April 27, 2025 • 36 mins
What if the natural transition of perimenopause could open doors to a more fulfilling life? I chat with Amita Sharma, co-founder of Nourish Doc, who reveals her transformative journey from a high-stress corporate career to a passionate advocate for holistic wellness. With nearly 1 billion women experiencing the profound changes of perimenopause, Amita shares her personal struggles and triumphs, offering a beacon of hope and actionable advice for those navigating this often-silent journey.
We unpack the overwhelming challenges women face when balancing work, family, and the onset of perimenopausal symptoms. Stress, poor diet, and a lack of self-care can exacerbate these symptoms, but Amita emphasizes the power of holistic habits to nourish the mind, body, and soul. She challenges the misconceptions that life ends after menopause, empowering women to rediscover joy and fulfillment, even if it means reexamining their career paths. The episode provides a roadmap to managing symptoms with confidence, showcasing the importance of reliable resources amid the noise.
About Our Guest: Amita Sharma is the co-founder of Nourish Doc, a global holistic wellness platform designed to bring awareness and education to women going through hormonal transitions. After experiencing her own challenging perimenopause symptoms while working in a high-stress corporate environment, Amita dedicated herself to creating evidence-based holistic wellness programs for women. Nourish Doc offers resources on 20+ topics and 20+ holistic therapies to help women navigate perimenopause and beyond.
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Rose Wippich is a transformational guide who weaves together ancient wisdom with modern wellness practices. As a certified Qigong and Yoga instructor, Reiki Master Teacher, and passionate Energy Alchemist, Rose empowers individuals to embrace their innate healing potential and cultivate vibrant well-being.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rose (00:00):
There's a profound transformation happening in the
lives of nearly 1 billion womenworldwide, yet too many of us
are navigating it alone.
If you're in your 40s or 50sand experiencing unexplained
anxiety, foggy thinking,disrupted sleep or wondering why
your usual wellness routinesjust aren't cutting it anymore,
(00:20):
you're not losing your edge andyou're not alone.
This is perimenopause.
While every woman's journey isunique, over half of us feel
unsupported and overwhelmedduring this natural life phase.
Ready to unlock your mostvibrant, authentic self.
Your journey to radiantwellness starts now.
Welcome to Chat Off the Map.
(00:42):
I'm your host, Rose Wippich, andI'm here to guide you on an
extraordinary journey offeminine healing, energy, work
and total wellbeing.
Get ready to be inspired byauthentic conversations with
leading women practitioners,wellness experts and holistic
healers who understand yourunique journey.
Subscribe to Chat Off The Matwherever you get your podcasts
(01:05):
and let's create magic together.
Today on Chat Off The Mat, Iwelcome Amita Sharma.
Amita is co-founder of NourishDoc, a global holistic wellness
platform.
She's on a mission to bringawareness and education for
women going through hormonaltransition.
Nourish Doc has designedevidence-based holistic wellness
(01:33):
programs for self-care andprevention on 20-plus topics and
20-plus holistic therapies.
Welcome.
Amita (01:36):
Amita, thank you.
Thank you so much, rose.
I really appreciate the workthat you're doing and I'm super
excited we're finally getting tomeet each other and talk about
this topic, which is soimportant for women.
Rose (01:46):
Very important.
I've been really excited aboutthis as well, and a lot of my
audience have been asking formore information, more experts
on this field of menopause andperimenopause.
So I would like to start out byasking you about your personal
journey and what got to, whatgot you to where you are today
and helping others.
Amita (02:05):
Yeah, no, no.
So I'm not a medical expert ora health expert.
I was working in the corporatehigh tech, high stress, fast
paced, all of these do you thinkI think of.
Suddenly the I started gettingthese strange symptoms and I had
no clue what was happening tomy body and and I was still I
(02:26):
barely had turned 40 at thattime, right around that
timeframe and and and it waslike very embarrassing and and I
was kind of I did not knowwhere to go or turn to all those
moments.
I went through that for for anumber of years.
Right the Perimenopause thejourney could be as long as 10
years, and at that time I justwanted to fix myself.
(02:46):
And then the COVID time hit andthat's when it came back to me
that I wanted to do somethingfor holistic health and I
started digging into it and Ifinally found this we are.
This whole topic is underresearch, underfunded, all all
over the world, doesn't matterin America and we feel, as women
(03:06):
, taboo to talk about it.
I said someone has to come out,and I'm not the only one coming
out now.
I feel that so many women arecoming out and talking about it.
So that was sort of my givingback to women, that I want to
give back in a way that theydon't suffer the way I suffered,
you know, and I want to presenta credible, trustworthy
(03:29):
information.
Doing that, I interviewed about3,000 holistic experts from all
over the world on this topic,ranging from MDs, everything.
So that's a little bit of mystory, why I'm doing it, what
I'm doing, and I really want toempower women at the core intent
of what I'm trying to do.
Rose (03:47):
You're right, it's been taboo.
Personally, I my mother passedaway early, even before she went
into menopause, so I wasn'table to have any kind of
discussion or even compare howmy journey was going through it.
So there wasn't any resourcesfor me and for a lot of women my
age.
So this is very important.
(04:10):
So you said you stated thatperimenopause can begin at 10
years prior to what are some ofthe symptoms that start to occur
10 years prior to menopause?
Amita (04:22):
So first symptom is menstrual.
Your menstrual cycle is goingto get irregular.
It's going to get completelyout of whack.
So be prepared for this journey.
Because of the menstrual cyclegetting out of whack, you're
going to start getting thesestrange hormone symptoms, like I
started getting my mood swings.
I'm very balanced and calmperson.
Suddenly, out of the blue,things are coming out of me.
Rose (04:53):
Like you know, in that movie you can't stop lying.
I don't remember the name of it, but I know what you're saying.
It's like uncontrollable urgeto just say whatever we want in
this, like craziness that we'reexperiencing at the time,
uncontrollable that it's likeit's not us but honestly, on a
serious note, um, irregularperiods, your heart flashes is
typically first main symptoms,what we say night sweats.
Amita (05:15):
At night you start getting sweaty, you're not able
to sleep in the morning, you'refra, you know, foggy, you're all
fogged up, your brain is allfogged up.
Anxiety, all these things.
It's not just one symptom, it'slike multiple symptoms.
Suddenly they start blasting atyou and you know, every woman
is different.
In my case it's a very commonsymptoms that women face and I
(05:36):
did that and anxiety, you know.
And then whole self-esteem canalso go down, because now you're
feeling, my God, I'm not ableto be productive at work and for
some of the women, they put onweight and the hair starts
thinning.
So all these things right, whatis attributed to feminine
beauty, so to speak, culturally,you know, like historically,
(05:58):
starts changing, is what I'msaying.
Rose (06:01):
Yeah, no, I also wrote down here.
Um, I also wrote down here.
There's changes, the skinstarts to occur, and then this
all leads to, like you said,like well, the self-esteem,
right.
We start to wonder, like what'shappening and how are people
looking at us and how are wemanaging and our relationships
and all that.
So a lot of this getsinterplays with that as well.
(06:22):
So that's that goes for a longtime, and managing these
symptoms can be really difficultif you don't know where to turn
to.
Amita (06:33):
Yeah, because you know.
Ok, so a few things are goingon, right.
First of all, these symptomsfive, six symptoms are coming
together at you and there's nota single pill.
Symptoms five, six symptoms arecoming together at you and
there's not a single pill.
Well, sometimes you go to thedoctor, they give you one pill
and that might take care of onething and not the other thing,
and it's like complicated thing,right, they haven't been able
(06:54):
to figure it out.
So the other thing is, most ofthe doctors are not taught about
menopause in their medicalschools and nothing about
perimenopause, and this has beentold to me by so many doctors.
So they themselves are notreally clear.
Like they might put you in ahormone therapy or you don't
want to be.
You know there's a lot ofconfusion, is what I'm trying to
(07:15):
say.
During this whole phase andmanaging this whole phase can be
very challenging for a lot ofwomen.
Rose (07:21):
Yeah, and some of these women can't take certain things,
you know, and but but yourestrogen?
