I love to help you become the best version of yourself at Feeling Great Naturopath Corowa
It’s Monday morning the alarm goes off……………… how do you feel?
A) Do you reach for snooze, pull up the covers and wish for the weekend OR
B) Do you jump out of bed refreshed and excited for the adventures of the day?
If it’s A……I know you’re feeling crappy?
Fatigue may not always be down to burning the candle at both ends or overfilling our days. The Royal College of Psychiatrists suggests that, at any given time, one in five people feel unusually tired and one in 10 have prolonged fatigue. Women tend to feel tired more than men. – WebMD
There is hope from crappy. I see huge turnarounds every day.
Here’s one.
Sonia, a working mother of three kids recently arrived at my office dragging her depleted, aching frame. Her hope of feeling ‘normal’ or good again had almost extinguished. She had a Lack of Energy Always Tired.
I fanned the sparks of hope as I uncovered she had good reason to feel the way she did –
1. Her cell membranes were falling apart, as my test results showed.
It’s like trying to carry something in millions of leaky buckets, no matter how you fill your energy making cells, it just doesn’t work. Frustrating!
What contributes to leaky membranes?
Poor fat digestion, gallbladder problems, not eating enough good fats or being a vegetarian that’s not protein combining well or poorly digesting and absorbing your proteins (eggs, nuts, chicken, fish, beef, lamb, legumes).
Once you know what the problem is you can fix, encourage or compensate for it by nurturing that organ or process.
2. Sonia was suffering from adrenal exhaustion. She’d been running on empty for a long time now, about 7 years now.
Very common, in working mums with the mantra ‘I’m OK’.
You’re so not OK….it’s time to swap giving for receiving for just a moment and ask for help!
When you don’t have flowing energy, you dig into willpower every day. You often live on caffeine, carbs (cakes, biscuit, bread) and sugar, which depletes you further by stripping nutrients from your body to break these down. The downward spiral continues.
How do you break the cycle?
Lack of Energy Always Tired – Knowing how to maximise your energy in a nourishing way and identifying energy zappers like missing essential nutrients, thyroid, gut or autoimmune problems.
3. Sonia had self-sabotaging patterns that had enabled her to live into adrenal fatigue, now she had to learn how to live out of it. It was time to practice valuing, honoring and loving herself.
How do you break out of self-sabotaging patterns?
Replace them with nurturing and replenishing alternatives.
Aim for progress in the right direction. It will take time.
Elements may include –
4. Sonia had developed gut issues over the years.
Doctors had labeled it as IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), where she had bouts of constipation them diarrhea.
Through testing, we uncovered she had food intolerances to eggs, dairy, and almonds and an overgrowth of bad gut flora and a lack of good bacteria (Microbiome testing). Once she completed a 6-week gut repair program all the IBS cleared.
She couldn’t believe the difference in how she felt.
No more sugar cravings, energy drops, brain fog and urgent visits to the toilet.
Within weeks Sonia felt a massive difference in her energy. Her moods were more even, calmer, balanced. She was becoming more of her true self again. Empowered, energised – the spark was coming back.
I love my job. I get to see beautiful women come alive again each and every day.
Is it time you moved from feeling crappy to thriving and dropped the ‘I’m OK’ mantra and got real with yourself?
If so, BOOK NOW to get started today
Loads of health and happiness, Julie XXX
As you’re juggle life’s challenges big and small, while keeping all the balls of family, work, relationships and your health all balanced in the air. You may have overlooked an essential piece of your overall well being and happiness – your microbiome.
Did you know you have more bacteria in your body than cells in your body?
Scary isn’t it!! Well, these bacteria live in your gut, in your mouth, on your skin, in fact all over. Now they can be your friend or foe depending on the balance. You ideally want loads of the good guys that help to make your nutrients, decrease inflammation, help to digest your food and enable you to feel happy, energised and clear headed.
A healthy gut microbiome controls your ability to deal with stress, and that starts in your gut. If you have messed-up digestion, you’ll have a diminished ability to deal with stressful situations. And without the ability to release stress and get to a happy mind space, you end up building a higher and higher threshold for stress.
