Episode 2: You’re Not Burned Out — You’re Inflamed, Dysregulated, and Unsupported.

Hello, beautiful souls. Welcome back to the Proactive Wellness for Nurses podcast. If you're new here, I'm Jessica Valoza, APRN, functional medicine practitioner, metabolic health educator, nurse mentor, and someone who deeply understands what it feels like to give everything to the system and slowly lose yourself in the process. This space isn't about hustle culture.

It's not about shaming you into discipline. And it's definitely not about pretending burnout is a personality flaw. We talk about root causes here. We talk about inflammation. We talk about cortisol. We talk about nervous system injury. We talk about identity loss. And we rebuild from there. Because you know what?

Despite the fact that you might feel like it, you are not broken. The system is broken. The medical system is broken. And today, we're going to talk about something that might just completely shift how you see your exhaustion.

Burnout is a nervous system injury. Let's be honest. When nurses say, I'm exhausted, I can't lose weight, my anxiety is through the roof, my labs are normal, but I feel awful. I don't even recognize myself. What they're really describing is chronic inflammation and nervous system dysregulation.

What they're really describing, what they're really experiencing is nervous system dysregulation combined with chronic inflammation. Night shift alone alters so many things in your body. It alters insulin sensitivity, cortisol rhythm. It alters leptin and ghrelin signaling, gut permeability, thyroid conversion.

sex hormones, and you know what? Emotional trauma from toxic preceptors, unsafe staffing, lack of mentorship, and compassion fatigue? You know what? You don't have burnout. You have metabolically injured body that's living in a survival mode, okay?

Take that in for a second. We're talking about a frazzled, messed up nervous system and metabolism is just a bad combination. You have a metabolically injured body that is living in survival mode and no one is talking about it. No one is talking about it like this. We talk about burnout. We talk about insulin resistance.

but we don't talk about how correlated all of this is. Nobody's talking about this. Traditional medicine will tell you, you know what they'll tell you. I don't have to tell you, you know what they'll tell you. Traditional medicine will tell you, exercise more, eat less. Here's an SSRI, baby, and your labs look fine. They won't even explain it to you. They just go,

no, your labs, everything's normal. Listen.

Functional medicine, root cause identification, multifactorial cause identification. There's not one answer. Every person is unique. It's a cascading combination of things that lead you to where you're at. But functional medicine, taking this approach, we can ask questions that are important that might help us turn that boat around, you know?

Why is your cortisol reversed? Why is your fasting insulin creeping up? Why is your gut inflamed? Why is your nervous system stuck in fight or flight? This is this, this, this is why I built Proactive Wellness. Because nurses deserve root cause ⁓ answers. Okay, we're smart. Nurses are very smart.

but we're taught just enough to drive us crazy in many situations. So, there's a deeper price to all this, okay? The hidden layer, the hidden layer is actually identity loss. Nurses don't just lose metabolic health, they lose identity. You go from confident student to terrified new grad.

from idealistic healer to task-driven machine, from intuitive caregiver to a dang charting robot.

unless you're like me and then you just stay incredibly behind on your charting all the time because you prioritize the human in front of you which is something I am working on fixing for myself so that I can help other people fix it for themselves by the way. So slowly you go from being all gung-ho, being all excited, being all ready to go up and at them to damn is this what I signed up for? Or maybe that it's not that deep for you.

But many people experience this identity loss. And so what happens because of this identity loss or change or alteration? Well, slowly, you stop trusting yourself. Your body doesn't feel safe. Your schedule isn't safe. Your workplace is definitely not safe.

And safety is the foundation of metabolic healing. You cannot regulate insulin in fight or flight. You cannot balance hormones in survival mode. You cannot heal your gut when your body thinks it's under threat. This is why calorie counting fails nurses. This is why...

Generic weight loss programs fail shift workers. This is why discipline is not the issue. Knowledge and discipline and willpower are not the issue, okay? The issue is dysregulation. So where do we go from there? Dysregulation requires restoration.

