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Feb 14
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3 Things I wish I knew when I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s

By | Autoimmunity, Fatigue, Hashimoto's, Hypothyroidism, Lifestyle, Metabolic Balance, Mindset, Pathology

1/ Healing is a marathon not a sprint

I was privileged as a Nutritionist student who understood that despite what the GP was telling me, I was not ok, this was not normal, nor the simple consequence of simply ‘doing too much’. From the moment my head lifted off the pillow in the morning I was a walking zombie. I felt a rising panic that this was going to be my life now, forever. By my third GP, after having to pay privately for proper pathology because the first two doctors refused to run a comprehensive thyroid panel, I finally got a diagnosis.

After my initial grief & fear (which lasted a few months) I came to a place of relief; I finally had a face for my fatigue, brain fog, weight gain, haywire hormones & low moods. Ever the A type personality, I pulled out my text books, wrote out meal plans, put a supplement chart together and created a plan to get my life back on track.

I don’t think I need to tell you how that panned out.

The following few years are a blur of different practitioners, doctors, diets, many many supplements, so many blood draws that I was on a first name basis with my local pathology clinic and a lot of money spent without great results. I would feel better for a time and then decline again. It was always two steps forward, one step back.

I was discouraged, impatient and desperate.

It wasn’t until I found a Naturopath who specialised in thyroid health to guide me that I started to get improvements. But the big healing shift occurred after I implemented my own personalised nutrition food plan (the same plan that every Thrive Method member now receives) years after my diagnosis.

Healing is a marathon meaning you have to show up daily, consistently & persistently for months to years to reignite your energy, shift stubborn weight and regain your previous health. And you have to keep it up! Slipping on bedtimes, work boundaries and daily eating habits will make your health slip backwards. I hate to break it to you but your habits need to change for life if you want to keep your results.

Going on a diet for a few weeks or months just to shift some weight and then returning to your old habits is not going to cut it, it will just damage your metabolism even more.

I wish I had known this, it would’ve helped me fight the late nights, excess coffee, constant pressure to exercise, frequent snacking and one too many wines on the weekend which kept me stuck for years. My clients and I have discovered that nothing tastes as good or is worth feeling subhuman everyday. Now I look back and I’m grateful for every connection I was able to make and each step that led me closer to where I am today. Not only did I learn SO much (which I can now share with you!) but it makes me supremely thankful for the level of health I now enjoy.

 

2/ How blood sugar regulation was crucial to battling symptoms

I knew what I ate mattered of course, I was studying Nutritional Medicine and ate a really good diet if-you-don’t-mind-thank-you-very-much! 90% of my daily eating was whole foods, made from scratch, lots of veggies and much of it was organic.

BUT, my blood sugar still wasn’t regulated, I wasn’t addressing meal timing, portion sizes, macronutrient balancing and ensuring I was getting enough protein, healthy fats and complex carbs daily. My coffee habits and addiction to busy-ness was keeping my stress hormones & insulin high. There was also enough inflammatory & processed foods creeping in to keep me trapped on the disregulated blood sugar rollercoaster day after day. I wanted off but I couldn’t find the release switch and truth be told, I wasn’t equipped with the knowledge to recognise what it was anyway. Wasn’t poor blood sugar regulation only relevant to those with diabetes? How wrong I was.

If I had understood how crucial blood sugar regulation was for lowering inflammation and shifting stubborn Hashimoto’s weight, exhaustion, brain fog, poor sleep, haywire hormones and my skin I wouldn’t have suffered all those years. It turns out eating ‘healthy’ foods was not enough.

If, like me back then, you wouldn’t know where to start when it comes to blood sugar regulation, I have a free nifty resource that makes it all extremely simple and easy to follow. You can download it here. Oh how I wish I had a resource like this when I was first diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease!

 

3/ That a Hashi’s diagnosis is not a life sentence and there is hope for healing

The moment I discovered I had an autoimmune disease is seared into my memory, I remember the windows and light behind the GP’s desk and the sensation of my stomach dropping. Later that day doctor google provided me with enough doom & gloom to keep me afraid and trapped in victimhood for a time. The ‘C’ word worried me in particular because I already had a genetic predisposition and had just been through a ten month long osteosarcoma scare. But the idea of living out my days tired, foggy and unable to stop the gradual weight gain was pretty daunting in my late twenties with two little boys in tow.

I wish I had known that remission and even curing yourself of autoimmunity was entirely possible. It would have helped me take action & dig myself out of that pit sooner.

Every week I hear diagnosis stories from women and how they were told that their immune system was slowly destroying their thyroid tissue and that there was nothing they could do. Eventually their thyroid would be irreparably damaged and they would be reliant on medication. No hope. End of story.

This is not your sealed fate, there is A LOT you can do and it is possible to cure yourself of Hashimoto’s. I wrote a blog post on this topic last year, check it out here. But even if you never get your antibodies down into remission level you can still manage Hashimoto’s to the point where your symptoms are mild or in some cases eliminated and you can lead a normal life again. I’ve done and my clients do too.

