Rooted in Wellness with Mona Sharma
- Folgen
- 142
- Erscheint
- wöchentlich
- Letzte Folge
- 11. Nov. 2026
Über den Podcast
Welcome to "Rooted in Wellness" with me, Mona Sharma, your guide and celebrity holistic nutritionist. Embark on a transformative journey from imbalance to harmony, where ancient wisdom meets modern scientific insights. Growing up on an ashram, I embraced the philosophy that food is medicine and your kitchen is your health sanctuary. After navigating heart surgeries, anxiety, and weight challenges, I realized that common symptoms don't equate to normalcy. Join me as we unlock the power of our mind, body, and soul connection, and journey back to our roots to reclaim our authentic selves.
Folgen 142
140. Why Normal Labs Can Hide Insulin Resistance: The Gut and Blood Sugar Connection with Kiran Krishnan
Most of us assume that if we are thin, eat well, and get normal lab results, our metabolism is in good shape. Yet about four in ten young American adults are insulin resistant, nearly half of them are not …
Shownotes
Most of us assume that if we are thin, eat well, and get normal lab results, our metabolism is in good shape. Yet about four in ten young American adults are insulin resistant, nearly half of them are not obese, and the gut may be driving that shift long before a blood test flags it.
In this episode of Rooted in Wellness, I sit down with Kiran Krishnan to explore how the gut microbiome shapes blood sugar, cravings, and the way we age. We also chat about why fiber may be the most underused longevity tool we have, when fermented foods help or backfire, and the everyday symptoms that signal your gut needs attention.
Kiran Krishnan is a research microbiologist trained at the University of Iowa with more than 20 years in microbiome science and nutrition research. He co-founded Microbiome Labs, where he served as Chief Scientific Officer, and has designed or overseen more than 35 human clinical trials. He is the Chief Scientific Officer at Just Thrive and is named on multiple U.S. and international patents for microbiome technologies.
What We Discuss:
(5:44) What happened to Kiran’s father’s health after an early retirement.
(7:44) Rapid fire: being thin, eating healthy, fruit, sleep, and intermittent fasting.
(9:12) The biggest metabolic health mistake, and why it is not only about calories.
(10:36) What identical twins and mouse studies reveal about the microbiome and weight.
(12:25) Why fiber may be the most underused tool for longevity.
(17:06) How the colon works as a fermentation organ and what happens when it loses that capacity.
(22:53) When fermented foods help a struggling gut and when they backfire.
(27:34) The gut symptoms many people have learned to call normal.
(30:50) Why lab results that are “normal” but trending up still deserve attention.
(31:46) Signs of post-meal endotoxemia to notice in the hours after eating.
(38:20) How AI modeling was used to build Good Glucose strain by strain.
(47:34) Kiran’s four daily foundations for metabolic health.
Special offer: Start a 90-day Good Glucose subscription and get a free 90-day supply of Just Thrive’s spore-based probiotic, a $130 value, at justthrivehealth.com/mona
Thank You to Our Sponsors:
Lifeboost: head to lifeboostcoffee.com/ for a special discount on your first order. And if you’re already a customer, use my code MONA10 for 10% off.
Learn more about Mona Sharma:
Download Your FREE Guide, 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started at monasharma.com/12tips
Visit Mona’s website: monasharma.com
Follow Mona on Instagram: @monasharma
Learn more about Kiran Krishnan & Just Thrive:
Instagram: @kiranbiome
Just Thrive: justthrivehealth.com
Good Glucose: justthrivehealth.com/products/good-glucose
Listen to Kiran’s first episode: 67. The Gut Healing Secrets You’ve Never Heard Before with Kiran Krishnan
139. Stop Trying So Hard to Heal: What Coherence and Qigong Teach Us About Flow with Dr. Cynthia Li
When we do not feel well, the instinct is to do more: another supplement, a stricter protocol, one more number to track. But that constant striving can keep the body locked in urgency and fear, the very state …
Shownotes
When we do not feel well, the instinct is to do more: another supplement, a stricter protocol, one more number to track. But that constant striving can keep the body locked in urgency and fear, the very state that makes healing harder.
In this episode of Rooted in Wellness, I sit down with Dr. Cynthia Li to explore coherence, the embodied state of flow that allows the body to shift out of survival mode and into healing. We talk about why she now spends more time removing supplements than adding them, when wearable data becomes a blockage, and why letting go of the goal can help healing happen faster.
Dr. Cynthia Li is an integrative and functional medicine physician in Northern California and a certified qigong teacher. Her earlier work centered on public health, with a focus on HIV/AIDS and underserved communities, and she served on the faculty of Rachel Naomi Remen's The Healer's Art program at UCSF Medical School. She is the author of the memoir Brave New Medicine and The Medicine of Flow, and the editor of a book on contemplative qigong.
What We Discuss:
(7:39) How an autoimmune thyroid condition progressed into chronic fatigue syndrome and dysautonomia.
(10:49) Why gluten, toxins, and stress may share one deeper root cause.
(16:34) Rapid fire: the habit people think is helping them heal that actually keeps them stuck.
(22:18) Why Dr. Li now spends more time removing supplements than adding them.
(26:50) When a wearable device stops supporting your health and starts blocking it.
(29:05) What a second health crisis taught her about surrender and self-worth.
(32:04) Why flow is not always blissful and what purification reactions can feel like.
(33:39) The paradox of letting go of the goal so healing can happen faster.
(38:52) How to take healing seriously without approaching it in a serious way.
(42:21) What coherence is and how it differs from relaxation.
(44:17) How one person's coherence can help bring others into coherence.
(48:36) How a five-minute centering practice changed an entire appointment.
(51:41) How coherence helped a patient navigate a high-risk genetic result.
(58:19) How much daily practice it takes to make coherence your default state.
(1:06:06) The difference between releasing stress and transforming the program behind it.
(1:11:39) What qigong is and what embodied flow feels like.
Thank You to Our Sponsors:
Timeline’s clinically proven formula is now available at a new, lower price. Mitopure now starts at $79, when you go to timeline.com/MONA
Learn more about Mona Sharma:
Download Your FREE Guide, 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started at monasharma.com/12tips
Visit Mona’s website: monasharma.com
Follow Mona on Instagram: @monasharma
Learn more about Dr. Cynthia Li:
Website: cynthialimd.com
The Medicine of Flow audios and videos: cynthialimd.com/flow
Instagram: @cynthialimd
Facebook: Dr. Cynthia Li
138. The Clean Beauty Myth: Toxic Ingredients, Greenwashing, and the Truth About Tallow with Emilie Toups
Most of us choose skincare by the front of the bottle, trusting words like clean, natural, and grass-fed. But many of those labels have no legal definition, and our skin is not the sealed wall we think it is …
Shownotes
Most of us choose skincare by the front of the bottle, trusting words like clean, natural, and grass-fed. But many of those labels have no legal definition, and our skin is not the sealed wall we think it is: what we apply every day can make its way into the body.
In this episode of Rooted in Wellness, I sit down with Emilie Toups to explore how to see past greenwashing and choose products the skin actually recognizes. We talk about why "natural fragrance" is still fragrance, what lab testing revealed about imported "grass-fed" tallow, and why going unscented for three months can change how your home smells to you.
Emilie Toups is a mom of five and the founder of Toups & Co Organics, a skincare and makeup brand that began with a batch of tallow balm made in her farmhouse kitchen for her daughter's eczema. Nearly a decade later, Toups & Co has thousands of loyal members and sources its tallow from local, regenerative, grass-fed farmers. She and her husband have built the company without outside investors.
What We Discuss:
(8:45) Why "natural fragrance" on a label is still fragrance.
(9:38) Rapid fire: why Emilie thinks retinol is overrated.
(14:07) What two decades in the cosmetic industry taught Mona about fragrance.
(17:12) Why fragrance is so hard to give up and what changes after three months unscented.
(20:00) Why your skin behaves more like an organ than a wall.
(23:22) The doctor's ultimatum that sent Emilie looking for another way to heal her daughter's eczema.
(34:09) Whether tallow can carry toxins and why the source matters.
(37:16) What lab testing revealed about imported "grass-fed" tallow.
(49:17) Why "clean beauty" labels can mean almost anything.
(51:24) The one ingredient to avoid that weeds out most greenwashed products.
(53:32) Why Mona still found parabens in her urine 20 years after cutting them out.
(55:39) Why not all seed oils belong in the same category for skin.
(1:01:00) What to do when you are doing everything right and still not seeing results.
(1:06:47) Three ingredients to put back on the shelf when shopping for aging skin.
(1:15:27) How a family with five kids eats an ancestral diet without cooking all day.
(1:21:18) Why Emilie stopped keeping snacks in the pantry.
Exclusive Listener Offer: New customers get 25% off the Toups & Co online shop with code MONASHARMA at toupsandco.com/pages/mona-sharma-x-toups-co One use per customer.
Learn more about Mona Sharma:
Download Your FREE Guide, 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started at monasharma.com/12tips
Visit Mona’s website: monasharma.com
Follow Mona on Instagram: @monasharma
Learn more about Emilie Toups & Toups & Co Organics:
Website: toupsandco.com
Instagram: @toupsandcoorganics
Facebook: Toups and Co Organics
Pinterest: @toupsandco
137. The “Healthy” Food Trap: How to Read Labels and Avoid Ultra-Processed Ingredients with Julia Putzeys
The grocery aisle is full of foods that appear to make healthy eating easier. A package says “high protein,” “natural,” “organic,” or “sugar-free,” and the decision can feel as though it has already been made …
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The grocery aisle is full of foods that appear to make healthy eating easier. A package says “high protein,” “natural,” “organic,” or “sugar-free,” and the decision can feel as though it has already been made for us. But none of those claims tells us everything about what is inside.
In this episode of Rooted in Wellness, I sit down with Julia Putzeys to look beyond the front of the package. We talk about why the ingredient list matters, how ultra-processed foods can be marketed as wellness products, and how to make better choices without becoming fearful or replacing everything in the pantry overnight.
Julia is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, former software product manager, and the founder of Trash Panda, an independent food-scanner app that helps shoppers understand ingredients and compare packaged foods. She created the app after realizing how many products she had considered healthy were relying on marketing claims that did not match what she found on the back.
What We Discuss:
(5:36) Why the nutrition facts panel can distract us from the ingredient list.
(6:50) How the high-protein trend can make ultra-processed foods appear healthier.
(8:15) The flavored yogurts, dressings, bars, and powders that often receive a health halo.
(9:04) What research associations between ultra-processed foods and chronic health conditions may reveal.
