Extend Podcast with Darshan Shah, MD

I have operated on patients whose bodies had been sending them warning signals for years before a crisis ever put them in front of me. Stress alone causes or worsens more than 80 percent of the illness I see, and most of it traces back to one skill almost nobody was ever taught: how to actually listen to their own body. We dive deeper into this in the Extend Podcast with Dr. Neha Sangwan. We also chat about the five questions she asks every patient before sending them home, why your boss has more influence on your health than your doctor does, and the five levels of connection that determine whether a relationship heals you or drains you. Dr. Neha Sangwan is an internal medicine physician and former hospitalist who also trained as a mechanical and biomedical engineer. She is the founder and CEO of Intuitive Intelligence, where she works as an executive health and performance coach for corporate leaders and their teams. She is the author of TalkRx: Five Steps to Honest Conversations that Create Connection, Health, and Happiness, and Powered by Me: From Burned Out to Fully Charged at Work and in Life. What We Discuss: (1:09) Why training as both a mechanical engineer and a physician led straight to burnout at 34. (2:29) The Awareness Prescription: the five questions she asks every patient the night before discharge. (9:59) The Body Map: how physical signals are data your doctor never sees. (16:54) Why your leader has more influence on your health than your doctor does. (22:48) The five-step framework for walking into any hard conversation clearly and calmly. (30:34) The five-hour shift and the question from a nurse that first told her she was burning out. (34:13) Net gain versus net drain: mapping where your energy leaks and where it grows. (40:07) The five levels of exchange, from broken to sacred. Thank You to Our Sponsors: Next Health Longevity Summit: Head to next-health.com/summit to secure your spot at the first ever Next Health Longevity Summit in Nashville on 9/12. Function Health: Learn more and join using my link. Visit www.functionhealth.com/drshah and use gift code DRSHAH25 for a $25 credit toward your membership. Learn more about Dr. Shah: Website: drshah.com Clinic: next-health.com Instagram: @darshanshahmd Learn more about Dr. Neha Sangwan: Website: intuitiveintelligenceinc.com/ Instagram: @doctorneha LinkedIn: drnehasangwan Book: intuitiveintelligenceinc.com/powered-by-me/

For most people, an ADHD diagnosis, an anxiety diagnosis, or a depression diagnosis is made entirely from a symptom checklist. No one looks at the brain producing those symptoms. In this episode, I sit down with Rachel and Angie, co-founders of BrainCode Centers, to talk about quantitative EEG brain mapping and neurofeedback, and why measuring the brain's actual electrical activity changes the picture so often. We look at why the majority of people carrying an ADHD diagnosis do not show the neurological pattern for it, what depression and anxiety actually look like on a brain scan, and how reward-based neurofeedback training retrains those patterns without medication. Rachel and Angie are licensed professional counselors and board certified in neurofeedback. Over seventeen years, they have mapped and trained roughly 25,000 brains, built in-person clinics across Denver, Boulder, Tulsa, and Dallas, and developed a remote kit that lets anyone get a brain map and begin neurofeedback training from home. What's Discussed: (0:47) What a brain map actually measures, and why it is not a CT scan or a blood flow test. (1:52) The five brain waves everyone produces, and what happens when the brain gets stuck in one of them. (4:26) How a remote EEG kit lets someone map their own brain from a swim cap at home. (9:11) How neurofeedback works as reward-based training instead of willpower or medication. (16:14) What depression actually looks like on a brain scan, and why the DSM diagnosis often misses the real driver. (25:07) Why the majority of people carrying an ADHD diagnosis do not show the neurological pattern for it. (29:51) What anxiety looks like across ten completely different brain patterns. (38:26) Angie's own bipolar diagnosis as a teenager, and how forty sessions of training changed the scan. Listen to this episode to learn why a diagnosis deserves an actual look at the brain behind it, before medication becomes the only conversation. Thank You to Our Sponsors: Next Health Longevity Summit: Head to next-health.com/summit to secure your spot at the first ever Next Health Longevity Summit in Nashville on 9/12. IM8: Try IM8 today with a 30-day money back guarantee. Get 10% off your first order with code DRSHAH at im8health.com/discount/DRSHAH . Momentous: Head to livemomentous.com/fiber and use code DRSHAH for up to 35% off your first order. Timeline: Timeline powered by Mitopure just dropped the price. Check it out at timeline.com/drshah and get an additional 20% off your first month with code DRSHAH. Learn More About Dr. Darshan Shah: Website: drshah.com Clinic: next-health.com Instagram: darshanshahmd Learn More About BrainCode Centers: Website: braincodecenters.com Instagram: @braincodecenters

