The Healing Catalyst

You want to heal, and you want it fast. Something feels off, so you take the ibuprofen, push through the week, and tell yourself you'll rest once the deadline passes.
But eight months after the surgery you still don't feel like yourself. The cold that used to take three days now takes two weeks. And when you go looking for the reason, you land where everyone lands. I'm tired. I need more sleep.
In this episode, Dr. Kumar-Singh sits down with Victoria Maizes, MD, founding executive director of the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine and author of the new book Heal Faster. Dr. Maizes has spent decades studying what she calls the rapid recovery reflex, the systems already running in your body to bring you back to balance, and what modern life does to interfere with them.
Together, they explore why suppressing every kind of inflammation can work against the healing you're trying to create, what recovery actually looks like during cancer treatment, and why both Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda named the depletion women carry into midlife long before conventional medicine had language for it. Avanti also shares what she learned navigating her own breast cancer, and the distinction that reshaped how she thinks about recovery. Treatment is what's done to you. Recovery is what your body does with the conditions you give it.
The question this conversation asks is not what's wrong with you. It's what's in the way.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
(07:10) Why "heal faster" was never really about speed
(10:56) The rapid recovery reflex, and where it's already running in your day
(20:18) Why women arrive at midlife already depleted, and why sleep isn't the whole story
(25:21) The kind of inflammation you actually want
(48:41) Prehab, and why rehab may be starting too late
(54:43) The one daily practice Dr. Maizes wants everyone to have

About Dr. Victoria Maizes:
Victoria Maizes, MD, is the founding executive director of the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine and a professor of medicine, family medicine, and public health at the University of Arizona. An internationally recognized leader in integrative medicine, Dr. Maizes lectures worldwide to academic and community audiences on women's health, vitality, environmental health, nutrition, and cancer. She is the author of Be Fruitful and Heal Faster, the editor of the Oxford University textbook Integrative Women's Health, as well as the co-host of the Body of Wonder podcast.

Connect with Dr. Victoria Maizes:
Website: drvictoriamaizes.com
Book: Heal Faster
Podcast: Body of Wonder

Connect with Dr. Avanti Kumar-Singh:
Get the Fall Reset Kit
Get Dr. Kumar-Singh’s Weekly Newsletter: https://avantikumarsingh.substack.com
Follow Dr. Kumar-Singh on Instagram: @avantikumarsingh
Order Dr. Kumar-Singh’s books: The Longevity Formula, The Health Catalyst
Explore more: avantikumarsingh.com

More Resources:
Take the free Dosha Data Assessment to get your personalized Weekly Health Rx by Arvasi. Rooted in tradition. Backed by science. Personalized for you.
Visit and Subscribe to the Weekly Health Rx.
Explore more at myarvasi.com

Explore More of The Healing Catalyst Podcast:
Leave a voice message for Dr. Kumar-Singh
Subscribe, Rate & Review The Healing Catalyst podcast
Listen to more episodes on your favorite platform
Watch clips and past episodes on YouTube

The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

Podcast episode production by Dante32.

Dr. Avanti Kumar-Singh and Dr. Tanmeet Sethi, both integrative medicine physicians, are building the Weekly Health Rx by Arvasi, a weekly audio prescription for women in perimenopause and menopause. It’s physician-led, science-backed, built around your biology and your mind-body constitution, your dosha.

Weekly Health Rx is currently in a five-week series on energy. Here's a highlight.

Connect with Dr. Avanti Kumar-Singh:
Get Dr. Kumar-Singh’s Weekly Newsletter: https://avantikumarsingh.substack.com
Follow Dr. Kumar-Singh on Instagram at @avantikumarsingh
Order Dr. Kumar-Singh’s books: The Longevity Formula, The Health Catalyst
Explore more at avantikumarsingh.com

More Resources:
Take the free Dosha Data Assessment to get your personalized Weekly Health Rx by Arvasi. Rooted in tradition. Backed by science. Personalized for you.
Visit and Subscribe to the Weekly Health Rx
Explore more at myarvasi.com

Explore More of The Healing Catalyst Podcast:
Leave a voice message for Dr. Kumar-Singh
Subscribe, Rate & Review The Healing Catalyst podcast
Listen to more episodes on your favorite platform
Watch clips and past episodes on YouTube

The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

Podcast episode production by Dante32.

You've spent your whole life being good. The good daughter. The good partner. The good mother. The friend who always shows up. The one who holds it all together. You put everyone else first, over and over, until one day someone asks what you actually want, and you go completely blank.
All of that goodness comes at a price, and so often your body is the one paying it. The rest you skip. The hunger you override. The anger you swallow. The wanting you talk yourself out of.
In this episode, Dr. Kumar-Singh sits down with Elise Loehnen, the New York Times bestselling author of On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to Be Good. Her central argument will stop you in your tracks: women are conditioned for goodness the way men are conditioned for power. And once you see it, you can't unsee how much of your life has been organized around being good enough.
Together, they explore what it actually means to be whole instead of good, why so many women have no idea what they even want anymore, and the myth of balance that gets sold to women and sets them up to fail. Elise and Avanti have each faced breast cancer this past year, and they talk about the quiet story so many women carry, that if you just optimize everything and do it all perfectly, nothing bad will happen to you. And they get into the reframe on envy that turns a feeling you were taught to be ashamed of into the clearest signal you have about what you actually want.
This is a conversation about coming home to your whole self, and it will change how you view the wanting you may have been quieting your whole life.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
(07:40) The difference between being a good woman and a whole one
(09:28) Why so many women have no idea what they actually want
(16:01) Being nice versus being kind, and why it matters
(22:38) The myth of balance that sets women up to fail
(24:26) What breast cancer taught Elise and Avanti about being cared for
(62:45) The reframe on envy that points you to what you want