(12:24) Why ultra-processed foods make up more than half of the average American diet and over 60 percent of children’s diets.
(14:42) How dyes, added sugars, and other additives may affect children’s energy, focus, and behavior.
(20:32) What “natural,” “fortified,” “sugar-free,” and “organic” do not tell us about a product.
(31:08) The discovery that led Julia to create the Trash Panda app.
(41:51) How foods can be engineered to keep us eating and why that matters for self-control.
(45:42) Practical guardrails for buying mostly whole foods while leaving room for convenience.
(51:20) The nuance around seed oils, omega-6 intake, and ultra-processed food.
(1:06:03) The packaged snack categories Julia checks most carefully for her children.
(1:12:57) How cost, access, and food deserts complicate the conversation about healthy choices.Thank You to Our Sponsors:
Timeline: Timeline’s clinically proven formula is now available at a new, lower price. Mitopure now starts at $79, when you go to timeline.com/MONA
Learn more about Mona Sharma:
Download Your FREE Guide, 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started at monasharma.com/12tips
Visit Mona’s website: monasharma.com
Follow Mona on Instagram: @monasharma
Learn more about Julia Putzeys and Trash Panda:
Website: trashpandaapp.com
Instagram: @trashpanda_app
LinkedIn: Julia Putzeys
Download the App: Trash Panda136. Seed Cycling Explained: Supporting PMS, Period Pain, and Perimenopause with Kaya Purohit and Yasmin Nouri
Most of us know when our period is coming because we have learned how to prepare for it. But how much do we know about what happened in the weeks before it arrived? Would we recognize whether we ovulated …
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Most of us know when our period is coming because we have learned how to prepare for it. But how much do we know about what happened in the weeks before it arrived? Would we recognize whether we ovulated, understand why the same symptoms return at the same point each month, or know when pain has crossed from common to something that needs attention? We are taught to handle each symptom as it appears. We take something for the cramps, cover the breakout, push through the exhaustion, and wait for the mood shift to pass. The cycle itself is rarely treated as one connected story. Yet if it is considered a fifth vital sign, how much information have we learned to ignore?
In this episode of Rooted in Wellness, I sit down with Kaya Purohit and Yasmin Nouri to question what many of us have been told about our periods. Can food meaningfully change how a cycle feels? What can be missed when symptoms are quieted before they are understood? How can stress, undernourishment, and blood sugar changes show up in the cycle? And what do women need to know as their hormones begin shifting through perimenopause and beyond?
Kaya and Yasmin are the co-founders of Beeya Wellness. Kaya holds a master’s degree in nutrition and leads product development and education at Beeya. Yasmin spent a decade in finance before her experience with painful periods and more than a decade on birth control led her back to a practice she had dismissed for two years because it sounded too simple to make a difference. What happened when she finally tried seed cycling changed the direction of both of their lives. This conversation may change the questions you ask before calling a symptom normal.
What We Discuss:
(11:41) Why period pain should not automatically be accepted as part of being a woman.
(14:24) Why seed cycling may be a more accessible first step than hormone testing for some women.
(19:23) How the menstrual cycle can act as a fifth vital sign and a monthly report card.
(23:20) What irregular cycles, heavy bleeding, severe cramps, and acne may be signaling beyond reproductive health.
(28:04) How seed cycling works across the follicular and luteal phases.
(30:40) What changed after Yasmin tried the practice she had ignored for two years.
(36:18) Why women also use seed cycling through perimenopause and other hormonal transitions.
(42:55) What women should understand before starting or stopping hormonal birth control.
(48:09) How chronic stress, undernourishment, and blood sugar instability can disrupt the cycle.
(57:44) The everyday products that may increase exposure to hormone-disrupting chemicals.
(1:01:59) How to begin seed cycling and why consistency matters more than perfection.
(1:07:26) Why magnesium became the second product in the Beeya line.
(1:12:05) The free habit that can help women understand their hormonal patterns.
Learn more about Mona Sharma:
Download Your FREE Guide, 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started at monasharma.com/12tips
Visit Mona’s website: monasharma.com
Follow Mona on Instagram: @monasharma
Learn more about Kaya Purohit, Yasmin Nouri, and Beeya Wellness:
Website: beeyawellness.com
Instagram: @beeyawellness
135. The Attention Crisis: How to Find Flow in a World Built to Distract You with David Nurse
Most of us do not struggle because we have nothing important to do. We struggle because everything feels important at once. Texts, emails, work, family, and our own health all compete for attention, leaving us …
Shownotes
Most of us do not struggle because we have nothing important to do. We struggle because everything feels important at once. Texts, emails, work, family, and our own health all compete for attention, leaving us busy all day without ever feeling completely focused.
In this episode of Rooted in Wellness, I sit down with David Nurse to explore whether flow state, the feeling athletes describe as being in the zone, can be trained. We talk about what constant interruption is doing to our attention, why trying harder can interfere with performance, and how the rest of us can use lessons from elite athletes during work, parenting, and high-pressure moments.
David is a leading flow state expert, high-performance strategist, Wall Street Journal bestselling author (Do It: The Life-Changing Power of Taking Action) and former Brooklyn Nets coach. He has trained around 200 NBA players, including Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and is now studying how people can access flow more often and stay there longer.
What We Discuss:
(9:13) Three simple morning practices for feeling grounded before the day begins.
(14:29) Why answering texts and emails in real time can leave an entire day feeling unfulfilling.
(20:58) What an ongoing FlowCode brain study is revealing about training flow state.
(34:08) What flow state feels like outside sports.
(42:49) How visualization prepares the brain for success and unexpected setbacks.
(47:48) How notifications, constant information, and poor timing interfere with focus.
(55:06) How to use a “time pizza” to see where the day is actually going.
(1:01:24) Why clarity, composure, and consistency can matter more than talent.
(1:05:41) Why two championship-winning coaches felt lowest after reaching the top.
(1:10:17) Practical ways to begin building more flow into an ordinary day.
(1:17:32) The problem More/Less protein gummies were created to solve.Thank You to our Sponsors:
Timeline: Timeline’s clinically proven formula is now available at a new, lower price. Mitopure now starts at $79, when you go to timeline.com/MONA
Learn more about Mona Sharma:
Download Your FREE Guide, 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started at monasharma.com/12tips
Visit Mona’s website: monasharma.com
Follow Mona on Instagram: @monasharma
Learn more about David Nurse & More/Less Protein:
Website:
Instagram: @davidnursenba
More/Less Protein: morelessprotein.com
134. How the Pursuit of Health Can Leave You More Disconnected from Your Body with Justin Roethlingshoefer
For many people, taking care of their health has started to feel like a second job. There is always another number to track, habit to add, or routine to perfect. More discipline seems like the answer, but …
Shownotes
For many people, taking care of their health has started to feel like a second job. There is always another number to track, habit to add, or routine to perfect. More discipline seems like the answer, but constantly trying to optimize the body can make it harder to hear what the body has been saying all along.
In this episode of Rooted in Wellness, I sat down with Justin Roethlingshoefer to talk about the line between caring for the body and controlling it. Our conversation gets into how discipline can become tied to self-worth, how tracking can slowly replace self-trust, and why even healthy habits struggle to last when the rhythm of life cannot support them.
Justin has lived this contradiction himself. He spent years studying human performance and working with elite athletes, yet at 32, he was dealing with precancerous colon polyps and a bleeding ulcer while still appearing incredibly healthy. Being told he might not live past 35 forced him to reconsider what health actually meant. Today, Justin is a Human Health and Performance Expert, data-driven health strategist, USA Today bestselling author of The Power of Ownership, and author of Holy Health.
What We Discuss:
(17:12) Why losing 100 pounds left one client wondering why he did not feel happier.
(21:48) How living by default affects the body, relationships, and daily choices.
(26:27) When healthy habits become part of someone’s identity.
(34:06) How HRV can provide useful feedback without controlling the day.
(59:09) How Justin looked healthy while his health was falling apart.
(1:15:24) Why good habits rarely last inside a life that cannot support them.
(1:27:22) The 3-2-1 nighttime rule for making room for real rest.
Listen now on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Learn more about Mona Sharma:
Download Your FREE Guide - 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started now at monasharma.com/12tips
Visit Mona's website: monasharma.com – Unlock powerful tools and wisdom rooted in wellness to elevate your health, energy, and clarity. Mona blends ancient healing practices with modern science to help you achieve lasting transformation.
Follow Mona on Instagram: Stay connected with Mona for daily inspiration, holistic health tips, and personal growth. Join the conversation on Instagram at @monasharma
Learn more about Justin Roethlingshoefer:
Website: justinroethlingshoefer.com
Instagram: @justinroeth
Justin’s new book, Holy Health, brings science and faith into the same conversation, offering a new way to approach health as an act of stewardship rather than another pursuit of perfection. Learn more at holyhealthbook.com
133. The Heart Disease Your Cholesterol Test Cannot See with Dr. Abid Husain
A normal cholesterol result can feel like permission to stop worrying about your heart. You exercise, try to eat well, get your yearly blood work, and leave believing everything is fine. That is what makes …
Shownotes
A normal cholesterol result can feel like permission to stop worrying about your heart. You exercise, try to eat well, get your yearly blood work, and leave believing everything is fine. That is what makes heart disease so frightening. It can continue developing for years while the tests you have been taught to trust give you no reason to look any further.
In this episode of Rooted in Wellness, I sat down with Dr. Abid Husain to find out what can be missed when we rely on cholesterol and an EKG alone. We talk about the testing that can catch heart disease earlier, why women can have real heart problems even when traditional scans look clear, and how hormones, stress, blood sugar, sleep, and movement can change the picture. Most importantly, Dr. Husain shares what to ask for if you want a more complete view of your heart health before symptoms appear.
Dr. Husain is a triple board-certified cardiologist and integrative medicine physician who has worked across inpatient and outpatient cardiology. After years of treating heart failure and atherosclerosis, he stepped away from conventional practice and spent the next decade expanding his training in functional and cellular medicine. Today, he brings these disciplines together in his practice and teaches a systems-based approach to atherosclerosis through his Next Generation Medicine course.
What We Discuss:
05:55 Why cholesterol is the last number Dr. Husain wants to hear when assessing heart risk.
09:02 What can be going wrong years before the heart produces a single warning sign.
19:39 The overlooked blood markers that can reveal what a basic cholesterol panel misses.
33:25 How declining estradiol may quietly change a woman’s cardiac risk in midlife.
41:11 The real cardiovascular problem women were told was “just anxiety” because their scans looked clear.
48:37 What statins do beyond lowering cholesterol and why higher doses may come with a tradeoff.
