Why You Hit a Healing Plateau: The Truth About the “All In” Strategy
Episode 289
In this episode of Integrative You Radio, Dr. Nicole breaks down why most people hit a plateau around the six-week mark in their healing journey—and why that’s not a “failure,” it’s feedback. She explains the physiological reasons protocols stop working as powerfully, how pathogens and organs adapt, and why your strategy must evolve as your body changes. Then she goes straight for the mindset: the cost of living in “service to everyone but yourself,” the illusion of getting “back to normal,” and how to start making decisions from inspiration instead of desperation so your health, family, and life actually move in the direction you say you want. #IntegrativeYou #IntegrativeYouRadio #HealingJourney #HealthPlateau #FunctionalMedicine #IntegrativeMedicine #RootCauseHealing #MindBodyConnection #WomensHealth #HighAchievingWomen #HolisticHealth #SelfPrioritization #BurnoutRecovery #HealthMindset #InspirationOverDesperation 3 Key Takeaways: A six-week plateau is not a problem, it’s a signal. Your body and the pathogens you’re clearing adapt. What got you from A to B won’t get you from B to C—your protocol, supplements, and therapies should evolve every 6–12 weeks, not stay static. If your life is built on self-neglect, your “normal” is the problem. When you finally prioritize your own health, you feel empowered—until old programming creeps in: “This isn’t realistic, I have to get back to normal.” But that “normal” is usually burnout, overcommitting, and living for everyone else. Sustainable healing requires both strategy and mindset. Going all-in, “perfect” for six weeks, then crashing is not mastery. Micro changes, mindset upgrades, and asking “Is this decision rooted in inspiration or desperation?” create real, long-term transformation. Quotes: “A plateau isn’t good or bad—it’s just your body saying, ‘Hey, change the strategy.’ If what you’re doing is working, you’re changing. So why would your protocol stay the same?” “If you’re the burnt out, tired, exhausted, unhealthy
Topics: healing, plateau, mindset, health, integrative, unknown, strategy, week
Key takeaways from this episode
- ## Why You Hit a Healing Plateau: The Truth About the “All In” Strategy
- A healing plateau around the six-week mark is not a failure but valuable feedback from your body.
- Your body and any underlying pathogens adapt to protocols, requiring a shift in strategy every 6-12 weeks.
- Sustainable health involves evolving your approach, supplements, and therapies as your body changes.
- Prioritizing your health is not selfish; it empowers you to better serve yourself and others.
Pull quotes
This is the place where you become limitless. **Unknown:** We are covering the latest and greatest topics, of course, in a disruptive fashion around integrative medicine, mental health, and human behavior.
We will be sprinkling in some truth bombs for our healthpreneurs so they can join us in our mission to evolve healthcare.
If you are health curious and growth focused, you are in the right place. **Unknown:** But buckle up because this is real, this is raw, and this is disruptive.
Transcript
**Unknown:** Welcome to Integrative U Radio, hosted by Dr. Nick Carruthers and yours truly, Dr. Nicole Rivera. This is the place where you become limitless.
**Unknown:** We are covering the latest and greatest topics, of course, in a disruptive fashion around integrative medicine, mental health, and human behavior. We are also covering how those topics affect the human and family dynamics. We will be sprinkling in some truth bombs for our healthpreneurs so they can join us in our mission to evolve healthcare. If you are health curious and growth focused, you are in the right place.
**Unknown:** But buckle up because this is real, this is raw, and this is disruptive. This is Integrative U Radio. What is up everyone? Welcome back to another episode of Integrative U Radio.
**Unknown:** You have Dr. Nicole here riding solo again. Um, life has been crazy over here, guys. Uh, you know, two kids and, uh, birthdays galore in November.
**Unknown:** Uh, yeah. So, uh, so anyhoo, I-- for those of you that have either worked with us or, um, have explored working with us, you've probably heard us talk about how most people embarking on a healing protocol will plateau in about six weeks. And it is actually one of the main reasons we have designed our programs to be the way that they are. So when people work with us, we are working very, very hands-on with them through a concierge type of model, but we are always doing a six-week reevaluation and then a twelve-week reevaluation, especially when we first get started with someone.
