EPI 84 - Your Body Knows How to Heal (And Sometimes It Needs a Hand)

Hi friend — welcome back to The Habit Within! I’m Camille Kinzler, and today’s conversation is one I’ve been sitting with for a while. It’s all about honoring both our body’s innate wisdom to heal — and also the truth that sometimes… it needs a little help.

I’ve always been fascinated by how powerful our bodies are. The fact that they can self-repair, regulate, and recalibrate on their own is incredible. But lately, I’ve been realizing something: just because our bodies can heal naturally doesn’t mean we always have to do it alone.

There are moments when the foundations — food, movement, sunlight, rest — just aren’t enough. And that’s okay. Sometimes, we need extra support: a supplement, a peptide, a medication, a different kind of partnership. It’s not a failure. It’s simply being human.

In this episode, I share:

• Why it’s okay to seek support — even if you’ve always been the “I’ll do it naturally” type
• My own journey of letting go of shame around needing a little extra help
• How to know when your body’s asking for foundational care versus intervention
• The beauty of the “both/and” — honoring your body’s intelligence and welcoming outside support when needed
• Simple foundational practices I’ve returned to (and how small tweaks can re-anchor your healing)

This conversation is about releasing the guilt and pressure we often put on ourselves to “do healing right.” Your body’s wisdom is vast and powerful — but sometimes, it simply needs a hand.

Big Takeaways:

• Healing isn’t all or nothing — it’s both/and.
• You can trust your body and still seek support.
• Shame has no place in your healing story.
• You’re allowed to change your mind about what “natural” healing looks like.

I’d love to hear from you:
What’s one way your body has asked for support lately? Tag me, share your story, or leave a review — I love hearing how you’re partnering with your body in this season.

If you’re tired of feeling exhausted, irritable, moody, and just not like yourself,  schedule a free 30-minute consultation so I can help you feel like YOU again
Fill out this brief form (2 min) to schedule a free 30-minute call.
 
Love the show? Leave a 5-star review, and let me know what hit home for you.

Find me on Instagram @camille_kinzler and leave me a DM! 

Transcript

(0:00 - 2:21)
The point of today's conversation is there are times when we maybe do need some intervention because we want to just feel better and we're tired of maybe being so clouded by all the noise out there and not knowing which direction to go or we've tried all of the lifestyle hacks and it's just not really working. Welcome to The Habit Within. This podcast is for high achieving women 35 and older who seem to have it all together but feel like they're constantly running on fumes, struggling to balance it all and losing sight of the woman they used to be. 

I'm Camille Kinzler, a former physician assistant turned transformational coach blending science, positive psychology and a metaphysical approach to habits, health and vitality. If you've ever asked yourself why am I so exhausted even after a full night's sleep or I feel like I'm juggling so much but I'm just barely keeping my head above water, you are in the right place. Each week, we'll explore the real reasons behind feeling overwhelmed, trapped in the cycle of overworking and constantly running low on energy and how to break free from the patterns keeping you stuck in survival mode. 

It's time to stop living on autopilot and to start feeling like yourself again. Let's dive in. Hey, welcome back to The Habit Within. 

This is Camille, your host. And oh my gosh, podcast world is so interesting. There is a reason why I don't have a YouTube channel. 

I had this desire to record this episode while I was in the midst of changing from one outfit to the next. So I will let you imagine how I'm recording this episode right now. But anyway, it's hilarious. 

But I just really this is something my friend and I were talking about yesterday at lunch. And I just thought that I would share some thoughts and reflections with you about how so often we can feel guilty about changing the way that we want to approach our health and wellness. And yeah, so I'm going to share you share with you a little personal story about how, you know, I mean, y'all I'm I studied medicine, I have a medical license.

(2:21 - 9:07)
And I have always been hesitant about taking medications myself. There's just something about overriding the natural healing response of the human body and or like changing the chemistry in some artificial way that never really sat quite right with me. It's one of the reasons why I chose a home birth with my first natural birth that ended up being a cesarean after 36 hours of laboring at home. 

