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

17:36Dr. Amy Shah:Go to shopify.com slash holla.

17:40Hala Taha:So I've been thinking about my cycle a lot. And I am in a position now where I'm an entrepreneur and I get to pick my own schedule. And so 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 like the first like two days of my period, basically, because I just don't feel like myself. I feel tired. I feel uglier. I feel like I just you can just 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?

18:18Hala Taha: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 like I have high energy and I feel good and I don't have brain fog And I just feel like that might become a trend And 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.

18:44Dr. Amy Shah:I just love that, Hala, because I completely agree with you. And the other thing that I think is different for women and men, and like, you know, we're talking in general. So obviously there's women out there who are going to be like, I feel great in my late luteal phase, like even in that. Yeah. 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.

19:20Dr. Amy Shah:Maybe you're not making those big life decisions during that time, if possible, and business decisions. And I completely agree with you. I have, now that I'm kind of 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 then I can go a little harder when I'm ready. Mm-hmm.

19:56Hala Taha:Love that. Okay, so let's move on to energy. You talk about the energy trifecta. Tell us about that.

20:04Dr. Amy Shah: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 inputted. So your thoughts, your food, your drinks, your alcohol, everything gets inputted.

20:42Dr. Amy Shah:And then the gut kind of makes decisions about your hormones, about your immune system. And that is why you feel either good or you feel exhausted and depleted.

20:52Hala Taha:Interesting. So how do you, like, what is some, like, what's one or two things people can do to immediately improve their energy?

21:00Dr. Amy Shah: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 a.m. because I need, you know, whatever. You can get a light box, 10 ,000 lux of light. There's good research that in countries and in places where you cannot get morning sunlight, you can put a light box on your desk and it's just as good and 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 is a direct connection to our suprachiasmatic nucleus in our brain.

21:52Dr. Amy Shah: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 kind of retrain everybody to start doing the morning activities. It gets input for the rest of the day.

22:16Hala Taha:This reminds me of something that Ben Greenfield was talking to me about recently. He always talks about how like a lot of these modern like wearables tech, like PEMF mats are basically just like things that our ancestors used to just do. So for example, like people like are like trying to mimic sunlight with like 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 kind of get the same effect. So I just thought it was really interesting that a lot of these like biohacking things are actually just in nature, things that we can do without necessarily having to buy new tech.

22:57Dr. Amy Shah: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, like in your breakfast. It can be split up. So you don't have to have all 30 grams first thing. You can like a lot of times I don't eat breakfast till like 1030 and that's okay. You can kind of like split it up. But that honestly, based on so many thousands of studies, it actually improves your mood. 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.

23:38Dr. Amy Shah:So that's another really easy thing that you can be doing for everyone can be doing to improve their health.

23:44Hala Taha:So men and women, 30 grams of protein. Men and women for that one, yes. What do you feel about like, you know, eating your body weight in grams of protein? Like I need to eat 113 pounds of protein a day, grams of protein a day, not pounds.

23:58Dr. Amy Shah: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 you 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.

24:41Hala Taha: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 right. 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?

25:01Dr. Amy Shah:Yeah. When When we wake up in the morning, it's our cortisol that wakes us up. So it's great. You know, like we want that surge. It's kind of 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 kind of like you want it high in the morning. You want it low at night. That's kind of the way that you want it. It's not all bad, you know, and you want your cortisol. If 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.

25:39Dr. Amy Shah: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 o 'clock at night and now our cortisol is super high and we can't fall asleep. That is a kind of 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 like alerts and social media and like 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.

26:22Hala Taha:Yeah, that is the 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. Terrible. So what can we do to actually reduce our cortisol when we need to relax and get some rest?

26:40Dr. Amy Shah:So 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 anytime 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.

27:18Dr. Amy Shah: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 like 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. Like 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 kind of change what you're doing during the day, add in a lot more cortisol reducing activities like meditation, yoga, sunlight, sleep, like, you know, whatever it takes to get yourself in a place where you feel relaxed is something that you need to do.

28:04Dr. Amy Shah:And I have like 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.

