May 28, 2025 • 47 mins
Have you ever wondered why menopause remains a taboo topic despite affecting millions of women worldwide? Or how we can empower midlife women to thrive through holistic and integrative approaches? In today's enlightening episode of One More Thing Before You Go, we’re tackling these questions and uncovering the often-overlooked challenges and triumphs of midlife women.
Menopause remains a taboo topic, despite its profound impact on millions of women globally. In our latest discussion, we endeavor to demystify this natural phase of life and explore how we can empower midlife women to navigate it with confidence and purpose. I am joined by Amita Sharma, a fervent advocate for women's health and co-founder of a platform dedicated to breaking the silence surrounding menopause. Together, we delve into the often-overlooked challenges faced by women during this transformative period, highlighting the need for holistic and integrative approaches to foster well-being. Prepare to be inspired and informed, as we uncover insights that can lead to a more fulfilling midlife experience for women everywhere.
Takeaways:
- Menopause remains a taboo subject, yet it is a natural phase that all women experience, necessitating open discussions to normalize the experience.
- Empowering midlife women involves understanding the holistic approaches that can lead to improved well-being during menopausal transitions.
- Communication is vital; partners and family members must engage in conversations about menopause to foster understanding and support.
- Self-care is not selfish; prioritizing personal health is essential for women, especially when balancing caregiving responsibilities and personal well-being.
- Women experiencing perimenopause or menopause often face emotional and physical symptoms that require attention and understanding from their support networks.
- Employers should create supportive environments for women experiencing menopause, normalizing the conversation around it as part of workplace wellness initiatives.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hey, one more thing before yougo. Have you ever wondered why menopause
remains a taboo topic despiteaffecting millions of women worldwide?
Or how can we empower midlifewomen to thrive through holistic
and integrative approaches,especially in today's society? In
this episode, we're tacklingthese questions and uncovering the
often overlooked challengesand the triumphs of midlife women.
(00:24):
I'm your host, Michael Hurst.Welcome to One More Thing before
you go. I'm honored to bejoined by Amina Sharma. She's a passionate
advocate for women's healthand the co founder of a platform
(00:46):
that is breaking the silencearound menopause. Amina brings a
unique perspective shaped byher personal struggles as a perimenopausal
woman navigating corporateAmerica as well as her commitment
to guiding women into longterm well being through self care
and expert assisted solutions.Together we're going to explore how
midlife can become atransformative stage filled with
(01:08):
confidence and purpose.Getting ready for a conversation
that promises to educate andempower women everywhere. My wife
and my daughters are lookingforward to this conversation as much
as I am.
Oh wow. That's the firstquestion I was going to ask. What
does your wife think about it?
(01:28):
Well, you know, it is, I'mexcited for this question actually
because my wife is going,she's actually postmenopausal, but
she feels like she's still premenopausal, even right in the middle
of menopause. So it's kind ofone of these dilemmas that the hot
flashes, the cold flashes,the, the insomnia, the, I mean, just
(01:54):
so many, so many ups and downsand everything. So yeah, we're kind
of excited that you're.
No, I'm really honored,Michael. You know, especially when
guys interview me, it shows somuch compassion and change of society
that we are all moving into.How can we demystify this whole menopause.
(02:15):
Right. It should not be a wordthat, oh my God, we are so scared
to talk about. It's a normalphase of a woman's life and we are
all living together, men,women, you know, so why should we
not discuss something that's anatural phase every woman is going
to go through?
I agree with that. I think anopen conversation is the best way
(02:36):
to go, especially when you're,you know, we all have mothers and
we have sisters and we havedaughters and I think that, you know,
and girlfriends and, and Ithink we as men should have a better
understanding of whattranspires within that realm and
how, how it affects somebody.I Mean, because it can affect somebody
(02:56):
very deeply, both emotionally,physically as well as physically.
And you have to be there, youhave to be strong for them and you
have to understand, not just,not just read about it, but you have
to understand and have someempathy and compassion. So yeah,
this is going to be great conversation.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And,and you know, the thing is, you know,
(03:18):
like a decade back or nobodyused to talk about menopause the
way we're talking in today'sday and age. But the reality is,
like you said so beautifully,that it's not only the woman who's
going to go through, but alsopeople around her in the family.
If she's suffering or she'ssuffering in silence like most of
the women do, they suffer insilence. And that's going to impact
(03:40):
her relationships, heremotional well being, you know, everything.
And we'll talk about how theemotional well being is impacted
when a woman is going throughthis stage of life.
Yeah, I think it's a greatopportunity for us to be able to
inspire, motivate and educatesome people. So I say I'm good looking.
I see. I'm so excited that mytongue is tied.
(04:05):
To.
I think that it's going to bea great conversation and I'm looking
forward to it, as I saidearlier, so. But I do like to start
at the beginning. So tell me alittle bit about yourself. Where'd
you grow up and do you haveany siblings, family?
Yeah, so I actually I grew upin India. I came here to United States
(04:25):
when I was 23 years old tostudy, like a lot of. And I grew
up in a subservient society.You know, culturally, women were
just waking up to becomefinancially independent. So I think
I come from that generation ofwomen, you know, who were just beginning
to find their way towardsfinancial independence. Economic.
(04:48):
Of course, economic, financialand educational independence. So
that's kind of a little bit ofmy story. And then I came here and
I went to school at UCBerkeley. Actually I studied as an
architect. I wanted to be acreative person, but life took me
into the software world, thetechnology world, and, and, and all
(05:09):
kind of things happened.Roller coaster ride. And then, as
you know, I started havingthese symptoms which were completely
unexplainable. And I sufferedthrough silence because of my culture,
the way I was brought up. Andthen I said, you know, something
is wrong, something is notright. And that's when I started
opening up about all thistopic. Perimenopause, menopause.
(05:32):
That's really, in a nutshell,my story that I personally have been
suffering in silence. And Isaid, if I'm suffering in silence,
an educated woman, what aboutthe millions and billions of women
out there who don't haveeducation and who are living still
in subservient societies? Theydo not speak up. Someone has to speak
up on their behalf. That'sessentially my story is to really
(05:57):
trying to make a socialimpact, a positive impact to women's
lives beyond the reproductiveyears, which we completely forget.
And I appreciate that,honestly, as a husband, as a father,
as a brother, as a son. Iappreciate that because I think that,
you know, we all have to havea better understanding. I mean, and
obviously I know that men, Iguess men really kind of go through
(06:21):
it with a midlife crisis. Theygo through their own changes. They
don't really necessarily callit menopause, although it got men
in the beginning, right? Itkind of should, but it's different.
So when. When a woman goesthrough what she goes through, it's
like in two or three phases,isn't it?
(06:43):
Yeah, so that's the thing.See, we don't understand it. So actually,
before the woman goes throughperimenopause, we don't even understand
what perimenopause is. Soperimenopause is really the transition
to transition years before thewoman hits menopause. So menopause
is actually when yourmenstrual cycle is cessation of your
(07:05):
menstrual cycle. A very simpledefinition, for 12 consecutive months.
Now, the perimenopause of theyears, 10 years, could be 10 years
before. So women in. Anaverage woman, if she's in her 40s,
will start experiencing thishormonal roller coaster ride and
also experiencing thesesymptoms that we were talking about.
(07:26):
Hot flashes, mood swings, youknow, anxiety, depression, all these
things. Now, the third stageis after the woman hits menopause,
that is post menopause. Andthen the woman is in post menopause
the rest of her life until shedies. So these are three distinct
stages in a woman's, you know,post reproductive year, so to speak.
(07:48):
But all these three distinctstages have. Could have different
symptoms, could have differentkind of things that she's going through.
So we can talk about it morein details. But overall, if women
can understand these threedistinct phases, that's good enough,
as in beginning.
And I think we don't haveenough of a conversation in regard
(08:11):
to this. Why do you think themenopause remains a taboo subject?
I mean, we talked aboutcultural aspects and a lot of subservient
societies and so forth. WhichI know that there's a lot more subservient
societies across the worldthan what many people don't know.
Why do you think it remainstaboo when they know that it's a
(08:31):
natural progression of life?
So multiple things, right?This is so for a woman, end of a
sort of like an aging process.Nobody wants to age. Right. And also
we don't, we don't like toage. Men or women, it doesn't matter.
So women have always been kindof programmed to look beautiful and,
(08:53):
you know, be a certain kind ofa size. The media wants you kind
of stereotype in a, you know,or size this size that I have to
fit into that. So all that ischanging for majority of the women,
right? Nope. They don't likeit. That's, that's the kind of like
a sort of like a superficialpart of why we, why women don't like
(09:14):
it. But the other part is thereality is even the medical fraternity,
who's supposed to give you theoverall like, hey, you, now you are
in perimenopause. You're goingto go through hormonal shifts and
you're going to hit menopause.That also is not really part of the
society because most of themedical fraternity, OB GYNs or some
(09:36):
of the, your generalpractitioners are not actually taught
about perimenopause whenthey're going through medical schools.
That is also a problem in thecommunity. And menopause is only
talked about like for 7, 8hours. Even in OB GYN, believe it
or not, in their 15 years ofmedical school, that is another issue.
(09:56):
So when now, as women in the40s, you know, you're not going to
school or college, you areactually depending on your GPS and
your ob GYN to tell you thatthis is what's going to happen in
your life. And if they are notreally sharing this information,
where do you go? And then youthink like, oh, my looks are changing.
My this is changing. That ischanging. So they don't. It's just,
(10:18):
you just keep quiet. I mean,I'm just sharing about my journey.
And then the fear ofdiscrimination, age discrimination
at workplace also kicks in.You said, oh my God, if I go and
say I'm having mood swings,I'm having hot flashes, I'm going
through this. You know, mycolleagues might judge me in a different
(10:39):
way. So there's a whole, youknow, notion of judgment, not feeling
safe about it. Because as acommunity, as a society, we just
don't talk about it. And, youknow, that's my feedback or I love
to get your. What do you think?
