The Wellness Mama Podcast

Episode Highlights With ChloeHer experience as an investigative journalist and how it was so much harder to ask the hard questions about her own bodyWhat she learned from interviewing victims of abuse and covering high-profile trialsThe gut symptoms to really pay attention toTips for advocating for yourself and getting your doctor to work with youReasons to pay attention to your stool and what you can learn from itResources MentionedFollow Chloe on X, Instagram, and FacebookThe Girls Guide to Guts bookBONCHARGEI 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/wellnessmamaHiyaHiya 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.

Episode Highlights With AlexisHow she went from a background in molecular biology to a focus on lightWhat circadian biology is and how she got into itHow a mouse study first opened her eyes to circadian biologyWhat happens biologically when we interact with lightLux, brightness and temperature of light and how they impact us differently Mitochondria control health and life and your ability to sense your environmentHow mitochondria control the aging processSunlight is not just about vitamin D and that idea is very unproductiveWhat POMC is and why we need to know about itBeta-endorphins from sunlight- a powerful endogenous opioid moleculeOur bodies are built to make their own healthy “drugs” when we get enough sunlightMany humans are effectively living in a forever winter and why this causes problems The primary signal from blue light and when it is problematicWhat the SCN is and why this master clock matters a lot!The sun doesn’t age us and actually does the reverse when we understand itHow to practically age in reverse using natural lightBlue light in isolation (screens) is inhibitory to the mitochondriaHow reptile bulbs and infrared light can help our internal light environmentBenefits of winter and what to shift to get maximal benefitHow to lean into winter biologyResources MentionedDr. Alexis' website and InstagramReptile lightbulbsHiyaHiya 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.BioptimizersI 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 CarrieWhat true hydration actually is and why it isn’t just about waterHydration inside the cells and how this happens - it isn’t the water we drinkMitochondria in the cells make water for us!How do we hydrate our blood and the link to histamine issuesWhat ocean-based minerals are and how they support cellular hydrationThe earth and ocean-based protocol for truly hydrating cells Her take on magnesium and why it is actually beneficialLight and movement and how they relate to hydrationMitochondria take electrons and at the fourth step water is made and this only happens if we can send oxygen to the cellsDysfunctional breathing can be connected to cellular hydration issuesYet another reason red and near-infrared light exposure are important Blue light can inhibit the mitochondria in making waterHow to add infrared light to your environment and the benefits of doing thisHer practical steps to improving cellular hydrationRapid fire learning about leptin, EMFs and hydrogenResources MentionedCarrie's website and InstagramMy Circadian App - use code Mama25 for a discountCarrie's Hydration protocol and all her protocolsPrep for Winter GuideThe Fourth Phase of Water bookMagnesium lotionBONCHARGEI 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/wellnessmamaLMNTI 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 CarrieWinter was never meant to make us feel miserable Why some people feel worse in winter and what it means in our bodiesThe unique aspects of winter that can make it deeply healingUnderstanding circannual rhythms and how this impacts the bodyMany of us try to live winter like it is perpetual summerHow this creates a mismatch in the bodyWhat happens in the body starting around the autumnal equinox as we prepare for biological scarcity and why this is importantThe innate wisdom of wanting to rest more in winter and how to honor itMelatonin in winter is uniquely beneficial and we can make more in winterWhy we don’t need elevated vitamin D all winter long!Melatonin binds to vitamin D receptors so in winter it can do some of the same work!Winter= melatonin season and summer = vitamin d seasonWe make melatonin during the day when we are exposed to infrared lightHow to optimize infrared exposure The potential downsides of taking oral vitamin DWhy Vitamin D testing isn’t comprehensive enough to tell us what’s going onHow to prepare for winter in a way that your body understandsHow to actually use cold exposure to your benefit for winter (and it isn’t ice cold plunges always!)Ways to optimize cellular clean up and brown adipose tissue in winterThe dietary changes that support healing in winterResources MentionedCarrie's website and InstagramMy Circadian App - use code Mama25 for a discountCarrie's Hydration protocol and all her protocolsHiyaHiya 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.BONCHARGEI 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 KatieWhy, after 1,100 episodes, health was never really the destinationHow my view of the body shifted from something broken to fix to an intelligent, adaptive systemThe difference between supporting your body and obsessively monitoring itWhy optimizing health is a means to living more fully, not the end goalHow attachment to identity and others’ perceptions can quietly create sufferingThe freedom of not needing everyone to understand youWhat the Stoic idea of amor fati means and how loving what is differs from resignationHow these lessons have reshaped my approach to parenting and honoring children as individualsWhy being willing to say “I might be wrong” is a sign of growthA personal reflection on consciousness, impermanence, and the gift of being humanWhat I’d tell my younger self about peace, control, and enjoying life nowBONCHARGEI 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 PeterHumans are photosynthetic and why this is important to understandPhotosynthetic means synthesizing usable energy from photonsWater is photoelectric and what this meansHumans are photosynthetic because water is photoelectricWe are 99% water by molecule count and 70% by weight so we are essentially a water solar panelWhy many humans are a solar battery operating at 1% of their optimal solar energy intakeWhat happens with mitochondria and ATP when we interact with lightMitochondria absorb infrared light and use this stored energy to boost cell energyMitochondria are photoelectric The fourth phase of water and why this is important to our biologyOur body heals itself, and light gives us extra energyWhat it might mean if sunlight makes you feel tired and get burned easilyWater is a solar panel, and melanated