✨ In this powerful episode, Denise Stegall shares how her own early perimenopause journey led her to become a guide for women navigating midlife hormonal changes.

💤 Melissa and Denise talk about sleep, stress, nutrition, weight gain, hot flashes, brain fog, and why so many women are left without real answers.

🌿 This conversation is a beautiful reminder that menopause is not something to fear. It is a transition that can be supported with knowledge, care, and the right tools.

🔥 A must-listen for any woman ready to stop guessing, understand her body, and feel like herself again.

Gift: Menopause Hormone Clarity Tool Menopause Hormone Clarity Tool

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Episode Summary

In this empowering Podapalooza episode, Melissa sits down with Denise Stegall, The Menopause Mentor, to unpack the confusion, frustration, and silence that so often surround perimenopause and menopause. Denise shares her own story of entering perimenopause in her late 30s, noticing shifts in her mood, sleep, and overall sense of self, only to be dismissed by doctors and left without clear answers.

That personal experience led Denise into deep research and years of learning about hormones, nervous system regulation, sleep, stress, and midlife wellness. Today, she helps women understand what is really happening in their bodies so they can stop normalizing symptoms like brain fog, weight gain, irritability, hot flashes, and exhaustion. Her work focuses on helping women identify which hormones are most affected, uncover the true root causes behind their symptoms, and restore a sense of rhythm and vitality through practical lifestyle changes.

Melissa and Denise explore the critical role of sleep, the impact of cortisol and chronic stress, the relationship between nutrition and hormonal health, and the importance of viewing menopause as a transition into wisdom rather than decline. This episode is a refreshing reminder that menopause is not something women simply have to endure. With the right support, it can become a powerful new chapter.

Key Takeaways

Perimenopause can begin earlier than many women realize. Denise’s journey began at 37, which is far more common than most people are taught.
Women are often dismissed during this transition. Many are told their symptoms are normal, vague, or simply something to tolerate.
Sleep is one of the most important starting points. When sleep improves, many other symptoms begin to shift as well.
Stress affects hormones deeply. Even when women do not feel obviously stressed, their nervous system may still be carrying a heavy load.
Hormonal health is about harmony. Denise emphasizes helping hormones work together in a more supportive, synchronized way.
Nutrition matters. Irregular eating, late-night meals, and poor nourishment can intensify midlife symptoms.
Weight gain is often connected to deeper imbalances. Cortisol, poor sleep, and hormonal shifts can all contribute to changes in body composition.
Menopause is not the end. It is an evolution, a new chapter, and an invitation to live with more wisdom, intention, and self-awareness.
Women deserve answers. They do not need to stay stuck in confusion or normalize feeling miserable.

About the Guest:

Denise Stegall, the Menopause Mentor, is a dynamic speaker, international best-selling author, and coach who has spent over 25 years helping successful businesswomen thrive through midlife with clarity, confidence, and calm. Denise brings science, strategy, guiding women 40–60 through hormonal shifts, brain fog, and fatigue into a lifestyle of vitality and joy. Denise's system helps women stop guessing, start healing, and feel like themselves again, without dieting or burnout.

Contact:

Website: https://denisestegall.com

Social Media

https://www.linkedin.com/in/menopausementormn/

https://www.facebook.com/denise.stegall.18/ https://www.facebook.com/MenopauseMentorMN/

https://www.instagram.com/menopausementormn/

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

About the Host:

Melissa is an Integrative Health Practitioner and a Board Designated Master Trainer of Hypnotherapy, Trainer of NLP, Time Line Therapy®, and NLP Results Coaching, helping people get to the root cause of their health issues and then get lasting results. Melissa neither diagnoses nor cures but helps bring your body back into balance by helping discover your “toxic load” and then removing the toxins. Melissa offers functional medicine lab testing that helps you “see inside” to know exactly what is going on, and then provides a personalized wellness protocol using natural herbs and supplements. Melissa’s business is 100% virtual – the lab tests are mailed directly to your home and she specializes in holding your hand and guiding the way to healing so that you don’t have to figure it all out on your own.

Melissa has launched Amplify Impact Academy, with business partner, Billie Aadmi and together they train other coaches, practitioners and counsellors in the 4 mind-body healing modalities mentioned above, giving them powerful tools to use with clients to get results with greater ease, speed and grace. These courses teach life skills and anyone can take them, if you want to be a better leader, parent, partner, be empowered in your own life, these courses are for you!

Melissa’s passion project is her non-profit, Girls Matter (www.girlsmatter.ca), breaking the poverty cycle 1 girl, 1 family, 1 village at a time. The mission is to keep girls in school and stop teenage marriages, because school isn’t free in over 50 countries around the world and when parents have to make the difficult choices of feeding their kids or paying for school, food wins. And when the girls hit their teen years, they will often be married off so that someone else becomes responsible to feed them. Keeping girls in school instead creates a generational ripple effect, because an educated girl is more than twice as likely to ensure her own children are educated. Educating girls also grows the GDP of countries, when they get into the workforce. This is how together, we can change the world. Guests on this podcast are invited to donate to this important cause. Learn more here in this short video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R3-xqzJLZW14om1PhFClcU_oRSZ8zgip/view?usp=share_link

Melissa is also the winner of the 2024 Women in Podcasting Awards in the “inspiration & motivation” category and the 2021 & 2022 Quality Care Award by Business From The Heart and is also the recipient of the Alignable “Local Business Person of the Year “Award 2022, 2023 & 2024 for Whistler.

Melissa has been featured at a number of Health & Wellness Summits, such as the Health, Wealth & Wisdom Summit, The Power To Profit Summit, The Feel Fan-freaking-tas-tic Sum...