The gym membership you signed up for on January 2nd? You haven't been in weeks. The meal prep containers are still sitting in the cabinet, clean and unused. The habit tracker, the gratitude journal, the app that was going to change everything—blank. For weeks.

And now you're not just disappointed. You're starting to wonder if something is wrong with you. Because everyone else seems to be able to do this. And you can't figure out why you can't.

Nothing is wrong with you. You were set up to fail—and the science proves it.

In this solo "Spark This" episode, Dr. Avanti gets personal about her own 8-week crash—one year after finishing breast cancer treatment—when she demanded her body bounce back and it said no. She breaks down the science of why resolutions collapse by late February (hint: only 8% of people ever achieve them), why your willpower isn't broken—it's depleted, and why trying to overhaul your life in the dead of winter is like trying to grow a garden in February and blaming yourself when nothing blooms.

Drawing on Ayurveda, modern psychology, and circadian biology, she explains why the way you crashed is actually predictable based on your dosha—your unique mind-body constitution—and shares one specific thing each dosha type can do right now to stop the cycle and start working with their nature instead of against it.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

1. (05:56) Why 92% of people are exactly where you are right now
2. (08:21) Dr. Avanti's personal story of crashing after breast cancer treatment
3. (13:20) The science of ego depletion and why willpower runs out after eight weeks
4. (14:06) How your rest deficit is sabotaging your ability to change
5. (15:23) Why winter is the worst time to push for transformation
6. (17:21) The Ayurvedic perspective on late winter and working with the season
7. (19:19) How each dosha crashes differently—and one thing your type needs right now

If this episode made you exhale for the first time in weeks—you're not behind. You're not broken. You were just following the wrong prescription for your body. And now you have a better way forward.

Connect with Dr. Avanti:

1. Subscribe, Rate & Review The Healing Catalyst podcast
2. Listen to more episodes on your favorite platform
3. Watch clips and past episodes on YouTube
4. Follow Dr. Avanti on Instagram at @avantikumarsingh
5. Get Dr. Avanti’s Weekly Letter:

You've tried the affirmations. The gratitude journal. The boundary-setting advice you read about online. Maybe you even set the boundary—and then felt so guilty you took it back five minutes later.

You know what you "should" do. You've read the books. You've done the therapy. So why does nothing stick? Why do you still say yes when you mean no? Why do you still feel responsible for everyone else's emotions? Why are you exhausted, resentful, and wondering if this is just how life is now?

Here's the truth no one talks about: You can't think your way out of a body that doesn't feel safe. Mindset work, boundaries, self-care—none of it works until your nervous system is on board. And for women who grew up learning to read the room, anticipate everyone's needs, and keep the peace at any cost, the nervous system has been running a survival program for decades.

In this episode, Dr. Avanti sits down with Béa Albina, NP, MPH, SEP—a UCSF-trained Family Nurse Practitioner, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, Master Certified Somatic Life Coach, and author of the bestselling End Emotional Outsourcing: A Guide to Overcoming Codependent, Perfectionist and People Pleasing Habits. Béa's work is grounded in somatics and polyvagal theory—and she breaks down exactly why so many high-functioning women feel stuck, what's actually happening in the body, and the surprisingly simple first step to changing it.

Together, they explore what emotional outsourcing really is—the pattern underneath codependency, perfectionism, and people-pleasing—and why these aren't character flaws but brilliant childhood survival strategies that no longer serve you. They dig into how these patterns get wired into the nervous system, the real health consequences of living in chronic hypervigilance, and how to start unwinding it all—one small, body-based practice at a time.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

1. (08:38) What emotional outsourcing is and how it drives codependency, perfectionism, and people-pleasing
2. (18:01) Why you can't decide what to have for dinner after a day of managing everyone else
3. (26:28) How these patterns get wired into the nervous system in childhood
4. (31:17) The real health consequences of chronic hypervigilance
5. (34:15) Why affirmations and boundaries don't work until your nervous system feels safe
6. (41:58) A simple daily practice that starts to rewire the pattern
7. (52:32) How to find your "why" so the changes actually stick

If this episode felt like someone was reading your diary—you're not broken. You developed a brilliant survival strategy that got you this far. And now you finally have a roadmap to choose something different.

About Béa Albina:

Beatriz (Béa) Victoria Albina, NP, MPH, SEP is a UCSF-trained Family Nurse Practitioner, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, Master Certified Somatic Life Coach, author of the bestselling End Emotional Outsourcing: A Guide to Overcoming Codependent, Perfectionist and People Pleasing Habits (Hachette Balance, 2025), and Breathwork Meditation Guide with a passion for helping humans socialized as women to reconnect with their bodies, regulate their nervous systems, and rewire their minds—so they can break free from codependency, perfectionism, and people pleasing and reclaim their joy.

She is the host of the Feminist Wellness podcast and holds a...

You know what to eat. You've read the books, bought the vegetables with good intentions. And yet—you inhale lunch at your desk and an hour later you're hungry again, like you never even ate. You cook the "healthy" meal and still feel bloated. The vegetables go bad in the drawer. Meal prep Sunday lasted two weeks before you were back to takeout and feeling like a failure.

So maybe Ozempic is the answer? Everyone's talking about it. The idea of a shot that just turns off the food noise sounds like a miracle when you've tried everything else and nothing sticks.

But here's what most people don't realize: Your body already makes GLP-1—the same hormone those medications mimic. So why isn't it working on its own? Because your satiety signals need the right conditions to function. And if you're rushing through meals, eating while stressed, or reaching for food to soothe difficult emotions, those signals get overridden. You can take the medication, but if your relationship with food stays the same, the results often don't last.

In this episode, Dr. Avanti sits down with Dr. Erika Siegel, a naturopathic physician and acupuncturist with nearly two decades of experience in integrative and functional medicine. She's the author of The Nourish Me Kitchen—a two-volume set combining a functional medicine reference with 300+ whole-foods recipes, inspired by 15 years of listening to what her patients actually struggled with. After all that time in practice, Erika has seen it all: the overwhelm, the confusion, the women who know exactly what they "should" eat but still can't figure out why nothing works.

Together, they explore why your nervous system state changes how your body digests food, what's actually happening with ghrelin, leptin, and GLP-1 (and why rushing through meals short-circuits the whole system), what an integrative physician really thinks about Ozempic—and when it might actually make sense, the simple shift of eating fiber first and why it matters for blood sugar, and why cooking at home isn't just about better ingredients—it's about changing your relationship with food itself.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

1. (06:45) Why eating "healthy" foods in a stressed state leaves you bloated and unsatisfied
2. (15:50) How your brain needs 15-20 minutes to register fullness (and what happens when you eat faster)
3. (18:54) The truth about GLP-1: your body already makes it, so why isn't it working?
4. (26:25) The order you eat your meal matters—and it's simpler than you think
5. (33:24) Why deepening your relationship with your food actually helps
6. (48:34) One small shift that can change your entire relationship with food

By the end of this episode, you'll understand that why and how you eat matters just as much as what you eat—and you'll have simple, practical shifts you can start today to help your body's natural satiety signals actually work.

About Dr. Erika Siegel:

Dr. Erika Siegel is a naturopathic physician and acupuncturist with nearly two decades of experience in integrative and functional medicine. Known for her whole-person, East-meets-West approach, she blends ancient healing traditions with evidence-based practices. She is the author of The Nourish Me Kitchen, a two-volume set combining a functional medicine reference with a whole-foods cookbook, inspired by over 15 years of patient care. Her work is rooted in the belief that the body holds an innate ability to...