For many women, the hormone conversation starts only when something becomes hard to ignore. Painful periods. Irregular cycles. Acne. Hair loss. Fertility struggles. Perimenopause symptoms. Too often, the answer is a quick fix for the symptom in front of them, without anyone asking what the body was trying to signal years earlier. In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Taz Bhatia MD to talk about why women's hormone health needs to be understood across the entire lifespan, not as separate problems that show up during adolescence, fertility, perimenopause, or menopause. We look at why symptoms like bad periods, PMOS, fatigue, mood changes, inflammation, weight gain, and hormone shifts should be connected back to the gut, metabolism, stress, nutrient status, inflammation, and emotional health. Dr. Taz Bhatia MD, brings a rare mix of conventional medical training and integrative medicine experience to this conversation. She began her career in emergency medicine, then expanded her work through holistic medicine, Chinese medicine, acupuncture, nutrition, and integrative medicine training through Dr. Andrew Weil's fellowship. Her own experience with fatigue, hair loss, joint pain, weight changes, and PMOS also shaped the way she helps patients look beyond symptom management and understand the full body story behind their health. Important note: This episode was recorded before PCOS was formally renamed PMOS (Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome). Throughout this conversation, you'll hear the term PCOS, as it was the standard name at the time of recording. The new name was adopted to better reflect that the condition is a complex hormonal and metabolic disorder affecting multiple body systems—not just the ovaries—and because many people with the condition do not actually have ovarian cysts. What's Discussed: (01:15) Dr. Taz Bhatia's own health struggles and why conventional medicine did not give her the answers she needed. (10:02) Why people need a medical home that helps them stay well, not just emergency care when something goes wrong. (16:36) How symptoms act as early signals from the body, and why health needs to be looked at across physical, emotional, cognitive, spiritual, and community layers. (26:25) Why women's hormone health should start in adolescence, not when perimenopause or infertility begins. (30:40) Why PMOS is not just about ovarian cysts and how blood sugar, insulin resistance, gut health, stress, and inflammation can drive symptoms. (37:17) What women need to understand about long-term birth control use, nutrient depletion, inflammation, and hormone suppression. (41:13) Why birth control options should be part of a deeper conversation about the individual, not an automatic prescription. Listen to this episode to learn why women deserve a better hormone conversation before they reach the crisis points of birth control, IVF, or HRT. Thank You to Our Sponsors: Next Health: Your destination for cutting-edge health optimization—from IV therapy to hormone balancing. Explore at next-health.com/ IM8: Try IM8 today with a 30-day money back guarantee. You can get 10% off your first order with code DRSHAH at im8health.com/discount/DRSHAH. Momentous: Head to livemomentous.com/fiber and use code DRSHAH for up to 35% off your first order. Learn More About Dr. Darshan Shah: Website: drshah.com Clinic: next-health.com Instagram: darshanshahmd Learn More About Dr. Taz Bhatia MD Website: doctortaz.com Instagram: @drtazmd