Well, I think that, you know,navigating perimenopause or any mention
(11:01):
of menopause at all in acorporate America especially, I think
is very difficult becauseagain, you have a certain bias that's,
that's already there. It'skind of built into the system in
regard to whether or not, youknow, women's health doesn't seem
to, you know, probably goingto get in trouble for making these
statements. They don't seem toput it at the forefront. It doesn't
(11:24):
seem to be something thatreally needs to be, that's not paid
attention to, like it'ssupposed to be paid attention to.
You know, I know that my, ouryoungest daughter, she has got severe
case of endometriosis and itcauses her to have days that she
has to call in sick because ofthe pain and because of all the other
issues that come withendometriosis. And even though she's
(11:47):
been technically diagnosedwith it, and even though there's
a medical record of it, shestill gets flack from work if she
has to take time off for it.And I think that's something unfortunately,
across all of at leastcorporate America that I'm familiar
with, I'm not familiar withoutside of corporate America. But
I think that the society, thesocietal and cultural perceptions
(12:12):
in regard to it, again, makeit a taboo subject that really shouldn't
be and that it should bediscussed and it should be supported
in a very positive way,knowing that it's a, it's a natural
part of the aging process thatyou said, and they don't allow for
that to be able to take place.There's things for men, when men
have a problem, it's like theygot commercials for it, you know,
(12:35):
but they don't have as manycommercials for women in regard to
that. And I think that itneeds, that perspective needs to
change. And my own personal,my own personal statement, if it
wasn't for my mother, Iwouldn't be here. If it wasn't for
my sister helping to raise me,I may be in a different position
where I'm at. If it wasn't formy wife supporting me and loving
(12:58):
me and taking care of me whenI needed it, I return that favor.
But I'd be in a whole mess.You know what I mean? Same thing
with our daughters. We'veraised our daughters to empower themselves
as women. They're intelligent,they're beautiful, they're intelligent,
they're, they're, they're,they're, they're Confident and we
(13:20):
raised them to be this way.But corporate, corporate America
kind of puts a kibosh on thatin many perspectives. I know that
was a long answer to reallywhat should have been a short answer,
but unfortunately it's a long answer.
You're very true. Thecorporate America, it's like an invisible
(13:41):
workforce. Right. Healthequity is not part of their agenda
sometimes. And you needscalable solutions. And the cost
effective Solution to help 50%of your workforce is women now. And
you know, and women over 45,40 is a growing workforce, it's an
intelligent workforce, it isan experienced workforce. And if
(14:04):
you're not paying attention totheir needs, what's that going to
happen? And women also have tospeak up. Right? So I think it goes
both ways. I mean, I am guiltyas shah. I'm sharing my story. I
never spoke up, right. Becauseof the, because of the, you know,
I didn't want to lose my job.And I was, I suffered and suffered
(14:24):
and didn't call in sick. AndI, even if I'm feeling miserable,
I'll walk in and I'll kind oftry to get through the day with anxiety
and depression kicking in,with my libido going down, with my
mental health going crazy. Youknow, that's what an average woman
who's going through thisexperience is going to go through.
(14:45):
Sleepless nights, hot flashesin the middle of meetings, could
be embarrassing. Then moodswings, emotional upheaval of your
hormones and loss of libidowith, you know, relationships going
down the tank. All thesethings kick in, can kick in for any
woman who's going throughmenopause journey. And how do you
(15:06):
deal with it? Right.
Well, I think that bringssomething up, if you don't mind,
for those individuals thatmaybe not going or are experiencing
this or are about toexperience this. You know, what are
some of the, I mean, you, youjust mentioned some of them, some
of the physical, emotionaland, and like societal impacts of
menopause for women. What canthey, what can they expect to start
(15:30):
feeling? Because I know thatyou said depression, anxiety and
you know, it all plays,doesn't it?
Yeah, yeah. So first of all,I'm not a medical doctor. I won't
put a big disclaimer here.I've interviewed over 3,000 medical
holistic experts from all overthe world. But typically, like we
were talking about earlier,you know, the first in the perimenopause,
(15:51):
typically what happens is yourmood swings, like your female sex
hormones are going down. So asa result of the hormonal rollercoaster
ride, women Start feeling.Most of the symptoms that are common
are hot flashes, night sweats.As a result of that, women can't
sleep at night properly. Thathappened to me as well. In the morning,
(16:11):
you just wake up with a foggybrain, like you can't think straight.
You're forgetting things, andthen you're going through the mood
swings. The anxiety kicks in,and the weight also kicks in. Sometimes,
you know, right around yourbelly, your hair starts getting thin.
You get sometimes sudden burstof anger. All these things can happen
(16:32):
during the perimenopause. I'mnot talking about the post menopause
yet. I'm just only talkingabout perimenopause. And then around
that same time frame, it couldalso be loss of libido. Your pelvic
health has. Could have someissues because your vaginal wall
becomes thin. So in additionto your physical attributes, what
(16:53):
you're talking about, mentalanxiety and your relationship with
your partner can also getimpacted. And there's a lot of data
about this. What I'm talkingabout is 60% of the women who are
going through divorce are inthis phase of life, perimenopause,
menopause, but they don't talkabout it. Communication. Right. That.
That gets kind of lost intojust being silent.
(17:17):
Yeah, I think communication isthe key to. The key to many problems,
not just within this, likewhat we're talking about. Key to
relationships, key to. Youknow, I worked domestic violence
for so many years, and thelack of communication in that environment
was just unbelievable.Watching the dysfunction that goes
through that. And the majorityof that was due to lack of communication,
(17:39):
lack of conversation. Sobringing a conversation to the table,
I think, is one of the mostimportant factors. Especially even
in this particular instance,you know, we were just. And I have
permission from Diane, so whenanybody go, oh, he's talking about
his wife. She told me I could.Realistically, you know, the night
(18:00):
sweats and the. When she firststarted having the night sweats and
the hot flashes and the moodswings and the up and down, we had
conversations about them sothat I was fully aware of them. And
it allowed me to prepare as apartner, as her husband, as her friend,
allowed me to be able toprepare for them as well. So we got
(18:21):
like a cooler. And so when shestarted having hot flashes, she was
able to turn the cooler onright in front of her. It was just
a thing. We just plugged inand she could turn it on. It was
a little, you know, help herwith the hot flashes. Plus I had
a better understanding of it,especially with the Mood swings.
It allowed me to understandwhy she got snappy or why this took
(18:41):
place, why that took place, aswell as the depression and the anxiety,
because she already deals withthat or manages that on a regular
basis. But this enhanced itand made it worse from that perspective.
So. Yeah, so I think thatcommunication, communication is really
a positive thing about that. Iknow there's medications and so forth
(19:03):
that women can get on inregard to each phase of this. Correct?
Yeah, yeah. So the HRT is oneof the common. If you go to organic
colleges, most of thegynecologists will prescribe HRT
hormone replacement therapy.Basically, they're kind of saying
that the hormones that aredepleting, you take the hormones.
(19:25):
But I personally, you know,hrt, no hrt, you still need to incorporate
or add, embrace a holisticlifestyle, meaning you have to change
your. Your entire lifestyleand diet modifications, you know,
as a woman, because so manythings are changing. Your gut microbiome
is changing. You know, asyou're going through this perimenopause,
menopause, your brain ischanging, believe it or not. That's
(19:47):
explains some of the moves.Not necessarily because of brain
changes. There's a researchabout it. Dr. Lisa Marconi, she talks
a lot about that. So. And, andevery. It's not one size fit all.
See, that's the other thing.It's not like, okay, let me take
a Tylenol and my headache isgoing to go away. Most of us do that.
But in this case, every womanis different based on her cultural,
(20:09):
ethnic, the way she has keptherself all these years, up to 40
years. Right. Her maybe genes,you know, her mother. So many. It's
complicated. It's not simple.And that's the other problem. We
don't understand it very wellas a society.
No, we don't. And I think it'svery. It's frustrating. My wife,
(20:30):
her frustration right now isthe fact that, you know, she doesn't
necessarily want to go on hrt.She wants to do more of a bioidentical
hormonal treatment plan. Butthe insurance companies, and this
is just a conversation, theinsurance companies typically won't
cover bioidentical. But see, Ifound that not just with this, I
(20:52):
found that even with my ownparticular situation, I have an autoimmune
disease myself. And you know,they put me on nine different drugs.
Those nine different drugsliterally about killed me. Took me
from 170 pounds down to 100pounds before they realized it was
the drugs. That's what wasdoing it. So I got off of all of
those drugs. And I went moreof a holistic, naturopathic approach
(21:13):
to my health. And as myaudience knows or my community knows,
that has sustained me andallowed me to get more healthy in
regard to a well roundedhealth all the way around. Not just
specific with those kind ofdrugs. But it's difficult for her
to get the bioidenticalhormones because it goes since it's
not covered by insurance. Youknow, we're looking at 4, 5, $600
(21:37):
a month. And that 4 or 5,600amonth is not in the average person's
budget to be able to be ableto accomplish that kind of a deal.
So in, in a holistic andintegrative approach, I know that
you were talking about youhave to incorporate other things,
I'm assuming diet and morethings like exercise and things like
(22:00):
that. Can we talk about thatfor a second?
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Andyou're right, it is so cost prohibitive
for majority of the Women tostart spending 506 indoors for rest
of your life, right? Literallybioidentical hormones, if you go.
And I never took hormonetherapy, by the way, but I changed
my entire diet, my entireexercise regimen. So things like,
(22:24):
you know, we know that bonemass starts going down, so you need
to start doing strengthconditioning as an example, right?
