In this eye-opening episode, join me, as I sit down with the incredible Amita Sharma, co-founder of Nourishdoc, to shed light on the often-taboo topics of menopause and perimenopause. We dive deep into the physical and psychological toll these life phases can take on women, including the rarely discussed subjects of miscarriages and the journey through perimenopause. Amita shares her personal and professional evolution, from a career in architecture to her passion for holistic wellness, inspired by her own experiences with perimenopause. Discover the importance of balancing hormones naturally and the impact of lifestyle choices on both body and mind. We explore the power of holistic practices such as aromatherapy and yoga, and how comprehensive self-care and a supportive community can guide women through the challenges of menopausal changes.
Tune in to this thought-provoking episode as we demystify menopause and perimenopause, stripping away the taboo and embracing open conversation. We address the societal pressures around beauty and aging that contribute to the emotional distress many women face during this phase of life. Learn about the importance of understanding hormonal imbalances and the impact they have on both physical and mental health. We emphasize the need for education and empowerment, advocating for holistic lifestyle changes that encompass diet, exercise, and alternative therapies. Our discussion delves into the limitations of relying solely on medication and the power of nurturing the mind, body, and soul to achieve overall well-being during this transitional phase.
Join us for an insightful exploration of menopause toxins and cultural sensitivity in managing menopause symptoms. We uncover the ancient therapies that can detoxify the body and improve overall health, from skin to gut. Discover the role of herbs like turmeric and ashwagandha, but also the importance of seeking professional guidance before incorporating them into your regimen. We acknowledge the diverse experiences of women from different ethnic backgrounds, emphasizing the need for personalized care that respects cultural nuances and promotes a holistic path to wellness. This episode highlights the complexity of menopause and the importance of a shift in lifestyle and mindset for a high quality of life. Don't miss out on this empowering conversation that will enlighten and empower you on your own journey.
Please visit their website: https://www.nourishdoc.com/
In this eye-opening episode, join me, as I sit down with the incredible Amita Sharma, co-founder of Nourishdoc, to shed light on the often-taboo topics of menopause and perimenopause. We dive deep into the physical and psychological toll these life phases can take on women, including the rarely discussed subjects of miscarriages and the journey through perimenopause. Amita shares her personal and professional evolution, from a career in architecture to her passion for holistic wellness, inspired by her own experiences with perimenopause. Discover the importance of balancing hormones naturally and the impact of lifestyle choices on both body and mind. We explore the power of holistic practices such as aromatherapy and yoga, and how comprehensive self-care and a supportive community can guide women through the challenges of menopausal changes.
Tune in to this thought-provoking episode as we demystify menopause and perimenopause, stripping away the taboo and embracing open conversation. We address the societal pressures around beauty and aging that contribute to the emotional distress many women face during this phase of life. Learn about the importance of understanding hormonal imbalances and the impact they have on both physical and mental health. We emphasize the need for education and empowerment, advocating for holistic lifestyle changes that encompass diet, exercise, and alternative therapies. Our discussion delves into the limitations of relying solely on medication and the power of nurturing the mind, body, and soul to achieve overall well-being during this transitional phase.
Join us for an insightful exploration of menopause toxins and cultural sensitivity in managing menopause symptoms. We uncover the ancient therapies that can detoxify the body and improve overall health, from skin to gut. Discover the role of herbs like turmeric and ashwagandha, but also the importance of seeking professional guidance before incorporating them into your regimen. We acknowledge the diverse experiences of women from different ethnic backgrounds, emphasizing the need for personalized care that respects cultural nuances and promotes a holistic path to wellness. This episode highlights the complexity of menopause and the importance of a shift in lifestyle and mindset for a high quality of life. Don't miss out on this empowering conversation that will enlighten and empower you on your own journey.
Please visit their website: https://www.nourishdoc.com/
Hi and welcome to Finding your Way Through Therapy. The goal of this podcast is to demystify therapy, what can happen in therapy and the wide array of conversations you can have in and about therapy Through personal experiences. Guests will talk about therapy, their experiences with it and how psychology and therapy are present in many places in their lives, with lots of authenticity and a touch of humor. Here is your host, steve Bisson.