What's happening is that yourestrogen starts to decrease and
this is what's creating a lot ofthese, these symptoms, right,
and then you go through thestage of menopause, which can
also last for a while as well,because you're still
experiencing a lot of thesesymptoms of hot flashes.
(07:43):
Maybe you don't have yourperiod anymore, but I think even
in postmenopause you're stillgetting the hot flashes because
your body is just I don't know,it's just, I think, still
adjusting after even a period oftime.
What are some things that aperson can do to eliminate or
alleviate some of the symptoms?
So the biggest symptoms we haveare like sleep, right, hot
(08:06):
flashes are probably the ones.
And does everyone experiencehot flashes?
Amita (08:12):
No, no, no, no.
Not everyone.
It's approximately.
The data talks about about 80to 85% of the women, which is
significant, right, womenexperience hot flashes.
Right and that's the most commonsymptoms that women will
experience, and it's alsodifferent as per the ethnicity
of the woman.
For example, not many womenunderstand this.
(08:34):
Latin American and AfricanAmerican women generally have
more aggravated heart flashesthan a Japanese or an Asian
woman.
They don't get as many heartflashes because of the diet they
are on, of the diet they are onthe soy diet.
They're on the soup-based dietfor years and years and years,
and so it depends on what youhave been doing in your past
(08:54):
life, how much suffering it canyou know.
I'm not saying it's directlyproportional, but it depends on
your lifestyle habits before.
What kind of you know dietyou're on, what kind of movement
you're doing Depends a lot onthat.
The journey of theperimenopause Okay, this is
great.
Rose (09:13):
Okay, so let's talk about that.
So I know one of the things youwant to do is make people more
aware that there's thisawareness of perimenopause right
in the world of the doctors andwhat they need to do, but also
a person doesn't understand thatwhat they're going through and
what they can do to helpeliminate or alleviate some of
(09:33):
these symptoms.
So they need to look atlifestyle.
So give us some ideas of someof the factors that contribute
or can contribute to elevatedsymptoms and what they can do to
either include something elsethat helps them or what they can
do to eliminate certain things.
Amita (09:50):
Yeah, because earlier, if let's say, an average woman
typically a 40-year-old woman,let's say an average has
probably two kids, married.
You know I'm talking ofgeneralization here.
And how much time would shehave if she's working?
You know I'm talking ofgeneralization here.
And and how much time would shehave if she's working?
You have two kids.
You don't have time to takecare of yourself and not eat
(10:12):
healthy food on a daily basis.
Sometimes you don't cook everyday.
So if you are, you know, leadinga very high, stressful life
with no time for yourself andnot eating properly,
nutrition-wise, and not movingproperly and not, you know,
nourishing yourself right, thatis the lifestyle I'm talking
(10:33):
about, which is common to somany of working women.
That is so common that canaggravate their you know their
symptoms as they enter theperimenopause, because the
stress right we talk, the stressis a big factor into that.
So that's one of the things.
So now, um, you know, once youare in perimenopause and you,
(10:54):
you are so kind of, you're noteven functional, like what
happened to me.
In a way, I had to pause, right, in the sense, I had to take a
break, otherwise I was not ableto literally wake up and
function and be productive.
It happens to a lot of women.
So what can you do, right?
So the first thing to do is youhave to change your daily
(11:15):
routine.
You have to change yourlifestyle, your dietary
modifications, before you getinto these hrts and the
supplements and the why allthese things.
You if, even if you startfeeding your body with all these
supplements which I starteddoing like a crazy person, it
actually backfired on me untiland unless I changed my entire
(11:39):
daily routine to make sure likeI'm nourishing myself properly,
right when, when I use the wordnourishing, it's not only the
food mind, body and soul.
You know everything, right?
That is what is so importantfor women to understand HRT , no
Hrt, vitamins, supplements no.
You need to take care of yourdaily routine.
You need to put yourself and,every single day, you need to
(12:02):
have some kind of a routine thatyou follow and you need to
embrace some kind of a routinethat you follow and you need to
embrace the holistic lifestyleor habits to do that on every
single day basis.
Rose (12:13):
Yeah, I'm glad you said habits, because that's what they
are and there's some of thesehabits are not good habits, so
we need to replace them.
But sometimes it's difficultbecause you know you're going
along here for many, many yearsand you're doing the same things
, and almost you're doing itwithout even realizing it, right
.
So we need to one be aware,like you know, if I continue to
eat a lot of sugar and a lot ofthings like that, it's not going
(12:36):
to help me because it inflamesand then the liver is trying to
detox this and the liver isresponsible.
For you know, according toChinese medicine, the liver is
more, most active during themiddle of the night, when women
mostly have hot flashes.
So that's affected.
So there's diet, there's sugar,there's, you know, other other
(12:57):
factors alcohol, caffeine, thosetypes of things Right, so
starting to eliminate thosethings, but it's not an
overnight thing.
Amita (13:08):
No, no, it doesn't happen overnight.
You just need to keep going andthen one day, suddenly you will
notice that you are starting tofeel more energetic.
You're not getting fatigued.
I had all these issues Evenbefore 40s.
I had in 30s like I used to getfatigued and no energy and all
those things.
But suddenly, if you startdoing that, you will feel more
(13:29):
energetic.
Rose (13:30):
Yeah, and you you know, Well, fatigue is, you know.
I think it's an epidemic.
Chronic sleep issues are anepidemic.
You can't sleep because one,you're stressed, you're not
eating, you may not be eatingwell, and there are people who
may be eating great and they'restill having a lot of symptoms,
because everybody's unique andyou're trying your best to
(13:56):
create this new lifestyle and itmay not be happening.
So where can they go?
Where can they get thehappening?
So where can they go?
You know, where can they getthe resources and the support
that they need?
Amita (14:10):
Exactly that's exactly when I did my research right and
, having been through millionsof women are going through this
I found exactly the same thing.
I said where do I go?
I have no place to go where Ican find trusted information in
one place.
Someone is selling me oh, dothis?
Someone.
I go here and they say, oh no,no, no, do this and do that and
(14:30):
do this.
I am so confused.
Should I take HRT?
Should I not do HRT?
And then all kinds of reports.
So that really was the idea thatI thought that women need a
place where it is trustworthy,unbiased, it's coming with the
evidence, research and they canat least understand what to
(14:54):
expect when they are going toenter this phase and how to
handle this phase, manage it andthen also moving forward
menopause and the rest of thelife we are in post-menopause,
right.
So all that, if you think aboutit, let's say, an average woman
enters at age 40 and she'sliving till 85.
(15:16):
I mean, there's a 45 years ofyour life is more than half of
your life is going through thismenopause, perimenopause as a
woman, yeah, and you know somepeople think their life is over
(15:41):
once they hit menopause.
But it shouldn't be.
You don't want to push yourselfalways in the corporate because
I'm not saying there's anythingwrong with working in a
corporate world but the stressis what I'm talking about.
Maybe you don't need to takethat kind of a stress.
Maybe you pause and dosomething else that gives you
more joy and still give enoughfinancial to make sure you can
(16:05):
live a good life.
Right At that time, most of usthe kids are in college and
hopefully the financialresponsibilities are behind us.
Right by the time, most of thewomen are entering menopause if
they have kids is what I'msaying.
So that phase of the life youcan at least spend time for
yourself and take care ofyourself for yourself and take
(16:31):
care of yourself.
Rose (16:32):
Yes, one of the issues I'm hearing a lot from women in
their mid forties who do work isis work-life balance.
You know, family life balancewith little kids.
But even if if a woman is atstaying at home, there are
responsibilities with raisingchildren, and there could be
that they have children withspecial needs or maybe their
husband's traveling and theyneed to do everything by
themselves.
So there's, you know, or theaging parents that they need to
take care of.
You know they're taking care oftheir aging parents.
(16:53):
They're going through menopauseand it's tough and as women, as
you know, we don't take care ofourselves first.
Amita (17:01):
And then hopefully our kids will take care of us, right
, yeah?
Rose (17:04):
right, well, I'm hoping to take care of myself really,
really well, so they don't haveto.