In the diet, we know that oursex, female sex hormones are going
down. Estrogen, progesterone.So I'm sharing my experience of what
I have done. And so please,you have to consult with your dietitian
or whoever you want to. But Istarted taking natural plant based
(22:49):
estrogen phytoestrogens, foodsthat already have natural estrogen
in it. For example,cruciferous vegetables, you know,
cauliflower, Brussels sprouts,things like that. And then some of
the other things likeflaxseeds, you know, I upped my protein
quite a bit so that, you know,I'm, I'm kind of not hungry. I needed
(23:10):
to control my blood sugar alot because I would get hunger pangs
and my blood sugar is going upand down. So things like that. And
also I personally take a lotof ayurvedic supplements and ayurvedic
therapies. I also getsometimes acupuncture done. I also
use hypnotherapy for. I haveused hypnotherapy to help myself.
(23:30):
Some simple meditation, one ortwo minutes meditation. I also learned
how to do breathing, right?Pranayama, what they call it, right?
Yoga. So all these things, ifyou start incorporating even aromatherapy,
some of the Essential oils,and some actually massaging my head
with medicated oils once aweek, even my face with medicated
(23:52):
oils and also my body withmedicated oils. So I have kind of
incorporated or embraced theseeastern routes, the roots that are.
That have, you know, evidencein it, some research behind it is
what I'm saying. So that's allI have done to incorporate a holistic
lifestyle, which is not onlythe diet, but also using some of
(24:12):
the holistic therapies thatare rooted in Ayurveda or in traditional
Chinese medicine, yoga, breathwork, stuff like that, and also some
Western, you know, yourregular exercise, like strength training.
These are some of the thingsthat I personally have done well,
and I.
Appreciate that as well. Ithink that, you know, like Diana's,
(24:32):
you know, she does yoga everymorning now. She took up yoga, and
that seems to help her get alittle more balance to validate what
you're saying. You know,she's. It gives her a little bit
more balance and helps her tomanage some of the. The ups and downs,
the mood swings, thedepression and anxiety. It helps
her to manage that. Shestarted doing a little bit of strength
training in order to help herkind of build her strength back up
(24:53):
again because she's realizedthat she's missing some of that.
We have changed her diet,although I'm gonna have to sneak
in cauliflower and Brusselssprouts, because those aren't her
favorite, but I might be ableto sneak them in. But is. It's interesting
to know that. And, like, iffor Diane, and I know this community
(25:17):
embraces this. Okay, when Isay this, I wholeheartedly believe
in diet, that food is ourmedicine, and that what we eat is
who we are. I've done itmyself. I've put my own autoimmune
disease in remission. When Igo off of that and I deviate from
that, I have backlash. Andthat backlash reminds me sometimes,
(25:39):
really reminds me that I needto go back to what I was doing. So
I think it's nice to know thatthere are some holistic approaches
and. And some naturalapproaches that we can. I say we,
as a family, that we canapproach for individuals that are
starting to experience this.And again, you know, obviously, as
a disclaimer, we're notmedical professionals. We're only
(26:02):
giving you our opinions andwhat works for us and what we're
being able to accomplish andwhat we know fits for us. And that
you should always check withyour doctor in embarking on any kind
of. Any kind of change in yourdiet or change in Your exercise or
change in anything thataffects your health in regard. But
coming from that, we also afirm believer in acupuncture and
(26:24):
I hadn't thought aboutacupuncture for Diane. She does acupuncture
on me, manage my rheumatoidarthritis. Actually. I've got, I
don't believe in tattoos. I'vegot 36 little dots all over my body.
That's where the needles goin. And she does acupuncture on me
and it helps to manage that.But I hadn't thought about it for,
for, for menopause. I thinkthat's pretty cool. And you say Ayurveda.
(26:52):
I've always had, I've alwayshad a problem saying that word. So
forgive me. We do supportAyurveda. She gets, she does get
product from Ayurveda, but Ididn't realize that they had stuff
that she could do for likeperimenopause or her menopause. We'll
have to explore that. Whatuniques. I know that. What encouraged
(27:13):
you? I'm assuming your ownjourney probably encouraged you to
come to Nourish Doc. What isNourish Doc?
So, yeah, my journey, ofcourse, as I shared earlier, you
know, I was silent for so manyyears. I never spoke up, right. That
bothered me inside my soul andI needed to do something and I wanted
(27:34):
to give back to the society,make an impact, a social impact.
So I did not. I, I wasstruggling with what should I do.
And I didn't want to talkabout menopause because again, the
shame part, you know, a fewyears back and I talked to anyone
and they'll start looking atme. So are you crazy? You couldn't
start talking about menopauseon LinkedIn and all the places. What
are people. I'm like, you knowwhat? So it was like epiphany, you
(28:00):
know, it was like, I'm like,you know what if I don't talk about
it now? I mean, what good isit that all this technology and all
these education and I saymyself and I can't even open up to
help. Like I've sufferedwhatever I need to be able to not
other women suffer. So thiswas not a one day kind of a thing.
(28:22):
Suddenly, okay, Narish talk.Suddenly was born. So initially we
started with the holistic partof chronic conditions. We never talked
about the diabetes and thisserious ones, the osteoporosis. And
I realized, I said, no, no,no, that's too late. By the time
you reach there, you know,you're older, right? So we need to
come younger. And that's whenthis whole thing started. Like, no,
(28:44):
we need to start actuallyhelping young women empower them.
Younger women, 35 plus, theyneed to understand what perimenopause
is, whether they want it or not.
On.
So that whole journey actuallytook into shape about a couple of
years back. We decided, no, asa company, we are going to go deep
into this topic ofperimenopause menopause years beyond
(29:05):
the reproductive years for awoman's life and go dig deeper into
it and present an affordablesolution. Like you were talking earlier,
that it is so costprohibitive. So we want to present
a scalable as well as a costeffective solution for all the women
in the world, for that matter.
And I admire you for that. Ithink it's an opportunity for individuals
(29:28):
that need help to be able toget help without fear of whether
or not something is not goingto be covered or something is out
of their range. Because somepeople feel help. I cannot tell you
put into words the amount offrustration that my wife has gone
through in regard to dealingwith the health insurance company
who, I'm not naming them, sowe're okay. But it's, you know, it,
(29:53):
it's, it's, it's frustratingand it's angry and it, you know,
she gets upset and that makesme upset and then, you know, it hurts
her feelings and it hurts myfeelings and you know, and it hurts
our kids feelings and youknow, my daughters are going to have
to go through this as well.So, you know, this is an experience.
I think that I'm, I applaudyou for bringing this to a, to a
(30:15):
forefront where you areeducating people, you're inspiring
people, you are motivatingpeople in order to take a, you know,
that there are solutions. Youknow, the fact is, is that really,
you're really not left hanginglike, like you're presented with
like, what am I going to do? Icannot believe that I can't get help,
(30:35):
that there is help out thereand that you do have an opportunity
to maybe make a positiveimpact on your health and those around
you. So, yeah, this is, thisis good. So in Nourish Doc, I mean,
how'd you come about the nameby the way? Because I, I love Nourish.
Of course. Yeah. No, it wasjust we always wanted to, wanted
(30:58):
to do a company or on holisticnourishing, like food as medicine
you talked about earlier. Andyou know, initially when Nourish
Dog started, it was sort oflike supposed to be a food company
in the sense Recipes and whatkind of food to put in your kind
of body. So that is how thiswhole Nourish Dog started. Nourish
(31:19):
dog is for Dr. So Nourish Dog.But so we kept the name because we,
you know, I personally thinkit's so appropriate. But you know,
the other thing your wifecould also do, she should obviously
consult with this naturopathicdoctor who could help her with some
supplements. You know,supplements really help. I personally
take a lot of supplements. Youknow, it depends again on everyone's.
(31:41):
Every woman's is different.But a lot of supplements, a lot of
ayurvedic supplements helpwith anxiety, with the depression,
with also some of the otherissues. There are a lot of supplements
out there that you can take inlieu of HRT is what I'm saying. I
personally take a lot ofsupplements. I just wanted to mention
it over there. And also antiinflammatory diet also helps like
(32:07):
herbs and spices,incorporating that. So Nourish Dog
was all about nourishing notonly your body, but mind, body and
soul. So that's kind of how wecame up with this whole thing, nourishing
your entire mind, body andsoul. And that's how the name kind
of came around.
That's the key. Mind, body,soul. We have to balance our mind,
body and soul. So they worktogether to keep us living. You would
(32:27):
never know. I'm 95. Right.
Really? No joking?
No, no, no, no. I just figureif I tell people I'm like 80, they
go, Damn, you look good. Yougo back to the, the vein thing we
were talking about earlier.See, men go through the vein part
too.
Oh yeah, absolutely. I thinkmen have their phase too. The testosterone
(32:50):
goes down. Like I said, it does.
Interesting, because that'smaking reference earlier, you know,
that men go through their ownversion of this in regard to that.
And. But it is, it's extremelyeasy. You see, you see it all the
time. And it's not asexpensive as what, you know, Diane
was looking at to fix thisproblem. You see the commercials
(33:12):
on a consistent basis. It'slike, you can get this Percy easy.
Just call a sep, will do this,this, this, right? Write your prescription
and will come right to yourdoor in a package and, you know,
plain brown wrapper. Nobodyhas to know. And there you go. Have
a nice day. But for a womantrying to navigate this, it becomes
(33:32):
a maze that they have to gothrough and it becomes something
that I'm sure a lot of womenjust give up and just deal with it
and, or unfortunately go downa dark path. And I don't think the
dark path is the rightsolution to do. I think something
like what you present with amore holistic, naturopathic approach
to healing the mind, body, thesoul and providing them the information,
(33:55):
the tools necessary in orderfor them to be able to heal from
within out is a betteropportunity for them. So I think
that this is, you know, Ithink we're doing something good.
I think you're doing somethinggood. How can a midlife woman. Can
I say midlife woman?
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Butmidlife woman or man, doesn't matter.
