Transcript of Dr. Amy Shah: Fix Your Hormone Health and Stay Energized While Building a Business | Health and Wellness | E389

We live in this world that has ignored our health for so long, and it's showing the effects. Our circadian rhythms are disrupted. Our food is ultra-processed, and then the products we're using are adding to the toxic load in our bodies.

Dr. Amy Shah, a double board certified MD trained at Harvard, Columbia, and Cornell.

She's here to break down the real reasons behind burnout, brain fog, cravings, and hormonal imbalance, and the simple science-backed habits that will help you reset your system and redeem your clarity.

I was living this very extremely hustle culture life where I wasn't sleeping well, I wasn't eating well, I was trying to do it all. I hated the work that I was doing. I know something inside of me is telling me to go a different route. A lot of people think energy just is in the brain, but your gut is the center of your energy. It's really important that you eat well.

How would you recommend that we figure out what we should actually eat? Because there's so many recommendations out there.

Paula, I'm going to give you a framework that's going to change nutrition, okay? It's circadian rhythms run 80% of our body's processes, and we completely, in today's world, ignore circadian rhythms. If you can figure out how to sleep and get light in the right times, it's going to make the biggest difference in her energy.

What's one or two things people can do to immediately improve their energy?

One of the biggest things that has helped me in my life, and I recommend to people, is to be able to get light.

Yeah, Pam, are you always so effing tired or so effing hungry, even after you've just eaten? If your energy, cravings, or mood feel totally out of control, you're going to love today's episode. We're joined by Dr. Amy Shah, a Double Board Certified MD, trained at Harvard, Columbia, and Cornell, who went from a burnt out physician to a powerhouse wellness expert and influencer with nearly 2 million followers on Instagram.

She's also the author of the brand-new book Harmon Havoc, where she uncovers how modern stress, poor sleep, and disrupted circadian rhythms, are throwing our bodies into total chaos, and what actually works to fix it.

Dr..

Amy is here to break down the real reasons behind burnout, brain fog, cravings, and hormonal imbalance, and the simple science-backed habits that will help you reset your system and redeem your clarity. Dr. Amy, welcome to Young and Profiting podcast.

I'm so excited to be here. Thanks for having me.

I'm so excited, too. We've met in person, we've got to chat. I feel like you're friends with all my friends, and I'm just so happy that finally we made this interview happen. You have blown up on social media. You are all over my timeline. You are becoming one of the biggest wellness gurus on Instagram and TikTok, and you're just absolutely crushing it. A lot of times, entrepreneurs, they do best when really they are helping their past selves, right? Yes. You actually were the person that you're trying to help now. You used to have brain fog, and you were exhausted and had cravings, and you turned that all around. Talk to us about what really started your journey on becoming this outspoken person on wellness. What triggered it all?

Well, I'm glad you're asking that because I think for your audience and a lot of people who are entrepreneurs, for example, I think this will really resonate because I think I went to medical school and I did my my residency and fellowship. And I knew I wanted to do nutrition, women's health and gut health, but I couldn't figure out how to incorporate it. And a lot of people start their careers in a place where they don't feel like they're doing the absolute work that they want to do eventually. And I just lived in a brain fog. I was consistently on this adrenaline rush, and I thought that I had to do certain things to make money and to be successful and follow this traditional path. And it wasn't until my 40s that I was like, Screw this. I really need to take a different approach. After the pandemic, I started to really get into sharing on social media and speaking and writing. And what I realized through that is that was my true calling. And the way I got there, Hala, is what I talk about. When you clear your mind, when you are not always He's in that adrenaline-rushed mode where you're eating crappy, you're not sleeping, you're trying to hustle, and you're trying to multitask, but you're not really getting anything done.

You can't really know what is good for you. Once you start to eat right, sleep, get sunlight, take care of your body, all the things that I talk about when I start to do it for myself, that's when I was like, Okay, it's very clear now. I have to leave my safe job, even though that's the traditional medical job. That's where I'm making money. That's all I know. I know something inside of me is telling me to go a different route. And that's why this year, actually, is the first year that I left my safe medical practice job and really dove into this. And so that's why when I wrote Hormone Havok, which is my new book, I honestly said that the reason I'm writing this is not to make you look thinner or even whatever. It's really so you can find your gifts and live out your best life in your 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond.

I love that. And you are like such a testament of somebody who's a professional expert who went out and became this extraordinary creator entrepreneur. Second half of this interview, I really just want to deep dive on how you did that, how you transitioned from clinical to then being an online influencer, essentially. We'll talk all about that. But first, I really want to pick your brain on hormones, eating habits, energy, exercise, all that stuff that you talk about. Before we get into that, let's talk about what traditional medicine tried to tell you was wrong with you, and then how you actually cured yourself. What were the things that you did to cure yourself?

Okay, Hala. It wasn't until 1993 that women were mandated to be included in research. So when I started to have my own issues with my hormones and my gut and mental health, I started to think, maybe it was just me. Maybe I didn't learn that part in medical school or I wasn't in a woman. I wasn't doing OB/GYN as my specialty. And so I started to ask my super smart colleagues, What are we supposed to know about hormones that we don't know? What is it that we are supposed to know about gut health? And they knew nothing. They knew less than I did. And that was just cursory stuff that I had learned. And I had done nutrition school before medical school. So I really did have an upper hand when it came to nutrition and health. And I feel like, Oh, my God, how can we have a huge population of people, 51 % of people, and we don't serve them at all. We don't have answers. If you go to your doctor, even today in 2025, 2026, 2027, and you ask your doctor, Tell me everything you've learned about hormones, women's hormones, gut health, nutrition.

