What if your body already knows how to heal - and the only thing standing in the way is you?

That's the question at the heart of this conversation with Alayna Bellquist, marine scientist, speaker, and author of Resilient by Nature: A Memoir of Curing Chronic Lyme Disease. After nearly two decades studying how ecosystems recover from stress and collapse, Alayna found herself applying those exact same principles to her own body after a devastating battle with chronic Lyme disease.

This is not a scary Lyme episode. This is a story of full recovery, radical self-honesty, and what happens when you stop fighting your body and start treating it like the resilient, intelligent system it actually is.

Whether you're navigating a chronic illness, burnout, or just a body that feels like it's working against you, this conversation will leave you with more hope than you came in with.

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction and welcome
00:45 Why Alayna felt compelled to share her story and challenge the dominant Lyme narrative
02:29 How the tick bite happened in 2017 and why it went undiagnosed for three years
04:57 Peak COVID, a riding accident, and the moment everything fell apart
06:29 The terror of a chronic Lyme diagnosis and what the internet told her to expect
07:17 The deeper wake-up call: overachieving, people pleasing and a worth tied to productivity
10:25 Why burnout shows up as chronic illness and why it would have been something eventually
13:35 Finding a Lyme literate specialist and building a full treatment protocol
15:12 When the antibiotics stopped working and the emotional work began
16:31 Adding breathwork, cold therapy, Chinese medicine, EMDR, and talk therapy
17:02 Testing negative and reaching full recovery by 2024
19:26 What Alayna knew about health before Lyme and what she ignored
21:02 How diet culture and productivity culture fed the same harmful stories
22:02 Where the stories of worthiness and identity come from and how early they form
25:11 Why zero to seven is the most important window for children's belief systems
27:08 Neuroplasticity and the hope that what was learned can be unlearned
28:31 Applying marine ecosystem recovery principles to the human body
31:00 Treating the body like a degraded ecosystem: removing what jeopardizes resilience
33:03 Why humans are the only species with the belief they can exist outside of nature
34:32 The body is always moving toward healing when you stop blocking it
36:06 What even small connections to nature can do for your nervous system
38:19 Why nature does the work for you without effort or optimization
41:35 The four spheres of healing: western medicine, alternative therapies, mental and emotional work, and nature
44:15 The first dietary changes Alayna made and why simplicity was the point
46:49 What has remained the hardest pattern to break even after full recovery
48:02 Getting comfortable with discomfort as a core skill in healing
50:37 Sleep, pressure, and why trying too hard makes everything worse
54:32 The one morning habit Alayna credits for supporting sleep and circadian rhythm
57:08 About the book Resilient by Nature and where to find Alayna

About Alayna Bellquist

Alayna Bellquist is a marine science and policy expert, speaker, and author of Resilient by Nature: A Memoir of Curing Chronic Lyme Disease, available September 15, 2026. After nearly two decades studying ecosystem resilience, collapse, and recovery, Alayna turned those same principles on herself during a harrowing battle with chronic Lyme disease - and came out the other side healthier than she had ever been.

📸 @elenabelquist on Instagram
🌐 elenabelquist.com
📖 Resilient by Nature - available for pre-order now, releasing September 15, 2026

Meet Kylie:
Instagram: @within.nutrition
Apply for 1:1 coaching here.

Check out some of our recipes as mentioned in this episode here.

Welcome to the Within Nutrition Podcast.

There is so much noise in the health world that often sounds so convincing but doesn't actually work for you so we're here to breakdown the science, challenge the common myths and share the strategies that truly make a difference for you.

If your energy has been feeling flat, heavy, or just inconsistent - this episode is a breath of warm air. Kylie shares five simple, practical things she's doing this summer to feel her most energized, grounded, and well. No complicated protocols, no expensive supplements. Just real, accessible habits that work with your body and your gut to help you feel genuinely good.

Whether you're in the middle of a heat wave or just looking for ways to make the most of the longer, warmer days, these are things you can start today.

In this episode, Kylie covers five summer energy habits rooted in gut health, blood sugar balance, and nervous system support - including the truth about fruit and blood sugar that the wellness world has overcomplicated, why bookending your day with walks is one of the most underrated health tools available to you, how fresh herbs can meaningfully improve your gut microbiome diversity, the right way to build a smoothie that actually stabilizes your energy, and what the research really says about grounding.

