Sylvia Worsham welcomes Amita Sharma to discuss how women can navigate perimenopause through holistic approaches that restore energy, focus, and joy. After experiencing debilitating symptoms herself and finding little help from traditional medicine, Amita discovered a combination of modalities that transformed her health and became her life’s purpose.
• Perimenopause symptoms like brain fog, fatigue, and mood swings can arrive suddenly around age 40 with devastating effects
• Many women suffer in silence due to shame or fear of judgment about their changing bodies
• Hormone replacement therapy isn’t suitable for everyone, making holistic approaches vital alternatives
• Incorporating phytoestrogens, protein, and anti-inflammatory foods helps balance hormonal fluctuations
• Daily practices, including movement, breathwork, meditation, and journaling, reduce stress and improve energy
• The key to managing overwhelming change is focusing on one small goal in each life pillar
• Amita is launching an affordable app in July, offering guided care options and expert connections
• Gratitude practice can dramatically shift your perspective during challenging transitions
• Midlife is an opportunity to reflect, reinvent, and re-energize rather than a crisis to endure
Be the light in your own life by investing in self-care. Self-care isn’t selfish—it’s essential for unleashing your divine energy and creating the life you deserve.
To connect with Amita, visit her website at: www.nourishdoc.com
Transcript:
Speaker 1:
If you’ve ever struggled with fear, doubt or worry and wondering what your true purpose was all about, then this podcast is for you. In this show, your host, sylvia Worsham, will interview elite experts and ordinary people that have created extraordinary lives. So here’s your host, sylvia Worsham.
Speaker 2:
Hey Lightbringers, it’s Sylvia Worsham. Welcome to Released Out Reveal Purpose. And today’s Amita and she and I met at podmatchcom and she is someone that, when I read her background, I was totally intrigued because she has a phenomenal story transformation and it’s a topic that really needs to be talked about because, as women, we tend to keep going, regardless of the midlife. When we hit midlife, when we hit all those changes and perimenopause and menopause even, and everything halts and there’s a lot of brain fog and there is a tremendous less energy. And since we’re the nurturers and we’re running around with like a thousand tabs open in our head already and that happens, it makes life very difficult and I know some women feel alone in this journey. So I know Amita Sharma is going to shed some amazing light into it. So, without further ado, welcome Amita. Thank you so much for joining us on Release Doubt Reveal Purpose.
Speaker 3:
Thank you. Thank you, sylvia, and I love the work you’re doing, so we will have a discussion as to how both of our work is kind of having synergies, and universe has put both of us together.
Speaker 2:
And I feel it Like, I feel the tingling sensation, and for me, I’m a woman of faith and I believe in God, and so I know the Holy Spirit is in the room, because as soon as you said that, it was like, hey, I’m right here. So we’re going to have an awesome conversation today and I know you have an amazing story of transformation, Amita. So without without really take us into a deep dive into that midlife, yeah, you know what?
Speaker 3:
I’m not a medical expert or a holistic expert. I just started perimenopause as we were discussing and it just kind of came at me out of nowhere when I just turned 40. And and these the symptoms were, oh my god, it was so debilitating, it just overpowered me and I was so messed up in my brain, in my body, in my social every single thing you can think of because they were just not. I just couldn’t talk to anyone. I felt alone. I the reason I couldn’t talk to anyone because I felt people are going to judge me and a lot of women think like that, right, we feel there’s an shame associated with oh my god, now I’m going through this. All those things happened to me and I actually went through it silently and I just didn’t talk about it at all. Nothing, can you nothing? Can you imagine that?
Speaker 2:
you know, no, because a lot of thoughts yes so.
Speaker 3:
So at that time I never thought I’m going to have a company one day, a talk, doing this penny menopause, menopause. I just wanted to get through and fix myself. But during the whole journey I discovered a lot of holistic therapies that I started embracing to fix myself because I couldn’t find help in the traditional medicine system. At that time I didn’t want to get into hormonal replacement therapy because of the fear of all those God knows side effects. So that’s when I started fixing myself. It was amazing transformation, unbelievable. I started having better energy. I used to get chronic fatigue. I stopped getting chronic fatigue. I used to have allergies during this season, stopped having that. I lost weight. I was more focused All those things right, which a lot of us women go through in mid-age. I was able to fix myself, but it wasn’t like a one day and it wasn’t like a one day kind of, or a few months. It took me a lot of trial and error. And then fast forward a couple of years back to three years back. I talked to about 3000 women’s holistic experts. I wanted to do something on the holistic, embracing the chronic condition.