1:01:04 Why the artery known as the “widowmaker” can turn someone’s first symptom into a cardiac emergency.
Learn more about Mona Sharma:
Download Your FREE Guide - 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started now at monasharma.com/12tips
Visit Mona's website: monasharma.com – Unlock powerful tools and wisdom rooted in wellness to elevate your health, energy, and clarity. Mona blends ancient healing practices with modern science to help you achieve lasting transformation.
Follow Mona on Instagram: Stay connected with Mona for daily inspiration, holistic health tips, and personal growth. Join the conversation on Instagram at @monasharma
Learn more about Dr. Abid Husain:
Website: interlinkedmd.com
Instagram: @dr_abidhusain
YouTube: @DoctorAbidHusain
Go deeper with Dr. Husain’s Next Generation Medicine course, a systems-based guide to understanding atherosclerosis: nextgenerationmedicine.co
132. The Hidden Code Behind the Patterns You Cannot Break with Manex Ibar
Have you ever caught yourself repeating a pattern you were sure you had already healed? The person or situation may change, but somehow you end up in the same kind of relationship, carrying the same fear, or …
Shownotes
Have you ever caught yourself repeating a pattern you were sure you had already healed? The person or situation may change, but somehow you end up in the same kind of relationship, carrying the same fear, or reacting in the same way. You understand the pattern, so why does it still have so much power over you?
In this episode of Rooted in Wellness, I sit down with Manex Ibar to explore why certain patterns can feel impossible to break, how the subconscious may influence the way we see ourselves, and what those recurring struggles may be trying to reveal. We also talk about the Sphinx Code, destiny versus free will, spiritual bypassing, modern distraction, and what nature can show us when we finally become quiet enough to listen.
Manex Ibar is a modern mystic, spiritual innovator, and creator of the Sphinx Code. Described by the Financial Times as “The Extreme Spiritual Guide” and known as the Doctor’s Shaman and the Billionaire’s Mystic, he has spent more than two decades blending ancient shamanic traditions, depth psychology, human energetics, and nature-based practices to guide people through profound inner transformation.
What’s Discussed
(10:05) Why so many people feel disconnected from themselves.
(12:18) Destiny, free will, and whether our patterns can change.
(17:23) What the Sphinx Code reveals about the subconscious.
(23:41) What happens when a wound becomes part of your identity.
(42:14) Why the wound may also contain the way forward.
(53:12) How modern distraction keeps us from seeing ourselves clearly.
(1:22:13) The questions that can reveal what a recurring pattern is protecting.
Listen to this episode to understand why recognizing a pattern is not always enough to break it, and what may be hiding underneath the part of your life that keeps repeating. 🎧
Thank You to Our Sponsors:
Timeline: Timeline’s clinically proven formula is now available at a new, lower price. Mitopure now starts at $79, when you go to timeline.com/MONA
Learn more about Mona Sharma:
Download Your FREE Guide - 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started now at monasharma.com/12tips
Visit Mona's website: monasharma.com – Unlock powerful tools and wisdom rooted in wellness to elevate your health, energy, and clarity. Mona blends ancient healing practices with modern science to help you achieve lasting transformation.
Follow Mona on Instagram: Stay connected with Mona for daily inspiration, holistic health tips, and personal growth. Join the conversation on Instagram at @monasharma
Learn more about Manex Ibar & Sphinx Code:
Sphinx Code: sphinxcode.com
Manex Ibar: manexibar.com
Wisdom Quest: wisdom-quest.com
Download Sphinx Code on Apple: apps.apple.com/us/app/sphinx-code/
Download Sphinx Code on Google Play: play.google.com/store/apps/sphinxcode
131. The Cellular Reason Burnout and Hormonal Chaos Keeps Coming Back with Dr. Scott Sherr
Most of us know when we are drifting away from ourselves. We feel it in the sleep that stops restoring us, the anxiety that starts to feel familiar, the energy that never fully comes back, the cravings that get …
Shownotes
Most of us know when we are drifting away from ourselves. We feel it in the sleep that stops restoring us, the anxiety that starts to feel familiar, the energy that never fully comes back, the cravings that get louder, the workouts that drain us instead of building us, and the quiet sense that our body is asking for something we keep trying to override.
The problem is that modern life has trained so many of us to normalize that state. We wake up and reach for our phones. We move through constant stimulation, blue light, low-grade stress, ultra-processed food, world events, long to-do lists, and the pressure to keep optimizing. Then we wonder why the body feels like it is always bracing, even when nothing is technically wrong.
In this episode, I sit down with my dear friend and mentor Dr. Scott Sherr to talk about the cellular side of that stress loop. Dr. Sherr is a Board Certified Internal Medicine Physician specializing in Health Optimization Medicine and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, and his work sits at the intersection of mitochondrial biology, the autonomic nervous system, and advanced tools for recovery. We talk about what he calls the Sympathetic Spiral, why the nervous system is not broken, how mitochondria shift when the body feels unsafe, and why burnout, hormonal chaos, broken sleep, inflammation, and low energy may keep coming back when the body never fully gets the signal that it is safe to recover.
What’s Discussed:
15:03 Why excitement, anxiety, and hypervigilance can feel so similar in the body.
20:29 The metabolic side of burnout and what creates the “wired but tired” state.
30:55 How high performers become accustomed to living in hypervigilance.
39:04 Why calming the nervous system can backfire when cellular energy is already depleted.
01:01:23 Why burnout is affecting people earlier and how to find the right entry point.
01:11:56 How methylene blue interacts with mitochondrial energy and oxidative stress.
01:24:57 The connection between estrogen shifts, mitochondrial stress, GABA, and sleep during perimenopause.
My hope is that this conversation helps you stop blaming yourself for exhaustion that has a physiological root.
Learn more about Mona Sharma:
Download Your FREE Guide - 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started now at monasharma.com/12tips
Visit Mona's website: monasharma.com – Unlock powerful tools and wisdom rooted in wellness to elevate your health, energy, and clarity. Mona blends ancient healing practices with modern science to help you achieve lasting transformation.
Follow Mona on Instagram: Stay connected with Mona for daily inspiration, holistic health tips, and personal growth. Join the conversation on Instagram at @monasharma
Learn more about Dr. Scott Sherr:
Website: Troscriptions.com
Instagram: @troscriptions
OneBase: onebasehealth.com
For PractitionersExplore the seven-module HOMeHOPe certification, cohort-based learning, clinical case discussions, and practitioner education Dr. Scott mentioned in the episode.
Explore HOMeHOPe practitioner education
Dr. Scott also invites you to the 2026 HOMeHOPe Conference, happening October 2–3, 2026, at the Drake Hotel in Chicago. The two-day event is open to practitioners and anyone interested in exploring the latest in health optimization, hormones, longevity, metabolic health, and more.
Learn more and reserve your seat at https://homehope.org/homehope-conference-2026. Use code MONA for 10% off your ticket!
130. Microdosing Functional Mushrooms: The Wellness “Trend” Humans Have Used for Thousands of Years with Alli Schaper
Mushrooms are suddenly everywhere, and honestly, I love seeing this ancient medicine finally getting the attention it deserves. But between lion’s mane lattes, mushroom gummies, fruiting bodies, mycelium, and …
Shownotes
Mushrooms are suddenly everywhere, and honestly, I love seeing this ancient medicine finally getting the attention it deserves. But between lion’s mane lattes, mushroom gummies, fruiting bodies, mycelium, and microdosing, how do you know what is actually supportive and what is simply great marketing?
In this episode of Rooted in Wellness, I sit down with my sweet friend Alli Schaper to take you into the incredible world of fungi. We talk about the mushrooms that may support your brain and body, what to look for before buying a supplement, and how microdosing is changing conversations around our habits, grief, joy, and even our fear of death.
Alli Schaper is the CEO and cofounder of SuperMush, host of Into the Multiverse, and cofounder and board member of Microdosing Collective, the first U.S. nonprofit dedicated to legal microdosing advocacy. She has been featured in Forbes 30 Under 30, National Geographic, Rolling Stone, Goop, Bloomberg, and Summit Series.
What’s Discussed:
(08:16) Why functional mushrooms may be difficult to feel when your body is already running on overdrive.
(19:06) Alli’s journey from chronic gut issues and multiple prescriptions to taking her health back into her own hands.
(29:56) The difference between culinary, functional, and psychedelic mushrooms.
(36:02) Fruiting body, mycelium, extract ratios, and what actually matters on the label.
(54:52) Why mushrooms have remained part of human healing for thousands of years.
(01:05:16) How mushrooms became what one of Alli’s teachers calls “instruments of joy.”
(01:09:47) What to understand about microdosing, protocols, sourcing, and responsible exploration.
Thank You to Our Sponsors:
Timeline: Timeline’s clinically proven formula is now available at a new, lower price. Mitopure now starts at $79, when you go to timeline.com/MONA
Learn more about Mona Sharma:
Download Your FREE Guide - 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started now at monasharma.com/12tips
Visit Mona's website: monasharma.com – Unlock powerful tools and wisdom rooted in wellness to elevate your health, energy, and clarity. Mona blends ancient healing practices with modern science to help you achieve lasting transformation.
Follow Mona on Instagram: Stay connected with Mona for daily inspiration, holistic health tips, and personal growth. Join the conversation on Instagram at @monasharma
Learn More About Alli Schaper & SuperMush:
Website: allischaper.com
Instagram: @allischaper
Website: supermush.com
Instagram: @supermush
129. The Missing Layer in Healing: Why Chronic Pain Keeps Coming Back No Matter What You Try with Jason van Blerk
Most of us were taught to treat the body like something to fix. Pain shows up, so we chase the pain. Stress builds, so we try to calm the mind. Tension gets louder, so we stretch harder. But what if the body is …
Shownotes
Most of us were taught to treat the body like something to fix. Pain shows up, so we chase the pain. Stress builds, so we try to calm the mind. Tension gets louder, so we stretch harder. But what if the body is not working against you? What if it has been communicating through the very signals we keep overriding?
In this episode, I sit down with Jason van Blerk of Human Garage to talk about fascia as one of the most misunderstood organs in the body, and why it may be a missing piece in how we understand chronic pain, stored emotion, tension, trauma, pressure, movement, and healing. We explore why pain may not always begin where it shows up, why the body is not just biomechanical, and how fascia may change the way we think about what the body holds, repeats, and struggles to release.
Human Garage, co-founded by Jason van Blerk and Aisha Rodrigue, is a wellness platform that teaches self-guided fascial movement, breathwork, and body awareness techniques designed to relieve tension, improve mobility, and promote self-healing.