Tessa

P.S. I was fortunate that as a Nutritional Medicine student I already knew gluten was a no-go for those with Hashimoto’s otherwise this blog post would’ve been titled, FOUR things I wish I knew…lol.

Jan 18
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Hashimoto’s reflection prompts for a New Year

By | Hashimoto's, Hypothyroidism, Lifestyle, Mindset

Humans aren’t great at sticking to resolutions because when the reward is too distant in the future or too vague, most of us choose the immediate reward now because the pull of instant gratification is too strong. This has given New Years resolutions a bad rap but are they complete BS? Everyone seems to have an opinion on it. If you are like me and feel contemplative over the New Year then check out my reflection prompts below.

I don’t do New Years resolutions but I do think it’s a fitting time of year to reflect on what was and what may be.

This time of year feels fresh and full of potential, the weather is sweet, the days are long, we’re often holidaying and it’s easier to feel hopeful and excited about the future. So I say, why not harness that feeling for positive action & reflection?!

After working with many women who need to make changes in order to make their Hashimoto’s health dreams a reality I realised that goal setting was THE all important first step. One of the first things you do in The Thrive Method is learn how to craft well formed goals. I teach that we need to reverse engineer our goals by crafting them in a way that they are do-able and can be broken down into chunks that are behaviour based. This means that instead of setting a goal like, ‘I want to get healthier in 2023’ or, ‘lose weight’, you might download an app that tracks how much water you drink each day and commit to a weekly meal planning date with yourself instead.

Just a little reminder, when you create goals, make them do-able and execute them, you are literally retraining your brain and building new neural pathways. It’s a big deal so well done and a pat on the back! However, it does not happen with one big initial decision in the New Year and then relying on motivation and self discipline to see you through to the end. It just doesn’t work like that, you need to make many small and consistent choices throughout your day, week, month and year to find yourself achieving & maintaining your goals long term. And you also need to cut yourself some slack on the days or meals when you don’t act in alignment with your goals and look at the big picture instead. You don’t have to get it perfect every time, 80% or 90% of the time is plenty to reach your goals. When you view it like this you are much less likely to throw in the towel by mid-Feb.

I take a long term view and I use these times in the year – birthdays are another good one – to reflect on what I’m doing well, where I want to be in the future and what habits I need to build into my day and week to get me there. I know I want to grow old with my mental faculties still in tact and I never want to be hospitalised with an illness again. The hidden reason behind these goals is that I want to be the kind of matriarch that has energy, loves to have fun, hold hands with my husband as we travel the world, hang out with kids & grandkids and whose presence feels like a warm hug.

Whoah you might be thinking! Slow down, you’re still only in your thirties! I know, I’ve always been a planner and I believe that when you decide on a destination it sets the path before you. So this year I know I need to work on building muscle to support my skeletal health (severe osteoporosis runs in our family). I’ve researched some ways I can do this and stumbled across something called rucking that builds muscle while you walk (which I already do & love). It’s just walking with a lightly weighted back pack. Perfect! I can do my usual bush walks and optimise the impact with a weight in my back pack. Box ticked!

Last year I committed to growing more of my own food and being grateful for my home and garden – even if we are renting – by creating a vegetable patch and native flower garden for bees. The behaviour I had to implement to make that a reality was keeping most Saturdays free to spend time in the garden and get into the habit of pulling a few weeds during my lunch break. I started identifying as a gardener and learning everything I could. A year later I have more than halved my greengrocer bill during Spring, Summer & Autumn. We are eating organic home grown vegetables most days and boy it feels good! There is zero will power needed now because I look forward to my time in the garden.

Have you had a moment to stop and reflect on 2022 yet?

Here are some questions you can use to prompt reflections through journalling or meditation.

  1. My biggest thyroid health challenge in 2022 was…
  2. What held me back in 2022?
  3. In 2022 I served myself well by doing the following…
  4. What health & wellbeing goals do I hold for the next year?
  5. What daily habits do I need to build to make this happen?

Now, create a plan and stick to it. Studies have shown that on average it takes 66 days for new habits to become effortless. I’ve always got the goods for you so I’ve attached one of my Thrive Method handouts to help you out. You can download it here.

Nov 21
0

Why you aren’t getting long term results

By | Fatigue, Lifestyle, Mindset

I knew about 10 minutes in that I was in trouble.

10km wasn’t far, I had done 5, 6, 7km often. The difference was in the pack I was carrying. It wasn’t until we were loading up at the car that I realised the all important strap that causes your hips to take most of the weight was broken. Add to that our heavy & impractical blow up mattress (many of you will have heard all about THAT saga) and the fact that we had to carry enough water for all four of us for 24 hours in warm QLD conditions while we sweated our way from one end of the Carnarvon Gorge to the other, and I was in struggle town. From behind I looked like a hiking pack with legs, I know this because unbeknownst to me, Theo took a rather unflattering photo of me from behind while I tried in vain to secure the hip strap.

