The Biology of Trauma® With Dr. Aimie Could Your Trauma Be Disrupting Your Metabolism? The Weight Health Conversation
What if the reason your body is holding onto weight has nothing to do with what you're eating — and everything to do with hormones you may not have heard about?
In this episode, Dr. Aimie talks with registered dietitian and author Ashley Koff to unpack the hidden world of weight health hormones: GLP-1, leptin, ghrelin, and more — and why optimizing them matters for everybody, not just people trying to lose weight. What you'll hear will change how you see your body — not as something failing you, but as a sophisticated ecosystem sending you signals worth decoding.
Ashley reveals why 93% of Americans are metabolically dysregulated, how trauma and chronic stress directly suppress the hormones that regulate metabolism and body composition, and why "weight loss" as a goal is actually working against your biology. Whether you're curious about GLP-1 medications, perimenopause weight changes, or just why the scale never seems to match your effort — this conversation will shift everything.
In This Episode You'll Learn:
- (00:00): Introducing the connection - weight, metabolism and GLP-1
- (02:04): The weight-trauma connection: Why the body holds on despite every effort
- (03:00): What “weight health” means biologically — and why weight loss as a goal misses the point
- (05:59) The incretin discovery: How GLP-1, leptin, ghrelin, and seven other weight health hormones regulate your biology
- (09:50).Why 93% of Americans show signs of suboptimal metabolic health — and what that actually means for you
- (10:33) Ashley’s pizza framework: The right sequence for assessing your metabolic ecosystem
- (14:54) How to assess your weight health hormones — and why a blood test alone won’t tell you what you need to know
- (22:56) Perimenopause and menopause: Why digestion fails first — and how that drives belly fat and brain fog
- (30:14) Learned behaviors vs. hormone imbalance: How to tell what is biology and what is a survival strategy from childhood
- (37:29) Where to start: Ashley’s first step for anyone wanting to optimize weight health
- (40:41) The deliciousness signal: Why a “seven or above” is a physiologic mechanism, not a preference
- (44:05) Ashley’s final message — where to find (her book) Your Best Shot and her clinical resources
Resources/Guides:
- Your Best Shot by Ashley Koff, RD: The Personalized System for Optimal Weight Health — GLP-1 Shot or Not
- Ashley Koff’s website — For more on digestive, metabolic, and hormone health optimization
- The Biology of Trauma® Book by Dr. Aimie Apigian — Where you can find the framework for finding your block in Chapter 12
- Free Guide: Steps to Identify and Heal Trauma by Dr. Aimie Apigian
Related Podcast Episodes:
- Episode 56 — Hormones: A Portal Into Our Stored Trauma with Dr. Aimie Apigian
- Episode 75 — Fear Stored in the Gut: Attachment, Relational Trauma & Solutions for the Hyper-Sensitive Gut
- Episode 82 — Using Biological Rhythms to Recover From Trauma with Dr. Leslie Korn
- Episode 138 — Why Your Body Holds On When Your Mind Has Healed
- Episode 151 — Why Healed Trauma Returns in Perimenopause: Chinese Medicine Lens with Dr. Lorne Brown