Many people book a consultation with me after following along for quite a few years. Usually they know someone who has worked with me in the past… but they aren’t sure if what I do is going to work for them. Or specifically, they aren’t sure who Metabolic Balance is suitable for. ‘Will Metabolic Balance work for me?’ they wonder.

Honestly, I can’t guarantee a specific result, but I can guarantee that people who come on board with me and see a full Metabolic Balance journey through to the end (roughly a 6 month journey) are changed humans. They aren’t the same people at the end compared with who they were when they began. They typically feel:

-Empowered when it comes to their own health

-Clear about what they should eat to fuel their own bodies to feel fantastic

-A lot more energetic!

-Lighter (physically and mentally) and healthier overall)

-Shocked at the sheer power and impact that food really has on how we feel and perform!

To give you an idea of the kind of everyday people who do the Metabolic Balance programs and experience really amazing results, here is a little synopsis of 3 recent clients who have done MB with me in the last 12 months.

Meet Janelle…..

Janelle is woman in her early 50s. She has PhD qualifications, working full time and has raised 4 children. All still live at home but are independent young adults. For roughly 8 years Janelle has felt her body change despite doing ‘the same thing she had always done – eating well and exercise a few times a week.’ In addition, her digestion was REALLY bothering her. She felt bloated ESPECIALLY by lunchtime and throughout the afternoon to the point where she really felt uncomfortable being in the office. She was also experiencing a lot of unwanted flatulance and this was stopping her from having a go at new things she would have liked to try including reformer pilates. Her only other complaint was fairly rubbish sleep quality and low energy overall.

Maybe you can relate to Janelle? Menopause is an interesting time for women… that ‘key’ you’ve always used to understand your body and give it what it needs and wants? Just doesn’t seem to fit anymore! You have to… relearn the ropes and undestand this new body and what makes it feel good.

Thankfully Metabolic Balance works beautiful in this situation and I find women in their mid 40s to mid 50s are my most common participants in MB… and biggest success stories. Janelle learned her foods – and did the program with absolute ease. Her digestion was calm within the first 2 weeks and she returned to a healthy and really comfortable physical body within 6 weeks.

Meet Craig….

Craig is an interesting one! Male, early 40s with a few kids and a ‘can not switch off, A type personality’ with a military background AND a professional sporting background to back it all up! Wowzer. Craig REALLY had to relearn how to care for himself. His ‘way’ for the last 30 years was to…. train his guts out. I mean literally. Then eat brocolli and chicken. Saunas. Water loading. Starvation. You name it – he had done it! Craig barely even knew how to switch off long enough to sleep! But Craig was soooo receptive to be a student and rewire his thinking. THIS was the key to his success. Craig is still relatively early in his journey but he is:

-Eating a HUGE variety of foods unlike what he has EVER done in the last

-LOVING his food and NOT missing meals and feeling NOURISHED

-SLEEPING! Like, he has even slept in a few times!

-Realised that training can be for enjoyment and mental wellbeing and is not for burning calories and sweating it out

-Has returned very quickly to a trim, healthy physique without blood, sweat or tears!

Craig has embraced everything. And again I stress… the willingness to rewire his thinking was TOTALLY the key to his success.

Meet Caroline.

Cheeky Caroline. Such a great attitude for a women who had been dealt a LOT to deal with. In a lot of ways Caroline was similar to Janelle… same age, some of the same complaints. But Caroline was also exxperiencing CHRONIC pain. And she was on a LOT of medication. Which comes with quite a LOT of side effects. Including digestive issues, sleep disturbances and terribly low energy. I feel terrible saying this but I wasn’t sure how Caroline would go in the begining. Her Metabolic Balance food plan was very different from what she was used to… but my goodness she embraced it and she did AWESOME. For Caroline, reducing weight was hugely important because it meant less pain and a lot more mobility and that she did – about 6 dress sizes last time I heard! But in addition? She experienced SIGNIFICANT reductions in her pain levels and was able to start reducing a lot of her medications. She redisovered a zest for life again and honestly was a completely different person… excitable again… just 6 months into the program.

So there you have it. 3 ordinary people. With their own stories. Can you relate to any of them? What will your Metabolic Balance story be?