After about 45 minutes I moved ahead of Nick and the boys so I could give myself a little pep talk.
Tessa, this is going to be much harder than you thought, but you can’t give up, the boys are watching, and you want to do more of these hikes in the future, you’ve got to push on.

My knees already felt like they wanted to drop out of my body and slink way to die in the bushes and I was only about a fifth of the way.

In my mind I was chanting encouraging words and recalculating how much further we had to go at every signpost we passed. It wasn’t that unlike childbirth now I think about it.

Every few minutes we would pass hikers coming the other way and while it was nice to have eye contact with strangers (this does not happen in Frankston!) they all had something to say about our clearly under-equipped life choices.

‘Are you camping overnight?!’ They would often ask with a smug smile. These goody-two-shoes had obviously got up at the crack of dawn, hiked there and back and were heading back to the lodge where a glass of shiraz, cheese board and running water was waiting for them.

I passed one elderly couple resting on a bench with walking sticks and felt immensely better, if they could do it surely I could too. By this stage I was determined but so red and puffed out that all I could manage was a nod in their direction.

The leader of the next group of people stopped for a chat, they were impressed and curious about our family and couldn’t believe we were planning to camp at the other end. They asked a few questions, told us we were in for a treat and then wished us luck. I was elated, I had never actually met anyone who had done this hike and hearing about the wonders ahead that we would probably have to explore all to ourselves was spurring me on. This was going to be the experience I had planned for my family for months now. My pack felt lighter, my pace quickened, I could do this! The next 45 minutes was a breeze, I only stopped for a moment to let a family of kangaroos pass in front of me, a joey peeking out from his mothers pouch.

‘You’ve got a long way to go!’, called out a man as we passed, ‘At least another four hours.’
I heard the boys groan behind me. Instantly, my pack felt impossibly heavy, the enchantment of the forest, the gorge walls (which were glowing in the afternoon light) and the river song was broken. The pain in my knees came back 10 fold and a black wave of doubt filled my mind.

I can’t do this, I have weak ankles, I’ll injure myself, we’re too far from help if anything happens, we’ll run out of water, the boys are going to get bitten by a snake and die a painful, slow death, this is irresponsible.

It’s amazing the ways in which your mind can craft falsehoods in an effort to turn you away from discomfort. My thoughts and perceptions about my situation were shaping my physical reality, literally causing me pain.

For many people the war that rages on in their mind daily is with their relationship with food. They may win some small campaigns but ultimately, they always seem to end up defeated with no long term results. We all have a vision for ourselves and values about who we want to be and how we want to interact with food but somehow we never seem to gain victory long term.

The reason you aren’t winning the war is because you aren’t equipped. You need strategies, information about the inner workings of the terrain and a powerful battle cry – ok I’m taking the metaphor a little too far now I know. But you get my point right?

Food Freedom is the solution I created to educate while also challenge and equip you to win this battle, get the results and start living out the values you hold for your future self. It’s part Yoda, part Samwise Gamgee and part Fairy Godmother. It’s also the most cost effective way of working with me if 1:1 is beyond reach at the moment.

Topics I cover include goal setting for powerful habit mastery, emotional eating, hunger & cravings, self sabotage and how exactly your body works and wants to be fed so that is is nourished well and able to release any extra weight with ease. I also go over the basics like portions sizes, what foods should make up most of your daily eating and my helpful meal formula. There’s a lot of value!

If you join The Thrive Method you get access to Food Freedom as a gift (that’s one generous $397 gift) but you can also enrol for Food Freedom now and start today.

Oct 11
0

Hay Fever and Autoimmunity

By | Autoimmunity, Gut Health, Hashimoto's, Hypothyroidism, Lifestyle

Let’s have a talk about hay fever.

It’s been on my mind lately because every second person is complaining about it and for the first time in 8 years, I’ve had nary a sniffle or an itch. You see, when my health imploded with Hashimoto’s disease I had the most horrific two years of gut issues. And severe hay fever was one of the seemingly unrelated issues that reared its ugly head at the same time…or was it unrelated?!

It was so sudden & severe that I relied on anti-histamines to stop myself from sneezing myself off the freeway or gouging my itchy eyeballs out.

When I look back it all makes sense, I had been through a period of trauma & high stress (fire, cancer scare, financial pressure, grief, family troubles, you name it), I was fasting frequently, eating restrictively and over exercising in an attempt to manage my hypothyroidism weight gain, running a business, studying full time and raising pre-schoolers. On top of that the house we were renting developed a leak and we had an indoor NGV style water wall every time it rained heavily but it wasn’t arty and chic, it was a mould nightmare.

My gut health plummeted, I was diagnosed with a nasty SIBO infection and allergies entered my world for the first time.