What metabolic restoration actually means? What do I mean by that? Because my big program is the metabolic restoration method. Metabolic restoration, it is not dieting. Okay? It's not just quit the sugar. Yes, quit the damn sugar. Break up with the damn sugar.

But metabolic restoration is more complicated than that. Most of us, many of us have yo-yo'd to some degree. We are not ignorant. We are not weak. We are not lazy. We can fricking lose weight. Either that or we know what it'll take and we do not have the capacity because of the burnout, because of the nervous system dysregulation. We do not have the capacity.

to jump on that train because we watch it. The diet culture, the yo-yo diet culture. So what is metabolic restoration if it's not just dieting? It's a lot of things. It's stabilizing blood sugar, repairing cortisol rhythm, healing gut permeability, reducing inflammatory load,

Rebuilding mitochondrial resilience, re-patting our strength response, and teaching your body safety again.

Inside the metabolic restoration method intensive, we talk through phases. In phase one, we want to stabilize blood sugar regulation, anchor our food around protein, and repair circadian rhythms. Okay? We have to focus on stabilizing. We're not gonna gain weight overnight or become

We're going to fix it overnight. So in phase one, we have to focus on stabilizing. In phase two, we focus on repair. We need to think about gut lining support, inflammation reduction, and micronutrient repletion. In phase three, we restore. We then lean into, you know, we've gotten

cleared up a lot of foundational things. We need to think now about hormone balance, metabolic flexibility, and nervous system recalibration. Okay? This is not a quick fix. This is rebuilding your physiology. And you know what? When physiology changes,

So much shit changes. Like when your physiology changes, your energy changes, your weight shifts, your anxiety decreases, your sleep improves, and clarity returns. But here's where it gets even more powerful. Specifically nurses.

Why nurses need a whole different room to meet up in and talk about this shit? Nurses don't just need metabolic education. We actually need emotional safety. Nurses need mentorship. They need validation. They need someone to say, you're not dramatic. You're not lazy. You're not weak. You've been operating in a chronic stress

physiology. We got to break that cycle, dog. That's why I created the metabolic restoration method intensive for nurses. This is not just health coaching. It's a nervous system repair inside a community that understands stuff that you understand. We understand code blues. We understand 12 hour shifts. We understand toxic.

leadership. We understand night shift bloat, not sure when to eat or not to eat. We understand charting trauma, if I can word it like that. We understand the fear of being a new nurse or new to the floor or new to that problem or that type of patient. We understand dysregulation, okay?

And we do it nurse to nurse, right? We trauma bond. We trauma bond and we're exposed to the food and the stress and the overwhelm. And then what do we do? We go drink 12 to 15 margaritas and, you know, cry in somebody's floorboard for an hour and then clean it up and go back and put your face on.

and be that person for all of those people that need you. And that is incredibly emotionally draining. Hopefully you're not drinking 12 to 15 margaritas, but you get my point. You get my point, don't you?

Inside of this room that I'm creating, this inner circle, my goal is that we will be rebuilding everything, dog. We're gonna rebuild confidence. We're gonna rebuild clinical clarity. We're gonna rebuild body trust. We're gonna rebuild emotional regulation. And we're gonna rebuild metabolic health.

Because you may have been attracted to learn about this because you want to lose weight. You may have already attempted to lose weight. You may have successfully lost weight and gained it back. It may not just be about weight for you. For you it may be, it may be five pounds. You might not be a hundred pounds overweight, 20 pounds overweight. It might be five pounds, but you feel like shit. You feel like this.

You're dysregulated, you're bloated, you're anxious, your family doesn't freaking recognize you anymore. Or maybe you're so burned out from your job that you don't have anything to bring to the table for your family, for your friends, for yourself, okay? So inside of the metabolic restoration method, the inner circle,

or active wellness for nurses. My goal is to rebuild all this stuff and we do it together, nurse to nurse, no judgment, no ego, no hustle culture. We're all focused on restoration and we're doing it together.

