Dr. Leona

Dr. Leona Stop Managing Symptoms. Start Healing Your Metabolism. http://www.DrLeona.com Dr. Leona Allen

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đź”— https://beginhealingtoday.com/

Host of The Heal Deal Podcast with Dr. Leona
🎧 https://thehealdealpodcast.com/

06/02/2026

Perimenopause weight gain isn’t always about eating more or moving less.

Sometimes your hormones are shifting, and your body is trying to adjust.

Estrogen is one of those hormones that has to be in the sweet spot. Too high or too low can make it harder to regulate blood sugar, build muscle, and lose weight.

But estrogen is only one piece of the picture.

We also have to look at how your hormones are being metabolized, what’s happening with androgens like testosterone and DHEA, and how cortisol is affecting your blood sugar and stress response.

Because when cortisol is high, blood sugar gets harder to regulate. And when blood sugar is harder to regulate, weight loss gets harder too.

This is why perimenopause requires more context, not more guessing.

🎧 The Heal Deal Podcast with Dr. Leona
Testing in Perimenopause: How to Time, Interpret, and Take Action on Your Hormones | Ep. 87
Full episode now available on your favorite podcast platform

05/30/2026

When women talk about hysterectomies, the conversation often focuses on the uterus.

But the ovaries matter too.

If the ovaries are left in place, the body may still be able to produce estrogen and, hopefully, continue ovulating and making progesterone.

And that matters because estrogen does so much more than regulate your cycle.

Estrogen supports brain function, cognition, cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar regulation, weight maintenance, and mood.

Progesterone matters too, especially for mood, sleep, nervous system balance, and bone health.

This is why it’s important to understand what is being removed, what is being preserved, and how that decision may affect your long-term health.

Your hormones are not just reproductive hormones.
They are whole-body hormones.

🎧 The Heal Deal Podcast with Dr. Leona
Testing in Perimenopause: How to Time, Interpret, and Take Action on Your Hormones | Ep. 87
Full episode now available on your favorite podcast platform

05/27/2026

The emotional rollercoaster of perimenopause is not “all in your head.”

A lot of women are told they’re just stressed, moody, emotional, or not handling life well.

But hormonally, there may be a real reason you feel like your emotions are all over the place.

In early perimenopause, estrogen can surge for days.

And if you’re not ovulating, you may not be producing enough progesterone to balance those effects.

That can show up as:

Heavy bleeding
Breast tenderness
Mood swings
Tearfulness
Anxiety
Feeling like you’re not yourself

So no, you’re not just being dramatic.

Your body may be responding to hormone shifts that nobody explained clearly.

Context matters.

🎧 Testing in Perimenopause: How to Time, Interpret, and Take Action on Your Hormones
Episode 87 of The Heal Deal Podcast
Now available on your favorite podcast platform.

05/25/2026

Hormone shifts can look like this.

→ Stubborn weight that won't move despite eating well, exercising, sleeping, and managing stress
→ Heavy bleeding
→ Anxiety and tearfulness
→ Breast tenderness
→ Hot flashes and night sweats
→ Joint pain
→ Fatigue
→ Low libido
→ Insomnia: trouble falling asleep, waking up at 2 AM, and not being able to get back to sleep

Most women are familiar with the hot flash picture. What most don't know is that high estrogen in perimenopause creates a completely different set of symptoms. And you can experience both sides, sometimes in the same month.

When estrogen and progesterone both start dropping, sleep is one of the first things to go. That is not just stress. That is a hormonal pattern that can be tested and understood.

I sit down with Dr. Kelly Ruef, naturopathic doctor and clinical educator at DUTCH Test, to break all of this down in episode 87 of The Heal Deal Podcast.

🎧 I will put the link to the full episode in the comments.



Ready for the next Ep 87 clip.

Overweight doesn’t always mean overfed.Sometimes the body is carrying extra weight while still being undernourished, dep...
05/25/2026

Overweight doesn’t always mean overfed.

Sometimes the body is carrying extra weight while still being undernourished, depleted, inflamed, stressed, and metabolically confused.

That’s why chasing weight loss without restoring health first can backfire.

Because here’s the part most people miss:

A smaller body does not automatically mean a healthier body.

If the plan only asks, “How do I lose weight?” but never asks:

What is my body missing?
What is my metabolism responding to?
What needs to be restored?
What stress signals need to calm down?

Then you may lose weight and still feel tired, inflamed, foggy, hungry, and frustrated.

The goal is not to punish your body into shrinking.

