She went in because her heart was racing at 3am and she was too exhausted to get out of the car after work. Fourteen minutes later she left with a prescription and a word.

The word was anxiety. She believed it for six years.

In this episode I walk through five labels women get handed — anxiety, depression, insomnia, health anxiety, and the last one that isn't a diagnosis at all: "this is just where you are right now." For each one: what believing it cost her, and the question nobody in that appointment asked.

Because there's something all five have in common, and it took six years to see it.

This is a follow-up to "I've Tried Everything" — that episode was about being told nothing is wrong. This one is about being told the wrong thing, which in some ways is worse. Being told nothing's wrong leaves the question open. A name closes it.

Who this is for: women whose lab results keep coming back normal, who've been told it's stress, hormones, anxiety, perimenopause or "just your age," and who know something is still not right.

An important note. Nothing in this episode says mental health diagnoses aren't real, and nothing here is medical advice. Anxiety and depression are real, treatment helps enormously for many people, and nobody should change or stop a medication because of a podcast. The argument is narrower than that: a label can be accurate and still not be the whole answer. You're allowed to accept treatment and keep the question open.

If this is the kind of thing you want more of, subscribe. New episode every week.

FREE GIFT: The 21-Day Nervous System Calibration is designed to help you begin shifting out of survival mode and back into a state of regulation. 👉 go.thisisdrz.com/nervoussystem

Schedule a FREE discovery call with Dr. Z and our team: https://go.southbaywellness.com/schedule-call

Thanks for listening to T.R.U.E. Wellness with Dr .Z, follow us on social media for more wellness inspiration.

Watch the full episodes here: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisIsDrZ
Instagram: ThisIsDrZ
Facebook: ThisIsDrZ
YouTube: @ThisIsDrZ
LinkedIn: ThisIsDrZ
TikTok: @ThisIsDrZ
Website: www.SouthBayWellness.com

The information in this episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Dr. Z and her guests share perspectives and suggestions, not diagnoses or treatment. Always consult your own qualified provider.

She said it flat, like a weather report: "I did every diet you could possibly think of. And it would all come back."

Twelve diets. A hundred miles a week on a bike. Six years of specialists and a folder of results that all came back the same way: everything's fine.

This episode walks through the five things she tried, in order — diets, exercise, medical testing, supplements, and finally sitting up at 11pm doing her own research because nobody else would. And with each one, the thing nobody ever told her: what that attempt actually proved.

Because five failed attempts aren't five failures. They're five results. Nobody had ever read them back to her.

If you've got your own version of that folder, this one's for you.

A note on what this episode is not: there's no protocol here and nothing to buy. It's also not medical advice, and it's not a reason to stop working with your doctor. It's one conversation about why the things you've already tried didn't work.

Tell me your line. Not the whole ten years — one sentence. The thing you said to a provider that got waved off. The number that was inside the range while you were sitting there barely functioning. Leave it in the comments. You don't have to use your name. I read them, and the ones I hear most often become the next episode.

FREE GIFT: The 21-Day Nervous System Calibration is designed to help you begin shifting out of survival mode and back into a state of regulation. 👉 go.thisisdrz.com/nervoussystem

Schedule a FREE discovery call with Dr. Z and our team: https://go.southbaywellness.com/schedule-call

Thanks for listening to T.R.U.E. Wellness with Dr .Z, follow us on social media for more wellness inspiration.

Watch the full episodes here: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisIsDrZ
Instagram: ThisIsDrZ
Facebook: ThisIsDrZ
YouTube: @ThisIsDrZ
LinkedIn: ThisIsDrZ
TikTok: @ThisIsDrZ
Website: www.SouthBayWellness.com

The information in this episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Dr. Z and her guests share perspectives and suggestions, not diagnoses or treatment. Always consult your own qualified provider.

Your gut isn't just influencing your mood, your stress, and your sleep. According to today's guest, it's running the show.

On this episode of TRUE Wellness with Dr. Z, Dr. Z sits down with nutritional scientist Dr. Oscar Coetzee, who holds master's degrees in both psychology and nutrition plus a PhD and a doctorate in clinical nutrition, for a clear, genuinely eye-opening conversation about the gut-brain connection.

If you've eaten clean, taken the probiotic everyone swears by, and still felt bloated, wired, and exhausted, this episode explains why. Dr. Oscar walks through why most standard gut advice quietly fails, why not all probiotics are created equal, what "leaky gut" actually means, and why the microbiome may be the missing foundation underneath anxiety, low mood, and chronic disease.