They probably could tell you in five minutes all that we've learned. So that's the real problem. I got no answers. And so I was like, well, there's a hole. And that's honestly why I started to share it, because I was like, as I'm figuring it out for my patients, myself, I want to be sharing it with people who probably want to know as well.

Yeah. Okay. Okay, cool. I can't wait to deep dive into all your tips and tricks when it comes to wellness. So let's first talk about cravings. I know there's a difference, or you say there's a difference between hunger, appetite, and cravings. Talk to us about that.

Okay, most people don't know this, but cravings is very different than hunger. Hunger is something that our body just creates cyclically throughout the day to remind us to eat. I think the perfect example of this It would be like every day at 12: 00, if you're used to eating lunch, you will get hunger pangs. But if you forget and you're so busy and you're in meetings, at some point that hunger goes away. It doesn't just keep increasing as the It goes on. It'll come back later in the day, maybe with a vengeance, but it definitely doesn't stay the whole time. Whereas cravings are completely different. Cravings are dopamine-driven. So just like we get a dopamine hit from looking at social media or gambling or drinking alcohol, we get a dopamine hit from eating certain foods. And you know what those foods are because it's the foods that you would get up, get in your car, drive across town, and go buy or that are in your home, and you can't stop thinking about it. Those are dopamine-driven foods, and that's cravings. So hunger and cravings are completely Really different. Hunger is biological. Cravings is physiological.

So interesting. And you have this bowl of vegetables test that can show us whether we're just hungry or craving something. Is that right?

Yeah. So if you think about it, If you're truly hungry, you think about your favorite vegetables. I talk a lot about vegetables because we don't really include them a lot in our diets, especially young people these days. They're full of fiber and phytonutrients, but they're not necessarily big dopamine boosters. If you are truly hungry, you will want to eat a bowl of vegetables. If you are just craving, you probably don't want vegetables. You want ice cream, chocolate, or chips. It's a good way to test yourself, especially if you're someone who just habitually snacks. I grew up in a family, my South Asian family, we would have breakfast, but then there would be a snack at 10: 00 AM And then there would be a snack after lunch. So it was this constant craving cycle, but it was very different than hunger. And that's an easy test that you can do to figure out if you're hungry or not.

Yeah, I love that. And then you also talk about something called the Miami effect to show us what dopamine really does to us? Can you give us that analogy? I just love that analogy. Yeah.

When you go to Vegas or you go to Miami, you basically have this big boost of dopamine everywhere. There's parties and there's bright lights, and there's slot machines, and there's food. And that is a very good example of when your dopamine is on fire. That is something that happens when we eat processed foods, when we eat junk foods, or when we drink alcohol. And so that's what happens when you go there.

Yeah. Talk to us about the difference between men and women when it comes to diet, cravings. What's the difference between us two? Because a lot of people think they can just replicate what their husband or boyfriend does. But I think women are just inherently different. And by the way, most of my listeners, I would say it's a 50/50, 60/40 split male/female. So there's actually more men listening to this right now. So talk to us about what they have to pay attention to with their girlfriends, their wives, and how people are just different.

Okay, I love that. So women and men are very different. The biggest difference I think that women have is that we have this hormonal cycle that's a 28-day cycle. So we have different phases. And Hala, you and I know, and probably anyone who has a partner knows that women can show up very differently in the world depending on where in their cycle they are. And that definitely affects your mood, your energy, and also your cravings and your appetite. And so A lot of women will notice in their late luteal phase, which is that PMS week right before their period, that they're lower energy, that they have more cravings, that they're hungrier, that they have more stress, even with the same exact things that they used to not. For example, if you're working in a high stress environment, that week before your period, that late luteal phase, is probably the most difficult week for you to be doing your stressful activities, whether it's working out or something at work. And that will affect your energy, the lifts that you can do at the gym, and your appetite and your cravings. And that's really different than men.

Men have a day-to-day change like we all do. We just sometimes wake up tired, et cetera. But they don't have this very profound monthly cycle. And then also a life cycle. We have a hormonal continuum. So my new book is actually talking about how in your 30s, 40s, and 50s as a woman, you're going through this immense change in your body that men have a very gradual change. Their testosterone gradually goes down. And yes, you will see effects of that. But women's hormones, they go through this entire crazy tornado, roller coaster type effect from your 30s to your 50s. So that's why I think it can be really difficult for women in that age group to lose weight or be at their best energy levels because there's so much going on with their bodies.

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I've been thinking about my cycle a lot. I am in a position now where I'm an entrepreneur and I get to pick my own schedule. One of the things that I'm trying to implement for 2026 is that I do no interviews and zero recordings during my luteal phase and into the first two days of my period, basically. Because I just don't feel like myself. I feel tired. I feel uglier. I feel like I can just tell because I have all these videos that live online, and I can tell exactly which ones were in my luteal phase because it's like, I always don't perform as good. I always don't look as pretty. And it's like, You know what? I control my own schedule now. Why am I doing this to myself? I'm not a man, and I should show up and record on the days that I have high energy and I feel good and I don't have brain fog. I just feel like that might become a trend. I hope it becomes a trend in the future because I think it's unfair that women have to work exactly like men when we're not going through the same situation that a man does when it comes to just work.