And that was quite beautiful experience all the way it was supposed to be. Um, but yeah, but one of my biggest reasons for that was because I just feel like there are so many just natural aspects of us being humans. And we try to intervene too often. 

Now, that's not the point of this conversation. The point of today's conversation is there are times when we maybe do need some intervention. And because we want to just feel better. 

And we're tired of maybe being so clouded by all the noise out there and not knowing which direction to go. Or we've tried all of the lifestyle hacks, and it's just not really working, mainly because we might not know what our genomics are like our own personal genes, and how that can really help us define what supplements and exercise and all the things that we may need in our lifestyle toolbox in order to feel better. But the thing is, is that sometimes we just need a little bit of help. 

And again, I mean, I think the reason why when I was in medical school, and I was really diving into pharmacology and pathophysiology, I was actually more astonished that the conversation wasn't around how our bodies can heal its innate capacity to heal and the phenomenon of the spontaneous remission or the influence of placebo effect and all of that, like that is purely fascinating. And the all we should all feel every single day being a human and what it's capable of is truly, like it's truly astonishing. And anyway, so that's really I was just like so caught up in the in the in the amazement of what the human body could do, that I really fell into that category, more than I fell into the category of really wanting to adjust somebody's chemistry. 

And so I really was in the world of how lifestyle medicine is so important. And it is, it is the foundation 100%. But this isn't about choosing medicine or lifestyle, it is the both and, and being a woman who is now participating and not feeling amazing in her body, at this stage in her life, I'm tired of, of living that identity of somebody who wants to purely do it naturally, because it's just not working for me right now. 

And so I need a little bit of a nudge, I need some assistance. And that's okay. But I have to tell you that I'm feeling a little bit of shame for it. 

And we get shame when we even pull up, you know, social media, and we hear from these youngins, right? I mean, they're like in their 30s talking about taking biotinical hormone therapy is just like not the way to go or not taking a GLP-1 or some peptides or supplements, because we should just feel it to heal it. I'm like, Hey, babe, you're just not there yet. Like, let's, let's drop some of the, you know, drop some of the shame and really step into a little bit more empathy, you know, we need that in all of our life, right, every aspect of life right now. 

So just like we talked about in last week's episode about ebb and flow, how we are in the ebb and flow of our energy, we also are in the ebb and flow of what our bodies really need. Sometimes it needs extra, extra nourishment. Sometimes it needs a little bit of a peptide or a little bit of support. 

And of course, I lean more towards homeopathy in herbs. And then yeah, in peptides, which are naturally occurring amino acids that are within our body to help support us. And if we need a little bit more than I think that that is perfectly okay, too. 

And I think that so often, you know, have you guys heard about the term spiritually bypassing our emotions? I think what can happen is just like we can spiritually bypass our emotions, we can also bypass our symptoms, right? And that's at a cost because we have to listen to our symptoms. They are messengers, we have to get curious, we can't ignore them, we can't silence them. But there does come a point where you also just want to feel better, right? And so you can sit in the feeling of your symptom. 

And if it's not dissipating, if it's not getting weaker and smaller and non-existent, then God, right? Don't you want the thing that's going to make you feel better? And that just should not be a weakness. And I'm really I'm saying this, like I'm talking to you, but I'm talking to myself as I'm creating this podcast, because that's just human. And I want to live this next 40, 50, 60 years, I want to, I want to live it feeling great. 

And I don't think that has to be, you know, labeled as like biohacking or anything like that. But I do want to use all the tools in my toolbox in order to feel good. And yeah, my whole approach to working with myself and with women, when we do look at giving support, through all sorts of means, is really doing in a cyclical fashion, right? Because that is really the message that I've been bringing forward the last few podcasts, and probably it weaves into all the other ones, is that we do live such cycles. 