What’s Discussed:
10:38 Why the body’s signals get overridden from a young age.
14:05 Why quick fixes may quiet pain without addressing why it was there.
20:32 What fascia actually is, and why it is more than most people realize.
22:31 How fascia may change the way we understand memory, emotion, and the body.
23:49 Why pain may show up in one area when the pattern begins somewhere else.
26:30 Why the body is pressurized, not just biomechanical.
35:17 Why trauma is not only psychological.
40:53 What can happen when the body finally begins to release.
46:50 How jaw tension may connect to what remains unexpressed.
01:00:24 Why breath and counter-rotation matter in Fascial Maneuvers.
01:05:08 A simple practice to help shift the body out of stress.
Listen to this episode if you have been trying to think your way through something your body may still be carrying.
Thank You to Our Sponsors:
Carol Bike: Visit carolbike.com/mona and use code MONA for a special discount.
Learn more about Mona Sharma:
Download Your FREE Guide - 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started now at monasharma.com/12tips
Visit Mona's website: monasharma.com – Unlock powerful tools and wisdom rooted in wellness to elevate your health, energy, and clarity. Mona blends ancient healing practices with modern science to help you achieve lasting transformation.
Follow Mona on Instagram: Stay connected with Mona for daily inspiration, holistic health tips, and personal growth. Join the conversation on Instagram at @monasharma
Learn More About Jason van Blerk, Aisha Rodrigue & Human Garage:
Website: humangarage.net
Instagram: @jasonvanblerk
Instagram: @aishahumangarage
Human Garage Instagram: @humangarage
128. The Brain Health Warning Signs That Start Before Memory Loss with Dr. David Perlmutter
There is a reason brain health feels so urgent right now. So many people are watching parents, grandparents, partners, and loved ones face Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, dementia, depression, anxiety, or cognitive …
Shownotes
There is a reason brain health feels so urgent right now. So many people are watching parents, grandparents, partners, and loved ones face Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, dementia, depression, anxiety, or cognitive decline, while quietly wondering if the same future is waiting for them. With Alzheimer’s projected to affect nearly 14 million Americans by 2060, this is not a conversation we can keep saving for later.
Most of us think about the brain only when something starts to feel different, but cognitive decline can begin 20 to 30 years before a single symptom appears. That means the way we eat, move, sleep, manage stress, support blood sugar, and care for our metabolism may be shaping the brain long before memory starts to slip. And with only about 6% of American adults considered metabolically healthy, the connection between insulin resistance, inflammation, and brain aging becomes much harder to ignore.
In this episode, I sit down with Dr. David Perlmutter to talk about why prevention has to begin while you still feel fine, which metabolic number he wishes more people knew, and what daily choices may be protecting or threatening your brain without you realizing it. Dr. Perlmutter is a board-certified neurologist, six-time New York Times bestselling author, and author of Brain Defenders, with decades of work connecting the brain to the body, gut, metabolism, inflammation, and the way we live every day.
What’s Discussed:
04:45 How Dr. Perlmutter thinks about connection, gratitude, and what it means to be rooted.
12:20 The daily habit he says may be one of the worst for your brain.
17:54 Why brain decline does not begin the moment memory fails.
24:17 What ultra-processed food may be doing to long-term brain health.
27:08 How inflammation connects depression, anxiety, and neurodegeneration.
31:20 What “I feel fine right now” can miss about the future of the brain.
39:59 The key metabolic labs Dr. Perlmutter wants people to know.
46:50 Why your gut bacteria may act like a signal system for the brain.
57:17 How inflammation can shift the brain’s immune cells from protective to destructive.
My hope is that this conversation helps you stop waiting for symptoms before you care about your brain. The choices you make today are not small. They are signals, and your brain is listening.
Thank You to Our Sponsors:
Timeline: Timeline’s clinically proven formula is now available at a new, lower price. Mitopure now starts at $79, when you go to timeline.com/MONA
Learn more about Mona Sharma:
Download Your FREE Guide - 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started now at monasharma.com/12tips
Visit Mona's website: monasharma.com – Unlock powerful tools and wisdom rooted in wellness to elevate your health, energy, and clarity. Mona blends ancient healing practices with modern science to help you achieve lasting transformation.
Follow Mona on Instagram: Stay connected with Mona for daily inspiration, holistic health tips, and personal growth. Join the conversation on Instagram at @monasharma
Learn more about Dr. David Perlmutter:
Website: drperlmutter.com
Brain Defenders: drperlmutter.com/books/brain-defenders
Instagram: @davidperlmutter
127. Normal Labs, Real Symptoms: What Your Immune System May Be Trying to Tell You with Dr. Tania Dempsey
There is a point where “everything looks normal” stops feeling reassuring. You may be exhausted, bloated, itchy, inflamed, anxious, sensitive to foods, reacting to supplements, struggling with sleep, or feeling …
Shownotes
There is a point where “everything looks normal” stops feeling reassuring. You may be exhausted, bloated, itchy, inflamed, anxious, sensitive to foods, reacting to supplements, struggling with sleep, or feeling like your body is on high alert, yet the answers you keep getting are stress, aging, hormones, or nothing to worry about.
Most people do not start searching for deeper answers because of one symptom. It is usually the way the symptoms keep stacking, shifting, and refusing to make sense. In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Tania Dempsey to talk about the immune patterns that can sit underneath complex chronic symptoms, why the body can stay reactive long after the original trigger, and what it looks like to investigate the whole system instead of chasing one symptom at a time.
Dr. Tania Dempsey is a board-certified physician, founder of the AIM Center for Personalized Medicine, and one of the leading experts in immune dysfunction, MCAS, and vector-borne illness. She has spent over a decade working with patients who have been dismissed, misdiagnosed, or told their symptoms are not connected.
What’s Discussed:
00:37 What helps Dr. Tania stay rooted while working with complex chronic illness.
07:08 The everyday symptom many people brush off too quickly.
10:31 Why scattered symptoms may not be as separate as they seem.
16:45 How a deeper patient history can change the direction of care.
33:10 The immune pattern that can show up in surprising places.
38:33 Why the usual story about tick exposure is incomplete.
47:13 The hidden layer that may keep people stuck after years of treatment.
54:03 A different way to understand anxiety when it feels physical.
My hope is that this conversation helps you stop blaming your body and start asking better questions about what it may be responding to, so you can feel more informed, less dismissed, and more confident about the next step in your healing journey.
Learn more about Mona Sharma:
Download Your FREE Guide - 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started now at monasharma.com/12tips
Visit Mona's website: monasharma.com – Unlock powerful tools and wisdom rooted in wellness to elevate your health, energy, and clarity. Mona blends ancient healing practices with modern science to help you achieve lasting transformation.
Follow Mona on Instagram: Stay connected with Mona for daily inspiration, holistic health tips, and personal growth. Join the conversation on Instagram at @monasharma
Learn more about Dr. Tania Dempsey:
Website: drtaniadempsey.com
ILADS®: ilads.org/resource
Instagram: @drtaniadempseymd
Facebook: @taniadempseymd
YouTube: @DrTaniaDempsey
126. The Self-Improvement Trap: Why More Healing Work Is Not Always the Answer with Panache Desai
There is a specific kind of exhaustion that comes from spending years trying to heal yourself and still feeling like you have not arrived. You go to therapy, journal, regulate your nervous system, learn your …
Shownotes
There is a specific kind of exhaustion that comes from spending years trying to heal yourself and still feeling like you have not arrived. You go to therapy, journal, regulate your nervous system, learn your patterns, and keep looking for the next thing that will finally help you feel peaceful. Then an old emotion returns or you find yourself in a familiar pattern, and it can feel like proof that there is still something wrong with you.
The part we rarely question is what all that effort may be teaching us. When every difficult emotion, symptom, or setback becomes another problem to solve, healing can begin to reinforce the feeling that we are still incomplete. So what changes when we stop approaching ourselves as a project that always needs work? In this episode of Rooted in Wellness, I sit down with Panache Desai to talk about why “doing the work” can become its own source of pressure, what acceptance actually asks of us, and why being human was never something we needed to overcome.
Panache is a bestselling author, transformational speaker, and former guest on Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday who has spent over three decades helping people move beyond endless self-correction and reconnect with the peace and wholeness already within them.
What’s Discussed:
05:52 Why accepting your humanity can change the way you relate to yourself.
11:58 The emotion many people suppress because they believe it makes them less healed.
14:12 Why doing more healing work can leave you feeling even further from peace.
19:49 What happens when self-improvement begins from the belief that you are incomplete.
21:26 How healing can become an identity that keeps you searching for the next thing to fix.
37:05 Why changing your circumstances does not always create the safety you are looking for.
59:14 Why simple practices repeated consistently may matter more than another healing method.
Listen to this episode if you are tired of turning every emotion, setback, or symptom into another reason to work harder on yourself.
Thank You to Our Sponsors:
Timeline: Timeline’s clinically proven formula is now available at a new, lower price. Mitopure now starts at $79, when you go to timeline.com/MONA
Learn more about Mona Sharma:
- Download Your FREE Guide - 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started now at monasharma.com/12tips
- Visit Mona's website: monasharma.com – Unlock powerful tools and wisdom rooted in wellness to elevate your health, energy, and clarity. Mona blends ancient healing practices with modern science to help you achieve lasting transformation.
- Follow Mona on Instagram: Stay connected with Mona for daily inspiration, holistic health tips, and personal growth. Join the conversation on Instagram at @monasharma
Learn more about Panache Desai:
Website: panachedesai.com/call-to-calm-meditations/
125. Peptides Are Not a Shortcut: Here’s What Your Body Needs First with Nathalie Niddam
Peptides are everywhere right now, and the promise is hard to ignore. When you are dealing with slow recovery, inflammation, low energy, gut issues, or the feeling that your body is no longer responding the way …
Shownotes
Peptides are everywhere right now, and the promise is hard to ignore. When you are dealing with slow recovery, inflammation, low energy, gut issues, or the feeling that your body is no longer responding the way it used to, hearing that one compound could help, can make it feel like the answer you have been waiting for.
The excitement around peptides is real, but so is the confusion. With so many compounds, protocols, and promises circulating online, it can be difficult to know what your body may actually need, what is worth paying attention to, and where to begin. In this episode, I sat down with Nathalie Niddam to cut through the noise and talk about what you need to know before following a recommendation, building a stack, or adding a peptide to your routine.
Nathalie Niddam is a holistic nutritionist and longevity educator, and host of Longevity with Nathalie Niddam. After years of studying peptides, bioregulators, and regenerative health, along with managing a peptide community of approximately 36,000 people, she brings a grounded perspective to both the potential of these tools and the mistakes people make when using them without enough context.