So what in the actual heck causes a seemingly perfectly healthy person to suddenly mount an immune response to harmless substances such as pollen or dust?

Research tells us that babies who are breastfed and kids who grow up with pets and play in the dirt are less likely to suffer with allergies, so what does that tell us? Allergies are related to the different types & breadth of variety of bacteria (or lack of) that we are exposed to. This is one of the reasons why I go all the way back to your birth in your Initial Health Assessment so I can look for red flags and start to identify the drivers of your autoimmunity and your constitutional weaknesses so we can make a plan to get you feeling human again.

Allergies and autoimmune disease both have something in common…the gut!

70-80% of immune function occurs in the gut and behind mucosal layers (think nostrils, lungs, gut lining) so when your gut modulated immune function is compromised & on high alert your immune cells can start to identify substances such as grasses as a threat. And when things are really dire your immune cells can mis-identify your self-cells as a threat, hello autoimmunity!

So yes, it’s really common for people with autoimmunity to also have allergies as it is one of the first signs that all is not well in the gut. But not everyone will express that way either. So do you have to have hay fever to have autoimmunity? No. But do you have to have gut issues in order to develop autoimmunity? Absolutely! For some people it’s been an issue since infancy and for others it’s an inflammatory response to a number of factors that are unique to their story but often involve periods of high stress, the wrong food choices, a deficiency of thyroid hormones, mould exposure and sometimes antibiotic or certain medication use.

When it comes to hay fever if this is one of the ways your body is expressing disordered immune function, there are some very helpful nutrients & foods that act like anti-histamines in your system I’ve shared below. But when it really boils down to it, your gut health needs to be addressed so your immune system & gut health can turn off those wailing red alerts and stop expecting a bogey man behind every dust mite or thyroid cell.

Strategies to battle hay fever symptoms…

  • Avoid exposure: wear sunglasses outdoors, not heading out if it’s windy, smearing lip balm on the inside of your nostrils to protect that mucosal lining, change your shirt when you come home
  • Vacuum regularly with a HEPA filter vacuum
  • Ingest omega 3 fatty acids via regularly consumption of fatty fish or a supplement to drive down inflammation
  • Reduce consumption of inflammatory foods such as processed foods, excessive refined sugar containing foods, alcohol & vegetable oils
  • Take specific strains of probiotics that are allergy-specific (like LGG)
  • Consume nutrients that act like antihistamines (quercetin – caution it’s a goitrogen, zinc, vitamin C, ginger)
  • Focus on upping your vitamin D either through sun exposure and/or supplementation
  • Cooled chrysanthemum tea eye wash for allergic itchy eyes
  • Focus on microbiome restoration and gut health (a longer term option, but start now!).

Without improving gut function, lowering gut inflammation and improving your microbiome composition your gut will continue to drive autoimmunity. You may find that you continue to struggle with bloating, constipation and other uncomfortable GI complaints, allergies, food intolerances, fatigue, joint pain, low moods, brain fog, skin issues like eczema & dermatitis, nutrient deficiencies, frequent respiratory infections and your skin, hair and general health will never reach their full potential. Releasing weight becomes that much more difficult when an inflamed gut is causing internal stress on your system and dysbiosis (an imbalance of the good & bad bacteria in your gut) has been shown to impair glucose tolerance meaning that increased insulin will keep you in fat storage mode.

YES! Your gut health even affects your metabolic health!

This is precisely why I address digestive function and gut health with all my Hashimoto’s clients and why a gut healing protocol is one of the pillars of The Thrive Method. It’s just too essential to ignore and without it, it is kind of like trying to fix a leaky boat with a pad of post it notes. Implementing a gut healing protocol is often the first thing I do depending on my findings in your Initial Health Assessment and your pathology results. Not forgetting that the way I teach my clients to eat regulates their blood sugar which is one of the foundations of restoring gut function.

Has hay fever been part of your autoimmune journey? What about any of the other symptoms I’ve mentioned above?

Tessa

Jul 04
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Late night snacking, a help or hindrance?

By | Digestion, Lifestyle

Got a cuppa? Let’s discuss the controversial topic of late night snacking.

I see a lot of messaging on social media saying you should be eating supper before bed, it’s good for you they say!

Can I give you my two cents?

Have you noticed that a lot of what I share with you is really just simple tips to keep your blood sugar regulated?

I believe that our ancestors knew this knowledge inherently due to generations of food traditions and habits but somehow we’ve lost our way when it comes to these common sense customs.

The Industrial Age brought many changes, some beneficial, others not so much. Like the humble light bulb which means we can stay up past sunset to party, work, relax and… eat!

So let’s say you have a big night out and find yourself enjoying a kebab at midnight. What’s the big deal?

Well, studies show that your body responds very differently to a kebab at midnight than to a kebab at midday.

It turns out that food eaten at night has a much higher glucose response to the exact same meals consumed during daylight hours.

We are biologically wired to be awake & active with the sun and sleeping or restful with the moon and that includes eating.