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction and welcome
01:30 Why energy is such a central theme in the Within Nutrition coaching program
03:30 Habit one: eating more seasonal fruit and why fruit is not the enemy
06:00 The truth about blood sugar, fruit, and what the wellness world gets wrong
09:00 How fat intake affects insulin sensitivity and your ability to eat fruit
12:30 Habit two: bookending your day with morning and evening walks
15:00 Why a walk is a nervous system tool, not just a fitness tool
17:00 Morning light, circadian rhythm, and the gut microbiome connection
19:00 A note on intermittent fasting and women in their fertility years
21:30 Habit three: adding fresh herbs for gut microbiome diversity
24:00 How to use mint and basil practically in summer meals and drinks
25:30 Habit four: leaning back into smoothies and how to build one that works
28:00 The key three method applied to smoothies
30:00 Habit five: grounding - what the research actually says
32:00 Final thoughts and information on the Within Nutrition coaching program

Meet Kylie:
Instagram: @within.nutrition
Apply for 1:1 coaching here.

Check out some of our recipes as mentioned in this episode here.

Welcome to the Within Nutrition Podcast.

There is so much noise in the health world that often sounds so convincing but doesn't actually work for you so we're here to breakdown the science, challenge the common myths and share the strategies that truly make a difference for you.

If you've ever felt like you're doing all the right things but still feel exhausted, out of alignment, or like something just doesn't fit - this episode might be the missing piece. Kylie sits down with Emma Dunwoody, Behavioral Specialist and author of Human Design Made Simple (Penguin Life), to explore how understanding your unique energetic blueprint can completely shift the way you approach your health, your habits, and your life.

This isn't about astrology or personality tests. Human Design is a system that blends modern science and ancient wisdom to map how your energy actually operates - how you process stress, make decisions, manage your nervous system, and maintain balance. And as Emma explains, when you stop fighting your design and start working with it, everything gets easier.

In this episode, Emma and Kylie explore how Human Design connects to energy, healing, and whole-person wellness - including why so many women are exhausted not because they're doing too little, but because they're doing it all wrong for their type, how your energetic blueprint affects your nervous system, stress response, and emotional wellbeing, and why consistency, discipline, and productivity look completely different depending on who you are.

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction and welcome
00:45 Emma's personal story: depression, panic disorder, and the journey to human design
06:37 What human design actually is and how it differs from personality profiling
09:22 Deconditioning: removing the masks we built to stay safe and receive love
12:26 How childhood conditioning from ages zero to seven shapes who we become
14:45 Human design, parenting, and raising kids in alignment with their design
15:51 How human design connects to women's health and breaking repeated patterns
17:30 Energy types explained: sacral vs non-sacral beings and what that means for your body
19:52 Why health advice is not one size fits all and how to find what works for you
20:51 Can your type change? Life cycles, saturn return, and the shift in your early 40s
25:01 Strategy and authority: the two most important things to understand in your chart
28:00 Profiles explained: what your two numbers reveal about how you move through life
29:29 How knowing your design builds confidence in decisions and health choices
31:31 Why 90% of the global population is designed to wait before they act
34:50 Alignment over hustle: why doing less of the wrong things gives you more energy
36:14 Redefining consistency for women and why the 24-hour model is designed for men
40:56 Perfectionism, dropping the ball, and why starting over is not failure
43:00 Human design in business: building around your energy instead of someone else's system
46:10 Raising teenagers with human design and letting go of parenting guilt
50:51 Trusting yourself in an era of information overload
52:49 Building the muscle of internal authority and sovereign decision-making

About our Guest

Emma Dunwoody is a Behavioral Specialist with over 20 years of experience helping people understand how their mind, body, and energy are uniquely designed to work together. She is the author of Human Design Made Simple, published by Penguin Life, and host of The Human Design Podcast. Emma's work has been featured in Elle, The Washington Post, MindBodyGreen, Women's Health, Forbes, and more.

📸 @the_human_design_coach on Instagram

Meet Kylie:
Instagram: @within.nutrition
Apply for 1:1 coaching here.

Welcome to the Within Nutrition Podcast.

There is so much noise in the health world that often sounds so convincing but doesn't actually work for you so we're here to breakdown the science, challenge the common myths and share the strategies that truly make a difference for you.

Welcome to the Within Nutrition Podcast.

There is so much noise in the health world that often sounds so convincing but doesn't actually work for you so we're here to breakdown the science, challenge the common myths and share the strategies that truly make a difference for you.