What’s Discussed:
(16:47) The biggest mistake people make when starting peptides and why someone else’s protocol may not be right for your body.
(22:22) What peptides and bioregulators are, how they work, and the difference between supporting the body and forcing an outcome.
(27:13) What the current evidence around BPC-157 can and cannot tell us, and how to think about emerging science without ignoring real-world experience.
(34:29) How to tell thoughtful peptide guidance from influencer hype and what to look for before trusting a recommendation.
(40:01) Why larger peptide and supplement stacks can create new blind spots, and why intentional use may help you understand what is actually working.
(49:30) Why food, movement, sleep, stress support, hormones, baseline testing, and body awareness still matter before adding advanced longevity tools.
Listen to this episode if peptides have caught your attention, but you want a more grounded way to understand where they may fit into your health
Learn more about Mona Sharma:Download Your FREE Guide - 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started now at monasharma.com/12tips
Visit Mona's website: monasharma.com – Unlock powerful tools and wisdom rooted in wellness to elevate your health, energy, and clarity. Mona blends ancient healing practices with modern science to help you achieve lasting transformation.
Follow Mona on Instagram: Stay connected with Mona for daily inspiration, holistic health tips, and personal growth. Join the conversation on Instagram at @monasharma
Learn more about Nathalie Niddam:
Website: natniddam.com
Instagram: @longevitywithnat
124. The Attachment Wound Behind Your Relationship Patterns with Thais Gibson
Why do we sometimes pull away from the people we love most? Why can closeness feel comforting one moment and overwhelming the next? And why do certain patterns keep repeating even when we know we want something …
Shownotes
Why do we sometimes pull away from the people we love most? Why can closeness feel comforting one moment and overwhelming the next? And why do certain patterns keep repeating even when we know we want something different?
In this episode of Rooted in Wellness, I sit down with Thais Gibson to look at the patterns underneath how we love, cope, shut down, chase, self-soothe, and respond when our nervous system does not feel fully safe. We talk about attachment styles, core wounds, subconscious beliefs, emotional triggers, and why the way we learned to protect ourselves can quietly shape our relationships, stress, habits, and healing.
Thais Gibson is a bestselling author, PhD, and founder of Integrated Attachment Theory™, a neuroscience-backed framework designed to help people understand and rewire attachment patterns. With over a decade in private practice and more than 30,000 students across 115 countries, she brings a clear, compassionate, and deeply practical lens to why these patterns form and how they can begin to change.
What’s Discussed:
(19:43) Why old habits and instant fixes may point to something deeper beneath the surface.
(24:07) Rapid-fire truths on attachment styles, trauma responses, therapy, conflict, and relationship healing.
(31:00) What attachment style really means and why it matters beyond romantic relationships.
(50:01) The deeper needs that can drive chasing, withdrawing, shutting down, or searching outside yourself.
(56:48) How self-soothing patterns can show up through cravings, numbing, and comfort-seeking habits.
(1:00:15) Why early beliefs can quietly shape the way we love, react, and protect ourselves as adults.
(1:20:07) How attachment wounds can connect to burnout, anxiety, emotional eating, and the body’s stress response.
Listen to this episode if you have ever wondered why you keep repeating a pattern you thought you had already outgrown. This conversation will help you see attachment through a more compassionate lens and understand why healing begins with what your nervous system learned long before you had words for it. 🎧
Thank You to Our Sponsors:
CAROL Bike: Visit carolbike.com/mona and use code MONA for a special discount.Learn more about Mona Sharma:
Download Your FREE Guide - 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started now at monasharma.com/12tips
Visit Mona's website: monasharma.com – Unlock powerful tools and wisdom rooted in wellness to elevate your health, energy, and clarity. Mona blends ancient healing practices with modern science to help you achieve lasting transformation.
Follow Mona on Instagram: Stay connected with Mona for daily inspiration, holistic health tips, and personal growth. Join the conversation on Instagram at @monasharma
Learn more about Thais Gibson:
Instagram: @thepersonaldevelopmentschool
Podcast: Breakthrough with Thais Gibson Podcast
123: What “Normal” Labs Are Not Telling You About Your Thyroid with Dr. Amie Hornaman
Some seasons of health feel confusing because nothing looks dramatic on paper, but daily life tells a different story. You are exhausted in a way coffee cannot cover. Your weight is shifting even though your …
Shownotes
Some seasons of health feel confusing because nothing looks dramatic on paper, but daily life tells a different story. You are exhausted in a way coffee cannot cover. Your weight is shifting even though your habits have not changed that much. Your hair feels thinner. Your brain feels foggy. And when you finally ask for help, the labs come back “normal,” and suddenly the conversation ends before anyone really explains why you still do not feel like yourself.
That is where so many women get stuck. The symptoms are real, but the testing is often too narrow. The answer gets reduced to aging, menopause, stress, or needing to try harder, when the thyroid may be part of the picture that has not been properly seen yet. And for women over 40, that missing thyroid conversation can change how they understand their energy, metabolism, hormones, and body signals.
Dr. Amie Hornaman joins me to talk about the thyroid patterns that are often overlooked, including thyropause, incomplete lab testing, reverse T3, Hashimoto’s, and why TSH alone does not tell the full story. Dr. Amie is a hormone optimization specialist, founder of the Advanced Thyroid and Hormone Clinic, and a leading voice in thyroid health whose work is rooted in both clinical expertise and her own experience of being dismissed by six doctors before finally getting answers.
What’s Discussed:
(08:23) The symptoms women are told to accept with age that may point back to the thyroid.
(10:28) Why a small gland can affect energy, weight, hair, digestion, mood, and heart rhythm.
(12:19) What thyropause means and why it may be missing from the menopause conversation.
(20:09) The top signs Dr. Amie looks for when women feel like they are doing everything right.
(25:59) Why TSH is only one signal and what a fuller thyroid panel can reveal.
(38:13) Why weight loss medications may not work the same way when thyroid function is not optimized.
(54:04) When biohacking becomes one more stressor instead of true support.
Listen to this episode if you have been trying to understand why your body feels different, but the answers you have been given do not match what you feel every day.
Thank You to Our Sponsor:
Timeline: Timeline’s clinically proven formula is now available at a new, lower price. Mitopure now starts at $79, when you go to timeline.com/MONA
Learn more about Mona Sharma:
Download Your FREE Guide - 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started now at monasharma.com/12tips
Visit Mona's website: monasharma.com – Unlock powerful tools and wisdom rooted in wellness to elevate your health, energy, and clarity. Mona blends ancient healing practices with modern science to help you achieve lasting transformation.
Follow Mona on Instagram: Stay connected with Mona for daily inspiration, holistic health tips, and personal growth. Join the conversation on Instagram at @monasharma
Learn more about Dr. Amie Hornaman
Website: dramie.com
Instagram: @dramiehornaman
Tiktok: @dramiehornaman
122: The Cellular Reason Your Body Feels Different After 30 with Jennifer Scheinman
There is a frustrating moment that can happen in your thirties or forties when your body starts to feel different, but you cannot quite explain why. Your energy dips in a way that coffee does not really fix …
Shownotes
There is a frustrating moment that can happen in your thirties or forties when your body starts to feel different, but you cannot quite explain why. Your energy dips in a way that coffee does not really fix. Your recovery takes longer. Your focus feels hazier. Your body feels less responsive, even when you are eating well, moving, taking supplements, and trying to do the things that are supposed to help.
And the hardest part is how easy it is to dismiss all of it. You start wondering if this is just aging, if your hormones are the whole problem, or if you need to try harder with another protocol. But what if the shift you are feeling is happening somewhere where most conversations about energy, hormones, and longevity do not look deeply enough? In this episode of Rooted in Wellness, I sit down with Jennifer Scheinman to talk about why energy, recovery, focus, hormones, and body composition can start shifting in your thirties and forties, and what mitochondrial health, mitophagy, and Urolithin A may reveal about what is happening beneath the surface.
Jennifer Scheinman is a registered dietitian with nearly three decades of experience and the Director of Scientific Communications at Timeline. Her work sits at the intersection of nutrition, cellular biology, longevity, mitochondrial health, and Urolithin A, which makes her the right person to explain why energy, recovery, focus, and resilience may have more to do with your cells than most people realize.
What’s Discussed:
(08:51) Why energy, focus, and recovery can start feeling different in your thirties and forties.
(23:36) What chronic stress may be doing beneath the surface.
(26:09) Why Urolithin A is becoming part of the cellular health conversation.
(34:45) What Mona realized after seeing her own toxic burden results.
(42:08) Why healthspan has to include how you actually feel in your body.
(45:06) The subtle signs that something may be starting to work.
(55:10) How ancient practices connect with modern mitochondrial research.
Thank You to Our Sponsor:
Timeline: Timeline’s clinically proven formula is now available at a new, lower price. Mitopure now starts at $79, when you go to timeline.com/MONA
MitoQ: Go to mitoq.com/mona and use code MONA for 10% off
Learn more about Mona Sharma:
Download Your FREE Guide - 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started now at monasharma.com/12tips
Visit Mona's website: monasharma.com – Unlock powerful tools and wisdom rooted in wellness to elevate your health, energy, and clarity. Mona blends ancient healing practices with modern science to help you achieve lasting transformation.
Follow Mona on Instagram: Stay connected with Mona for daily inspiration, holistic health tips, and personal growth. Join the conversation on Instagram at @monasharma
Learn more about Jennifer Scheinman (Timeline):
Website: www.timeline.com/
Instagram : jenscheinman_nutrition
121. The Health Problem Hiding in Your Zip Code with Tony Cho
A lot of wellness advice assumes the problem lives inside the individual. Your stress. Your habits. Your discipline. Your food choices. Your ability to regulate. But what happens when you are already doing the …
Shownotes
A lot of wellness advice assumes the problem lives inside the individual. Your stress. Your habits. Your discipline. Your food choices. Your ability to regulate. But what happens when you are already doing the things that are supposed to help and your life still feels strangely disconnected? You eat well, meditate, try to regulate your nervous system, maybe even spend money on wellness, but the second you return to your commute, your neighborhood, your apartment, or another day without real connection, something in your body still feels unsettled.
That is the health problem hiding in your zip code. In this episode of Rooted in Wellness, I sit down with Tony Cho, a purpose-driven entrepreneur and regenerative placemaking visionary, to talk about why loneliness is not always a personal failure, why modern cities can dysregulate the nervous system, and why the future of wellness has to include the places, communities, and systems we live inside. And until you start looking at the spaces around you, you may keep trying to fix symptoms that were never meant to be carried alone.
