Sara Moreira: there's a hormone hierarchy. So we have all the sex hormones, actually at the bottom of the hierarchy. ⁓ progesterone, estrogen, testosterone, but what's really affecting those is hormones that are on top, like thyroid hormone, then above that is cortisol and insulin. So cortisol and insulin is really where we need to start to see change in the sex hormones that are affecting our energy and our ability to lose weight and our metabolism and all these things. anything that will affect cortisol will affect your blood sugar and that's so many things other than just food.
Aubree Felderhoff: Welcome to Mold Free Mom, where we cut the confusion and break down what it really takes to heal from mold illness. Whether you're dealing with unexplained symptoms and no real answers, or you know mold is your problem, you've done everything right, and yet you're still not better. This podcast is for you. I'm Aubree, and I spent 12 years struggling with mold toxicity. before finally learning why nothing was working. Mold wasn't my only problem. Not knowing how to heal from it was. This is where guessing ends and real healing begins. Let's get started. Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... Welcome back. Today I have an amazing guest. I'm so excited to get to chat with her. Sarah Moriura is a registered nurse, FDNP, and mom of four. She's the founder of Functional Mom, where she helps women get to the root cause of fatigue, gut issues, mood swings, and weight loss resistance. After struggling with her own health, despite doing all of the right things, Sarah discovered that many women are dealing with hidden stressors that often go overlooked. Her work is rooted in the test, don't guest approach, supporting the body's ability to naturally heal. Sarah, I am so excited to chat with you so welcome.
Sara: Thank you, Aubrey. I'm so happy to be here. Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... Yes. So first off, sounds like you had kind of your own struggle of all of the things health related, very similar to me. Can you tell us a little bit more, a little deeper dive into what exactly was happening with you and what led you to this line of work?
Sara: it goes back to like my teenage years, which I do believe that I had hormonal issues all the way back then, but didn't really realize it So I actually started with what I thought was gut issues. So I was, you know, maybe 15, 16, having acid reflux daily, bloating, a lot of stomach issues, like I couldn't eat the foods that my friends were eating or that I was used to eating. no one had these issues that, especially other people my age. And so ⁓ That's where it all started and I you know, like I'm a researcher by nature so I'm just like what can I do to like to fix this, know, so I went through all the things of maybe I need to avoid gluten and dairy and try this and try that so that I kind of did a lot of my own research. I eventually became a nurse and started working after I had my first baby. So I have four kids. I started working as a nurse then and I started on night shift because that's what you do as a brand new nurse. And I did long 12 hour shifts for seven years. And so that on top of everything else that I was already struggling with, which by the way, with my gut issues, and many people can probably relate to this, I went to doctors, I went to get scopes done, And they did all the testing and they found nothing. And all I was offered was a long-term solution to take a medication that's called a PPI that would just suppress the acid in my stomach so that I didn't feel the acid reflux. And even on my own at 16 years old, I'm thinking, how is this a solution? The bottle is telling me that I shouldn't be taking it for more than two weeks. And I'm a rule follower. So I'm just like, I'm not doing this. This is crazy. And then really after, more kids and long shifts at the hospital and just life in general, I started with more hormonal issues. And really for me, it was stemming from blood sugar dysregulation. And so I would have a lot of hypoglycemic episodes where I would get really shaky in between meals. I couldn't go very long without eating. which is unfortunate because as a nurse, we don't get time to eat, we don't get breaks. And I would literally be on the verge of passing out and I'm like, guys, I'm sorry, like I have to go and eat. And, you know, kind of realizing that that just, those gut issues were really what spiraled into everything else because everything is so connected. And so the more stress that I got, the more nutrient depleted that I got, the more symptoms that I started to have. you know, after my third baby, she was such a good baby She was such a good sleeper, she wasn't a hard newborn at all, but I felt so exhausted. I'm like, I shouldn't. I shouldn't feel this depleted. I shouldn't feel like I don't want to go out of the house because it's going to drain me for the day. I would need a nap. I'm planning my day around when I could nap that day. I just remember thinking my first two babies were not this easy and I was not this tired, but it just accumulated and just started to get worse and worse and the weight wouldn't come off. I remember thinking just need to give it six months of consistent eating healthy and doing the right things. and still four months in and I haven't dropped a pound and I'm just still more bloated than ever. And so that was really when I had the wake up call of conventional medicine is not gonna fix this. And I don't think I can fix this just from what I can Google. So, at that point I had to find something and that's when I kind of shifted into the functional health space and got certified as a functional coach Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... And so now you're helping women who are struggling mostly with, hormonal dysregulation or weight loss resistance or where do you specialize?
