The Wellness Mama Podcast

Episode Highlights With Katie

• Why light is the most important “nutrient” your body receives each day
• How natural light and darkness influence metabolism, hormones, gut health, and circadian rhythm
• How blue light after dark affects melatonin, glucose, mood, and inflammation
• Why sunrise light is nature’s most important daily reset button
• The difference between UV, visible light, and infrared ... and how each impacts biology
• How to align light exposure with your biology for better sleep, energy, and emotional regulation
• Simple, family-friendly ways to create a light-friendly home
• The 10 rules I personally follow (flexibly) to keep my circadian system aligned
  Why light exposure is more foundational than diet or exercise
• How to start improving your light hygiene in just one day

Resources Mentioned

• Follow Peter Forhan on Instagram
• Follow Roudy Nassif on Instagram
• The Light Body by Peter Forhan
• My Circadian app

BONCHARGE
I like so many of their products - from their red light products to their sauna blankets. Red light has been so helpful for me during my recovery from Hashimoto's. To find out more, go to boncharge.com/wellnessmama

Just Thrive:
Just Thrive Health has been one of my longtime favorite brands for gut health and they have an amazing Daily Gut Detox. Your immune system, gut barrier, and digestion get the support they need to stay strong and healthy. You can find this and their probiotics at justthrivehealth.com/wellnessmama or use code wellnessmama for 20% off your order. 

Episode Highlights With Colleen

• How hormones affect hair health for women
• Why hair loss can increase in perimenopause 
• The reason thyroid and medication can affect hair
• Nutritional deficiencies that affect hair 
• How PCOS affects hair health and growth
• Insulin resistance can come into play as well
• Understanding the connection of thyroid problems and hair loss
• Hypo and hyperthyroidism both can cause hair loss
• What is a normal amount of hair loss, and how to know if it is too much
• Nutritional factors that influence hair health or loss: collagen 
• How GLPs affect hair loss and why these can increase hair loss (plus how to help avoid that)
• The problem with some topics and prescriptions that can slow hair loss
• A compound that works naturally to slow and stop excess hair loss and why it works

Resources Mentioned

Purality Health - 40% off Hair Renewal with code WELLNESSMAMA40

Bioptimizers
I love and use so many products from them, but I especially love the magnesium (Magnesium Breakthrough) and digestive enzymes (Masszymes). Visit bioptimizers.com/wellnessmama to get the best deal!

BONCHARGE
I like so many of their products - from their red light products to their sauna blankets. Red light has been so helpful for me during my recovery from Hashimoto's. To find out more, go to boncharge.com/wellnessmama

Episode Highlights With Torrie

• How living in Thailand inspired her current work and what she learned about Eastern medicine
• Her own health story and how this inspired the work she does
• Biggest missing factors in health and wellness that some people miss
• In Asia, they look at lifestyle first, and how this shifted her approach
• What she learned about herbalism on her own journey
• The root cause of all root causes
• Why are we seeing an increase in toxic load in the modern world?
• How to support the body in healing naturally 
• Important things to know to detox without overloading the body
• Why she recommends test, don’t guess
• Parasites are a piece of the puzzle for a lot of people
• How to show your liver some love and support it in health
• Ways to support the lymphatic system effectively: movement and hydration

Resources Mentioned

• Dr. Torrie's Website
• Follow Torrie on TikTok, Facebook and Instagram
• Dry brushes for lymph system
• LMNT Minerals

Hiya
Hiya created a super powered chewable vitamin for kids that packs twelve organic fruits and vegetables plus fifteen essential vitamins and minerals into every dose. Try it at hiyahealth.com/wellnessmama.

LMNT
I talk often about the health benefits of salt and electrolytes and I am a big fan of LMNT canned drinks and packets. Go to drinklmnt.com/wellnessmana for a special offer.

Episode Highlights With Katie

• Why your identity (especially your “I am…” statements) shapes biology more than any protocol
• How the nervous system responds chemically and electrically to the language you use about your body
• The difference between identifying with your symptoms vs. identifying as someone who is healing
• How subconscious narratives can keep you stuck in illness patterns, even when your actions are “healthy”
• The surprising way language influences your mitochondria, redox balance, and stress responses
• Why your thoughts become safety signals or threat signals
• How to rewrite your internal scripts from limitation ? expansion
• Real examples from my own healing journey (AIP, chronic symptoms, identity shifts)

Just Thrive:
Just Thrive Health has been one of my longtime favorite brands for gut health and they have an amazing Daily Gut Detox. Your immune system, gut barrier, and digestion get the support they need to stay strong and healthy. You can find this and their probiotics at justthrivehealth.com/wellnessmama or use code wellnessmama for 20% off your order. 

