E051 | Why popular health trends fail you—and what actually heals chronic symptoms

Have you tried every trending health tip—clean eating, fasting, supplements, detoxes—only to still feel tired, bloated, inflamed, or stuck in flare-up mode? You're not alone.

In this episode of Embrace Your Healing Journey, we’re uncovering why popular wellness trends fail so many women with chronic symptoms, autoimmune issues, and hormone imbalances—and what actually works to heal your body from the inside out.

Whether you're dealing with fatigue, brain fog, skin rashes, joint pain, or gut issues, this episode will help you stop chasing one-size-fits-all fixes and start listening to your body’s real needs.

🔍 In this episode, you’ll learn:

✔ Why health trends are designed for popularity—not long-term healing
 ✔ The real reason your symptoms aren’t going away (even though you're doing everything “right”)
 ✔ How to finally build a healing plan that works for your body, not someone else’s

✨ If you’re tired of the wellness overwhelm and ready for clarity, confidence, and real results—this one’s for you.

OTHER LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: 

🔹 Join our free Facebook group: Embrace Your Healing Journey
🔹 Learn about the Body Wise Healing™ framework

📩 Have a question or an aha moment from this episode? Email me at anindita@aninditarungta.com—I’d love to hear from you!  

If this episode found you somewhere real, there's more.

I write every week at Healing From Within — about chronic illness, the nervous system, and what it costs to keep performing being okay.

 👉 Find me on Substack: healingfromwithin.substack.com

I've also built something for women who are tired of doing everything right and still not feeling better. It opens to a small group in September. 

There's nothing to sign up for. If you'd like to know when, write to me: anindita@aninditarungta.com

Keep listening. Your body already knows the way.

Transcript

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You've been doing the work, you've followed the wellness influencers, the latest trends, bought the trending supplements, swapped your morning coffee for a mushroom elixir, and tried intermittent fasting because someone swore that it would bring you results and it would fix your hormones. 

It would help, uh, you know, lower your pain. 

But here you are, 

still waking up, exhausted even after the full night's sleep, 
still dealing with bloating even after removing the inflammatory foods, uh, 
still struggling with brain fog and wondering why your mind is so unfocused and still watching your skin flare up, even after following the gut healing protocols?