(34:19):
How midlife woman embrace thisstage with like confidence and purpose
because as we said earlier,you know, Diane gets frustrated,
she gets stepped on. Shefeels. And I know we know other people,
my sister went through it, Iknow when my mother went through
it, but when my mother wentthrough it, obviously I didn't understand
it. I was a teenager at thetime. So to us it was. It just what,
(34:41):
way back when it wasn't reallytalked about at all kind of a situation.
So. So how can they embracethis stage with confidence and purpose
and really understand thatthere is help out there?
Yeah, you know, women have tostart embracing, start taking their
personal wellness in control.That, that's what I would say. And
(35:04):
you know, that's what we aretrying to do at Nourish Talk, you
know, we've created self carejourney for all the women who are
going through fromperimenopause, menopause, post menopause,
so that at least they get onthis journey of self care and kept
it scalable and superaffordable. You know, like $5 per
month. That's what we've triedto achieve so that every woman can
(35:26):
at least understand what she'sgoing to go through, how can she
change her lifestyle, whatkind of dietary modifications she
can do, and if she wants toconsult a naturopathic doctor or
any other professional, shecan do that at the second stage.
Not start shelling out so muchmoney at the beginning without understanding
what the consequences are ofthis stage. I personally think that's
(35:49):
very important as a woman tobe empowered to understand what I'm
going to go through when I'mgoing through perimenopause, menopause
or post menopause.
I agree with that and Iappreciate that as a husband, as
a father and son, as I said,or in a brother. I appreciate that
because I think that it lacksin so many ways that we don't empower
women enough in regard totaking control of their own health.
(36:12):
And I think that, yeah, sowhat you do it brings something to
the world that's positive.With that regard, what role does
self care and self self loveplay in preventing chronic conditions
and fostering long term wellbeing? Does that? I don't think.
And this is just an offshootfrom this, I don't think. I think
(36:37):
when people reach a certainage, sometimes they get to taking
care of somebody so much thatthey forget about taking care of
themselves. I saw that a lotwith caregivers. You know, it turned
out it ends up happening,inevitably ends up happening. You
know, even when we were takingcare of Diana's father, for example,
we had him here with Lewy BodyDementia. So Diana and I took care
(37:00):
of him for 18 months before hepassed. During that time period,
it was David 24:7. And weforgot about taking care of ourselves.
We forgot about ourrelationship. We forgot about so
many things that we had toplay catch up afterwards. So do you
think self care and self loveplay a factor in helping us to prevent
(37:25):
and to nurture ourselves intothis phase of our life?
It's. It's. You know,interestingly, I talked to a woman
this morning and she's acaregiver and she was talking about
the same thing, what you'retalking about. She had to take care
of her mom. She was. Sheactually passed away with cancer.
And she says she did not. Shecouldn't take care of herself. Right.
And it happens to all of us.You know, especially at this age
(37:48):
when women are going throughmenopause, they probably have aging
parents now. They are goingthrough themselves this whole turbulent
time. At the same time, theyhave to take care of. If they have
to take care of an agingparent becomes very difficult because
sooner or later you are goingto. Now for lack of care, you don't
have the time. You have to. Soall I want to say is self care is
(38:10):
not selfish. You need to dothat to help yourself. Right. You
know, it's not selfish at all.Even if you're a caregiver to your
parent.
I agree with that. I thinkthat's a message that needed to be
said. So thank you for doingthat for my audience, my community
(38:31):
out here that do own abusiness or are corporate executives.
How can workplaces bettersupport women going through menopause?
I think it's important thatthat needs to be addressed. And I
realize, again, we're onlymaking suggestions. I think as you
going through it yourself, youknow, can give insight as to what
a corporate executive or aboss or a supervisor can do to maybe
(38:55):
help understand.
So I think it's just have tobe open communication. There's not
need to be such a hidden kindof under the rug communication. Like,
you know, it should be part ofsome general well being wellness
that, okay, we support ouremployees at every age group, at
(39:15):
every stage. And this also isone of the wellness that we support,
like mental health. Now whenwe talk about mental health, there's
no shame associated withmental health. We openly talk about
mental health. We say, oh,everybody has mental health issue
and the same thing. I think wejust need to normalize this topic
at the workplace as well. Thatwomen 35 plus might go through this
(39:35):
phase of life. And we at ourworkplace or our business, we support
women at every stage, whetherit's pregnancy or this phase of life.
It should not be a big deal iswhat I'm trying to say.
I think it's great that you'reable to bring it from that perspective.
I think that we asindividuals, whether we're men or
women, in a position of, Iwon't say a position of power, but
(39:59):
I'll say in a corporateposition, a boss or in a supervisor,
in a work environment withother individuals. We all need to
learn to have compassion andunderstanding and humanity and understand
that that could be any one ofus going through the same thing and
that, you know, take the time.
And again, I just want to say,yeah, one thing, like in America
(40:20):
and us, we spend trillions ofdollars in trying to prevent chronic
conditions, right? And we arenot getting to the root cause of
what is causing chroniccondition. And in women especially,
there's a lot of studies nowbeing done to correlate the lack
of care in the perimenopausalyears to rise of chronic condition
when the woman is over 55plus. 80% of the women over 55 plus
(40:44):
have chronic condition now. Sowe're spending trillions and trillions
of dollars. Oh my God. Now howdo I manage it? How, how do I prevent
it? How do I reverse it? Allthose things. But you know, it becomes
like you're 60 years old andyou're trying to do that now. But
I'm saying come here at age 35and start educating and empowering
women. Men, even men, need totake care of themselves. And it has
(41:09):
to come from the workplacebecause we are not in college, we're
not teenagers at this age.Unfortunately, we're not going to
school. School and collegewhere teachers would tell us we have
to rely on our employers. Andthat's what most of us are going
and spending all the time. Soemployers have to rise up right.
Yeah, I agree with that. It'sthat old adage that we start doing
(41:30):
something even now, I have toadmit, just a little humor. I have
to admit it's like, dadgummit,I'm not. I keep trying to do this,
but I did that when I was 25and there's no way my wife goes,
why are you even trying to dothat? That's a long time ago.
Yeah, exactly.
We all fall into that littlegamut, I think. What can we do or
(41:54):
what can somebody do ifthey're looking for a holistic and
integrative approach tomenopause or to taking care of ourself
like that? Or from thatperspective, especially at Nourish
Dog.
Well, you know, we just go toour website, www.nourishtaff.com
Like I said earlier, we arecoming up with an app that's going
(42:16):
to be super affordable. Thatwas one thing that was so personal
to me that women should not beshelling out thousand, thousand dollars.
And so just understanding whatyou're going to go through, that's
really our intention to make asocial impact and to change your
life, to empower you as awoman. That's what we are trying
to do at Nourish Dog. So Ihighly encourage you to go to our
(42:39):
website or when the app comesavailable, download it and help yourself.
That's really my intention here.
Yeah. Helping ourselves, Ithink is an important factor that
we all need to remember. Wehave the ability to choose to help
ourselves or choose not to. Ifsomebody's starting to experience
(42:59):
this in for those that are not35 years old and they start experiencing
symptoms and self worth, whatis something that they can start
taking notice that maybe thisis the stage of life that I'm starting
to enter. At least from your perspective.
Yeah, from actually a lot ofmedical experts that I've interviewed,
(43:20):
typically what they say is thefirst thing a woman should notice
is the irregular periods orirregular menstrual cycle. Menstrual
cycle is the pretty much abarometer of women's health, especially
during these years. And if themenstrual cycle is not regular, especially
if she's a younger woman, shecould be having a PCOS or some other
(43:44):
issues. If she is a 35 plus oryou know, around that age group,
she could start showing earlysigns of perimenopause. 10% of women
start showing perimenopausalsigns in their mid-30s. Believe it
or not. There is a lot ofinfertility that's, you know, issues
that are happening. You're notgoing into that. So typically making
(44:06):
sure your menstrual cycle isregular and if it is not regular,
there is a concern that womenshould be concerned about. If they're
younger, there's somethingelse that's going on. If they're,
you know, some medicalcondition like PCOS or some other
issues are going on. So youneed to consult your medical practitioner
immediately. If the menstrualcycle is not regular, continuously.
(44:27):
Right. Or if you're in thatage group, you might be seeing early
signs of perimenopause. Andthen again, it's a concern because
it could be an infertility.Right. Because most of the women
now are getting married later,having kids later, all that thing
has shifted as opposed to itused to happen before.
It all plays a factor. Roleplays a factor. I will make sure
(44:50):
that all of what we just spokeabout is available on the website
and in the show notes so thatthey have an easy way to click and
find you as well as some ofthe programs. I know that you do
meditation and you have someholistic and naturopathic opportunities
for people to kind of explorethere as well as, like you said,
the ability to connect with anaturopathic doctor, which I think
(45:13):
I wholeheartedly. If I couldcheer it, I would cheer it. I love
naturopathic doctors. I thinkthat they're an addition to our society
and our well being. That islike, yes, profound. This is one
more thing before you go. Sobefore we go, do you have any words
of wisdom?
No, I, like I said, my onlywords of wisdom is, hey, invest in
(45:36):
yourself. You know, believe inyourself. Listen to the voice right
here, right there. And we, weignore it. You know, as, as men and
women both, we just need tolisten to what our heart is telling
us and listen to that and, andinvesting in ourselves. That's what
I tell myself every singleday. Investing in myself, by the
(45:58):
way. And, and you know, I'm abig faith person. I believe in a
lot. I think faith can help alot of us. So I'm a big believer
in faith as well. You know, Idon't know, it depends on every person
whether they believe in faithor not. But I think really prayer
has an amazing, amazinghealing power. A lot of these holistic
(46:19):
therapies have a healingpower. So embrace whatever works
for you. You know, that's whatI would say.
Those are brilliant words ofwisdom. I think everybody should
take those to heart. Heart,Pray, meditate, take care of yourself,
pay attention to yourself,listen to yourself. That yeah, this
works. Pray a lot. Exactly. Imean thank you very much for coming
(46:44):
on the show. I reallyappreciate it. Look forward to another
conversation with you. I thinkthat we have the opportunity to maybe
expand the conversation andand help some other people and hopefully
inspire, educate and motivatethem as well.