Sara: Yeah, most moms come to me because they're sick of being tired and they're over the exhaustion and they're starting to realize that this is not normal. This is not just normal mom life. They're not buying into that idea that we're just moms. So we're just supposed to be tired and exhausted all the time. And it's a joke, you know, and we just live on coffee. So it's really the exhaustion that they come to me. A lot of moms also come to me knowing that they have hormonal issues. They're like, listen, I know it's hormonal because I I'm doing the same things I once did to lose weight and the weight is not moving. And so in their minds, they're like, this has to be hormonal, right? Because what else could it be? And so, yeah. And then I also have some moms come to me as well for blood sugar issues, whether they had gestational diabetes or maybe they are showing signs of diabetes. Like maybe they're in the pre-diabetic range at the doctor and things are starting to come back in lab work. And so those are really the moms that I work with the most. Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... on that note, do you ever see hidden stressors that oftentimes get missed even by those doctors? Things, you know, like, you know, we're in the mold space here, but environmental toxins or other things that you find are actually what is underlying this dysfunction?
Sara: Yeah, we do. I have had clients that have come back showing mold, and we see some heavy metals So that could be one thing, but mostly, it's coming more so from the environment rather than external. triggers, So it's more so what's going on with their food timing and what they're doing in their life to cause those shifts in hormones internally, specifically cortisol is where a lot of things start stem from. Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... I know we're all stressed, even if we are supposedly having an easy day at home. know, just the world as it is causes a lot of stress. I know your approach is test, don't guess. What kinds of testing are you running that other doctors probably aren't running that helps you to catch some of this?
Sara: Absolutely. One of the main things is mineral testing because doctors they may or may not test minerals but what they're testing is minerals in the blood and it's not really showing the full picture because our blood there's a very small amount of minerals actually in our blood and those minerals are required for your heart to function properly so if if someone has out of range minerals in the blood that's a medical emergency. You're gonna know that you have a really serious issue going on. What we're actually looking at is minerals in the tissues and the soft tissues in the body. And that's often where we see the really heavy depletion because our bodies are made very intelligently, as you know. so when your minerals are low in the tissues, it's because your blood is pulling from the tissues because... your blood is very homeostatic. It needs to be in balance, very tight ranges for like magnesium and potassium. these minerals that are really working with your electrical system in the heart. And so then we're gonna lose even more minerals, right? From the tissues. And so the mineral testing is the number one thing that I do with all my clients. But even something so simple, right? Like we often find that blood sugar is at the root of a lot of the things that I see. you know, doctors will test maybe a fasting glucose, if they suspect something, maybe an A1C, which are great tests, but they're not, again, showing the full picture. like in my case, I was having not just high blood sugar, I was having highs and lows, highs and lows. And what the A1C does is it shows you a cumulative number of what your blood sugars have been doing cumulatively over the last three months. So if you're having high highs, but low lows, that's going to average out to a normal number. And so that's why my A1C was never off and they weren't picking up on that low blood sugar. Same thing with morning glucose. That's just one little tiny part of your day that they're checking for. And so my glucose was fine in the morning. It was after meals and at nighttime that it was going crazy. You would have never known from my labs that I was having crazy blood sugar issues. So a lot of moms will tell me, well, I don't really have blood sugar issues. And I'm like, but do you know for sure, I'm a huge fan of continuous glucose monitoring for those moms that suspect it but have labs come back abnormal. But we also do fasting insulin, which is not something that a lot of doctors aren't testing either. Some might, but a lot of them are not. And so you could have, you know, again, pretty normal like glucose in the morning and A1C, but maybe your insulin is really high, which as you know is a fat storing hormone. So that could be one of the reasons why, these things are going on with you. Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... That makes a lot of sense. If it's just an average and you're just taking that average, you're not going to see the dysfunction. So let's say that they do the fasting glucose and these testing that you recommend and it comes back high. Then what is your next step on how to help someone in that situation?
