The Best Foods for Great Skin, Mental Wellness, and Hormone Health with Dr Amy Shah

A lot of people notice when they go on these higher protein diets, especially women, all of a sudden you have more energy and your mood changes because the gut bacteria also like protein, they like fiber and they like probiotics. So those three things, if you just added them to your diet, you're going to notice your energy levels, your mood. Especially for women in the late 30s, 40s, 50s, like, as their hormones are changing, they're going to see a bigger difference and even someone in their 20s, foreign.

Welcome back to the earn your happy podcast. Today I have on the show Dr. Amy Shaw. She is a double board certified doctor and nutritionist. She's been featured on the Today Show, Good Morning America, Mel Robbins podcast and more. Over the past 10 years, she's developed a world renowned wellness education platform and she is the host of the Save yourself podcast. I had so much fun, freaking fun in this conversation with Amy. She's such a wealth of knowledge in gut health, wellness and how to take care of yourself as you age. She's also so fun. She's hilarious. She's created this incredible chai whey protein that you're going to love to learn about. Amy and I talk about how to support every aspect of your wellness from your social circle and community to gut and hormone health. She also shares some great information for women in perimenopause and menopause. Talking to Amy is like having a girlfriend that is also a genius dog doctor that can break down health and wellness in a way that's easy to understand with tips that are so doable. I'm so excited for you to hear this conversation with Dr. Amy Shaw. You guys, there is some stuff in here that blew my freaking mind and you're going to know exactly what I'm talking about when I say this. So let's get into the episode. All right. Dr. Amy Shah, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for coming on.

Thank you so much for having me.

I feel like sometimes I wish we kept the cameras rolling before we start the podcast because I feel like it's that time where you dive in and you get to know people better. But we also got to do a prep call and I'm really excited to talk about what you're most passionate about and that is the nutrition, lifestyle and mindset tips to help you save yourself. What does that even mean? I mean, I, I love the concept of saving ourselves because ain't nobody coming to save us. But tell me what that means to you and why.

Absolutely. That's the concept. I think a lot of us grow up, women especially, thinking that there's going to be a guy, a job, you know, procedure, medication, injection, a doctor, a person that's going to just make it easy, that is going to take all the work away, and that is going to have all the answers that we don't have. And I think slowly and the hard way, I learned for myself, in every one of those scenarios, there was nobody who had all the answers. And the easy button, it was like I had to find the answers within myself. I had to research, had to do the work and save myself. And what I want, I wish more women knew, is that when it comes to health, mindset, your body, you have to learn to save yourself.

Oh, I can specifically remember times where you have those moments of, like, knowing what you need to do, but not knowing how to do it and almost choosing to tell yourself you can't do it.

Yeah.

And having such inner conflict, like an inner temper tantrum of frustration, knowing no, like, consciously and unconsciously no one is coming. And knowing that. And like that moment, the breakdown moment, the freakout moment, where, like, all your choices appear in front of you. And I can't tell you how many times I kept choosing sabotage over and over. Can you tell me about a few moments for you where you can think of that?

I mean, this happened to me when I parlayed into kind of the wellness world from. From being a doctor. And in my mind, I always felt like, well, I didn't know how to be anything but a doctor. And so to be someone who was entrepreneur, a teacher, a mentor, a coach, I felt like I needed to get the answers from someone else because I didn't know. And I thought that there was someone that had all the answers that could help me. And that happens to so. So many scenarios. Right. So I would hire people to help me. I would do all these things to try to get the answers from other people. And I realized finally that we have the power to learn it. Like your intuition, your effort is going to get you there. And so I was like, well, that's the same thing in health. Like, you can actually have the healthiest mind and body and spirit if you actually learn the tools and implement it through your own intuition, through your own effort, rather than waiting for, like, that easy answer.

Do you have one that you really struggled with most out of all of these, like, mindset, nutrition people? Because those are kind of your three. Yeah, nutrition mindset people are kind of the things that you really love to dive into. So which one stands out when I.

Say that the nutrition piece is something that I feel like so many people don't realize. We, I think in our world we don't talk enough about how your nutrition actually controls your cravings, your mood, of course, your long term health, you know, dementia and heart disease, all that. But like, it's your, how you're showing up in the world, your temperament, the things you like and dislike, that's all coming from your gut bacteria, the things that you're eating and taking in. And so I wish more people knew that like, food is an easy lever to improve your life in so many ways. What you input, not just food, but everything you input, the energy you input, input the sunlight, the people you listen to, the reading, all of that plays into who you are. And so I think more, I wish more people knew about that.