What you'll learn:

1. Why your mood problem might actually be a nutrient problem.
2. The difference between transient and engrafting probiotics, and why it changes everything.
3. What "leaky gut" really means, in plain language.
4. The three types of stress, and why eustress burns you out just like distress.
5. Why fiber, color, and real food do what no single pill can.

Strains discussed in this episode (for education, not as a protocol): Akkermansia muciniphila, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Roseburia intestinalis, Bifidobacterium adolescentis, and Bifidobacterium longum.

Start here with your gut health journey: https://www.designsforhealth.com/u/daniellezanzarov/checkout

FREE RESOURCE

FREE GIFT: The 21-Day Nervous System Calibration is designed to help you begin shifting out of survival mode and back into a state of regulation. 👉 go.thisisdrz.com/nervoussystem

Schedule a FREE discovery call with Dr. Z and our team: https://go.southbaywellness.com/schedule-call

Thanks for listening to T.R.U.E. Wellness with Dr .Z, follow us on social media for more wellness inspiration.

Watch the full episodes here: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisIsDrZ
Instagram: ThisIsDrZ
Facebook: ThisIsDrZ
YouTube: @ThisIsDrZ
LinkedIn: ThisIsDrZ
TikTok: @ThisIsDrZ
Website: www.SouthBayWellness.com

The information in this episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Dr. Z and her guests share perspectives and suggestions, not diagnoses or treatment. Always consult your own qualified provider.

Everyone knows the five stages of grief. The man who has spent fifty years studying grief says they were never about grieving at all.

Dr. Z sits down with Thomas Attig, PhD — applied philosopher, co-founder of the world’s first PhD program in applied philosophy, and one of the most decorated voices in grief studies. His new Oxford University Press collection, Seeking Wisdom in Death’s Shadows, distills a lifetime of listening to mourners, caregivers, and counselors. Together they trace what loss actually does to a life — and why grieving is something we actively do, not something that simply happens to us.

In this conversation:

1. Where the “five stages” really came from — and why thousands of student essays about real loss never mentioned a single one.

2. The difference between grief reactions and grief responses, and why that distinction changes how you heal.

3. A simple thought experiment that proves you already know how to love someone in their absence.

4. Why healing means reweaving the web of your life rather than returning to who you were.

5. Sorrow-friendly practices — conversation, journaling, ritual, time in nature — for anyone who feels stuck.

Resources

• Seeking Wisdom in Death’s Shadows by Thomas Attig (Oxford University Press) — 30% off with promo code AUFLY30: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/seeking-wisdom-in-deaths-shadows-9780197776094?promocode=aufly30

• Tom’s website: griefsheart.com

• Free 21-Day Nervous System Calibration with Dr. Z: https://go.thisisdrz.com/nervoussystem

FREE GIFT: The 21-Day Nervous System Calibration is designed to help you begin shifting out of survival mode and back into a state of regulation. 👉 go.thisisdrz.com/nervoussystem

Schedule a FREE discovery call with Dr. Z and our team: https://go.southbaywellness.com/schedule-call

Thanks for listening to T.R.U.E. Wellness with Dr .Z, follow us on social media for more wellness inspiration.

Watch the full episodes here: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisIsDrZ
Instagram: ThisIsDrZ
Facebook: ThisIsDrZ
YouTube: @ThisIsDrZ
LinkedIn: ThisIsDrZ
TikTok: @ThisIsDrZ
Website: www.SouthBayWellness.com

The information in this episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Dr. Z and her guests share perspectives and suggestions, not diagnoses or treatment. Always consult your own qualified provider.

You can know exactly what to eat and still find yourself standing at the pantry at 9 PM. That is not a willpower problem, and treating it like one is why the cycle keeps repeating.

Emotional eating, food noise, and the diet-binge cycle are the focus of this conversation between Dr. Z and Tricia Nelson, an emotional eating expert who lost 50 pounds by identifying and healing the root causes of her own eating patterns.

Tricia has spent 30 years researching the hidden drivers of the addictive personality, is the author of the bestselling Heal Your Hunger, and hosts the podcast Confessions of a Binge Eater. Together they trace the line between an eating problem and a living problem, and what changes when you get curious about why you eat instead of obsessing over what you eat.