Most people assume that once they leave a mold-exposed building, their body should recover. But I see this all the time in my clinic, the mold exposure ends, and the symptoms don't. In this episode of Extend, I sit down with Dr. Scott McMahon, medical director at MoldCo, to ask why removing the source doesn't always mean removing the illness. We get into a switch inside the immune system, one that determines whether the body can actually call off an inflammatory response once a threat is gone, and what happens when that switch stops working. Understanding it changes how a long list of unexplained, lingering symptoms starts to make sense. Dr. Scott McMahon spent eighteen years as a pediatrician before a case involving a group of sick high school students redirected the entire focus of his career. He went on to study under Dr. Richie Shoemaker, the physician who first identified Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS), and has spent years treating patients, publishing research on the condition's diagnostic criteria, and co-authoring a book on CIRS medicine. As medical director of MoldCo, he now works at the intersection of testing, treatment, and education for a condition that affects an estimated one in four people genetically, making him one of the most credible voices in the country on this topic. What's Discussed: (3:43) The high school case that revealed how multi-system illness can hide behind symptoms doctors are trained to treat separately. (6:55) The difference between a mold allergy and a full immune system malfunction, and why they are not the same thing. (10:29) What determines whether one person's body can shut off inflammation and another person can't. (12:34) The ten lab markers that can actually confirm what's happening, and why most physicians have never ordered them. (17:41) Why a popular at-home mold test might be telling you less than you think. (21:41) How to check your own home for the signs most people walk right past. (35:17) The real number of people walking around with this genetic predisposition, and why it's higher than almost anyone expects. If symptoms have stuck around well after leaving a mold-exposed space, this conversation breaks down why, and what's actually keeping the body in that state long after the exposure ended. Thank You to Our Sponsors: Next Health: Your destination for cutting-edge health optimization—from IV therapy to hormone balancing. Explore at next-health.com/ Function Health: Learn more and join using my link. Visit functionhealth.com/drshah and use gift code DRSHAH25 for a $25 credit toward your membership. Learn More About Dr. Darshan Shah: Website: drshah.com Clinic: next-health.com Instagram: darshanshahmd Learn More About Dr. Scott McMahon: Website: scottmcmahon.doctor Instagram: @drscottmcmahon LinkedIn: dr-scott-mcmahon Latest book: The Art and Science of CIRS Medicine

A lot of women are taught to think about hormones only when something becomes impossible to ignore. Painful periods. Birth control decisions. Fertility anxiety. Postpartum changes. Perimenopause symptoms. Menopause. But what if those are not separate conversations? What if the body has been giving clues for years before the symptoms become loud enough to finally get attention? In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Jila Senemar to look at women's hormone health through a much wider lens. We talk about why the ovary should not be seen only as a reproductive organ, why the hormone conversation needs to start before menopause, and what women may be missing when birth control, AMH, perimenopause, and hormone replacement are treated like separate decisions instead of one connected health story. Dr. Jila Senemar is an OB-GYN and women's health physician who has spent years caring for women through cycle symptoms, contraception decisions, fertility questions, perimenopause, menopause, and hormone therapy. Her work brings together conventional women's health with a more proactive view of ovarian health, hormone longevity, gut health, bone health, and the full journey women move through over time. What's Discussed: (1:02:06) Why women's hormone health should be discussed before menopause. (1:15:55) How AMH can become a women's health marker before fertility panic begins. (1:20:50) Why birth control should not be the automatic answer for every cycle issue. (1:22:07) What changed with lower-dose birth control options. (1:24:55) How hormonal and non-hormonal IUDs fit into the conversation. (1:27:36) Why perimenopause may need a different hormone strategy than standard birth control. (1:31:34) Why hormone therapy should not ignore bone health, gut health, inflammation, and estrogen metabolism. Listen to this episode of Extend to understand why women's hormones should not be treated like separate stages, and why the earlier clues from the ovary, cycle, gut, bones, and symptoms may matter more than most women are told. Thank You to Our Sponsors: Next Health: Your destination for cutting-edge health optimization, from IV therapy to hormone balancing. Explore at next-health.com/ Pendulum: You can go to pendulumlife.com and use my code EXTEND for 20% off your first membership order. Learn More About Dr. Darshan Shah: Website: drshah.com Clinic: next-health.com Instagram: darshanshahmd Learn More About Dr. Jila Senemar: Website: jilamd.com/ Instagram: @drjilasenemar

