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Still feel like your body is asking for something more — but the answers you’ve been given don’t quite fit?
You’ve prayed. You’ve tried to do the “right” things. You’ve cleaned up your diet, followed the protocols, tracked the symptoms — and yet you still feel tired, inflamed, hormonally off, or quietly discouraged by a system that offers management instead of understanding.
Faith Over Pharma is a faith-led wellness podcast for women (and couples) who are ready to slow down, listen more deeply, and explore healing with discernment — without defaulting to pharmaceuticals or one-size-fits-all solutions.
Hosted by Susan Gladstein, Holistic Reproductive Health Practitioner and Functional Nutrition Specialist, the show blends science, scripture, and lived experience to help you reconnect with the wisdom God built into the body.
Through thoughtful conversations and real-life stories, episodes explore foundational health, nervous system support, light-based therapies, fertility after vasectomy reversal, hormone balance, chronic symptoms, and the role of faith in making wise, embodied health decisions.
This is not a space for quick fixes or pressure to “do more.”
It’s a place to create room — for clarity, restoration, and trust in the healing process God is still unfolding.
If you’ve ever felt dismissed, rushed, or told your symptoms are simply something you have to live with, this space will remind you of what’s true:
Your body was designed with intelligence.
Healing doesn’t have to be forced.
And faith belongs in the conversation.
Welcome to Faith Over Pharma — where we choose discernment before default, and honor the pace of real healing.
Episodes
Thursday Nov 20, 2025
Thursday Nov 20, 2025
If you’ve been doing everything “right” for your health but still feel exhausted, overwhelmed, anxious, or stuck, this episode is going to speak directly to you. Today I’m sharing a personal testimony about the moment I realized why my body wasn’t healing, even after years of nutrition work, supplements, fitness, and foundational habits. The truth was simple but life-changing: you cannot heal in the same environment that is draining you.
So many women are quietly living in survival mode without realizing it, carrying emotional pain, unresolved stress, and spiritual heaviness while trying to function as the strong one for everyone else. Research shows that most women are “tired in ways sleep can’t fix,” and that modern life doesn’t give us the space our minds and bodies need to recover. I spent years pushing my own emotions aside, staying productive to avoid what I didn’t want to feel, and wondering why my body wouldn’t shift.
It wasn’t until I slowed down enough to let God into the places I had avoided that true healing began — and that didn’t happen at home. It happened when I stepped away, got quiet, and finally allowed my nervous system to exhale.
In this episode, we explore why your body can’t repair itself when you’re overwhelmed, why emotional and spiritual healing matter just as much as physical habits, and why stepping out of your everyday environment is sometimes the only way to access the clarity and restoration you’ve been praying for. If you’ve been longing for a deeper reset or sensing that something in your life needs to change, this episode will help you understand why you feel that way — and what God might be inviting you into next.
Next Steps:
Start with phototherapy:
susangladstein.com/phototherapy
Go deeper with The Rooted Reset™:
susangladstein.com/reset
Join us in Costa Rica for the Rooted Reset Retreat 2026:
susangladstein.com/retreat
Join the Faith Over Pharma community:
faithoverpharma.org
Connect on Instagram: @susangladstein.co
Get the Faithful in the Wait Devotional: faithfulinthewait.com
Monday Nov 17, 2025
Monday Nov 17, 2025
Most of us were taught that hormonal birth control “regulates your cycle,” “balances your hormones,” and gives you freedom over your fertility. But what if the story you were handed about the pill was never the whole truth?
In this episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on how hormonal birth control actually works, why the first pill was designed with a fake period built in, and what decades of hormone suppression really mean for your mood, libido, fertility, and long-term health. We’ll walk through the uncomfortable reality that the bleed you have on the pill is not a true period, but a pharmaceutical withdrawal bleed added to make women feel safer about taking a drug that shuts down a perfectly normal biological function.
And that’s just the beginning.
We’re digging into the history no one talks about, the side effects most women were never warned about, and the surprising ways hormonal contraceptives can shape everything from your mood and metabolism to your gut, your thyroid, and even your partner preferences.
Then we get practical — because understanding the problem is only half the story.
You’ll walk away with a clear, natural roadmap to support your body after stopping birth control, plus one powerful tool most women have never been told can dramatically support hormone recovery.
If you’ve ever wondered whether the pill affected you more than you realized — or if you’re trying to heal, conceive, or simply feel like yourself again — this episode is going to connect dots you didn’t even know were missing.