**Unknown:** When we first get started with someone, more often than not, we're helping them to eliminate things out of the body that shouldn't be there. This could be different types of toxins and heavy metals, pesticide residues, infections, parasites, mold, bacteria, et cetera. And you know, I, I wanna just say this as, you know, I feel like my industry is so saturated with like, "Detox, detox, detox, kill, kill, kill. Get rid of, you know, uh, mold.
**Unknown:** Everybody has mold." And that's not what I'm saying, but what is important to understand is that the majority of the people that I work with, their liver, kidneys, and lymphatic system, more liver than anything, it is kinda taxed out. It's like the... They kept using the vacuum and the filter got full, and nobody has dumped the filter. So it is pretty standard that we're working on some level of cleanup with an individual because these organs that are vital to processing and metabolizing normal things that we come in contact with are just maxed out, especially if you are forty, fifty, sixty, and above.
**Unknown:** So getting back. The six-week reevaluation, we don't necessarily rerun blood work labs. Sometimes we run some urine testing, but we run our DNA testing, and we also retest the DNA to see, are we continuing with the same types of supplements, therapies, protocols, or are we tweaking some things? And in most situations, we are having anywhere between a fifty percent to a hundred percent change in everything that we're doing, from lymphatic drainage techniques, to supplements, to herbs, to detox, to all of the above.
**Unknown:** And the reason is partly because the body has changed so much in that timeframe, but it's also because if you continue, if you just keep going, more than likely people are going to not have as much profound effects. I heard it a million times. We, we used to back in the day not do this, and the worst thing that I experienced as a practitioner is when someone says at twelve weeks of care, three months, they say, "I felt good, but now I feel like I went backwards in the second set of, of the se- six-week interval. So I felt awesome for the first month and a half, and then I feel like I went backwards and now I, I just don't feel great." That was just like the ultimate disappointment, obviously for me, but for them.
**Unknown:** And so this is what got us thinking like, "Okay, we, we gotta reevaluate how we do things because, you know, we don't want people to hit a plateau, number one, and let alone hit a plateau and then feel like they went backwards." But in reflecting on this, 'cause you guys know I'm always reflecting on everything. Like, I feel like I'm such like this introspective thinker when I do these podcasts because I realize how I'm always essentially overanalyzing everything. But I think it's all for good reason to, uh, you know, to help people think outside of the box and to help people understand deeper meanings to things that they're experiencing opposed to just putting a label on something being good or bad.So a, a plateau is not good or bad, it's just a feedback mechanism. It's there to say like, "Hey, change what you're fucking doing," ideally with some level of science and direction so that you don't waste time or money or energy.
**Unknown:** Um, but I think it's also telling us something about mindset. So I, I wanna explain the, the easier-to-understand, more practical, logical version of this. People hit a plateau in six weeks because y-you're, you start with a set of recommendations, and that set of recommendations is going to be targeting very cer- uh, very specific things. I'm speaking in the context of how we work, just FYI.
**Unknown:** I'm not speaking for every person in my industry. But if we're working on upregulating the fu- the function of certain organs, and we're also working on clearing certain things out, all of that is gonna work really well, and then the body will build up a bit of a resistance. And if we are helping your body to excrete pathogens out, like parasites or fungus or bacteria, those pathogens will develop a resistance to what you're doing also. And so essentially, two examples.
**Unknown:** So if you're using a product to kill a parasite in your body, it will be effective, and then the parasites will learn how to become resistant to the killing agent because they're very intelligent and they evolve. It could be a similar situation when you have pests in your house, you have ants or you have m-m-ma- mice or something like that, and you use a certain product and it gets rid of them, and then they come back the next summer, you use the same product and it doesn't work anymore. Those ants evolved and learned how to become resistant to the original thing that you used to eradicate them. Same thing goes inside of the body.
