What happens when your identity has always been tied to being an athlete?

In this deeply meaningful conversation, Cynthia sits down with former Division I tennis player, author, speaker, and eating disorder advocate Betsy Brenner to discuss how years of perfectionism, athlete identity, and a lifetime of "earning" food eventually led to an eating disorder in midlife.

Betsy shares how returning to competitive tennis in her 40s reignited old beliefs around body image, discipline, and performance. When severe asthma suddenly prevented her from exercising, her fear of weight gain intensified, eventually leading to a diagnosis of anorexia.

Together, Cynthia and Betsy explore why so many women unknowingly carry athlete mindsets long after competitive sports end—and why healing requires so much more than changing what's on your plate.

• Why eating disorders don't only happen to teenagers

• How athlete identity can shape your relationship with food for decades

• The connection between perfectionism, anxiety, and overexercise

• Why many women feel they must "earn" their food

• How movement can become a coping mechanism instead of self-care

• The role vulnerability plays in recovery

• Why aging and body changes can trigger disordered eating

• How parents can model healthier relationships with food and exercise

• Why recovery is about far more than weight restoration

One of the most powerful messages from this episode is that it's never too late to become a work in progress. Betsy's story offers hope for any woman who has spent years believing her worth depends on performance, discipline, or the number on the scale.

Betsy Brenner is the author of The Longest Match: Rallying to Defeat an Eating Disorder in Midlife, a speaker, peer mentor, and advocate helping women find freedom from eating disorders and perfectionism.

Website: www.betsybrenner.com

Instagram: @betsybrennerauthor

If this episode resonated with you, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with another woman who needs the reminder that healing is always possible.

Apply for Recipe for a Period coaching w/Cynthia: https://www.periodnutritionist.com/applyforcoaching

New to HA? Discover the truth about HA:  click the link to download Cynthia's fact sheet that debunks common myths and misinformation! 

Trying +3 months to get your period back? Click here to download the Safety Worksheet

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theperiodnutritionist 

Instagram: www.instagram.com/period.nutritionist

Can you recover your period after more than a decade?

Cynthia sits down with former client GNic who shares her remarkable journey from losing her menstrual cycle for 14 years to welcoming her miracle baby.

As a professional dancer, GNic spent years believing that being smaller meant being more successful. The pressure to maintain a certain body led to years of restrictive eating, excessive exercise, and eventually Hypothalamic Amenorrhea (HA). Despite visiting multiple doctors, she was repeatedly dismissed, told to return only when she wanted children, and even informed she was entering early menopause.

Everything changed when she committed to true recovery.

Together, Cynthia and GNic discuss the physical and emotional realities of recovering from HA, overcoming the fear of weight gain, rebuilding trust with your body, and discovering that healing involves far more than simply eating more and exercising less.

The episode ends with the moment neither of them will ever forget: after years of infertility and several recovery cycles, Gnic took one more pregnancy test and it was positive.

• Why Hypothalamic Amenorrhea often goes undiagnosed
• How one comment about body size changed the course of Jeannic's life
• The connection between under-fueling, overtraining, and missing periods
• Why recovering your period isn't simply about gaining weight
• The hidden role perfectionism and athlete identity play in HA
• What recovery actually looks like beyond food and exercise
• Why community and coaching can accelerate healing
• How Jeannic conceived naturally after years without a menstrual cycle
• Why it's never too late to begin period recovery

If you've ever wondered whether recovery is possible even after years without a period—this conversation will leave you feeling hopeful.

Apply for Recipe for a Period coaching w/Cynthia: https://www.periodnutritionist.com/applyforcoaching

New to HA? Discover the truth about HA:  click the link to download Cynthia's fact sheet that debunks common myths and misinformation! 

Trying +3 months to get your period back? Click here to download the Safety Worksheet

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theperiodnutritionist 

Instagram: www.instagram.com/period.nutritionist

In this episode, I welcome back Dr. Chrisandra Shufelt, one of the world's leading researchers in Functional Hypothalamic Amenorrhea, to discuss exciting new findings from the largest HA studies to date.

For years, women with missing periods have been told to simply "go on birth control" or have struggled to find answers from healthcare providers. Now, new research is beginning to uncover what HA is really doing to the body—and why recovery matters far beyond fertility.

Together, we discuss:

• The largest Functional Hypothalamic Amenorrhea studies to date
• Early findings on heart and cardiovascular health
• Why stress plays a significant role in recovery
• What researchers discovered about eating patterns in women with HA
• Bone health, inflammation, and long-term health risks
• The most common symptoms women report beyond a missing period
• Why HA remains dramatically under-researched
• How you can contribute to future research through the international HA registry

Whether you're currently recovering from HA, supporting someone who is, or you're a healthcare professional wanting the latest evidence, this conversation provides practical insights backed by emerging science.