Your gut health is about way more than just digestion.
Did you know 80 percent of your immune system is in your gut? Right where the bulk of your microbiome lives. So protecting your gut barrier, crowding out and killing bad bacteria and infections and allergies all help your immune system play it’s A game.
What does this mean for you? Well, when your immune system is humming along, protecting you from bad guys and welcoming friends in, you can put the pedal to the metal and go after your dreams. Fewer sick days and more time to enjoy life and be productive.
I’m sure no one would say no to more real energy – it’s the fuel of life. Helping you to blitz through jam-packed schedules, endless deadlines, and often having little time to relax in today’s on-the-go culture. So, many people rely on caffeine and energy drinks to stay ahead of the game. Did you know your good gut bacteria can help you maintain your day-to-day energy levels naturally? No sugar and caffeine required.
How does it work? Well your microbiome helps to break down and digest all the food you eat so you can up take the nutrients you need to feel great. It also produces energy boosting B vitamins and keeps your blood sugar balanced, so no more mid-afternoon humps.
Your good bacteria cranks up your sleep quality so you are recharged and at your best producing and regulating important neurotransmitters and amino acids, like serotonin and tryptophan.
Not being at your ideal weight can affect your energy levels, your mood, your hormones, your cognitive function, and even your immunity.
Where does your microbiome fit in? Well, it supports your metabolism and a healthy weight by producing enzymes that help digest food and absorb nutrients. So, no more overeating yet being malnourished, wavering blood sugar levels so you’re constantly searching for that next sugar fix and plenty of hormones that tell your brain when you’re full.
If you can get to that weight that is perfect for your frame, you’ll be on track to enjoying all the benefits of a performance-ready body and mind that are ready to tackle whatever comes your way.
Say goodbye to brain fog. Think of all the energy you’ll save when your clarity is dialled up. Did you know your gut is your second brain?
You see your microbiome communicates with your brain via the vagus nerve, where good bacteria send mind-boosting chemicals and messages to the brain that improve your memory and cognitive function.
A gut that doesn’t have billions of good bacteria can get out of balance and overrun with yeast and bad bacteria, producing chemicals and by-products that are toxic to the brain—leading to brain fog and memory problems.
This is also where your warrior gut barrier is so important. If you don’t have enough of the good guys standing guard, the barrier can become “leaky” and allow toxins into your bloodstream that negatively affect your brain. Focusing on the health of your gut microbiome can help ensure that your brain is getting all the communication it needs to support you.
Your gut and brain are inextricably linked, so a disruption in either one has the capacity to seriously affect the other. Your gut bacteria produces more than 90% of all the serotonin, the “happy” chemical that plays a role in everything from mood and appetite to sleep in your body. Your gut microbiome also lowers cortisol (the “stress” hormone) levels, turns down anxiety, decreases depression and lowers inflammation that can cause loads of emotional and physical health challenges.
When it comes to living your happiest life, staying positive may just be the key to realizing all your goals. A healthy population of good gut bacteria will keep your mood balanced and high.
Your skin can be the first sign that your gut isn’t going well – breakouts, infection, dullness. When your gut is absorbing nutrients—thanks to your good bacteria—and getting rid of toxins and chemicals, your whole body is better for it and your skin glows it!
When fungus, yeast, and bad bacteria overrun your microbiome, it leads to chronic, systemwide inflammation that shows up as acne, redness, irritation, dry patches, fine lines, and even premature aging.
Your skin also has its own unique microbiome that plays a huge role in a healthy complexion. Not only do good bacteria in your dermal layers discourage the growth of nasty bacteria that can cause problems, but they produce substances like hyaluronic acid that plumps and moisturizes skin, and ceramide that strengthens and firms the skin barrier.
Healthy skin and a glowing complexion really do start from the inside out!
Did you know that your mouth has a microbiome as well? Beneficial bacteria in your oral cavity are your immune system’s first line of defence and have an enormous effect on the health of your teeth, gums, and even your breath. Harmful bacteria often cause tooth cavities and gum disease that can affect your radiant smile.