Oh, I love that. And I, I'm like ready to dive in right now. But I, I had a couple huge moments in my life. I came from a family who, we loved food. We bonded over food. Midwest. Raised all very overweight, like very obese. All my aunts are like literally almost 100 pounds up, 200 pounds overweight. So growing up, I was a, a chubby kid.

Food, food, food.

I was, I struggled with anxiety, struggled with depression at a young age. Mood, energy. I remember thinking like, kids would want to go out and play. And I'm like, I don't want to, like at a, at a young age. And as I got older and started learning more about nutrition, I started looking at food. One of the things that I finally learned how to do was to look at food and be like, wait, I'm literally eating my mood. Like, so when I look at a plate of, we call it beige food, my husband and I, we're like, oh God, you go back to the Midwest and everything's beige because it's fried or french fries or whatever. Yeah, you take broccoli, you fry, it's beige now.

Yeah.

And I'm like, what am I? What mood am I eating for tomorrow or today?

I mean, that's, that's it. I mean, yeah, we figured out that you can trans transplant the gut bacteria from one like human to an animal, and you can transplant their entire personality, mood, even like schizophrenia, just by changing the gut bacteria. So, like what you're saying is exactly true. Like when your gut bacteria is really sad and lacking and hungry because you're not giving it the right foods, it's going to reflect that in how you show up in the world.

Okay, so let's start from the top with that because I'm like, okay, tell me more. How does this work? Like, let's start with the basics.

Okay, so the way it works is that we always think of the brain, like, controlling our personality, our mood, our energy levels, and all that stuff. But what we realize now is that the brain is actually getting signals from a lot of different places. And the biggest place it's getting signals from is our gut bacteria. So they're like these trillions of literally, like, organisms that are sending signals to our brain about what's going on in there. And so if you can imagine, their signals are stronger than our own. So your gut bacteria wants you to be happy. It'll send dopamine all the way through. And if your gut bacteria is saying that you're hungry, it wants more, it will send hunger signals to your brain. And so your brain is basically, like, responding to these little organisms in there. And people are like, wait a second, what do you mean? Like, these guys control us more than we control ourselves. It's like, it's that profound. Their signals are stronger than our own. So if you're trying to say, change your mood. So we know, like, okay, depression, now, we know that if you change your gut bacteria, you can cure depression, you can cure even like, dementia, schizophrenia, as one I mentioned. So what now we're trying to figure out is, like, how do we change these gut bacteria? Okay, please tell me how, because it should be as easy as, like, should we just take a probiotic? And that's what all the companies, like, all the research right now is in these psychobiotics. So psychobiotics would be like basically bacteria that you can ingest that change that gut bacteria so that the signals change to your brain. They haven't been able to pin down exactly what mix of bacteria you need. They know that if you have a healthy gut one that where you eat tons of probiotic foods, which I'll mention what they are, tons of fiber, tons of real foods, rather than like ultra processed foods that you. You'll have a healthy gut bacteria, and there's like, specific bacteria like Lactobacillus, for example, that you want to have a lot of, and you can have a lot of it if you have a really healthy diet. But it's really hard if you don't have a healthy diet to just supplement it with bacteria and hope that that whole ecosystem changes. Yeah, it's like, it's like an Amazon rainforest in there. So you can' a seed and hope that you change the whole flora.

It's all of it.

Yeah, it's like always, all of it. And it's going to take time to like transform it, but in as little as three days it starts to transform. Wow. So changing your diet is the right now in 2024, changing your diet is the fastest way to change your mood and your energy levels. Wow.

So what are some things for people? If you just pinpointed them, they like having anxiety, depression, all of the things. And they're thinking, oh, please tell me some of the foods that I can start eating. So if I came to you and I said, can you just set me up on a week, like I want to see how I can feel in five to seven days just to see if I can get a quick hit of something different.

I love that. So there was actually a big study, very landmark study in nature, which is like the big journal, top journal in medicine where they put people took them from an ultra processed diet that means like drive throughs, lots of processed meat, dairy, gluten, sugar, alcohol. And they were like, let's just radically change it and make them just really clean. Whole foods, plant based, lots of fiber, vegetables, fruit, take out all of those ultra processed fast food fried meals. And they thought that they would start to change their gut within two weeks. That was like their hypothesis. They're like, you radically change someone's diet and you could see the changes.