Speaker 2:Je veux des appels de smas. I want people to applaud me now after this intro. And welcome to episode 137 of Finding your Way Through Therapy. If you haven't listened to episode 136, go back and listen. It's the third episode with the mental men and then the Sweeney Andrew Kang, robert Trini, patrick Rice all regulars on here so I hope you enjoy that. But today's episode is with Amita Sharma. Amita Sharma is a co-founder of Nordstock, a global holistic wellness platform for parry to post-menopausal women. Amita is on a mission to bring affordable wellness to every woman in the world and has designed, with Nordstock, evidence-based and cultural-sensitive holistic programs for women wellness, self-care and preservation.
Speaker 2:One of the things that I'm hoping we will talk about is, in general, how that feels for people, because it's one of those things we never talk about, right? We don't talk about miscarriages, we don't talk about parrymenopause, we don't talk about postmenopause and how that affects women and how it impacts different things. So I hope we get to that. And here's the interview. Well, hi everyone, and welcome to episode 137. I am excited because what I like to connect through social media and people I don't know and you know about Finding your Way Through Therapy is all about going into those situations where you don't know something and being a dude and not knowing so much about menopause and parrymenopause and stuff like that. And Amita Sharma reached out to me and said, hey, steve, let's have a conversation about this. And I'm like, well, let's record that conversation, no less. So, amita Sharma, welcome to Finding your Way Through Therapy.
Speaker 3:Thank you. I'm super psyched, steve, for you to say, yes, I'm going to talk to you. So thank you so much.
Speaker 2:You know, I think that that's one of the things about Finding your Way Through Therapy that I find interesting in my podcasting. I'm comfortable with first responders, I'm comfortable with trauma and the things that I don't feel comfortable with, bring them on. You know, a couple of weeks ago I had someone who was talking about Israel and the difficulties that happened there in October and the continued anti-Semitism. I bring up the first responders and suicide rates and stuff like that. And you know, I just like to bring stuff that I don't know because I feel like if I don't know it, then my audience doesn't know about it. But before we go into all that fun stuff, how about we get to know you, amita? And you know, what's funny too is that I'll tell you. It's a little anecdote.
Speaker 2:I saw your name pop up and one of my all time favorite TV shows is a show called Numbers. One of the characters on the show is called Amita and I'm like this is a man's main in heaven. I'm going to like Amita, for sure, and I know it's a coincidence, obviously. But, amita, how about you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Speaker 3:Well, I have been. My story is actually quite rock and roll, in the sense I started as an architect, studied architecture, believe it or not.
Speaker 2:I believe you.
Speaker 3:Worked in architecture, got into software, sold online furniture and you know, at that time nobody wanted to buy furniture. That's a different story. And then got into technology you know internet, e-commerce, that's what and worked in corporate worlds. Perimenopause you know, that's how I discovered I'm in perimenopause and say, oh my God, what's happening with me? And then here I am, taking that experience of mine and trying to empower women with Nutterstock, where I started this company, co-founder of that Holistic Wellness.
Speaker 2:Holistic Wellness. Okay, well, first of all, it's very believable. I think I calculated I've had three or four people who were lawyers, who became therapists or some sort of medical field person personnel nowadays, and I have people who are first responders who turn to different things. So for me, nothing surprises me. I think we all learn from our own situations. I mean, I used to work in a produce section in the supermarket. So hey, here we are right. But I think that it's great to know a little bit about where you came from. But one of the standard questions on finding your way through therapy is have you ever been in therapy?
Speaker 3:Not really. I think I have done therapy on myself. So if you answer that question, not from someone else, but yes, I have kind of talked to myself. I've done CBT on myself and, if not professional therapy, but maybe with my friends. I have a very close set of friends. We talk to each other quite frequently, so they talk about their problem, they talk about my problem. So I think, if you want to call that therapy, yes, I think we've all had that therapy.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. So that's so yes, the answer is yes and no. No professional therapy, but yes, friends, therapy, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And doing your own research, which is always very important. Yeah, one of the things that I don't know so much about perimenopause and menopause not because I know a little bit, but being a dude, you don't get really educated on this, so that's why I was excited to have you on. I was wondering why are you doing this at this time in your career, in developing all this stuff? Because I think it's a very important place to start, maybe.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So you know, actually you, being a dude, don't understand perimenopause completely understandable even as being a woman not understanding perimenopause. Right, you know. That is also a fact and that's why I'm doing it, because most of us women don't understand. We know menopause and puberty, this two S spectrum here. We don't understand fertility. You know the reproduction when we have to give birth, but then, after that, boom, go down. Nothing until we say, oh, all day.