What you will take from this conversation:

1. How to tell physical hunger from emotional hunger, and why that distinction is the first step out of the cycle.

2. What “food noise” actually signals, and why quieting it starts with your emotional state rather than your plate.

3. The PEP Test: the three roles food plays when a feeling needs somewhere to go — painkiller, escape, and punishment.

4. Why diets reliably fail emotional eaters, and what a long-term approach looks like instead.

5. Where support, community, and spirituality fit when willpower has already been tried.

Disclaimer: Tricia’s framework reflects her personal recovery and three decades of client work; it is shared here as education, not medical or mental health treatment. Dr. Z holds a PhD in natural medicine.

Resources

• Take Tricia’s free quiz — Are you an emotional eater, a food addict, or somewhere in between? https://www.healyourhunger.com/are-you-an-emotional-eater-or-food-addict/

• Tricia’s book: Heal Your Hunger: 7 Simple Steps to End Emotional Eating Now

• Tricia’s podcast: Confessions of a Binge Eater — https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/confessions-of-a-binge-eater/id1858632856

• Connect with Tricia:

Website: https://healyourhunger.com

Instagram @tricianelson_

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tricia.g.nelson

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/triciagreaves/

FREE GIFT: The 21-Day Nervous System Calibration is designed to help you begin shifting out of survival mode and back into a state of regulation. 👉 go.thisisdrz.com/nervoussystem

Schedule a FREE discovery call with Dr. Z and our team: https://go.southbaywellness.com/schedule-call

Thanks for listening to T.R.U.E. Wellness with Dr .Z, follow us on social media for more wellness inspiration.

Watch the full episodes here: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisIsDrZ
Instagram: ThisIsDrZ
Facebook: ThisIsDrZ
YouTube: @ThisIsDrZ
LinkedIn: ThisIsDrZ
TikTok: @ThisIsDrZ
Website: www.SouthBayWellness.com

The information in this episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Dr. Z and her guests share perspectives and suggestions, not diagnoses or treatment. Always consult your own qualified provider.

What if the endless healing journey — the next protocol, the next program, the next thing to fix — was never the point?

In 2012, Rev. HoniB Borden's heart stopped. She says she crossed fully into the afterlife, met the presence of God and Yeshua, and was sent back three days later with one message: stop healing, and start remembering who you already are.

It's one of the most extraordinary conversations we've ever had on TRUE Wellness with Dr. Z — and whether or not you share her faith, what she reveals about your body, your nervous system, and the difference between your feelings and your truth will stay with you long after you hit pause.

Rev. HoniB is a Johns Hopkins–trained clinician, a 20-year meditation teacher, and the founder of Washington D.C.'s first holistic wellness medi spa — who walked away from all of it to answer a calling she never asked for. In this episode, she and Dr. Z reconnect two decades after first meeting, and go somewhere most wellness conversations never dare to.

In this episode:

• What she experienced when her heart stopped — and the message she was sent back with
• Why "stop healing, start remembering" might be the shift you've been missing
• How to treat your body as a temple instead of a problem to solve
• Why your feelings are not the same as your truth (and how women get this backwards)
• The role of the nervous system, coherence, and why biohacking alone won't sustain you
• The Four Living Declarations — her free gift for grounding yourself in seconds of stress

CONNECT WITH REV. HONIB BORDEN
Website: https://www.AscensionAlchemists.com
Free gift — The Four Living Declarations™ (sign up for the newsletter on the homepage)
Podcast: Ascension Alchemists™ — on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music & more
Book: The Day I Became A Superhero: A Story About the True Power Within
Instagram: @revhoniborden | @ascensionalchemists
Facebook: @revhoniborden | @ascensionalchemists
YouTube: @revhoniborden | @ascensionalchemists
Booking: Info@AscensionAlchemists.com

FREE GIFT: The 21-Day Nervous System Calibration is designed to help you begin shifting out of survival mode and back into a state of regulation. 👉 go.thisisdrz.com/nervoussystem

Schedule a FREE discovery call with Dr. Z and our team: https://go.southbaywellness.com/schedule-call

Thanks for listening to T.R.U.E. Wellness with Dr .Z, follow us on social media for more wellness inspiration.

