Fortify Health Insights
Written by: Meredith Paci, Functional Health Coach
There is a reflex in medicine that sounds responsible, yet arguably, it's not: if it hasn't been proven in a randomized controlled trial, treat it as unproven, full stop, no further reasoning allowed. I understand where the reflex comes from. I re...
Written by: Meredith Paci Functional Health Coach
I was talking to one of my mentees about a client of hers who had this exact experience, and honestly, it still gets me fired up every time I hear it. I find it atrocious.
I told her about a client of mine who had the identical experience. My clie...
Written by Sarah Bishop, MS Exercise Science, Functional Health Coach
A coach in our group mentorship brought us a case. Her client was 45, newly onboarded, and eager to come off hormonal birth control. She had been reading about hormone therapy online and wanted to know where she stood.
That ques...
Written by: Meredith Paci Functional Health Coach
What are you afraid of is a question I come back to often, one I've been asking long before this year. I land on it during any day, week, or season that starts to feel discombobulated, when overwhelm creeps in and I can't even name what I'm overwhel...
Written by Sarah Bishop, MS Exercise Science, Functional Health Coach
Diarrhea… even the word sounds annoying.
But chronic or persistent loose stool isn’t just annoying. It can tell us a lot about digestive health, stress, or even your immune system. In this post, we’re breaking down what’s norma...
Written by: Meredith Paci Functional Health Coach
A reader wrote in via our anonymous form "Ask Fortify here." with a question:
Last year I had a hysterectomy with one ovary removed due to stage 3 deep infiltrating endometriosis, along with complete surgical removal of all endo including a bowel ...
Written by: Meredith Paci Functional Health Coach
This is part two. There is a two-part series here answering a reader question submitted through our anonymous form. If you have not read part one, [it's linked here]. It discusses the nuts and bolts of evidence on estradiol, progesterone, and testos...
Written by Sarah Bishop, MS Exercise Science, Functional Health Coach
Iron deficiency is common, especially in active females. You may have personally experienced the impacts in not just your training, but everyday life of iron deficiency or anemia (which aren't the same and I will explain more ...
Written by: Meredith Paci | Functional Health Coach
A female in her late thirties wrote into the anonymous question form asking two things: what are the actual benefits of hormone therapy (menopausal hormone therapy and TRT), and what delivery methods are available?
Before I get into the answers, ...
Written by: Meredith Paci | Functional Health Coach
If you have been following us for any length of time, none of this will shock you. But it should sharpen how you think about it.
On May 12th, 2026, PCOS was formally renamed to PMOS, Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome. Published in The Lanc...
Written by Sarah Bishop, MS Exercise Science, Functional Health Coach
Although creatine is one of the most widely researched sports supplements out there, there is still a lot of confusion and myths around its use.
Ironically, despite the overwhelming evidence supporting its benefits, women especi...
Written by: Meredith Paci | Functional Health Coach
If you've been following along, you probably already know where my head has been.
When I flew to be with my father earlier this year, after the traffic light, after the diagnosis, after all of it, one of the many things that hit me hard was not ...