Speaker 3:Chronic condition, years between is like a mystery, underserved under research, not well understood. But these are so important If you, if we as society, want to prevent chronic conditions, not only in women as well as in men. But guess what? These are the years, the way our hormones were going up when we because you know, when we had the puberty at age 13 or whatever age now is the time starting around 40, 10 years before a woman is hitting the menopause, the hormones are going to start going down and that's why it's so important as a society, all over the world, for us to understand and guess what is happening as our hormones are going down for women we're talking about women here in this podcast and the lack of the hormones in our body, if not taken care of during this period of time can lead to chronic conditions, which is such a huge burden on our health care trillions of dollars. That's why it is important and, honestly, I did not even know that this is a direct correlation.
Speaker 3:I just started doing it based on my personal you know experience that not much support is there in corporate world. People don't want to talk about it. Women are ashamed. Women are saying, oh my God, I've got an older, all those things. Initially I started thinking like that as well, because society makes you think like that, and I said, oh, I should do something. The more I started digging into it research and research then I found these all correlations of all these things and I said, oh my God, you know, we are like we are not even talking about it. We feel so scared to talk about it. So all the more reason of why I'm doing it, but absolutely.
Speaker 2:Well, I think that you know there is some research. I know a little bit about how the autoimmune diseases and the beginning of perimenopause and menopause is sometimes related. And why is it that it affects more women than men? When you think about the autoimmune thing, I think it's like four out of five is women and you know it's got to be related somewhere. I'm not educated as much as you are, but I certainly think that that's it. And why do women lose their for lack of a better word appeal? And I don't mean in a sexist way, I mean, oh, now they're menopausal, like okay, well, they're now no longer worthy of attention, and I think that that plays a factor. I mean, you can let me know what you think, but that's a little bit of what I'm getting, a little bit from what you're saying.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. Autoimmune disease is one of them. Heart disease more women get heart disease than men. We don't even know. This is a fact and that's direct correlation of your hormones, your female sex hormones, going down. Your osteoporosis is directly related.
Speaker 3:Dementia, early dementia onset because, you know, during the perimenopause time, women can get brain fog because of the hormone fluctuations so that, if not paid attention, to lead to dementia, cancer, diabetes. These are the serious chronic conditions which are burning our healthcare system. But what happens during this phase is that women don't understand this, that the female sex hormones start going down. Right, they slightly start going down.
Speaker 3:Now, these hormones are very, very important. They control our mood, they control our all the functions. You know I hear sometimes women's hair they start getting thin and they start losing their hair. The skin starts sagging. Is all these hormones that start slightly start going down during 40s and then suddenly they go down when women hits a menopause? Now the thing what women don't understand is most of us is how this is age? This is going to happen to all the women? Yes, absolutely. But as a woman, you can proactively change your lifestyle. Which we don't understand, and that's why we are trying to do is that women need to take charge of their destiny, of the health destiny during this period of time which most of us don't even understand what to do.
Speaker 2:I think I don't understand what to do and to cite some of my clients who have been through different issues, especially women, you know, if men went through menopause or perimenopause, there would be about 17 different pills, 17 different treatments and for women it's like suck it up but a cup and you know the reproductive system, particularly of women, and you know pre, perimenopause and post menopause. We don't. We have like three solutions and if you don't fall under those boxes they get treated, you know, in a negative way and I could be wrong, but I think that we do have also a medical system that doesn't empower women sometimes.
Speaker 3:I completely agree. The medical system, the gynecologists, are not taught in medical schools. The education part, it starts from them. When we, you know, when they are not taught in medical schools, they don't understand this phase of life. That's, that's one of the things. The second thing is, our system doesn't understand this phase of life and that's why, a couple of months back, jill Biden has just initiated a research on women's research during exactly this phase, the perimenopause phase.
Speaker 3:Believe it or not, it's so coincidental that it's just started. That why women are getting more chronic conditions and correlation of that. So that is just beginning to start, and so the society and the corporate talks. So you know, nobody talks about it. Everybody talks about pregnancy, reproduction, but nobody talks about the women phase of this part.