I just love that, Hala, because I completely agree with you. And the other thing that I think is different from women and men, and we're talking in in general. So obviously, there's women out there who are going to be like, I feel great in my late luteal phase, even in that. And that's okay. But I think there's a big number of women that feel like you, and I feel like you also. During that time, I also need more sleep and more recovery time. And so if you're in control of your schedule, this is a good time to spend more time outdoors, maybe walking, maybe you're not scheduling the early morning calls or interviews, maybe you're not making those big life decisions during that time, if possible, and business decisions. And I completely agree with you. Now that I'm on a more flexible schedule, I also do what you're saying. It's not that I don't do anything during those that week, but I do give myself a lot more cushion when it comes to sleep, when it comes to stress, when it comes to recovery, because I know that I never allowed myself this my entire life, but now I have the opportunity to allow myself.

And I can go a little harder when I'm ready.

Love that. Okay, so let's move on to energy. You talk about the energy trifecta. Tell us about that.

Okay, so a lot of people think energy just is in the brain, right? But what I want to share with everyone is that your gut is the center of your energy. So your gut talks to your hormones. It talks to your immune system all the time, and they're making decisions, and they're basically telling the brain what to do. So it's not like your energy. If you think about it that way, then it's really important that you eat well because your gut bacteria is going to be talking to the rest of your body about what you just inputded. So your thoughts, your food, your drinks, your alcohol, everything gets inputded. And then the gut makes decisions about your hormones, about your immune system. And that is why you feel either good or you feel exhausted and depleted.

Interesting. So what's one or two things people can do to immediately improve their energy?

Okay, number one thing that you can do to immediately improve your energy is get morning sun. So circadian rhythms run 80% of our bodies process these. And we completely, in today's world, ignore circadian rhythms. So some people might be like, Oh, I get up at 5: 00 AM because I need whatever. You can get a light box, 10,000 lux of light. There's good research that in countries trees and in places where you cannot get morning sunlight, you can put a light box on your desk, and it's just as good to improve your mood. But if you're someone who lives in Austin or Miami or New York or Scottsdale, not necessarily New York, but you can just hop outside and get that sunlight just for a couple of minutes in the morning. What it does is that from our eyes, our retina, there's a direct connection to our suprachiasmatic nucleus in our brain. That is the centers where all the decisions are being made for the day. And so when they get input, you feel more focused, you feel more awake, and your hormones work better. And they also give that input to the gut. And so the gut knows, All right, it's morning.

We need to retrain everybody to start doing the morning activities. It gets input for the rest of the day.

This reminds me of something that Ben Greenfield was talking to me about recently. He always talks about how a lot of these modern wearables tech, PEMF mats, are basically just things that our ancestors used to just do. For example, people are trying to mimic sunlight with red light, but it's like, you could just go outside or people are trying to mimic grounding with PEMF mats, but you could just sit on the ground outside and get the same effect. I just thought it was really interesting that a lot of these biohacking things are actually just in nature, things that we can do without necessarily having to buy new tech.

I completely agree. Oh, the other second thing I would say, nutrition-based that could change your life is eating 30 grams of protein in the morning, in your breakfast. It can be Split up. So you don't have to have all 30 grams first thing. A lot of times, I don't eat breakfast till 10: 30, and that's okay. You can split it up. But that, honestly, based on so many thousands of studies, it actually improves your It has the precursors of dopamine, so you can feel more focused and motivated. It reduces your cravings throughout the day. And the chances of you getting to your protein goals are so much higher when you have protein in the morning. That's another really easy thing that you can be doing, for everyone, can be doing to improve their health.

So men and women, 30 grams of protein.

Men and women for that one, yes.

What do you feel about eating your body weight in grams of protein? Like, I need to eat 113 grams of protein a day, grams of protein a day, not pounds.

Yeah. So I think one to one is a little bit high. And you know, and I know that it's really difficult to get there. And if you're actively trying to bodybuild, that would be on the highest end, I think, of what I would recommend for even women who are trying to maximize their muscle intake. I think it's closer to 0. 8, so closer to 100 for or 90, probably 100, because I think that is a really great way. If you are actively trying to build muscle and you're working out every day, that would be good for you. But I agree. I like to say high protein, But not necessarily that high.

Okay. So let's continue on and talk about energy. And one of the things that I feel like people don't realize impacts energy is your cortisol levels. Is that right? That's Cortisol is something that people just throw around a lot. I don't think people really understand what it is or what it does. Can you break that down for us?

Yeah, Hala. When we wake up in the morning, it's our cortisol that wakes us up. So it's great. We want that surge. It's like adrenaline and cortisol, both go up in the morning. And that is the normal way that we wake up. And we want the cortisol to be low before bed because that will help us relax and get into deep sleep. So it's like you want it high in the morning, you want it low at night. That's the way that you want it. It's not all bad. And you want your cortisol. You're going to speak on stage, Hala, or you're going on a big podcast, you want that cortisol to be getting you in focus. And it is our fight or flight response. It's the one we want to have working when we need it. But of course, we live in a world where we get an email at 10: 00 at night, and now our cortisol is super high and we can't fall asleep. That is a issue that a lot of people have. And a lot of people find that they're not able to get their cortisol levels down because we live in a world with alerts and social media and 24/7 hustle culture.

And so learning to lower your cortisol at the end of the day or when it's appropriate, and then keeping it high and normal in times where it's appropriate for it to be high is the goal.