Speaker 3:
But this menopause, perimenopause kept coming up and it always triggered me to my experience and that’s when I decided I said you know what it has to happen at a younger age, not at an older age. Woman, right, that’s too late sometimes. So that’s what I decided. I said, no, we’re going to go deep into this whole perimenopause. Fix it and bring it to women who are younger than me, who are still turning 40. So they can make a difference and be healthy once they get to 6065 or whatever. So that’s kind of a yeah when you start earlier.
Speaker 2:
I mean to interrupt you, but you’re right, there’s. It sucks when it happens to you all of a sudden and you don’t have the resources. It’s better for you to know what your body’s going to be doing and to start taking proactive steps to improve your nutrition, to improve your sleep, because sometimes, as women, we stay up super late and then we wake up super early in the morning and our energy is zapped and we are constantly striving for perfection, which is a very big no-no when it comes to energy, because when your estrogen drops, and starts dropping your energy is zapped, so you can’t continue to be the same person you are.
Speaker 2:
You have to start creating new habits now, like when you’re still in your 30s, almost like looking towards the horizon. So yeah, I didn’t mean to like please continue, because I no, no, no.
Speaker 3:
This is great. This is great. You’re absolutely right. I mean, most of us don’t understand how the hormonal fluctuations are happening in our body. This is just such a mist of cloud of fog out there, right, what’s happening. And then this perimenopause has so many symptoms associated with. We just don’t understand how it impacts. And then we don’t understand the fact that this also can impact loss of libido, that can also impact relationships, and maybe some divorce can be initiated because of lack of knowledge, lack of communication, lack of all those things. So, right, there’s a huge thing that you can make an impact, a social impact, and that’s when this whole transformation of me make an impact, a social impact, and that’s when this whole transformation of me, like I said, you know what, enough of it. I’m not going to keep quiet, right, I’m not going to stay quiet, I need to do something. What’s the whole point? And that’s kind of how it’s all this thing started.
Speaker 2:
And here I am with Nourish Talk right now in front of you and I can’t agree more. I mean, I will tell you when it hit me. It hit me and my energy dropped and I was, as I said, I was going through my father passing away and so you already have a loss, a major loss. You’re facing one of your biggest fears loss of a parent and I went through it, and that that can take you down. The energy will be very down and the brain fog, because when you go through grief like that, your mind is just so overwhelmed with feeling it just doesn’t have the capacity that it wants it before and I I remember putting milk, for example, in the pantry, like why am I doing that? And so I didn’t know if it was my grief or my perimenopause. At that point it didn’t matter.
Speaker 2:
I also think that with these major fluctuations in hormones, you also have the rage that begins with women. They just start losing their temper and the nurturers are like out the door. It’s like mom is mom is going through a whole different stage and we just don’t have the patience that we once had. And if you have little ones. I have a 10 year old. Do you can imagine like going?
Speaker 2:
through major loss and then perimenopause and a 10 year old I’m like I don’t have the energy and I can’t take hormone replacement therapy. So I’ve got to do holistic approach and I’ve never been able to do it. It’s contraindicated in someone like me, because I had pulmonary embolisms and Bud Gehry syndrome in 2012 due to taking birth control pills.
Speaker 2:
So, I definitively determined that was it, because the minute I take myself off of it, there was no more threat. I never had another recurrence. It is now 2025. I’ve never had an issue, and I mean 2012,. I faced an 80% chance of dying. I became the statistic that no one talks about, because when I went through that journey, what I realized is that the side effect profile of these things are not well documented, because the hospital has to be the one to call the FDA and let them know that there’s been a case and if they don’t definitively determine that, then it’s a case that just goes by the wayside. But mine was a definitive case. They never are going to call.
Speaker 2:
They’re not going to make the time to call for three hours, six hours, whatever it’s going to take all the paperwork it requires to create a report, and so what I had to do when all these fluctuations were happening was acupuncture to kind of help mediate those fluctuations in my mood. And it did help for a while and then 2020 hit and that was a whole different ballgame. But I’m just saying that there’s just so much out there that we can do.
Speaker 2:
I know, that I read in my notes that you were doing journaling and meditation and I found that those were also modalities that can really help. And a woman that I started to follow on Instagram she is I don’t know, her profile just kept coming up Coach Mare, and she is someone that has done extensive research on the perimenopausal woman and the food groups that are the superfoods, and she has like five superfoods that you need to start eating Avocado, flaxseed, ginger and I can’t remember the other two.