And so to say that we need one way all the time for the rest of our lives is just not true. But what we can do is check in with ourselves about what we need. But yeah, so I just really like want to just say that if you do feel some shame about wanting to pull in some other alternatives or interventions, that that is okay, woman, I give you permission.

(9:07 - 14:47)
So yeah, so today's conversation is about really reclaiming the both and not the and or, that we really want to honor our body's innate wisdom and also welcome anything that might support us to help us thrive. So let's just go ahead and say we do have to start with the fundamentals. So let's talk about that for a little quick second. 

We do need to make sure that we have high quality food, that we're eating the foods that are the best for our personal genetics, that it comes from a good source, it's not highly processed, that we return to nature, we get that morning sunlight in the morning. It's so essential that when we drink the water from this earth, that we honor it, that we say a little prayer over it or some sort of intention to really get it into that really good vibration. It doesn't even have to be spring water from a local source, because we don't really have that around here. 

So if you can get that even better, but you really Yeah, just really want to find the the food and water that nourishes us movement is essential. And that can look like anything for you. Sometimes you might be in more of a phase that you want to build more muscle. 

Sometimes it's just maybe you want to stretch yourself more and a yoga yen style. Maybe you want to do more cardio. I mean, whatever feels good for you in the moment. 

Make sure that you're definitely receiving the emotional that you're receiving the connections from your friends and family. Now, I'm going to just throw this out here too, is that we don't all have to be a part of huge communities in order to receive that connection. I actually, for quite some time, I have a friend who loves community, like she's just like community all the time. 

Everywhere we go, like let's bring a bunch of people together at all times. And I actually that's draining to me. So for me, community and connection is smaller groups one on one. 

But those are very healing. So know what sort of connection you need to heal. And you know, if you've listened to any of my podcast episodes, you know how important I feel like the awareness around our thoughts are, because thoughts really do lead to emotion and to the way that that is how our body responds to it. 

It's essential to be aware of your thoughts. And speaking of coming back to the foundations, is that when I'm in a healing phase right now in my life, like an active healing phase where I'm putting energy and intention on it, because we're always healing, but I'm in this healing phase. And so I'll share with you as I continue through the journey of my healing phase. 

But one thing that I did to tweak the foundation piece, because again, you don't have to do all of these things at once, just incorporating one of them or two of them, if you notice that you're falling off. My food hasn't been that amazing. We, you know, we moved over the summer, the beginning of the year, we're getting established in a new place. 

I'm doing better the last couple of weeks. But before that, it was just not, you know, we were having very few veggies, let me just put it that way. And eating out more than that my body really likes. 

I love eating out. My mind, my humanness loves eating out, but my body does not. But yeah, so I was, you know, really looking at my new home and what I had available to me that felt refreshing, and that could be one of these foundational pieces. 

And I really like the back patio, the back patio gets beautiful morning sun, you can see the sun rise. And so I simply would just fill my water and a glass cup. And I would go and sit or I go and I sit on a lounger and I watch the sun come up and I feel the warmth of the sun on my skin. 

And I think the water for for giving me what I need today to heal and drink my water, watch the sunrise not having you know, my phone or any other my husband thing out there with me as I'm as I'm enjoying this experience. And that really filled me up. And it allowed me to be able to go okay, what is the next thing I can implement? Now that I have this established, and really, that's what I the only thing that I ended up adding in to my morning routine and foundation a month ago. 

So I did that for a full month before I started tweaking some other things. Now this is stuff that I did along with all the other things. Prior in my life, but we go through phases and cycles, and I'm not going to make the story of it or a story, not going to create a story around it. 

And then there are times when we have those foundations. And you know, maybe we're not 100% perfect, but we've had time to experience and experiment with them to see if they do work. And then we say, you know what, maybe I do want to add a little bit of additional support, maybe that supplements that work to your body type and your genomics or peptides that help heal gut lining or skin expressions or something else, or bioidentical hormones, or even medications, if it seems like that is needed for you.