28:25Hala Taha:One of my favorite things to use right now is a vibration plate. Have you seen like all the rage of everybody being obsessed with vibration plates? I'm obsessed with mine. I just got mine like a month ago and I use it every morning for 10 minutes. And I'm going to get trouble sticking to new habits like that. But this was like an immediate one for me. And I just feel so much more energized after I wake up. I feel like the blood is flowing. I feel like it takes away my brain fog. It's just amazing. And I've also heard that you can use it before bed to lower your cortisol. What's your take on vibration plates?

29:02Hala Taha:Are you using them?

29:03Dr. Amy Shah:I like vibration plates. I feel like it kind of goes off of that research. Just like you're moving the lymph, you're moving that circulation. So there was like a good study that shows like 50 to a hundred jumps, like 50 jumps in the morning, right? 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 same thing. It gets your circulation going. It moves the lymph around. It makes you feel more energized. It's kind of very, like you mentioned Ben Greenfield, like it's very natural way to wake up with movement and blood flow. And so it makes you feel energized for the day.

29:39Dr. Amy Shah:So I'm a fan of anything that gets you up and ready for the day.

29:43Hala Taha: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?

29:57Dr. Amy Shah:So Hala, when we eat most of the foods that are the ultra-processed So say ultra process 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 out Starbucks, but I could pick on anything else. Pick on Starbucks.

30:16Hala Taha:I don't mind.

30:18Dr. Amy Shah:So you get a Frappuccino and you're getting all these calories in, but you're also getting very little fiber. There's almost no fiber in those Frappuccinos, 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 for help. Like I said, it's like the energy trifecta. The gut is talking to your hormones and immune system.

30:59Dr. Amy Shah:And what they do is they create a little inflammation, meaning the immune system, when it's activated, it's called inflammation. And so they'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.

31:42Dr. Amy Shah: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 that all up, like 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.

32:08Hala Taha:Yeah, and aside from just putting things in our body, we're also like spraying a lot of like disruptors on our body. And I feel like nobody talks about it enough. Like in my opinion, I had a boyfriend that we broke up like many years ago, but he was allergic to fragrances and we did it for like 10 years. And so 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, like I immediately feel sick. It gives me brain fog. It gives me a headache. And I just can't believe that people are putting air fresheners in their car and using scented detergent.

32:46Hala Taha:It's literally like spraying poison on your body, in my opinion. And I just feel like nobody talks about that enough. What is your opinion on artificial fragrances and things like that?

32:56Dr. Amy Shah:So 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. And so 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. And so I saw that day in and day out, Hala, people getting reactions to detergents, makeup, skincare, candles, you know, 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 and it's showing the effects because our circadian rhythms are disrupted.

33:45Dr. Amy Shah: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 the 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, you know, 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.

34:23Hala Taha:So I know that you say that like, and when it comes to our diet, there's no one size fits all. Like everybody's different. And I talked to Dave Asprey earlier this year and he talks about how everybody has like reactive foods, right? There's certain foods that you react differently to. And so you've got to pay attention to like 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.

34:50Dr. Amy Shah:Okay, Hala, I'm gonna give you my very, very new, but it's a framework that's gonna change nutrition, okay? It's part of my new book, Hormone Havoc. 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. And 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. It's not trying to, it's not, you know, you could be gluten-free.

35:39Dr. Amy Shah: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 like 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.

35:59Hala Taha:Isn't 30 grams of protein just like not enough? Like to me, I feel like that seems like one meal, right?

36:06Dr. Amy Shah:30 grams of protein in your first meal is a mnemonic. So 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 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 kind of the hardest one. So the oldest living person, Hala, in the world, she's like 112 or something or 17 in Spain. She would have yogurt three times a day.

36:49Dr. Amy Shah:That's a probiotic food. And 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.

37:08Hala Taha:Yeah, what are some of your favorite probiotic foods?

37:11Dr. Amy Shah:Yogurt's the easiest one in America. Kefir, if you're in Europe, and like, you know, 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 sort of 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 foods 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.

37:59Hala Taha:Another example of bringing back what our ancestors actually did. So sourdough is kind of like a fermented food and it's like, everybody's like kind of obsessed with sourdough these days. Do you like sourdough? I'm a fan of sourdough. Okay.

38:15Dr. Amy Shah:Okay, here's the thing. Certain fermented foods, like there's certain Indian foods too that use a starter that's fermented and then you cook it. And so people are like, 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 like eating foods like sourdough, eating foods like idli and dosa and Indian food, their fermented batter actually serves a purpose in our gut as well.