I always tell them that andthat's why I have people like
you on this on the show to talkabout our health.
But but our mental health getsimpacted too, right?
I mean, do you see women whoare getting more depressed Maybe
they weren't depressed beforebecause of these changes that
(17:26):
they just don't know what to doand they give up?
Amita (17:29):
No, you're absolutely right.
Look at the data.
Right the data talks about?
In US and UK, 60% of the womenwho get divorced great divorce
is on the rise are going throughthis perimenopause journey, and
one of the other symptoms thatcan happen to quite a few women
is loss of libido.
And then, if you don't have anopen communication with your
(17:49):
partner, your, yourrelationships can also go down
south, and so that is anotherone of the factors that could
add to anxiety depression.
Your relationships are soimportant and suddenly you've
been going through this andsuddenly a brick wall hits and
you don't know what to do.
Then there are so many factors,and emptiness is another one
(18:11):
and which we didn't talk about.
And then aging parents, andthen job uh, if I don't want to
use the word age discrimination,but you know you could feel age
discrimination.
That is a fact, fact of lifehere, everywhere.
Actually, it doesn't matterhere.
And then, if you have forgot,you know you your open, not an
open communication with yourpartner.
(18:32):
So all these things can impactyour anxiety depression.
For sure you don't feel theworth that if, for whatever
reasons, women are gettingdivorced, that that also can
impact your emotional well-being, right?
Rose (18:44):
sure, yeah, but they don't feel.
They may not feel understood orheard, or there's.
Maybe they don't feelcomfortable talking to their
spouse or partner and theirspouse or partner may not
understand.
Amita (18:56):
Yeah, because we ourselves don't understand.
And how can we expect men tounderstand what we are going
through?
Right, so many men haveinterviewed me and they said
their wives or partners havebeen going through this and they
like to understand it a littlebit better, to make sure that
you know there is anunderstanding between the two
people what your partner isgoing through.
Rose (19:17):
Right, right, and so I want to talk about that.
The low libido and also vaginaldryness that can occur too.
Absolutely yes vaginal dryness.
Amita (19:28):
That can occur too.
Absolutely yes.
Rose (19:29):
And treatments.
So are there treatments forthese type of issues that can be
long lasting, you know, andyou're in your 60s and you know
it's really difficult or painful, and then you're thinking, oh
my gosh, this is not the end tome.
I still want to have pleasurein my life.
What can we do?
So give me some, give us someadvice or direction on that.
Amita (19:54):
Yeah, absolutely so.
I, like I said, I'm not adoctor, but I've talked to
thousands of them, so I'm goingto share whatever I've heard and
researched.
So there are a lot of thingswomen can do.
One of them is you know thereis a meditation, what they call
it orgasmic meditation, Believeit or not?
A meditation.
Orgasmic meditation.
(20:15):
Okay, there's a differencebetween plain meditation and
orgasmic meditation.
Believe it or not, it hasresearch on helping your you
know that part of the body.
And then you need to have somepelvic health, that pelvic
health area.
You need to have some pelvichealth, that pelvic health area.
You need to do some pelvichealth strengthening.
You know that really what youwant is the, the blood to flow
(20:36):
in that part of the region.
So you need to do enoughexercises for pelvic health area
.
And then there are obviouslyvaginal lubricants and stuff
like that, but mainly uh, theother thing what you can do is
balancing your hormones.
See, all of these things thatare happening because of the
imbalance of hormones.
We know that estrogen andprogesterone are going down and
sometimes, initially, theprogesterone goes down first and
(20:59):
the estrogen is still high andthen estrogen goes like crazy.
So they're not balanced right.
Because of the imbalance ofhormones, all these strange
things are happening to us.
So what you want to do isreally balance your hormones,
even if they're going down.
We know that they're going downfor everyone and they are going
to stay like that, but makesure your hormones are balanced
right.
(21:19):
That's really the key to allthese things.
Now, how do you keep itbalanced?
You know that is, and also someof the phytoestrogens foods
that you should start you couldstart taking that already have
natural estrogen in it.
For example, you know thebroccolis, you know the
cauliflowers, of the things, youknow all these things you can
(21:41):
start adding to your diet, right, the phytoestrogen, so that the
natural estrogen is still there, and that's the one loss of
estrogen is causing the vaginaldryness are down there.
So if you increase the naturalways to take estrogen in your
body by using these simpleplant-based vegetables, then I
think it can start improving.
(22:03):
So, and also, when you aretaking diet and nutrition,
include all different type oftaste.
When I use the word taste,meaning you know salt, your your
fermented yeah, exactly.
Your spicy, your stringentthat's what ayurveda talks about
include all the taste.
Your bitter, your bittervegetables, right, like, we know
that, as you know, like bittergourd or some of the bitter
(22:26):
vegetables, throw, throw it inthere.
So that's what I try to do inthe mornings.
You know, I'll cook a reallybig breakfast with egg and I put
all kinds of veggies, likespinach and cauliflower, and all
kinds of vegetables, onions,you know, even a little bit of
tofu.
So there's a huge big breakfastthat's trying to include all
(22:47):
the nutrients you know in themornings, right?
So so all these phytoestrogensif you have, if you start
including this on a daily basis,you will feel the difference,
you will see the difference.
And, in addition to that, doingsome exercises, like I said,
different type of yoga poses,which I'm happy to share later
(23:07):
on, and orgasmic meditation, youknow, or vaginal, you know,
lubricants and and stress, youknow.
You need to get rid of thestress.
Rose (23:18):
Yeah, yeah, yes, absolutely, and I also always
encourage people with Qigongbecause it moves the energy and
it helps with the connectivetissue.
It's a great complement to yoga.
But yeah, so you're saying youknow you have to balance your
hormones, but how do we know?
How do we know that ourhormones are imbalanced?
I'm sure they are imbalancedbecause you're in perimenopause,
(23:39):
but what's high, what's low,what's not?
What's?
What do you need?
These are things that, as awoman, you need to go and get a
blood test.
Am I right and say I you knowcause they're not going to do
this test?
You go for your physical.
They're going to just look atyour vitamin D and say and your
cholesterol, and try to give youmedication for that.
(23:59):
But we need to ask, we need togo to our gynecologist or a
functional medicine doctor andsay look at our hormone levels
and let's talk about that.
Amita (24:15):
That's a whole different conversation.
Understand that.
That's a problem that theob-gyn doesn't tell you that you
should do.
I mean, that's what the holesare in the system here.
Uh, you know everywhere, forthat matter.
So dutch test is the, the, theholy grail for hormone testing,
and that's like dried urine test.
That's what they do.
It's not even blood test, andthat's the test that is given
(24:38):
most of the time if they want tosee the entire your hormone
levels.
Now, the other problem is ifyou're in petty menopause, they
are so erratic you don't evenknow what the baseline is.
You almost need to have abaseline when you are younger,
or well, let's say we missed theboard there, we didn't get the
dutch test didn't get itforget it now.
Get the dutch test and see if,if the hormones are balanced or
not.
That you know, and then makesure.
(24:59):
What is it that you can do tobalance the hormones?
Other things you can use flaxseeds.
You know flax seeds in themorning.
I do that every day in themorning.
It's a great hormone balancer.
And the flax seed also has knowflax seeds in the morning.
I do that every day in themorning.
It's a great hormone balancer.
Flax seed also has estrogen andsome of the seeds in the
morning they have naturalestrogen.
So try to include as many foodsas possible on a daily basis
(25:22):
and get your hormones tested theDutch test, like I said, and
then see how you know.
What's it called a dutch test,e-u-t-s-c-h.
Dutch test.
It's, it's you.
You google it.
There's a company called dutchtest.
I mean it's.
It's a bit expensive, but Ithink there's a way you can find
(25:44):
it a bit cheaper.
I think the dutch test companycharges about 400, 500 or
something like that.
But if you you go say you know-.
Rose (25:51):
You need to go to a doctor .
Yeah, you need to talk to yourdoctor about this and then
pursue the test along with themso that they can read the
results.