Yeah, that is goal because I know from personal experience, whenever I have a really big event, I think my cortisol shoots through the roof the day before, and then I don't sleep, which is terrible for a big day. What can we do to actually reduce our cortisol when we need to relax and get some rest?

One thing I've experienced over the last two years, as I've gotten more into the entrepreneurial world, is really that cortisol effect, because any time something really big is happening, good or bad, I wake up in the middle of the night. And then I can't fall asleep because you have a little bump of cortisol in the middle of the night that is natural. And if we're controlling our cortisol levels, you just sleep right through it, or you wake up and you go to the bathroom and you go back to bed. But when your baseline cortisol levels are high, your nervous system is really riled up, that's going to wake you up and get your mind thinking, and then you can't fall back asleep. So for me, that's always a sign that I have to do a better job taking care of myself. So better nutrition, better sleep, better stress control. So if you're not taking care of it during the day, it's going to show up at night. Of course, there are times where it's really, really difficult to control it. For a one-day event, no big deal. You go to sleep that night. But if it's happening every night for many, many nights, that is a sign that you need to change what you're doing during the day.

Add in a lot more cortisol-reducing activities like meditation, yoga, sunlight, sleep. Whatever it takes to get yourself in a place where you feel relaxed is something that you need to do. And I have a little cortisol reset that I often do with people. Especially high performers, because you're like an athlete and you need to be at a peak level when you're performing. And then you have to really be like an athlete and learn how to bring that cortisol down after it's done so that you can recover.

Yeah. One of my favorite things to use right now is a vibration plate. Have you seen all the rage of everybody being obsessed with vibration plates? Yes. I'm obsessed with mine. I just got mine a month ago, and I use it every morning for 10 minutes, and I'm going to get a red light to use in front of it. I often have trouble sticking to new habits like that, but this was an immediate one for me. I just feel so much more energized after I wake up. I feel like the blood is flowing. I feel like it It takes away my brain fog. It's just amazing. I've also heard that you can use it before bed to lower your cortisol. What's your take on vibration plates? Are you using them?

I like vibration plates. I feel like it goes off of that research just like you're moving the lymph, you're moving that circulation. So there's a good study that shows 50 to 100 jumps, like 50 jumps in the morning, which is like the poor man's. If you don't have a vibration plate, you can do 50 jumps. And it basically is the It gets your circulation going. It moves the lymph around. It makes you feel more energized. It's very like you mentioned Ben Greenfield. It's a very natural way to wake up with movement and blood flow. And so it makes you feel energized for the day. I'm a fan of anything that gets you up and ready for the day.

Now, let's talk about food, gut, and how that really impacts our energy. You talk about silent inflammation. How can silent inflammation actually impact our energy, our day-to-day? What does that look like?

So, Hala, when we eat most of the foods that are the ultra-processed foods. So say ultra-processed just means that it's made with ingredients that don't exist in nature. So all the preservatives or emulsifiers, et cetera. So say you get, and I'm picking at Starbucks, but I could pick on anything else.

Pick on Starbucks. I don't mind.

So you get a frappucino and you're getting all these calories in, but you're also getting very little fiber. There's almost no fiber in those frappucinos, right? So your body is seeing all this artificial ingredients, maybe flavors, stabilizers, and all this stuff that are foreign to it. And so the gut bacteria basically says, Hey, red light, there's a little bit of stuff that we need to get rid of, some toxins, some things that we need to neutralize. So they call in the immune system system for help. Like I said, it's like the energy trifecta. The gut is talking to your hormones and immune system. And what they do is they create a little inflammation, meaning the immune system, when it's activated, it's called inflammation. And so their We're actually creating inflammation every time you eat these things that are foreign to the body and very similar to alcohol, very similar when you're eating candy or like artificial colors and flavors. And so what's happening to us is that we're consuming all these foods not knowing this. 67% of an American's diet is ultra-processed foods. Over 70% of a teenager's and young adult's diet is ultra-processed foods.

And we're creating this inflammation in our body, and we don't even know it. And now I'm not even talking about how much inflammation we're getting from sitting all day and how much inflammation we're getting from vaping and smoking and alcohol and all those things. So if you add So to get that all up, the load that we have on our bodies, we have a lot of inflammation going on when we could literally change the way we eat and live and really lower that silent inflammation.

Yeah. And aside from just putting things in our body, we're also spraying a lot of disruptors on our body. And I feel like nobody talks about it enough. In my opinion, I had a boyfriend that we broke up many years ago, but he was allergic to fragrances, and we dated for 10 years. I didn't wear fragrance during that time. And even after we broke up, if somebody sprays perfume around me or if there's a highly scented candle, I immediately feel sick. It gives me brain fog. It gives me a headache. I just can't believe that people are putting air fresheners in their car and using scented detergent. It's literally like spraying poison on your body, in my opinion. I just feel like nobody talks about that enough. What is your opinion on artificial fragrances and things like that?

For most of my career, I was working in the field of allergy and immunology, so immune system and allergy. In America, it's like combined. I couldn't wear fragrances either because most of my patients that were coming in had allergies to something, and often it would be fragrances. I saw that day in and day out, Hala. People getting reactions to detergents, makeup, Skincare, candles. People who work at Costco, poor thing, they work at Costco and they actually are very sensitized to the smells, and there's nothing you can do about it because that's your job. And so we live in this world that has ignored our health for so long. It's showing the effects because our circadian rhythms are disrupted because we're not supposed to be looking at these screens all day and all night, and that's why we can't sleep. And then our food is ultra-processed, so it's creating silent inflammation. And then the products we're using are basically adding to the toxic load in our body. So even like receipts that we get from a lot of these retailers, they have toxic chemicals in them that can leach into our body. And so there's so much out there that we could be doing to improve our health that smart people out there should be listening and being like, Yeah, I should create a better version of this because there's a whole market for that.