About Elise Loehnen:
Elise Loehnen is the New York Times bestselling author of On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to Be Good and the host of the podcast Pulling the Thread, where she interviews cultural luminaries about the big questions of today, including Joy Harjo, John and Julie Gottman, Dr. Gabor Maté, and Esther Perel. She is also the author of the companion workbook Choosing Wholeness Over Goodness, written with coach Courtney Smith. She has co-written fourteen books, including five New York Times bestsellers. Elise lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Rob, and their sons, Max and Sam.

Connect with Elise Loehnen:
Website: eliseloehnen.com
Podcast: Pulling the Thread
Instagram: @eliseloehnen
YouTube: @PTTwithEliseLoehnen
LinkedIn: Elise Loehnen
Books: On Our Best Behavior and the workbook Choosing Wholeness Over Goodness

Connect with Dr. Avanti Kumar-Singh:
Get Dr. Kumar-Singh’s Weekly Newsletter: https://avantikumarsingh.substack.com
Follow Dr. Kumar-Singh on Instagram: @avantikumarsingh
Order Dr. Kumar-Singh’s books: The Longevity Formula, The Health Catalyst
Explore more: avantikumarsingh.com

More Resources:
Take the free Dosha Data Assessment to get your personalized Weekly Health Rx by Arvasi. Rooted in tradition. Backed by science. Personalized for you.
Visit and Subscribe to the Weekly Health Rx.
Explore more at myarvasi.com

Explore More of The Healing Catalyst Podcast:
Leave a voice message for Dr. Kumar-Singh
Subscribe, Rate & Review The Healing Catalyst podcast
Listen to more episodes on your favorite platform
Watch clips and past episodes on YouTube

The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

Podcast episode production by Dante32.

Dr. Avanti Kumar-Singh and Dr. Tanmeet Sethi, both integrative medicine physicians, are building the Weekly Health Rx by Arvasi, a weekly audio prescription for women in perimenopause and menopause. It’s physician-led, science-backed, built around your biology and your mind-body constitution, your dosha.
Weekly Health Rx just wrapped a five-week series on food, nutrition, and health, exploring inflammation, spice medicine, GLP-1s, and how to align your diet with your dosha.
Here's a small piece from week three of the series.

Connect with Dr. Avanti Kumar-Singh:
Get Dr. Kumar-Singh’s Weekly Newsletter: https://avantikumarsingh.substack.com
Follow Dr. Kumar-Singh on Instagram at @avantikumarsingh
Order Dr. Kumar-Singh’s books: The Longevity Formula, The Health Catalyst
Explore more at avantikumarsingh.com

More Resources:
Take the free Dosha Data Assessment to get your personalized Weekly Health Rx by Arvasi. Rooted in tradition. Backed by science. Personalized for you.
Visit and Subscribe to the Weekly Health Rx
Explore more at myarvasi.com

Explore More of The Healing Catalyst Podcast:
Leave a voice message for Dr. Kumar-Singh
Subscribe, Rate & Review The Healing Catalyst podcast
Listen to more episodes on your favorite platform
Watch clips and past episodes on YouTube

The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

Podcast episode production by Dante32.

Dr. Avanti Kumar-Singh and Dr. Tanmeet Sethi, both integrative medicine physicians, are building the Weekly Health Rx by Arvasi, a weekly audio prescription for women in perimenopause and menopause. It’s physician-led, science-backed, built around your biology and your mind-body constitution, your dosha.
Weekly Health Rx just wrapped a five-week series on food, nutrition, and health, exploring inflammation, spice medicine, GLP-1s, and how to align your diet with your dosha.
Here's a small piece from week one of the series.

Connect with Dr. Avanti Kumar-Singh:
Get Dr. Kumar-Singh’s Weekly Newsletter: https://avantikumarsingh.substack.com
Follow Dr. Kumar-Singh on Instagram at @avantikumarsingh
Order Dr. Kumar-Singh’s books: The Longevity Formula, The Health Catalyst
Explore more at avantikumarsingh.com

More Resources:
Take the free Dosha Data Assessment to get your personalized Weekly Health Rx by Arvasi. Rooted in tradition. Backed by science. Personalized for you.
Visit and Subscribe to the Weekly Health Rx
Explore more at myarvasi.com

Explore More of The Healing Catalyst Podcast:
Leave a voice message for Dr. Kumar-Singh
Subscribe, Rate & Review The Healing Catalyst podcast
Listen to more episodes on your favorite platform
Watch clips and past episodes on YouTube

The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

Podcast episode production by Dante32.