Next Steps:
Start with phototherapy:
susangladstein.com/phototherapy
Go deeper with The Rooted Reset™:
susangladstein.com/reset
Join us in Costa Rica for the Rooted Reset Retreat 2026:
susangladstein.com/retreat
Join the Faith Over Pharma community:
faithoverpharma.org
Connect on Instagram: @susangladstein.co
Get the Faithful in the Wait Devotional: faithfulinthewait.com
Thursday Nov 13, 2025
Thursday Nov 13, 2025
If you’ve ever left a doctor’s office feeling dismissed, overwhelmed, or pushed into a treatment plan that didn’t feel right in your spirit, this episode is for you. Maybe you’ve been handed an infertility label that crushed you, faced a diagnosis that filled you with fear, or felt torn between what a doctor says and what you sense God is saying about your body.
In this episode, I’m joined by Kristin Kurtz, founder of New Wings Coaching and host of the Hope Unlocked podcast, whose story weaves together infertility labels, a skin cancer diagnosis, and the supernatural way God led her toward clarity, peace, and healing. Kristin shares how she learned to trust God’s voice over fear-based recommendations, how she navigated doctors who didn’t fully hear her, and how discernment guided every step of her healing journey.
If you’ve ever questioned a diagnosis, wanted a more natural path, or longed to hear God clearly in your health decisions, this episode will strengthen your faith and remind you that God has the final word over your body and your future.
Connect with Kristin:
Cansema info/testimonial: https://pdflink.to/cansema/
Website: www.newwingscoaching.net
Email: kristinkurtz@newwingscoaching.net
Instagram: @renew.wings
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moodykurtz/
Hope Unlocked Podcast - https://hopeunlocked.buzzsprout.com
“Faith” Unlocked: Warrior Daughters Arise” Facebook group: - https://www.facebook.com/groups/faithunlocked
Next Steps:
Start with phototherapy:
susangladstein.com/phototherapy
Go deeper with The Rooted Reset™:
susangladstein.com/reset
Join us in Costa Rica for the Rooted Reset Retreat 2026:
susangladstein.com/retreat
Join the Faith Over Pharma community:
faithoverpharma.org
Connect on Instagram: @susangladstein.co
Get the Faithful in the Wait Devotional: faithfulinthewait.com
Monday Nov 10, 2025
Monday Nov 10, 2025
If you left the hospital after giving birth feeling anxious, dismissed, or like something deep inside you never fully healed, this episode is for you.
Brigid Tebaldi, a Functional Women’s Health Coach and mom of five, joins me to share her story of birth trauma recovery and the healing power of nervous system regulation. We talk about what really happens to your body and mind after a traumatic or medicalized birth, how unprocessed trauma can show up as postpartum anxiety, fatigue, hormone imbalance, or fear of another pregnancy—and why understanding your nervous system is the key to feeling safe again.
Together, we explore how our culture’s version of “normal birth” has drifted from God’s design, the difference between medicalized and physiological birth, and how faith-led healing restores peace to your body, mind, and spirit.
This conversation is for the mom who’s been told, “At least the baby’s healthy,” but still feels broken inside. Your body isn’t broken, your story isn’t over, and holistic, faith-based healing after birth is absolutely possible.
Connect with Brigid:
Website: loretowellness.com
Instagram: @ brigid.tebaldi
Podcast: The Discerning Mother
Free quiz to see if birth is still affecting you: https://www.loretowellness.com/birth-quiz-funnel/birth-quiz
Next Steps:
Start with phototherapy:
susangladstein.com/phototherapy
Go deeper with The Rooted Reset™:
susangladstein.com/reset
Join us in Costa Rica for the Rooted Reset Retreat 2026:
susangladstein.com/retreat
Join the Faith Over Pharma community:
faithoverpharma.org
Connect on Instagram: @susangladstein.co
Get the Faithful in the Wait Devotional: faithfulinthewait.com
Thursday Nov 06, 2025
Thursday Nov 06, 2025
When your body breaks down and the world tells you to “just trust the system,” what do you do? In this testimony episode, I share a deeply personal chapter of my journey — one that began long before COVID, mandates, or public conversations about medical freedom ever entered our lives. In 2018, while serving in the military and preparing for deployment, I experienced a vaccine injury that sent my health spiraling and left me searching for answers, hope, and healing.
What felt at first like a devastating loss of control became the doorway to discernment, faith-strengthening revelation, and a complete shift in how I understood the incredible way God designed the human body to heal. I talk about the months of debilitating symptoms, the fear of speaking up so close to retirement, the night-and-day transformation I experienced as I pursued natural healing, and the unexpected clarity God gave me about trusting Him above institutions, titles, and pressure.
This is not a political episode and there is no judgment for anyone who made a different decision in the pandemic. We all navigated an incredibly intense and confusing time, and many felt they had no other choice. My intention is not to divide — but to encourage. To remind you that God prepares His daughters long before we realize we’ll need strength for the journey. To show you what it looked like to stand firm during military vaccine mandates, to choose faith over fear, and to witness God protect and provide in ways only He can.