I’ve come to realise, after almost a decade of doing this nutrition gig, the whole health thing isn’t really about what you eat. Well… It is but it isn’t. You see, what you eat is important, but what you eat isn’t really about…. What you eat. Confused? I would be too! What I really mean is that what you eat is actually driven by:

-How you feel about your body.

-How you manage your stress and emotions.

-How you’re making space for yourself in all areas of your life.

-Your own body intuition.

So if you’ve been on this merry go round for a while… Maybe it’s time to look beyond the next meal plan or the next challenge and examine what’s actually driving ‘what you eat.’

How you feel about your body.
Food is fundamentally a pretty amazing life force. The real stuff is full of colour, nutrients, energy and vitality. But often we don’t see food in this light. Instead we see it in black and white: good or bad? Low or high calorie? Non fat or high fat? We see it as a step towards our physical body goals… Or blame it as the reason we aren’t achieving said body goals. The irony is, thanks to a lot of external noise, most of our ‘body goals’ aren’t ‘our’ body goals at all – they are a goal to look like (at least in part) someone else. Someone we don’t even know and who doesn’t even look that way without a professional photographer, the right lighting and 100 take 2s. If we instead just… Accepted and made peace with our bodies and where they are now, we’d be far more likely to choose foods to nourish and nurture our physical bodies. We’d respect food for all that it actually is.

How you manage stress and emotions.
There isn’t really a way to manage stress or emotions through food… Or drink (specifically alcohol) for that matter. If you’re turning to food immediately when stressed or upset, it’s a diversion to avoid confronting the actual emotion and what’s driving it in the first place. This falls beyond my scope of practice… I can only help to identify emotional eating, I can’t really treat it. Except to say that it’s not going to go away unless it’s really dealt with and this is where a good mental health professional can help. Or other lifestyle interventions like walking regularly, meditation, yoga and even just a simple hug.

How you’ve made space for yourself in all areas of your life. 
This one might seem a little strange but I see it time and time again. Lots of people want to look after themselves better… But there still looking for the quickest and easiest way to ‘feel better.’ There’s no real time or space in their lives to actually fundamentally change. One of the first things I’ll ask most clients to do is get properly hydrated. I’m often challenged on this from the get go because too many people claim they don’t have time to drink water and they don’t have time to wee that much. See what I mean? Similarly, if we know nourishing food takes time to prepare and we aren’t carving out that time to do it, then there’s no space here for the behaviour change in the first place. Are we actually living in line with the value of health and self respect overall? It’s a big question! Think about it.

Your own body intuition.
Our own innate body intuition is largely ignored these days. Mainly because we are subjected constantly to external influencers telling US what we need and how much. How can someone who does not even know you apparently know your body better than you, may I ask? When put in this way, it really does seem quite silly hey? It’s ok. We’re all falling for it! Get back in tune with YOU. Yes you can seek professional guidance but marry this with your own body intuition for real success. 
 These days it’s all about the ‘now,’ the overnight success, the faster the better etc. But true change is behavioural and comes from looking at things from a completely different perspective. Be a rebel and play the long game. If we practiced a bit of self love, even just body neutrality, we’d fundamentally change what we ate for the better. If we identified our stresses and worked through our emotions instead of eating them, we wouldn’t turn to food as a diversion tactic. We have to make space to take better care of ourselves in all areas of our lives for a change to occur in the kitchen. And finally, we need to honour the fact that we know ourselves better than anyone else. That is how you fundamentally and truly change what you eat.

What should I eat while I am on holidays?

I’ve been asked this question multiple times in the last couple of weeks so I figured it was time to address it with a blog. Before I dive into the crux of the topic let me say, have an awesome time and I’m super happy (also slightly jealous) that you’re heading off an adventure! If the ‘what should I eat while I am on holidays’ conundrum is causing you pre-holiday jitters, I’m hoping this blog will relieve all of that stress.

Let’s start by considering the reasons why you’re taking a holiday in the first place. Broadly speaking, most of us take a holiday for some or all of the following reasons:

• To rest, recuperate and recharge.
• To experience a different culture and participate in different activities we may not be able to do where we live.
• To spend quality time with family or close friends away from the busyness of everyday life.