But what you said before, Ithink it's really important.
I want to repeat that Get abaseline.
Okay, it's too late for me toget a baseline, but if you're in
your 30s, get a baseline.
Yeah, if you're in your 30s geta baseline, and I'll tell you
(26:12):
why.
Also because I was diagnosedwith cancer at the age of 48
because it was high estrogen.
Amita (26:18):
Now I would have known if I had a test, I would have
known they would have known Ihad high estrogen and maybe done
something to reduce it to helpme, maybe not get cancer.
High estrogen has a directrelation to the cancer and if
these kind of measures are putin place, when you, let's say,
you were in 40 and somebody toldyou, hey, get your hormone
(26:41):
testing done, you make sure yourhormones are balanced.
You don't want high estrogenbecause in the pain, like we
were talking about, progesteronegoes down and estrogen is still
high up there.
So it's very common, theestrogen uh dominance for
amazing a lot of women.
But nobody tells you, hey, makesure these balance is there, so
you don't get into all thisright and that's.
(27:02):
That's the holes I'm pointingout.
You need to have it at earlierso that women don't end up
getting all kind of strangecancers.
Rose (27:11):
We need to also understand how our gut, the health of our
gut, and how that also relatesto hormonal health.
Can you talk about that alittle bit?
Amita (27:21):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Ayurveda talks about everythingoriginates.
All the diseases, in fact,originate because of imbalance
of gut health issues, right?
So your gut health isfundamental and we know that
there's a connection of thevagus nerve from gut health
issues, right?
So your gut health isfundamental and we know that
there's a connection of thevagus nerve from gut health to
your mental.
So if your gut health is not,you know, ideal, then you are
(27:43):
going to get anxiety.
So there is a direct connection.
So gut health is absolutely oneof the most important things in
the hormone.
So you need to make sure, likeI was talking earlier, that to
maintain your gut health, youneed to feed your gut microbiome
enough, right, so that youinclude all the different tastes
.
We were talking about thatearlier.
(28:03):
Your gut microbiome changeswhen you're going into the
perimenopause menopause area, soyou want to make sure you feed
your gut on a daily basis enoughof these nourishing ingredients
, right?
And and also, you are poopingevery single day.
Absolutely, that's important.
A lot of women during this phaseof perimenopause get
(28:27):
constipated, um, the very commonconstipation.
You want to make sure you'renot constipated.
You're feeding your gut everysingle day what it needs to be
fed and you are havingevacuation bowel movements,
regular bowel movements.
This is very, very important.
Otherwise, again the same issueall your inflammation gets, you
(28:48):
know, kind of piled up and nowyour body's inflamed.
There's another problem, right,because you're not doing a
bowel movement on a daily basis.
So, absolutely, gut health is asimple.
Most and most of the womenduring going through this phase
have inflammation inside theirbody.
Rose (29:05):
A lot of inflammation.
Amita (29:07):
A lot of inflammation, not only because of the gut
health, but also because of themakeup, because of the kind of
food that they have been takinghousehold products so many
things right If you think aboutit so many things.
Rose (29:18):
Environmental right, Stress, environmental Yep.
Amita (29:22):
So you have so much inflammation inside your body
and if you're not doing regularbowel movements, you can imagine
you're growing a toxin factoryinside your thing.
It's in your body and you'renot detoxification right.
It's so fundamental and that'sone of the things Ayurveda, even
traditional Chinese medicine,talks about regularly in a year
(29:44):
cleansing your body inside out,not outside in.
You need to cleanse it right soyou are getting rid of these
stupid toxins, so you canfunction.
It's very, very important.
Rose (29:58):
Yeah, but you need to do it safely and I'm a huge
advocate of Ayurveda.
I learned about Ayurveda yearsago when I was having gut issues
and a yoga teacher of mine saidgo to this doctor, ayurvedic
doctor, and he cured me.
I didn't have any more issueswith my gut and you know, he
(30:19):
gave me supplements.
But do it wisely.
Don't start, you know, randomlytaking supplements.
Go to, you know, go to acertain food store and just buy
things off the shelf becausethey can have an adverse effect.
Amita (30:35):
Absolutely.
I started doing that, I startedbuying all kinds of supplements
oh my God, and I started.
It started having adverseeffects.
So you need to go seek a proper, you know, functional medicine
doctor, Ayurvedic physician,even traditional Chinese,
whatever gives you, you knowwhatever resonates yeah.
Yeah, it resonates with you.
I personally have done a lot ofAyurveda, but that is because
(30:59):
you know I feel comfortable withthat, even acupuncture, I do
that a lot, but it is importantfor you know there is a lot of
simple detoxification processes,but if it's done under the
guidance of an expert.
But even simple things likemedical detoxification processes
, but if under if it's doneunder the guidance of an expert,
but even simple things likemedical detoxification is being
done here, or a simple cleansingof what they call is a mono
(31:22):
diet for x number of days thatcleanses your system, so that
this is a complete, brand new,new topic.
Detoxification is a huge, huge,but just for this podcast.
It's important to cleanse right, to cleanse yourself at least
twice a year.
And I'm not talking about juicecleanse here, I'm talking about
(31:42):
cleanse.
It could be medicaldetoxification or a simple
monodiet cleanse.
That maybe you could do itsafely, but it's important to
talk to someone.
Rose (31:55):
So a lot of this gut and toxin removal that we're talking
about, this gut health, canalso help eliminate some of that
excess weight that women arefeeling, that middle belly, you
know, which is hormonal.
But they don't have to carrythat forever right.
They can exercise and eat theright things and do the proper
(32:15):
routines that help to eliminatethat, Because that seems to be a
sore spot for women.
You know that exercise.
Amita (32:21):
Yeah, absolutely.
It's mainly because of thehormone imbalance.
I had it for years and years.
Oh my God.
I just had to change my dietand all those things and now it
hasn't gone away a hundredpercent, but still it's not as
pronounced.
Rose (32:35):
And you feel better, because a lot of it could also
be bloating, which is a hugeindication that you're maybe not
eating properly, at the righttime or the right foods, and you
can help eliminate that.
So I know diet is reallyimportant in lifestyle.
So I know diet is reallyimportant in lifestyle in an
(32:56):
approach to helping you feelbetter overall.
Let's talk about what NourishDoc, which is you co-founded,
and what it offers.
Your role, you know.
Just take the floor and let usknow everything about Nourish
Doc and how it helps people, howit helps women.
Amita (33:11):
Well, the whole intention of Nourish Talk is really to
build a holistic wellnessplatform for women, specifically
in the mid-age women beyond thereproductive years, when
they're entering theperimenopause, all the way to
postmenopause, and I also wantedto make it affordable.
I didn't want women to say, ohmy God, the Dutch test is 500
(33:32):
and this is 1,000, and that'sthat.
So what we are doing is we puttogether a simple app that would
be only $10 a month so thatwomen can go in and get credible
information about what is thiswhole journey going to be and
also have managing this journeyusing holistic therapies.
(33:53):
That's really what we have doneis created this amazing
platform so that women feel,okay, I just need to learn and I
can spend 10 bucks.
Everybody has 10 bucks.
Then the next level could be theexpert guided care, which would
be a little bit more affordable, but still you get to hear from
different experts from all overthe world what you could do.
(34:14):
And then the third could beone-on-one.
You know like, you get yourtouch test, you get your
whatever and you have anaturopathic doctor or whatever
you know.
So these are the three tiers.
What we have created so thatwomen feel that they are taken
care of, there's credibleinformation and they feel safe
(34:38):
that they can come and talkabout any kind of taboo topics.
You know they don't feel like,oh my God, I can't talk about my
sexual health, it's going downthe tube or whatever.
So the idea is to create acomplete, comprehensive,
holistic wellness platform forwomen going through
perimenopause, menopause andpostmenopause.
Rose (34:55):
Is there anything else that you wanted to add, amita?
Amita (34:57):
before we wrap up the episode no, I just want to
encourage all women forself-love.
You know self-care, self-worth.
You are worth it.
You owe it to yourself.
You have been caring foreveryone else all these years.