**Unknown:** With the organs, the organs, they will... You'll introduce something to help them, and then that will run its course. It will work. It could be a certain type of supplement that you're using to help the liver function better, or it might be a certain frequency you're using through a PEMW- PEMF device to get the liver working better, and then the body's like, "Okay, I used this.
**Unknown:** I got where I am, but this is not gonna take me any further." So now we need to introduce a different strategy in order to continue that progress. If you're a business owner, which I know a lot of our listeners are, it's the same idea, is you have a very specific strategy to get you from A to B in your business. You reach that point, and then chances are what's gonna get you from B to C, essentially your next phase of growth in your business, your next phase of profitability, your next phase of a, a, um, A playing team, you need a different strategy. And again, same exact idea happens in the body.
**Unknown:** I will probably butcher this to hell for you sports people, 'cause this is usually what Dr. Nick chimes in on, 'cause I did not play team sports as a kid. But same idea. You know, you wanna win a, a, a game, then you have a strategy.
**Unknown:** If you wanna win, you know, the, the playoffs or, you know, you wanna win against a better team, different strategy. So hopefully that actually made sense. Okay. So, so that's the gist when it comes to the, the physil- physicality, the physiological reasons why people would hit a plateau at six weeks and you now need a new strategy to keep the progress going.
**Unknown:** It's not that you're fucked. It's not that there's something wrong. It's not that it was a waste of time. No.
**Unknown:** It just, it's just a feedback mechanism to say, "Let's do something different now so that we can continue moving in the right direction." But here is my, my biggest insight as I've thought about this more, is that part of this is mindset. And what I mean by that is a lot of us, not everyone, but a lot of us don't necessarily live a life of self-service. A lot of times we've been taught that the right thing to do, being, quote-unquote, "a good person", is helping others, being altruistic. It's, um, you know, making sure that we appreciate others, we make other people happy, living a life of service, serving our families, serving our kids, serving our customers, serving our distant family members, serving our friends, you know?
**Unknown:** Like it's, it's selfish to, to only think of yourself or care for yourself. It's best and it's a good thing to do, it's a noble thing to do in order to help others, take care of others, think of others, be kind to others, et cetera. And so if you didn't grow up that way, um, you know, this, this isn't gonna land for you. But I think that at some point, either our parents instilled this on us, teachers instilled this on us, religion d- instilled this on us, so-society.
**Unknown:** It came from a lot of different angles. It's not necessarily saying that your parents were the sole people that were, were telling you to operate this way. But at some point, it, it's been told to you it's better to serve others than to serve yourself because serving yourself is selfish. And sure as hell serve your, your spouse and your kids and your mom and your dad and all of those people before serving yourself.But then, you know, you have that simple example on the plane is put your fucking mask on because if you die, you can't help anybody.
**Unknown:** And it's, you know, these, these little, uh, subtle reminders of it's really not a great way to operate is to put everyone before you. So getting back to the topic is if this is the first time that you are putting yourself first, you are doing some level of self-care, you are prioritizing yourself by starting your own health journey, your own health protocol, your own health program, there's a level of empowerment with that. There's a level of like, "I fucking deserve this," like th- my time is now, and that is a higher vibration mindset. That is a more empowered mindset.
**Unknown:** It is a more enlightened mindset because you are serving yourself knowing that if you serve yourself and become the best version of yourself, become the healthiest version of yourself, you can better serve everyone else. But everybody getting the glass half empty version of you is actually not fucking helping anyone, and I'm gonna say that again. If you're the best version of yourself, you are impacting everyone around you, including your kids and your spouse, more than you could ever fucking imagine. If you're the burnt out, tired, exhausted, unhealthy person, you're not fucking serving anybody.
**Unknown:** Let's be real. Like, if anybody told you differently, they're fucking stupid, so don't get me on a rant. So if you are all pumped up that you are serving yourself, you're, you're in an empowered state of mind, maybe there's a little placebo with the healing process. I'll be the first one to say it.