One study linked the high diabetes levels of shift workers to the fact that they were required to eat at night during their shifts and the high glucose response to those meals. They replicated those meals during the day and low and behold, their glucose response was slower, lower and didn’t last as long.

And guess what? The same was true for their lipid metabolism, explaining why an increased risk of cardiovascular disease is also associated with late night meals.

And just to recap, high glucose equals high insulin (your fat storage hormone).

So whenever your blood sugar is too high and poorly regulated, as is the case when you eat late at night, you are in fat storage mode.

So the habit of eating late will hinder your ability to maintain a healthy weight.

So when should you finish eating for the day?

Officially I say 8pm, mostly because it’s a sensible time for most Australians and families.

But you don’t have to put an exact time on it, these are guides not rules, there is no prison warden coming to lock up the fridge & turn off the lights at 8pm exactly.

I can just imagine someone bent over their meal, eyes darting to the clock on the dining room wall as they panic trying to finish their meal before 8pm. That is definitely not necessary! In your day to day life, just try to plan dinner at around 7:00-7:30 at the latest.

We have kids so we tend to eat at about 6pm. I won’t eat again until around 7am the next day.

Don’t you get hungry? I hear you ask.

Well actually no, I don’t even think about food to be honest unless maybe it’s a Friday night and our family makes a special treat or have a hot chocolate in front of a movie.

Dinner is always balanced with plenty of protein, vegetables, healthy fats & complex carbs so I am satisfied.

Do I make dinner bookings at 6pm? Gosh no, I don’t worry about finishing a meal by 8pm when I am out.

What time do you eat dinner?

May 24
0

Is weight loss possible with Hashimoto’s disease?

By | Hashimoto's, Hypothyroidism, Lifestyle, Weight Loss
Is weight loss possible with Hashimoto’s disease?

Every cell in the body requires adequate thyroid hormone and just about every organ needs enough thyroid hormones to function. The thyroid really is the Queen bee (or butterfly lol) of the body, orchestrating everything to keep you healthy and in homeostasis.

The truth is that it isn’t the Hashimoto’s directly that is causing weight gain, it’s the low thyroid function caused by the sustained attack on the thyroid tissue.

Due to this tissue destruction, eventually your thyroid will not be able to produce enough hormones and your metabolism will slow.

Enter stubborn weight gain.

When I was in the midst of a Hashimoto’s flare it felt like I only had to glance down the chocolate aisle to gain weight.

So is it possible to release that stubborn weight?

Heck yes! Absolutely! My clients & I are living proof. You do need to master a couple of key concepts though.

 

1. Regulate your blood sugar levels

In order to release weight with Hashimoto’s (and feel a million times better) you need to get yourself off the insulin roller coaster pronto. This daily rollercoaster ride causes weight gain and taxes the adrenals by causing a lot of stress in the body; which in turn negatively affects thyroid function causing it to drop and slow the metabolism. Yep, it’s a nasty cycle.

But it causes some other less than desirable effects for Hahsimoto’s healing too.

Dysregulated blood sugar levels also causes dysfunction in the tight junction function of the intestines causing intestinal permeability (leaky gut). Intestinal permeability can be a cause and driving factor of autoimmunity. Trying to heal from autoimmunity with compromised gut health and intestinal permeability is like trying to shoot a goal with your hand tied behind your back.

BTW this step is also essential for regaining the energy that was sucked into the bottomless pit of Hashimoto’s disease.

I have a free guide on this very topic available here.

 

2. Lower inflammation

Reduce or eliminate the consumption of inflammatory foods like gluten, vegetable oils, additives, excessive added sugars and processed foods. I’ll write a more detailed blog on why gluten is inflammatory for Hashimoto’s sufferers soon but due to molecular mimicry it is essential you cut gluten from your daily eating completely.

 

3. Reduce stress on the body

We ask a lot of our bodies, reducing physical stress will aid in releasing that extra weight. When your body is in survival mode it ain’t letting go of any of that stored energy (AKA fat cells) just in case it needs it to keep you alive. It’s a protective mechanism.

  • Sleep more!
  • Commit to self care by not doing too much, relax on the to do lists & learn to say no when you know you don’t have the energy.
  • Bring some joy & fun to your life. Watch a comedy, dance in the kitchen, take up a hobby, book regular catch ups with friends.
  • Eat three balanced meals per day to provide regular nutrition for your thyroid to function well and get that metabolism firing.
  • Breathe; breathwork/meditation/yoga, whatever it takes to slow you down and signal to your body that it’s safe.

 

Yes there are other stressors which are more difficult to pin down like GI infections, heavy metals, trauma etc but we’ll cover that another day. These basics need to be mastered first!

Now, these all tie in together because each one contributes to the other.

So choosing to work on one will actually help with the others.

I want you to commit and show up for yourself – comment below and let me know which point you are going to work on first.