Watch the full episodes here: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisIsDrZ
Instagram: ThisIsDrZ
Facebook: ThisIsDrZ
YouTube: @ThisIsDrZ
LinkedIn: ThisIsDrZ
TikTok: @ThisIsDrZ
Website: www.SouthBayWellness.com

The information in this episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Dr. Z and her guests share perspectives and suggestions, not diagnoses or treatment. Always consult your own qualified provider.

The fight that won't close isn't behind you — it's inside you.

Every unresolved argument stays in the body as a low-grade stressor. It shows up as 3 AM wake-ups, tight chest, and exhaustion with no clear source. In this conversation, Dr. Danielle Zanzarov, PhD, sits with conflict resolution coach Rod Jeter — creator of YBAngry — to talk about what unfinished conflict actually costs the nervous system, and how his structured game helps couples resolve decades of disagreements in under an hour.

What this episode covers:

1. Why every unfinished argument registers as a stressor your nervous system is still running.

2. How the YBAngry game removes emotional charge from the most loaded conversations.

3. The specific steps that finally make people feel heard — sometimes after 30 or 40 years.

4. Why most people are worse communicators than they think, and what the game does differently.

5. Rod's three free tips to stop arguing, available now at ybangry.com.

About | Roderick "Rod" Jeter — Conflict Resolution Coach & Creator of YBAngry After traditional counseling failed, Rod created YBAngry (pronounced "Why Be Angry") — the relationship game where all you have to do to win is play. He designed YBAngry to help couples stay together, one issue at a time. Rod's game approach helps couples overcome seemingly insurmountable disagreements that have lasted decades, in just minutes. No fuss. No drama.

Resources mentioned:

Order the YBAngry Game: https://ybangry.com/?ref=DANIELLE-753B

YBAngry Website: https://ybangry.com/

3 Free Tips to Stop Arguing: Visit ybangry.com and scroll to the '3 free tips' link — enter your first name and email to receive a short video.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrrodjeter/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrrodjeter

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mrrodjeter

FREE GIFT: The 21-Day Nervous System Calibration is designed to help you begin shifting out of survival mode and back into a state of regulation. 👉 go.thisisdrz.com/nervoussystem

Schedule a FREE discovery call with Dr. Z and our team: https://go.southbaywellness.com/schedule-call

Thanks for listening to T.R.U.E. Wellness with Dr .Z, follow us on social media for more wellness inspiration.

Watch the full episodes here: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisIsDrZ
Instagram: ThisIsDrZ
Facebook: ThisIsDrZ
YouTube: @ThisIsDrZ
LinkedIn: ThisIsDrZ
TikTok: @ThisIsDrZ
Website: www.SouthBayWellness.com

The information in this episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Dr. Z and her guests share perspectives and suggestions, not diagnoses or treatment. Always consult your own qualified provider.

Why do you wake up at 3 AM every night and struggle to fall back asleep?

It's not insomnia the way you've been told — and it's not a character flaw. Your body is doing something specific in the early morning hours, on a clock.

If you fall asleep fine but snap awake at 3 or 4 AM with a racing mind — the to-do list, the worry, the thing you said years ago — this episode is for you. Dr. Z walks through what's actually happening: the early-morning cortisol rise, the overnight blood sugar dip, and a nervous system stuck in "survival mode" that reads all of it as a threat and pulls you wide awake at the lightest stage of sleep.

You'll learn why melatonin, blackout curtains, and "just relax" haven't worked, what your 3 AM wake-up is really signaling, and the daytime and evening shifts that actually lower the alarm — so your body stops treating a normal night like an emergency.

This isn't about forcing sleep. It's about helping a dysregulated nervous system feel safe enough to keep it.

FREE GIFT: The 21-Day Nervous System Calibration is designed to help you begin shifting out of survival mode and back into a state of regulation. 👉 go.thisisdrz.com/nervoussystem

Schedule a FREE discovery call with Dr. Z and our team: https://go.southbaywellness.com/schedule-call

Thanks for listening to T.R.U.E. Wellness with Dr .Z, follow us on social media for more wellness inspiration.

Watch the full episodes here: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisIsDrZ
Instagram: ThisIsDrZ
Facebook: ThisIsDrZ
YouTube: @ThisIsDrZ
LinkedIn: ThisIsDrZ
TikTok: @ThisIsDrZ
Website: www.SouthBayWellness.com

The information in this episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Dr. Z and her guests share perspectives and suggestions, not diagnoses or treatment. Always consult your own qualified provider.