38:42Hala Taha: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.

38:52Dr. Amy Shah:And this is for energy.

38:53Hala Taha:This is for energy. So 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?

39:27Dr. Amy Shah: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. Morning sunlight or zone two walking? Oh my God, sunny walk in the morning is ideal. So I would pick both of them for that one.

39:46Hala Taha: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?

40:04Dr. Amy Shah: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 ors, you know, but if you were like, what is the one thing that I could be doing in my life? It's that circadian rhythms, like 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 your energy.

40:26Hala Taha: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, like if they were one of your personal clients, what regimens would you put them on? Sure. So 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 p.m., 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?

41:05Dr. Amy Shah:Okay, that's me. That's literally the old me. I would be like in the back room in my clinic where all the like 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.

41:41Dr. Amy Shah: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 like 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 whites, 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-lengthening food and everybody loves the coffee, but we don't love, I don't love the mixers that you put into coffee, like the processed creamers, et cetera.

42:18Dr. Amy Shah: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 she, 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. So she's going to find mini movements, mini exercise snacks throughout the day. And then she's going to eat another 30 grams of protein in her late lunch. And then she goes home and maybe before she goes home, she goes to weight train because I want her to incorporate two to three times a week of weight training, especially if Sarah's in her late 30s, 40s, or 50s.

43:04Dr. Amy Shah:And 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 two to three 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.

43:38Dr. Amy Shah: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 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 time for you and stick to it. So don't go to bed like the old me. One day it's 10 o 'clock. 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.

44:17Dr. Amy Shah:And same with the wake time. That is the perfect day for you.

44:21Hala Taha:I feel like that just tied in like so many of the things that you taught us today. So that 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 kind of trained to not eat until like 11, 12. This is like my habit is that like, I have trained myself to not even want to eat until lunchtime. Is that good or bad?

44:46Dr. Amy Shah:Or what are your thoughts around that? Okay, I challenge you, Hala, to move up your dinner a little bit. So what ends up happening is if you eat a late lunch or like 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 like 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.

45:28Dr. Amy Shah:So I challenge you to not eat two to three 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 a.m., if you're having it 9, 10 a.m., that's still a win. Really, I don't want you to skip breakfast altogether if possible.

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50:18Hala Taha:I know this is the right path for me.

50:20Dr. Amy Shah:Hala, I started to do this because I was so frustrated. I think a lot of people can relate, like 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 like doing this and that. And I hated it. I hated myself. I was living this like 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 like write free blogs, literally got paid zero money.

50:58Dr. Amy Shah:And I would just write about like gut health, nutrition, women's health. And I would submit them to these like sites back then, like 10 years ago, that was like 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 there, those people did not go on the internet, especially at that time, which was like about 10 years ago. And it was a lot of like, what are you trying to do? Like, what is all this? Like only like whack, like quacks doctors go on the internet.

51:36Dr. Amy Shah:There's a lot of criticism and pushback. And they're like, if you're an actually a good doctor, you would just spend more time seeing patients or at a clinic if you're bored, you know, that kind of thing. So I was kind of 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 like, 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.

52:14Dr. Amy Shah:And I went and I was like, you know, 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, you know, 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 for after the pandemic, I said to my practice that I'm not going to come back full-time.

52:58Dr. Amy Shah:I'm going to kind of 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 something, something about my research, something I'd learned from my clinical practice. Like 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 some times where I'd look at the video.

53:33Dr. Amy Shah: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. Um, and over time that cringe became a, um, social media kind of, uh, very active social media page. And people really started to relate to some of the things I was saying. And, um, then this past year I went to my practice and I said, I, it's like when you're a partner, it's really hard to leave a practice.

54:13Dr. Amy Shah:I said, really want to jump into this full time. and they thought I was crazy because like, how do you even make money on the internet? They were like, this is crazy. Like, who are you? And probably you're making more money on the internet, right? And the thing is like, yeah, exactly. And everybody kind of equated it as like, oh, are you trying to become like a YouTuber or something? And I was like, yeah, this is a whole different thing. So in any case, I made the plunge and you're right. I thought that staying in the safe medical practice was the right way to go for my career. But as soon as I left in May of this past year, I have really seen a growth, not even just like on my social media, but also personally for the opportunities, the consulting, the longevity centers, the, the, the consults that I get, it is been transformative and I wish I had done it sooner.