So I know that you say that when it comes to our diet, there's no one size fits all. Everybody is different. I talked to you, Dave Asprey, earlier this year, and he talks about how everybody has reactive foods, right? There's certain foods that you react differently to, and so you got to pay attention to what you react badly to, what you react goodly to. How would you recommend that we figure out what we should actually eat? Because there's so many recommendations out there.

Okay, Hala, I'm going to give you my Very, very new, but it's a framework that's going to change nutrition. It's part of my kneebrook hormone habit. So it is called the 30-30-3. So 30-33. 30 grams of protein in your first meal, so in the morning, 30 grams of fiber throughout the day, and three probiotic foods every single day. This is based on thousands of medical research articles. This is not like, Hey, a diet or a trend. This is the bulk of the data that we have says this. And so what I like about this is that it's not a diet. It's not trying to get you skinny. You could be gluten-free, you can be paleo, you can be vegetarian, you can be vegan. But if you just follow the framework, that is literally how we should have been told to be eating instead of the food pyramid or whatever the hell we have right now. This is actually the new way that we should be structuring our food, and that's for everyone.

Isn't 30 grams of protein just not enough? To me, I feel like that seems like one meal, right?

30 grams of protein in your first meal is a mnemonic. The reason why that one is just for the first meal is because everybody's protein needs are different. But we know, based on all of the research, that 30 grams in your breakfast or Your first meal is ideal when it comes to gut health, brain health, hormone health. So 30 grams of protein in your first meal, 30 grams of fiber throughout the day, and three servings of probiotic foods, which is the hardest one. The oldest living person in the world is like, she's like 112 or something or 17 in Spain. She would have yogurt three times a day. That's a probiotic food. They looked at her gut and they were like, she had an incredible gut microbiome. Now, of course, there's genetics that play into it. She also had a healthy lifestyle. She was walking a lot. But it's really interesting because there's a lot of good research now looking at probiotic foods and how they can actually improve our health.

Yeah. What are some of your favorite probiotic foods?

Yogurt's the easiest one in America. Kiefer, if you're in Europe, and there's lots of other dairy options like probiotic cottage cheese, for example, certain cheeses. But kimchi, sauerkraut, and raw apple cider vinegar are some easy ones that people can use. If you like Japanese food, miso and natto are great ones. Almost every single culture in the world has some probiotic food that they once had or is part of the culture. But it was lost because now we have refrigerators and microwaves, and fermentation is a way to preserve foods. And so that's how they used to preserve fruits in thousands of years ago, but we don't need it anymore. But we got to bring it back because it's really great for our gut.

Another example of bringing back what our ancestors actually did. Sourdough is a fermented food, and it's Everybody is obsessed with sourdough these days. Do you like sourdough? I'm a fan of sourdough.

Okay. Okay. Here's the thing. Certain fermented foods, there's certain Indian foods, too, that use a starter that's fermented, and then you cook it. And so people are Oh, well, the probiotics are dead. But now there's new research that shows that there are some real big benefits to dead bacteria in our body. So eating foods like sourdough, eating foods like idly and dosa in Indian food, their fermented batter actually serves a purpose in our gut as well.

All right, Amy, we're going to play a fun game. We're going to stack rank some energy trends. You tell me which one that you like the best, and we'll see which one overall wins at the end.

And this is for energy.

This is for energy. The best energy boosting trends, okay? And for men and women. All right, let's go. Ginger shots or cold plunging.

Oh, Cold plunging.

Okay. Cold plunging or vibration plates.

Still cold plunging.

Cold plunging or electrolyte packets.

Cold plunging.

Cold plunging or morning sunlight.

Morning sunlight.

Morning sunlight or red light therapy.

Morning sunlight.

Morning sunlight or 30 grams of protein breakfast.

That's a hard one. Okay, I'm still going to pick morning sunlight, but they're close.

Okay. Morning sunlight or sauna.

Still morning sunlight for energy?

Mm-hmm. Morning Morning Sunlight or zone 2 walking.

Oh, my God. Sunny walk in the morning is the ideal. I would pick both of them for that one.

Okay. Let's go with morning sunlight and reducing ultra-processed foods.

Still morning sunlight, I'm telling you.

Morning sunlight is the winner. So morning sunlight is just so important in your opinion then. Is that the number one energy boosting hack? Is morning sunlight to you?

It's the number one energy boosting hack. Now, a lot of the things you said are all yes, yes, and yes. It's not like, worse. But if you were like, what is the one thing that I could be doing in my life? It's that circadian rhythms. They run our body. And if you can figure out how to sleep and get light in the right times, it's going to make the biggest difference in her energy.

Okay, so let's move on to some scenarios, okay? I'm going to give you some scenarios of people's lifestyles, and you give me what you would recommend. If they were one of your personal clients What regimens would you put them on? Sure. Meet Sarah. She's 35. She wakes up tired. She grabs coffee immediately. She skips breakfast because she's not hungry. She powers through her morning. Every single day at around 3: 00 PM, she crashes. She has cravings, irritability, brain fog, nonstop grazing, and at the end of the day, she feels bloated and exhausted. How would you fix her day?