Speaker 3:The strange thing is, you know what is what is scary is not scary, but alarming is that almost 50% of the workforce in America and United States is women over 45. Women over 45 right now are 50% of the workforce and and I don't know how many women actually are saying at the I think now maybe it's beginning to happen, but they're perimenopausal and they need support. I just read an article last week on Microsoft now beginning to offer this wellness programs of wellness support for perimenopausal women, because some of the women started talking about it based on what's happening in UK. Uk women have been very vocal about it. Uk has been at least 10 years ahead of us as far as United States is concerned. Now women are talking about it and so if women don't bring these issues out and open and I think that's what is needed more women have to talk about it.
Speaker 3:People like you, you- know do listening to it and promoting it right. It needs to be small steps, but that's kind of where we are all lacking. We just want women to be look beautiful all the rest of our lives. Women are beautiful at any age.
Speaker 2:Right, and it's not about menopausal, perimenopausal, in my opinion, and and you know, yeah, the feminist and me right away kicked it and said wait a minute, did they have to be beautiful? That they have to be objects for me, but that's a whole different story for a different day. In my opinion but that's another part too is like women can be beautiful, just like men can be beautiful, and it's not about objectified object objectification, but somehow women lose their appeal and I think that that's the stuff that really, I think affects a lot of women. Anyway, the one I've worked with who's, she feel like you know what's, you know I'm less attractive, I'm less blankety, blank, and then I'm less than an. Effects that it causes depression, causes anxiety, never mind the physical symptomology that you just talked about, but I think it affects women in other ways too.
Speaker 3:Yes, women are more. Women have anxiety and depression during this phase of life than any other phase. And of course, postnatal depression is another one. After women give birth to babies, they also go through postnatal depression and that's also because your hormones suddenly you haven't had period right For the last so many months or suddenly you're again. The hormonal imbalance is happening and that's the same reason, the perimenopause. The phenomena is the same. Whenever you're going to have hormonal imbalance, it's going to impact your brain. Then, unfortunately, during the perimenopause the physical attributes also change, most of the women, and to gain weight, you know, you become a little bit more, and especially around the abdomen, and it's very atrocious. That is also a fact you know. And then the hair part also goes thinning. So you can imagine, you know, slightly, being overweight. The hair is going thinning and the skin starts sagging and as a woman, you know, you don't feel as attractive and that's where the anxiety, depression is a vicious cycle, if you think about it.
Speaker 2:And I think it's also misunderstood. As to you know the overweight stuff, the hair thing, mean, I have no sympathy for people losing their hair, obviously, as you can see my hair. But all joking aside, you know the overweight stuff. It's interesting because the working out the eat and it's seen as a lack of control for women when they gain weight or what have you. It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with shifting hormones, shifting everything. Basically, you know, how do we help a society Well, maybe even just women for now, but I think society and Joe, how do we make them understand that this is not a, it's not a willingness, it's not like, it's none of that. It has to do with hormones. How do we explain that to people?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so that's why you know the education for them to understand what's going on in their bodies. It's so important they should not just accept that they are going to put on weight and they're going to lose here and all those things that we talked about. There are solutions that are holistic solutions. That is, embracing a holistic lifestyle changing your diet, getting your processed foods out of your diet, things like that you know. Changing your exercise routine, embracing things like we were talking about essential is just before our podcast.
Speaker 3:Right, things like aromatherapy, things like you know, are you with a daily lifestyle, your yoga, your medication? There are so many tools women have. They just need to educate themselves, empower themselves. And, unfortunately, a weight loss pill. Yes, it could help you, but this morning, you know, there was a news about all the weight loss pills could have side effects and they're coming out talking about it now. Right, so we are a pill popping society that you know. We think, oh, one pill, and now it's going to help me with, you know, my hormones. Yeah, hormone therapy is there, but that doesn't mean you don't embrace the holistic lifestyle. Right, you can go, you can get hormone therapy, nobody's talking to you. But if you don't embrace the holistic life, guess what that's? The same thing's going to happen. You're going to put on weight, you're going to do all those things, right?