Tony Cho is a purpose-driven entrepreneur and visionary community builder helping cities evolve into living ecosystems that support human connection, creativity, and regeneration. His work bridges personal well-being, community design, and the future of the built environment in balance with nature and culture.
What’s Discussed:
(06:07) Smart cities vs. wise cities, and what modern development is getting wrong.
(10:02) How ashram life shaped Tony’s view of community, ritual, death, and belonging.
(21:13) Why regenerative placemaking starts with listening to the land, people, and culture.
(38:09) Why loneliness may be a design flaw, not a personal failure.
(1:07:16) What wellness spaces miss when they focus on biohacking instead of place and people.
(1:12:13) Why third places matter for connection, community, and everyday belonging.
(1:22:30) How ritual can bring people back to existence without dogma or rigid rules.
Thank You to Our Sponsor:
Timeline: Timeline’s clinically proven formula is now available at a new, lower price. Mitopure now starts at $79, when you go to timeline.com/MONA
Learn more about Mona Sharma:
Download Your FREE Guide - 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started now at monasharma.com/12tips
Visit Mona's website: monasharma.com – Unlock powerful tools and wisdom rooted in wellness to elevate your health, energy, and clarity. Mona blends ancient healing practices with modern science to help you achieve lasting transformation.
Follow Mona on Instagram: Stay connected with Mona for daily inspiration, holistic health tips, and personal growth. Join the conversation on Instagram at @monasharma
Learn more about Tony Cho:
Website: ony-cho.com/generation-regeneration
Substack: tonycho1111.substack.com/
Instagram: @tonycho
Gaia TV Series: gaia.com/series/road-to-utopia
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chotimelive/
YouTube: @RegenerativeLivingwithTonyCho
Press: tony-cho.com/press
The Ayurvedic Way to Lose Weight Without Hunger, Shame, or Punishment
Weight loss can feel exhausting when every plan gives you another reason to push harder. Eat less. Cut more. Fast longer. Ignore hunger. Be more disciplined. But for so many people, that only leads to the same …
Shownotes
Weight loss can feel exhausting when every plan gives you another reason to push harder. Eat less. Cut more. Fast longer. Ignore hunger. Be more disciplined. But for so many people, that only leads to the same cycle: trying harder, feeling stuck, blaming yourself, and wondering why your body still feels bloated, inflamed, tired, or out of rhythm.
In this solo episode of Rooted in Wellness, I’m looking at weight loss through an Ayurvedic lens, where the conversation is not only about calories, restriction, or willpower. It is also about the state your body is in while you are trying to change it.
Because if your digestion feels off, your cravings feel louder, your stress feels constant, or your body feels like it is holding on no matter what you do, the answer may not be another extreme reset. It may be learning how to support your body in a way that feels more grounded, nourishing, and sustainable.
What’s Discussed:
(02:47) Why the usual “eat less, move more” weight loss advice may not be the full story.
(05:53) How Ayurveda looks at digestion, Agni, and the body’s ability to process what it takes in.
(08:37) Why pushing through hunger can become part of the same cycle people are trying to escape.
(13:41) The role daily rhythm plays in cravings, energy, digestion, and feeling regulated.
(22:00) Why meal timing matters, especially when dinner becomes the biggest meal of the day.
(27:49) How warm meals, cooked foods, and digestive spices can change the way your body receives nourishment.
(42:43) Why stress, inflammation, and feeling overloaded can make the body feel stuck.
Listen to this episode if weight loss has started to feel like a fight with your body, and you want a more compassionate way to understand what your body may be asking for. 🎧
Learn more about Mona Sharma:
- Download Your FREE Guide - 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started now at monasharma.com/12tips
- Visit Mona's website: monasharma.com – Unlock powerful tools and wisdom rooted in wellness to elevate your health, energy, and clarity. Mona blends ancient healing practices with modern science to help you achieve lasting transformation.
- Follow Mona on Instagram: Stay connected with Mona for daily inspiration, holistic health tips, and personal growth. Join the conversation on Instagram at @monasharma
Thank You to Our Sponsor:
Timeline: Timeline’s clinically proven formula is now available at a new, lower price. Mitopure now starts at $79, when you go to timeline.com/MONA120. What Most People Get Wrong About Cardio with Ulrich Dempfle
There is a frustrating point a lot of people hit with cardio. You know it matters. You know heart health, stamina, and energy are important, especially as you think about aging well. But the version of cardio …
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There is a frustrating point a lot of people hit with cardio. You know it matters. You know heart health, stamina, and energy are important, especially as you think about aging well. But the version of cardio most of us were taught feels hard to keep up with: long workouts, more sweat, more time, and another thing on your schedule that can leave you feeling drained before the day has even started.
That is also why the “I do not have time” problem is not always as simple as it sounds. For many people, cardio feels like something that only counts if it takes a big chunk of time or proves itself through exhaustion. But what if the body does not need another hour-long workout to start adapting? What if the real question is whether the workout is giving your body the right signal in the first place?
In this episode of Rooted in Wellness, I sit down with Ulrich Dempfle to talk about why the way we think about cardio, VO2 max, and longevity may need a serious update. Ulrich is the CEO and co-founder of CAROL, and he used his background in mechanical engineering to help develop the world’s only Reduced Exertion HIIT, or REHIT, bike alongside leading exercise researchers. He breaks down why short, precise effort can create a powerful cardiovascular response, and why improving your fitness may not require overhauling your entire life.
Shop at http://carolbike.com/mona for a special discount!
What’s Discussed:
(06:37) Why sweating is not the only sign that a workout counted.
(08:29) The outdated “no pain, no gain” advice that keeps people chasing longer, harder workouts.
(14:40) Why the minimum effective dose may matter more than spending an hour on cardio.
(19:32) How breathwork helps your body recover after short, intense effort.
(37:04) Why more sprints or longer intervals do not always create better results.
(45:08) Why VO2 max matters for longevity, oxygen delivery, mitochondria, and energy for life.
(58:15) How Ulrich builds short cardio, strength training, and joyful movement into his own routine.
Listen to this episode if cardio has always felt like something you need to make more time for, push harder through, or recover from afterward. This conversation will help you understand why improving cardiovascular fitness may have less to do with doing more, and more to do with giving your body a signal it can actually use. 🎧
Thank You to Our Sponsor:
BIOptimizers: Visit bioptimizers.com/mona and use MONA at checkout to get the best deal on Masszymes and all BIOptimizers products.
Learn more about Mona Sharma:
Download Your FREE Guide - 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started now at monasharma.com/12tips
Visit Mona's website: monasharma.com – Unlock powerful tools and wisdom rooted in wellness to elevate your health, energy, and clarity. Mona blends ancient healing practices with modern science to help you achieve lasting transformation.
Follow Mona on Instagram: Stay connected with Mona for daily inspiration, holistic health tips, and personal growth. Join the conversation on Instagram at @monasharma
Learn more about Ulrich Dempfle and CAROL Bike:
Ulrich Dempfle: carolbike.com/global/community/ulrich-dempfle-rider-story/
CAROL Bike: http://carolbike.com/mona
114: Why Nothing You’ve Tried for Anxiety and Stress Is Actually Working with Dr. Dave Rabin
You can be sleeping, exercising, taking supplements, trying to meditate, cutting back on caffeine, doing all the “right” things, and still feel like your body is bracing for something you cannot name. That is …
Shownotes
You can be sleeping, exercising, taking supplements, trying to meditate, cutting back on caffeine, doing all the “right” things, and still feel like your body is bracing for something you cannot name. That is the part so many stress conversations miss, because anxiety is not always something you can mindset your way out of when your nervous system has learned that safety is not the default.
We dive deeper into this in Rooted in Wellness with Dr. Dave Rabin, and this conversation will change the way you understand stress, anxiety, trauma, and why everything you have tried has only ever scratched the surface of what actually needs to heal.
Dr. Dave Rabin is a board certified psychiatrist and neuroscientist with over 12 years of post-college medical training specializing in chronic stress, trauma, and treatment resistant mental illness, one of the few psychiatrists in the United States trained in both ketamine and MDMA assisted therapy, and the co-founder of Apollo Neuroscience. With decades spent working with the most treatment resistant patients in psychiatry, the people who had tried everything and still could not find relief, he has dedicated his entire career to finding what actually works when nothing else does.
What's Discussed:
(5:04) The four pillars of self trust and why restoring a sense of agency is the foundation of all healing.
(13:53) Why looking at your phone first thing in the morning is one of the most dysregulating things you can do to your nervous system.
(17:35) Why anxiety is not a disorder but a signal and what happens when we treat it like one.
(22:11) How chronic stress diverts up to 80% of your blood flow away from every system in your body responsible for healing.
(34:03) Why perfectionism is a biological trap and what it is actually doing to your nervous system.
(39:20) How trauma changes your gene expression and what epigenetics tells us about the possibility of healing.
(1:03:59) Why the source of all healing comes from within and how psychedelic assisted therapy is proving it.
(1:23:54) Why optimizing from a place of fear is actually shortening your life and what to do instead.
Listen to this episode of Rooted in Wellness and walk away with a completely different understanding of your body, your nervous system, and why feeling safe is not a luxury but the foundation of every single thing your body needs to heal.
Thank you to our Sponsors:
AX3 Life: Use code MONA for 20% off first order at AX3.Life
MitoQ - Go to mitoq.com/mona and use code MONA for 10% off
Learn more about Mona Sharma:
Download Your FREE Guide - 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started now at monasharma.com/12tips
Visit Mona's website: monasharma.com – Unlock powerful tools and wisdom rooted in wellness to elevate your health, energy, and clarity. Mona blends ancient healing practices with modern science to help you achieve lasting transformation.
Follow Mona on Instagram: Stay connected with Mona for daily inspiration, holistic health tips, and personal growth. Join the conversation on Instagram at @monasharma
Learn more about Dr. Dave Rabin:
Instagram: @drdavidrabin
Book - A Simple Guide to Being Alive pre-order link: A-Simple-Guide-To-Being-Alive
Website: www.drdave.io/
Podcast: The-Psychedelic-Report/
118: The Detox Mistake That Keeps Your Body Feeling Off with Dr. Josh Levitt
There is a specific kind of frustration that happens when you are trying to take care of your body, but something still feels off. You are eating better, taking supplements, trying to manage stress, maybe even …
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There is a specific kind of frustration that happens when you are trying to take care of your body, but something still feels off. You are eating better, taking supplements, trying to manage stress, maybe even getting your labs checked, but your energy still feels low, your brain feels foggy, your digestion feels sluggish, or your hormones feel harder to understand than they used to.
