How remedial massage helps relieve insomnia

TiredThere are not many things in life that can refresh and rejuvenate your body like a good night’s sleep. But if that’s the thing you aren’t getting – even when you know it’s what you need – it can start to be a real drag…and not just at night time. You may start to feel that drag all through the day interfering with your life, your work, family and friends.

Everybody deserves a good night’s sleep. Sleep is a basic human need.

I think of insomnia like driving your car every day without ever changing the oil, putting air in your tires, or getting any other maintenance done. Sooner or later, you’re going to break down. Continue reading “How remedial massage helps relieve insomnia”

Hormone Health For Post Pregnancy And Breastfeeding

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The demands on women’s bodies for growing, birthing and feeding a child are high and ever changing. Not only are we providing nutrition for two people at different points in the process; our bodies are also undergoing massive fluctuations in hormone levels as well.

So how do we replenish and maintain, not only vital nutrient levels but also keep our hormones balanced through our diets?

These days there is so much information out there – from health professionals to other mum’s experiences on Internet forums, each with their own opinion of what is happening and how to deal with it. It is understandable that it can be downright confusing to work out what is the right thing to choose in order to maintain balanced health and wellbeing during this period of change and growth in our lives. One of the easiest ways to balance hormones is through our diet; and by combining nutrition with the knowledge about how our hormones are processed, detoxified and eliminated by the body, we can build a strong foundation for supporting our health and our babies health as we move through motherhood and beyond. Continue reading “Hormone Health For Post Pregnancy And Breastfeeding”

Preconception Care

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What is preconception care?

Preconception care is an opportunity to improve both you and your partners health required for promoting healthy sperm, egg health and uterine environment.  Think of pregnancy as like a marathon, we want to start training now and optimise our diet and lifestyle which can influence up to three generations to come!

Continue reading “Preconception Care”

The Gut Brain Connection

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Digestive health is so important for health!

Do you feel butterflies in the pit of their stomach when you are stressed or anxious?

This reaction shows there is a complex interaction between your gut and brain, with the gut being referred to as our “second brain”. The gut is full of nerves and neurotransmitter receptors from the enteric nervous system (part of the autonomic nervous system which performs unconscious function, like your heart beating) that is wired directly to the brain. The gut cells produce most of our serotonin, the “happy” neurotransmitter, so not only do we need to look at ingesting enough of the nutrients required for serotonin production, we need to ensure our gut health is in balance to be able to utilise it! Continue reading “The Gut Brain Connection”

Start Fixing Fatigue With One Easy Step

Fatigue is a challenging symptom affecting more and more people in today’s world. These days it is rare that the cause of fatigue is easily pinpointed and corrected; with our fast paced lives, it often goes unnoticed until it is too late. By the time a lot of people realise they have a significant problem, the original cause of their lack of energy can be masked by a myriad of vague or prominent symptoms, which all differ in presentation and severity from person to person. So how do you find the cause of your fatigue and get the right type of help to return to health? One simple tool you can use that is with you all the time, and doesn’t cost a thing is, AWARENESS!

Continue reading “Start Fixing Fatigue With One Easy Step”

How Digestion and the Gut Influences Your Mood

The gut and brain talk and sometimes it’s not pretty

For years Naturopaths have talked of the gut-brain connection.  How the health of the gut health will influence mood and mood will influence the gut.  With the increase in research into the interplay between humans and bugs – the human microbiome – comes some really exciting findings that back this traditional concept.  Though more research is required to get all health care professionals on board, it may not surprise you that many people have made this connection for themselves.  They work to set their gut and mind up to talk nicely to each other for happiness and best of health.

The balance of the bugs

It is said that our body has 10 times the number of bugs than human cells and 150 times as many genes – wow that’s a lot of bugs.  Now before you start scratching and head for the shower, know that when the bugs play nicely together they support our health in a wide range of ways.  It is only when the bugs are out of balance that things go array, including negatively impacting your mood.