Speaker 2:I agree. I think it's also realizing, like you know, in the mental health realm, you know when a lot of people come in and like, well, I'm less depressed, I'm taking my Prozac or I'm feeling less scattered, I'm taking my Adderall or what have you, and I'm just giving two examples, and I'm like, yeah, but you still got to change the way you think and you got to be able to connect with that. So pills is just part of it. You know the American culture is about pills and solving things fast. When, in fact, when you think about perimenopause and any type of issue, frankly, I think it's time. I mean, that's part of the message I think you're also trying to give people right.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. You know we have to nourish ourselves. Nourish meaning, of course, the food you have. The food is very important. Food is medicine. You have to put the right kind of food. You have to put nourish your right kind of thoughts. You have to nourish your exercise movement, what we call it I don't want to say exercise movement nourishing your soul, you know your brain right. So all those things you have to nourish. If you feed the right ingredients in your body, no matter what age you are, you will be hopefully fine and not prone to all the things we talk about, the bad things. But we don't do that and that's where we come. I'm trying to say is that self-care, self-love, nourishing yourself is so important during these years of women's life that women don't understand that.
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Speaker 2:Right, I think the westernized culture also does not understand that. The eastern culture has been addressing this for about 3,000 years. They might know something we don't. I'm always fascinated to have doctors who and again, I'm not talking about you know doctors that I do know personally. But when I say, well, you know what about acupuncture? Or what about working on movement rather than just giving him a pill or giving him surgery. Doctors that are willing to accept that they're few and far between. How do we get women you know, men, but because we're talking about women here how do we get women to start having that active conversation with doctors in regards to their own health?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so the eastern culture you talked about, you know it definitely has been around for 3,000 years. The traditional Chinese medicine has acupuncture, has a ton of research, extremely helpful for women going through perimenopause heart flashes. Lot of data is there for acupuncture. So is Ayurveda. Ayurveda is also very strong.
Speaker 2:Do you know what that is?
Speaker 3:Ayurveda is basically a natural form of science that's originated in India. Sort of it talks about food as medicine and it also talks about basically your constitution. Each person's constitution is unique and they talk about three different main constitution types. So the first step is which constitution are you as a person? I don't want to have this whole thing on Ayurveda, but just on a very high level, based on what constitution you are, you should have the kind of food and the kind of exercises based on what your personalized constitution is. And it's all natural. It's all based on food, it's all based on movement. Ayurveda is a sister science of Ayurveda. Just to give you an example meditation, breathing. Then it uses a lot of medicated oils. So it talks a lot about massaging yourself, like nourishing yourself, and also it has another therapy called Panchkarma five therapies. Talks about cleansing, internal cleansing and detoxification what we call it a juice cleansing, but this is a serious cleansing here.
Speaker 2:I was going to say this is not like I'm just going to drink juice for 48 hours and empty myself out. I just want to make sure we say that because we don't necessarily I'm not endorsing anything here by any stress, but I certainly don't endorse that type of behavior because I think that's not the cleansing that most Eastern culture that has made sense to me anyway has ever talked about. But I think it's important. I want to let you finish your idea on that cleansing. But I know you said, oh, I'm not here to talk about that. I think it's important that we bring this stuff up. I think that when women think that they're only limited to the two options that their male doctor gave them, that they got in 1972. I mean, I would all do respect to all the docs I know love you, but I mean it's willingness to talk about these things. So I think it's important when we talk about perimenopause to open women to different types of ideas and suggestions. So please go ahead. I'm sorry.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely so. Women. We accumulate a lot of toxins. So do men. Chronic inflammation builds up in our bodies.
Speaker 2:Oh, you should see my toxicity.
Speaker 3:Oh really, oh my God, no, I get it. We all have toxins inside. You know there's scary data that a newborn, when it's coming out, you know they have so many toxins and that's coming from a mom's placenta, right? I mean so much I read in science journals and that's happening at the birth. Now you can imagine, you know, as we grow older we have so many toxins that accumulated.
Speaker 3:So I think the first step is we need to make sure our cleansing internal cleansing is important in our body and that actually, if our gut health is in good shape, our internal cleansing is in good shape, your skin is going to be in just fine shape, right? Because your skin is nothing but a mirror reflection of what is going inside, not outside, or no matter what kind of expensive creams and all that kind of things that you do. So how you, with the talks about coming back to that internal purification. The talks that about and has a very strong footing on the Panchkarma therapies and the other therapy talks about is a lot of what they call it like a massage, different type of massaging to and for lack of a better word here in Western language, so they have this call Abhyanga. It's like using medicated oils to massage the bodies and they think that the toxins kind of slowly start going away. And then there's another therapy, what they call it Shirodhara. So you just lie on your head like that and the oil, the warm oil, trickles on your forehead like this In fact I got it done just few weeks back and, believe it or not all kinds of nasal energies. You were talking about your sinuses and all that I'm telling you. It just goes, it's just vaporized, it is up in thin air. You sleep like a baby, you relax, your blood pressure goes down. It's called Shirodhara.