**Unknown:** Who the fuck cares if you get better if it's placebo or not? If you're getting better. But there might be a level of placebo because you are putting yourself at the forefront of your life for maybe one of the first times in your life. It's one of the first times that you said, "I'm fucking important, and I'm gonna take care of myself." And then weeks go by, and you're like, "Is this real life?" You know, "Can I keep spending this money?
**Unknown:** Can I keep doing this? Do I, do I realistically have the time? There's just so much going on." You know, "I, I guess I'm..." You know, "I don't think I can sustain this. I can't do this forever.
**Unknown:** This isn't real life. I th- I, I have to get back to normal." Think about that. Think about that mindset that creeps up for so fucking many of us. "I gotta get back to normal." What the fuck is normal?
**Unknown:** Is normal running around as a mom taking your kids to 75 different sporting events and dance classes and extracurricular programs that they won't give a shit about even in their 20s, let alone their 30s, 40s, and 50s? But the thing... You ask any older person what they remember from their childhood. If they hate their parents, maybe they'll remember their sporting events because it got them out of the house.
**Unknown:** But for the most part, people are reporting memories with people that they cared for or care for. That's what they're reporting. They were reporting the, the time everybody laughed until they fucking peed their pants around the bonfire outside that cost you nothing. You had some firewood and some s'mores.
**Unknown:** Like, they don't remember the fact that you dropped multi-thousands of dollars on the best dance classes and multi-thousands of dollars on traveling sports and everything else. Maybe that was fun, and maybe that introduced them to their best friend. But if anything, most of those sports are a lot of fucking pressure for a developing mind, and there might be aspects that are fun, and, you know, they're, they're getting a- they're getting access to achievement and what it's like to win. B- but is it also coming with an equal amount of drawbacks?
**Unknown:** Because in my experience, it is. So when we talk about this idea of get back to normal, what the fuck is normal? Your normal is I gotta work. You know, I gotta be on call for everybody.
**Unknown:** I gotta take my kids all these places. I gotta make sure that we're doing this and doing that so they're well developed and, you know, they're stimulated. And you know, I, I gotta go here, and I gotta go there, and I gotta do this, and I gotta do that. And at the end of the day, half that shit doesn't fucking matter.
**Unknown:** It doesn't matter the next day. It doesn't matter a week later. It doesn't matter 20 years from now. And I think the more the people can start reevalua- reevaluating what their fucking normal is, they're going to lead a life of more inspiration, uh, than desperation.
**Unknown:** If you ask yourself every time you're faced with a decision, "Is this a decision out of inspiration or desperation?" You would start really understanding why you feel stressed, overwhelmed, tired, and chaotic. And guess what? The l- the decision out of desperation is when you have 15 fucking excuses as to why you're doing it. I ask my, my clients, "Okay, you know, you, your son being in, uh, traveling soccer, is this a, a decision out of inspiration or desperation?" "Oh, it's definitely inspiration, you know, because he likes it, and he feels, you know, accomplished, and it really helps him with exercise.
**Unknown:** And you know, his friends are there, and the other kids in the neighborhood do it, and this and that." And I'm like, "You just gave me a bunch of excuses as to why you have him in traveling soccer, but how is it actually inspirational for your child, for you, and for your family dynamic?" And then they go, they go into it again. "Oh, well, you know..." And I'm like, "You d- d- those were still all-desper- desperate excuses. But if you told me that he's in it because he thoroughly enjoys it, it completely aligns to his top values of, you know, being out in nature, uh, challenging his physical body, connection because he is with all of his friends, and then this allows it, uh, allows him to come home to his family dynamic and be more calm and more present and to, uh, you know, be more connected at the dinner table through family conversations, oh, that's awesome. That's all out of inspiration.
**Unknown:** That makes perfect sense why you guys are doing that. But if you gave me a bunch of excuses of why he should do it or why he does do it or why it's the best thing for him to have friends, or it's the best thing for him to get his, you know, physical, um, energy out so he... because he's bad in school, uh, that's... Y- no, that doesn't make any sense.