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What they found is in three days there was already like this whole ecosystem was starting to grow. Like the rainforest was starting to grow. There was starting to be market change from what it looked like before. So something I would tell people is like give it seven days, see how you feel with eating probiotics. That's your the easiest way to get it is yogurt or cottage cheese like the probiotic cottage cheese. Or you could get kimchi, sauerkraut, even apple cider vinegar. Eat some more probiotic foods. We're supposed to be eating more pro in our modern world. We probably don't eat any. Right. And then fiber. Fiber is the literal food. So if you even have a seedling of a gut bacteria, like the, you want to feed that bacteria so that it flourishes and it grows. So eating fiber is like real foods, the vegetables, the fruits, and there's not, you don't even have to specifically eat one type of fiber. And everything matters. In fact, the more diverse your choices, like if you pick like five different vegetables, five different fruits in that first week, you're going to be able to change your microbiome. So it's really simple. It's just like cut out the drive throughs, the fast food, the milkshakes, the frappuccinos, you know, and start to eat like the real fiber, probiotic and then protein. Proteins, the third thing. So, you know, like a lot of people notice when they go on these higher protein diet, especially women, all of a sudden you have more energy and your mood changes. Because the gut bacteria also like protein, they like fiber and they like probiotics. So those three things, if you just added them to your diet, you're going to notice your energy levels, your mood. Especially for women, and especially for women in the late 30s, 40s, 50s, like as their hormones are changing that they're going to see a bigger difference than even someone in their 20s.

Okay, so it sounds like your gut microbiome literally affects everything. I think you talk about the brain and gut as well. Yeah, I'm also super into skin, so is there connection? Skin and gut? Tell me a little bit about brain and gut and skin and gut.

Okay, so our gut bacteria, just like it's communicating with our brain, it's also communicating with our skin and it's communicating with our hormones. So you may notice that all of a sudden when you change your diet, people will say like, oh, it's weird, my skin got better. You know, I was able to balance my hormones. Those are the things that are happening. If those gut bacteria are happy, they're literally on walkie talkies. Just imagine these like little organisms and they're talking to all the different areas. So skin is one of the biggest areas of interest right now because we're like, wow, people who give their gutter rest. So I always talk about eating with the sun, like circadian rhythm, fasting. So you eat as much as you can, like as much as you want. Really? That's healthy for you during the daylight hours and then in the evening when it's dark or three hours before your bedtime is an easy way to calculate it. Stop eating because that rest for your so simple. I know something that's so hard. 12 hours even is hard for Americans. We look at average Americans eating 16 hours a day. So even 12 hour break, you're gonna notice a difference in your skin, you're gonna notice a difference in your brain clarity. Because that gut bacteria got a chance to rest. It's like giving them their first night of sleep in like six years, you.

Know, making them work out all day. Yeah, poor guys. They're trying to make you happy, they're trying to make you look good.

Yeah, it's like they're literally doing. It's like we only have one layer of our own cells in our gut. It's so hard for people to imagine one layer of our own cells. And there's like maybe I would say 10 to 15 layers of the gut bacteria. So when you have a healthy gut, it's literally mostly bacteria and then just one layer of skin, your own epithelial salt on both sides. So if you want a better skin, like younger looking or blemish free skin, you want to feed your gut the right things, you want to take care of it. So don't overdo on the antibiotics, overdo it on the alcohol, on all those toxins. Like when I say fried food and fast food, it's not only that it's fried, it's that it's ultra processed, meaning there's ingredients in it that shouldn't even be insulin. So those are the things you can do to easily clear your skin. Now we are realizing, you know, dairy, processed dairy, is really bad for the skin or for acne at least. But these are easy things that we could be doing to make us look younger and feel younger. You can literally anti age yourself from doing these things.

I think of that all the time because we buy all of these creams and topical things and I'm like, man, we gotta, we gotta start with how your skin is being created every day. Like how your body's creating it.

Yeah, that's why I'm like a fan of adequate protein in women. I don't want to say high protein. It's not necessarily high, but it's usually higher than most women are eating. Because that protein, when it breaks down, it's an amino acids, and those amino acids can go and build collagen all over your body. So especially in your skin. So you want to have an adequate protein, fiber and probiotic diet to kind of help that.

Well, your skin looks amazing.

Oh, well, thank you.

Like, give me what she's having. Okay, we're going to do that. Okay, just a one minute pause here because I have to tell you about something that I am loving. So you know, I'm a fan of a good supplement that promotes gut health, tastes amazing and is packed with health benefits. If you've listened to this podcast at all or see me online, you know that I am obsessed with beverages. At any given time I have like four on my desk, which is why I'm so excited to share what I'm drinking right now. And it's the sponsor of today's episode, Dr. Amy Shaw's Chai Protein Plus. So if you're like me, I always have a little something in the afternoon and and I also sometimes struggle to get all the protein in that I want. And I know that you have probably been learning if you are a podcast listener, about how important protein is for so many different things and for staying strong as we get older. So Chai Protein plus takes it to the next level. It's made with gut, healthy spices that support digestion, decrease bloat, and it's packed with 20 grams of protein, it has zero sugar and it's only 100 calories per per serving. So I love enjoying it by itself or my favorite thing to do is actually to warm up some almond milk and add it to that. So head to the link in the show notes to grab Chai Protein plus and spice up your supplement and self care routine and get all of that protein in. It's so important you guys. Okay, let's get back to the episode. Is there anything else around nutrition that you want to, to share with people?