So I want to talk about my Everybody says talk about your why. Focus on your why. If you want to do anything, build anything, be anything, go anywhere, you've got to refocus yourself in on your why. And so I want to talk about why this podcast exists. This podcast for me, this podcast is more than just education. It's a movement. Proactive Wellness for Nurses is here.

to disrupt the narrative that burnout is inevitable. Okay, it's not. Chronic inflammation is not inevitable for nurses. Hormonal chaos is not inevitable. It is not unavoidable. Weight gain is also not inevitable. Emotional numbness is not inevitable.

They're signals. These are downstream signals that we are dysregulated and our bodies are in distress. It is not admirable to never sleep and have dark bags under your eyes and come in at 6.45, already overwhelmed, already at 10. You know, there's just too many opportunities in the nurse's experience.

that set us into a high level of distress at a cellular level. And to a degree, it's such a catch-22 because we need to be turned on. You know what I mean? We need to be able to react at any moment. We really need to be. But we need regulation. We need to be able to turn that off. Most of the time, we need to be able to balance that.

These are signals, all of these things, chronic inflammation, hormonal chaos, weight gain, emotional numbness. These are signals. And when you learn to interpret them instead of suppress them, everything changes. Everything changes. I'm telling you, I have been through it. I did it for myself. I did it the wrong way for about 10 years. Maybe more.

And I have resolved this for myself and now it has been sustained for multiple years. And my goal is to help other people do that as well. Why I am here is because I believe in what I'm preaching. I've done it for myself and I'm doing it currently. It's an active ongoing balancing act of self-care.

And I'm not always good at it. In fact, listen back to my first episode. This is episode number two. My first episode literally just put out the whole motivation in pushing towards actually doing the podcast and not talking about the podcast was that I need a little reset. I was trying to work full-time, be a full-time mom, move, know, build a business.

and beat everything to everyone with 45 charts open in my inbox? Dog, like, I gotta take a step back and practice what I preach. Like, it's a rollercoaster, but what we want is for it to be a soft, chill, little, know, fairground rollercoaster. We want it to be that three-year-old rollercoaster. Yes, life is not linear, it's not stable. That would be so boring if there were no waves anywhere.

Let me refocus myself. All of these things, I want to say this again, proactive wellness for nurses is here to disrupt the narrative that burnout is inevitable. It's not. In nursing school, we were told it will happen. In our jobs, we're constantly told, yeah, it's hard. You're the murder, being a nurse.

You have to bear the weight of all this and it's your job and guess what? We're not even going to pay you that much, especially if you're in Florida. Let me not get into that. It is not inevitable. Chronic inflammation, hormonal chaos, weight gain and emotional numbness are not inevitable. These are red flags, okay? So when you learn to interpret them instead of suppress them, like I said, everything changes. This podcast...

This podcast? You being exposed to what I'm talking about today right now, this is your first doorway. This is your first doorway. The intensive, the intensives, the program, the group, that is your room for transformation. The intensives are where you will go to connect with other people who are going through what you're going through.

And if you get into one of the programs that are group coaching, that are over multiple weeks, you will be empowered to take the steps in the right direction. It will not feel so chaotically overwhelming. You will be set up for transformation and you will have the community to do it with. This is my vision, okay?

So if you're listening to this and you're thinking, this is me, I feel seen, I'm exhausted but wired, my body doesn't even feel like mine anymore, then I want you to take the next step. If you are a woman outside of nursing, if you are not a nurse, but you are struggling with inflammation, fatigue,

weight resistance or hormonal chaos. Cause let's be honest, if you've made it this far and you're not a nurse, then you already know that we experienced this as women and humans and mothers. And you may be experiencing these same things, but not be a nurse. The metabolic restoration method intensive.

does exist, it is in the pipelines, and it is available to anyone, nurses or not nurses. But if you are a nurse, especially if you are a shift worker, and if you feel metabolically and emotionally dysregulated, the metabolic restoration method intensive for nurses was built specifically for your nervous system, for your schedule, and for your reality.