You know now you care foryourself, and that's what I like
(35:17):
to leave it with.
Rose (35:19):
Perfect, beautiful.
Yes, don't ignore yourself,take care of yourself Right and
and.
And.
Please use resources like Amitaand Nourish Doc, because it's a
safe environment that you cango to and you know she's done
the research.
And not only has done theresearch, but you have lived
through this and lived it andhave experienced it and are here
to share your expertise andpassion.
(35:41):
Thank you so much for beinghere today, avita.
Thank you, thank you forjoining me on Chat Off The Mat.
If you're ready to transformyour energy and step into your
fullest potential, I'd love towork with you.
As an energy alchemist, I helpwomen release blocked energy and
reclaim their vibrant essence.
Visit rosewipichcom to exploreworking together and discover
(36:05):
free resources for your journey.
Love today's episode, subscribewherever you get your podcasts,
leave a rating and share yourbiggest takeaway with me on
Instagram at Rose Wiippich.
Remember wellness warriors.
Your energy is precious.
Nurture it wisely.
There's a profound transformation happening in the
lives of nearly 1 billion womenworldwide, yet too many of us
are navigating it alone.
If you're in your 40s or 50sand experiencing unexplained
anxiety, foggy thinking,disrupted sleep or wondering why
your usual wellness routinesjust aren't cutting it anymore,
(00:20):
you're not losing your edge andyou're not alone.
This is perimenopause.
While every woman's journey isunique, over half of us feel
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Ready to unlock your mostvibrant, authentic self.
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(00:42):
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Subscribe to Chat Off The Matwherever you get your podcasts
(01:05):
and let's create magic together.
Today on Chat Off The Mat, Iwelcome Amita Sharma.
Amita is co-founder of NourishDoc, a global holistic wellness
platform.
She's on a mission to bringawareness and education for
women going through hormonaltransition.
Nourish Doc has designedevidence-based holistic wellness
(01:33):
programs for self-care andprevention on 20-plus topics and
20-plus holistic therapies.
Welcome.
Amita (01:36):
Amita, thank you.
Thank you so much, rose.
I really appreciate the workthat you're doing and I'm super
excited we're finally getting tomeet each other and talk about
this topic, which is soimportant for women.
Rose (01:46):
Very important.
I've been really excited aboutthis as well, and a lot of my
audience have been asking formore information, more experts
on this field of menopause andperimenopause.
So I would like to start out byasking you about your personal
journey and what got to, whatgot you to where you are today
and helping others.
Amita (02:05):
Yeah, no, no.
So I'm not a medical expert ora health expert.
I was working in the corporatehigh tech, high stress, fast
paced, all of these do you thinkI think of.
Suddenly the I started gettingthese strange symptoms and I had
no clue what was happening tomy body and and I was still I
(02:26):
barely had turned 40 at thattime, right around that
timeframe and and and it waslike very embarrassing and and I
was kind of I did not knowwhere to go or turn to all those
moments.
I went through that for for anumber of years.
Right the Perimenopause thejourney could be as long as 10
years, and at that time I justwanted to fix myself.
(02:46):
And then the COVID time hit andthat's when it came back to me
that I wanted to do somethingfor holistic health and I
started digging into it and Ifinally found this we are.
This whole topic is underresearch, underfunded, all all
over the world, doesn't matterin America and we feel, as women
(03:06):
, taboo to talk about it.
I said someone has to come out,and I'm not the only one coming
out now.
I feel that so many women arecoming out and talking about it.
So that was sort of my givingback to women, that I want to
give back in a way that theydon't suffer the way I suffered,
you know, and I want to presenta credible, trustworthy
(03:29):
information.
Doing that, I interviewed about3,000 holistic experts from all
over the world on this topic,ranging from MDs, everything.
So that's a little bit of mystory, why I'm doing it, what
I'm doing, and I really want toempower women at the core intent
of what I'm trying to do.
Rose (03:47):
You're right, it's been taboo.
Personally, I my mother passedaway early, even before she went
into menopause, so I wasn'table to have any kind of
discussion or even compare howmy journey was going through it.
So there wasn't any resourcesfor me and for a lot of women my
age.
So this is very important.
(04:10):
So you said you stated thatperimenopause can begin at 10
years prior to what are some ofthe symptoms that start to occur
10 years prior to menopause?
Amita (04:22):
So first symptom is menstrual.
Your menstrual cycle is goingto get irregular.
It's going to get completelyout of whack.
So be prepared for this journey.
Because of the menstrual cyclegetting out of whack, you're
going to start getting thesestrange hormone symptoms, like I
started getting my mood swings.
I'm very balanced and calmperson.
Suddenly, out of the blue,things are coming out of me.
Rose (04:53):
Like you know, in that movie you can't stop lying.
I don't remember the name of it, but I know what you're saying.
It's like uncontrollable urgeto just say whatever we want in
this, like craziness that we'reexperiencing at the time,
uncontrollable that it's likeit's not us but honestly, on a
serious note, um, irregularperiods, your heart flashes is
typically first main symptoms,what we say night sweats.
Amita (05:15):
At night you start getting sweaty, you're not able
to sleep in the morning, you'refra, you know, foggy, you're all
fogged up, your brain is allfogged up.
Anxiety, all these things.
It's not just one symptom, it'slike multiple symptoms.
Suddenly they start blasting atyou and you know, every woman
is different.
In my case it's a very commonsymptoms that women face and I
(05:36):
did that and anxiety, you know.
And then whole self-esteem canalso go down, because now you're
feeling, my God, I'm not ableto be productive at work and for
some of the women, they put onweight and the hair starts
thinning.
So all these things right, whatis attributed to feminine
beauty, so to speak, culturally,you know, like historically,
(05:58):
starts changing, is what I'msaying.
Rose (06:01):
Yeah, no, I also wrote down here.
Um, I also wrote down here.
There's changes, the skinstarts to occur, and then this
all leads to, like you said,like well, the self-esteem,
right.
We start to wonder, like what'shappening and how are people
looking at us and how are wemanaging and our relationships
and all that.
So a lot of this getsinterplays with that as well.
(06:22):
So that's that goes for a longtime, and managing these
symptoms can be really difficultif you don't know where to turn
to.
Amita (06:33):
Yeah, because you know.
Ok, so a few things are goingon, right.
First of all, these symptomsfive, six symptoms are coming
together at you and there's nota single pill.
Symptoms five, six symptoms arecoming together at you and
there's not a single pill.
Well, sometimes you go to thedoctor, they give you one pill
and that might take care of onething and not the other thing,
and it's like complicated thing,right, they haven't been able
(06:54):
to figure it out.
So the other thing is, most ofthe doctors are not taught about
menopause in their medicalschools and nothing about
perimenopause, and this has beentold to me by so many doctors.
So they themselves are notreally clear.
Like they might put you in ahormone therapy or you don't
want to be.
You know there's a lot ofconfusion, is what I'm trying to
(07:15):
say.
During this whole phase andmanaging this whole phase can be
very challenging for a lot ofwomen.
Rose (07:21):
Yeah, and some of these women can't take certain things,
you know, and but but yourestrogen?
What's happening is that yourestrogen starts to decrease and
this is what's creating a lot ofthese, these symptoms, right,
and then you go through thestage of menopause, which can
also last for a while as well,because you're still
experiencing a lot of thesesymptoms of hot flashes.
(07:43):
Maybe you don't have yourperiod anymore, but I think even
in postmenopause you're stillgetting the hot flashes because
your body is just I don't know,it's just, I think, still
adjusting after even a period oftime.
What are some things that aperson can do to eliminate or
alleviate some of the symptoms?
So the biggest symptoms we haveare like sleep, right, hot
(08:06):
flashes are probably the ones.
And does everyone experiencehot flashes?
Amita (08:12):
No, no, no, no.
Not everyone.
It's approximately.
The data talks about about 80to 85% of the women, which is
significant, right, womenexperience hot flashes.
Right and that's the most commonsymptoms that women will
experience, and it's alsodifferent as per the ethnicity
of the woman.
For example, not many womenunderstand this.