I think I just wish that these simple tips that we talked about, I wish it was just more like common knowledge every time I share about, you know, especially you know, as hormone changes to fix your brain health, to fix your mood. All of these things are simple changes that you could be making. I, I don't need you to get an erewhon membership if you don't want, you know, like it's like it's optional. It's like the simple things that you could be doing that actually helps.

All right, let's move into mindset because I feel like when I talked with you just about what your kind of theory on overall wellness, health, happiness, all of the things you, you were like. I can't talk about that without talking about the three. So tell me about where mindset comes in for you and the things that we can do to make sure that it's healthy.

Well, first of all, I think the thing that really changed my mind about this. Is that the biggest predictor of how long you'll live and how happy you'll live is your relationships. Yes.

Can I get an amen? I wrote. I wrote a book on, like, relationships around that because I was like, people, we need people.

Yeah. Like, you could eat all the kale and broccoli and, you know, perfect diet and all this stuff we talked about with nutrition and gut health, but those gut bacteria actually need other animals, other humans, other. Sharing food. Like the. The whole practice of that is really, really important for our body. And so connection. We're humans are wired to connect. And we talked about this a little before. Like, we saw that during the pandemic, we were so miserable, the rates of depression and anxiety skyrocketed because we didn't have that in person connection as much as we need. And we all need that. And I took this anthropology class in college where they said the nuclear family is only since the industrialized countries started to move into the cities, like in London first and then in the U.S. and before that, there was no such thing as just relying on your husband and two kids. It was. Or three kids or one kid. It was always a community. It was your family, it was your friends, it was the. The people around you. And kids were raised with lots of other members. And the concept of the nuclear family really just is new concept and puts a lot of pressure.

Yes.

On people. And it makes people really lonely because they don't have some people move to a new city and they really don't have anyone to rely on. And so that's why, like, events that, like you guys do, where people find connections, where they may not have it right in their neighborhood or in their family or in their nuclear family, but finding connections is so important as a huge part of health.

I just want you to repeat that till the podcast is over, because it's. It's all so important. But that one, I think we all. We just forget that. I was watching a Netflix show on. On Blue Zones, and they were talking about exactly that. And you know, for the centur, they're studying them who live to 100 or past 100, and it was their relationships. And they were talking about how they live in these villages or these communities where they feel like they have every single person in that community. You could kind of ask them what they know they do for the community. And they have a purpose.

Yeah.

And someone down the road, you could ask them what that person does, and they'd be able to tell you, oh, well, you Know, they take care of the food for the village or the gardening, or they do this, or they help us with that, or that's who I go to for so seamstress or. And they feel so much purpose within a community, not just their family. And it's like having that purpose and that connection and every single day talking. My husband and I, literally, we live here and we live in Newport beach, and we do talk about the difference between living here and there, because it's a. We live in a walkable neighborhood there and we interact. Probably we counted in a day's walk about 30 times, just in a one hour walk. And we come here and we actually feel. We're like, I feel lonely today. And it doesn't make it bad or good. It makes me aware of what I know that I need is like these constant interactions with people to feel good. But it's interesting to start watching your life going, do I have interactions? Are they fulfilling?

Yes.

Am I. Am I hungry or lonely? Like all of these questions you ask. So tell me a little bit. Tell me a little bit more. I know you had chatted on Lindsay's podcast about our gut microbiome. Like, actually maybe talking to other people. Tell me about this. What does this mean?

Okay, this is so fascinating. So they found that your gut microbiome looks most close, like just almost identical to the people you spend the most time with.

Oh, my God, of course it does.

Yeah. So if you have an identical twin and they did this study, they had identical twins that were separated, living different lives, and they looked at their gut microbiome, you would think, I mean, they're identical. Right. They should have exactly similar microbiome. They found that they actually weren't that similar. It was more similar to their spouse or their children than it was to each other.

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And so why that was so interesting is that now we know that your gut microbiome not only influences your hunger and cravings, but it also influences your athletic prowess, your ability to solve problems. Like, you know, what if Nobel Peace prize or Nobel Science Prize people share their microbiome. There's a company out there in Boston where athletes, elite athletes, will share their microbiome, which is basically poop pills, that if you take them, because poop is the biggest source of gut bacteria that you can get. So we know from fecal transplants. So if you get the gut bacteria from a family member or something and they do colonoscopy and they put the gut bacteria in your gut, you start to have some of the characteristics of that person.