The more we understand Functional Hypothalamic Amenorrhea, the better we can support women in recovering not only their periods—but their long-term health.

Apply for Recipe for a Period coaching w/Cynthia: https://www.periodnutritionist.com/applyforcoaching

New to HA? Discover the truth about HA:  click the link to download Cynthia's fact sheet that debunks common myths and misinformation! 

Trying +3 months to get your period back? Click here to download the Safety Worksheet

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theperiodnutritionist 

Instagram: www.instagram.com/period.nutritionist

Mayo Clinic Registry Link

Resources Mentioned: Breaking New Ground in HA Research: Dr. Shufelt on the REVEAL Registry & Period Recovery

Dr. Shufelt is Professor and Chair of the Division of General Internal Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, and Associate Director of Women's Health Research Center at Mayo Clinic Enterprise. She is a women’s health internist with fellowship training in vascular biology and women's health and a certified menopause practitioner. She has several National and International leadership roles in the American College of Physicians, the European Menopause and Andropause Society and the North American Menopause Society where she is the immediate past-President of the Society and on the board of trustees. Dr. Shufelt has over 200 publications in the area of women’s health and has also co-authored several scientific position statements on menopause and hormone therapy. Her NIH-funded research focuses on young women with hypothalamic amenorrhea evaluating the impact on immune and vascular health.

Lauren spent years doing everything she thought was healthy: tracking food, exercising constantly, staying disciplined, and chasing the perfect body.

On the outside, she looked like she had it all together.

On the inside, she had lost her period, her freedom, and much of the joy in her life.

In this episode, Lauren shares her journey through Hypothalamic Amenorrhea (HA) recovery and the surprising realization that getting her period back required more than simply eating more and exercising less.

We discuss the role of nervous system regulation, perfectionism, body image, fear of weight gain, healing disordered eating patterns, and why period recovery often becomes a catalyst for personal growth far beyond the menstrual cycle.

If you've been wondering why your period hasn't returned despite making changes—or if you're afraid of what recovery might require—this episode is for you.

Topics Covered:
• Hypothalamic Amenorrhea (HA)
• Missing periods and fertility
• Recovery beyond food and exercise
• Nervous system healing
• Body image recovery
• Fear of weight gain
• Food freedom
• Personal growth through recovery
• Regaining your period and your life

This episode is a reminder that period recovery isn't just about getting a cycle back—it's about coming back to yourself. 

Apply for Recipe for a Period coaching w/Cynthia: https://www.periodnutritionist.com/applyforcoaching

New to HA? Discover the truth about HA:  click the link to download Cynthia's fact sheet that debunks common myths and misinformation! 

Trying +3 months to get your period back? Click here to download the Safety Worksheet

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theperiodnutritionist 

Instagram: www.instagram.com/period.nutritionist

Cynthia Donovan sits down with Dr. Jen Gaudiani, physician and author of Sick Enough: A Guide to the Medical Complications of Eating Disorders (https://amzn.to/4waPFVf), to unpack one of the most misunderstood aspects of hypothalamic amenorrhea (HA): you do not need to have an eating disorder to lose your period.

Together, they explore how under-nutrition, over-exercise, stress, and biological individuality can disrupt menstrual cycles, even in women who believe they are eating “healthy” and doing everything “right.” Dr. Gaudiani explains the physiology behind hypothalamic amenorrhea, including how the brain downregulates reproductive hormones when energy availability is too low, and why this can happen across a wide spectrum of body types and lifestyles.

This episode challenges the harmful belief that you are “not sick enough” to deserve help, and reframes missing periods as a critical early warning sign of metabolic and hormonal adaptation, not failure.

You’ll also learn how HA often shows up with invisible symptoms like anxiety, perfectionism, cold intolerance, poor sleep, slowed digestion, and low energy, even when labs appear normal. Most importantly, this conversation highlights what recovery actually requires: not perfection, but physiological safety, nourishment, and nervous system support.

If you’ve ever been told your symptoms “aren’t serious enough,” or you’ve struggled with losing your period while being active, disciplined, or high-performing, this episode will help you finally make sense of what your body is trying to communicate.

Key Topics Covered:

• Why hypothalamic amenorrhea can occur without an eating disorder
• The role of energy availability in menstrual health
• “Sick enough” thinking and why it delays recovery
• Invisible symptoms of under-nutrition (even with normal labs)
• Metabolic adaptation and why the body slows down
• How the brain prioritizes survival over reproduction
• Bone health risks and hormonal suppression in HA
• Why comparison to others is misleading biologically
• The identity shift required for full recovery
• How to talk to providers who may not understand HA
• Supporting adolescents and breaking generational diet culture patterns

Apply for Recipe for a Period coaching w/Cynthia: https://www.periodnutritionist.com/applyforcoaching

New to HA? Discover the truth about HA:  click the link to download Cynthia's fact sheet that debunks common myths and misinformation! 