Sara: Yeah, I mean, it's kind of a loaded question just because blood sugar and I'm glad you asked it actually, because some people might think, well, I just need to eliminate sugar. Like that's the only right thing affecting my blood sugar, but it's actually not. It's not even the first thing I would look at to be quite honest. And so there's so many other things that are affecting. So if you think about it, you have your hormones, right? And there's a hormone hierarchy. So we have all the sex hormones, like actually at the bottom of the hierarchy. ⁓ progesterone, estrogen, testosterone, but what's really affecting those is hormones that are on top, like thyroid hormone, but then even above that is cortisol and insulin. So that cortisol and insulin is really where we need to start to see change in the sex hormones that are affecting our energy and our ability to lose weight and our metabolism and all these things. So anything that will affect cortisol will affect your blood sugar and that's so many things other than just food. Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... I have a thyroid disorder. And so I knew thyroid was the master, but I hadn't considered the cortisol being above that. But that makes sense. mean, without cortisol, we die. So, you know, that's the very top thing. So what do you suggest there if it's not just, let's say someone is already eating a
Sara: Yeah, literally. Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... whole foods based diet, they've cut the sugar long ago, they don't do alcohol, they don't even do grains, they do all the things and yet they're continuing to see this blood sugar dysregulation. Clearly they have a cortisol problem and they're trying all the conventional ideas of living a low stress life. What do you guys do to help them begin to lower that?
Sara: Yeah, mean, one thing to note is that clean eating to one person might mean something totally different to another person. And so I would love to know, and I do this with my clients, right? Before someone even works with me, I'll even ask them, what do you mean by clean diet? they may be eating healthy and clean, but it doesn't mean that it's supporting blood sugar or supporting hormones because, what is the first thing we do when we're trying to get healthier we either cut calories or we cut fat because fat's high in calories. So like the fitness gurus, for example, not to throw anyone specific under the bus, but like a lot of them will say, well, if you have the option to eat chicken thighs or chicken, the leanest chicken breast, they're always going to choose chicken breast because it saves them on calories. And they're trying to be in a calorie deficit, which has its place in some cases. But the moms that I work with, that's the least of our worries right now. So really in my experience, it comes down to two main things that I've seen. nutrient depletion because if we don't have adequate nutrients in our body, our thyroid won't be working well, our adrenal glands won't be working well. basically minerals are the spark plugs of your. whole entire body. And so if those are low, you lose vitality. Your organs don't work as well. Your metabolism doesn't work as well. Your blood sugar becomes dysregulated because things like potassium and manganese and these minerals that are helping our blood sugar regulate. And so it really does come down to that. But then the other piece is circadian rhythm. So we can talk about that too, but it's like external triggers from the environment that we're either getting or not getting that are actually causing the spike in cortisol in there for our blood trigger and insulin. I don't have Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... Okay. I want to talk about both. So let's start at the top.
Sara: so when it comes to nutrient depletion, moms have to remember that we lose a lot of our minerals and nutrients in pregnancy. We're literally growing human, you guys. So that was my number one mistake when I had my third baby and I was like, okay, time to get in shape. And it wasn't super early. I understand there's a period of time where we don't wanna rush back to our normal. Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... right.
Sara: you know, enjoy having your baby, enjoy that time. But like at a certain point you might be like, okay, I want to kind of get back in shape and feel better. And I went straight to a calorie deficit before thinking even twice about this piece, And then one of the main reasons why your nutrient depleted outside of pregnancy is because you're under eating. So you're already depleted from pregnancy, probably breastfed for however long, and then now you're going to cut your calories, you know? And so that right there is a recipe for Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... right?