Bioptimizers
I love and use so many products from them, but I especially love the magnesium (Magnesium Breakthrough) and digestive enzymes (Masszymes). Visit bioptimizers.com/wellnessmama to get the best deal!

Episode Highlights With Ian

• Understanding detox and why harsh ones can be too much for the body
• The things you don’t know that you’re breathing in and how to avoid accumulating it
• How to avoid becoming an aggregator of air toxins
• All of us have been poisoned in some way in the modern world 
• Can we have perfect health? And what’s the alternative
• Why indoor air is more polluted that outdoor air and what to do about it
• The sneaky microplastics in most clothing these days 
• A great reason to open your windows every day
• Why to air dry your microfiber cloths in the home
• What advanced glycation byproducts do to the body and how to avoid them (pressure cookers don’t produce them!)
• How to reverse the damage of AGEs and slow aging 
• Brazil nuts aren’t the right form of selenium
• You can’t hack your system, the body is way too smart, and what to optimize instead
• Consistency over intensity for long-term change

Resources Mentioned

• Healthy Home Bulbs – Use code wellnessmama for a discount
• Activation Products – Use code wellnessmama20 for a discount
• Pact organic clothing and Quince clothing

LMNT
I talk often about the health benefits of salt and electrolytes and I am a big fan of LMNT canned drinks and packets. Go to drinklmnt.com/wellnessmana for a special offer.

Just Thrive:
Just Thrive Health has been one of my longtime favorite brands for gut health and they have an amazing Daily Gut Detox. Your immune system, gut barrier, and digestion get the support they need to stay strong and healthy. You can find this and their probiotics at justthrivehealth.com/wellnessmama or use code wellnessmama for 20% off your order. 

Episode Highlights With Lauren

• How she went from health blogger to an incredible inner and outer journey to writing about some even bigger topics
• Why healing the body can also lead to questioning deeper topics
• It’s hard to open to truth when we’ve been manipulated by fear unless we know there is more love on the other side
• What did Jesus actually say vs how it has been changed throughout history
• Being comfortable in curiosity rather than certainty
• When were the gospels actually written and what changed based on who authored them
• One thing Jesus never said - that blood atonement was necessary, and he actually resisted this idea in what we know in some of his writings
• The Bible itself says it was corrupted, so even if we believe that it is the unquestionable word of God, it says it is corrupted
• Why is it necessary for God to have blood or murder to forgive?
• Love itself cannot be harmed and God cannot be harmed by the actions of humans
• Forgiveness is a human process that humans have to go through and projected onto God
• Why was blood sacrifice so prevalent in ancient Judaism and how did it become a cornerstone of Christianity 
• Was Jesus an Essene and what insight this may give us about his message 
• The real roots of eternal punishment and the theology of hell - important historical context
• Wisdom is the journey to more love and less fear
• Some important considerations about the book of Revelation

Resources Mentioned

• Lauren's books
• Truth Activist podcast

Hiya
Hiya created a super powered chewable vitamin for kids that packs twelve organic fruits and vegetables plus fifteen essential vitamins and minerals into every dose. Try it at hiyahealth.com/wellnessmama.

BONCHARGE
I like so many of their products - from their red light products to their sauna blankets. Red light has been so helpful for me during my recovery from Hashimoto's. To find out more, go to boncharge.com/wellnessmama

Episode Highlights With Degree Free

• The shocking data around college now, and how many jobs actually require a degree
• What has shifted in the last couple of decades, and why new data is important to consider
• Most people who are employed in the US do not have college degrees
• Less than one in five jobs even mention a degree as preferred 
• How is this a simple supply and demand problem 
• The real deal with student loans and the college industrial complex 
• The Social cost of criticizing certain areas of society and why questions are important
• A large percentage of careers that require a degree are marketed to women
• Debt will close more doors than a degree will open
• Physicians have the highest suicide rates of any profession
• The most important career conversations to have with your teenager
• Why teens struggle to answer "What do you want to be?"
• Important reason not to ask or have these conversations with your teens in a public forum or even around other people
• Where the majority of jobs are that are outside of traditional degree jobs or even trade jobs
• Why college grads are actually having trouble getting jobs because they don’t have work experience
• College grads actually churn at a higher rate in jobs and are sometimes not considered because of their degrees
• The very real way having a college degree can now make getting a job more difficult 
• We are 11 years into the trend of companies down credentialing and not requiring degrees

Resources Mentioned

• Follow Hannah Maruyama on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and on X
• Degree Free website and podcast 
• Degree Free Way workbook set

Bioptimizers
I love and use so many products from them, but I especially love the magnesium (Magnesium Breakthrough) and digestive enzymes (Masszymes). Visit bioptimizers.com/wellnessmama to get the best deal!