Wait, so how does that work? Are we talking about a poop transplant?

Yes. So we can do.

I'm like a 12 year old boy. Okay, great. Let's talk about.

So they actually ban them in the US except for if you have a very, very serious illness where you need the bacteria from a family member and they test it and they do it with a colonoscopy and it's actually proven to be curative, almost 100% curative for that.

So I could take like some of the smartest people and some of the most beautiful people.

Yes.

And literally get a poop transplant.

I mean, people want to, they're like willing to pay. I'm for this. Yeah.

I'm curious.

You can take the pills and they'll seed into your gut like a probiotic. And what they found is your athletic prowess goes up, your intelligence can go up, your ability to problem solve can go up. So if you don't want to get a poop transplant or you don't have.

Other options, there are other options.

It's spending more time with the people that you want to be more like. And it's like that old saying that you are the five people you spend the most time with. If you think about this theory and this proven science theory, this is what's happening is that you're trying to be nice to your X, y and z friend and you're spending all this time with Them just because you feel bad. You've known them for 25 years, like, Da, da, da, da. But you're literally getting their gut bacteria when you're hanging out with.

You are becoming them.

Yes. And so if you. If there is anything that should deter you from doing that, that's the gut microbiome theory. So what I say that really changed my mind.

I thought there's something that actually proves it now.

Yeah.

Because we've said this. I mean, we've. Yeah, we've known that you've known this. And you're like, of course I know this. I see it in my own life. But now I love that there's actual science that proves it. You are becoming the people you hang around around.

And that's the problem with this is, like, we live in a society where everybody's really isolated, not spending a lot of time with a lot of people. And it just made me really realize, okay, what. Who are these good people, these batteries and these vacuums? You know, batteries are the people who recharge you. They make you feel so good, motivated about whatever it is. And then the vacuums who, like, literally suck the energy out of you. And do you really want to be spending time with those vacuums even though it's really inconvenient to stop hanging out with them? Or it's really inconvenient to say, no.

There'S going to be a really hard conversation, or they're not going to like you, and people are going to talk shit about you, whatever it is.

And so then, I mean, it made so much sense to me to really clean up my life in that way. And like you said, and then say, okay, who are the people then I want to spend more time with and how do I get myself to spend more time with them? And that's always a more difficult question because then you have to change your whole relationship. So I'm constantly. Over the last five years, especially since I've really, like, gone deep on this, I'm constantly trying to think, like, who are the relationships that are really recharging me and making me a better person? And let me do more of that.

Yeah, how do you do more of that?

Okay. Okay. So one of the things I do is I'm really into fitness. I think you are, too. So I'll schedule walks with friends that I really want to see, and I'll make time for it because I think it's easy to just say, okay, whatever's happening, like, you'll just join. You go to something that you're invited to, but like, consciously making choices and decisions and saying, like, hey, are you available on Wednesday evening for a walk or for a coffee? I. I like walks because I feel you're don't have to have a drink. I don't want to do the alcohol thing. I don't want to eat late at night. Walking is great, accessible for everyone. Everybody can do. We live in a place where it's very, very doable most times of the year. So I found that to be really helpful. And then putting yourself in positions where you're meeting in person. Like, we could have done this podcast on Zoom. I mean, I don't know if you do Zoom, but like, I used to.

I literally just switched this year for this reason. So I was like, I want her microbiome.

Yeah, exactly. Like, if we, if we are meeting people in person and you're like, hey, this was a great, energetic conversation. Like, when I did the conversation with Lindsay, I was like, she's a great person. Like, I want to invite her to my event or I want her to come, you know, to this thing that. That's how you do it. It's like, you can't always. Of course there's people who are super busy. Like, I love Mel Robbins, but she lives across the country and like, there's, you know, there's not going to see her on a daily basis or weekly basis or monthly basis. So it has to be something that you can do.

How close do we have to walk to these friends in order to get it? It's.

You just. It. That part is really unknown. But we know, like, you know, for example, you know so many stories of people who, like, they volunteer. I just read 50 Cent right when he was up and coming. He was such a go getter that he was like, I'm just gonna shadow everyone. Like, I just want to learn. I just want to go do. And he said, I think Jesse Itzler, somebody was talking about how he would just come, just no cost. Like, he was. He's like, you don't have to pay me. I'm just going to be here, going to watch, going to shadow. And he learned so much from these mentors who would just be like, oh, you want to come for free? Like, all right, come over. And he really says, like, I think that was the secret to success. And that's how you do it.