Sara: really low nutrients, we call it four lows on a test all the four main minerals are depleted. Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... And what are the four main minerals that you're looking at?
Sara: Calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium are the four mains. Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... So if someone is pregnant right now and listening or breastfeeding right now, would you just recommend supplementing this or how do you even prevent this? Because obviously the baby is going to take what they need first.
Sara: Yeah, think and that's a good point to bring up like I would love to talk about this because I think it's not common for us to prep for pregnancy. No one talks to us about that. And so I you know in a perfect world we would be thinking about how can I ⁓ support my body as best as I can so that I have enough minerals so that if I lose some during pregnancy, I'll still be okay. I do think supplementation is going to be necessary for most people because again, it really depends on our diet and if we can even consider that we're getting enough minerals from our diet, which you can, you can, but you have to be really... about like, we getting enough foods that contain magnesium and potassium, all the things. But even then in our world, in our environment, our toxic environment, I do think it's necessary to supplement, you know, specifically with things like magnesium. But honestly, think about like mineral rich drinks like coconut water. We don't really drink that on a normal basis, you know, but we should. So that's something that you could start with is just getting more minerals out of your food and drinks. Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... Bye.
Sara: to prep for that period of time where you know you're gonna lose minerals. Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... And the circadian rhythm piece, I want to know more about that and how that affects our weight. I mean, I think we've all kind of heard at this point about, you know, turning your lights off, getting off the blue, the blue screens and all of that. But I know specifically you say it actually affects your weight. So can we dig into that?
Sara: Yes, absolutely. I'm glad you pointed that out because yeah, everyone tells us to avoid blue light and to not be on your phone at night and to all this, which is so important, but also it's like, why? Why is that even something that we're being told? You know what I mean? Like, is it really important? Is that something that's affecting us? So I want to get a tiny bit technical here just because it will help to understand why we're even doing the things that we're doing. Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... Right.
Sara: And so think about, we have something in our brain called the SCN. That is the master regulator of our body clock. We run on a clock. And that gets activated by sunlight or outside light, which triggers palm C, which is again triggered by that sunlight in the morning that you get into your eyes. It's basically telling your body, like, it's daytime, we need to wake up and certain hormones need to be activated and certain processes need to be started. Specifically, when we get that light in our eyes in the morning, it triggers insulin sensitivity so we can handle more carbohydrates. Everyone wants to talk about, eliminate carbohydrates because it's probably your blood sugar, but no one's talking about how to actually tolerate more and handle more because we don't want to cut them out, but we need to be able to tolerate more. it increases daytime energy expenditure. So how much energy, you're burning in the day. obviously for our metabolism, that's incredibly important. And it also increases satiety. if we're chronically indoors, we're not getting the endorphins from the sun. We're not getting this palm seed triggered from the sun. And so we're gonna feel hungrier because your body thinks when it's dark, Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... Right.
Sara: in the house because even if you have all the bright lights on, it is not as nearly as bright as it is outside. Like can't even compare even on a cloudy day. Cause people will say, well, it's cloudy outside. I don't really care. It's going to be, and I have a lux monitor on my phone. I've checked it. The difference is insane. Even on a cloudy day, it could be maybe 10,000 lux, which is brightness. Inside it's like 52. that's the difference. And so we're not getting those signals, proper signals at all if we're chronically indoors. So your body thinks it's chronically winter. Like I'm gonna starve. need to prepare for this because what if there's no food? I need to have extra energy on my body for the condition of no food, cold, long winter. You know what I mean? So it sounds very dramatic, but that's the way our bodies see it. Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... So would you suggest getting out in the sunlight in the morning? Does it even make a difference if someone can't, know, if they have to get to work before the sun comes up? Like, can you do it in the evening or the afternoon or is it absolutely the morning is, you know, obviously the best time, but the only time that it really matters for this?