Trying +3 months to get your period back? Click here to download the Safety Worksheet

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theperiodnutritionist 

Instagram: www.instagram.com/period.nutritionist

What happens when you finally get your period back… only to lose it again?

In this deeply honest conversation, Cynthia sits down with Audrey to talk about her experience with hypothalamic amenorrhea (HA), exercise obsession, food rigidity, perfectionism, and the identity crisis that can happen during recovery.

Audrey shares how calorie counting, overexercise, and chasing the “healthy girl” image slowly disconnected her from herself — and why getting her cycle back required so much more than simply eating more food.

Together, they discuss:

• Why HA recovery is about more than food and exercise
• The hidden identity piece behind missing periods
• Why getting your period back once doesn’t always mean full recovery
• Exercise addiction, perfectionism, and needing external validation
• Learning to feel safe in your body again
• The emotional side of weight gain during HA recovery
• How hormones impact mood, relationships, joy, and creativity
• Why community and accountability changed everything
• Dating, relationships, and regaining emotional capacity after HA
• The difference between “looking healthy” and actually being healthy
• What helped Audrey keep her period long-term

This episode is for any woman struggling with:

• Hypothalamic amenorrhea (HA)
• Missing or irregular periods
• RED-S
• Exercise obsession
• Food guilt and rigidity
• Fear of weight gain
• Identity loss during recovery
• Fertility concerns
• Overtraining and underfueling

You are not broken. Your body is communicating with you.

Listen in for one of the most powerful recovery conversations yet.

Apply for Recipe for a Period coaching w/Cynthia: https://www.periodnutritionist.com/applyforcoaching

New to HA? Discover the truth about HA:  click the link to download Cynthia's fact sheet that debunks common myths and misinformation! 

Trying +3 months to get your period back? Click here to download the Safety Worksheet

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theperiodnutritionist

Instagram: www.instagram.com/period.nutritionist

If someone you love is recovering from hypothalamic amenorrhea (HA), period loss, or disordered eating, this episode is for you. Cynthia Donovan shares what women in HA recovery wish their partners, parents, family, and friends understood about weight gain, food fears, exercise loss, fertility struggles, anxiety, and emotional overwhelm during recovery.

In this episode:

• What NOT to say to someone recovering their period
• Why comments like “you’re eating enough” can hurt recovery
• How HA recovery impacts relationships and mental health
• The emotional side of hypothalamic amenorrhea
• How to truly support a woman recovering from HA

This episode is designed to help women feel seen while helping loved ones better understand the recovery journey.

And, be sure to refer back to Isabelle and Dylan's episode to hear more from a partner's perspective: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/from-the-partners-perspective-navigating-love-and/id1623840946?i=1000649981061

Apply for Recipe for a Period coaching w/Cynthia: https://www.periodnutritionist.com/applyforcoaching

New to HA? Discover the truth about HA:  click the link to download Cynthia's fact sheet that debunks common myths and misinformation! 

Trying +3 months to get your period back? Click here to download the Safety Worksheet

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theperiodnutritionist

Instagram: www.instagram.com/period.nutritionist

#HypothalamicAmenorrhea #HARecovery #PeriodRecovery #MissingPeriod #FertilityRecovery #AmenorrheaRecovery #WomensHealth #DisorderedEating #HormoneHealth #ThePeriodRecoveryPodcast

If you’ve lost your period, are struggling with hypothalamic amenorrhea (HA), or feel like you’re doing everything right but still not seeing results, this episode will open your eyes to a missing piece most women overlook.

In this conversation, Cynthia Donovan, Registered Dietitian and period recovery expert, sits down with breathwork and nervous system coach Sally Davidson to explore how chronic stress, anxiety, and an overactive nervous system can directly impact your hormones, fertility, and ability to get your period back.

Inside this episode, we cover:

• What hypothalamic amenorrhea (HA) actually is and why your period goes missing
• How stress and nervous system dysregulation shut down ovulation
• Why food alone isn’t enough to get your period back
• The connection between anxiety, overtraining, and hormone imbalance
• How breathwork supports nervous system regulation and healing
• Simple ways to start slowing down—even if you feel stuck in go-go-go mode

If you’re currently dealing with:

• Missing periods
• Hypothalamic amenorrhea (HA)
• Fertility struggles
• Hormone imbalance
• Overtraining and under-fueling

This episode will help you understand what your body has been trying to tell you all along and give you practical tools to start shifting it.

