The Healing Catalyst

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