Your body is constantly repairing, renewing, and rebuilding itself. Hundreds of millions of cells are replaced every few months, which sounds incredible until you ask the question most people skip: if the body is designed to heal, why do so many people still feel tired, foggy, inflamed, slow to recover, or like something is off even when they are doing so many of the "right" things? In this episode of Extend, I sit down with Justin Roethlingshoefer to bring that question back to the cell. Justin explains why healing is not just about what your body is trying to do, but the environment your cells are trying to do it in. If that environment is missing oxygen, overloaded with toxins, or depleted of nutrients, your body may be creating new cells without giving them the conditions they need to thrive. Justin Roethlingshoefer is the creator of OWN IT, a coaching platform and app built to help people take ownership of their health through HRV, VO2 max, sleep quality, cellular testing, personalized rhythms, and practical behaviour change. His work helps people cut through the noise of the wellness space and understand what their body actually needs at the cellular level, which is what makes him the right person to explain why feeling better may require more than another supplement, device, or protocol. What's Discussed: (03:46) Why your body's ability to repair and renew starts at the cellular level. (07:59) The three things your cells cannot live without. (08:36) Why the environment your new cells enter can affect how well they thrive. (12:33) How VO2 max reflects oxygen efficiency at the cellular level. (25:37) Why sleep quality matters for cellular detoxification. (34:30) Why standard blood work may not explain why you still feel off. (44:24) Why good habits can fall apart inside disordered rhythms. Listen to this episode of Extend to understand why your body may be trying to heal, why it may still feel like something is not working, and what your cells may need before your next supplement, wearable, protocol, or health habit can actually make the difference you are looking for. Free resources: Quality sleep is the most underestimated longevity accelerator. Download this sleep optimization workbook to transform sleep into a powerful longevity practice: https://www.drshah.com/sleep Thank You to Our Sponsor: Next Health Longevity Summit: Head to next-health.com/summit to secure your spot at the first ever Next Health Logevity Summit in Nashville on 9/12. Momentous: Head to livemomentous.com/fiber and use code DRSHAH for up to 35% off your first order. Learn More About Dr. Darshan Shah: Website: drshah.com Clinic: next-health.com Instagram: @darshanshahmd Learn More About Justin Roethlingshoefer: Website: ownitcoaching.com Holy Health Website: holyhealthbook.com Instagram: @JustinRoeth

When your body feels wired, depleted, foggy, inflamed, or slow to recover, the usual instinct is to add something else. Another supplement. Another device. Another protocol. But the body does not respond to tools just because they are available. It responds to the signals it is receiving, and if those signals keep telling the body it is under threat, it will keep prioritizing survival over repair. In this episode of Extend with Dr. Shah, I sit down with Brian Le Gette, the creator of the Ammortal Chamber to talk about it after personally experiencing it and feeling the difference in my body for days afterward. Brian breaks down the technology behind that experience, why it felt so different, and how the chamber works with the body, mind, nervous system, and cells at the same time. We also get into why many of the same principles behind the chamber are not as far out of reach as people may think, and what you can start applying at home if you want to give your body better recovery signals. Brian Le Gette is the creator of the Ammortal Chamber. With a background in industrial design, engineering, entrepreneurship, and health technology, he has spent decades building products and companies before creating a multi-modality experience focused on recovery, nervous system regulation, cellular support, performance, and human vibrancy. What's Discussed: (02:11) What the Ammortal Chamber is and why it works on more than one system in the body. (05:17) The calm, grounded, and energized feeling many people experience after a session. (09:42) The technology working behind the scenes during the chamber experience. (12:30) Why the body's stress state can affect healing, recovery, and