The Hormone Loop: An Empowering Guide to Restoring Hormonal Harmony, from Puberty to Menopause

With a foreword from ParentData’s Emily Oster

Take charge of your hormonal health at every stage of your life—from your first period to post menopause—with this groundbreaking, definitive guide from the force behind the viral Hot Flash Substack.

From our mood to our metabolism, hormones are running the show behind nearly every bodily function. They tell our hearts how quickly to beat, our gut how to process the food we eat, our bones to release calcium, and our muscles to grow new fibers. Yet, most of us don’t fully understand how our bodies and its systems work—and more importantly, what to do when they don’t.

Enter renowned endocrinologist Dr. Gillian Goddard, who knows firsthand how urgently women need clear, accessible information about their hormonal health. Drawing from years of clinical experience, she presents a definitive and engaging guide to hormonal health at every stage of a woman’s life—from puberty to reproductive years to perimenopause to menopause to post menopause. As Dr. Goddard clearly explains, at each of these stages, there are four distinct hormone loops that keep our bodies in balance: the reproductive loop, the thyroid loop, the growth hormone loop, and the adrenal loop. While these loops often operate quietly in the background, each plays a powerful role in our lifelong health.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to the challenges and changes our bodies experience throughout our lives. But hormones often hold the key. Weaving stories from her practice with the latest medical research and featuring helpful charts and illustrations, Dr. Goddard breaks down the problems that commonly arise throughout our lives and offers a clear rubric for how to have better conversations with our doctors. Necessary and long overdue, The Hormone Loop equips us with the knowledge and confidence to become our own powerful, self-advocates.

Gillian Mueller Goddard is an endocrinologist and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. She is the author of Hot Flash, a weekly newsletter, and a contributing writer at ParentData by Emily Oster. Gillian attended the Cronkite School of Journalism and Telecommunication at Arizona State University, Columbia University, and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital. She lives in Westchester, New York, with her husband and their four children.