Speaker 2:
But if you incorporate these foods into your body it starts to help your metabolism and it starts to kind of help your mood swings and it just balances your, your, your estrogen, better, right, in a natural way and and you start losing weight because with the gain weights.
Speaker 2:
You know like that is horrible. You start gaining weight in areas that you never even deemed possible. I tell people, I have like angel wings now because there’s that accumulating in my back. I’m like where did that come from? You know, I’m used to the inner thigh and the butt, but back there. I’m like how do you lose that? So so I get it. I get the um, the frustrations you know. So what tips do you think? Think, what did you start doing in your journey that started to get you on the path to success?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, so I, like you said, you know, the diet was the first one. I fixed my diet, you know, phytoestrogens, immunoestrogens going down, so I incorporate phytoestrogens in my diet on a daily basis, foods that have natural estrogen, basically that’s what it is. And then protein. I make sure I have enough protein and, you know, just make sure that the lunch and dinner is kind of light. Then movement is big on me. I do strength conditioning, I do yoga, I do breath work. You’ll be surprised how breathwork is so powerful, learning to breathe properly.
Speaker 3:
A little bit of meditation, journaling. I read every single day at night and I do a little bit of journaling and I also do some sort of like a Vedic chanting, you know, like listening to some music. That’s not, that’s more devotional. I should say that not religious, but devotional, spiritual is the word. And then acupuncture, acupressure, even Ayurvedic therapies, supplements, ayurvedic supplements, turmeric, ginger, all these things right. And then massaging myself on a daily basis with medicated oil, massaging my head once a week with medicated oil, right, these kind of things. Using some kind of other oils. I use a lot of oils for my face, on my head, on my body, on my even coconut oil squishing, taking oil, all these things right. So I think it depends on each person. What works for you? For me, having a very regimented kind of a daily routine, every single day, has helped me so much Lose weight.
Speaker 3:
You know, I’m not at the same weight as I was in my 20s but still, you know it’s not like. You know, I put on a lot of weight, it was hard to take it out. So all these things you’re talking, I think most of the women, we, all of us, go through this. We don’t know what the heck happens and suddenly we are out of control and we are so used to being in control, being the sort of like the nucleus of the family, and suddenly we are the ones who are going in the orbits. We don’t even know which orbit we are going right going right.
Speaker 2:
It’s awful. It’s just like I, I remember, just like sitting there. How am I gonna do this? Like it just becomes so overwhelming and you do do a lot of that. I know you were talking about the chanting. I also thought of the tapping, I know there’s a lot of tapping that occurs, that also can calm the nervous system down and I I do a lot of prayer in the morning. It’s the first appointment of my day and I usually have it stuck what I mean by that is.
Speaker 2:
It’s something that I, when I read Atomic Habits it was one of the tips that he gave to create new habits in your life, Because one of the things that I think most people why they get so overwhelmed when changes- hit all of a sudden these major crossroads is that they think they have to tackle everything all at once yeah, the truth is no, you don’t want to do that, because when change hits you, you’re going to have your ego, your mind, your programming that’s going to come in and it’s going to like overwhelm you with thoughts of not being able to do this and you’re not enough.
Speaker 2:
All these things can really start wreaking havoc and then you’ll have your soul, identity. That’s like trying to reach you, your intuitive self that is saying, hey, let’s tackle this one at a time. I know you can do this. This is where you’re meant to be, this is how you’re meant to. You know, use change for the better Right. And so I always say habits stack with something that you already do on a daily basis.
Speaker 3:
That’s easy.
Speaker 2:
for me, it was always just having my first cup of coffee in the morning, cause that’s just. I just needed my one cup of caffeine, and I’m only allowed one because I have very little dopamine in my system.
Speaker 2:
I have that genetic testing done and and I start to pray and I have my Bible app and I just focus in on what I’m doing. And, yes, I’m doing the breath work and I’m just meditating and I’m focusing on that and then I have some exercise in there, cause you want to release all the cortisol, that is in your system because it just builds up, especially if you’re not on a good sleeping regimen, which can happen when you’re hitting these stages. Because all of a sudden, you start having insomnia and not happy.