**Unknown:** So the, the moral of the story is, is that health is not a linear journey. It's not an, uh, it's not a, a, a w- a one bucket. It spills out into everything, and everything spills into it. So your family dynamic, your career, your work dynamic, your partnership dynamic with your spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, what- whatever, your relationship with your kids, all of this is playing into your well-being, and your well-being is playing a role into that.
**Unknown:** So if you're working with practitioners that are isolating out your health and just giving you more and more supplements, guess what? You're gonna hit a fucking plateau because it's not exactly how it works. And if you are the person that you go all or nothing, "Oh, I'm gonna give this my all. I'm gonna be so hardcore.
**Unknown:** Doc, I'm gonna do this perfectly," personally, for me, I'm like, if that's the mindset you're in, we need to reevaluate if we're gonna work together. I don't need you to be all or nothing for six weeks and then burn yourself out and then shift back into old mindset programs that are telling you that this isn't realistic, this isn't sustainable, this isn't real life, this isn't affordable, et cetera. I need you to make micro changes, and I need you to be upleveling your mindset in the process of this journey. And if you can do that, you are gonna create something that is sustainable and creating more longevity.
**Unknown:** If you go balls to the wall and you do the most intense protocol, this, that, supplements, "Oh, I'm gonna go to the gym every day, and I'm gonna eat perfect. I'm gonna never eat this, this and this and this again," good luck. And if you've done it already, you know. You know you quit.
**Unknown:** You know you gave up because it wasn't sustainable. It wasn't realistic. But what is realistic is having your physical health and your mental health meet in the middle and prioritizing both of them and being able to understand the hierarchy of what's going on in your mind and your body and knowing, "What's the one thing that I need to tackle, the most foundational thing that I need to tackle in order to make progress?" And then to also know that, you know, bad symptoms, no symptoms, uh, different symptoms are just a feedback mechanism, and if you have the right people on your team to help you see that and to help you troubleshoot accordingly, then you can then come up with the new strategy that meets your mind and your body as to where it's at in that current moment. 'Cause there's nothing wrong with you.
**Unknown:** You don't have bad luck or bad genes. This is just a matter of a shift in strategy because guess what? If what you're doing is working, you're changing, so why wouldn't your protocol change in a few weeks? So I hope this was insightful.
**Unknown:** I hope this ruffled your fucking feathers too. Um, but I hope this gives you insight as to why you maybe have hit a plateau. It also possibly prevents you from hitting a plateau in the future, and also understanding that your mind is extremely powerful, I don't wanna say in your healing journey. It isn't powerful in your healing journey.
**Unknown:** It's, it's powerful in all circumstances of life. And if I could also invite you to really think more critically about your decisions. Stop making decisions quickly. Stop thinking you don't have time.
**Unknown:** Pause and think about it long enough to be able to line item, write it out, is this... what is this decision rooted in? Is it rooted in more desperation or inspiration? You can list out all the reasons you're making the decision and then go next to each one of those reasons.
**Unknown:** Is this actually rooted in inspiration? Is this aligned to where I'm going with my life? Is this aligned to my, my perfect vision of life? Is this aligned to my top values?
**Unknown:** Does this align to who I am at my core? Does this feel good? Does this feel right? Does this feel scary?
**Unknown:** Okay. I'm down for scary if it feels aligned that this is gonna move my life in the direction that I want it to be. Or is this a decision out of desperation that I should, could, need to, have to? Replay that part, guys.
**Unknown:** All right, I'll see you on the next one. We thank you so much for being an avid listener of Integrative U Radio, formerly known as Integrative Wellness Radio. We appreciate all of your support. We love your comments.
**Unknown:** Please visit us on social media as well as our website to see all of the fun things happening behind the scenes and the new amazing content and courses that is being rolled out on a monthly basis. We hope to see you there.
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About Integrative You Radio
Integrative You Radio is a root cause medicine and integrative medicine podcast hosted by Dr. Nicole Rivera and Dr. Nick Carruthers — two integrative doctors who build personalized wellness protocols from your DNA, minerals, hormones, gut, and nervous system rather than from a population template. Looking for an integrative doctor who reads your labs together instead of in isolation? This is the show.
Further reading
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