194: Healing Through Whole-Person Care with Dr. Karyn Shanks, MD

The Fitnessista Podcast: Healthy In Real Life

Gina Harney

Nutrition, Health & Fitness

4.9 • 522 Ratings

🗓️ 25 September 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hi friends! I'm thrilled to share this week's conversation with Dr. Karyn Shanks, MD, IFMCP a certified functional medicine physician with nearly 40 years of experience. We dive deep into treating the whole person—body, mind, and spirit—and how trauma, nutrition, and self-care all play a role in lasting health. This was an amazing conversation and I can't wait for you to hear it!

Here's what we discuss:

Why treating the whole person—physical, emotional, and spiritual—is key to healing
How trauma can impact chronic illness and long-term health
Strategies for nervous system regulation to support recovery
The extensive intake process that helps understand a patient's full health story
Why spending time with patients is critical for effective care
Common nutritional deficiencies and how they affect even healthy eaters
Daily self-care practices that support wellness and reduce anxiety
How to feel empowered in your health care decisions
Meditation, creative activities, and listening to your body as tools for well-being

Karyn Shanks, MD is a physician-healer-teacher-writer who lives and practices in Iowa City. Her work is inspired by the science of Directable Human Potential—epigenetics, neuroplasticity, core Functional Medicine systems biology, and transformational psychology—and the wisdom gleaned from the healing journeys of thousands of clients over her thirty-year career. She approaches all of her work through the Unbroken philosophy and framework—that we all have vast untapped genetic, biological, psychological, and spiritual potential.

Connect with her on Instagram here and on her website here.

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Detailed show notes here: https://fitnessista.com/podcast

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Thank you so much for listening and for all of your support with the podcast! Please be sure to subscribe, and leave a rating or review if you enjoyed this episode. If you leave a rating, head to this page and you'll get a little "thank you" gift from me to you. http://fitnessista.com/podcastreview

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to the Healthy and Real Life podcast episode number 194.
0:04.6	Hey everyone. Welcome back to the show. This is Gina, creator of the Fitnessista blog and brand.
0:09.4	I'm so excited that you're here today. Thank you so much for tuning in and so excited for today's episode with Dr. Karen Shanks.
0:16.5	Before we head into today's episode, I wanted to tell you guys about the Integrative Health Practitioner Institute. So this is something that has completely changed my life, my health,
0:25.4	my business. I use these skills with my clients every day, and I've also used them with myself
0:29.9	and our own family. And that is getting my Level 1 and Level 2, IHP certification. And I'm
0:35.7	currently working through my Level 3 certification. So if you have a
0:40.0	passion for health and wellness, you want to turn it into a career, or if you just want to be
0:44.9	the health coach in your own home or in your family, I cannot recommend it enough. Dr. Stephen
0:50.1	Cabral created this program. He is an person he's so knowledgeable he's the real
0:55.8	deal and I'm so thankful that I had the opportunity to learn from him through this program
1:00.5	so the level one is all about his de-stress protocols so we're going through diet
1:04.7	exercise stress management toxin removal rest emotional balance, and success mindset. And those are all of
1:13.2	the foundations that you need. And then in Level 2, that's when we go into the functional medicine
1:17.9	labs. So you learn how to read and analyze these labs. And then after that, you're able to use
1:24.1	them for yourself and for any clients or family members that you would like to do.
1:28.1	And it's been such a game changer in my own personal healing and health journey. And also for so
1:34.0	many of my clients, when I was dealing with mystery autoimmune symptoms, I was so determined to get
1:40.3	to the root of why this was happening. So I ran labs on myself and I got so much
1:45.3	incredible information and answers and I am celebrating over a year symptom free now thanks to
1:50.1	these tests and these protocols. So if you're interested in learning more, you can head to the
1:55.0	link in the show notes and then you can enter the code Fitnessista and that will get you up to
	...

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