Okay, that's me. That's literally the old me. I would be in the back room in my clinic where all the cupcakes and cookies were, especially around the holidays, because I hadn't eaten all day properly, just coffee all day. So this is what I would do. I would make sure she's getting adequate sleep. So maybe it's seven to eight hours, maybe it's eight to nine hours. She's getting adequate sleep. Then she's getting some sunlight or, like I said, a light box or opening her window on her way to work or walking to work. If she can fit in a quick walk there in the morning, even if it's 10 minutes, great. Because like I said, those two energy boosters being in a sun and walking is the perfect way to start her day. Then she's going to get to work, and maybe it's an hour or two after she's woken up and she's going to have A 30-gram breakfast. 30 grams of protein breakfast, I meant to say. So it's an egg scramble, maybe with extra egg weights, and maybe it's cottage cheese, the probiotic cottage cheese, and a few berries that are high in fiber with it.

And so she can have coffee. Coffee is a life-length food, and everybody loves coffee, but I don't love the mixers that you put into coffee, like the Process Creamers, et cetera. So skip that. But you can have your coffee, you can have a little milk, and then you're going to find ways to move throughout the day. So instead of sitting in her office for eight hours, she's going to go for a quick walk at lunch, or she's going to do 10 body weight squats every 45 minutes because that's actually been shown to be better than waiting till the end of the day and going for a walk. She's going to find mini movements, mini exercise snacks throughout the day. Then she's going to eat another 30 grams of protein in her late lunch. Then she goes home, and maybe before she goes home, she goes to weight train because I want her to incorporate 2-3 times a week of weight training, especially if Sarah's in her late 30s, 40s, or 50s. Then she's going to go home, she's going to eat dinner, and then she's going to go for a walk after her meal because she knows that walking after her meal is twice as effective as walking at another time of day, even if it's just a 10-minute walk your dog or walk around the neighborhood.

That's all you need. And then she is going to unplug for at least one hour before bed. And I say one hour because people say 2-3 hours, and that's just not possible for Sarah and for most busy people. So one hour before bed, you're maybe taking a hot bath because hot therapy is really good for you. Maybe you're doing a combination of cold plunge and hot bath because that contrast therapy is really amazing. And maybe you do other things like red light therapy, vibration plate. You do all the things you need to do to get that cortisol down so you We can have a good sleep. And one of the biggest things that has helped me in my life, and I recommend to people, is pick the perfect bedtime for you and stick to it. So don't go to bed like the old me. One day it's 10: 00, one day it's midnight, one day it's nine o'clock. You want to pick around the same time and stay within a half an hour of it every single day. And same with the week time. That is the perfect day for you.

I feel like that just tied in So many of the things that you taught us today, so we'll just stick to that one scenario because it was so good. But one question that I have is this topic of intermittent fasting, and so many of us were trained to not eat until 11: 00, 12: 00. This is my habit, is that I have trained myself to not even want to eat until lunchtime. Is that good or bad? Or what are your thoughts around that?

Okay, I challenge you, Hotla, to move up your dinner a little bit. So What ends up happening is if you eat a late lunch or you eat your first meal at lunch, then you're eating a later dinner and you're eating really close to bedtime. So for optimal energy and focus and gut health, you actually want to go with circadian rhythm. So if you think about it, again, ancestors, thousands of years ago, after sundown, it wasn't like they could call Uber Eats at midnight for a huge meal. It's like they ate their biggest meal, and then maybe they had a snack or a little something, something. But it wasn't like a humongous calorie load late in the day. So I challenge you to not eat 2-3 hours before bed, and maybe you're doing that already, but that is the best, best way to optimize your gut and your circadian rhythms and that energy trifecta. And then you'll notice when you wake up, you're a little hungrier because you had that big break. And so even if it's not 6: 00 AM, if you're having it 9: 00, 10: 00 AM, that's still a win. Really, I don't want you to skip breakfast altogether, if possible.

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Okay, so I want to circle back to your amazing career transition from doctor to now online influencer. Walk us through how you made that transition and maybe some the big pivotal moments where you're like, Okay, I'm going all in on this. I know this is the right path for me.

Hala, I started to do this because I was so frustrated. I think a lot of people can relate. They're working their jobs, and everybody from the outside was like, Oh, my God, you're a partner in your practice. You're so successful. You're doing this and that. And I hated it. I hated myself. I was living this very extremely hustle culture life where I wasn't sleeping well, I wasn't eating well, I was trying to do it all, and I didn't feel like I was good at anything I was doing. I hated the work that I was doing. And so I started to just write free blogs. Literally got paid zero money, and I would just write about gut health, nutrition, women's health, and I would submit them to these sites. Back then, 10 years ago, that was something that people could do. And I got a lot of satisfaction from that. Even then, I started to get pushback from my colleagues because I was really traditionally trained. I went to Columbia and Harvard's and Cornell and all these places where those people did not go on the Internet, especially at that time, which was about 10 years ago.