Keeping these reasons in mind (plus any personal, specific reasons you may have), let’s move onto the food conversation. There are generally 2 main concerns I’ve heard people voice as far as ‘holiday eating’ is concerned. The first is around what food will actually be available and whether there will be enough ‘healthy’ stuff to eat. When I hear this concern, I always dig deep to find out what ‘healthy’ stuff that person is hoping to eat. Because healthy doesn’t mean the exact same food that you and I are used to eating most days of the week. To me, ‘healthy food’ is a pretty broad term and really includes all food that is fresh, minimally processed and leaves me feeling pretty good after I consume it. ‘Healthy food’ is not limited to the usual salad or veggies that I serve up most of the time at home. If you really want to experience the culture of a place, you’ll be keen to dive in and embrace their traditional cuisine cooked in traditional ways. Sure, it will be ‘different’ to what we are used to, but traditional food has its roots in nature not buried in packets at the supermarket. Of some of the places, I’ve travelled, my favorite ‘healthy, holiday food’ has included:

• Handmade pasta with Napoli sauce made from the sweetest tomatoes in Rome
• Dahl night after night, heading up to Everest basecamp in Nepal
• The most insanely delicious, oily tinned sardines on a foodie tour of Portugal
• Black bean and meat curries in Brazil (I can never seem to find authentic South American black beans over here sadly)
• Pho roadside in Vietnam….
• Juice from fresh coconuts in Bali and Fiji.

Now if you’re still thinking you have some concerns because you’re imagining yourself dining on fresh pasta 3 times a day and not faring too well as a result, what you’re really concerned about is self control. This is the second (and usually primary) concern most people have around holiday eats. We worry that when we are confronted with the option to eat or drink whatever we like and experience ‘all of the flavors ‘because it’s a holiday’ we will do precisely that. I’ve definitely been there and done that and what I’ve discovered is that it really negates the gains from taking a holiday in the first place. Let me explain by asking you to reflect back on your main reasons for taking a holiday in the first place. If you’re constantly overeating, you’re not going to come to the end of the holiday feeling rested and recharged. Nor are you going to be feeling energetic and excited to jump in and enjoy some of those ‘once in a lifetime’ activities that are on your list. You’ll also feel cranky and tired and not keen to spend time with your loved ones. In order to avoid this trap, remember what I said earlier in the blog about focusing on foods that ‘leave you feeling pretty good’ after you’ve consumed them. So say you are at a buffet, where the choices can be overwhelming and you might be hit with ‘FOMO.’ Think about selecting those things that you enjoy, but also agree with you and leave you feeling calm in the guts, plus happy and energetic in the head for the few hours that follow. For me, this would mean a couple of eggs in some form, a heap of mushrooms and spinach if I could find it, maybe some avocado and some good dense bread. If I was fancying something sweet and really hungry I might top it off with a bit of coconut yoghurt and fruit. Pancakes? They look great, but I know within about 5 minutes of eating them I’m not only hungry again (I really need solid protein in the morning) but I also have a headache (too much sugar in the toppings; think ice cream, sauce etc. I’m an ice cream lover but I can not do it before 11am!) Therefore pancakes are just not something I would ever choose; its not worth it for 2 minutes of enjoyment.

To apply this ‘feel good’ test to foods you may also need to consider the quantity of the food you are intending to eat. I loved the gelato in Rome. But I knew that if I had it everyday, I’d start to feel pretty sluggish; too much sugar makes me feel really tired and we had a lot to cram in!  So I had 2 or 3 single scoop gelatos across the entire week we were there for and only when I really felt like it.

It’s also worth remembering that we live in a global society and a lot of what we think is unique to a particular region or place can probably be sought out in your own neighborhood if you look hard enough. So don’t worry about missing out; enjoy everything you can in moderation and remember there will always be other flavors, textures and deliciousness to enjoy… This is not your only chance!

If you are still really concerned about food on holidays (perhaps you have a lot of food intolerances to take in consideration) consider booking self catering accommodation so you can visit local shops and markets and prepare a lot of your own food from fresh, local ingredients.

So basically, to sum up, eat mindfully. As you always should strive to do.