Research has shown the link between the overgrowth of specific bugs and an increased prevalence of anxiety, an increased sensitivity to pain, memory dysfunction, autism, IBS – irritable bowel syndrome – and IBD – more serious inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.  This list melds both conditions of the mind and of the gut and supports the gut-brain link. Continue reading “How Digestion and the Gut Influences Your Mood”

Digestion and the Mind Body Connection

Mindful eating focuses on the increasingly important roles of mind and spirit and their contribution to our eating habits and choices. In regards to our digestion, it is becoming more essential to consider not just WHAT we are eating but HOW we are eating, and it’s impact on our digestive function. By looking at diet and digestion from this new perspective, we can begin to establish a brand new relationship with our mealtimes and the food we eat.

Digestion is the process of breaking down, absorbing and assimilating food and the nutrients it contains. What happens when your digestive function isn’t working as optimally as we need it to? You can experience a multitude of symptoms that can include cramping, bloating, abdominal fullness, reflux, indigestion, constipation or diarrhoea; or a combination of these. So how much of this has to do with what you are eating and how much has to do with how you are eating it? Digestion can be affected by many different factors including poor diet choices, medications and food intolerances to name a few; but two of the biggest and often overlooked contributors to digestive dysfunction are stress and speed. Continue reading “Digestion and the Mind Body Connection”

IBS – Irritable Bowel Syndrome – Help for Bloated Bellies

As a Naturopath, I’m not scared to talk about poo, bloated bellies, or farting. Sounds gross and like something you don’t want to talk about, but the fact is, 1 in 5 Australians will have IBS throughout their lives and need help fixing it.

Good digestion is the key to good health –  a fact we’ve always innately known and this has become part of our vocabulary with old sayings such as “you are what you eat.”

If your belly isn’t happy – your body is sending you a signal that you may not be digesting and absorbing your nutrients properly. Healthy clean eating and super foods have become mainstream,, which is brilliant for health. But if you’re not digesting your food well, then you could be eating the worlds cleanest, healthiest diet, but you won’t optimize the nutrients from it, which are needed to keep your energized and prevent disease.  So if you think things may not be working so well in the belly department, it’s time to listen to your body and learn about what your tummy is telling you!

IBS Symptoms

  • Abdominal bloating and discomfort
  • Changeable bowel habits – alternating between constipation or diarrhoea.
  • Stool habits change – watery, loose, nuggety, thin ribbons.
  • Wind
  • Feeling of discomfort after eating & food sensitivities
  • Feeling of urgency – needing to go to the toilet often or feeling not fully evacuated when you empty your bowels.

Continue reading “IBS – Irritable Bowel Syndrome – Help for Bloated Bellies”

Preconception Nutrition and Lifestyle Tips

Addressing preconception health will have lifelong benefits for you and your child.

Factors that may affect fertility include:

  • Stress
  • Poor diet and nutrition
  • Toxicity
  • Pollution
  • Radiation
  • Increasing age
  • Immune system status
  • Drugs (including caffeine, tobacco and alcohol)
  • Previous contraceptive history
  • Genitourinary infections (eg Chlamydia, Mycoplasma)
  • Reproductive conditions (eg endometriosis, PCOS)

Fertility problems are due to male reproductive health about 40% and the female about 40% of the time, with both partners reproductive health implicated in the remaining cases. Continue reading “Preconception Nutrition and Lifestyle Tips”

3 Benefits of Eating Paleo  

Paleo has been creating a huge buzz in the health and fitness community for the last couple of years now. Paleo is short for Palaeolithic Diet; also commonly known as the Caveman diet. The philosophy is based around the principles of eating the way our early ancestors did in the Palaeolithic era, before farming and industrialization. The foods you eat are the only ones that would have been available through hunting and gathering; specifically meat, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds; excluding dairy, grains, legumes and any foods grown through modern day farming or processing practices. There is a myriad of resources available these days to set you on the path to this style of clean eating, but what happens when these resources become so overwhelming you just don’t know where to start? Questions start running around your head like – Why would I choose to eat like this? Do I have to give up foods I love? What are the benefits of eating this way? Fear not and read on, I’m about to give you 3 benefits of the Paleo diet that can help you decide if this eating style is right for you: Continue reading “3 Benefits of Eating Paleo  “