And the worst of all, you actually start questioning yourself. You start asking yourself, what am I doing wrong? What am I missing? But the problem was never you. The problem isn't you. The problem is the trend itself. And this is what I'm focusing on in today's episode as to why so many health fads fail. So many trends don't really work because the answer is not what the wellness industry wants you to believe. Welcome to Embrace Your Healing Journey, a podcast for women with autoimmune and other chronic conditions to help them navigate the illness without fear of isolation and uncertainty and find relief from their symptoms. Your body is your guide and ally in healing. If you're ready to embrace this journey with compassion and awareness, then the show is free. Tune in weekly as I, a Functional medicine certified health coach, delivered tips and insights that demystify the healing process, guiding you towards the relief you deserve so that you can feel healthy and happy once more. Because here's what no one tells you. Most health trends aren't designed keeping you in mind. They are designed to sell. They're designed to go viral. That meme that you were watching or Instagram, they are designed to go viral, right? They are designed to capture attention, and they are built on the idea that one thing will fix any, you know, every problem or fix everything. And I get asked, you know, all the time by my clients, by others that will melatonin help me with my insomnia? Will curcumin help in eliminating my joint pain completely? And these are questions that obviously come up because people are looking for answers and they are seeing these kind of things online, on social media. And, you know, it just feels that one thing would solve all the problems. Take melatonin, for example. Maybe a tool that if you take a little bit before where it will help you with sleep. But what if your sleep struggles are not about, you know, lack of melatonin? What if they are because of high evening cortisol? Uh, you know, from because of chronic stress or a disrupted circadian rhythm? Maybe that's the reason that you are not getting enough sleep or good quality sleep. Or let's talk about turmeric or curcumin. Curcumin, you've heard, is of course great for inflammation. And it is. And you're hoping that it will, you know, take take away your pain completely. But what if your inflammation is tied to hidden food sensitivities, foods that you're consuming every day or chronic gut issues? So no matter how much curcumin you have, it may work very little or not at all. So, you know, trains offer surface level solutions, and sometimes they work to some extent, but usually they are not the long term solution that you are looking for, and which is why you may end up feeling like you failed. Because the thing is, healing from these kind of complicated health issues, uh, you know, is complicated, right? Chronic issues is complicated because there's so many factors at play for each individual. So. Factors like how well we have taken care of our bodies, what kind of toxins we are exposed to on a daily basis, what kind of stress levels that, you know, stress that we are facing and how are we dealing with them? In other words, bio individuality is the reason why you know why what works for one another person may not work for you or will not work for you. And in this episode, I want to change the way you've been thinking about this. I want to give you some tools, and I want to you to understand, you know, what finally will work for you, and where you can sort of find that because you've done everything right. You've been looking, you've been looking at different trends. You'll be following certain things, but you're still exhausted and you can't sleep. You lay down at night and your brain is wired and and tired at the same time. And when you do sleep, you wake up feeling groggy. This is so common and your all your gut isn't still happy. You've removed certain foods, but you know one day you have diarrhea, the next day you're, you know, you're running to the bathroom, the next day of constipation. And you've tried fiber, probiotics, digestive enzyme. And nothing seems to really help because maybe there's something else that is missing and your skin is breaking out, flaring. And this is in spite of, you know, cutting out dairy, taking omega three supplements. And, you know, it's somehow some skin seems to have a mind of its own, and you can't figure out what's going on and why. Or you feel anxious and an edge and you, you know, know that. And even though there's nothing wrong really. So one day you are feeling fine, and the next day you feel irritable, right? And you just don't know what's really going on. And through all of this you of course start to wonder, what if something is wrong with me? What am I really missing? And it's very easy to move from that to thinking that, you know, I maybe there's something wrong. My body is broken. And that's what I want you to know. You're not broken and neither is your body. The trend is what is broken, if at all. And in this episode, we are going to talk about why and more importantly, what actually can help you and the real reason that you actually dealing with, you know, whether it's fatigue, whether it's bloating, whether it's headache, whether it's brain fog, joint pain, skin rashes, whatever it is, is because most of these health trends are actually focused on symptoms, not the root causes, and certainly not your body's root causes. And no one tells you that symptoms, your symptoms are not the problem. They are just messages and your body is not broken. It's just speaking to you through these symptoms that it's way, that it's way of communicating with you. But if you're only chasing quick fixes with the help of supplements and certain things that are going on in the online world, then you will not see lasting results. Because here is what is really going on. Your nervous system may be distributed, which means that chronic stress trauma I'm constantly being in a fight or flight mode is keeping your body stuck in a survival mode, and this is a mode. Your body can either be in the fight or flight mode, or in the parasympathetic, or the rest and digest mode. It cannot be in both modes at the same time, and if it is in this fight or flight mode, then your body simply can't heal, recover, or repair itself. So no amount of adaptogens, mushroom, coffee, or anything else is going to really help you with that. And even if your gut is out of balance. So that means leaky gut, low stomach acid, microbiome imbalances. These are not just buzzwords. These are real. These are huge drivers of inflammation. So if your gut is not really absorbing the nutrients digesting them, or your immune system is