And it was a lot of like, what are you trying to do? What is all this? Only quack doctors go on the Internet. There's a lot of criticism and pushback. And they're like, If you're an actually good doctor, you would just spend more time seeing patients or at a clinic if you're or that thing. So I was like, Okay, well, I'm going to stay in my lane, and I'm going to try to concentrate on doing what I need to do to make money and be successful in this career. But I had this thing in the back of my mind kept telling me, There's something else that you're supposed to be doing, and I didn't know what it was. And so a few years ago, I went to a conference for a writer's conference because these free blogs I was doing, there was a conference to thank the writers. And I went, and I was like, when you finally see people doing work that is so something that you want to be doing. And I was just like, there's something that happened to me that weekend. And I went back home And I was like, I have to do something.

So during the pandemic, we didn't work full-time in our clinic to allow for emergencies and all the things that were going on. And I got my first shot at really trying things on the Internet. And I started to post here and there, and something happened. The day that we decided that we were coming back in full-time after the pandemic, I said to my practice that I'm not going to come back full-time. I'm going to explore this other side. And they were really weirded out by it. People were disappointed. They definitely thought that I was doing something weird. And I just started to share. I challenged myself, Hala, to share every single day day, something, something about my research, something I learned from my clinical practice. I've been in clinical practice for 15 years. There were so many things that I was learning from patients that would say, Oh, I tried this, and this is what happened. And so I challenged myself to share every day. It was cringe, total cringe, because there were sometimes where I look at the video, I look back at those videos and I'm like, Oh, my God. I just did it because I forced myself to do it.

And every day I forced myself to write something. So that's how hormone havoc came about. It's like every day I would write a little bit, something that I thought would be helpful to people. And over time, that cringe became a social media, very active social media page, and people really started to relate to some of the things I was saying. And then this past year, I went to my practice and I said, When you're a partner, it's really hard to leave a practice. I said, Really want to jump into this full-time. And they thought I was crazy because how do you even make money on the internet? They were like, This is crazy. Who are you?

Probably you're making more money on the internet, right?

Yeah, exactly. And everybody equated it as like, Oh, are you trying to become a YouTuber or something? And I was like, This is a whole different thing. So in any case, I made the plunge. And you're right. I thought that staying the safe medical practice was the right way to go for my career. But as soon as I left in May of this past Last year, I have really seen a growth, not even just on my social media, but also personally for the opportunities, the consulting, the longevity centers, the consults that I get. It has been transformative, and I wish I had done it sooner. I'm sharing this because so many of us have that thing in the back of our head, but we're so scared. We get a lot of pushback, we get a lot of criticism, and so it stops us from making that move.

Yeah, you are such a great example of creator entrepreneurship. I'm I'm actually going to be writing a book this year on creator entrepreneurship, and you are just like such a great case study of somebody who is like a traditional doctor who then transitioned their career online. How many followers? What's your biggest social channel and how many followers do you have on it?

I have almost 2 million on Instagram. That's my biggest channel.

Oh my gosh, Two Million followers. You've obviously been able to really resonate, connect with people. You've obviously gone viral many, many times. I interviewed Mel Robbins, and she told me that her key to connecting with her audience is to be really simple, never say big words, never say jargon, speak like you're just talking to one person at all times. What is your formula for connecting with your audience and making sure this really complicated medical stuff actually resonates with the everyday person?

I think about how I can give them a gift. Okay, so if I was like, what did I learn in the past month that could be a gift to my audience? I always think, how can I add value you in a way that it feels like I'm giving them a present, like coming from a physician's point of view. And that is really how I think about it every time.

Very cool. So you're like, what gift can I give this person? Making sure that every post actually has meaning that they can take away from it. And that way it's shareable, right?

Yeah. And I think a lot of people get confused on social media because especially women and especially people who are like lifestyle entrepreneurs. I don't have a lot of posts Probably very few posts that are just like, look at me. This is what I'm doing. Most of the posts are like, How can... 99. 999 is a gift to you. This is what you should do because of the research. This is what you should do because this helped me or my patients or in the medical literature, or here's what's working for someone or not working for someone. So I feel like then they can feel like they've gained something from watching that post.

How do you decide what content you're posting? Are you thinking of hooks to start off your video with? Are you very formulaic or are you just like, Oh, I'm just going to hop on the camera and talk about X, Y, Z? How do you plan your content?

Well, as I told you, I challenge myself to create every single day. It's like a writer. I'm forcing myself to write and to create every single day. And so what happens is sometimes I will write things that I think are awesome. I spend hours doing, and it flops completely. And then there's other times where I take a risk, and it took me two seconds, and it just does so well. And so I think I've just learned so much. I continue to challenge myself to try new things because I think it could be very easy to be like, this works. Let me just go with this. And I often will find myself pushing myself to be like, I know this works, but let's try something different because I think there's so much value to be had. There's unlimited content that I could be giving, but it's also a game because social media is infotainment. So how How do you present it in a way that's interesting to people?

I was talking to Brock Johnson recently, and he was telling me that he likes to record in batches. And if he's not in a good mood, he just won't record. And that inspired me, too, because I was thinking, that's when I decided, Hey, I'm not going to record during my luteal phase because I'm not feeling my best. I'd rather do two interviews on a regular day that I'm not feeling bad than do it on a day where I'm not feeling my best. But you say every day, no matter what, doing content, so you never are batching. Is that right?