Research shows that smiling can improve your mood, lower your stress response, increase your productivity, and make you more creative—and make you seem more approachable and trustworthy to others. Now that’s a win-win!
One of the biggest issues with having an unhealthy gut is that it leads to leaky gut syndrome, which in turn leads to toxins entering the circulatory system and eventually the brain. This causes lower levels of happiness, mood disorders, and disease.
Need help getting your microbiome in tip top shape? Click here to book online.
Hoping this article helped you understand your body a little better. Know anyone who would benefit from it as well, please pass it on.
Loads of gut health and happiness, Julie xo
Feel like your brain is broken more often than not?
I hear it a lot.
I can’t think – I lose my train of thought so easily.
My brain is so foggy. I feel like I have dementia. My memory is shot.
I keep having those ‘why did I come into this room moments?’
Prone to bouts of anxiety or feeling down?
If you had to name the most exciting recent medical discovery, what would you say? As a health practitioner, I know my answer, hands down: the microbiome.
That’s the community of trillions of bacteria that inhabit our gut, mouth, lungs, nasal passages, skin, and brain. Although we’ve been aware of these bacteria for a while, until now we didn’t realize what a crucial role they play in just about every aspect of our health.
Emotional eating can begin in childhood when food becomes your parents’ favourite tools of distraction and reward, wielded in response to various emotions and behaviours that you exhibited. As a baby, they silenced your cries with a bottle. As a child, they rewarded your good behaviour with candy, snacks, ice cream and various sugary desserts. As an adult, you may find yourself eating certain junk foods just because it reminds you of some happy childhood memory. – Huffpost
Physical Hunger
Emotional Hunger
1.How to Overcome Emotional Eating – Identify Your Triggers – Keep a food and mood diary to track these. Identify them then backtrack.
What you ate or wanted to eat? What happened to set this up? How did you feel before you ate? What you felt as you were eating? How did you feel afterwards?
2. Find Other Ways To Feed Your Feelings – beyond food to meet your emotional needs. The keys to success are moving (dance, bike, swim, walk…), changing your focus (outside of yourself with music, friend, helping others, etc) and engaging in gratitude (get optimistic) are some universal tools.
Ideas are – Exhausted –> take a hot bath or spa, allow self to have quick nap, lay in sun outdoors & listen to nature; Lonely or down –> ring a fun friend, go for a walk with a friend or your dog, watch a comedy movie, crank up fun music; Anxious –> dance to your favourite song, go for a walk, do 15 minutes of yoga, take it out with a friend.
3. Pause When Cravings Hit – Take 5 before you mindlessly part-take – go outside and skip for 5 minutes, dance like a maniac to your favourite song, drink 2 glasses water, 30 sit-ups. This will interrupt your mindless pattern so you can exert your option to choose.
Remember it is key to learn to accept your feelings even the bad ones and remember you have control over your emotions…..a choice in each and every moment. An emotion lasts for 45 seconds you can choose to let it pass or hold onto it for 1 hour, 1 day, 1 year, a lifetime.
Allow yourself to feel uncomfortable emotions they can be scary but in reality, when we don’t obsess or suppress them, even the most difficult feeling subside relatively quickly and lose their power to control our attention.
Instead, opt for being present in the moment – feel it, smell it, hear it, see it. In opening up to our emotions, our lives become richer as they help us discover our deepest desires, fears, frustrations and the things that make us fulfilled and happy.
4. Prevention With Healthy Habits – Being physically strong, relaxed, well rested enables you to better handle what life throws at you. Living in overwhelm and exhaustion will send you straight to the fridge or pantry.
• Daily exercise – reduces stress, enhances mood, boosts energy levels, increases fitness
• Daily relaxation – schedule in 30 mins each day to relax, decompress, unwind. Recharge your batteries, break from responsibilities
• Connect with other – social activities, close relationships are essential to protect you from the negative effects of stress.
• Get at least 8 hours sleep – lack of sleep is linked to consuming more food and reduced satiety signals, plus increased stress levels.
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If you would like further information or help to formulate a diet plan which will reduce the urge to Emotional Eating BOOK HERE