Trust me, once you get some positive momentum happening then the flow on effect makes it a lot easier. Just pick a place to start, and know that change happens with every little choice you make across the day.

Need some targeted help and/or accountability? The Thrive Method addresses all three of these crucial steps to weight loss with Hashimoto’s disease.

Book a Discovery Call today to find out if it’s suitable for you.

 

Tessa

Mar 29
0

One woman’s Metabolic Balance journey (and her amazing results!)

By | Client Results, Hypothyroidism, Lifestyle, Metabolic Balance, Mindset, Whole foods
One woman’s Metabolic Balance journey (and her amazing results!)

I often to speak to potential clients who are curious about Metabolic Balance but want to see some real results from women just like them.

So one of my client’s, Sarah, has stepped forward to give you some inspiration and motivation.

Sarah’s story…

In 2019 Sarah had suffered with postpartum Graves disease, a thyroid autoimmune disease after the birth of her third child.

Since then Sarah’s weight had crept up, she was exhausted, sleeping poorly, menstruating heavily and was concerned about her PMS affecting her parenting & family life.

Sarah had daily brain fog and she felt inflamed and lacklustre. Her joints were “crunchy” and sore, particularly her knees.

Sarah’s digestion was causing issues for her with daily bloating and irregular bowel motions every 2-3 days.

Sarah’s goals were to regain her energy, balance her hormones so PMS wasn’t disrupting the household, know which foods suited her body, improve digestion and release 10kg of weight.

Sarah started Metabolic Balance on the 4th August 2021.

Day 8:

  • Starting to notice an increase in energy, 6 or 7/10, no longer needing a 3pm nap which have previously been a daily occurrence.
  • Bloating has decreased, stomach doesn’t feel hard & distended any longer.
  • Clothes are fitting more easily.
  • Struggling to drink the required water content though.
  • Missing the ritual of snacking.
  • Day 2 of period, PMS greatly reduced despite high stress.

Day 15:

  • A lot of stress this week and felt tempted to comfort with food but resisted and stuck to the plan.
  • Knees are feeling less ‘crunchy’.
  • Brain fog decreased and able to concentrate more easily.
  • Released 2kg, 3cm off waist, 7cm off hip, 3cm off thigh.

28 days:

  • Energy 7.5/10.
  • Brain fog is gone.
  • Mood and emotional resilience greatly improved despite being in lockdown again.
  • Menstrual cycle lighter and previous severe PMS now mild.
  • No longer experiencing joint pain in knees or shoulders. No longer feeling ‘crunchy’.
  • Sarah has noticed that she can see collarbone again and is fitting into pants she hasn’t worn in a long time.
  • Released 6kg, 7cm off her waist, 8cm off her hips & 5cm off her thigh.

8 weeks:

  • Packing house to move, high stress.
  • Family member had surgery, high stress and very interrupted sleep with children waking her regularly.
  • MB has “helped me stay level headed and clear”.
  • Released 6.9kg, 10cm off waist, 11cm off hips and 7cm off thigh.

10 weeks:

  • During move had more takeaway for a couple of weeks and felt awful.
  • Energy 8/10 despite the move.
  • Released 7.9kg, 10cm off waist, 11cm off hip, 8cm off thigh.

Two months later:

  • Sarah had moved house so I didn’t see her for a couple of months, she was feeling confident with her daily eating. By the time we caught up next Sarah had reached her goal weight and was maintaining it well.
  • She was still enjoying all the changes to her mood, cognition, menstrual cycle, joint health and digestive function too.
  • Sarah was in tune with her body and very confident with a whole foods diet. She had been experimenting with different foods and discovering which foods served her and which didn’t. She notes that she felt “free from emotional eating” and had learned a lot during the house moving stage when she ate a lot more takeaway and lapsed into old habits, noting “you realise how toxic processed food is”.
  • Bowel motions daily without the need for added fibre supplement and no bloating. Sarah had realised through trial and error that gluten caused digestive symptoms and was having a lower gluten diet, consuming rye instead of wheat. She had also discovered that dairy made her gassy and was contributing to her digestive discomfort. Through experimentation Sarah discovered she could still have A2 milk in her tea without any issues.
  • Sarah was now finding it easy to drink enough water.
  • Through Metabolic Balance Sarah had learnt a lot about her own nutritional needs and it was informing how she fed family too, family dinners were fully integrated with her own heathy eating now.
  • By the completion of her Metabolic Balance program after seven consults Sarah had released 10kg, 11cm off waist, 9cm off hip, 10cm off thigh and reached her goal weight.

I asked Sarah a few questions about her journey with Metabolic Balance, you can read what she wrote here….

Where were you at (health wise) before you started Metabolic Balance?
I was at a bit of a cross roads with my health and knew I needed to change what I was doing. I had recently been diagnosed with Graves disease and after several months of cutting out sugar, dairy and gluten I was in remission. However, 2020 came and I slumped back into old habits and ended up bloated, tired, irritable and 10kgs heavier which made me feel uncomfortable.