(14:48 - 17:03)
And again, this is really looking at like the last episode, we talked about that ebb and flow, sometimes you need support. And when you're in these healing times, when you're in these stress states, when you're moving, when your symptoms may surface or resurface, maybe you need a little bit more support during that. And then when you're in that flow state, everything is going well, and the lifestyle stuff's working, then amazing. 

But I would so rather us actually normalize partnership with our bodies, rather than overriding them, bypassing the symptoms, or the complete opposite, where we focus on, you know, these healing patterns all the time, and all of the interventions that we need all at all times. It's so beautiful to be able to come into partnership with what we need in the moment, and recognize it might not be for the rest of our lives. And hopefully it will not be. 

That's the goal. It will not be. It's just supporting us at a cellular level for us to repair. 

So some more examples of this is using progesterone cream in early menopause to, you know, to restore, to calm your anxiety or restore sleep. Or peptides like BBC 157 to restore the lining of your gut or tissue repair. Or maybe it is ashwagandha for anxiety, or a GLP-1 if you're having some insulin resistance and some weight symptoms that feel just crushing, especially when you're in perimenopause and menopause. 

I mean, this is so new to me to even, even recommend something like that. However, I've been researching it for two freaking years. I am not kidding you. 

I have been researching GLP-1s and the way to do it responsibly for a very, very long time. So I have my own, maybe I'll do a podcast episode about it if you want, but I have my own thoughts and ideas about that whole thing. But I tell you what, this is not for weight loss, but this is not a story about using GLP-1s for weight loss, but I did end up putting my dad on a GLP-1 for, he's been a long-term diabetic.

(17:04 - 21:15)
I can not tell you, he was taking very high levels of Lantus, of insulin. He was on like three blood pressure medications. He was having some difficulty, slight difficulty with mentition and he is, I mean, off his insulin. 

He is on one blood pressure medicine. He's lost so much weight. He is more, you know, involved in conversations than he has been in forever. 

So again, I mean, that's for specifically for a diabetic, but my point is, is that I've done deep, deep research about GLP-1s that are beyond just for weight loss, but for inflammation and for pain and for skin issues. And so very, very small doses. And when I'm meaning small doses, when I use that term microdose, I mean small doses. 

I don't mean the starting dose, which is what a lot of people are doing out there. They just do the starting dose and say it's microdosing. I'm saying like, like subclinical dosing, like the dosing that wasn't studied in the research. 

So they can't, they don't typically prescribe it that way. Let me just put it that way. Oh, that was a tangent. 

But let's now like move into this like shame trap that I was speaking about earlier. And then, and it's really important to acknowledge if you do feel any of that shame or judgment, even like if when I said the word GLP-1, did you get, did you feel some like sense of like judging me for bringing it up or, or some story behind that? And recognizing if, if you also, if you're like, oh, she's not doing something naturally, then you know, if, if that comes up in your body, if something negative or derogatory or shameful, or, or maybe if you feel guilty about changing something that you had said, you know, you were determined to die on that hill and then now you, and now you want to change it and then you feel guilty about that. But I think that, you know, again, like when we say never about something, I will never do that, then that really, really puts us in a box. 

And I think it can be really, you know, toxic and damaging for ourselves and really isolating. And we just want to remember that if we hear from people who haven't lived in our shoes, then they might not really know how uncomfortable we feel in our bodies, how when we say, I don't feel like this is my body anymore. This is somebody else's body. 

Like no one is going to know that except for you and finding a provider that really is there to hear you and listen to you and understand you when you say that is essential. And I have to say also very hard. I get that too. 

I've experienced it. I've been through so many practitioners. I'm extremely picky. 