reacting to hidden food sensitivities, you will feel it in each and every part of your body, from your joints right to your brain. And that is the reason that, you know, we often feel confused as to why is it that, you know, these symptoms are randomly showing up. They are not random. Uh, you know, this is something that is everything is connected. Uh, also, if you are exhausted and shares are dealing with weight fluctuations, it's not just about one hormone. It's a combination. We call it the hormone soup. It's about how your body's handling stress. How is it handling sugar, blood sugar and inflammation. So finding out what is really going on and why is important here. And of course toxins. Right. Whether it's pesticides, whether it's a product that you are using on your skin, whether it's heavy metals and two endocrine disruptors in our day to day life, whether it's plastics, whether it's the chemicals in our personal care products, in food, uh, your liver is working overtime. That's your primary detoxification organ. And if your detox pathways like your liver, your skin, your lymphatic system or your gut aren't functioning properly, then of course, your, you know, you will face chronic inflammation, this simmering inflammation, inflammation that, you know, uh, keeps things going and keeps your immune system in overdrive. And also, the other thing that happens often is that, you know, you are often stuck in this one size fits all mode because you don't or one size fits all mindset because you know you are not aware that what works well for another person may simply not work for you. And maybe you've tried fasting and it didn't really work for you. Maybe you tried going grain free and that really backfired. Or maybe turmeric had somebody else's joint health, right? And it's not really made any difference to you. The problem is not that you're doing something wrong, but the thing is that you've not really personalized the approach, and that is something that you need to work with someone or most likely say, a functional medicine practitioner and a health coach, somebody who understands or anyone else who can help you with this. Right. Because your body is not really failing you. It is asking you to listen. And when you stop chasing another quick fix and you stop focusing on all these trains that keep coming and going, and you learn how to decode what your body is telling you, that's when the magic happens. That's when you start seeing results. So this is what we are going to dive into next. Because you have done the research, you have followed the experts and you've tried everything. You've tried your you know, but you're still stuck. You've tried the supplements, but nothing seems to fake. And you know, this is something that I find going on, especially in the functional medicine industry that I come from, that we are throwing supplements at many of the symptoms and supplements. Yes, they do help. I also do recommend them depending on, you know, it has to be personalized that I mentioned, but they are not the solution for everything. And they are certainly not, uh, you know, the first thing that we need to go towards, right. So you may have a shelf already full of vitamins, herbs and powders, uh, each one promising to be the promising to be the missing link. Right. One that will change everything. So magnesium may be for sleep, curcumin may be for inflammation, probiotics for gut health, adaptogens for stress. And of course, they help a little, right? They do work. If you take some good quality supplements, they do help. But none of them have been the game changer that you were looking for. Why? Because supplements, while they help and they support healing, they are not, you know, they don't really fix the underlying dysfunction that might be going on. The underlying deficiency. Uh, so that needs still needs to be addressed. And supplements are an add on. They help along with the other things that you still need to do. Or you may have just made, you know, made changes to your diet, but you're still struggling. So you've eliminated gluten, dairy, sugar, nightshades, or even grains because someone told you that you would heal your gut to help lower inflammation. And it did to some extent. Food is always going to help, uh, if, you know, if you're making some changes and maybe you've tried different diets, whether it's a key tool, whether it's attunement protocol, intermittent fasting, and some of these changes did make you feel better. But for a while, and maybe you've either plateaued or now you're starting to feel worse. And that is very, very common. And again, it's about, uh, customizing it. It's about personalizing it for your body's unique requirements until that is going to happen, until you're going to be able to, you know, experiment and figure out whether this is, uh, this is the path and this is going to be a trial and error. You cannot be fixated on a label, uh, you know, and that's why a lot of the diets don't really work, because we get fixated on a particular type of diet. And that the other thing that becomes is very common is that stress relief practices like, you know, uh, meditation, journaling, breathwork, these are all important and these all need to be a part of our daily lives. But if you're still feeling on edge and shares are easily triggered, it may be that your stress is not a physical one, a mental one. It's a physical one. It may be that your body is stuck in a fight or flight response, and your immune system needs more than relaxation techniques. Maybe it needs to be off certain foods. Maybe it needs to, you know, be exposed to less of those toxins. So it's all of these things that are, you know, that are keeping you stuck. And maybe you are, you know, you're trying out different trends. You've tried celery juice for inflammation. You've tried mushroom coffee. Uh, that's actually one of my favorites. So I keep talking about it for brain fog, infrared saunas for detox. And again, it's promising, but it may not have delivered lasting results. Right. And again, I'm not dismissing any of these things. Any other any of the supplements, any of the foods, any of the diets and any of these measures that you may already be taking. They are all they can be all super helpful. And these are certainly things I recommend in my coaching practice to my clients. I practice many of these things myself, including the sauna in my building. They are, you know, these are great things to do, but they have to be done in a systematic manner and they have to be done alongside other things that, you know, need to that are important to address underlying dysfunctions. And the reason that we need to address that is because so that we can deal with, uh, the actual, uh, root causes. And