Both of these programs are high touch. Both are root cause. Both are science driven. Both are trauma informed. And both are designed for deep, sustainable transformation. This is not surface wellness we're talking about. This is restoration.

You deserve to feel strong again, clear, clear. You deserve to clear. You deserve to feel grounded again, connected to your body again. You deserve to walk into your shift, regulated. You deserve to come home without collapsing. You deserve to come home without being already fully spent.

You deserve to have some left in the tank for you and for your family. You deserve metabolic health that matches your intelligence. I'm gonna say this again. You are not broken. You are inflamed. You are overstimulated. And you are, guess what? You're under supported.

That can be repaired. So if today resonated with you, subscribe to the Proactive Wellness for Nurses podcast. Share this episode with another nurse who needs to hear it. And if you're ready to go deeper, the restoration rooms are open, the inner circle is open. You can see the link below this episode.

sign up for just the Inner Circle. You can be a part of the Inner Circle. Right now it's $17 a month. This is a school private group. It's protected. It's on the website school SKOOL Proactive Wellness Academy.

You can get into the inner circle without investing time or money in doing a bigger program. You can get into my inner circle. My vision, my vision for the group is not a plan, not a protocol, not a do this next list, but it's a why. Because I have a dream of growing this group into a space where we collectively reclaim strength, purpose, drive, and motivation.

without shaming our bodies or overriding our nervous systems to get there. So many of us are walking around with metabolic dysfunction and autonomic nervous system dysregulation, and we don't even realize it because we're taught to view fatigue, weight gain, inflammation, anxiety, poor sleep and burnout as personal failures instead of physiologic adaptations. Your body doesn't break.

It adapts. Metabolic dysfunction is not just about weight. It's about how your cells learned to conserve energy over the years by being exposed to stress and disrupted sleep and inflammation and blood sugar swings and shift work and trauma and chronic over giving. Chronic over giving. If you are experiencing these things, it is your body saying,

I don't feel safe enough to let

Autonomic dysfunction isn't weakness or anxiety. It's a nervous system that has been stuck in high alert for far too long. Constantly scanning and bracing and pushing, just surviving. When that system stays activated, changes, digestion changes, hormones shift, recovery and healing slows.

And guess what? Motivation disappears. And it's not because you're lazy. It's because your body is prioritizing survival over thriving.

Surviving over thriving is a dangerous state to be in and it is something that a lot of nurses can relate to, a lot of people can relate to. So here's the part I want you to really sit with. You cannot out discipline a dysregulated system.

This group that I am creating, it's not about forcing bodies into submission. It's about learning to listen again to our bodies. It's about reconnecting with our intuitive natural functions. It's about understanding why trying harder stopped working or never worked. It's about reconnecting with your body as an ally.

instead of an adversary. My vision is that this group, this inner circle, becomes a place where we can normalize the impact of stress and trauma and healthcare culture on our physiology and find language for experiences we've been silently carrying.

It's a place where I want you to feel less alone in your body, in your body that doesn't respond the way it used to. I want this to be a place we can rebuild trust, not just with food or weight, but with ourselves. Because healing doesn't start with control. It starts with awareness, safety, and understanding.

And if you've ever felt like your body is resisting you, it may actually be protecting you. And there is a profound power in learning why. I want this group to be where this conversation begins. Okay? And I'm gonna go through this again. You deserve to feel strong again. You deserve to feel clear.

grounded and connected to your body. You deserve to walk into your shift and not be already overwhelmed. You deserve to learn to set boundaries and learn to heal and you need to get it through your head. I want to get it through your head. You are not broken. You are not hopeless. You are not old. You are not

an old washed up nurse. are none of these things. are not... Your metabolism is not slowed down because you're getting older. You're inflamed, you're overstimulated and you are under supported and that can be repaired. So like I said, if this resonates with you, please subscribe, please share this episode. Go to proactivewellness.net. Check out the links in the show notes, in the show description.

And I can't wait to see you inside. And as I always end everything that I'm doing, I want you to know, please believe that I love you already.