performance. (18:00) The simple reset Brian recommends for people who do not have access to the chamber. (21:18) Why HRV may become one of the most important ways to understand nervous system balance. (37:34) The deeper science behind cellular recovery, oxidative stress, and the chamber's approach. Listen now to learn what happened inside the Ammortal Chamber, why the effects lasted beyond the session, and what recovery signals your body may be missing in everyday life. Thank You to Our Sponsors: Momentous: Head to livemomentous.com/fiber and use code DRSHAH for up to 35% off your first order. Learn more about Dr. Darshan Shah: Website: drshah.com Clinic: next-health.com Instagram: darshanshahmd Learn more about Brian Le Gette: Instagram: @brian.legette LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/brian-le-gette

Sleep debt is usually treated like a personal problem. You sleep less, feel tired, and try to catch up later. But Dr. Kristen Holmes explains why that belief is too small. When your body is missing the sleep it actually needs, it can affect your mental control, emotional regulation, leadership, and even how safe the people around you feel in your presence. In this episode of Extend, I sit down with Dr. Kristen Holmes to talk about recovery in a way that goes far beyond "just sleep more." We get into why sleep debt is the gap between what your body needs and what you actually got, why a good night of sleep starts the moment you wake up, and how morning light, sleep consistency, bright days, dark nights, meal timing, stress reframing, breathwork, and outdoor time all shape how well your body restores. Dr. Kristen Holmes is a human performance and recovery expert at WHOOP and the author of Aligned: The Data-driven Guide to Performance, Recovery, and Human Potential. Her work connects physiology and psychology to help people understand how sleep, circadian rhythm, stress, movement, mindset, and nervous system regulation influence performance, health, leadership, and long-term resilience. What's Discussed: (02:27) Why sleep debt is not just about how many hours you missed. (03:45) How 45 minutes of sleep debt can reduce mental control the next day. (05:31) Why your sleep debt can affect how safe people feel around you. (08:08) What sleep quality really means beyond just being asleep. (10:33) Why better sleep starts the moment you wake up. (14:10) How morning light helps set the clocks in your body. (19:16) Why melatonin matters for more than falling asleep. (22:01) How bright days, dark nights, breathing, and outdoor time support recovery. Listen to this episode of Extend to understand why recovery is not just something you do at night, and how fixing sleep debt can help you think clearer, regulate better, lead better, and show up more fully for the people around you. Thank You to Our Sponsors: Momentous: Head to livemomentous.com/fiber and use code DRSHAH for up to 35% off your first order. IM8: Try IM8 today with a 30-day money back guarantee. You can get 10% off your first order with code DRSHAH at im8health.com/discount/DRSHAH Learn more about Dr. Darshan Shah: Website: drshah.com Clinic: next-health.com Instagram: darshanshahmd Learn more about Dr. Kristen Holmes Instagram: @drkristenholmes LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kristen-holmes

You can do the supplements, the IVs, the sauna, the clean eating, and the wellness routine, but if your body is still being exposed to toxins every day, you may be cleaning up a mess while the tap is still running. That is what makes toxic load so frustrating. It can hide in your water, food, air, dental work, travel habits, mold exposure, heavy metals, PFAS, pesticides, microplastics, and even the products you use daily, while standard labs never show the full picture. In this episode of Extend, I sit down with Natalie Lefevre to talk about how to outsmart toxins by testing first, removing what is actually there, and choosing the right protocol instead of guessing your way through another cleanse. We get into the rare labs and diagnostics that can reveal hidden toxic load, why not all toxin tests or blood cleanse methods work the same way, how biological dentistry can uncover inflammation that regular dental X-rays miss, and why detox has to become a lifestyle if you want your body to actually heal instead of constantly cleaning up the same exposures. Natalie Lefevre is a Vitality Expert, Detox Architect, and the visionary behind Purify, the first next-generation full-body blood cleanse protocol focused on identifying and removing toxins at the root. After recovering from a near-fatal health crisis linked to