And as usual, (you know I’m going to say it…) stay hydrated!!!

Happy holidaying. 

Crikey I really can’t believe I’m doing something so cliche. Offering a ‘2023 health challenge’ that is. But… mine is a little bit different, I’d really like to think. Here’s what I’m hoping people will focus on in 2023 if they are setting some health goals for the new year:

• Making sustainable changes…. that they really hope and want to last.
• Focusing on ‘high level’ stuff that really makes a big difference over time. For example, drinking enough water every day…. and not putting any sugars in your coffee? THAT’S important stuff. Those habit changes matter. So does… doing more incidental movement each day (it all adds up) and getting enough sleep. What exercises will shape your butt best? I couldn’t care less.
• Begining with the end in mind i.e. don’t ‘start’ a challenge thinking you’ll get a result and then just go back to what you are doing now… begin the challenge realising that you need to be living a different lifestyle and eating better foods by the end of it. If you just go back to what you are doing now? You will end up getting the same result
• Doing things differently (i.e. perhaps doing things the way they are outlined above) in order to be in a very different place next year (i.e. not back at square 1 and needing to ‘get healthy all over again’
• NOT focusing on the numbers. I’ve written many blogs about this! And spoken about it on The Happy Apple podcast too. Instead focusing on HEALTH. (The numbers changing is a side benfit of improving health.)
• LEARNING about what works for THEIR OWN bodies and LISTENING to their own bodies too.
• Being kind and patient with oneself. Rather than having a ‘go hard or go home’ / ‘all or nothing’ sort of attitude as THAT is unsustainable and you’ve heard me rave on many times about consistency over perfectionism.
• Engaging with a supporting practitioner / coach and / or a supportive environment…. I think this is more positive than turning a challenge into a competition, right?

If all of this resonates with what YOU want then maybe you should consider joining the Healthy Habits for 2023 community challenge. Here’s what you get and what you need to do:

• You need to jump over to my ‘ ecourses’ page and select the ‘cliek here to know more’ tab under the Habits for Health’ option.
• PROVIDED you like what you read AND it resonates with you then actually BUY my Habits for Health ‘ecourse’ (its $69.)
• You’ll receive login details within a timely fashion….
• You need to READ Preparation lesson 1 and preparation lesson 2 and IDEALLY print out the ‘ Habits for Health’ workbook in the lesson downloads section…
• THEN you need to COMMIT to being PRESENT in a series of webinars in late December, throughout January and into early February (the challenge will go for 6 weeks). It’s totally fine to not be present LIVE, all sessions will be recorded so you can watch them AFTERWARDS at a time that suits. Here are the dates and the topics we will cover in EACH webinar:
  • FRI DECEMBER 30th @ 1-145pm: Welcome to the Habits for Health challenge | Setting your goals and an overview of the course | Habit 1 and 7 hydration and incidental exercise
  • FRI 6th JANUARY @ 1-145pm: Habit 2 Ditching unhealthy snacks
  • FRI 13th JANUARY @ 1-145pm: Habit 5 and 6 Eat your greens and Self talk
  • FRI 20th JANUARY @ 1-145pm: Habit 9 Food planning
  • FRI 27th JANUARY @ 1-145pm: Habit 3 and 4 Optimising your sleep and self talk
  • FRI 3rd FEBRUARY @ 1-145pm: Habit 8 incidental exercise and supplements / medication
• Participate as much or as little as you like in the Habits for Health challenge facebook group (private).
• Make changes and be proud of yourself each week as we collectively progress through the course!

Note: you do NOT have to be social in the webinars if you don’t want to. You can be quiet and private or as excited and chatty as you like. You will receive details for the webinars AND be invited to join the community facebook group in a timely fashion once you have enrolled in the course and received log in details.

This course is honestly suitable for a wide range of people… I honestly believe ALL Of us need to revisit basic healthy habits (myself included) from time to time, so even I am looking forward to honing in and putting these foundational health habits into FIRM concrete.

If you’ve never worked with me before this is SUCH a great opportunity. Its less than half the cost of an initial consult with me so you don’t have much to lose… just better health to gain!

