Sara Brown is a dynamic, passionate, and highly experienced midwife, women’s health expert, and certified functional medicine practitioner who’s spent over 20 years empowering women to reclaim their health and vitality. Starting her career as a doula and nurse at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, Sara honed her skills in both high-risk labor and delivery and low-risk midwifery. Her heart for supporting women through life’s transitions only deepened as she became a nurse-midwife in 2013, specializing in waterbirths and vaginal births after cesarean (VBAC).

Sara’s enthusiasm for learning is boundless, and her dedication to holistic care led her to become a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner (WHNP) and dive deep into functional medicine. By focusing on treating the root causes of health challenges rather than just managing symptoms, she has transformed her practice, helping women conquer everything from hormonal imbalances and perimenopausal symptoms to anxiety, autoimmune disorders, and gut health issues.

In her talk, “Hormonal Wisdom: Thriving in Perimenopause, Menopause, and Beyond,” Sara shares her expertise in understanding and optimizing hormones through a functional medicine lens. This isn’t your average menopause talk—Sara’s approach is holistic, informative, and empowering, offering practical advice on everything from diet and lifestyle to bio-identical hormone replacement therapy, all with a focus on the unique needs of women during these pivotal years.

Her commitment to improving the lives of women doesn’t stop there. Whether you’re facing weight gain, mood swings, or sleep issues, Sara’s mission is to help you feel like yourself again and thrive. She combines cutting-edge medical knowledge with a deep, personal understanding of women’s health, creating a supportive environment where you can learn, grow, and embrace the changes that come with perimenopause and beyond.

With Sara as your guide, you’ll leave feeling empowered, educated, and ready to take on the next chapter of your health with confidence.


Slide Close Ups:

Notes From Presentation & Attendees: 

  • Fasting Insulin
  • Fasting Glucose
  • Fasting A1C
  • Bioidentical hormones are synthetic hormones that are chemically identical to the hormones naturally produced by the human body.
  • She wouldn’t recommend synthetic.
  • Cleaning up the gut, muscle strength, stress management (#1)
  • Stress will lower hormones
  • Elimination Diet – 30 day (whole 30 is an example) – Tool to figure out possible food sensitivities
  • Reintroduction (10 days after – introducing 1 food at a time)
  • Strength training, addressing stress – especially if you have any history of trauma
  • By retraining the limbic system to alter the fight or flight response
  • Looking at free T3, free T4, thyroid antibodies, and reverse T3, because TSH only gives you like a piece of the puzzle. It doesn’t tell you everything and free t3 free t3 is the amount of thyroid hormone that’s available to every cell in the body.
  • Sara’s Question to You: What brings you joy in your life?
  • Essentia Health – Functional Health
  • Shannon May Natural Path Practioner in Duluth
  • Dr. Mary Claire haver is a good resource, she is an OBGYN based in Galveston and has a book called the new menopause. She has a database on her website of practitioners that women have recommended but another resource is the American menopause society and they have a whole host of different clinicians that are certified in menopause care and many of them take telehealth or in person and there are several in Minnesota I believe.
  • Memory – food sensitivities, optimal focus by seeking health
  • Period Repair Manual
  • 5 different causes – Insulin Resistance is often the root cause
  • Yogi antioxidant tea
  • The hormonal link between epilepsy and hormones seems to be estrogen
  • 20-25 per meal protein intake
  • Cortisol Manager Supplement (normal stress 1 or high stress 2)
  • Enzyme Medica (gold spectrum)
  • Fullscript Supplements – Dr. Stoner and Brigette Nies
  • Biogest (sp) ox bile
  • Sprout Living – Protein powder pepitas (recommended by someone in the audience)
  • Amee Newman – Remote Nurse Practitioner – Aligned integrative….
Some questions asked by attendees:

  • Is Vitex helpful post-menopause?
  • Do you have any advice for people who want to change and optimize their nutrition, but who have already experienced a lot of difficulty with dieting, restriction, fatphobia, etc and are reactive to food restriction?
  • I have focal seizures that are super tied to my menstrual cycle, occurring most frequently on the days prior to the start of my period. As I enter perimenopause I’m curious as to what I might expect with the hormonal changes. Do you have any advice for hormonally triggered epilepsy?
  • Testosterone?
  • Proteins Intake?
  • Local / Regional Options?
  • Does fiber intake have any effect on symptoms?
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