(08:34):
Latin American and AfricanAmerican women generally have
more aggravated heart flashesthan a Japanese or an Asian
woman.
They don't get as many heartflashes because of the diet they
are on, of the diet they are onthe soy diet.
They're on the soup-based dietfor years and years and years,
and so it depends on what youhave been doing in your past
(08:54):
life, how much suffering it canyou know.
I'm not saying it's directlyproportional, but it depends on
your lifestyle habits before.
What kind of you know dietyou're on, what kind of movement
you're doing Depends a lot onthat.
The journey of theperimenopause Okay, this is
great.
Rose (09:13):
Okay, so let's talk about that.
So I know one of the things youwant to do is make people more
aware that there's thisawareness of perimenopause right
in the world of the doctors andwhat they need to do, but also
a person doesn't understand thatwhat they're going through and
what they can do to helpeliminate or alleviate some of
(09:33):
these symptoms.
So they need to look atlifestyle.
So give us some ideas of someof the factors that contribute
or can contribute to elevatedsymptoms and what they can do to
either include something elsethat helps them or what they can
do to eliminate certain things.
Amita (09:50):
Yeah, because earlier, if let's say, an average woman
typically a 40-year-old woman,let's say an average has
probably two kids, married.
You know I'm talking ofgeneralization here.
And how much time would shehave if she's working?
You know I'm talking ofgeneralization here.
And and how much time would shehave if she's working?
You have two kids.
You don't have time to takecare of yourself and not eat
(10:12):
healthy food on a daily basis.
Sometimes you don't cook everyday.
So if you are, you know, leadinga very high, stressful life
with no time for yourself andnot eating properly,
nutrition-wise, and not movingproperly and not, you know,
nourishing yourself right, thatis the lifestyle I'm talking
(10:33):
about, which is common to somany of working women.
That is so common that canaggravate their you know their
symptoms as they enter theperimenopause, because the
stress right we talk, the stressis a big factor into that.
So that's one of the things.
So now, um, you know, once youare in perimenopause and you,
(10:54):
you are so kind of, you're noteven functional, like what
happened to me.
In a way, I had to pause, right, in the sense, I had to take a
break, otherwise I was not ableto literally wake up and
function and be productive.
It happens to a lot of women.
So what can you do, right?
So the first thing to do is youhave to change your daily
(11:15):
routine.
You have to change yourlifestyle, your dietary
modifications, before you getinto these hrts and the
supplements and the why allthese things.
You if, even if you startfeeding your body with all these
supplements which I starteddoing like a crazy person, it
actually backfired on me untiland unless I changed my entire
(11:39):
daily routine to make sure likeI'm nourishing myself properly,
right when, when I use the wordnourishing, it's not only the
food mind, body and soul.
You know everything, right?
That is what is so importantfor women to understand HRT , no
Hrt, vitamins, supplements no.
You need to take care of yourdaily routine.
You need to put yourself and,every single day, you need to
(12:02):
have some kind of a routine thatyou follow and you need to
embrace some kind of a routinethat you follow and you need to
embrace the holistic lifestyleor habits to do that on every
single day basis.
Rose (12:13):
Yeah, I'm glad you said habits, because that's what they
are and there's some of thesehabits are not good habits, so
we need to replace them.
But sometimes it's difficultbecause you know you're going
along here for many, many yearsand you're doing the same things
, and almost you're doing itwithout even realizing it, right
.
So we need to one be aware,like you know, if I continue to
eat a lot of sugar and a lot ofthings like that, it's not going
(12:36):
to help me because it inflamesand then the liver is trying to
detox this and the liver isresponsible.
For you know, according toChinese medicine, the liver is
more, most active during themiddle of the night, when women
mostly have hot flashes.
So that's affected.
So there's diet, there's sugar,there's, you know, other other
(12:57):
factors alcohol, caffeine, thosetypes of things Right, so
starting to eliminate thosethings, but it's not an
overnight thing.
Amita (13:08):
No, no, it doesn't happen overnight.
You just need to keep going andthen one day, suddenly you will
notice that you are starting tofeel more energetic.
You're not getting fatigued.
I had all these issues Evenbefore 40s.
I had in 30s like I used to getfatigued and no energy and all
those things.
But suddenly, if you startdoing that, you will feel more
(13:29):
energetic.
Rose (13:30):
Yeah, and you you know, Well, fatigue is, you know.
I think it's an epidemic.
Chronic sleep issues are anepidemic.
You can't sleep because one,you're stressed, you're not
eating, you may not be eatingwell, and there are people who
may be eating great and they'restill having a lot of symptoms,
because everybody's unique andyou're trying your best to
(13:56):
create this new lifestyle and itmay not be happening.
So where can they go?
Where can they get thehappening?
So where can they go?
You know, where can they getthe resources and the support
that they need?
Amita (14:10):
Exactly that's exactly when I did my research right and
, having been through millionsof women are going through this
I found exactly the same thing.
I said where do I go?
I have no place to go where Ican find trusted information in
one place.
Someone is selling me oh, dothis?
Someone.
I go here and they say, oh no,no, no, do this and do that and
(14:30):
do this.
I am so confused.
Should I take HRT?
Should I not do HRT?
And then all kinds of reports.
So that really was the idea thatI thought that women need a
place where it is trustworthy,unbiased, it's coming with the
evidence, research and they canat least understand what to
(14:54):
expect when they are going toenter this phase and how to
handle this phase, manage it andthen also moving forward
menopause and the rest of thelife we are in post-menopause,
right.
So all that, if you think aboutit, let's say, an average woman
enters at age 40 and she'sliving till 85.
(15:16):
I mean, there's a 45 years ofyour life is more than half of
your life is going through thismenopause, perimenopause as a
woman, yeah, and you know somepeople think their life is over
(15:41):
once they hit menopause.
But it shouldn't be.
You don't want to push yourselfalways in the corporate because
I'm not saying there's anythingwrong with working in a
corporate world but the stressis what I'm talking about.
Maybe you don't need to takethat kind of a stress.
Maybe you pause and dosomething else that gives you
more joy and still give enoughfinancial to make sure you can
(16:05):
live a good life.
Right At that time, most of usthe kids are in college and
hopefully the financialresponsibilities are behind us.
Right by the time, most of thewomen are entering menopause if
they have kids is what I'msaying.
So that phase of the life youcan at least spend time for
yourself and take care ofyourself for yourself and take
(16:31):
care of yourself.
Rose (16:32):
Yes, one of the issues I'm hearing a lot from women in
their mid forties who do work isis work-life balance.
You know, family life balancewith little kids.
But even if if a woman is atstaying at home, there are
responsibilities with raisingchildren, and there could be
that they have children withspecial needs or maybe their
husband's traveling and theyneed to do everything by
themselves.
So there's, you know, or theaging parents that they need to
take care of.
You know they're taking care oftheir aging parents.
(16:53):
They're going through menopauseand it's tough and as women, as
you know, we don't take care ofourselves first.
Amita (17:01):
And then hopefully our kids will take care of us, right
, yeah?
Rose (17:04):
right, well, I'm hoping to take care of myself really,
really well, so they don't haveto.
I always tell them that andthat's why I have people like
you on this on the show to talkabout our health.
But but our mental health getsimpacted too, right?
I mean, do you see women whoare getting more depressed Maybe
they weren't depressed beforebecause of these changes that
(17:26):
they just don't know what to doand they give up?
Amita (17:29):
No, you're absolutely right.
Look at the data.
Right the data talks about?
In US and UK, 60% of the womenwho get divorced great divorce
is on the rise are going throughthis perimenopause journey, and
one of the other symptoms thatcan happen to quite a few women
is loss of libido.
And then, if you don't have anopen communication with your
(17:49):
partner, your, yourrelationships can also go down
south, and so that is anotherone of the factors that could
add to anxiety depression.
Your relationships are soimportant and suddenly you've
been going through this andsuddenly a brick wall hits and
you don't know what to do.
Then there are so many factors,and emptiness is another one
(18:11):
and which we didn't talk about.