environmental toxin exposure, she dedicated her work to advanced rare labs, heavy metals, blood filtration methods, inflammation pathways, cellular function, and precision-based detox strategies, making her one of the most forward-thinking voices in root-cause toxin testing and detoxification. What's Discussed: (01:59) How standard medicine missed Natalie's near-fatal toxic exposure. (05:02) Why we are living in the "red zone," not the blue zone. (06:30) The hidden toxins most people never test for. (11:58) How old dental work can quietly drive inflammation. (15:19) Why your genetics can change how your body handles toxins. (17:41) The detox mistake people make with saunas and binders. (30:43) Why not all blood cleanse protocols remove the same toxins. Thank You to Our Sponsors: IM8: Try IM8 today with a 30-day money back guarantee. You can get 10% off your first order with code DRSHAH at im8health.com/discount/DRSHAH. Timeline: Timeline powered by Mitopure just dropped the price. Check it out at timeline.com/drshah and get an additional 20% off your first month with code DRSHAH. Learn more about Dr. Darshan Shah: Website: drshah.com Clinic: next-health.com Instagram: darshanshahmd Learn more about Natalie Lefevre: Instagram: @island_natalie Website: natalielefevre.com/

Have you entered midlife and started gaining weight, feeling exhausted, waking up foggy, losing motivation, or noticing your mood shift while your labs keep coming back "normal"? For a lot of women over 40, that answer does not bring relief because they still feel off, and this episode explains why thyropause, the midlife decline in thyroid function, is so often missed, dismissed, or mistaken for aging, burnout, depression, or menopause. We dive deeper into this in the Extend Podcast with Dr. Darshan Shah with Dr. Amie Hornaman. We break down why TSH alone is not enough, how thyropause overlaps with perimenopause, menopause, and andropause, and why the real fix starts with a full thyroid panel, proper T4-to-T3 conversion, and a personalized plan built around optimal function instead of "normal" ranges. Dr. Amie Hornaman, also known as The Thyroid Fixer, is the founder of the Advanced Thyroid and Hormone Clinic and host of The Thyroid Fixer Podcast. After being misdiagnosed six times herself, she built an international telehealth practice focused on thyroid and hormone optimization. With her clinical experience, book, supplement line, and features in Forbes Health, CBS News, and Fox News, she is one of the most credible voices on why thyroid dysfunction is missed and how to properly address it. What's discussed (1:16) Why Dr. Amie was told her labs were normal despite clear thyroid symptoms. (3:05) The symptoms people often miss, from weight gain and fatigue to hair loss and brain fog. (5:33) How thyroid dysfunction can look like ADD, early Alzheimer's, anxiety, or depression. (6:55) What thyropause is and why it often overlaps with perimenopause, menopause, and andropause. (9:55) Why TSH alone is not enough and what a full thyroid panel should include. (13:12) How T4 converts into active T3 and why reverse T3 can block thyroid function. (22:09) The connection between low thyroid function, chronic disease risk, and immune function. (41:02) Why GLP-1s may not work if thyroid and hormones are not optimized first. Listen to this episode of Extend with Dr. Darshan Shah on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to understand why "normal" labs may not be the full answer, what thyroid markers actually matter, and how optimizing thyroid function can change your energy, metabolism, mood, hormones, and long-term health. Thank You to Our Sponsors: Momentous: Head to livemomentous.com/fiber and use code DRSHAH for up to 35% off your first order. Learn more about Dr. Darshan Shah: Website: drshah.com Clinic: next-health.com Instagram: darshanshahmd Learn more about Dr. Amie Hornaman: Website: dramie.com The Thyroid Fix book: thyroidfixbook.com Instagram: @dramiehornaman Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/dramie YouTube: youtube.com/dramiehornaman TikTok: @dramiehornaman 7-day Thyroid Healing Kickstart: fixyourthyroid.com/7daykickstarter