water is 100x better at being a solar panelMelanin is the darkest naturally occurring molecule in nature and does much more than just protect us from sunlight and UV. it isn’t that it shields but it absorbs and converts it to electricityThe highest concentration of melanin in the body is in the middle of the brainHormonal implications of light exposureHis 25 practical tips for maximizing benefit of hydration, minerals and radiant energy/sunlightNo amount of drugs or supplements can fix chronic light dehydration or chronic mineral and water dehydrationHow this relates to iron and anemia in womenSome practical tips you would never guess that are deeply impactful (and often free and easy)Resources MentionedThe Light Body book by Peter Forhan - free to downloadPeter's websiteThe Fourth Phase of Water by Gerald PollackBreath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James NestorMayu Swirl water structure pitcher – code wellnessmama gives 10% offBioptimizersI love and use so many products from them, but I especially love the magnesium and digestive enzymes. Visit bioptimizers.com/wellnessmama and use wellnessmama15 at checkout to get the best dealLMNTI 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 LaurieWhat children are subtly learning about being human by our own presence and reactionsOur children can bump into places in us that are not resolvedWhat they learn about if sadness or anger is welcome even within themselvesHow to shift so your child isn’t inadvertently responsible for managing our nervous system for usThe most powerful things we can model for our children and it isn’t being perfectHow can my child know what I feel without making them responsible for what I feelChildren don’t need a parent who never gets activated; they need to know that they won’t be abandoned because of the activationHow do we listen and communicate in a way where each person is taking responsibility for their perspectivesEmpathy and boundaries can exist together, and the downside of doing everything for our kids is that it makes us feel good, but they learn that we don’t think they are capableNot every childhood pattern looks dysfunctional from the outside. Maybe I became patient because anger wasn’t safe. Or I do everything because being needed feels like loveQuestioning: “Am I choosing this or am I compelled to do this?”Our job is not to make our children happy, it is to alow them to struggle and teach them they can handle it, to teach them all parts of them are welcome and they are still responsible for their actions Moving away from reactive parenting to intentional parenting and how to repair when needed“Who are we committed to being as a family?”Learning and teaching the distinction between doing and beingHow to repair when we don’t handle things like we wish we hadResources MentionedThe Return Experience - Use code wellnessmamaThe One Thing Underneath EverythingFollow her on Facebook, and InstagramThe True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! bookHiyaHiya 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.BioptimizersI 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 From LaurieWhy just knowing why we do something isn’t enough to shift itHer start in psychology and what she learned through her own experience as wellHow to be freer inside moments that used to run you What does the body have to do with changing emotional patternsIt isn’t that behavioral change is unimportant; it is just a doorway, not the destinationOften, the pattern starts in the body before the mind, but we think it starts in the mind, and that we can change it only with the mindThe body becomes a doorway into slowing down and how this is so importantCan you notice what is happening inside of you without trying to change it or explain itExperience is made up of three things: thoughts, feelings, and physical experienceWhat does SEE - BREATHE - STAY look like in an ordinary moment?Differentiating what happened vs. what we make it meanHealing in a relationship: Can I bring those old activations into the relationship The difference between mindfulness and actually staying with ourselves in emotional momentsBeing aware of not bypassing or abandoning when staying with a feelingNot “can I get rid of this feeling” but “can I remain with myself while the feeling is still here”We spend so much of our life trying to control our external world so we don’t have to feel certain things, and how to shift thisResources MentionedFollow her on Facebook, and InstagramThe Return Experience - Use code wellnessmamaThe One Thing Underneath EverythingBONCHARGEI 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/wellnessmamaLMNTI 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 AngelWhat iridology is and how it actually worksHer work with thousands of people and how the eye can be an insight into healthHow she got into this work and how this has been practiced for centuriesThere are 28,000 nerve endings that come into the eyeIridology can’t see blood pressure or blood, but can see most other thingsThis is not a diagnostic tool but a complementary oneWhat stress lines are in the eyes, and what they can indicatePersonality lines in the eyes and what they can tell you about someone What shows up most in women and moms, and the patterns she sees mostHer Iris-Hormone map and what she can see based on theseCortisol is the base of the hormone hierarchy, and she sees this in many peopleHer one-week plan to help start moving cortisol in a positive directionEyes do not lie (but people can)There are four spots in the eye that show the pancreas and can indicate a person is consuming too much sugar for them, even if they think they are low-carbImportance of real food proteinThyroid deep dive related to the eyeSome easy and free tools to improve insulin sensitivity Too much exercise and under-eating can be big problems, especially for womenShe looks at the gut whenever the thyroid is offResources MentionedDr. Angel's website and free giftFollow Angel on Instagram and FacebookJust 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 LailaHow to create a strong family foundation with structure, values, healthy habits and connectionBoxing was her outlet when she was younger and what she learned through thatWhy she wrote a children's book to inspire kids to follow their sparkThe importance of physical outlets for kids Why her dad didn’t want her to box and why she did it anywayResources MentionedConnect with Laila on Instagram and FacebookA Spark of Greatness: The Autobiography of a Fighter by Laila AliReach! Finding Strength, Spirit and Personal Power by Laila AliFree signed, personalized book plates from LailaLaila Ali Lifestyle - Spice blendsBioptimizersI 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!