What tangible improvements had you had now after completing your program?
– no longer bloated
– less brain fog and more clarity
– more energy and no need for the 3pm nap
– feeling full and satisfied
– no hayfever symptoms
– less inflammation in my body, my knees aren’t as sore, no need to crack my knuckles
– change in taste buds
– weight loss consistent all over my body
– better posture
– less gassy and more predictable bowel movements
– more predictable periods and much less pain and irritability
– awareness of what will fuel and benefit my body
– less headaches
– no coldsores
– much better sleep
– becoming more disciplined
– making better choices and feeling confident in myself.

How would you describe MB to your best friend?
It’s something you need to choose to do for yourself, because at times it can be hard, especially in the beginning. It is something that will help you for the rest of your life and change the way you approach food in general. It has helped me in ways I wasn’t expecting and I’m grateful I had a coach who could walk through this with me and help me. It’s a total investment in your health, and a way to avoid all the drugs and symptom suppression that western medicine is reliant upon. With Metabolic balance, food is the medicine!

Are there any surprising or unexpected benefits you’ve found through the program?
I’ve tried new foods that I wouldn’t have normally chosen and it’s made me consider all the ingredients in processed food.
After having some of my highly desirable foods, I’m more aware of how it negatively affects my body and I will avoid them now.
My children have watched me with keen eyes throughout the process and they’ve noticed a lot of changes and how I talk about food.

What are you able to do now that you couldn’t before MB?
Fit into size 8-10 clothes!
Stop myself from eating too much and then feeling bloated and uncomfortable.
Think about how each meal will affect me in the long term and how to better equip my body for all the changes it will face as a woman!

It’s such a pleasure to play a part in someone’s health journey.

It is my belief that all women deserve to feel amazing like Sarah so they can show up in every area of their lives with vibrancy & joy.

And guess what? It’s possible!

Get in touch if you want to want to chat about whether Metabolic Balance is right for you!

 

Mar 01
0

The 5 foundations of radiant health

By | Lifestyle, Mindset, Whole foods

*image by Serkan Bayraktar

Well hello!

I’m coming to you from not-so-sunny Byron Bay. After a weekend of anxiety over the invasion of Ukraine I flew to Byron Bay for a work retreat just in time for the worst floods this region has seen in decades. My distress over Ukraine has been eclipsed somewhat by the tragedy unfolding much closer to home. It reminds me of the time my husband, baby son and I were stuck in Christchurch during the earthquake in 2011 knowing that people were trapped so close to us and there was nothing we could do. Heartbreaking.

I was going to write about something completely different in my blog this week but instead I wanted to share about one of my core beliefs when it comes to health.

I believe our heath is built on a foundation of five factors:

  1. Good nourishing food (no surprises there!)
  2. Clean & purified drinking water as nature intended
  3. A safe and clean environment in which to live
  4. Community & belonging
  5. Spiritual health & purpose.

With so many people suffering so close to where I now sit typing in safety and comfort in the heart of boho chic Byron Bay, I’m reminded once again of these five foundational cornerstones and how much each of these are threatened during times of tragedy as we are seeing in Northern NSW and South East Queensland this week.

Naturally, a sense of community and belonging can be strongest at these times when trials draw us closer to one another. A strong sense of belonging can extend a net of protective grace over the physical, emotional and spiritual health of a person just as much as isolation & loneliness can ravage their sense of wellbeing as we saw during lockdowns. In this way, the community factor is arguably the most influential over our health while probably also being the most underestimated.

After two years of division & isolation it is my hope that we can all reconnect with the power of community as we are witnessing in NSW & QLD right now. You might be seeing images of those using their recreational boats to rescue their neighbours & community from roofs and flood waters. In what ways can you lift anchor? What waters can you traverse to reach your family, friends and community to strengthen or reestablish their sense of belonging and safety? Whether you are affected by the flooding or not. Maybe I’m pushing the metaphor too far but we can’t thrive on an island, the wellbeing of your community is yours also.

If I can do anything to support you, let me know.

Feb 01
0

5 kitchen hacks that save you time and energy

By | Lifestyle, Metabolic Balance, Mindset, Recipes, Whole foods
5 kitchen hacks that save you time and energy

Does it feel like you’re spending waaaaaay too much time in the kitchen and when you’re not in the kitchen you’re thinking about what to cook? Feeding ourselves and our family can take up a lot of brain power and add to our mental load significantly but with a few strategic habits you can cut that time and mental load in half.

1. Stop snacking

Plan three nutritious and filling meals per day. The only exception is if you’re an athlete, child or are pregnant or breastfeeding. The snacking mindset has you going back to the kitchen every couple of hours checking the fridge, checking the pantry, checking the fridge again. Instead, plan three main meals around a protein source and be amazed as you don’t even think about food for a few hours. This is a key concept that my Metabolic Balance clients work through and gain big results from, too.

