Carol Petersen 
Why building strong bones requires far more than calcium — and what vitamin K2, osteocalcin, progesterone, magnesium, CoQ10, and mitochondrial health reveal about the future of osteoporosis care.
Vitamin K2 belongs in the osteoporosis conversation because it opens a larger question about bone quality, calcium regulation, hormones, mitochondrial energy, and whether the body can use minerals intelligently.
Hormones and your face: these are closely linked. Your reflection can reveal signs of imbalance if you know what to look for. Let’s start at the top to see what you might find.
If you’ve recently started progesterone therapy—whether for menopause, IVF, perimenopause, or cycle regulation—you might have noticed a shift on the scale and asked yourself: does progesterone cause weight gain? The relationship between progesterone and weight gain is more nuanced than a simple “yes” or “no,” and the answer is highly dose-dependent.
🧠 A note from Carol
I’m a functional medicine practitioner, and I’ve spent years helping women separate hormone fact from hormone fiction. Here’s what surprises most of my new patients: the thing they’ve been blaming for their weight gain (progesterone) is often not the real problem at all. I wrote this article to give you the data — and a fresh perspective.
If something here resonates with your own experience, let’s talk.
👉 Book a 15-minute consult
What comes to mind when you think of stress? For most of us, it’s adrenaline — the hormone that primes our body for “fight or flight,” increasing heart rate and sharpening our senses. But what counterbalances this powerful system? The answer, lies in an unexpected source: progesterone. This article explores the fascinating science of how progesterone and adrenaline interact, creating a dynamic interplay that affects mood, anxiety, and overall resilience.
Sex hormone–binding globulin (SHBG) is a protein made mainly in the liver. It binds strongly to key sex hormones like testosterone, dihydrotestosterone (DHT), and estradiol. By doing so, SHBG controls how much of these hormones stay “free” (unbound) and biologically active in the body. Think of SHBG as a gatekeeper: it influences how much hormone is available to tissues in both men and women.