These are the things that people try to skip over up, leveling, becoming who you want, changing the way that you feel, your mood. It's. It's not easy. I remember Fighting with. With making the walking appointments, with making things with girlfriends. Because I grew up in a really small town. I didn't have a lot of friends, and we moved all the time. And then in our 30s, we moved to California and it was like, I had to make. I had zero friends out there.

Yeah.

And people look at my connections now and they're like, oh, but it was easy for you. And I'm like, no, let me take you back.

Yeah.

To the awkward dms of asking people who didn' know who I was. Like, let's go work out. Let's go for a walk. Like, I probably sent 50 to 75 messages to. To find, like two to three girlfriends that I hung out with. I had so many awkward walks, like workout dates, where I'm like, this is not real.

Yeah, this is not my thing. Or this is not the. I think you have to feel the energy of the person and really feel. And people will give you different types of energy. Right. Like, you might be walking with someone and you're like, wow, I feel so inspired to do something with my business after talking to this person. Like, I had a conversation with someone the other day and I was, like, so blown away. And I was telling Rachel after, I was like, I just felt so inspired just being. Hearing the story of their success. And like, I want to spend more time with that person. But then there's other people who. There's. They have nothing to do with your life, but they are just someone who makes you feel recharged for whatever, you know, whatever conversation. Maybe you talked about, like, like life and deep topics and just feel so recharged after that. So it can be different or different things. But I think that concept of, like, spending more time and sharing bacteria, sharing food, sharing, you know, with the people that you want to be like, and then also doing the same thing for the people. Like, for me, I have kids, right? So I know it's really important for me to, especially when they were little from 0 to 5, really expose them to lots of different cuisines, lots of different bacteria, like, share food with them so that they're getting a lot of the bacteria that they need to have a healthy gut. Because a lot of US, 0 to 5 in America or in industrialized countries are not getting a lot of food choices and they're eating a ton of ultra processed food and they're not around a lot of people or around a lot of different foods or experiences.

So when you're saying shared food, am I understanding that? It's like, eat, like, let Your, like, use the same fork type of thing. Interesting. So everything that we are trying to avoid in this country.

Exactly.

Is like the opposite.

I mean, people were, like, freaking out when I was talking about this on one podcast because they were like, that's so unhygienic. And, yeah, you know, it is. Obviously. It's. You're literally talking about sharing bacteria. So don't share bacteria with someone who's sick.

Right.

Don't share bacteria with someone who obviously has an infection in their mouth or, like, you know, but if you trust no like, that person, they're related to you. Maybe they're someone that you know is healthy. Feel free.

Yeah, I'm just. I was just thinking, like, okay, well, that's not that much weirder than, like, you know, people go on Tinder.

Yeah.

Like kissing someone to share lots of bacteria.

Kissing someone shares a lot more bacteria than sharing.

They're fine with that, but they're like, wait, eat like the same food.

I know. It's, like, so weird. And until we get the pills that, you know, we can just swallow from someone's gut bacteria. We can do this. So one, another really quick thing that, you know, hormone health, like, we talk about hormone health all the time because it affects our skin, it affects our. The way we look, how we age, all that stuff, even our. How we metabolize, like, our body composition. So there was a male who was really, really sick, and he didn't live in. He doesn't live in America, but he was getting fecal transplants from his mother who was like, you know, we're related. We'll give you the gut bacteria to fix your gut. He had really bad GI illness. In other countries, they do allow it. And he started to get her menopausal symptoms. Oh, my God. And so not only did he get some of her personality traits and started to get some of her mood.

This is blowing my mind. Okay, keep going.

He started to get hot flashes and weird symptoms, and he was like, what's going on? And so the doctor was like, oh, my God. You're getting your mom's menopausal symptoms from her gut bacteria. So that's how profound it can be.

How have I not heard of this yet?

I know.

Is this. And it's in other countries and people are doing it. Yeah.

I mean, it's. It's not, you know, it's like bodily fluids. Right. So it's like getting blood from someone. You're not going to want to get blood from just anyone. You have to have it cleaned. You have to have it tested for viruses. It's something that, like this, these companies that are trying to do it in America, this is your next business idea.

Okay.

What they're doing is they're. They have to have the gut bacteria from the person, but they don't want any of the other stuff from that person. Like, you want to check it for viruses, you have to test it. So that's what the FDA is really against in America, and that's why it's not been approved. It's like they're like, well, how are you going to ensure that you're not transferring something that we don't know, like, you can't test for? Right. So those are the things. That's why sharing food or spending time with someone or like, you know, being in the presence of someone is just a safer, old school way of getting their gut bacteria area.

Okay.