So… are you joining me? For any questions, just drop an email to katie@thebalancednutritionist.com.au

And regardless of whether you join, I do hope 2023 is both healthy and happy for you and your family.

Yes I know. There is sooo much christmas nutrition advice out there at this time of year. I’m sorry to add to it. I know how most of it makes you feel…. guilty perhaps? Because some people just seem to do Christmas so ‘perrfectly.’ Confused? Because ‘expert’ advice conflicts (as always when it comes to nutrition). Overwhelmed? As any nutrition advice can feel…. Or just plain sick and tired of it all? I’m with you there!

That’s ok. This is advice with a bit of a twist. Its just…. good, basic, commonsense sort of advice… you know the kind I specialise in? And when I shared this advice with a client they said ‘yeah… that’s actually really good advice. I can follow that!’ So I thought I’d share it here too.

To provide some context, this client like many of my clients and many of us in general… is a little scared of Christmas. They’ve worked hard on their health this year, built some fabulous new habits and are feeling great… and they don’t want to undo it in the silly season. So what was my amazing advice?

Just don’t eat anything that makes you feel like crap.

That’s it folks. That’s as simple as it can be. So basically… if you know a certain food really sits badly with you… just don’t eat it! Choose something different. For example… why torture yourself and eat fresh white bread with yoru prawns when you know your body reacts really badly to gluten? Just stick with the prawns! Why torture yourself and have wine when it always leaves you with a huge headache? Just have some other beverage that you enjoy instead. It doesn’t even have to be alcoholic! You CAN say no.

This ‘statement’ also applies to ‘moderation.’ Let me expand it a little so its more clear….

Just don’t eat too much of anything if more than a little of it makes you feel like crap.

You may be one of the lucky ones (I am) where nothing really disagrees with you. I have a cast iron constitution and no foods really make me feel completely off. But…. too much of many things are not good. So over Christmas, I will definitely be enjoying things like Christmas shortbread, christmas cake, mince pies, a glass of wine or champagne here and there, Christmas ham, croissants… it sounds BAD right and like A LOT? Well the secret is… just to have a little of these things and certainly not all at once! For example, I’ve just baked shortbread and they are fairly small so 1 everyday for the next few days isn’t going to make me feel awful… it will be a lovely ‘its Christmas’ reminder to my tastebuds!

A few other little practical tips you may want to consider include:

1. Don’t skip ‘proper meals’ this December. Make sure you still have a good breakfast, lunch and dinner. Don’t ‘skip’ these because you will be ‘hangry’ and then you’ll want a meal sized portion of whatever Christmas treats are in the lunchroom that day… make sense? If you have the proper meal you won’t have much room left for the ‘treaty stuff’ so sticking with the statemet above will be easy.
2. Stay hydrated. I mean drink a LOT of water. Always. At least 2L guys. Get it in ya!
3. Eat ‘positively’. When you do indulge in a controlled manner as suggested above… enjoy it. You don’t need to feel guilty. You don’t need to talk about it and declare how much exercise you will need to do to work it off. You don’t need to explain yourself or make excuses. You can just… eat it. Savour it. And move on :)

Merry December. It really is JUST around the corner now!

It’s ‘that’ time of year. Where 2 things are inevitable. Firstly, spring has sprung… and with it, the insatiable desire to ‘shed the winter coat.’ The second sure thing in September is the marketing crap we are all about to be hit with. The gyms will go a bit nuts with Spring specials, the weight loss products will be thrown in our faces with unrealistic promises (and nothing but your wallet in mind) and there will be lots of final 8 and12 week challenges to squeeze in just before the build up to the silly season.

And yes, I suppose this is another one of those offers. I am, admittedly looking for a few new clients (or existing ones who perhaps need to touch base) to work with as the weather warms up and we can embrace a bit of Spring motivation. However, whatever ‘program’ or ‘product’ you choose to work with as you emerge from your winter hiatus, how about you do it a bit differently this time and consider…..

-Short and fast is NOT necessarily healthy or sustainable. How many times have you fallen for that little trick? Actually, habits that last are built over many days, months… even years. Where you are in a week is irrelevant if its not going to last.