54:59Dr. Amy Shah:And 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.

55:09Hala Taha:Yeah. You are such a great example of creator entrepreneurship. and 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?

55:28Dr. Amy Shah:I have almost 2 million on Instagram. That's my biggest channel.

55:31Hala Taha:Oh my gosh, 2 million followers. So 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 you know connecting with your audience and making sure this really complicated medical stuff actually resonates with the everyday person I think about

56:03Dr. Amy Shah: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. Like I always think, how can I add value 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.

56:23Hala Taha:Very cool. So you're like, what gift can I give this person? Making sure that every post actually has like meaning that they can take away from it. And, and, and that way it's like shareable, right?

56:33Dr. Amy Shah:Yeah. And I think a lot of people get confused on social media because especially women and especially people who are like lifestyle entrepreneurs, like 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 like 99.999 is a gift to you? Like, 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.

57:11Hala Taha:How do you decide what content you're posting? Are you thinking of like hooks to start off your video with? Are you like very formulaic? Or are you kind of just like, oh, I'm just going to hop on the camera and talk about X, Y, Z. Like, how do you plan your content?

57:23Dr. Amy Shah:Well, as I told you, I challenge myself to create every single day. It's like a writer. Like you, 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.

58:07Dr. Amy Shah:There's unlimited content that I could be giving, but it's also a game because social media is infotainment. So how do you present it in a way that's interesting to people?

58:16Hala Taha:Yeah. I was talking to Brock Johnson recently and he was telling me that he likes to record in batches. And like, if he's not in a good mood, he just won't record. And that inspired me too. Cause I was thinking like, that's when I decided like, hey, I'm not going to record during my luteal phase because I'm not feeling my best. And I'd rather like 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 you just every day, no matter what, you're doing content. So you never are batching. Is that right? Okay.

58:48Dr. Amy Shah:So I believe that we should be keeping 20 % of our day free. And I learned this from David Guillaume, who's a Kabbalah teacher. And he said, basically, big things don't come to overwhelm people. And so 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. And so 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.

59:25Dr. Amy Shah: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'll be other days where I'm like, I cannot believe I have to like post anything today, but I just do it because it's like, um, it's like working out. Like I, I feel like I'm, I'm learning how to, uh, present my knowledge in a way that's usable for people. So I do batch record when it strikes, but I don't, I don't have that like, you know, 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.

1:00:02Dr. Amy Shah:And it's a Wednesday that I have all the good ideas. I love that.

1:00:06Hala Taha: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 like they need the motivation. And it's sort of 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 is it's really through consistency at the end of the day.

1:00:28Dr. Amy Shah:And I also find like, just to Gary Vaynerchuk's point, like, 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 like the most valuable science-backed reel. 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 overperformed. So really that creative, that social creative is such an important part of the story that we're telling.

1:01:03Dr. Amy Shah:And so it's important to test it. Okay.

1:01:06Hala Taha:I want to be respectful of your time. I know we're like running up on time here. So my last question to you is for 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?

1:01:23Dr. Amy Shah: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 like, you'll get clarity and go on that path. That is the path meant for you.

1:01:47Hala Taha:Oh my gosh, I love that advice. I didn't think you were gonna 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.

1:02:07Dr. Amy Shah:Hala, this was so fun and my new book is called Hormone Havoc. It is available everywhere books are sold and my website is amymdwellness.com and my social media is at Dr. Amy Shaw.

1:02:21Hala Taha: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 Shaw. I just love how she turned her own burnout story into a mission to help millions of people reclaim their energy and health. And 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.

1:03:03Hala Taha:Cold plunges, 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 30-33 framework from her new book, Hormone Havoc.

1:03:40Hala Taha:30 grams of protein in your first meal, 30 grams of fiber throughout the day, and then three probiotic foods daily. This isn't just some fad 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, gentler workouts, and less stressful activities.

1:04:13Hala Taha: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.

1:04:46Hala Taha: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. And if you enjoyed this conversation with Dr. Amy Shaw, drop us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. 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 Yap with Hala or LinkedIn, just search for my name, it's Hala Taha.

1:05:19Hala Taha: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 Podcasts 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 Jaden 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, Halataha, aka the Podcast Princess, signing off.