Absolutely. Absolutely. Wecould go more in details next time
whenever.
That would be fantastic foreveryone else out there. Please like
(47:04):
subscribe and share. Thank youfor being a part of One more thing
before you go community againeverything in order to get a hold
of nourish doc to get over meand find out what they have to offer.
You will be in the show Notesand one more thing before you all
go Have a great day day. Havea great week and thank you for being
here.
Thanks for listening to thisepisode of One More Thing before
(47:26):
youe Go. Check out ourwebsite@beforeyougopodcast.com youm
can find us as well assubscribe to the program and rate
us on your favorite podcastlistening platform.
Hey, one more thing before yougo. Have you ever wondered why menopause
remains a taboo topic despiteaffecting millions of women worldwide?
Or how can we empower midlifewomen to thrive through holistic
and integrative approaches,especially in today's society? In
this episode, we're tacklingthese questions and uncovering the
often overlooked challengesand the triumphs of midlife women.
(00:24):
I'm your host, Michael Hurst.Welcome to One More Thing before
you go. I'm honored to bejoined by Amina Sharma. She's a passionate
advocate for women's healthand the co founder of a platform
(00:46):
that is breaking the silencearound menopause. Amina brings a
unique perspective shaped byher personal struggles as a perimenopausal
woman navigating corporateAmerica as well as her commitment
to guiding women into longterm well being through self care
and expert assisted solutions.Together we're going to explore how
midlife can become atransformative stage filled with
(01:08):
confidence and purpose.Getting ready for a conversation
that promises to educate andempower women everywhere. My wife
and my daughters are lookingforward to this conversation as much
as I am.
Oh wow. That's the firstquestion I was going to ask. What
does your wife think about it?
(01:28):
Well, you know, it is, I'mexcited for this question actually
because my wife is going,she's actually postmenopausal, but
she feels like she's still premenopausal, even right in the middle
of menopause. So it's kind ofone of these dilemmas that the hot
flashes, the cold flashes,the, the insomnia, the, I mean, just
(01:54):
so many, so many ups and downsand everything. So yeah, we're kind
of excited that you're.
No, I'm really honored,Michael. You know, especially when
guys interview me, it shows somuch compassion and change of society
that we are all moving into.How can we demystify this whole menopause.
(02:15):
Right. It should not be a wordthat, oh my God, we are so scared
to talk about. It's a normalphase of a woman's life and we are
all living together, men,women, you know, so why should we
not discuss something that's anatural phase every woman is going
to go through?
I agree with that. I think anopen conversation is the best way
(02:36):
to go, especially when you're,you know, we all have mothers and
we have sisters and we havedaughters and I think that, you know,
and girlfriends and, and Ithink we as men should have a better
understanding of whattranspires within that realm and
how, how it affects somebody.I Mean, because it can affect somebody
(02:56):
very deeply, both emotionally,physically as well as physically.
And you have to be there, youhave to be strong for them and you
have to understand, not just,not just read about it, but you have
to understand and have someempathy and compassion. So yeah,
this is going to be great conversation.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And,and you know, the thing is, you know,
(03:18):
like a decade back or nobodyused to talk about menopause the
way we're talking in today'sday and age. But the reality is,
like you said so beautifully,that it's not only the woman who's
going to go through, but alsopeople around her in the family.
If she's suffering or she'ssuffering in silence like most of
the women do, they suffer insilence. And that's going to impact
(03:40):
her relationships, heremotional well being, you know, everything.
And we'll talk about how theemotional well being is impacted
when a woman is going throughthis stage of life.
Yeah, I think it's a greatopportunity for us to be able to
inspire, motivate and educatesome people. So I say I'm good looking.
I see. I'm so excited that mytongue is tied.
(04:05):
To.
I think that it's going to bea great conversation and I'm looking
forward to it, as I saidearlier, so. But I do like to start
at the beginning. So tell me alittle bit about yourself. Where'd
you grow up and do you haveany siblings, family?
Yeah, so I actually I grew upin India. I came here to United States
(04:25):
when I was 23 years old tostudy, like a lot of. And I grew
up in a subservient society.You know, culturally, women were
just waking up to becomefinancially independent. So I think
I come from that generation ofwomen, you know, who were just beginning
to find their way towardsfinancial independence. Economic.
(04:48):
Of course, economic, financialand educational independence. So
that's kind of a little bit ofmy story. And then I came here and
I went to school at UCBerkeley. Actually I studied as an
architect. I wanted to be acreative person, but life took me
into the software world, thetechnology world, and, and, and all
(05:09):
kind of things happened.Roller coaster ride. And then, as
you know, I started havingthese symptoms which were completely
unexplainable. And I sufferedthrough silence because of my culture,
the way I was brought up. Andthen I said, you know, something
is wrong, something is notright. And that's when I started
opening up about all thistopic. Perimenopause, menopause.
(05:32):
That's really, in a nutshell,my story that I personally have been
suffering in silence. And Isaid, if I'm suffering in silence,
an educated woman, what aboutthe millions and billions of women
out there who don't haveeducation and who are living still
in subservient societies? Theydo not speak up. Someone has to speak
up on their behalf. That'sessentially my story is to really
(05:57):
trying to make a socialimpact, a positive impact to women's
lives beyond the reproductiveyears, which we completely forget.
And I appreciate that,honestly, as a husband, as a father,
as a brother, as a son. Iappreciate that because I think that,
you know, we all have to havea better understanding. I mean, and
obviously I know that men, Iguess men really kind of go through
(06:21):
it with a midlife crisis. Theygo through their own changes. They
don't really necessarily callit menopause, although it got men
in the beginning, right? Itkind of should, but it's different.
So when. When a woman goesthrough what she goes through, it's
like in two or three phases,isn't it?
(06:43):
Yeah, so that's the thing.See, we don't understand it. So actually,
before the woman goes throughperimenopause, we don't even understand
what perimenopause is. Soperimenopause is really the transition
to transition years before thewoman hits menopause. So menopause
is actually when yourmenstrual cycle is cessation of your
(07:05):
menstrual cycle. A very simpledefinition, for 12 consecutive months.
Now, the perimenopause of theyears, 10 years, could be 10 years
before. So women in. Anaverage woman, if she's in her 40s,
will start experiencing thishormonal roller coaster ride and
also experiencing thesesymptoms that we were talking about.
(07:26):
Hot flashes, mood swings, youknow, anxiety, depression, all these
things. Now, the third stageis after the woman hits menopause,
that is post menopause. Andthen the woman is in post menopause
the rest of her life until shedies. So these are three distinct
stages in a woman's, you know,post reproductive year, so to speak.
(07:48):
But all these three distinctstages have. Could have different
symptoms, could have differentkind of things that she's going through.
So we can talk about it morein details. But overall, if women
can understand these threedistinct phases, that's good enough,
as in beginning.
And I think we don't haveenough of a conversation in regard
(08:11):
to this. Why do you think themenopause remains a taboo subject?
I mean, we talked aboutcultural aspects and a lot of subservient
societies and so forth. WhichI know that there's a lot more subservient
societies across the worldthan what many people don't know.
Why do you think it remainstaboo when they know that it's a
(08:31):
natural progression of life?
So multiple things, right?This is so for a woman, end of a
sort of like an aging process.Nobody wants to age. Right. And also
we don't, we don't like toage. Men or women, it doesn't matter.
So women have always been kindof programmed to look beautiful and,
(08:53):
you know, be a certain kind ofa size. The media wants you kind
of stereotype in a, you know,or size this size that I have to
fit into that. So all that ischanging for majority of the women,
right? Nope. They don't likeit. That's, that's the kind of like
a sort of like a superficialpart of why we, why women don't like
(09:14):
it. But the other part is thereality is even the medical fraternity,
who's supposed to give you theoverall like, hey, you, now you are
in perimenopause. You're goingto go through hormonal shifts and
you're going to hit menopause.That also is not really part of the
society because most of themedical fraternity, OB GYNs or some
(09:36):
of the, your generalpractitioners are not actually taught
about perimenopause whenthey're going through medical schools.
That is also a problem in thecommunity. And menopause is only
talked about like for 7, 8hours. Even in OB GYN, believe it
or not, in their 15 years ofmedical school, that is another issue.
(09:56):
So when now, as women in the40s, you know, you're not going to
school or college, you areactually depending on your GPS and
your ob GYN to tell you thatthis is what's going to happen in
your life. And if they are notreally sharing this information,
where do you go? And then youthink like, oh, my looks are changing.
My this is changing. That ischanging. So they don't. It's just,
(10:18):
you just keep quiet. I mean,I'm just sharing about my journey.
And then the fear ofdiscrimination, age discrimination
at workplace also kicks in.You said, oh my God, if I go and
say I'm having mood swings,I'm having hot flashes, I'm going
through this. You know, mycolleagues might judge me in a different
(10:39):
way. So there's a whole, youknow, notion of judgment, not feeling
safe about it. Because as acommunity, as a society, we just
don't talk about it. And, youknow, that's my feedback or I love
to get your. What do you think?
Well, I think that, you know,navigating perimenopause or any mention
(11:01):
of menopause at all in acorporate America especially, I think
is very difficult becauseagain, you have a certain bias that's,
that's already there. It'skind of built into the system in
regard to whether or not, youknow, women's health doesn't seem
to, you know, probably goingto get in trouble for making these
statements. They don't seem toput it at the forefront. It doesn't
(11:24):
seem to be something thatreally needs to be, that's not paid
attention to, like it'ssupposed to be paid attention to.