-You do need to make time for ‘change.’ If you want to truly embark on a healthier lifestyle journey…. you need to have the time to a) shop for fresher, better food b) prepare said food c) get out and start moving. If you can’t do this, then what ARE you actually hustling for after all? If you don’t have your health… what do you actually have?

-You really DON’T want to work with a company or person who makes you feel terrible about yourself from the outset. I wrote an article about this not long ago – ‘Belittling Marketing and why we should push against it – you should check it out. You are actually an AWESOME person exactly as you are, no matter where you are at. It’s fab that you are committed to even greater things, but you must be confident and happy as you are RIGHT NOW. On any health journey, you must be your own best friend and cheerleader. If you don’t love yourself now, its going to be a lonely, tough road, with lots of self loathing, self sabotage and unhappiness.

-If you want a different result… you’ll need to do something differently – this time. Were you in the same position this time last year? And the year before that? And the year before that? Well, instead of looking for the next quick, generic, one size fits all approach that promises overnight success…. do it differently. Get real support. Realise its a lifelong journey, not a destination. Look at the bigger picture – not next week’s results. The Metabolic Balance program is a MINIMUM of 6 months duration and its tailored to your blood tests.

-DON’T FOCUS on the NUMBERS! If you’ve been following me for a while, you will know that I’m not that fond of numbers. Do you genuinely need to lose weight to return to a healthy weight range? Ok, that’s fine. BUT the weight loss is a side effect. A side effect of gaining health. And it should not be the focus OR the be all end all OR a reason to stop or continue. You can read so much more about why focusing on numbers is NOT a great idea here.

-I could continue on and on and on… but I’ll just add one more. Please be willing to work on your relationship with food. Because that is what drives your food choices. For that matter, you must also work on your relationship with exercise as its linked with your relationship with food too. You can listen to 2 really solid episodes on the Happy Apple podcast (my own personal podcast) covering these 2 topics here.

So, on that note, if you’d like to do things a little differently and work together for a while (with me that is) with the ‘end in mind’ i.e. the rest of your life you can start by reading what to expect and then book a discovery call here.

I’m waiting to hear from you.

Seems like an odd title for a blog I know, but bear with me whilst I get to the point here… it is going to take a bit of background pre-amble. Firstly, did you know that we used to promote sugar as an energy-boosting health food?    My, we have learned a bit about that! Well, I believe, in a similar way, we will look back at how we promote ‘health‘ today in 30-40 years’ time and wonder what the heck we were thinking…

You see, recently I dove back into the world of ‘mainstream exercise’ at a local gym. For the last 2 and a half years, I’ve been largely walking and running on my own (or with a pram and my fur child), doing some pilates at a small local studio, and doing bits of lightweight exercises at home. A friend of mine asked me to come along and work out with her and I decided ‘why not?’ Let’s mix things up a bit!

Enough about the actual exercise… let’s talk about the environment because that’s what this post is about. I must have missed it in the past (or maybe I am more attuned to this stuff now) but I was horrified by the messaging taking up most of the wall space in each room of this gym. Sadly, the worst offenders were in the ladies’ bathroom. The messaging came in a variety of forms…

• Some posters show scantily clad bodies about as real as Barbie dolls, promoting shakes and other strange concoctions
• Other posters vilified carbohydrates for certain times of the day; these posters even banned beetroot! And pumpkin! The foodie in me shuddered when I imagined life without these (and why? They are nutrient-packed vegetables!)
• There were other posters of scales, tape measures, small waists, and a lot of plates with chicken and broccoli

You get the picture. All of this is thrown in people’s faces whilst a young, fit personal trainer or gym instructor yells out the number of calories they are burning. And sadly, you don’t have to walk into a gym to see this. You could just… walk into a newsagent and saunter down the magazine aisle. Or look up at a billboard at a major intersection in any city. Or turn on the TV for no more than 3 minutes during an ad break.

But this kind of messaging is NOT helping the health of the general population. Not the physical health and certainly not the mental health. No wonder people are confused about basic healthy eating and completely absorbed in changing every aspect of their bodies.

I wish we could run a little experiment….