Speaker 3:And then they have all kinds of different therapies using medicated oils. For osteoporosis, arthritis, joint pain. What they use is medicated herbs and the dippinotent pot oil that again is medicated oil and kind of go on your body like all the way, like that. So all these tools are available to them to help, first of all, cleansing process of their internal cleansing process of their bodies, so that all the toxins are washed away. Are you really? This is a big one?
Speaker 3:And then there are all kinds of herbs that are available and I don't recommend anyone to start growing an herbal garden here inside. You know you wanna do it with knowledge and some expertise and have a consultation. But amazing, amazing herbs and spices. Turmeric, right. Turmeric has been, oh my God, the queen of herbs. Ashwagandha is great for your anxiety depression, right. And then there's Shatavri that I can go on and on. And red clover, makarut. But all these herbs are available. But now you don't want to do that, like to place the medication with all these herbs. Like I said, you wanna conserve with someone who understands the herbs and who understands your body and understands you know what are the deficiencies and then replenish it with the right kind of herbs if needed. But all these are available for women, which they should at least empower themselves or at least educate themselves, right.
Speaker 2:Right, and I think that that's, you know, getting back to perimenopause and menopause. And the other side of all that is to realize too that you know this is not, you know, entertaining, like we're not just saying, you know, take two, two marics and call me in the morning, type of deal we're talking about, you know, kind of like a combination of a lot of different things. Eastern culture has said this many, many, many years ago. It's not just the essential oil, it is not just acupuncture, it is a combination of all that and you know I keep culture in mind when we talk about Eastern culture. A whole lot, you know. Again, I think that you know there's a difference between, you know, in the BIPOC and you know the versus white women. And again, this is not about, it's not about race per se, but there is a difference and we got to not pretend it's not there. Can you speak a little bit about the differences also that come with that?
Speaker 3:Absolutely culturally sensitive programs and solutions. Right so women? Unfortunately, perimenopause is different for different type of women depending on the different ethnicity. Now, just to give an example Latino, black women. They get their perimenopause earlier, three or four years earlier than a white woman.
Speaker 2:No not.
Speaker 3:A normal age for menopause is 50 and 52. Most of the white women get that, but the Latino and black women get it earlier and they're a little bit more obese and they also have more severe symptoms than an average. You know woman here. Now, if you look at, comparatively, some of the Muslim women in South Africa, for example, they get it at mid 40s, which is actually quite alarming, and that could be because of their lifestyle lack of movement, sedentary lifestyle, all those things and same as the behavior happening in a country like India. The most of the women they get their menopause in their mid 40s, which is again very alarming because the early menopause. If women start getting early menopause, then that means the hormones have gone down and then risk for chronic condition increases.
Speaker 3:So the cultural sensitivity is definitely very, very important during this phase of women's life. It's not just one thing okay, I can take Tylenol, I can give it to all the women and it's not gonna work through. That. It depends on a woman's lifestyle before and also their ethnic and the averages that I'm generally talking about based on the research. Now, in Japanese, women, because of their lifestyle the soy being a very keen ingredient in their food do not get as severe symptoms like heart flashes, as opposed to the other women that I talked about. So you can see the difference.
Speaker 3:Soy being one of the phytoestrogens helps, you know, south Asian women, specifically Japanese women, who grow with that soy in their diet. So there are so many nuances in this whole journey and the thing is that it's not like you know, okay, I get a cold, I take some medication and I'm gonna be fine by tomorrow. It could be a seven to 10 year journey for a woman, this whole pediment of hers and beyond that again. So it's not just one thing that's gonna set you, it's you have to change your lifestyle and you know, whether you like it or not, if you wanna navigate this journey, you know, with the high quality of life is how I would put it.