That is.

I. I'm not over it, so.

And like, putting yourself in the presence of people that are great, like, it's such an old. I mean, all the books talk about it and, you know, I love to read about mindset books, but, like, hearing it in this setting, I'm just like, wow.

Oh, my God. Okay, so tell me more about hormones. How can we. What is the first step? Because actually, this is such a. I'm on a text thread with a bunch of my lady friends. How old am I? A bunch of my girlfriends, and we. The topic in there right now is just like, hormones. Okay, we're starting to talk about it.

I've.

I've reached a certain age where I'm like, tell me more.

Yes, please. So what. What can we do? The one thing you can do is talk about it more. So in our mother's generation, I think we're probably. I don't know how your mother was, but nobody really knew what was happening to their bodies. No, they were just like, suffering. And a lot of them got anxiety and depression medications, and a lot of them got, you know, other things happen, like gained a lot of weight or they got depressed or.

You know what I heard? Sucks to get old. You don't want to get old. Don't ever get old. I'm like, okay.

Yeah, exactly. Like, it was like they were confused. Like my mom. I still remember this. This is during when I was getting married and she was going through menopause and she couldn't. She had no idea. The doctors didn't tell her. She had no idea. Her mother never talked about it, so.

She just thought something was terrible.

Yeah, she's like, I can't sleep at night. I'm getting all these things, hot flashes. And I remember her trying all these remedies, like drinking milk, warm milk at night, like, all these things to try to, like, get herself to sleep. And I remember, now that I think about it, I'm like, oh, my gosh, she was going through menopause and no one told her. Like, she just thought she was going crazy. Like, literally, she told me she was like, I think I'm going crazy. Like, the stress is killing me. And I'm like, she was just going through menopause. And yes, there was a lot of stress. You know, wedding stressed, but it's crazy. So one thing you can do is talk about it. Just say, hey, I'm experiencing this. Are you? Because, God, like, almost everyone is having. Maybe they're not having hot flashes or night sweats, but they're having more fat gain around the belly. They're feeling more fatigued than they usually did. Their cholesterol is going up without anybody telling them why. They haven't changed anything. Their vitamin D is dipping. Like, all of these things are characteristics of perimenopause, meaning the years prior to menopause. And nobody talks about it. And so that was the first thing that I realized, like. Like, hey, why don't we just, like, talk about it more? Because there's things you can do to improve each of these symptoms without having to crash and burn once, like, you know, your anxiety gets so out of control you can't even stand it anymore. Start to do the interventions now so that over these next few years, you can really be poised for when you are going to get the symptoms even worse. Or maybe, you know, someone like you, you may be starting to get a few things here and there, but maybe if you start these interventions now, you won't get the worst.

So how do you feel about hormone therapy?

Yeah, hormone replacement therapy is extremely safe and effective. I think it's got a PR problem because there was a study, you know, years ago that came out that said it had some relationship with cancer. And now we realize, oh, my God, it's like saying one study came out that said that oranges are really bad for their teeth or something. And then for the next 25 years, nobody eats oranges because of that one study. And it's like that with hormone therapy, like, every. All these other studies have come out after it saying, like, no, it's safe, it's effective. Like, you can do it. Do it at the lowest dose. Do it like, so I'm A huge fan of it. If you need it, you need it. There's no reason not to, you know, get it if you need it.

Okay, so can you tell me a little bit about how your spirituality or belief system, like, even just believing that we're connected to something more, does that affect.

Oh, I love that question. Yeah, that's a great. I really had to change my views on this because I grew up really science, right? Like, I went to nutrition school, went to med school. Like, they pretty much said, like, don't believe all that spirituality stuff. Like, like, doesn't really exist. I was not religious, but then I said, read all these studies and all of the. Everything says that those people who have a belief system, religious or otherwise, whatever it is, maybe it's a shared belief system with other people. Maybe it's the fact that you have a community, that you share beliefs. It is so unequivocally good for your health and your happiness, which is, I think, even more, maybe more important than your health to be a part of some kind of belief system. So it doesn't have to be God or it doesn't have to be Christianity. It doesn't have to be any particular religion. And like I said, it may not even be the religion itself. It may just be that you go to a gathering with people who are there with you. Or maybe it's because your anxiety is lower because you know that somebody else is taking care of things. Like, whatever it may. May be, it's a very important part. Being having some kind of spiritual practice or having some community where you can be, you know, share spirituality is really important.

You've given us so much today. Like, if. If somebody is sitting here like I am right now, going, okay, where do I. Where do I start? Can I start with you? Do I start with what kind of doctor do I start with for their hormone stuff? Where would you direct people?

