oday I had a client who wanted to lose weight, and she had been assigned to a dietician, a young skinny woman, for help. The dietician gave her some good advice but my client struggled to implement it because she also cooks for a child and a husband, and she has many other things going on in her life, and a long history of weight gain and all the emotional issues that go along with it. When she tried to express to the dietician that she was struggling, the dietician’s response was “well, are you serious about wanting to lose weight or not?”. My client did not feel seen or heard, and didn’t go back.

The research behind probiotics and the gut microbiome has exploded in the last few years, but I have found that most peoples’ understanding of probiotics is lagging behind what is currently known. So here are a few hot tips.

I have written before about coffee, and that I don't think it is a big deal to have your one, perhaps two delicious cups a day. There are even many health benefits that have been studied, and coffee drinking is associated with longevity.

I have always had a passion for Naturopathic hydrotherapy, as a traditional, practical and accessible modaility to increase vitality. I have had hot-cold showers for many years through summer and winter.

If you have always been a bit resistant to cold water, now is a wonderful time to practice a gentle form of hot and cold showers because we are in the middle of summer. Changing your hot shower to finish with a cold blast in the middle of winter, can seem heroic and way out of their comfort zone, for many people. Even if they realise the benefits.

A recent study has found some surprising benefits to eating some chocolate in the morning. Chocolate tends to be associated with weight gain, especially in menopausal women who are prone to weight gain anyway. However this study (a small study, but hey, the topic is chocolate!) showed that having 100g of chocolate in the morning for 2 weeks showed no weight gain and a natural calorie reduction over the day (eating less because chocolate was satisfying).

I love this marketing program by the Butterfly Foundation to encourage kindness to ourselves around food and eating as we go into Christmas and warmer weather. The Butterfly Foundation is an Australian organisation that supports people with eating disorders and body image issues. I have completed their foundational course for health practitioners.

I find this is quite a significant issue in all sorts of clients, although I tend to see the less extreme end of the spectrum, which I simply call disordered eating. However, over 1 million Australians have an eating disorder, so this is a significant mental health issue with often serious health consequences.

Today I had a client who wanted to lose weight, and she had been assigned to a dietician, a young skinny woman, for help. The dietician gave her some good advice but my client struggled to implement it because she also cooks for a fussy child and a hungry husband, and she has many other things going on in her life, and a long history of weight gain and all the emotional issues that go along with it. When she tried to express to the dietician that she was struggling, the dietician’s response was “well, are you serious about wanting to lose weight or not?”. My client did not feel seen or heard, and didn’t go back.

Is it not arrogant and inappropriate for a young, thin person to be giving weight loss advice to an older, non-skinny person?

While we think of ageing as a negative thing, as far as our bodies go, many people have found increasing wellbeing in their last decades of life. It’s not that the body isn’t eventually going to die- of course, it will- but it is possible to adopt healthier habits and radically turn around health issues or promote better health. Whether by losing excess weight, a change of diet such as going plant-based, or taking up strength training….it is different for different people. …..

One of the things I find challenging as a naturopath in the vast world of health promoters nowadays, is the absolute certainty with which people push their beliefs.

Just because something is working for them, or helped a particular health condition, they want to convert everyone. Some people are absolutely certain that keto is the way- for just about everyone. That intermittent fasting is amazing, for everyone. Everyone would be slim like them if they adopted their way of living and eating. Vegans can be very dogmatic about their way of eating.

Without extensive training and experience in deciphering good information from bad, I can truly empathise, its very easy to get caught up in a particular approach that may or may not benefit us. ….

Forest bathing is a term coined by the Japanese in the 1980s. The intention was to help people recover from corporate burnout and inspire them to reconnect with Japan’s beautiful forests. It is called shinrin-yoku, or ‘taking in the forest atmosphere”, or forest bathing. So, the phenomenon began to be studied in the 1990s, providing scientific backup for what we already know- that spending time in nature is good for us. 

Forest bathing has been shown to significantly reduce blood pressure and stress levels. And while that might not sound like much, it can also help cardiovascular and mental health…..

For those of us over 40 years old, several measurable markers can indicate health issues either now or on the horizon if we don’t do something about them. They can be part of our regular self-care and can help prevent major disease and much suffering and financial cost. While I am a Naturopath focusing on nutrition, herbal medicines and lifestyle, we are a complementary health modality and work well with many other types of health practitioners. Here in Australia, we have access to good GPs and many free pathology tests, which can be very useful. 

Autumn is here and we may feel a sense of relief as it brings cooler nights and, at least here in Perth, welcome rain. 

It is also a time of transition as we change seasons. It can be of benefit to welcome these transition times with some appropriate behavioural changes. We are heading toward winter, and it is time to start preparing for the cold, flu and covid season by supporting the immune system. It is also time to change our diet as autumn foods come into our stores and gardens. 

Sometimes we overlook the most fundamental basics of healing and health, in favour of more complex and expensive solutions. Water has been honoured since ancient times as essential to life, and as carrying a powerful life force, whether directly falling from the sky, or gathered in bodies of water like streams, lakes, rivers and the ocean. By paying attention to the role and place of water, we can bring more balance and awareness into our lives. 

For thousands of year before the era of pharmaceutical medicines, bathing in certain natural mineral waters was considered an effective remedy for many diseases and health issues, especially musculoskeletal conditions, as well as for general health and even longevity.

Across the world, there are many famous hot springs and baths, such as: 

When researching longevity, many studies look at what factors help us to live longer. However, many people live longer but have chronic health issues that can make life miserable. So I was interested to see this study which looked at how a healthy lifestyle adds on years of living without chronic disease, compared to a life with it….