But what if the answer is not another extreme cleanse, another supplement, or another reason to blame yourself? What if your body has been sending quieter signals through the organ most people only think about when they hear the word “detox,” and understanding that organ could change the way you look at your energy, mood, hormones, digestion, and daily health? In this episode of Rooted in Wellness, I sit down with Dr. Josh Levitt to talk about why the liver is so much more than a filter, why detox trends often miss the point, and how to support your body’s built-in detox process in a way that feels practical and sustainable.
Dr. Joshua Levitt, ND, is a naturopathic physician, author, educator, and Co-Founder and Medical Director at UpWellness, with over 20 years of hands-on clinical experience helping people understand their bodies through a grounded, integrative lens.
What’s Discussed:
(04:19) Why Mona’s healing journey inspired Rooted in Wellness and the bridge between Eastern and Western medicine.
(10:28) Why balance is not about staying perfectly steady, but learning how to manage the moments that pull you off center.
(20:30) The subtle signs your liver may need support before anything obvious shows up on labs.
(21:26) Why the liver is not just a filter, and how that misunderstanding can keep people from connecting their symptoms.
(23:58) What standard liver labs can tell you, and why “normal” results may not always explain why you still feel off.
(42:06) What people should know before trying detox teas, juice cleanses, liver flushes, or viral detox trends.
(57:09) Why liver health belongs in the conversation around hormones, HRT, perimenopause, stress, and how your body processes what it carries.
Listen to this episode to understand why supporting your liver may not be about doing a harder detox, and why feeling sluggish, foggy, hormonally off, or disconnected from your body may have more to do with daily support than another extreme reset. 🎧
Thank You to Our Sponsor:
MitoQ: Go to mitoq.com/mona and use code MONA for 10% off
Learn more about Mona Sharma:
- Download Your FREE Guide - 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started now at monasharma.com/12tips
- Visit Mona's website: monasharma.com – Unlock powerful tools and wisdom rooted in wellness to elevate your health, energy, and clarity. Mona blends ancient healing practices with modern science to help you achieve lasting transformation.
- Follow Mona on Instagram: Stay connected with Mona for daily inspiration, holistic health tips, and personal growth. Join the conversation on Instagram at @monasharma
Learn more about Dr. Josh Levitt & UpWellness:
Website: upwellness.com
UpWellness LTV: drinkLTV.com
Instagram: @drjoshlevitt
TikTok: @drjoshlevitt
117. The Fitness Mistake That Keeps You Starting Over with Stan Browney
There is a very specific kind of frustration that happens when you genuinely want to get healthier, but every attempt starts to feel like the same cycle. You get motivated, you clean up your food, you promise …
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There is a very specific kind of frustration that happens when you genuinely want to get healthier, but every attempt starts to feel like the same cycle. You get motivated, you clean up your food, you promise yourself this time will be different, and then one missed workout, one busy week, or one moment of “I already messed up” makes you feel like you are back at the beginning again.
But what if the problem is not that you lack discipline? What if the real problem is that you were taught to make fitness too extreme to actually become your life?
In this episode of Rooted in Wellness, I sit down with Stan Browney to talk about the part of fitness that most people overlook. We get into why motivation is not always the thing that creates change, why so many people make getting healthy harder than it needs to be, and why the way you approach food, movement, routine, and progress can either keep you stuck in the start-over cycle or help you finally move forward.
Stan Browney is a fitness creator, YouTuber, and founder of the 90 Day Challenge app. Through his challenge-based content, bodyweight training, and transformation series, he has helped millions of people see fitness as something they can start, enjoy, and keep going with without needing perfection, expensive equipment, or extreme routines.
What’s Discussed:
(07:10) The fitness myth about carbs that still refuses to go away.
(08:07) Why motivation may not be what actually gets people fit.
(10:39) Why starting can feel like the biggest roadblock.
(13:08) What is really happening when the scale stops moving.
(15:43) The difference between wanting fast results and wanting real change.
(30:39) Why missing one day can feel like failure, and what to do with that moment.
(52:59) The small habit Stan recommends when someone wants to begin.
Listen to this episode to understand why getting healthy may not be about finding a harder plan, and why the reason you keep starting over may have less to do with your body and more to do with the way fitness has been presented to you. 🎧
Thank You to Our Sponsor:
Timeline: Timeline’s clinically proven formula is now available at a new, lower price. Mitopure now starts at $79, when you go to timeline.com/MONALearn more about Mona Sharma:
- Download Your FREE Guide - 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started now at monasharma.com/12tips
- Visit Mona's website: monasharma.com – Unlock powerful tools and wisdom rooted in wellness to elevate your health, energy, and clarity. Mona blends ancient healing practices with modern science to help you achieve lasting transformation.
- Follow Mona on Instagram: Stay connected with Mona for daily inspiration, holistic health tips, and personal growth. Join the conversation on Instagram at @monasharma
Learn more about Stan Browney:
Instagram: @stanbrowney
YouTube: @Browney
116. Cellular Health: How to Rebuild the Body’s Ability to Heal with Dr. Bill Rawls
So many people spend years chasing answers. Doctor after doctor, test after test, protocol after protocol, and still their body feels like it is stuck in something it cannot find its way out of. They may be …
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So many people spend years chasing answers. Doctor after doctor, test after test, protocol after protocol, and still their body feels like it is stuck in something it cannot find its way out of. They may be eating better, taking supplements, trying to lower stress, testing for Lyme, mold, viruses, or toxins, and still wondering why they do not feel better.
If you are also feeling that same frustration, this episode is for you. In this episode of Rooted in Wellness, I sit down with Dr. Bill Rawls to talk about why chronic illness is so rarely about one single diagnosis, pathogen, or protocol. Because when the body has been under years of stress, toxicity, depletion, and cellular strain, healing cannot only be about attacking what showed up on a test. It has to be about understanding why the body became vulnerable in the first place, what your cells need to rebuild resilience, and how to create the conditions for your body to actually recover.
Dr. Bill Rawls is a medical doctor whose personal battle with chronic Lyme disease brought him face to face with the limits of conventional medicine and led him toward a deeper understanding of cellular health, herbal medicine, and true recovery. Through his RESTORE180™ framework and his work in herbal and cellular wellness, he has become one of the most trusted voices helping people move beyond symptom management and understand what the body truly needs to heal.
Use code MONA at https://vitalplan.com/ to get 25% off the Vital Plan order, including the first month of RESTORE180.
What’s Discussed:
(09:00) Why chronic illness keeps rising despite advanced medicine.
(15:46) Why people can do everything “right” and still feel stuck.
(19:33) How stress, toxicity, and cellular breakdown create vulnerability.
(30:00) Why Lyme, mold, and viruses are rarely the whole story.
(47:09) How herbs work differently from pharmaceuticals.
(56:00) Why herbal healing works on a different timeline.
(01:06:14) The trap of more supplements, testing, and protocols.
(01:11:49) Simple first steps to reduce cellular stress.
Listen now and learn why your body may not need another extreme protocol, but the right support to rebuild resilience from the cellular level.
Thank you to our Sponsors:
BIOptimizers: Visit bioptimizers.com/mona and use MONA at checkout to get the best deal on Masszymes and all BIOptimizers products.Learn more about Mona Sharma:
Download Your FREE Guide - 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started now at monasharma.com/12tips
Visit Mona's website: monasharma.com – Unlock powerful tools and wisdom rooted in wellness to elevate your health, energy, and clarity. Mona blends ancient healing practices with modern science to help you achieve lasting transformation.
Follow Mona on Instagram: Stay connected with Mona for daily inspiration, holistic health tips, and personal growth. Join the conversation on Instagram at @monasharma
Learn more about Dr. Bill Rawls
Website: https://rawlsmd.com/
Instagram: @rawlsmd
Facebook: @rawlsmd
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RawlsMD
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bill-rawls-md/
115. The Missing Piece in Hormone Therapy No One Is Talking About with Dr. Nayan Patel
Hormone health has become one of the most confusing conversations in wellness, and that confusion can change the way you care for your body. Some people avoid HRT completely because they are afraid of it, while …
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Hormone health has become one of the most confusing conversations in wellness, and that confusion can change the way you care for your body. Some people avoid HRT completely because they are afraid of it, while others get placed on one-size-fits-all protocols that never fully consider their stress, sleep, lifestyle, labs, symptoms, or what their body is actually asking for.
In this episode of Rooted in Wellness, I sit down with Dr. Nayan Patel to help you understand how to approach hormone health with more clarity and confidence. We talk about where the fear around hormone therapy comes from, why “normal” is not always the same as optimal, how custom compounding can support more personalized care, and why your doctor, pharmacist, lifestyle, and daily habits all need to work together if you want the treatment to actually support your body.
Dr. Nayan Patel is a sought-after pharmacist, wellness expert, and author of The Glutathione Revolution: Fight Disease, Slow Aging, and Increase Energy with the Master Antioxidant. Since 1999, he has worked with physicians to custom-develop patient-specific medication, hormone, and nutrition protocols for celebrities, CEOs, physicians, and high-performing clients. After 11 years of clinical research on glutathione, he developed patented topical glutathione delivery technology, making him one of the most trusted voices on personalized medicine, hormone therapy, and antioxidant support.
What's Discussed:
(00:00) Why so many people feel “off” even when their labs come back normal.
(04:12) The early signs your hormones are shifting before it becomes a bigger issue.
(08:30) Where the fear around hormone therapy actually comes from and why it’s still so strong.
(12:45) Why one-size-fits-all hormone protocols leave so many people stuck.
(17:10) What gets missed in standard hormone testing and appointments.
(21:36) The difference between “normal” and “optimal” and why it matters for how you feel.
(26:50) Breaking down bioidentical, natural, and synthetic hormones in a way that actually makes sense.
(32:18) Why personalized, compounded hormone therapy can change outcomes.
(38:40) The lifestyle factors that can block hormone therapy from working properly.
(54:10) The biggest mistakes people make when trying to fix their hormones.
If you’ve been feeling off, dismissed, or confused about your hormones, this episode will help you understand what might actually be missing and how to approach your hormone health in a way that finally makes sense.
Thank you to our Sponsors:
Timeline: Timeline’s clinically proven formula is now available at a new, lower price. Mitopure now starts at $79, when you go to timeline.com/MONA
Learn more about Mona Sharma:
- Download Your FREE Guide - 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started now at monasharma.com/12tips
- Visit Mona's website: monasharma.com – Unlock powerful tools and wisdom rooted in wellness to elevate your health, energy, and clarity. Mona blends ancient healing practices with modern science to help you achieve lasting transformation.