Apply for Recipe for a Period coaching w/Cynthia: https://www.periodnutritionist.com/applyforcoaching

New to HA? Discover the truth about HA:  click the link to download Cynthia's fact sheet that debunks common myths and misinformation! 

Trying +3 months to get your period back? Click here to download the Safety Worksheet

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theperiodnutritionist 

Instagram: www.instagram.com/period.nutritionist

Sally Davidson is a Conscious & Embodiment Leadership Coach, Registered Nurse with over 30 years of clinical experience, Shamanic Reiki Master, and trauma-informed breathwork and somatic healing practitioner with a focus on the nervous system. She is the founder of Rooted Soul, co-founder of Rooted & Radiant Retreats, and host of The Connection Project podcast.

Sally works with clients virtually and in-person through private 1:1 coaching, group containers, transformational retreats, and immersive corporate experiences , and is based in Remsen, NY.

Connect with Sally Davidson:

Website: sallydavidsoncoach.com

Email: [email protected]

Instagram @sallydavidsoncoach  https://www.instagram.com/sallydavidsoncoach_breathwork/

Facebook: sallydavidson
Linkedin: Sallydavidson 

If you’ve lost your period, are struggling with hypothalamic amenorrhea (HA), or feel like you’re doing everything right but still not seeing results, this episode will open your eyes to a missing piece most women overlook.

In this conversation, Cynthia Donovan, Registered Dietitian and period recovery expert, sits down with breathwork and nervous system coach Sally Davidson to explore how chronic stress, anxiety, and an overactive nervous system can directly impact your hormones, fertility, and ability to get your period back.

Because here’s the truth:
You can’t heal a body that doesn’t feel safe.

And for many high-achieving, active women, their body has been stuck in fight-or-flight mode for years, making true recovery from HA nearly impossible.

This episode we cover:

• What hypothalamic amenorrhea (HA) actually is and why your period goes missing
• How stress and nervous system dysregulation shut down ovulation
• Why food alone isn’t enough to get your period back
• The connection between anxiety, overtraining, and hormone imbalance
• How breathwork supports nervous system regulation and healing
• Simple ways to start slowing down—even if you feel stuck in go-go-go mode

✨ And most importantly, you’ll leave this episode with 2 tangible ways to start practicing breathwork in your daily life, so you can begin supporting your nervous system immediately.

Sally also shares her personal story of burnout, panic attacks, and chronic pain, and how learning to regulate her nervous system through breathwork completely transformed her health.

Cynthia ties this back to period recovery, emphasizing that while proper nourishment is essential, your body also needs safety, rest, and regulation to restore your cycle and fertility.

If you’re currently dealing with:

• Missing periods
• Hypothalamic amenorrhea (HA)
• Fertility struggles
• Hormone imbalance
• Overtraining and under-fueling

This episode will help you understand what your body has been trying to tell you all along and give you practical tools to start shifting it.

Apply for Recipe for a Period coaching w/Cynthia: https://www.periodnutritionist.com/applyforcoaching

New to HA? Discover the truth about HA:  click the link to download Cynthia's fact sheet that debunks common myths and misinformation! 

Trying +3 months to get your period back? Click here to download the Safety Worksheet

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theperiodnutritionist 

Instagram: www.instagram.com/period.nutritionist

Connect with Sally Davidson:

Website: sallydavidsoncoach.com

Email: [email protected]

Instagram @sallydavidsoncoach  https://www.instagram.com/sallydavidsoncoach_breathwork/

Facebook: sallydavidson
Linkedin: Sallydavidson 

In this episode of The Period Recovery Podcast, Cynthia talks with Julia about her journey through hypothalamic amenorrhea (HA), being told IVF was likely her next step, and how she got her period back naturally before going on to become a mom.

Julia shares what life looked like when she was over-exercising, under-fueling, and being praised for looking “healthy” while her period was missing. She opens up about the fear of body changes, the pressure to keep up her identity around fitness, and the internal dialogue that made recovery feel overwhelming.

Together, they talk about:
 what it was like to be told she may need IVF
 how HA recovery helped her get her period back naturally
 the mindset shift from control to surrender
 why support made all the difference
 how period recovery changed her relationship with food, movement, and motherhood

If you have hypothalamic amenorrhea, a missing period, or have been told IVF is your only option, this episode will show you that recovery may be more possible than you think.

Apply for coaching w/Cynthia:  https://0u8h3wddwmr.typeform.com/StrategyCall

Discover the truth about HA:  click the link to download Cynthia's fact sheet that debunks common myths and misinformation! 

Website: https://www.periodnutritionist.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/period.nutritionist

For the full show notes - please visit my website: periodnutritionist.com