The gut and hormones have always been treated as two completely separate conversations in medicine, and that disconnect is quietly behind some of the most frustrating symptoms women experience in midlife. From bloating and brain fog to autoimmune conditions and weight that will not move, the answers have been there all along, hiding in a connection nobody thought to make. We dive deeper into this in the Extend Podcast with Cynthia Thurlow. We also talk about why perimenopause is the ultimate litmus test of how well you have been living your life, why every woman deserves a conversation about hormone replacement therapy regardless of her age, and why the gut microbiome may be the missing link behind why so many women start HRT and still do not feel better. Cynthia Thurlow is a nurse practitioner, internationally recognized speaker, and host of the Everyday Wellness podcast, with over 25 years of experience in health and wellness specializing in perimenopause, menopause, and intermittent fasting. Her second TEDx talk on intermittent fasting has garnered over 15 million views, and she has been featured on ABC, FOX 5, KTLA, Medium, Entrepreneur, and The Megyn Kelly Show. She is the author of Intermittent Fasting Transformation and the upcoming book The Menopause Gut, one of the most important and underexplored conversations in women's health today. What's Discussed: (4:27) What the gut microbiome actually is and why perimenopause changes everything about how it functions. (9:40) How accumulated childhood stress and trauma ages the ovaries faster and pushes women into menopause earlier. (20:05) How to assess where you stand with your nervous system and the simplest ways to start improving it. (31:59) What the estrobolome is and why it may be the missing link behind every perimenopausal symptom you cannot explain. (37:32) How to reinvigorate your estrobolome and get your gut back to actually processing hormones correctly. (43:44) Why every woman deserves a conversation about hormone replacement therapy and what most practitioners are still getting wrong. (49:59) The truth about oral contraceptives that a generation of women was never told. (56:52) The first two or three things every woman should do if she knows her gut is off. Listen to this episode of the Extend Podcast and walk away finally understanding why everything you have been doing for your hormones, your weight, your energy, and your symptoms has not been working, and what the one conversation nobody is having, could change about all of it. Thank You to Our Sponsors: Momentous: Head to livemomentous.com/fiber and use code DRSHAH for up to 35% off your first order. Learn more about Dr. Darshan Shah: Website: drshah.com Clinic: next-health.com Instagram: darshanshahmd Find out more about Cynthia Thurlow: Website: www.cynthiathurlow.com/ Instagram: @cynthia_thurlow Facebook: www.facebook.com/cynthiathurlowofficial Podcast: www.cynthiathurlow.com/podcast LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/cynthia-thurlow YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/@CynthiaThurlow Substack: https://cynthiathurlownp.substack.com/ Twitter/X: https://x.com/_CynthiaThurlow Pre-order: The Menopause Gut: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/the-menopause-gut-by-cynthia-thurlow

Most high performing executives will spend thousands optimizing their glucose levels, their sleep, and their body composition without ever stopping to ask why none of it makes them feel any better. The answer almost never lives in their labs and it almost never lives in their training program. It lives in the identity they built their entire career on top of, and the silent narrative driving every decision they make, that tells them their worth is only as good as their last result. In this episode of Extend, I sat down with Steve Chua to explore the real root cause of executive burnout and why fixing your physiology without addressing your identity is like putting the right fuel into the wrong engine. Walk away from this conversation with a completely different understanding of what is actually driving your performance, your exhaustion, and what it is going to take to finally lead from a place of genuine strength instead of fear. Steve Chua is an executive life and leadership coach with over 30 years of experience working with international leaders and organizations, and the founder of Steve Chua International and InsightOut, a coaching and consulting firm that empowers leaders to grow from the inside out. He operates from the conviction that healthy leaders create healthy companies, and his unique ability to help individuals resolve past conflicts, gain clarity in the present, and align their purpose and vision for the future, has made him one of the most sought after leadership coaches in the world. Check out Dr. Shah's Sleep Optimization Workbook here: https://www.drshah.com/sleep What's Discussed: (3:24) Steve's personal story of comparing himself to his brothers, failing out of Oxford, and standing on the ledge of a building at his lowest point. (5:57) The difference between living for