And then aging parents, andthen job uh, if I don't want to
use the word age discrimination,but you know you could feel age
discrimination.
That is a fact, fact of lifehere, everywhere.
Actually, it doesn't matterhere.
And then, if you have forgot,you know you your open, not an
open communication with yourpartner.
(18:32):
So all these things can impactyour anxiety depression.
For sure you don't feel theworth that if, for whatever
reasons, women are gettingdivorced, that that also can
impact your emotional well-being, right?
Rose (18:44):
sure, yeah, but they don't feel.
They may not feel understood orheard, or there's.
Maybe they don't feelcomfortable talking to their
spouse or partner and theirspouse or partner may not
understand.
Amita (18:56):
Yeah, because we ourselves don't understand.
And how can we expect men tounderstand what we are going
through?
Right, so many men haveinterviewed me and they said
their wives or partners havebeen going through this and they
like to understand it a littlebit better, to make sure that
you know there is anunderstanding between the two
people what your partner isgoing through.
Rose (19:17):
Right, right, and so I want to talk about that.
The low libido and also vaginaldryness that can occur too.
Absolutely yes vaginal dryness.
Amita (19:28):
That can occur too.
Absolutely yes.
Rose (19:29):
And treatments.
So are there treatments forthese type of issues that can be
long lasting, you know, andyou're in your 60s and you know
it's really difficult or painful, and then you're thinking, oh
my gosh, this is not the end tome.
I still want to have pleasurein my life.
What can we do?
So give me some, give us someadvice or direction on that.
Amita (19:54):
Yeah, absolutely so.
I, like I said, I'm not adoctor, but I've talked to
thousands of them, so I'm goingto share whatever I've heard and
researched.
So there are a lot of thingswomen can do.
One of them is you know thereis a meditation, what they call
it orgasmic meditation, Believeit or not?
A meditation.
Orgasmic meditation.
(20:15):
Okay, there's a differencebetween plain meditation and
orgasmic meditation.
Believe it or not, it hasresearch on helping your you
know that part of the body.
And then you need to have somepelvic health, that pelvic
health area.
You need to have some pelvichealth, that pelvic health area.
You need to do some pelvichealth strengthening.
You know that really what youwant is the, the blood to flow
(20:36):
in that part of the region.
So you need to do enoughexercises for pelvic health area
.
And then there are obviouslyvaginal lubricants and stuff
like that, but mainly uh, theother thing what you can do is
balancing your hormones.
See, all of these things thatare happening because of the
imbalance of hormones.
We know that estrogen andprogesterone are going down and
sometimes, initially, theprogesterone goes down first and
(20:59):
the estrogen is still high andthen estrogen goes like crazy.
So they're not balanced right.
Because of the imbalance ofhormones, all these strange
things are happening to us.
So what you want to do isreally balance your hormones,
even if they're going down.
We know that they're going downfor everyone and they are going
to stay like that, but makesure your hormones are balanced
right.
(21:19):
That's really the key to allthese things.
Now, how do you keep itbalanced?
You know that is, and also someof the phytoestrogens foods
that you should start you couldstart taking that already have
natural estrogen in it.
For example, you know thebroccolis, you know the
cauliflowers, of the things, youknow all these things you can
(21:41):
start adding to your diet, right, the phytoestrogen, so that the
natural estrogen is still there, and that's the one loss of
estrogen is causing the vaginaldryness are down there.
So if you increase the naturalways to take estrogen in your
body by using these simpleplant-based vegetables, then I
think it can start improving.
(22:03):
So, and also, when you aretaking diet and nutrition,
include all different type oftaste.
When I use the word taste,meaning you know salt, your your
fermented yeah, exactly.
Your spicy, your stringentthat's what ayurveda talks about
include all the taste.
Your bitter, your bittervegetables, right, like, we know
that, as you know, like bittergourd or some of the bitter
(22:26):
vegetables, throw, throw it inthere.
So that's what I try to do inthe mornings.
You know, I'll cook a reallybig breakfast with egg and I put
all kinds of veggies, likespinach and cauliflower, and all
kinds of vegetables, onions,you know, even a little bit of
tofu.
So there's a huge big breakfastthat's trying to include all
(22:47):
the nutrients you know in themornings, right?
So so all these phytoestrogensif you have, if you start
including this on a daily basis,you will feel the difference,
you will see the difference.
And, in addition to that, doingsome exercises, like I said,
different type of yoga poses,which I'm happy to share later
(23:07):
on, and orgasmic meditation, youknow, or vaginal, you know,
lubricants and and stress, youknow.
You need to get rid of thestress.
Rose (23:18):
Yeah, yeah, yes, absolutely, and I also always
encourage people with Qigongbecause it moves the energy and
it helps with the connectivetissue.
It's a great complement to yoga.
But yeah, so you're saying youknow you have to balance your
hormones, but how do we know?
How do we know that ourhormones are imbalanced?
I'm sure they are imbalancedbecause you're in perimenopause,
(23:39):
but what's high, what's low,what's not?
What's?
What do you need?
These are things that, as awoman, you need to go and get a
blood test.
Am I right and say I you knowcause they're not going to do
this test?
You go for your physical.
They're going to just look atyour vitamin D and say and your
cholesterol, and try to give youmedication for that.
(23:59):
But we need to ask, we need togo to our gynecologist or a
functional medicine doctor andsay look at our hormone levels
and let's talk about that.
Amita (24:15):
That's a whole different conversation.
Understand that.
That's a problem that theob-gyn doesn't tell you that you
should do.
I mean, that's what the holesare in the system here.
Uh, you know everywhere, forthat matter.
So dutch test is the, the, theholy grail for hormone testing,
and that's like dried urine test.
That's what they do.
It's not even blood test, andthat's the test that is given
(24:38):
most of the time if they want tosee the entire your hormone
levels.
Now, the other problem is ifyou're in petty menopause, they
are so erratic you don't evenknow what the baseline is.
You almost need to have abaseline when you are younger,
or well, let's say we missed theboard there, we didn't get the
dutch test didn't get itforget it now.
Get the dutch test and see if,if the hormones are balanced or
not.
That you know, and then makesure.
(24:59):
What is it that you can do tobalance the hormones?
Other things you can use flaxseeds.
You know flax seeds in themorning.
I do that every day in themorning.
It's a great hormone balancer.
And the flax seed also has knowflax seeds in the morning.
I do that every day in themorning.
It's a great hormone balancer.
Flax seed also has estrogen andsome of the seeds in the
morning they have naturalestrogen.
So try to include as many foodsas possible on a daily basis
(25:22):
and get your hormones tested theDutch test, like I said, and
then see how you know.
What's it called a dutch test,e-u-t-s-c-h.
Dutch test.
It's, it's you.
You google it.
There's a company called dutchtest.
I mean it's.
It's a bit expensive, but Ithink there's a way you can find
(25:44):
it a bit cheaper.
I think the dutch test companycharges about 400, 500 or
something like that.
But if you you go say you know-.
Rose (25:51):
You need to go to a doctor .
Yeah, you need to talk to yourdoctor about this and then
pursue the test along with themso that they can read the
results.
But what you said before, Ithink it's really important.
I want to repeat that Get abaseline.
Okay, it's too late for me toget a baseline, but if you're in
your 30s, get a baseline.
Yeah, if you're in your 30s geta baseline, and I'll tell you
(26:12):
why.
Also because I was diagnosedwith cancer at the age of 48
because it was high estrogen.
Amita (26:18):
Now I would have known if I had a test, I would have
known they would have known Ihad high estrogen and maybe done
something to reduce it to helpme, maybe not get cancer.
High estrogen has a directrelation to the cancer and if
these kind of measures are putin place, when you, let's say,
you were in 40 and somebody toldyou, hey, get your hormone
(26:41):
testing done, you make sure yourhormones are balanced.
You don't want high estrogenbecause in the pain, like we
were talking about, progesteronegoes down and estrogen is still
high up there.
So it's very common, theestrogen uh dominance for
amazing a lot of women.
But nobody tells you, hey, makesure these balance is there, so
you don't get into all thisright and that's.
(27:02):
That's the holes I'm pointingout.
