic Confidence Lab, launching in the new year.

It’s a coaching and education program for women who want to understand their metabolism, lower inflammation, and finally feel like their bodies are working with them again, without guessing, dieting, or burning out.

If you want the clarity and confidence you’ve been missing…
you’re going to want to be on this waitlist.

🔗 comment ME and I’ll send you the next steps

✨ Save this if your labs look “normal” but you don’t feel normal.

11/21/2025

Your ovulation at 16 does not look like your ovulation at 26 or 36 or 46.
And once you understand how ovulation naturally changes with age, your symptoms suddenly make a lot more sense.
Teens often have irregular cycles because the brain and o***y are still learning how to communicate.
Your 20s and 30s are your most consistent ovulatory years.
Your 40s bring skipped cycles, shorter cycles, new PMS patterns, sleep changes, and mood shifts.
Your 50s mark the end of ovulation altogether.

When you know what is expected for each decade, you can understand your symptoms, choose the right testing, and know exactly when to seek support.
This is the information women deserve long before they reach perimenopause.
Share this with someone in their 30s or 40s.

Dr. Laura Pipher, Naturopathic Doctor

12/08/2025

12/04/2025

12/03/2025

12/02/2025

12/01/2025

11/29/2025

11/27/2025

11/26/2025

11/25/2025

11/24/2025

11/21/2025

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