the reason that you might be struggling is because, again, not because you are doing something wrong. It's because these solutions focus on symptoms, not the root cause. So doing these things personally doesn't really address the root cause. They are based on generic advice, not what your body needs. And that's the other reason that they don't work. It has to be has to be personalized. And of course they some of these things give short term relief, but they are not really the long term transformation that you were looking for. And I find that this is a missing piece unless you change your habits, unless you change your thought patterns, unless you change your mindset, the way of looking at things, the way of dealing with things, your perspective. And a lot of times, if that internal shift does not happen, it's very hard to stay on track. And this is where health coaching really shines. This is why it's not enough to know what needs to be done, and why. It is also important to know how you're going to go about it, how you are going to stay on track, how you're going to stay motivated. Uh, how do you stay accountable to somebody? You know, all of those other final things are also so important. Because when you actually, you know, stop looking for another train and you finally learn to decode your body's signals, uh, you will. That's when healing stops feeling like a struggle and it starts becoming second nature. Right. I can talk about that because that is something that has happened for me. While I have unfortunate not to have any major health issues, there's always something going on, right? None of us have perfect health all the time, and some of these things have become second nature, so I can actually continue to keep doing it. I can take a break like I was traveling for the past few weeks. So I have not done some of these things. But now that I'm back home, they are because they are second nature, because of design the environment. In this manner, I'm actually able to get back to my routine, you know, faster than most people or I'm able to stay on track. So you've spent enough time chasing the next big thing. It's time to stop relying on the trends. And the good news is that you do not need another extreme diet, another fancy supplement, or something else. It's you just need a smarter strategy that's in line with what your body needs. So these are five ways that you can shift from trial and error to real transformation okay. These are five things that I want you to think about. Uh, and look at things differently. Number one, start with your symptoms, not someone else's solution. Because as we have discussed, most trains give a one size fits all answer to a problem they assume that you have. But again, your body is so unique that you need to figure out the you know, what your what signals are. Your body is your body giving you. So some ways that you can do that. And because if you are feeling wired and tired at the same time, that's kind of a nervous system imbalance. That's a sign, right? If you're struggling with bloating, there is something going on with your gut. If you're having constant joint pain, that's inflammation. So you need to figure out what is actually going on underneath. And you can do that in, you know, I'm giving you some ideas like keeping a symptom tracker, a very simple thing. You can do it for a month, 3 to 4 weeks. You can notice patterns, triggers and how your body responds to different food stressors and routines. Very, very simple thing. I ask my clients to do it from time to time, especially when they are just getting started. It's really makes them aware of what their body really needs from them. You can shift from focusing on the symptom, like why can't I sleep to asking, you know I can't sleep like lack of sleep to asking why can't I sleep? Like, what is it that's causing my body to stay awake? Maybe it's the, uh, you know, the phone that you heard or the the light that has sort of woken up your brain stimulated your brain. Maybe it's the coffee that you had late in the evening. So you need to figure out what you did and what are the things that you can do to help you sleep. And of course, learning to decode your symptoms, that that takes time. And, you know, by this is something that I teach my clients in my coaching program. This is just woven through the program. They at the end of it, they actually go away taking, you know, with a full understanding of their bodies or a very much deeper understanding of what their body really needs from them, and that stays with them for life. Number two thinking layers, not quick fixes. So healing is never about finding that one magic bullet. Like if there was one magic pill, you would have found it by now. So because if you know you've probably done a lot of these things, a lot of the research, it's about addressing the different layers. And we start with what is. Of course, underneath what is the most important? We figured out the priority. Is it a gut issue? Is it a hormone imbalance? Is it a stress response? What is it that you need to focus on first? So what you should need to do instead is start with the foundation. So whether it's sleep, whether it's blood sugar balance, whether it's stress management, this is the foundation. Without a strong foundation, you cannot really hope to have long term transformation. And of course work in phases. That means or, you know, work one thing at a time. As a health coach, this is something that I teach my clients all the time. You cannot simply work on 20 things at the same time, even if they are all important and need to be done. You need to start on number one, then number two, the number three, and you need to know what they are. And of course look for root root causes and not just symptom relief. Number three shift from doing more to listening more. So most health advice makes you want to do one more thing, one more step. Uh, you know, try harder. And those are things that, you know, is not really working for you. So it's maybe less about controlling and more about listening. It's trying to change your approach towards healing. So what you need to do instead is stop outsourcing your health to trends. Start focusing on your own body instead. Your body knows exactly what it needs to heal. Trust your body's feedback. And again, instead of following a rigid, winless, uh, you know, a treatment for start with your, uh, own body's feedback. I am not advocating giving up on treatments, or not going to medical doctors or taking a medicines. That's not what I'm talking about at all. Here we are talking about going by what your body needs as well. You might be on medication and you may need to stay on them. Right. And you cannot suddenly stop anything without your