You know, I know that my, ouryoungest daughter, she has got severe
case of endometriosis and itcauses her to have days that she
has to call in sick because ofthe pain and because of all the other
issues that come withendometriosis. And even though she's
(11:47):
been technically diagnosedwith it, and even though there's
a medical record of it, shestill gets flack from work if she
has to take time off for it.And I think that's something unfortunately,
across all of at leastcorporate America that I'm familiar
with, I'm not familiar withoutside of corporate America. But
I think that the society, thesocietal and cultural perceptions
(12:12):
in regard to it, again, makeit a taboo subject that really shouldn't
be and that it should bediscussed and it should be supported
in a very positive way,knowing that it's a, it's a natural
part of the aging process thatyou said, and they don't allow for
that to be able to take place.There's things for men, when men
have a problem, it's like theygot commercials for it, you know,
(12:35):
but they don't have as manycommercials for women in regard to
that. And I think that itneeds, that perspective needs to
change. And my own personal,my own personal statement, if it
wasn't for my mother, Iwouldn't be here. If it wasn't for
my sister helping to raise me,I may be in a different position
where I'm at. If it wasn't formy wife supporting me and loving
(12:58):
me and taking care of me whenI needed it, I return that favor.
But I'd be in a whole mess.You know what I mean? Same thing
with our daughters. We'veraised our daughters to empower themselves
as women. They're intelligent,they're beautiful, they're intelligent,
they're, they're, they're,they're, they're Confident and we
(13:20):
raised them to be this way.But corporate, corporate America
kind of puts a kibosh on thatin many perspectives. I know that
was a long answer to reallywhat should have been a short answer,
but unfortunately it's a long answer.
You're very true. Thecorporate America, it's like an invisible
(13:41):
workforce. Right. Healthequity is not part of their agenda
sometimes. And you needscalable solutions. And the cost
effective Solution to help 50%of your workforce is women now. And
you know, and women over 45,40 is a growing workforce, it's an
intelligent workforce, it isan experienced workforce. And if
(14:04):
you're not paying attention totheir needs, what's that going to
happen? And women also have tospeak up. Right? So I think it goes
both ways. I mean, I am guiltyas shah. I'm sharing my story. I
never spoke up, right. Becauseof the, because of the, you know,
I didn't want to lose my job.And I was, I suffered and suffered
(14:24):
and didn't call in sick. AndI, even if I'm feeling miserable,
I'll walk in and I'll kind oftry to get through the day with anxiety
and depression kicking in,with my libido going down, with my
mental health going crazy. Youknow, that's what an average woman
who's going through thisexperience is going to go through.
(14:45):
Sleepless nights, hot flashesin the middle of meetings, could
be embarrassing. Then moodswings, emotional upheaval of your
hormones and loss of libidowith, you know, relationships going
down the tank. All thesethings kick in, can kick in for any
woman who's going throughmenopause journey. And how do you
(15:06):
deal with it? Right.
Well, I think that bringssomething up, if you don't mind,
for those individuals thatmaybe not going or are experiencing
this or are about toexperience this. You know, what are
some of the, I mean, you, youjust mentioned some of them, some
of the physical, emotionaland, and like societal impacts of
menopause for women. What canthey, what can they expect to start
(15:30):
feeling? Because I know thatyou said depression, anxiety and
you know, it all plays,doesn't it?
Yeah, yeah. So first of all,I'm not a medical doctor. I won't
put a big disclaimer here.I've interviewed over 3,000 medical
holistic experts from all overthe world. But typically, like we
were talking about earlier,you know, the first in the perimenopause,
(15:51):
typically what happens is yourmood swings, like your female sex
hormones are going down. So asa result of the hormonal rollercoaster
ride, women Start feeling.Most of the symptoms that are common
are hot flashes, night sweats.As a result of that, women can't
sleep at night properly. Thathappened to me as well. In the morning,
(16:11):
you just wake up with a foggybrain, like you can't think straight.
You're forgetting things, andthen you're going through the mood
swings. The anxiety kicks in,and the weight also kicks in. Sometimes,
you know, right around yourbelly, your hair starts getting thin.
You get sometimes sudden burstof anger. All these things can happen
(16:32):
during the perimenopause. I'mnot talking about the post menopause
yet. I'm just only talkingabout perimenopause. And then around
that same time frame, it couldalso be loss of libido. Your pelvic
health has. Could have someissues because your vaginal wall
becomes thin. So in additionto your physical attributes, what
(16:53):
you're talking about, mentalanxiety and your relationship with
your partner can also getimpacted. And there's a lot of data
about this. What I'm talkingabout is 60% of the women who are
going through divorce are inthis phase of life, perimenopause,
menopause, but they don't talkabout it. Communication. Right. That.
That gets kind of lost intojust being silent.
(17:17):
Yeah, I think communication isthe key to. The key to many problems,
not just within this, likewhat we're talking about. Key to
relationships, key to. Youknow, I worked domestic violence
for so many years, and thelack of communication in that environment
was just unbelievable.Watching the dysfunction that goes
through that. And the majorityof that was due to lack of communication,
(17:39):
lack of conversation. Sobringing a conversation to the table,
I think, is one of the mostimportant factors. Especially even
in this particular instance,you know, we were just. And I have
permission from Diane, so whenanybody go, oh, he's talking about
his wife. She told me I could.Realistically, you know, the night
(18:00):
sweats and the. When she firststarted having the night sweats and
the hot flashes and the moodswings and the up and down, we had
conversations about them sothat I was fully aware of them. And
it allowed me to prepare as apartner, as her husband, as her friend,
allowed me to be able toprepare for them as well. So we got
(18:21):
like a cooler. And so when shestarted having hot flashes, she was
able to turn the cooler onright in front of her. It was just
a thing. We just plugged inand she could turn it on. It was
a little, you know, help herwith the hot flashes. Plus I had
a better understanding of it,especially with the Mood swings.
It allowed me to understandwhy she got snappy or why this took
(18:41):
place, why that took place, aswell as the depression and the anxiety,
because she already deals withthat or manages that on a regular
basis. But this enhanced itand made it worse from that perspective.
So. Yeah, so I think thatcommunication, communication is really
a positive thing about that. Iknow there's medications and so forth
(19:03):
that women can get on inregard to each phase of this. Correct?
Yeah, yeah. So the HRT is oneof the common. If you go to organic
colleges, most of thegynecologists will prescribe HRT
hormone replacement therapy.Basically, they're kind of saying
that the hormones that aredepleting, you take the hormones.
(19:25):
But I personally, you know,hrt, no hrt, you still need to incorporate
or add, embrace a holisticlifestyle, meaning you have to change
your. Your entire lifestyleand diet modifications, you know,
as a woman, because so manythings are changing. Your gut microbiome
is changing. You know, asyou're going through this perimenopause,
menopause, your brain ischanging, believe it or not. That's
(19:47):
explains some of the moves.Not necessarily because of brain
changes. There's a researchabout it. Dr. Lisa Marconi, she talks
a lot about that. So. And, andevery. It's not one size fit all.
See, that's the other thing.It's not like, okay, let me take
a Tylenol and my headache isgoing to go away. Most of us do that.
But in this case, every womanis different based on her cultural,
(20:09):
ethnic, the way she has keptherself all these years, up to 40
years. Right. Her maybe genes,you know, her mother. So many. It's
complicated. It's not simple.And that's the other problem. We
don't understand it very wellas a society.
No, we don't. And I think it'svery. It's frustrating. My wife,
(20:30):
her frustration right now isthe fact that, you know, she doesn't
necessarily want to go on hrt.She wants to do more of a bioidentical
hormonal treatment plan. Butthe insurance companies, and this
is just a conversation, theinsurance companies typically won't
cover bioidentical. But see, Ifound that not just with this, I
(20:52):
found that even with my ownparticular situation, I have an autoimmune
disease myself. And you know,they put me on nine different drugs.
Those nine different drugsliterally about killed me. Took me
from 170 pounds down to 100pounds before they realized it was
the drugs. That's what wasdoing it. So I got off of all of
those drugs. And I went moreof a holistic, naturopathic approach
(21:13):
to my health. And as myaudience knows or my community knows,
that has sustained me andallowed me to get more healthy in
regard to a well roundedhealth all the way around. Not just
specific with those kind ofdrugs. But it's difficult for her
to get the bioidenticalhormones because it goes since it's
not covered by insurance. Youknow, we're looking at 4, 5, $600
(21:37):
a month. And that 4 or 5,600amonth is not in the average person's
budget to be able to be ableto accomplish that kind of a deal.
So in, in a holistic andintegrative approach, I know that
you were talking about youhave to incorporate other things,
I'm assuming diet and morethings like exercise and things like
(22:00):
that. Can we talk about thatfor a second?
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Andyou're right, it is so cost prohibitive
for majority of the Women tostart spending 506 indoors for rest
of your life, right? Literallybioidentical hormones, if you go.
And I never took hormonetherapy, by the way, but I changed
my entire diet, my entireexercise regimen. So things like,
(22:24):
you know, we know that bonemass starts going down, so you need
to start doing strengthconditioning as an example, right?
In the diet, we know that oursex, female sex hormones are going
down. Estrogen, progesterone.So I'm sharing my experience of what
I have done. And so please,you have to consult with your dietitian
or whoever you want to. But Istarted taking natural plant based
(22:49):
estrogen phytoestrogens, foodsthat already have natural estrogen
in it. For example,cruciferous vegetables, you know,
cauliflower, Brussels sprouts,things like that. And then some of
the other things likeflaxseeds, you know, I upped my protein
quite a bit so that, you know,I'm, I'm kind of not hungry. I needed
(23:10):
to control my blood sugar alot because I would get hunger pangs
and my blood sugar is going upand down. So things like that. And
also I personally take a lotof ayurvedic supplements and ayurvedic
therapies. I also getsometimes acupuncture done. I also
use hypnotherapy for. I haveused hypnotherapy to help myself.
(23:30):
Some simple meditation, one ortwo minutes meditation. I also learned
how to do breathing, right?Pranayama, what they call it, right?