Speaker 2:Right, and I think it's also changing the mindset right, because you know, if you grew up that once I made menopause or I start having the symptoms of menopause, peri-menopause, I'm no longer useful to men or I'm less attractive or what have you, you gotta work on the mind and how you perceive that and that, over generalization, y'all are nothing thinking, the emotional reasoning, things like that. And I think that for me, that's why, like, one of my biggest takeaways from what you're saying is something that I've practiced for many, many years is that we gotta think about it as the mind, body, spirit connection. And for me, I tell people like, if you think that my mental health treatment as a therapist will fix everything, then you're. Don't come and see me, go see someone who thinks that way. You need to go to a doctor. You gotta get your physical health in order, and whether it is, you know, I wish there was a better word in English and I'm my first language is French there's a word called, and it's not diet, it's not about anything, but it's how you eat, whether you're eating slow or you're eating fast. What are you eating? It's not a calorie based idea and that plays a huge factor in how you deal If you're moving your body by walking or even doing what's the name of it, cause I don't want to. I want to mention it. I forgot the yoga therapy where you just kind of like lie down and stay still, or if you run two marathons, it doesn't really matter, as long as it fits what you want to do.
Speaker 2:And then the spirituality side.
Speaker 2:Like I tell people even if you tell me I have no spirituality I said that's a spiritual practice, because that means you think this is all over when we're done. So therefore you gotta do the best you can while you're here, and it's really balancing all those things, and never mind the gut biome, and we can go on and on about that too. But I mean, is that something that you kind of bring up too? Because it's not, like you said, a seven to 10 year journey and it's not like, oh well, if you take turmeric you'll be fine for the rest of your life. I mean like turmeric would sell out right away. But do you talk about that journey also? Cause it's not just physical health or, like I said I don't like the word but how you eat. It's a lot more than that. And for women when perimenopause, it's like also looking at how you treat your body, whether it's looking at yourself in the mirror and how you perceive yourself and the distortions that you may have. But do you bring that up to women in general or?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Mind connection is very important. Having self-confidence right, because a lot of women feel like what we're talking about the physical attributes in our society, kind of a gauge or a. You know, gauging of how women look is not the right way, so the confidence level can go down and how you perceive yourself, and then anxiety, depression. So your mind, your mind-body connection the holistic health is what we are talking about is so important. It doesn't only talk about your physical being, your physical spirituality, you know all that comes into play and that's why it's very, very important for women to have that mindset right, the positive mindset, empowering themselves.
Speaker 3:And that's the problem. They think this is the way of this is gonna happen. They can't do anything unless they get the hormone therapy and they need to exercise like a crazy person. Some of the things don't work out knowledge and understanding your body and making sure you calm your mind during this phase, not have stress. But the stress is gonna exacerbate at the whole thing that we just talked about. Right, because stress is clearly linked to all the other issues. We know that, you know, and the gut microbiome is directly connected with your mental health. How good is your gut? Health Is part of the mental. That's gonna impact your gut health. I mean your mental health, your skin there could be your hair so many things.
Speaker 2:So it's just Are you process sugars, stuff like that?
Speaker 3:Yes, absolutely. So. It's intertwined. It's not just one thing that's gonna say, okay, this is what you do and your pediment of our journey is the peak, you know? Please, okay, no, no, no. You have to change yourself. You have to change your mindset, Incorporate your life and learn how to take care of yourself. All these things have to happen if you want, if you do not want to end up having a chronic condition after 55 or beyond.
Speaker 2:Right, and I think that's the good message that you give and I really appreciate that. And how to treat people differently. Obviously, like you know, I appreciate what you were saying before we got on there. You're like it's nice to have a guy talk about this and I've learned a long time ago that I don't know everything and I need to be curious about stuff and you're teaching me a whole lot. You're gonna have to send me all those terms that you use because I didn't know a whole lot about them, but I'm sure that the audience will want to have some links to that information because I think that that's important. We gotta stop thinking we know everything. I certainly I know what. I'm not that smart, and in a good way, not in a bad way. We need to learn, and learning all these things is key, and you know.
Speaker 2:And then thinking about individual differences, whether it's you talked, you know, obviously we talk about women, but you know, thinking about race, thinking about socioeconomic status, you know, I think that that plays huge factors, and nevermind if you've been stuck in a place where maybe your sexual orientation has been something you've questioned for a long time, and sometimes you have that realization the perimenopause, menopause phase because you're like fuck the world, I'm gonna do whatever I want, and in a good way. I mean that in the most respectful way. I like women finding themselves way before that. But you know as much as I do, sometimes it takes that shock, so to speak, in order to get there, and it takes time. But you know, as we go along here where you know I wanna start thinking about wrapping up a little bit here. You talked. I really wanna hear more about you know you talked about I believe it's Norrstock.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:I wanna hear more about that because that sounded very fascinating to me, and let my audience know about it too.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, based on all the things we talked about, you know we felt I felt a strong need underserved. You know that need that has been underserved. People don't wanna talk about sexual health.