Okay, so I believe that we should be keeping 20% of our day free. I learned this from David Guiam, who's a Kabbalah teacher, and he said, Basically, big things don't come to overwhelm people. When you keep 20% of your day free, you are processing what just happened. You might be able to have a longer conversation, and you might have a moment to just create something. I challenge myself every single day to create something. Now, it doesn't have to be amazing. It doesn't have to be something I even post per se, but I am always telling myself to do something creative every day. And you're right. There are days, Hala, where I'll be doing my walk or taking that 20 % of my day to be creative, and I will have 10 ideas. And then there will be other days where I'm like, I cannot believe I have to post anything today, but I just do it because it's working out. I feel like I'm learning how to present my knowledge in a way that's usable for people. So I do batch record when it strikes, but I don't have that. Tuesdays are my batch recording day.

I just can't do it like that because sometimes on Tuesdays, I just don't have all the good ideas, and it's Wednesday that I have all the good ideas.

I love that. And I feel like as long as you're posting consistent content, and I feel like your framework is especially good for somebody who's just starting and they need the motivation And it's like, this is your challenge. You're just going to do it every day for 60 days, no matter what, no matter how you feel, no matter if it's cringe, good or bad, you're putting something up there, and then you get in the habit, and that's how you win. It's really through consistency at the end of the day.

And I also find, just to Gary Vanochuk's point, I think when you create a lot of content, you learn a lot about your audience, about yourself. And like, things that you're, like I said, sometimes I'll perfect things. And I think it's the most valuable science I expect real, and I'll post it on all the platforms, and it'll totally flop. And there's other times where I was not going to post it, and I'm like, I'll just delete this, and it ends up being something that overperform. So really that creative, That social creative is such an important part of the story that we're telling. And so it's important to test it.

Okay. I want to be respectful of your time. I know we're running up on time here. So my last question to you is for somebody Somebody out there who's in a profession that they spend a lot of money on a degree, but they're unhappy, what are your words of wisdom to them?

Take care of your insides. Focus on your insides and everything will become clear. So when you take care of your body, when you sleep well, when you eat well, when you start to focus on your gut health, all of a sudden you'll start to see the path that you're supposed to be on. And that would be my advice is you'll get clarity and go on that path. That is the path meant for you.

Oh, my gosh. I love that advice. I didn't think you were going to take it there, but it's so true. When you have mental clarity and you feel your best, you can be able to vision more clearly and understand what you need to do for yourself. So I love that advice. Amy, where can everybody learn more about you and everything that you do and grab your new book?

Oh, thanks so much. Hala, this was so fun. And my new book is called Hormone Havok. It is available everywhere. Books are sold. And my website is amymdwellness. Com, and my social media is @DoctorAmyShaw.

Amazing. This was such an awesome interview. I feel like we learned so much. Thank you so much for your time today.

Thank you so much for having me.

Well, YAP, gang, what an incredible conversation with Dr. Amy Shah. I just love how she turned her own burnout story into a mission to help millions of people reclaim their energy and health. The fact that she left a safe, prestigious medical practice to pursue this risky vision full-time, well, that takes serious courage.

And as we all know, with high risk comes high reward, and she certainly is getting her rewards right now. And one of the biggest revelations for me in terms of the content of this podcast was learning that morning sunlight beats out every single trendy biohack that we threw at her. Cold plunge, vibration plates, electrolytes, you name it. It was morning sunlight that won every time.

And that's because our circadian rhythms control 80% of our body's processes. Just stepping outside for a few minutes in the morning directly connects your retina to your brain's control center, giving you better focus, better hormone function, and sustained energy throughout the day.

If you add a morning walk to that sunlight exposure, you've got the ultimate energy combo.

Morning sunlight and a walk in the morning will totally change your life. And then there's Dr. Amy's Revolutionary 3033 framework from her new book, Hormone Havoc. 30 grams of protein in your first meal, 30 grams of fiber throughout the a day, and then three probiotic foods daily.

This isn't just some bad diet. It's backed by thousands of medical studies and works whether you're vegan, paleo, or anything in between. It's literally how we should have been taught eating all along. Again, getting back to our ancestral roots. And ladies, this one is for us.

You've got to align your schedule with your menstrual cycle.

It can be a total game changer. That late luteal phase the week before your period is when you need more sleep, general or workouts, and less stressful activities. If If you control your schedule like I do now, make sure you protect your time. Save your big presentations, your recordings, your important meetings for when your hormones are actually supporting you. Now, of course, if you work a corporate career, you're not going to be able to do this so easily. You can't just dictate your schedule.

However, do what you can to optimize your own cycle and rhythm.

Dr..

Amy's journey also proves that you don't have to stay stuck in a career that drains you, even if you've invested years and a lot of money getting there. Sometimes your true calling is waiting on the other side of fear or cringe, as Dr..

Amy said.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Young and Profiting. If you learned something valuable about optimizing your energy and health, then please share this episode with somebody who needs to hear it.

If you enjoyed this conversation with Dr..

Amy Shah, drop us a five-star review on Apple podcast. Your reviews help us reach more people.

If you prefer to watch your videos on YouTube, we're growing a big community over there, make sure you follow us on YouTube. Just search Young and Profiting, subscribe, comment, join the conversation.

You can also find me on Instagram at Yapetala or LinkedIn.

Just search for my name. It's Haletaha. And of course, before we go, I've always got to shout out my YAP team.

There's about 20 people who work on Young and Profiting podcast alone, about 60 people at YAP Media.

Everybody plays their part. Everybody works so hard. We've got rock stars on the team. Today, I want to specifically shout out Ravi for doing an amazing job with all of our videos, and Jayden for absolutely crushing our social media and being such a gem and a team player all around. Thank you both for all that you do.

This is your host, Haletaha, a. K. A. The Podcast Princess, signing off.