Sara: No, it's definitely not the only time it matters, but it is something to strive for. If you are going to work in the morning when that's the only light that you're exposed to, put your windows down. We are so used to being comfortable in our air conditioned car or a heated car or a heated house, air conditioned house. We really lost the temperature aspect too, because temperature is a signal as well that our body needs, cold and hot, depending on where you live. And so get used to being exposed to the elements, right? And like, I'm not saying you need to go stand outside half the day in the dead of winter, come on, you know? But like, I do it here too. I live in Florida and I'll be like, it's a little too hot for me to go outside today, you know? But now knowing what I know, I embrace it. Cause I'm like, this is helping my body detox. It's helping my body work properly. I'm getting the proper light signals in for what my body needs. And so I would argue that light is more important of a signal to your body and for your hormones than food. Not that food is not important, but they're equally, if not light is the first signal that you should be focusing on. but back to your question, we have busy lives where everything is crazy. when can I get outside more? Whenever you can, literally whenever you can put your windows down when you're in the car. go out and take, I call them light breaks, whether you work in an office or you work at home or you don't work and you're with your kids all day, take light breaks where you get outside exposed to the light. And because we are chronically, we are over exposed to blue light, as you said, as you mentioned, like we are way too overexposed to that. And so we're not getting the balance of natural sunlight Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... Mm-hmm.
Sara: Natural sunlight contains red and infrared light, all these really good wavelengths that are signaling our hormones. People will go and spend $500 on a red light, but they won't spend the time to take light breaks outside. You know, save the money. Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... Yes. what's the minimal amount of time that would actually be helpful for us that we can also, obviously we can't just sit outside for hours every day. I would love to, but we can't. So what's minimal?
Sara: say, if you can get outside for at least five minute intervals during the day. get creative too, I started doing crazy things like I would just take my laundry outside and fold it on my back patio we think that we don't have any time to spare but there's so many things that we could do outside that we typically do inside. I don't girl, my husband does, but Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... you have all.
Sara: I will say, let's grill outside more when the weather's appropriate because then you're cooking outside like people used to do back in the day. And you're getting the benefit of that because it's just, it doesn't make sense for us to say, well, I'm too busy to go outside. That's why you feel the way that you do because you're not getting outside enough. We're totally disconnected from nature. And I used to think that was like the silliest saying, like, you're just disconnected from nature. It's like, what do want me to live in the woods? You know? But it's not about that. It's about doing what you can little by little. and increasing your time outside, trust me, when you start doing it, you will want to do it more. And so you won't even be worried about the time. You'll just say, let me get outside more. Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... Mm-hmm. Yep. I love that. I love that. And it's very doable. Like you said, know, grilling outside or doing your laundry outside. Like we, all have time. It's just a matter of sometimes of being creative and kind of getting out of the habit of just doing stuff in the house because we used to not be in the house all the time. So, okay. Kind of changing gears a little bit, you know, at MoldFreeMom, we're specifically helping people recover from chronic illness and mystery symptoms. A lot of them are hormonal dysregulation and gut issues and that sort of thing. But for someone that
Sara: Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... has just gotten out of a moldy home. And their hormones are an absolute disaster. That was me. And their metabolism is an absolute disaster. Really, everything is just awful. And they're a mess. Where does she even begin to start rebuilding? Like, what would be the first domino that you would suggest if she's got a wacky? hormone situation and metabolism and she's not sleeping and she's got gut issues and she's got all these things, what would you say would be the first thing she should target? Just a simple step.
Sara: 100 % what we just talked about. No question. Because yes, you can heal with food. Food is medicine. But at the same time, your body's not going to react to that food the same way that it would if you had the foundation of a good circadian rhythm, which you get by getting proper sunlight during the day or natural light. I say sun, but it doesn't have to be sunny, right? Just natural light throughout the day and darkness at night. It has to be very dark at night. So when the sun goes down, instead of putting on all the lights in our house, so we can see change to some incandescent bulbs, bulbs that are free from blue light. So there are plenty of brands now, I think Bond Charge is one, but you can even get them probably on Amazon. Lighting that is circadian friendly, because it's the blue light that becomes problematic. Blue light is naturally outside, it's a shorter wavelength light. It's normal in nature to have blue light, but only midday. So if you're spiking on your all your lights in the house after sunset, your body's confused. Like, is it noon? what time is it? And so cortisol spikes. And when cortisol spikes, blood sugar spikes. So I don't care if you ate the most healthy dinner, you prepared it fresh and picked it from your garden. I don't care. Your body may not still respond to it well if your circadian rhythm is off. So that would be definitely the first place I would start. Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... That's a great idea. And you know, it kind of coincides with mold recovery in general. So much of my recovery had to do with removing myself from indoor air and going outside in the fresh air.
