Limiting Beliefs You’ve Been Taught

Here’s what I think you will be interested in knowing: there may be something sabotaging your health more than any food you eat or workout you skip.

There are limiting beliefs you've been taught about your wellness and how they may be keeping you sick, stalled or just not able to experience the optimal wellness in your health journey.

Not the beliefs you created—the ones you inherited. The ones whisper through your development, repeated at family dinners, reinforced by wellness culture, and internalized so deeply you don't even question them anymore. Beliefs like "health problems run in my family, so there's nothing I can do" or "my body is broken and can't be fixed" or "I'm too old to change now."

By the end of today, you'll identify the three most common limiting health beliefs keeping you stuck, understand how these beliefs sabotage your wellness on a physiological level, and learn my exact framework to rewrite limiting beliefs into empowering health narratives that create transformation.

Stay with me because this mindset shift? It's the difference between managing symptoms and actually healing.

Let's get into it.

Limiting Beliefs As A Roadmap

The limiting beliefs you've been taught about your wellness aren't just thoughts—they're physiological barriers to healing.

When was the last time you questioned what you believe about your health? Not what you want to believe, but what you actually believe deep down when no one's listening. "I'll never be healthy because everyone in my family has diabetes." "My body just doesn't respond like other people's." "I've tried everything and nothing works for me."

These aren't just negative thoughts—they're limiting health beliefs that create self-fulfilling prophecies. And as a physician who's spent 15 years watching these beliefs block healing in otherwise healthy people, I'm here to tell you: your beliefs shape your biology. And the beliefs you've been taught about your wellness are keeping you sick.

The 3 Most Common Limiting Health Beliefs (And Why They Sabotage Your Wellness)

Let's start by identifying the limiting beliefs most people carry without realizing they're blocking transformation:

Limiting Belief #1: "Everyone in My Family Has [Disease], So I Will Too"

This is the most common limiting health belief I hear in my practice. You've watched family members struggle with diabetes, heart disease, obesity, or chronic illness—and you've accepted it as your fate. But here's what the research shows: genetics load the gun, but lifestyle pulls the trigger. Your family history is information, not destiny. Studies show that lifestyle factors—nutrition, stress management, movement, sleep—can override up to 80% of genetic predisposition for chronic disease.

The belief sabotage: When you believe disease is inevitable, your brain doesn't activate the motivation pathways needed for preventive behavior change. You operate from resignation instead of agency. This limiting health belief literally shuts down your body's natural motivation to make wellness changes.

Limiting Belief #2: "My Body Is Broken and Can't Be Fixed"

This limiting belief often develops after years of trying diets, treatments, or wellness programs that didn't work. You've internalized failure as proof your body is uniquely broken. But here's the truth: your body isn't broken—it's communicating. Symptoms aren't failures; they're signals. When you reframe "broken" as "needs different support," transformation becomes possible.

The belief sabotage: Research in psychoneuroimmunology shows that beliefs about your body's capacity directly affect immune function, inflammation levels, and healing capacity. When you believe your body is broken, you trigger chronic stress responses that actually impair healing. This limiting health belief creates the very dysfunction you fear.

Limiting Belief #3: "I'm Too Old/Busy/Tired to Change Now"

This is the limiting belief that uses circumstances as evidence. "I'm too old for my metabolism to change." "I'm too busy to prioritize my health." "I'm too tired to start anything new." These beliefs feel factual because they're tied to real circumstances. But circumstances aren't limiting—your beliefs about what's possible within those circumstances are.

The belief sabotage: Behavioral psychology shows that when you believe change is impossible, your brain stops scanning for opportunities and solutions. You see obstacles instead of options. This limiting health belief filters your reality to confirm what you already believe—keeping you stuck in patterns that prevent wellness transformation.

How to Rewrite Limiting Health Beliefs: The Transformation Framework

Here's the exact framework I teach clients to rewrite limiting beliefs into empowering health narratives:

Step 1: Identify Your Limiting Belief

Write down the health story you've been telling yourself. Be specific. "I believe my body can't lose weight because I've tried everything." "I believe I'm destined for diabetes because everyone in my family has it." Name it without judgment.

Step 2: Acknowledge What's Factually True (The "And")

Separate fact from interpretation. "It's true that diabetes runs in my family. And it's also true that lifestyle factors determine whether I develop it." The "and" creates space between inherited belief and current reality. This reframe is crucial for overcoming health limiting beliefs.

Step 3: Rewrite From a Place of Agency

Transform your limiting belief by asking: What can I control? What empowered action can I take? Instead of "Everyone in my family has diabetes, so I will too," rewrite as: "I have witnessed family members manage diabetes, which makes me proactive about lifestyle choices that reduce my risk factors." This wellness mindset transformation shifts you from victim to author of your health story.

Step 4: Create Evidence for Your New Belief

Your brain needs proof. Start small: make one choice aligned with your new belief. Move your body for 10 minutes. Choose one nourishing meal. Schedule rest. Each aligned action becomes evidence that your new belief is true. This is how you transform health beliefs through practice, not perfection.

What Changes When You Rewrite Your Health Beliefs

When you transform limiting beliefs about your wellness into empowering narratives, everything shifts:

✓ Your motivation increases (because you believe change is possible)
✓ Your stress response regulates as beliefs about capacity affect cortisol levels ✓ Your behavior aligns naturally (identity-based beliefs create consistent action) ✓ Your healing capacity strengthens (psychoneuroimmunology shows belief affects immune function)

This isn't positive thinking—it's rewiring the beliefs that shape your biology. When you overcome health limiting beliefs, you unlock the wellness transformation your body has been capable of all along.

Your Challenge This Week: Identify and Rewrite One Limiting Health Belief

Here's your assignment: Choose one limiting belief you've been carrying about your wellness. Put it through the four-step framework. Write both versions—the limiting belief you've been taught and the empowered belief you're claiming.

Then, take one action this week that aligns with your new belief. Just one. That's how wellness mindset transformation begins.

What's one limiting health belief you've been taught that you're ready to rewrite?

Drop a comment or hit reply and tell me—which belief has been keeping you stuck?  I promise to write back–Let's rewrite it together.

Join the Before the Medicine Community for More Mindset Transformation Tools

If this framework resonated with you, imagine what's possible when you have weekly tools to transform the beliefs blocking your wellness.

Join the Before the Medicine community where we're rewriting health narratives through lifestyle medicine and mindset mastery. When you sign up, you'll be the first to receive:

✨ Exclusive belief transformation frameworks for overcoming health limiting beliefs

✨ Early access to wellness programs designed to rewrite limiting narratives into empowered action

✨ Weekly mindset tools to transform health beliefs that keep you stuck

[Join the Community Here] — Because your wellness deserves guidance that transforms beliefs, not just behaviors.

Remember: Your beliefs shape your biology. Rewrite the limiting ones, and transformation follows.

Thanks for being here. I'll see you next time.

About the Author & Consulting Firm:

Dr. Akeira Johnson is a physician, lifestyle medicine and women’s health expert and founder of Beyond the Stethoscopes—a multidisciplinary medical consulting and collaborations firm specializing in preventive health strategies, wellness identity transformation, and evidence-based lifestyle medicine.

Dr. Johnson transforms wellness at three levels: guiding individuals through transformational content, partnering with organizations to reframe health equity access, and creating social impact through generational health literacy—empowering communities to master mindset and lifestyle shifts before medication becomes the only option.

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