The goal is to nourish the body, support metabolism, address the cause, and restore health first.

Weight loss should be the result of healing, not the whole strategy.

Save this reminder.

05/23/2026

54 and still hitting PRs!

215 lbs deadlift 💪🏾

I’ll take it!

05/22/2026

Most women are told to focus on whether their estrogen is “high” or “low.”

But that’s not the whole story.

Because hormones don’t just exist in your body…

👉 they have to be processed.

And HOW your body processes estrogen can influence:

* heavy bleeding
* breast tenderness
* mood changes
* fatigue
* and long-term health risks

This is why two women can have similar hormone levels… but completely different symptoms.

That’s the part most of us never hear.

Your body is constantly giving feedback.

The question is:
👉 Do you understand what it’s saying?

That’s why I appreciate more advanced testing like DUTCH testing. It doesn’t just look at hormone levels; it helps show how your body is actually metabolizing those hormones behind the scenes.

Because “normal” hormones don’t always mean healthy hormone function.

And if you’ve been feeling off, exhausted, inflamed, or unlike yourself lately…

Your body may not be working against you.

👉 It may just be responding.

🎧 The Heal Deal Podcast with Dr. Leona
Testing in Perimenopause: How to Time, Interpret, and Take Action on Your Hormones | Ep. 87
Full episode now available on your favorite podcast platform

Here's the question I get more than any other:"Why don't I feel like myself anymore?"Brain fog. Mood swings. Sleep that ...
05/21/2026

Here's the question I get more than any other:

"Why don't I feel like myself anymore?"

Brain fog. Mood swings. Sleep that breaks at 3 am. Hair thinning. Joints aching for no reason. Energy that won't come back, no matter how much you sleep.

You've been told it's stress. Or aging. Or anxiety. Maybe you've been put on an antidepressant.

But what if it's not in your head?

What if it's biology, specifically the hormone shifts of perimenopause, and every one of those symptoms is connected to the same conversation your body has been trying to have with you?
Perimenopause isn't a disease. It's a signaling shift. And shifts can be supported when you know what to look for.

Your hormones aren't the villain. The story you've been told about them is.

Take the Metabolic Reset Quiz (link in comments) and find out what your symptoms are actually trying to say.

Save this and share with a friend who needs to hear this.

05/21/2026

Your body cannot produce energy without the raw materials to do it.

Low ferritin. Low vitamin D. Low magnesium.

These are three of the most common deficiencies I see, and all three can be dismissed on a standard blood panel.

You do not have to be anemic to feel the effects of low iron. You just have to be low enough. And that shows up as fatigue, brain fog, shortness of breath, poor recovery, hair loss, and restless legs at night.

Your CBC can look completely normal while your energy is already compromised.

Normal lab results don't always mean sufficient levels.

Low vitamin D levels are associated with low mood, fatigue, and immune dysfunction. Low magnesium contributes to poor sleep, anxiety, and muscle tension.

These are everyday fixable problems that get dismissed as "you're just tired."

🎧 I break this down in Episode 86 of The Heal Deal Podcast with Dr. Leona:
“7 Reasons You’re Always Tired (Even When Your Doctor Says Everything Looks Normal)”

I will put the link to the full episode in the comments.

IS YOUR HEALTH AN ASSET OR A LIABILITY?We invest in a lot of things.Our homes.Our businesses.Our careers.Our families.Bu...
05/20/2026

IS YOUR HEALTH AN ASSET OR A LIABILITY?

We invest in a lot of things.

Our homes.
Our businesses.
Our careers.
Our families.

But the vehicle we use to achieve all of that is the body we live in every single day.

And too many of us wait until our health becomes a liability before we take it seriously.

Low energy.
Weight gain.
Blood pressure rising.
Blood sugar issues.
Cravings.
Poor sleep.

Those are not random problems.

They are early signals.

And if you keep chasing the symptoms without understanding what’s causing them, you’ll keep managing the problem instead of healing the body.

At some point, we have to stop treating health like something we’ll “get to later.”

Because later gets expensive.

Not just in money…

but in time, freedom, focus, energy, and the ability to fully show up in our lives.

That’s why I teach people how to get to the root, understand what true health really means, and stop managing symptoms so they can start healing their metabolism.

Because your health should support your life.

Not drain it.

If you’re ready to take your health seriously and learn what your body needs to heal, I have a free training that will break it down.

Comment HEAL and I’ll send it to you.

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1215 Eagles Landing Parkway, Suite 201
Stockbridge, GA
30281

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