Speaker 2:
Then we’re like, if we think rage is bad before it rages, really bad if you don’t sleep, I know, Not happy. Then we’re like if we think rage is bad before rage is really bad if you don’t sleep, you know. And so I just I tell myself it’s like okay, just close your eyes and do the breathing and just focus and focus and then just allow, you know, relax your mind. And, like you, I have moments throughout my day that, especially on days that I’m going to be very, very busy, I just go outside to be present in nature.
Speaker 2:
I have a pergola in my yard and I purposely wanted to create like a meditation corner and I do when I sit there and no electronics, just for 20 minutes, I just allow.
Speaker 2:
I just hear the birds and the fountain behind me, just all my senses are totally engaged, and I find that when I do that on a daily basis, especially on my busy days, then my nervous system is calmer, you know. Then I’m able to. Okay, now I have energy, I’ve like taken a calm breath, a calm moment. I can get back to editing, you know, podcast episodes or folding clothes or whatever other crazy thing is pulling at you to do, and so I find that that’s very beneficial as well. Do you find this to be your purpose, now that you’re doing now this whole? You said you were going to be having an app coming out. Is this your divine purpose? You find it?
Speaker 3:
Oh, yeah, absolutely. I have gone through so many different career changes in my decades of working that I I always wanted to make an impact, a social impact. You know, I always wanted to do an organization, you know, wanted to do a startup or organization where there’s a purpose. I wanted to work for companies like that. So it was a lot of work, right, you know, you go through life and you get what you get and then you try to make the most of it.
Speaker 3:
But this is something I personally feel that you know. Universe has given me a purpose, you know, but this is something I personally feel that you know, universe has given me a purpose, you know, and I can finally do something that I really feel that I can make an impact on women’s lives by doing this work and the work that we are doing, helping women navigate this journey, you know, empowering themselves, not let them sabotage themselves, you know, using your words on from your website here, but to kind of make it relatable. So, yeah, absolutely, I feel very blessed. Honestly, I really count my blessings on every single day basis, every single day, to really thank God for giving me this opportunity to, you know, to serve the community. And, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, the gratitude journaling is actually a really good one. That one really changed my whole trajectory around. I actually, for a while, really resented having to do a lot of laundry and I found that when I started to do gratitude journaling and I started to be yes even for like the modern you know appliances that we have here in the United States. You know there are people that don’t have that, and we take it for granted.
Speaker 2:
And I know start to focus your mind on these gadgets that you have, and I would start. I found that things that would bother me didn’t anymore and I stopped doing it. I did it a lot during 2021. And then I kind of stopped for a little bit and I found that my joy level tanked after that. So I’m someone that always kind of recommends every day whether you speak it out loud, because you need to speak it out loud or write it down like a little list.
Speaker 2:
I mean, we make lists all day long anyways, as mothers, as wives, constantly. Why not make a list of the, of the simple joys of life that we?
Speaker 3:
are privy to.
Speaker 2:
And that when we increase our joy, that means that the cortisol also drops and we’re not having all these fluctuations and all the stress, Because the thing is as women, we are the pillars of our home.
Speaker 2:
If we fall apart, everything around us falls apart. That’s just. That’s just the way it is. It’s the way it is. And for us to say, well now our men need to help us out. The truth is, men are not designed for that. They they’re not. They have single focus. They were the hunters. You know, um, there’s a really good book called the keys to the kingdom and the queen’s code. I’ve actually referenced these two books I can’t remember the author’s name off the top of my head, but amazing books, because it talks about the biological differences between men and women and like the men, are very single focused.
Speaker 2:
Like to give an example. We go to the refrigerator, we open the door as women we’re hungry, right and we notice that there is spoiled food on the shelves and we start cleaning out the refrigerator. And then that’s why we walked up in the first place. Right, our men. They get hungry, they go open it, grab food, eat, go back to work. Why can they do that? Because they have single focus.
Speaker 3:
That’s why they were the hunters.
Speaker 2:
We have like a thousand tabs open in our mind. When you add ADD to that which I have ADD and I have OCD and I have anxiety, that a thousand tabs it feels like 5,000 tabs and it’s horrible because it’s like you just don’t even know where to go. And with estrogen dropping. That’s very bad because the brain fog goes up.
Speaker 2:
It’s like I forget stuff now and my husband’s like well, that’s why you, because the brain fog goes up. Yeah, it’s like I forget stuff now. And my husband’s like well, that’s why you have a phone, and I’m like thank you, Thank you for telling me like the most basic, you know of course I know I have a phone, but there’s times that you are just being. You feel like you’re being pulled in like a thousand different directions and I know most women that can hear this podcast will say yes, I feel like that and it doesn’t feel good.
