While we may have the best of intentions, Christmas time comes with some challenges when it comes to staying healthy and looking after ourselves. The food, the stress, the socialising…healthy routines and habits can often be disrupted. Rather than giving up altogether, here are a few ideas. 

As I have aged, I have become much more aware of the importances of maintaining muscle mass, which naturally decreases as we get older. Muscle is more than just a source of strength or a way to stay toned; it plays a fundamental role in many aspects of health, from metabolism and mobility to immune function and disease prevention. In this post, I’ll explore why muscle mass matters for healthy ageing and share practical ways to support muscle health at any stage of life.

You have probably heard that the Mediterranean lifestyle and way of eating is associated with health and longevity and has often been picked by scientists as the healthiest diet. Sometimes it can be hard to pin down what a Mediterranean diet and lifestyle actually means, but it does have some general characteristics such as emphasising minimally processed local foods, eating socially, and walking a fair bit. 

Here in Perth we have a Mediterranean climate, we have a cafe culture, and we do have plenty of immigrants and their descendants from the Mediterranean in our community. One of the things I love about the Mediterranean lifestyle and way of eating is that it is flexible and adaptable to most social situations, and we can easily grow all the vegetables and herbs locally, and we have access to local seafood which is a key component. 

Here are some simple ideas for a low key, doable spring cleanse

When it comes to health, it’s easy to get lost in the details and forget that the basics do most of the heavy lifting. We can get caught up in perfectionism, the latest supplement promising miracles, whether our food is wild-caught or organic, getting morning sunlight, avoiding EMFs, cold plunges, getting 8 hours of sleep, and cutting out alcohol. Then there are the latest diet fads that eliminate one or more macros, making it nearly impossible to eat out—yet they promise rapid weight loss and improved health, if only you could stick to them.

I’m no stranger to this, especially as I’m always reading and staying informed. Add social media algorithms to the mix, and it’s a constant stream of the latest health trends.

That’s why I often remind myself to come back to the basics, find balance, and let “good enough” be enough. After all, life is for living.

For me, the difference between having adequate iron levels and being anaemic has been life-changing. It's easy to get used to being chronically fatigued, run down, overwhelmed, lacking energy to exercise, or even eat well…and not take steps to see if it’s something as simple as being low in iron.

Dear woman of any age, when was the last time you got your iron checked? Were you told “it’s a bit low” and to “take an iron supplement”? And, did you take them consistently, and get retested 3 months later?

It has become so common for women to have low iron stores, which is the ferritin part of the pathology test, that doctors often gloss over it as if it’s not a big deal. They are often taught that high iron is dangerous and to be concerned about, but low iron just makes you tired, it’s not dangerous, so no big deal.

have been working with a personal trainer focusing on strength training. I highly recommend Willow from Soul Strength Fitness, because she really walks her talk and has been through an incredible transformation herself. After only a few weeks I am feeling such a difference, muscles switched on, confidence lifted, body feeling much more integrated and alive…..

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?