I think being one makes me that way. And it's, I mean, I haven't found one that I feel, except for my acupuncturist, I haven't found another practitioner who I feel actually hears what I'm trying to say. I just want to say that if you do feel some shame around this, it is not a failure at all. 

If you want to seek solutions, it isn't. And I honor you for doing the work and for trying to find what's for you. So yeah, you're wise if that's who you are and you deserve to feel good. 

And I deserve to feel good and we both deserve to thrive. And I do want to say that medical intervention should be more of our ally and not our enemy. And again, it's not all the time. 

We have to still take our autonomy, our health autonomy and our authority back. But as a PA, I can really, really see both sides right now. Of course, Medicaid and meds is lifesavers. 

Absolutely. But they can also be over prescribed. And we have to give the power to the individual.

(21:15 - 25:53)
You have to take ownership of your health. You have to do the foundations, right? You just do, you have to, because no amount of medication or peptide or GLP-1 or hormone is going to work. If your gut is a mess, if you are constantly eating crappy foods, if you stay in your room and you're on the computer all day long and you never go outside, no amount of medication is going to make you feel better. 

Or it's going to be something that you're going to have to be on forever. And so this is really like, all right, I got the foundations or at least I'm trying to do them really well. I'm still feeling like I'm not getting any better. 

What else can I do? So I think that, again, it's the and both. So I'm going to invite you, if you would like to, I would love for you to live in the awe of your body's wisdom. So that is first and foremost, love up your body and all of the amazing things that it does every single day without you even having to ask it to. 

It breathes, it has sight and smell and taste, and then it heals, constantly healing without you even asking it to. So imagine what would happen if you were just in awe of that, awe of that beauty every single day, but then also allow yourself to receive support when you need it. It's not about the all or nothing. 

It is not about the and or, it is about the both and. Okay. So here's a little homework assignment for you. 

So I want you to notice what stories you're telling yourself about maybe your, like about healthcare, about your symptoms, about support, about what's working, about what's not working. And it might even be like, no one listens to me, so I'm giving up. And that's okay too. 

Like it's okay to name that and have that there. And I love that you're not giving up on yourself. It's so beautiful. 

I'm so proud of you. And then I would love for you to ask yourself, where in my body could I potentially need more foundational support? Do I need to maybe tweak a little food here and there, get more light, get more rest, have more connection? Just identify what that looks like without having to feel like you have to overhaul your entire life. My husband, love him, love him so. 

He is the king at this, where he won't make a move unless he shifts everything in his life. He's like, okay, he's like one of those Monday guys, right? On Monday, I'm going to change all that I'm eating. I'm only going to eat salads. 

I'm going to work out, you know, seven days a week. I'm going to do da, da, da, da, da. And then guess what? Like on Wednesday, Thursday, he's completely thrown in the towel because it's impossible to do all of that stuff, all of those new habits right here, right now, right? You got to like step on into it. 

So yeah. So just really asking your body next is like, where do you feel like it could use a little extra support with supplements or micronutrients or medications even? I think that that is a beautiful way to reflect on maybe what your intuition is telling you that you might need and then seek partnership on somebody who can help you. You know, whether that is doing a genomic session with me, whether that is, you know, asking friends and family who they use that have been supportive on their health journey, maybe it's recognizing that you're allowed to try something. 

And if it's not working for you, you can stop doing it again under medical supervision, of course. Yeah, that you're allowed to shift, right? You're allowed to try new things and a new way of being. I just definitely want to caution that don't keep jumping to the next shiny thing. 

Again, I think that's why genomics is so beautiful because you can know where you might need support if you're having health expression. And again, without being too obsessed with the results, let me just put it that way. All right, friends, I hope you loved this episode as much as I love making it for you. 

Please share this with somebody you feel like would resonate and let me know what you want to talk about. The world needs the vibrance and wisdom of a woman's intuition to help heal the world. When we learn to trust ourselves through leaning into and through discomfort, we learn to trust ourselves and in that space is our power and clarity.