You need to have it at earlierso that women don't end up
getting all kind of strangecancers.
Rose (27:11):
We need to also understand how our gut, the health of our
gut, and how that also relatesto hormonal health.
Can you talk about that alittle bit?
Amita (27:21):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Ayurveda talks about everythingoriginates.
All the diseases, in fact,originate because of imbalance
of gut health issues, right?
So your gut health isfundamental and we know that
there's a connection of thevagus nerve from gut health
issues, right?
So your gut health isfundamental and we know that
there's a connection of thevagus nerve from gut health to
your mental.
So if your gut health is not,you know, ideal, then you are
(27:43):
going to get anxiety.
So there is a direct connection.
So gut health is absolutely oneof the most important things in
the hormone.
So you need to make sure, likeI was talking earlier, that to
maintain your gut health, youneed to feed your gut microbiome
enough, right, so that youinclude all the different tastes
.
We were talking about thatearlier.
(28:03):
Your gut microbiome changeswhen you're going into the
perimenopause menopause area, soyou want to make sure you feed
your gut on a daily basis enoughof these nourishing ingredients
, right?
And and also, you are poopingevery single day.
Absolutely, that's important.
A lot of women during this phaseof perimenopause get
(28:27):
constipated, um, the very commonconstipation.
You want to make sure you'renot constipated.
You're feeding your gut everysingle day what it needs to be
fed and you are havingevacuation bowel movements,
regular bowel movements.
This is very, very important.
Otherwise, again the same issueall your inflammation gets, you
(28:48):
know, kind of piled up and nowyour body's inflamed.
There's another problem, right,because you're not doing a
bowel movement on a daily basis.
So, absolutely, gut health is asimple.
Most and most of the womenduring going through this phase
have inflammation inside theirbody.
Rose (29:05):
A lot of inflammation.
Amita (29:07):
A lot of inflammation, not only because of the gut
health, but also because of themakeup, because of the kind of
food that they have been takinghousehold products so many
things right If you think aboutit so many things.
Rose (29:18):
Environmental right, Stress, environmental Yep.
Amita (29:22):
So you have so much inflammation inside your body
and if you're not doing regularbowel movements, you can imagine
you're growing a toxin factoryinside your thing.
It's in your body and you'renot detoxification right.
It's so fundamental and that'sone of the things Ayurveda, even
traditional Chinese medicine,talks about regularly in a year
(29:44):
cleansing your body inside out,not outside in.
You need to cleanse it right soyou are getting rid of these
stupid toxins, so you canfunction.
It's very, very important.
Rose (29:58):
Yeah, but you need to do it safely and I'm a huge
advocate of Ayurveda.
I learned about Ayurveda yearsago when I was having gut issues
and a yoga teacher of mine saidgo to this doctor, ayurvedic
doctor, and he cured me.
I didn't have any more issueswith my gut and you know, he
(30:19):
gave me supplements.
But do it wisely.
Don't start, you know, randomlytaking supplements.
Go to, you know, go to acertain food store and just buy
things off the shelf becausethey can have an adverse effect.
Amita (30:35):
Absolutely.
I started doing that, I startedbuying all kinds of supplements
oh my God, and I started.
It started having adverseeffects.
So you need to go seek a proper, you know, functional medicine
doctor, Ayurvedic physician,even traditional Chinese,
whatever gives you, you knowwhatever resonates yeah.
Yeah, it resonates with you.
I personally have done a lot ofAyurveda, but that is because
(30:59):
you know I feel comfortable withthat, even acupuncture, I do
that a lot, but it is importantfor you know there is a lot of
simple detoxification processes,but if it's done under the
guidance of an expert.
But even simple things likemedical detoxification processes
, but if under if it's doneunder the guidance of an expert,
but even simple things likemedical detoxification is being
done here, or a simple cleansingof what they call is a mono
(31:22):
diet for x number of days thatcleanses your system, so that
this is a complete, brand new,new topic.
Detoxification is a huge, huge,but just for this podcast.
It's important to cleanse right, to cleanse yourself at least
twice a year.
And I'm not talking about juicecleanse here, I'm talking about
(31:42):
cleanse.
It could be medicaldetoxification or a simple
monodiet cleanse.
That maybe you could do itsafely, but it's important to
talk to someone.
Rose (31:55):
So a lot of this gut and toxin removal that we're talking
about, this gut health, canalso help eliminate some of that
excess weight that women arefeeling, that middle belly, you
know, which is hormonal.
But they don't have to carrythat forever right.
They can exercise and eat theright things and do the proper
(32:15):
routines that help to eliminatethat, Because that seems to be a
sore spot for women.
You know that exercise.
Amita (32:21):
Yeah, absolutely.
It's mainly because of thehormone imbalance.
I had it for years and years.
Oh my God.
I just had to change my dietand all those things and now it
hasn't gone away a hundredpercent, but still it's not as
pronounced.
Rose (32:35):
And you feel better, because a lot of it could also
be bloating, which is a hugeindication that you're maybe not
eating properly, at the righttime or the right foods, and you
can help eliminate that.
So I know diet is reallyimportant in lifestyle.
So I know diet is reallyimportant in lifestyle in an
(32:56):
approach to helping you feelbetter overall.
Let's talk about what NourishDoc, which is you co-founded,
and what it offers.
Your role, you know.
Just take the floor and let usknow everything about Nourish
Doc and how it helps people, howit helps women.
Amita (33:11):
Well, the whole intention of Nourish Talk is really to
build a holistic wellnessplatform for women, specifically
in the mid-age women beyond thereproductive years, when
they're entering theperimenopause, all the way to
postmenopause, and I also wantedto make it affordable.
I didn't want women to say, ohmy God, the Dutch test is 500
(33:32):
and this is 1,000, and that'sthat.
So what we are doing is we puttogether a simple app that would
be only $10 a month so thatwomen can go in and get credible
information about what is thiswhole journey going to be and
also have managing this journeyusing holistic therapies.
(33:53):
That's really what we have doneis created this amazing
platform so that women feel,okay, I just need to learn and I
can spend 10 bucks.
Everybody has 10 bucks.
Then the next level could be theexpert guided care, which would
be a little bit more affordable, but still you get to hear from
different experts from all overthe world what you could do.
(34:14):
And then the third could beone-on-one.
You know like, you get yourtouch test, you get your
whatever and you have anaturopathic doctor or whatever
you know.
So these are the three tiers.
What we have created so thatwomen feel that they are taken
care of, there's credibleinformation and they feel safe
(34:38):
that they can come and talkabout any kind of taboo topics.
You know they don't feel like,oh my God, I can't talk about my
sexual health, it's going downthe tube or whatever.
So the idea is to create acomplete, comprehensive,
holistic wellness platform forwomen going through
perimenopause, menopause andpostmenopause.
Rose (34:55):
Is there anything else that you wanted to add, amita?
Amita (34:57):
before we wrap up the episode no, I just want to
encourage all women forself-love.
You know self-care, self-worth.
You are worth it.
You owe it to yourself.
You have been caring foreveryone else all these years.
You know now you care foryourself, and that's what I like
(35:17):
to leave it with.
Rose (35:19):
Perfect, beautiful.
Yes, don't ignore yourself,take care of yourself Right and
and.
And.
Please use resources like Amitaand Nourish Doc, because it's a
safe environment that you cango to and you know she's done
the research.
And not only has done theresearch, but you have lived
through this and lived it andhave experienced it and are here
to share your expertise andpassion.
(35:41):
Thank you so much for beinghere today, avita.
Thank you, thank you forjoining me on Chat Off The Mat.
If you're ready to transformyour energy and step into your
fullest potential, I'd love towork with you.
As an energy alchemist, I helpwomen release blocked energy and
reclaim their vibrant essence.
Visit rosewipichcom to exploreworking together and discover
(36:05):
free resources for your journey.
Love today's episode, subscribewherever you get your podcasts,
leave a rating and share yourbiggest takeaway with me on
Instagram at Rose Wiippich.
Remember wellness warriors.
Your energy is precious.
Nurture it wisely.
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