Yoga. So all these things, ifyou start incorporating even aromatherapy,
some of the Essential oils,and some actually massaging my head
with medicated oils once aweek, even my face with medicated
(23:52):
oils and also my body withmedicated oils. So I have kind of
incorporated or embraced theseeastern routes, the roots that are.
That have, you know, evidencein it, some research behind it is
what I'm saying. So that's allI have done to incorporate a holistic
lifestyle, which is not onlythe diet, but also using some of
(24:12):
the holistic therapies thatare rooted in Ayurveda or in traditional
Chinese medicine, yoga, breathwork, stuff like that, and also some
Western, you know, yourregular exercise, like strength training.
These are some of the thingsthat I personally have done well,
and I.
Appreciate that as well. Ithink that, you know, like Diana's,
(24:32):
you know, she does yoga everymorning now. She took up yoga, and
that seems to help her get alittle more balance to validate what
you're saying. You know,she's. It gives her a little bit
more balance and helps her tomanage some of the. The ups and downs,
the mood swings, thedepression and anxiety. It helps
her to manage that. Shestarted doing a little bit of strength
training in order to help herkind of build her strength back up
(24:53):
again because she's realizedthat she's missing some of that.
We have changed her diet,although I'm gonna have to sneak
in cauliflower and Brusselssprouts, because those aren't her
favorite, but I might be ableto sneak them in. But is. It's interesting
to know that. And, like, iffor Diane, and I know this community
(25:17):
embraces this. Okay, when Isay this, I wholeheartedly believe
in diet, that food is ourmedicine, and that what we eat is
who we are. I've done itmyself. I've put my own autoimmune
disease in remission. When Igo off of that and I deviate from
that, I have backlash. Andthat backlash reminds me sometimes,
(25:39):
really reminds me that I needto go back to what I was doing. So
I think it's nice to know thatthere are some holistic approaches
and. And some naturalapproaches that we can. I say we,
as a family, that we canapproach for individuals that are
starting to experience this.And again, you know, obviously, as
a disclaimer, we're notmedical professionals. We're only
(26:02):
giving you our opinions andwhat works for us and what we're
being able to accomplish andwhat we know fits for us. And that
you should always check withyour doctor in embarking on any kind
of. Any kind of change in yourdiet or change in Your exercise or
change in anything thataffects your health in regard. But
coming from that, we also afirm believer in acupuncture and
(26:24):
I hadn't thought aboutacupuncture for Diane. She does acupuncture
on me, manage my rheumatoidarthritis. Actually. I've got, I
don't believe in tattoos. I'vegot 36 little dots all over my body.
That's where the needles goin. And she does acupuncture on me
and it helps to manage that.But I hadn't thought about it for,
for, for menopause. I thinkthat's pretty cool. And you say Ayurveda.
(26:52):
I've always had, I've alwayshad a problem saying that word. So
forgive me. We do supportAyurveda. She gets, she does get
product from Ayurveda, but Ididn't realize that they had stuff
that she could do for likeperimenopause or her menopause. We'll
have to explore that. Whatuniques. I know that. What encouraged
(27:13):
you? I'm assuming your ownjourney probably encouraged you to
come to Nourish Doc. What isNourish Doc?
So, yeah, my journey, ofcourse, as I shared earlier, you
know, I was silent for so manyyears. I never spoke up, right. That
bothered me inside my soul andI needed to do something and I wanted
(27:34):
to give back to the society,make an impact, a social impact.
So I did not. I, I wasstruggling with what should I do.
And I didn't want to talkabout menopause because again, the
shame part, you know, a fewyears back and I talked to anyone
and they'll start looking atme. So are you crazy? You couldn't
start talking about menopauseon LinkedIn and all the places. What
are people. I'm like, you knowwhat? So it was like epiphany, you
(28:00):
know, it was like, I'm like,you know what if I don't talk about
it now? I mean, what good isit that all this technology and all
these education and I saymyself and I can't even open up to
help. Like I've sufferedwhatever I need to be able to not
other women suffer. So thiswas not a one day kind of a thing.
(28:22):
Suddenly, okay, Narish talk.Suddenly was born. So initially we
started with the holistic partof chronic conditions. We never talked
about the diabetes and thisserious ones, the osteoporosis. And
I realized, I said, no, no,no, that's too late. By the time
you reach there, you know,you're older, right? So we need to
come younger. And that's whenthis whole thing started. Like, no,
(28:44):
we need to start actuallyhelping young women empower them.
Younger women, 35 plus, theyneed to understand what perimenopause
is, whether they want it or not.
On.
So that whole journey actuallytook into shape about a couple of
years back. We decided, no, asa company, we are going to go deep
into this topic ofperimenopause menopause years beyond
(29:05):
the reproductive years for awoman's life and go dig deeper into
it and present an affordablesolution. Like you were talking earlier,
that it is so costprohibitive. So we want to present
a scalable as well as a costeffective solution for all the women
in the world, for that matter.
And I admire you for that. Ithink it's an opportunity for individuals
(29:28):
that need help to be able toget help without fear of whether
or not something is not goingto be covered or something is out
of their range. Because somepeople feel help. I cannot tell you
put into words the amount offrustration that my wife has gone
through in regard to dealingwith the health insurance company
who, I'm not naming them, sowe're okay. But it's, you know, it,
(29:53):
it's, it's, it's frustratingand it's angry and it, you know,
she gets upset and that makesme upset and then, you know, it hurts
her feelings and it hurts myfeelings and you know, and it hurts
our kids feelings and youknow, my daughters are going to have
to go through this as well.So, you know, this is an experience.
I think that I'm, I applaudyou for bringing this to a, to a
(30:15):
forefront where you areeducating people, you're inspiring
people, you are motivatingpeople in order to take a, you know,
that there are solutions. Youknow, the fact is, is that really,
you're really not left hanginglike, like you're presented with
like, what am I going to do? Icannot believe that I can't get help,
(30:35):
that there is help out thereand that you do have an opportunity
to maybe make a positiveimpact on your health and those around
you. So, yeah, this is, thisis good. So in Nourish Doc, I mean,
how'd you come about the nameby the way? Because I, I love Nourish.
Of course. Yeah. No, it wasjust we always wanted to, wanted
(30:58):
to do a company or on holisticnourishing, like food as medicine
you talked about earlier. Andyou know, initially when Nourish
Dog started, it was sort oflike supposed to be a food company
in the sense Recipes and whatkind of food to put in your kind
of body. So that is how thiswhole Nourish Dog started. Nourish
(31:19):
dog is for Dr. So Nourish Dog.But so we kept the name because we,
you know, I personally thinkit's so appropriate. But you know,
the other thing your wifecould also do, she should obviously
consult with this naturopathicdoctor who could help her with some
supplements. You know,supplements really help. I personally
take a lot of supplements. Youknow, it depends again on everyone's.
(31:41):
Every woman's is different.But a lot of supplements, a lot of
ayurvedic supplements helpwith anxiety, with the depression,
with also some of the otherissues. There are a lot of supplements
out there that you can take inlieu of HRT is what I'm saying. I
personally take a lot ofsupplements. I just wanted to mention
it over there. And also antiinflammatory diet also helps like
(32:07):
herbs and spices,incorporating that. So Nourish Dog
was all about nourishing notonly your body, but mind, body and
soul. So that's kind of how wecame up with this whole thing, nourishing
your entire mind, body andsoul. And that's how the name kind
of came around.
That's the key. Mind, body,soul. We have to balance our mind,
body and soul. So they worktogether to keep us living. You would
(32:27):
never know. I'm 95. Right.
Really? No joking?
No, no, no, no. I just figureif I tell people I'm like 80, they
go, Damn, you look good. Yougo back to the, the vein thing we
were talking about earlier.See, men go through the vein part
too.
Oh yeah, absolutely. I thinkmen have their phase too. The testosterone
(32:50):
goes down. Like I said, it does.
Interesting, because that'smaking reference earlier, you know,
that men go through their ownversion of this in regard to that.
And. But it is, it's extremelyeasy. You see, you see it all the
time. And it's not asexpensive as what, you know, Diane
was looking at to fix thisproblem. You see the commercials
(33:12):
on a consistent basis. It'slike, you can get this Percy easy.
Just call a sep, will do this,this, this, right? Write your prescription
and will come right to yourdoor in a package and, you know,
plain brown wrapper. Nobodyhas to know. And there you go. Have
a nice day. But for a womantrying to navigate this, it becomes
(33:32):
a maze that they have to gothrough and it becomes something
that I'm sure a lot of womenjust give up and just deal with it
and, or unfortunately go downa dark path. And I don't think the
dark path is the rightsolution to do. I think something
like what you present with amore holistic, naturopathic approach
to healing the mind, body, thesoul and providing them the information,
(33:55):
the tools necessary in orderfor them to be able to heal from
within out is a betteropportunity for them. So I think
that this is, you know, Ithink we're doing something good.
I think you're doing somethinggood. How can a midlife woman. Can
I say midlife woman?
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Butmidlife woman or man, doesn't matter.
(34:19):
How midlife woman embrace thisstage with like confidence and purpose
because as we said earlier,you know, Diane gets frustrated,
she gets stepped on. Shefeels. And I know we know other people,
my sister went through it, Iknow when my mother went through
it, but when my mother wentthrough it, obviously I didn't understand
it. I was a teenager at thetime. So to us it was. It just what,
(34:41):
way back when it wasn't reallytalked about at all kind of a situation.
So. So how can they embracethis stage with confidence and purpose
and really understand thatthere is help out there?
Yeah, you know, women have tostart embracing, start taking their
personal wellness in control.That, that's what I would say. And
(35:04):
you know, that's what we aretrying to do at Nourish Talk, you
know, we've created self carejourney for all the women who are
going through fromperimenopause, menopause, post menopause,
so that at least they get onthis journey of self care and kept
it scalable and superaffordable. You know, like $5 per
month. That's what we've triedto achieve so that every woman can
(35:26):
at least understand what she'sgoing to go through, how can she
change her lifestyle, whatkind of dietary modifications she
can do, and if she wants toconsult a naturopathic doctor or
any other professional, shecan do that at the second stage.