Sara: I was gonna say, I'm glad you mentioned that makes total sense because for you guys, yes, that is the main thing that you need to do. So it's like win-win. Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... Yes. And even people that are not out of moldy homes, you know, for a while each time we've we've had mold three times now, but for each time that we've been through it when you're waiting, because there's so much waiting when it comes to mold illness or just chronic illness in general, waiting for doctors, waiting to get in, waiting for results. You know, so much of it was being outside in the fresh air. I did a lot of grounding to putting my feet in the actual ground. And it was a game changer for me. I mean, I felt instantly better. Every single time and I was like you I was outside as much as possible I was doing everything I could outside working out outside laying outside, you know paying bills outside I would do I could not record my podcast outside But I would do all my editing outside like I did everything outside and it was it was so so helpful So I'm glad that you said that
Sara: Yeah, definitely. It doesn't have to be hard. It doesn't have to be, the most intense thing. We often think that the answer is some very intense thing. the next step can be simple. It doesn't have to be pushing harder because you, as you know, like you said with mold, like your body's already, very depleted, very dysregulated. And so the more that you can pull back and be like, what can I do that's gonna make me feel better without going running for five miles and pushing hard and dieting more and eating cleaner. yes, we need to eat well. But when you get in that mindset, I have to eat clean and only clean foods, and you kind of start restricting things and you get into this territory of Okay, now are you losing minerals and nutrients because you're restricting so much? Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... Yep, and that's stressful. And then you have the cortisol going up and it's all connected. Well, I've learned a ton from you and I want to know a little bit more about what you do in your program, what that looks like and how people can hear more from you if they're interested.
Sara: Yes. Yeah. ⁓ it's just a cycle. It's all related. I run a group program called Minerals and Metabolism where we walk through 12 weeks of basically just building back hormones, supporting cortisol and insulin, and really learning how to get to a point where weight loss feels good, but it feels sustainable. Get you to your goal so that you can just maintain, but in a way that's not restricting and not, again, killing yourself by five days of HIIT workout and you pushing, pushing, pushing, it's more about kind of looking back at like, can I change my environment so that my cortisol not being triggered all day? So we work really a lot with cortisol and insulin and blood sugar issues. And I have a podcast as well called Hormone Health for Moms, and that's where I am mostly. So you can find me there and check out some of the episodes. Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... Well, Sarah, thank you so much for coming on. I've had so much fun just getting to chat with you and learn from you. So I really appreciate it.
Sara: Thank you. Aubree Felderhoff | Mold Fr... That was super interesting and I hope that you learned as much as I did. And if you loved it, but you're walking away feeling confused, feeling overwhelmed, knowing you have so many changes that you would like to make in order to start reclaiming your health and really not having a clue what step one is, I want to invite you right now to hop on my website and book that free discovery call. In the discovery call, we'll discuss your story. I'm there to listen and hear your concerns and your questions. and then we'll troubleshoot together what your next step is towards healing. It's free and it will be linked at the bottom of the show notes.
Aubree: Thanks for listening to Mold Free Mom. If this episode has helped you make sense of some of your symptoms, diagnoses, or why nothing has worked in the past, please make sure to follow the show and leave a quick review so others who are struggling can find it quicker. If this episode brought someone struggling with unexplained sickness or mold to mind, please share it so they don't have to waste years of their life chasing the wrong answers like I did. Remember, you're not broken. You can get your life back. You just need to be shown how.