LMNT
I talk often about the health benefits of salt and electrolytes and I am a big fan of LMNT canned drinks and packets. Go to drinklmnt.com/wellnessmana for a special offer.

Episode Highlights With Scott

• How we track so many things, but often don’t know what’s going on with bowel and urinary health
• His path into this- both of his parents are doctors
• Is there something we can learn from our poop that we are missing?
• How stress comes into play with gut health
• The big factors related to gut health that people don’t always get right
• We know gut health affects the whole body, but we miss some big warning signs with gut health
• 70% of our calories come from ultra-processed foods, and we are the first generation to experience this
• The staggering numbers he sees on gut health-related things
• 52% of Americans think it is normal to have abdominal pain on a daily basis (it isn’t)
• 62% of people surveyed said they had some digestive issue that week
• The stats on colorectal cancer show that it is now the most deadly cancer in Americans under 50
• Colon cancer is the only cancer that is on the rise right now! 
• 1 in 20 people will get colon cancer at some point in their lives
• Interesting reason that the DOD funds colon cancer research 
• Why veterans were at higher risk for colon cancer decades later 
• How throne is improving hydration levels

Resources Mentioned

• Throne Science use code Katie for a discount
• Follow Throne on Instagram, on X, and on Facebook
• Follow Scott on Instagram, and X

Hiya
Hiya created a super powered chewable vitamin for kids that packs twelve organic fruits and vegetables plus fifteen essential vitamins and minerals into every dose. Try it at hiyahealth.com/wellnessmama.

Just Thrive:
Just Thrive Health has been one of my longtime favorite brands for gut health and they have an amazing Daily Gut Detox. Your immune system, gut barrier, and digestion get the support they need to stay strong and healthy. You can find this and their probiotics at justthrivehealth.com/wellnessmama or use code wellnessmama for 20% off your order. 

Episode Highlights With Mindy

• Cutting through the myth… can women fast and what we need to do differently
• How to navigate fasting with a female hormone cycle and why it is so important 
• The three types of women and how each fasts differently 
• There are times when women shouldn’t fast and times when it can be a game changer
• We have two metabolisms: glucose and ketones and how to use them differently 
• Somewhere 8-12 hours after food we shift to ketones 
• The healing switches that turn on when we fast
• What flex fasting is and how she helps people find what works best for them
• Perimenopause and menopause specific fasting guidelines
• The cortisol component and how to pay attention to this part
• Can fasting be brain protective post menopause 
• When to fast and when not to, and the most important meal you eat after fasting 
• The important nutrients to focus on after fasting and the story about leucine 
• Let’s stop making beans the enemy! And her take on sardine fasting 
• Supplements she most often recommends and why 
• The one food group that kills our ability to make our own GLP (it might surprise you)
• Order of food matters, not just the amount and type! 
• Important concerns with GLPs and how to make your own and not lose muscle!

Resources Mentioned

• Mindy's books - Fast Like a Girl, Age Like a Girl and Eat Like a Girl
• Mindy's YouTube channel
• Stress questionnaire
• Live like a girl podcast

Bioptimizers
I love and use so many products from them, but I especially love the magnesium (Magnesium Breakthrough) and digestive enzymes (Masszymes). Visit bioptimizers.com/wellnessmama to get the best deal!

Episode Highlights With Stef

• His work with gold medalists, special forces soldiers and elite entrepreneurs and the wound that always shows up
• What people call chemistry is actually nervous system dysregulation
• We move toward what feels familiar even if it is dysfunctional
• The nervous system is a hidden matchmaker often operating in the background
• Why do we want to create situations that feel familiar 
• These circumstances are the body’s attempt to have a re-do and move from disempowerment to empowerment 
• We heal relationally and we are relational beings
• The somatic aspect of integrating and processing this
• Big T vs little t trauma 
• Why this process doesn’t start with logic or cognition and must involve all parts including the body
• We avoid our truth because we make it mean something 
• Curiosity not judgement

Resources Mentioned

• Tuned In and Turned On by Stef Sifandos
• Follow him on Instagram, Facebook, and on X
• Stef's website