value and living from value and why most executives are running on the wrong fuel. (7:46) The three levels of identity work that create lasting change: self awareness, self management, and self leadership. (11:34) Why picking up your phone first thing in the morning is the equivalent of eating a sugary breakfast for your brain. (21:06) Why high achieving executives become the bottleneck of their own companies and what that reveals about their identity. (37:49) The three things people lose when they burn out and why burnout is almost never just about working too hard. (44:10) Why your 40s and 50s are not a midlife crisis but a shift from success to significance. (51:30) The four life questions that when answered change everything about how you lead and how you live. Thank You to Our Sponsors: Momentous: Head to livemomentous.com/fiber and use code DRSHAH for up to 35% off your first order. IM8: Try IM8 today with a 30-day money back guarantee. You can get 10% off your first order with code DRSHAH at im8health.com/discount/DRSHAH. Learn more about Dr. Darshan Shah: Website: drshah.com Clinic: next-health.com Instagram: darshanshahmd Learn more about Steve Chua: Website: stevechuaintl.com InsightOut: insightoutcorp.com Transformational Leadership Podcast: insightoutcorp.com/podcast Instagram: @stevechuaintl/ Facebook: steve.chua.net

Fatigue, brain fog, weight gain, hair loss, low libido, high cholesterol, and a doctor who keeps telling you your labs look normal. For the millions of people walking around with an undetected or poorly managed thyroid condition, this is not just a frustrating experience but a dangerous one. Because what their doctor never told them is that the most important thyroid marker, the one that actually powers every cell in the body, is only being checked 4% of the time, which means the test they are relying on to rule out a thyroid problem is missing it almost every single time. In this episode of Extend, I sat down with McCall McPherson for a conversation that is going to completely change the way you think about your thyroid, your labs, and why the treatment that 89% of thyroid patients are on may be the very reason they are still suffering. If you have ever been dismissed by your doctor despite feeling terrible, this episode is going to give you the language, the labs, and the clarity to finally get the answers you deserve. McCall McPherson is a licensed Physician Associate, founder of Modern Thyroid Clinic, a practice with over 15,000 patients and hundreds of thousands of data points behind its approach, a TEDx speaker, and a 2024 Inc. 5000 honoree. She became one of the most sought after thyroid specialists in the country not just because of her clinical expertise but because she spent years as a thyroid patient herself, spending 16 hours a day in bed at 27 while being told her labs looked completely fine. There is nobody more qualified and nobody more personally invested in getting this right than she is. WHAT'S DISCUSSED: (2:12) The symptoms that signal a thyroid problem and why doctors keep dismissing them. (4:38) Why every person with low testosterone needs to get their thyroid checked immediately. (5:14) The three windows in a woman's life when thyroid disease risk spikes dramatically. (6:12) What Hashimoto's actually is and why medicine is treating it completely backwards. (11:46) Why TSH alone is missing the problem 96% of the time and what to ask for instead. (16:38) What reverse T3 is and why elevated levels are silently blocking your thyroid hormone. (35:15) Why subclinical hypothyroidism carries a 68% increased risk of heart attack and why medicine still is not treating it. (38:53) McCall's personal story of spending 16 hours a day in bed at 27 while being told her labs looked completely normal. Listen to this episode of Extend and finally understand why your labs have been coming back normal while your body has been telling you something is very wrong, what to ask your doctor to test, and what it actually takes to get your thyroid, your energy, and your life back. Thank You to Our Sponsors: Timeline: Timeline powered by Mitopure just dropped the price. Check it out at timeline.com/drshah and get an additional 20% off your first month with code DRSHAH. IM8: Try IM8 today with a 30-day money back guarantee. You can get 10% off your first order with code DRSHAH at im8health.com/discount/DRSHAH. Learn more about Dr. Shah: Website: drshah.com Clinic: next-health.com Instagram: darshanshahmd Learn more about McCall McPherson: Instagram: @mccallmcphersonpa Modern Thyroid Clinic: www.modernthyroidclinic.com/ Modern Weight Loss: www.modernweightloss.com/