Speaker 2:
But there is good news, guys. When you see that mountain and it feels like so overwhelming, take a couple of deep breaths, center yourself, come back to the present moment. Don’t let your mind take you into the future and the what ifs. Let that be.
Speaker 2:
I heard an episode not too long ago in mel robinson’s podcast and she was giving tips on just dumping, like doing a brain dump once a week yeah because, as women, we carry so many responsibilities of our home that there’s so much, there’s only so much mental space we have up there you know, and so when you do the brain dump and then you go back and you choose what one item you’re going to work on and make progress on that week, that’s what makes that mountain just not be a mountain anymore and there’s more purpose and drive and focus that we can devote to that one project. Because what makes us feel joyful is the progress of the project. What makes us feel miserable is when we have all these things to do and and we haven’t gotten to not a one because we’re so overwhelmed.
Speaker 2:
So it’s picking one thing and just making progress on it and just realizing that it’s baby steps. And pick one goal per pillar of your life. So you have your health, you have your career, you have your mindset and you have relationships. Pick one goal that you’re going to work on and just keep it simple. You don’t have to overwhelm yourself in the in terms of health, like say, okay, what is it that I’m lacking? Like that I really don’t do well right now. If it’s like I don’t sleep very well, then focus on that, because that’s the one thing that’s really going to help you out in your career. If you’re just like you’re not in the right career, then maybe just start reflecting on what it is that you want and really start stepping into your purpose, like you did. You know you use your crossroads and you use your gift to step into the space. And then you have your relationships. You know, and like you said, divorce rates can go up when your lack of libido is. You know the issue. Of course that makes sense. So then do something.
Speaker 2:
Go see your OBGYN, see what they can do. There’s holistic approaches to this. There’s medical. Some of you guys can do medical. I can’t. I can’t go that hormone replacement route, so I need to kind of look at different avenues of that. There’s always there’s so much help out there and I think that we just miss it because we just get so so we just see the mountain. We don’t even want to start climbing it. You know, when you don’t have to climb it, it’s just one baby step at a time, and and use all the help you can get. Because that’s what I loved about about you you went through all the modalities and then you picked the ones that fit you to a T. You know what is next for you, amita, and if people want to work with you, how can they find you?
Speaker 3:
Yeah. So I think the best is we’re coming out with the app in the month or so and month of July, and then people should just go to our website, wwwnerishdogcom. And the whole idea is we’re going to offer self-care as a first step for women at a very affordable price, so that every woman can afford it. It’s going to be less than a cup of coffee, it’s going to be so affordable. Afford. It’s going to be less than a cup of coffee, it’s going to be so affordable. And then, um, it will be guided care with, um, you know, with other experts, whether it’s a career coach, a finance you know, a md or a naturopathic doctor or yoga or a dietician, whatever, and then it could be a one-on-one. So so we built a very comprehensive platform to really, uh, the entire help women, you know, navigate this journey with ease and confidence by going into what they need rather than what we want to force. You know what they should do. We are building our platform according to what that, what a user would need. That’s really the intention here.
Speaker 2:
Oh, that’s awesome, Because then they pick what really meets their needs right. You have everything available for them. That’s incredible. Any last minute words of encouragement you want to share with our listeners.
Speaker 3:
No, I would just like to say invest in yourself. You know, midlife is a time to reflect we were talking about the reflection time to reinvent, time to re-energize. Don’t get bogged down by this whole perimenopause, menopause. Just, you have such an incredible energy inside you. You know that divine energy that I would like to say is unleash that energy, and self-care is not selfish. So reinvent yourself and just go and charge and like all the time women have been doing. So that’s my last thought.
Speaker 2:
That’s wonderful. Thank you so much, amita, for sharing your wisdom on Release. Don’t Reveal Purpose, and, for those listening, remember Matthew 514. Be the light, have a wonderful week, stay safe. Love you all, bye now.
Speaker 1:
So that’s it for today’s episode of Released Out Reveal Purpose. Head on over to iTunes or wherever you listen and subscribe to the show. One lucky listener every single week who posts a review on iTunes will win a chance in the grand prize drawing to win a $25,000 private VIP day with Sylvia Worsham herself. Be sure to head on over to sylviaworsham.com and pick up a free copy of Sylvia’s gift and join us on the next episode.