Fortify Health Insights
Written by: Meredith Paci, Functional Health CoachÂ
You are in your 40's....maybe 43, maybe 49, and maybe even 40. Maybe it was your sleep that sleep broke about eight months ago and you cannot point to why. Maybe it was your ability to cope with all that life is throwing at you. Perhaps it was you...
Written by: Meredith Paci, Functional Health CoachÂ
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 CoachÂ
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: 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: Meredith Paci | Functional Health Coach
AÂ 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: Meredith Paci
My father was diagnosed with vascular dementia February 14th 2026. I watched risk factors go unaddressed for years and it changed how I think about everything I do in this practice, how I educate, how I show up for every person I support, and why the work we do at Fortify ...
Written by Sarah Bishop, MS Exercise Science, Functional Health Coach
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When you think thyroid, what is the first thing you think about?
For many, it’s metabolism. One of the thyroid gland's main jobs is controlling metabolic rate. However, keep in mind - metabolism is the sum of all reactions in...
Written by: Meredith Paci, Functional Health Coach
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Annoyed — that’s probably the most accurate way to describe how many women feel when their body starts to change in midlife and nothing they try seems to make a difference. Open up social media and you’ll see the pushback:
“Metabolism doesn’t s...
Written by: Meredith Paci, Functional Health Coach
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Cholesterol is yet another misunderstood substance in health and nutrition. For years, it has been painted as the villain—solely responsible for clogged arteries and heart attacks. But cholesterol, like most things, is far more dynamic and absol...