Not start shelling out so muchmoney at the beginning without understanding
what the consequences are ofthis stage. I personally think that's
(35:49):
very important as a woman tobe empowered to understand what I'm
going to go through when I'mgoing through perimenopause, menopause
or post menopause.
I agree with that and Iappreciate that as a husband, as
a father and son, as I said,or in a brother. I appreciate that
because I think that it lacksin so many ways that we don't empower
women enough in regard totaking control of their own health.
(36:12):
And I think that, yeah, sowhat you do it brings something to
the world that's positive.With that regard, what role does
self care and self self loveplay in preventing chronic conditions
and fostering long term wellbeing? Does that? I don't think.
And this is just an offshootfrom this, I don't think. I think
(36:37):
when people reach a certainage, sometimes they get to taking
care of somebody so much thatthey forget about taking care of
themselves. I saw that a lotwith caregivers. You know, it turned
out it ends up happening,inevitably ends up happening. You
know, even when we were takingcare of Diana's father, for example,
we had him here with Lewy BodyDementia. So Diana and I took care
(37:00):
of him for 18 months before hepassed. During that time period,
it was David 24:7. And weforgot about taking care of ourselves.
We forgot about ourrelationship. We forgot about so
many things that we had toplay catch up afterwards. So do you
think self care and self loveplay a factor in helping us to prevent
(37:25):
and to nurture ourselves intothis phase of our life?
It's. It's. You know,interestingly, I talked to a woman
this morning and she's acaregiver and she was talking about
the same thing, what you'retalking about. She had to take care
of her mom. She was. Sheactually passed away with cancer.
And she says she did not. Shecouldn't take care of herself. Right.
And it happens to all of us.You know, especially at this age
(37:48):
when women are going throughmenopause, they probably have aging
parents now. They are goingthrough themselves this whole turbulent
time. At the same time, theyhave to take care of. If they have
to take care of an agingparent becomes very difficult because
sooner or later you are goingto. Now for lack of care, you don't
have the time. You have to. Soall I want to say is self care is
(38:10):
not selfish. You need to dothat to help yourself. Right. You
know, it's not selfish at all.Even if you're a caregiver to your
parent.
I agree with that. I thinkthat's a message that needed to be
said. So thank you for doingthat for my audience, my community
(38:31):
out here that do own abusiness or are corporate executives.
How can workplaces bettersupport women going through menopause?
I think it's important thatthat needs to be addressed. And I
realize, again, we're onlymaking suggestions. I think as you
going through it yourself, youknow, can give insight as to what
a corporate executive or aboss or a supervisor can do to maybe
(38:55):
help understand.
So I think it's just have tobe open communication. There's not
need to be such a hidden kindof under the rug communication. Like,
you know, it should be part ofsome general well being wellness
that, okay, we support ouremployees at every age group, at
(39:15):
every stage. And this also isone of the wellness that we support,
like mental health. Now whenwe talk about mental health, there's
no shame associated withmental health. We openly talk about
mental health. We say, oh,everybody has mental health issue
and the same thing. I think wejust need to normalize this topic
at the workplace as well. Thatwomen 35 plus might go through this
(39:35):
phase of life. And we at ourworkplace or our business, we support
women at every stage, whetherit's pregnancy or this phase of life.
It should not be a big deal iswhat I'm trying to say.
I think it's great that you'reable to bring it from that perspective.
I think that we asindividuals, whether we're men or
women, in a position of, Iwon't say a position of power, but
(39:59):
I'll say in a corporateposition, a boss or in a supervisor,
in a work environment withother individuals. We all need to
learn to have compassion andunderstanding and humanity and understand
that that could be any one ofus going through the same thing and
that, you know, take the time.
And again, I just want to say,yeah, one thing, like in America
(40:20):
and us, we spend trillions ofdollars in trying to prevent chronic
conditions, right? And we arenot getting to the root cause of
what is causing chroniccondition. And in women especially,
there's a lot of studies nowbeing done to correlate the lack
of care in the perimenopausalyears to rise of chronic condition
when the woman is over 55plus. 80% of the women over 55 plus
(40:44):
have chronic condition now. Sowe're spending trillions and trillions
of dollars. Oh my God. Now howdo I manage it? How, how do I prevent
it? How do I reverse it? Allthose things. But you know, it becomes
like you're 60 years old andyou're trying to do that now. But
I'm saying come here at age 35and start educating and empowering
women. Men, even men, need totake care of themselves. And it has
(41:09):
to come from the workplacebecause we are not in college, we're
not teenagers at this age.Unfortunately, we're not going to
school. School and collegewhere teachers would tell us we have
to rely on our employers. Andthat's what most of us are going
and spending all the time. Soemployers have to rise up right.
Yeah, I agree with that. It'sthat old adage that we start doing
(41:30):
something even now, I have toadmit, just a little humor. I have
to admit it's like, dadgummit,I'm not. I keep trying to do this,
but I did that when I was 25and there's no way my wife goes,
why are you even trying to dothat? That's a long time ago.
Yeah, exactly.
We all fall into that littlegamut, I think. What can we do or
(41:54):
what can somebody do ifthey're looking for a holistic and
integrative approach tomenopause or to taking care of ourself
like that? Or from thatperspective, especially at Nourish
Dog.
Well, you know, we just go toour website, www.nourishtaff.com
Like I said earlier, we arecoming up with an app that's going
(42:16):
to be super affordable. Thatwas one thing that was so personal
to me that women should not beshelling out thousand, thousand dollars.
And so just understanding whatyou're going to go through, that's
really our intention to make asocial impact and to change your
life, to empower you as awoman. That's what we are trying
to do at Nourish Dog. So Ihighly encourage you to go to our
(42:39):
website or when the app comesavailable, download it and help yourself.
That's really my intention here.
Yeah. Helping ourselves, Ithink is an important factor that
we all need to remember. Wehave the ability to choose to help
ourselves or choose not to. Ifsomebody's starting to experience
(42:59):
this in for those that are not35 years old and they start experiencing
symptoms and self worth, whatis something that they can start
taking notice that maybe thisis the stage of life that I'm starting
to enter. At least from your perspective.
Yeah, from actually a lot ofmedical experts that I've interviewed,
(43:20):
typically what they say is thefirst thing a woman should notice
is the irregular periods orirregular menstrual cycle. Menstrual
cycle is the pretty much abarometer of women's health, especially
during these years. And if themenstrual cycle is not regular, especially
if she's a younger woman, shecould be having a PCOS or some other
(43:44):
issues. If she is a 35 plus oryou know, around that age group,
she could start showing earlysigns of perimenopause. 10% of women
start showing perimenopausalsigns in their mid-30s. Believe it
or not. There is a lot ofinfertility that's, you know, issues
that are happening. You're notgoing into that. So typically making
(44:06):
sure your menstrual cycle isregular and if it is not regular,
there is a concern that womenshould be concerned about. If they're
younger, there's somethingelse that's going on. If they're,
you know, some medicalcondition like PCOS or some other
issues are going on. So youneed to consult your medical practitioner
immediately. If the menstrualcycle is not regular, continuously.
(44:27):
Right. Or if you're in thatage group, you might be seeing early
signs of perimenopause. Andthen again, it's a concern because
it could be an infertility.Right. Because most of the women
now are getting married later,having kids later, all that thing
has shifted as opposed to itused to happen before.
It all plays a factor. Roleplays a factor. I will make sure
(44:50):
that all of what we just spokeabout is available on the website
and in the show notes so thatthey have an easy way to click and
find you as well as some ofthe programs. I know that you do
meditation and you have someholistic and naturopathic opportunities
for people to kind of explorethere as well as, like you said,
the ability to connect with anaturopathic doctor, which I think
(45:13):
I wholeheartedly. If I couldcheer it, I would cheer it. I love
naturopathic doctors. I thinkthat they're an addition to our society
and our well being. That islike, yes, profound. This is one
more thing before you go. Sobefore we go, do you have any words
of wisdom?
No, I, like I said, my onlywords of wisdom is, hey, invest in
(45:36):
yourself. You know, believe inyourself. Listen to the voice right
here, right there. And we, weignore it. You know, as, as men and
women both, we just need tolisten to what our heart is telling
us and listen to that and, andinvesting in ourselves. That's what
I tell myself every singleday. Investing in myself, by the
(45:58):
way. And, and you know, I'm abig faith person. I believe in a
lot. I think faith can help alot of us. So I'm a big believer
in faith as well. You know, Idon't know, it depends on every person
whether they believe in faithor not. But I think really prayer
has an amazing, amazinghealing power. A lot of these holistic
(46:19):
therapies have a healingpower. So embrace whatever works
for you. You know, that's whatI would say.
Those are brilliant words ofwisdom. I think everybody should
take those to heart. Heart,Pray, meditate, take care of yourself,
pay attention to yourself,listen to yourself. That yeah, this
works. Pray a lot. Exactly. Imean thank you very much for coming
(46:44):
on the show. I reallyappreciate it. Look forward to another
conversation with you. I thinkthat we have the opportunity to maybe
expand the conversation andand help some other people and hopefully
inspire, educate and motivatethem as well.
Absolutely. Absolutely. Wecould go more in details next time
whenever.
That would be fantastic foreveryone else out there. Please like
(47:04):
subscribe and share. Thank youfor being a part of One more thing
before you go community againeverything in order to get a hold
of nourish doc to get over meand find out what they have to offer.
You will be in the show Notesand one more thing before you all
go Have a great day day. Havea great week and thank you for being
here.
Thanks for listening to thisepisode of One More Thing before
(47:26):
youe Go. Check out ourwebsite@beforeyougopodcast.com youm
can find us as well assubscribe to the program and rate
us on your favorite podcastlistening platform.
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