If you have ever questioned your health journey, walked through unexplained symptoms, felt dismissed or unheard in the medical system, or wrestled with fear around making the “right” decision for your body or your family, this conversation will meet you there. This testimony is rooted in compassion, obedience, and the unwavering truth that God did not make a mistake when He created our bodies. They are resilient, intentional, and capable of healing.
My hope is that this episode strengthens your discernment, deepens your trust in God's leading, and reminds you that even in moments of uncertainty or pressure, you are never walking alone. God goes before you. He equips you. He heals. And He honors obedience, even when the world doesn’t understand it.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
https://justtheinserts.com/
The Vaccine Book by Robert W. Sears MD
Next Steps:
Start with phototherapy:
susangladstein.com/phototherapy
Go deeper with The Rooted Reset™:
susangladstein.com/reset
Join us in Costa Rica for the Rooted Reset Retreat 2026:
susangladstein.com/retreat
Join the Faith Over Pharma community:
faithoverpharma.org
Connect on Instagram: @susangladstein.co
Get the Faithful in the Wait Devotional: faithfulinthewait.com
Monday Nov 03, 2025
Monday Nov 03, 2025
If you’re in your 30s, 40s, or 50s and your body suddenly feels different—your sleep is off, your energy’s tanked, and you can’t figure out why—you’re not alone. For so many women, chronic stress and hormonal changes collide during perimenopause, creating fatigue, anxiety, brain fog, and mood swings that feel impossible to manage.
In this faith-filled conversation, Dr. Tanya Paynter and I dig into how cortisol quietly hijacks your hormones and why so many women in midlife are unknowingly running on empty. We talk about what happens when adrenal fatigue, thyroid imbalance, and spiritual exhaustion overlap—and how to begin restoring peace in your body by first restoring it in your spirit.
Dr. Paynter explains how God designed our bodies to adapt under pressure, but how long-term stress keeps our nervous system stuck in survival mode, throwing off everything from sleep and energy to estrogen and progesterone balance. We explore the way chronic busyness and burnout affect midlife health, and how creating margin—through prayer, rest, and time with the Lord—can actually help reset your hormones on a cellular level.
If you’ve been wondering whether your exhaustion or hormonal chaos is just “part of getting older,” this episode will help you see that healing is absolutely possible. You’ll walk away with a deeper understanding of how faith and functional medicine work together to calm your adrenals, balance cortisol, and bring your body back into alignment with how God designed it to function.
Connect with Dr. Tanya Paynter:
Website: GodandHealth.com
Podcast: The Christian Clinician
Instagram: @christianclinician
Email: drp@psalmmedical.com
Next Steps:
Start with phototherapy:
susangladstein.com/phototherapy
Go deeper with The Rooted Reset™:
susangladstein.com/reset
Join us in Costa Rica for the Rooted Reset Retreat 2026:
susangladstein.com/retreat
Join the Faith Over Pharma community:
faithoverpharma.org
Connect on Instagram: @susangladstein.co
Get the Faithful in the Wait Devotional: faithfulinthewait.com
Thursday Oct 30, 2025
Thursday Oct 30, 2025
If you’ve been feeling exhausted, foggy, inflamed, or like something’s “off” in your body but every doctor keeps saying your labs look normal, this conversation will hit home. My friend Holly Brauer shares how the Holy Spirit told her to remove her breast implants after 14 years—and how that moment of obedience became the turning point in her healing.
We talk about what breast implant illness really looks like, the symptoms most women miss, and what happened when Holly discovered one of her implants had ruptured and was leaking silicone into her body. She opens up about the brain fog, fatigue, and joint pain she lived with for years—and the instant relief and deep peace that came after her explant surgery.
If you’ve been praying for answers or wondering how to know if God’s nudging you to make a change, this story will remind you that He didn’t make a mistake when He designed your body. Sometimes healing starts the moment we stop striving, tune into His voice, and finally trust what our body’s been trying to tell us.
Disclaimer: This episode shares personal testimony and educational discussion only and is not medical advice.
Connect with Holly:
Instagram: @holly_financialfitness
Next Steps:
Start with phototherapy:
susangladstein.com/phototherapy
Go deeper with The Rooted Reset™:
susangladstein.com/reset
Join us in Costa Rica for the Rooted Reset Retreat 2026:
susangladstein.com/retreat
Join the Faith Over Pharma community:
faithoverpharma.org
Connect on Instagram: @susangladstein.co
Get the Faithful in the Wait Devotional: faithfulinthewait.com
Monday Oct 27, 2025
Monday Oct 27, 2025
Next Steps:
Start with phototherapy:
susangladstein.com/phototherapy
Go deeper with The Rooted Reset™:
susangladstein.com/reset
Join us in Costa Rica for the Rooted Reset Retreat 2026:
susangladstein.com/retreat
Join the Faith Over Pharma community:
faithoverpharma.org
Connect on Instagram: @susangladstein.co
Get the Faithful in the Wait Devotional: faithfulinthewait.com