• Be gone with all of the imagery of unattainable, tiny-waisted Barbie-like bodies
• Be gone with confusing, restrictive, and calorie-focused nutrition advice
• More posters of gorgeous, plump strawberries, roasted beets and potatoes, gorgeous fruits, and how about some cheese… glorious cheese.
• Supermarkets where processed foods are confined to the same space currently reserved for fresh produce and farmer fresh fruit and vegetables fulfill the rest.
• Glorification of a wide range of healthy bodies and little reminders about how awesome each and every one of us truly is…. I mean, honestly, imagine it! Walking out of your local gym thinking ‘I’m so great and I feel so fab today’ instead of ‘better skip breakfast / should have done another 5 minutes to burn another 50 cals / should swap to skim milk / actually, might just give up dairy/reminder not to eat cabs between 2 pm and 8 pm EVER.

Next time you see any sort of message that makes you feel ‘less than’ just remind yourself internally that you are pretty swell on the inside and on the out.

In 30 or 40 years I genuinely think we will look back on this sort of derogatory marketing and wonder what in the heck we were thinking (just like we used to promote sugar as a healthy food….) but I do hope it happens much sooner than that.

My world sounds good in the meantime. Want to come to join my commune?

I’m just about to blow another major truth bomb that you probably know is true… but, yes things would be easier if it weren’t. Let’s have a chat about expectations versus reality because, in the vast majority of clients I see, these two don’t line up which leads to a wee bit of initial disappointment. Once we have ‘this chat’ that disappointment generally fades away, but let’s have this chat now so that it’s never there in the first place.
Your expectations may be…..

• that ‘gut health’ can be rectified quickly and easily – that there is some magic probiotic or weird and wonderful food that will fix all…..
• that you’ll be back into the same clothes you wore in your 20s in 3 months time (which was 20 plus years ago….)
• that you’ll start ‘eating all this healthy food’ and lose a stack of weight in a few really short weeks….
• that ‘it will be hard work but then it’s done’ and wahoo – time to celebrate.

Out of these 4, you may be able to relate in some way to at least one of them. Let’s ‘unpack’ each of these and look at their coinciding reality.
The actual reality is….

• Gut health is a lifelong ‘thing’ Sure, some probiotics can be reality helpful… but a probiotic is one small tablet with a few million strains. That’s like a drop in the ocean when it comes to the ecosystem that is your gut. You want to look after your gut health? It’s all the unglamorous stuff! Keep your stress low, heaps of vegetables and a bit of fresh fruit each day, minimise the processed stuff and the high sugar stuff, drink ample water and maybe add some ferments…. (think yoghurt – not the sweetened kind – and sauerkraut etc.) 
• Our bodies and the way the function (and thrive) change as life goes on. Despite what the slew of marketing says that gets thrown our way…. your healthy body at 40 or 50 will be different to your healthy body at 20. And that’s ok. It’s probably done a lot for you over 2-3 decades so give it some lee way! 
• Healthy weight loss is 1/2-1kg a week. Yes, sometimes initially it can be a tiny bit faster… and sometimes, it can stall too. Its literally impossible to predict how quickly or slowly someone will lose weight. So when you see a promise like ‘lose 10kg in 8 weeks….’ the person marketing that has no idea what they are talking about. No one can make those promises. Your body will find its healthy place at its own pace in its own time. The solution to this is to simply STOP tying your happiness and ‘success’ to a number and focus on the much bigger picture. The bigger picture? In a nutshell, when you look after yourself you just feel happier and healthier. Damn it that’s a great reason. 
• There’s no ‘done.’ This is the biggest issue with the nutrition and health industry… well dare I say the word, the ‘diet industry.’ It’s all about timespans. 10 weeks here, 8 weeks there, 12 weeks to a new you. Actually – it never ends. Change your thinking and consider that you are learning how to take care of yourself and that learning is a journey that will last forever. There will be ups and downs but there is no ‘end.’ To ‘end’ is to simply go back to the way you were feeling before which was probably not optimal.

I’m sorry I’m not Miss Blondie with an 18 pack on instagram telling you that you can look like her in 6 weeks with some magic powder and 2.5 hours of exercise a day… I’m just trying to do the job I really like and help you to cut out the noise out there. 
Chat soon… here’s the link to book online!