doctor's, uh, advice. What we're talking about here are doing the foundational things that that you can be guided by your own body. And of course, number four, regulate your nervous system before anything else. I have been talking about it again and again. If your body is stuck in a fight or flight mode, no matter what you do, no matter how much changes you make in your diet or how many supplements you take or whatever else you do, your healing will not happen. Healing can only happen when your body feels safe, so what you can do instead is start with simple daily regulation practices. Whether it's grounding like walking barefoot on grass. That's my one of my favorite grounding activities breathwork, gentle movement, stretching. These are amazingly simple, you know, daily regulation practices, recognizing stress not just as, you know, as physical. Also not just mental stress. Right. Because high cortisol impacts sleep, digestion and inflammation. And of course notice how your body's reacting to stress triggers. So whether you know it's not just about food and supplements, it's about how can you support your nervous system. Last but not the least, number five get consistent instead of being perfect. The biggest mistake that people make when it comes to finding ways to, you know, get better is thinking that you need to be perfect to see results. And it's this. Extreme kind of thing. It's not about healing is not about doing it perfectly. It's about these small daily choices that compound over time. It's a compounding effect. So what you need to do instead is find what works for you right and make it sustainable. The wellness routine or the exercise routine. You know, the people ask me what is the best exercise routine. So my answer to them is, the best exercise routine is the one that you will actually stick to. Same thing with wellness, right? Any routine that you have is the one that best routine will be the one that you can actually stick to. And of course, you know, forgive yourself when you mess up and you will mess up. You may, you know, have one meal by mistake where it contains gluten when you're not supposed to be because you know it's not good for you. You may have a glass of alcohol. You may miss out on working out one particular day. You know, just forgive yourself for that. And consistency over time is what actually matters more and stay flexible. Your body's needs will keep changing, which is why a lot of times when we are focused on a particular diet in a very rigid manner, it stops working. Excuse me. So when you stop looking for the next big thing and actually pay attention to your own body's messages, you will realize that you don't need 15 supplements and a rigid routine to feel better. You will stop feeling like you're failing and you know, constantly failing because you know that it's it's progress, right? Not perfection. And you will gain real confidence in your ability to heal no matter what challenges come up your way. And you will feel empowered and in control of your own health. And no matter what you're going through, no matter what challenges, that's the best thing, right? It builds resilience not because you follow the trend, because you actually now understand what works for you. So if you are, you know, the if you're stuck in a cycle that keeps many women from truly healing, you know, it's I know about it. I mean, I've, I've danced with many women who actually feel like that. So it might be the daily fatigue, it might be the bloating that won't go away. It's the headache, the joint pain. They're your body trying to, you know, tell you to stop treating these symptoms with a quick fix and start getting to the root of what's really going on, because ignoring these signals doesn't make them go away. That's the unfortunate truth about chronic illness. If the longer they go unaddressed, the more your body compensates until it can't anymore. And the symptoms and one day you, you know, end up dealing with a full blown health crisis, I hope not. Um, and that's what my aim is that, you know, prevention is always better than actually trying to deal with it. So no matter where you are in your on your journey doesn't really matter. Wherever you are, that's where you start today. Okay, no more waiting because time is not on your side when it comes to chronic symptoms. That's something. Again, as another unfortunate truth, I'm being really honest with you because I think it's going to help you to take the, uh, take the take the steps that you need to today. Your body is resilient, but it's also adapting. So. If you don't get a handle on what's going on and it just continues, symptoms don't get better by then. They usually get worse. So that manageable brain fog turns into my forgetfulness, that occasional joint pain becomes full body stiffness, and that lingering fatigue can transform into full blown burnout. So you don't want to, you know, keep waiting until your body forces you to stop, right? You want to get ahead of it now. So if more effort was the answer, then you would have seen the results by now. But you know, you've tried all of these things. And what none of this is sticking because the wellness industry has taught you to treat symptoms rather than deal with the underlying causes. So if you're ready to break free from this vicious cycle, here's what you can do next. Because the answers that you're looking for are not in the next wellness trend. They are in understanding how your body actually works. And that's what I'm talking about. That's what I talked about today. And that's exactly what I will be delving into much deeper in the Autoimmune Breakthrough Masterclass, your step by step guide to getting unstuck, understanding your unique body and building a health plan that actually works for you. So if you're tired of guessing, hopping, and spinning your wheels, this is your chance to break free. So this is the Autoimmune Breakthrough masterclass that I'm that I'm hosting on the 28th of March. I'm sharing the link below. Make sure that you, you know, you sign up using the link. Thank you so much for joining me for this episode of Embrace Your Healing Journey. If you feel like healing has become a full time job, tracking every symptom, researching every new protocol, trying to keep up with all the must do health hacks, you are not alone. What if I told you that true healing isn't about doing more, it's about doing less strategically. In the next episode, we are diving into why simplifying your wellness routine can actually bring you better results, and how to reclaim your energy without feeling overwhelmed, because healing should not feel like another thing on your to do list, it should feel like freedom. Your body knows how to heal. Are you ready to support it?