2. Meal plan

As mentioned before, the brain power and mental load it takes to actually think about what to have for dinner every day can really suck the joy out of being in the kitchen. Leaving meal planning to the few hours before you’re to eat can lend the process to be rushed, stressful and actually push us into that sympathetic nervous system state (fight or flight). If we are in this state, we are not absorbing and metabolising our food as we should be.

HINT: create two or three different weeks of meals, and rotate them. You’re still getting the variety but without having to meal plan every single week once you’re in this habit.

3. Shop once weekly

Have a plan, then execute. If we spend time writing out the meal plan, don’t drop the ball when it comes to collecting what is needed to follow through. One big weekly shop will save you so much more time and energy (and money, trust me!) than smaller shops throughout the week.

4. Batch cook

Lentil curry one night, lentil curry pies with GF pastry the next yummmm.
Or spaghetti bolognaise morphing into a shepherds pie for the next day.
And a super versatile one: leftover roast vegetables being used for lunch the next day, simply paired with some goats cheese and fresh greens.

This hack is a favourite time saver of mine. So much so that I’ve created a mini batch cooking recipe book – you can grab it for free here.

5.  Keep it simple! 

We seem to way over complicate our evening meals, but in reality you can create a healthy meal that is super simple and quick. In summer we are lucky to be able to get away with a lot more raw and fresh foods so dinner can be as simple as a piece of grilled meat alongside a salad with dressing.

Just make sure that your meal structure contains these key aspects: protein, good fats, complex carbs, vegetables and colour.

Hint: Have quick proteins ready to base your meal around, tinned tuna, salmon or sardines, pre-cooked chicken breast, boiled eggs, goats cheese, yoghurt, legumes, etc. I posted recently about getting a roast chook and making a salad. Nothin’ wrong with that!

We often don’t do these things because we think we don’t have time to be that organised, but in reality you can’t afford NOT to be this organised! And as you can see, with a little conscious thought and preparation, these hacks are super simple and easily integrated into your life.

I would love to hear how you’re putting these kitchen hacks into action! Please hit reply (I absolutely love reading your responses!) or tag me on Instagram and Facebook.

Jan 17
0

‘Burning it off’ is a myth

By | Lifestyle, Metabolic Balance, Mindset

‘Burning it off’ is a myth.

It really grates on me when I hear about people flogging themselves in the high intensity cardio, pump until you vomit, HIIT and F45 kind of way. It puts the body under enormous stress. It has the opposite to our desired outcome and actually increases our insulin which keeps us in fat storage mode.

I know, right.

Can I also mention that if we add kids, a stressful career and/or a ton of responsibilities onto that, then this kind of exercise will just drive up your already elevated stress response.

Further to this, if we don’t have a disposable few hours a day to spend toning our bodies (not to mention the time drain of compromised health) then this way of approaching our health goals just won’t work.

So I say this with love, but that New Years-fuelled gym membership is not going to give you the results you want.

But stay with me here, because there is an alternative to losing that weight and it does not start (or end) in the gym.

Actually, it begins in the kitchen.

It’s more important to get your food right, master that, and THEN incorporate some movement that nourishes rather than ravages your nervous system to support your overall health – including weight loss.

In fact, the notion that you can’t maintain a healthy weight without hours of punishing daily exercise is quite outdated and doesn’t take into account how smart our bodies actually are.

Using Metabolic Balance and my system, you are actually required to rest for the first few weeks. That’s right, no gruelling exercise regimes alongside MB at all. And I’ll let you in on a little secret. Those first few weeks, when the focus is on resting and nourishing and gently resetting the body, is when a lot of people release most of their excess weight.

Sounds amazing, right?

With MB we start with a comprehensive health assessment and blood test panel. And we use that information to formulate a plan individualised to your nutritional needs.

This is the key to dropping excess weight.

Because once we get your food right, your insulin levels stabilise, and then by incorporating smart movement into this we switch on our fat burning mode.

Now, I want to show you some interesting stats.

Have you ever heard people say that weight loss is 80% diet, 20% exercise? That actually comes from a large meta-analysis of 493 studies on weight loss methods.

They found that:

  • The first group changed their diet lost 10.7kg in 16 weeks.
  • The second group didn’t change their diet but embarked upon an exercise regime and lost 2.9kg in 16 weeks.
  • The third group changed both diet & movement patterns and lost 11kg in 16 weeks.

So with this we can see that diet is the ultimate tool for releasing excess weight.

BUT we don’t avoid movement altogether as it is so important for physical and mental health.

Instead, in combination with my system using MB, I encourage my clients to move in a way that feels good for them, is enjoyable, and that also builds muscle (as having more muscle raises your metabolic rate, meaning you burn more fat at rest). Bonus points if this movement is done outside in nature (you get extra stress-busting points for that!!).

So let’s tackle your health goals together this year, pop that gym membership away for now and allow your body to relax into the MB way of eating and moving. You can book your free info chat here.