- Follow Mona on Instagram: Stay connected with Mona for daily inspiration, holistic health tips, and personal growth. Join the conversation on Instagram at @monasharma
Learn more about Auro Wellness:
Website: http://aurowellness.com/
Instagram: @aurowellness
Facebook: @aurowellness
TikTok: @auro.wellness
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@aurowellness
114. The Eye-Brain Connection Behind Focus, Fatigue, and Screen Stress with Dr. Bryce Appelbaum
When we talk about health, healing, and performance, we usually focus on the things we have been taught to look at first. We talk about hormones, gut health, sleep, stress, inflammation, nutrition, movement …
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When we talk about health, healing, and performance, we usually focus on the things we have been taught to look at first. We talk about hormones, gut health, sleep, stress, inflammation, nutrition, movement, and nervous system regulation. But most of us never think to ask whether there is another system quietly shaping how we focus, learn, move, process stress, and feel in our bodies.
That system is vision.
In this episode of Rooted in Wellness, I sit down with Dr. Bryce Appelbaum to explore why vision is one of the most overlooked foundations of whole-body health. We talk about why 20/20 eyesight does not mean your vision is fully healthy, how the eye-brain connection affects focus, stress, learning, screen fatigue, concussion recovery, aging, and performance, and why standard eye exams can miss functional vision problems that may be affecting your daily life.
Dr. Bryce Appelbaum is a pioneer in neuro-optometry, an international TEDx speaker, and the creator of Vision Performance Training, a transformative approach that rewires the eye-brain connection, supports post-concussion vision issues, and builds long-term visual resilience. As the founder and CEO of MyVisionFirst and ScreenFit™, he has become one of the most trusted voices in functional vision, helping people understand why 20/20 eyesight is not the whole story.
If you want to start supporting their visual system beyond today’s conversation, Dr. Appelbaum is offering exclusive discounts on ScreenFit™ and Digital Performance Lenses:
$200 off ScreenFit™ https://checkout.screenfit.com/screenfit-vision-foundations/ using code MONA at screenfit.com/enroll
10% off Digital Performance Lenses https://shop.myvisionfirst.com/ using code MONA at shop.myvisionfirst.com
What's Discussed:
(05:43) Why 20/20 eyesight is not the full picture.
(07:20) What standard eye exams often miss.
(18:05) The difference between eyesight and vision.
(25:20) How vision connects to stress and regulation.
(28:06) What screens do to the eyes and brain.
(30:21) How vision issues can affect children’s learning and focus.
(35:56) Everyday signs of functional vision problems.
(49:35) How Vision Performance Training rewires the eye-brain connection.
Thank you to our Sponsors:
MitoQ: Go to mitoq.com/mona and use code MONA for 10% off
AX3 Life: Use code MONA for 20% off first order at https://ax3.life/
Learn more about Mona Sharma:
- Download Your FREE Guide - 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started now at monasharma.com/12tips
- Visit Mona's website: monasharma.com – Unlock powerful tools and wisdom rooted in wellness to elevate your health, energy, and clarity. Mona blends ancient healing practices with modern science to help you achieve lasting transformation.
- Follow Mona on Instagram: Stay connected with Mona for daily inspiration, holistic health tips, and personal growth. Join the conversation on Instagram at @monasharma
Learn more about Dr. Bryce Applebaum and MyVisionFirst:
Instagram: @drbryceappelbaum
Website: https://myvisionfirst.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk5moFndYRU
113. The Hormones and Emotions Connection - Why Healing Your Hormones Means Healing Your Story with Dr. Sonya Jensen
What if your mood swings, your anxiety, your exhaustion, and even your physical symptoms aren't problems to be fixed but messages waiting to be heard? You have probably tried to silence them anyway, pushed …
Shownotes
What if your mood swings, your anxiety, your exhaustion, and even your physical symptoms aren't problems to be fixed but messages waiting to be heard? You have probably tried to silence them anyway, pushed through the fatigue, tightened up your routine, added another practice to your morning. But what you have never realized is that your body is not breaking down but breaking open, asking you to finally stop running from the stories, the grief, and the generational weight you have been carrying for years. Your hormones and your emotions are not two separate conversations, and until you bridge that gap, no protocol, no supplement, and no wellness routine will ever be enough.
In this episode of Rooted in Wellness, I sat down with naturopathic physician Dr. Sonya Jensen to explore how to close that gap. We also talk about why the trauma your mother and grandmother never processed may be showing up in your hormones today, and why perimenopause is not something to survive but one of the most powerful invitations of a woman's life.
Dr. Sonya Jensen is a naturopathic physician with over 15 years of experience specializing in women's hormonal health, the creator of the HER Method, and the author of Heal Your Hormones, Reclaim Yourself. With a background in cell biology and over a decade of clinical work at the intersection of hormones, emotions, and relationships, she is one of the most grounded voices in women's health today.
What's Discussed:
(2:30) The three daily non-negotiables that keep Dr. Sonya feeling rooted.
(5:02) What actually causes women to feel uprooted and why hormonal changes amplify it.
(8:29) What your hormones are really trying to tell you when you feel exhausted and disconnected.
(10:02) The grief that lives inside every stage of a woman's life that nobody talks about.
(17:45) Why your labs can look completely normal and you still feel terrible.
(24:22) How unprocessed stress and trauma biologically alter your hormonal landscape.
(26:43) Why you may be carrying your mother's and grandmother's hormonal patterns in your body.
(48:52) What anger, anxiety, and sadness are actually trying to tell you.
(50:53) The emotional root behind fibroids and why your body may be holding on.
(1:08:32) Three simple things you can start doing today to come back into alignment.
(1:09:33) The HER Method explained: Hormones, Emotions, Relationships.
Listen to this episode of Rooted in Wellness and walk away finally understanding why everything you have tried has not worked, what your body has actually been asking for all along, and how to start healing from the root instead of chasing the symptoms.
Thank you to our Sponsors:
Cozy Earth: Head to cozyearth.com and use my code ROOTED for an exclusive 20% off, and if you see a post-purchase survey, be sure to mention you heard about Cozy Earth right here on Rooted in Wellness.
Timeline: Timeline’s clinically proven formula is now available at a new, lower price. Mitopure now starts at $79, when you go to timeline.com/MONA
Learn more about Mona Sharma:
- Download Your FREE Guide - 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started now at https://monasharma.com/12tips.
- Visit Mona's website: https://monasharma.com – Unlock powerful tools and wisdom rooted in wellness to elevate your health, energy, and clarity. Mona blends ancient healing practices with modern science to help you achieve lasting transformation.
- Follow Mona on Instagram: Stay connected with Mona for daily inspiration, holistic health tips, and personal growth. Join the conversation on Instagram at @monasharma
Learn more about Dr. Sonya Jensen:
- Book: www.healyourhormonesbook.com
- Instagram: @drsonyajensen
- Website: www.drsonyajensen.com
112. Beyond Reproduction - The Shocking Truth About What Estrogen Actually Does In Your Body with Dr. Siobhan Mitchell
Have you ever done everything right, the clean eating, the morning rituals, the consistent workouts, and still felt like your body was working against you in ways you could not explain? Probably, you cleaned up …
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Have you ever done everything right, the clean eating, the morning rituals, the consistent workouts, and still felt like your body was working against you in ways you could not explain? Probably, you cleaned up your diet even more, added another wellness protocol, pushed harder in the gym, only to end up more exhausted, more inflamed, more frustrated, and no closer to feeling like yourself again. The problem was never your effort or your discipline. It was biology. And specifically, it was one hormone that most women were never told does far more in the female body than reproduction.
In this episode of Rooted in Wellness, I sit down with neuroscientist and mitochondrial health expert Dr. Siobhan Mitchell to finally give that biology a name, an explanation, and a path forward. After this conversation you will understand why the belly fat, the brain fog, the cravings, the burnout, and the sleepless nights are all connected, why no amount of discipline was ever going to fix them, and exactly what your body actually needs to start feeling like itself again.
Dr. Siobhan Mitchell is the Chief Scientific Officer of MitoQ, holds a PhD from SUNY Albany, and completed her post-doctoral fellowship on brain aging at the University of Washington. She has authored over 80 published papers, holds eight patents in aging, cognition, and mood, and has led research on brain nutrition, metabolism, cardiovascular health, and weight loss across multinational companies and institutions worldwide. With 25 years at the intersection of neuroscience, nutrition, and women's health, there is nobody better placed to have this conversation.
Go to mitoq.com/mona and use code MONA for 10% off!
What's Discussed:
- (6:33) Why the symptoms women dismiss as stress in their 40s are actually their hormones talking.
- (7:45) Why estrogen decline causes a 65% increase in binge eating and how it disrupts blood glucose.
- (9:27) Why perimenopause is starting earlier than most women are told
- (12:10) What is actually happening physiologically when a woman's body stops responding to the protocols that used to work.
- (20:17) The real reason belly fat accumulates in midlife and why it has nothing to do with what you are eating.
- (28:40) Phytoestrogens, what they are, and how they work on estrogen beta receptors in the brain, heart, and bones.
- (31:57) What equol is, why only 20 to 30% of western women can produce it, and why it is a game changer for women's health.
- (37:57) How the gut microbiome regulates estrogen through the estrobolome and why gut health and hormone health cannot be separated.
- (42:49) How to eat for your estrobolome and the specific foods that support estrogen recycling and brain health.
- (53:53) The science behind MitoQ, and what makes mitochondrial targeted antioxidants different.
- (1:05:01) The two biggest drivers of mitochondrial oxidative stress in women and what to do about them.
Thank you to our sponsor:
Cozy Earth: Head to cozyearth.com and use my code ROOTED for an exclusive 20% off, and if you see a post-purchase survey, be sure to mention you heard about Cozy Earth right here on Rooted in Wellness.
Learn more about Mona Sharma:
- Download Your FREE Guide - 12 Wellness Tips to Unlock Your Best Health Now: Ready to reclaim your vitality? Download Mona’s 12 Wellness Tips and take actionable steps to transform your health, energy, and mindset. Get started now at https://monasharma.com/12tips.
- Visit Mona's website: https://monasharma.com – Unlock powerful tools and wisdom rooted in wellness to elevate your health, energy, and clarity. Mona blends ancient healing practices with modern science to help you achieve lasting transformation.
- Follow Mona on Instagram: Stay connected with Mona for daily inspiration, holistic health tips, and personal growth. Join the conversation on Instagram at @monasharma
Learn more about Dr. Siobhan Mitchell:
- Instagram: @esiobhanmitchell
- Website: https://global.mitoq.com/
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