The Nervous System Eats First: Autism Spectrum, Menopause & Beyond

Burning feet at 2am. Aching joints that won't settle. Restless legs stealing your sleep. Your labs are fine. You're told it's just menopause, just aging, just weight gain. But your body is screaming — and nobody is listening. In the Season 1 finale of The Neuroaesthetic MD Podcast, Dr. Stacey Denise sits down with Dr. Njideka Olatunde — naturopath, master reflexologist with 40 years of experience,...

What if the reason you feel like you don't belong — even in your own body — has nothing to do with what's wrong with you? When Dr. Janice Campbell's mother heard about her autism diagnosis at age 50, she said something that changed everything: "Janice has always been a wish. From the moment she was born, she was a wish." That moment of being truly seen is what this episode is about. Dr. Stacey Den...

Has your body ever simply refused to keep going? In this powerful episode, Dr. Stacey Denise sits down with Cassandra Love Lambert — founder of the Pain Into Power Process — to explore how EFT tapping, brainspotting, and somatic practices help midlife women move from survival mode to sovereignty. Cassandra shares her journey from trying every healing modality without success to discovering somatic...

What if scent could give your nervous system permission to rest? In this episode, Dr. Stacey Denise — lifestyle medicine physician and late-diagnosed autistic woman — sits down with Amy Anthony, founder of NYC Aromatica and one of New York's top clinical aromatherapists, to explore how scent becomes medicine for women whose nervous systems have forgotten how to exhale. Discover how inhaling essent...

When language fails, your voice becomes the medicine. In this profound episode, Dr. Stacey Denise sits down with Celeste Barbier — professional vocalist, certified sound healer, and end-of-life sacred spaceholder — to explore how sound becomes sanctuary for autistic and neurodivergent women navigating midlife transitions. Celeste shares her journey from childhood trauma to discovering that her voi...

If "just take a deep breath" makes you dizzy, anxious, or shut down — this episode offers something different. Dr. Stacey Denise is joined by Angelia Abouhassan — founder of The Breath Lady Project, stroke survivor, yoga teacher, and breathwork facilitator who rebuilt her life, vision, and emotional safety through breath. Together they explore body-safe breath patterns designed specifically for se...

Before your first bite, your room has already told your nervous system safe or not. For neurodivergent women in perimenopause, eating can feel impossible — and it has nothing to do with willpower. In this practical and eye-opening episode, Dr. Stacey Denise is joined by Master Chef and licensed architect Michael Lawrence to reveal three food-environment fixes you can do tonight for calmer, more re...

Social media can quietly hijack an autistic nervous system — especially for women in midlife navigating sensory overload, burnout, and hormone changes. In this remarkable conversation, Dr. Stacey Denise sits down with Dr. Temple Grandin — the world's most recognized autistic advocate, author, and animal science professor — to discuss how social media impacts autistic individuals, why real-life con...

Welcome to The Nervous System Eats First — a podcast where science, story, and sensory wisdom meet to help neurodivergent women in midlife and menopause reclaim energy, intimacy, and emotional clarity.   I’m Dr. Stacey Denise, a physician-artist and Neuroaesthetic MD. After years of bridging medicine, neuroscience, and color psychology, I created the Neuroaesthetic Reset™ to support women who feel...

Ever find yourself saying "I don't even know what I feel anymore"? For autistic and midlife women navigating menopause, trauma, and burnout, emotional flatness may not just be hormones. It may be interoception — the hidden sensory system that shapes how you feel, regulate, and reconnect with yourself. In this episode, Dr. Stacey Denise sits down with Dr. Kelly Mahler, OTD, OTR/L — award-winning oc...

What if the way you eat isn't about nutrition — it's about regulation? In this episode, Dr. Stacey Denise is joined by Dr. Nina Cherie Franklin — researcher, lifestyle medicine expert, and the voice behind That Salad Lady — to talk about food as a language of safety, not control. Together they unpack why so many women in midlife, especially those who are neurodivergent or chronically burned out, d...

Still burned out? You are not alone — and healing doesn't have to be loud. Sometimes it starts with a flame. In this grounding and soulful episode, Dr. Stacey Denise sits down with licensed therapist and candle maker Tameka Tate to explore the link between burnout, boundaries, and the healing power of sensory ritual. Together they unpack how women — especially in midlife — can use scent, flame, an...

Can color and texture help you remember who you are? In this richly layered conversation, Dr. Stacey Denise welcomes Austin-based abstract artist Ann Yakimovicz to explore how art serves as emotional medicine — especially for sensory-sensitive, neurodivergent, and midlife women. With a background in landscape architecture and a passion for planetary healing, Ann shares how ritual, texture, and nat...

What if your nervous system had a favorite color — and it has been trying to tell you something? In this solo episode, Dr. Stacey Denise invites you into a softer space where color isn't branding or decoration. It is medicine. From her own story of burnout to the neuroscience of chromotherapy — including the story behind her navy scarf — this is an evidence-based and deeply personal exploration of...

Your cravings are not a willpower problem. They are your nervous system speaking first. In this episode, Dr. Stacey Denise is joined by mindset and movement coach Nadia Murdock for a conversation that challenges diet culture, reclaims emotional safety, and reframes movement as medicine — not punishment. If you have ever felt shame around food, burnout in wellness spaces, or disconnected from your...

What does it feel like when the machine gets you wrong — and what does that do to your nervous system? In the conclusion of the AI and Identity trilogy, Dr. Stacey Denise sits down with Douglas Moore Jr. — data scientist, creative technologist, and rising voice in responsible AI — to peel back the code and explore how beauty, culture, and emotion are interpreted, or misinterpreted, by artificial i...

What happens when the mirror doesn't reflect you — and the machine doesn't see you? In this episode, Dr. Stacey Denise is joined by cultural theorist and AI ethicist Dr. Monique Akassi to interrogate how artificial intelligence replicates colonial hierarchies — erasing Black presence, distorting beauty, and regulating identity through code. From AI-generated avatars to healthcare misdiagnoses and...

What happens when the machine doesn't recognize you? In this premiere episode, Dr. Stacey Denise — board-certified surgeon, functional lifestyle physician, and neuroaesthetic medicine expert — shares her deeply personal experience with AI-generated self-portraits that failed to reflect her truth. The hair was wrong. The skin was lighter. The face looked hollow. And the message was clear: the machi...

Welcome to The NeuroaestheticMD, where design meets healing, and science meets story. I’m Dr. Stacey Denise, board-certified physician, lifestyle medicine specialist, and sensory wellness futurist. This podcast is where we reimagine emotional well-being—not just as something we feel, but as something we shape . Each episode explores how our environments, identities, and everyday choices influence...