Okay, so the way I always think about it is that when people work with me, it's about creating a plan. Kind of a plan, like we say, of how to save yourself. Like, what are the foods? What are the exercises? What are the mindset tricks? What are the supplements? What are the things in your daily life that you're going to do that are going to help you in this situation that you're in right now and your goals. Everybody's going to be different. So that's what I help with now. There's physicians that help with hormone replacement therapy. There's physicians that help with gut health and all that stuff. But as you know, A lot of our traditional medical practices are geared towards solutions, like medical solutions. So you want to go with someone, to someone who has an open mind about, you know, diet and lifestyle solutions too.

And you have a great place to start. You have something coming up. You have your 15 day challenge guide.

Yeah.

That we can get. Where can we get that? And what is that? Tell us all about it.

Yeah, it's super. A super great way to start. If you're like, I don't even know where to start. Let me just start with a 15 day guided challenge where every day I know what to do. One action step and the science behind it.

We love this.

We love easy things. Yeah. And just get your feet wet with all of this gut brain hormone stuff that we just talked about. Put it into action, like actionable tips. That's what that guide is. And you can get it for free. We can put a link in there or you can get. Go to amymdwellness.com and it's there too.

We'll put the link in the show notes for sure.

For.

For that one. And I love that you take it day by day and that you're also teaching them the science of the why. Because when I can understand why that actually, that motivates me so much.

Yeah.

To want to do it.

What we talked about with the putting yourself around positive people. Yes.

Now I'm so excited. Like, I'm even more excited.

Yeah. Like, I knew that all my life, but I really didn't take action, real action, until I understood why and what that could mean for me. And then I was like, oh, let me do it now.

This is either gonna go so well for me or it's gonna be so socially weird where I'm like, okay. Licking people's forks, asking for poop samples.

Yeah. It could definitely. I mean, it can definitely. You can take it to the extreme.

Yeah.

But now, you know, I came. I was talking about this during the pandemic, and I'm telling you, people were like, what is she talking about? Like, we're. People are wearing masks and like staying like 20ft away from you. Yes. And it was like the most. It was. I was talking about this study and you're gonna love this. The pacifier study. Linking the pacifier of your baby. So they did a study and they just asked moms, like, do you like the pacifier? Because it's a common practice if a pacifier falls on the ground, instead of like your child putting it back in its mouth, dirty, you, like, clean it off. And I don't Know how they even thought of this study? Because of this gut microbiome theory. They asked the moms that did that, and they looked at the microbiomes of the babies and they found, lo and behold, the women, the moms and dads who were giving their baby the licked pacifier had healthier microbiomes.

Oh, my God. It's so interesting.

Like, it's just gross. Yeah. Like, I don't think it's gross at all. I'm like, yeah, of course you want to share food and saliva. Like, you want to share bacteria with your baby to make it healthier. Yeah.

I mean, I've always had the five minute rule with food on the floor, so why not?

That's why gardening, nature, you know, you're picking up the bacteria from the external world. Our bodies love that because that's where bacteria lives. They live in nature. So gardening, getting, going to a park, you know, you end up getting more gut bacteria.

Wow. Okay, well, I'm gonna figure out how to integrate all of that I've got. We're gonna do the more of the people thing, which is amazing. And standing closely to them.

Yes.

And that's gonna be fine.

Yes. And you're gonna be touching them. You're gonna be like, rubbing their back like a cat. This lady's.

So we, like, she doesn't have friends anymore.

Yeah.

Okay. I am so grateful for you for coming on today. This was so much fun, too.

So much fun.

It was fun to be able to learn and have fun. You're an amazing teacher and on your Instagram, it's so fun to learn from you. You guys have to go follow her. So it's these quick bites, which unfortunately, nowadays we all love.

Y.

We want it now. We want to learn now. But thank God you're so good at it. So what's your Instagram handle for people to follow you there?

It's Fasting MD F A S T I n G M D on Instagram. And I think it's a the fasting MD on TikTok. But it's where kind of I kind of enjoy it. It's like a challenge for me to take this complex information and turn it into a short, like, one minute bite.

You also have amazing books. What are the titles?

Because they're.

They're epic.

I'm so effing tired and I'm so effing hungry. Because those are the two things that I kept hearing over and over again. And so I wanted to address both of those topics.

I love it so much. Okay. I'm so grateful for you. Thank you so much. This was coming fun.

Such a great conversation.

Oh, so fun. And you guys, she actually, actually held back one topic for you. So she is going to tell you the signature thing that she tells everyone how to start their morning in the bonus content. So all you have to do is go down to the show notes, click on the bonus content, and we're going to send it to your inbox right away. Okay, we will see you there. Bye, everyone.