Speaker 3:We never got to talk about that, but that again is one of the type of subjects.
Speaker 3:So, anyway, the Norrstock is all about culturally sensitive holistic programs and lifestyle that we are trying to educate and empower the women and by starting with a simple self care, very affordable, less than $10, will serve holistic therapies to the women experts you know different experts by.
Speaker 3:Maybe you have to get your testing done and also a consultation and all the you know. I would talk about all the herbs, the herbaceuticals and nutraceuticals that you have to take. So Norrstock is empowering all that, starting with a simple, affordable program of self care and then going the next step of individualized, personalized holistic plan and then after that you know they want to go more in depth of analysis or some kind of a treatment. So we are trying to bridge this gap in the underserved market or underserved area of the women's life which I talk about, like their sexual relationships, their sexual health can go down from so many other things to bring all this up in a very simple, affordable way, from the comfort of their home, from the privacy, from anonymity, whatever you want to talk it. We are here to help women thrive and empower during this phase of life.
Speaker 2:And I think that all you talked about is very important. And you know, another thing that you head on and we didn't really get to talk about is our sexual experiences and talking about it. You know, as a therapist, you know people tell me a whole lot of different things. As soon as I bring up sex, whether it's men or women, it becomes suddenly like the biggest taboo in the world. And I'm like I didn't ask you for anything, but just information. And I think that opening up that conversation because I think it's ridiculous how maybe it's the Canadian and me and my Quebec heritage, but you know, talking about sex should not be a taboo. It should be something that we openly discuss and that's a good thing and I appreciate that from that program too. How do we get to Norrish stock? I mean, is that? Is there a website? Is there social media? What's going?
Speaker 3:Absolutely so. Our website is wwwNorrishDarkcom and we are on every social media Facebook, instagram, linkedin. You can send us an email. Hello at NorrishDarkcom. My name is Amita Sharma, so there are a lot of ways, and then when the app comes out in a month, it will be available on Apple as well as Google Play, and women can download it. Try it out and if you know any feedback, you want to give it to us. We are here to listen and we are here to help everyone.
Speaker 2:I like that. I think that sometimes we come up with an app or we come up with a program and someone says you know if you tweak this? No, no, we know everything. So I appreciate the humbleness in regards to what you just said. I think that's what the greatest thing in the world is, and life is to be humble and I'd love to be able to promote that app whenever it comes out, put on the show notes. I'll definitely put the website on the show notes too, and if there's a way for us to collaborate elsewhere, like you said, it's nice to have a man to open up and talk about these things. I think it's very helpful for men to hear it too. So I want men to hear about this, because she's having hot flashes. That's a little more complex than just hot flashes and it's really being understanding of that. So, nourishdoccom, the app is going to be coming out, probably hopefully by the. Even the time this is released, it will be out, and if not, we will definitely put it on the show notes as soon as I get it, and I would love to collaborate in any way I can. So I hope you can think of me.
Speaker 2:I truly enjoyed what you talked about. You're right in my wheelhouse about seeing the holistic approach, talking about differences within women too and, more importantly, eastern culture. To me, as a person who is always willing to learn, it's very important. And then the Buddhist in me says please understand, you've got to know nothing, steve, in life, so you've got to make sure that you keep on learning. So I appreciate your time, amita Sharma. I thank you and let's stay in touch, please.
Speaker 3:Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate that.
Speaker 2:Well, this concludes episode 137. Amita Sharma. Thank you so much for coming. I was a great interview and I hope you guys get a lot from it. Norrstak, if something you should look up, and please do so as quickly as you can. But episode 138 will be also someone coming back from an episode 121. Jenny Elms Calvin, she will be back, had a great time when we last spoke and I definitely wanted to have her back, so she will be here in the next episode. So try to stand.
Speaker 1:Please like, subscribe and follow this podcast on your favorite platform. A glowing review is always helpful and, as a reminder, this podcast is for informational, educational and entertainment purposes only. If you're struggling with a mental health or substance abuse issue, please reach out to a professional counselor for consultation. If you are in a mental health crisis, call 988 for assistance. This number is available in the United States.