Wonderfully Nourished

That's a wrap! Merry Christmas to all my wonderful clients. See you again in 2024.

Merry Christmas from my family to yours. Thank you for all your support of my business this year. I’ve been a bit quiet on the old SM lately as life has been full and busy moving house and setting up the new clinic in Whitby.
I’m looking forward to supporting my amazing clients next year and helping as many as possible to reconnect with themselves and their health.

My companion in clinic this morning while I do some client analysis.

Struggling with symptoms? Why not see if gluten is a culprit?

Patients are always asking me if they should avoid gluten, even if they aren’t experiencing symptoms.⁣
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The research points to yes. Gluten has been found to negatively impact the lining of the gut, creating “leaky gut” or intestinal permeability, even in those who do not have celiac disease.⁣
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The lining of the gut is supposed to be strong and tight, keeping food, waste, and microbes inside the digestive tract. Gluten can cause the release of an inflammatory protein called zonulin, which opens up the junctions in the lining of the gut and causes gaps, allowing particles to leak into the bloodstream (where they don’t belong) and creating an immune response. This sets the stage for systemic inflammation.⁣
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Need a few more reasons to go easy on the gluten? The new forms of hybridized wheat, known as dwarf wheat, contain amylopectin A, a super starch worse than sugar; many more inflammatory gliadin proteins that cause leaky gut; lots of the w**d killer glyphosate; and lastly a preservative, calcium propionate, linked to mood, behavior, and attention problems and even autism. Makes you want to skip the breadbasket (I hope!). ⁣
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I do not recommend flour­ based products or gluten on a regular basis. Our modern forms of wheat and gluten fuel inflammation, autoimmune disease, digestive disorders, and obesity.⁣
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If you want to eat heirloom gluten grains like einkorn wheat or heirloom rye or barley, they may be well tolerated by those who are not gluten ­sensitive. But it is a good idea for most people to do a three ­week 100 percent gluten­ free trial followed by reintroduction to see how gluten affects you. Most have no idea how much better they can feel on a gluten ­free diet. ⁣

You can also check out one of my recent episodes of The Doctor’s Farmacy, where I spoke with Maggie Ward, Dr. Alessio Fasano, and Dr. George Papanicolaou about how gluten affects the gut and how to know if it's a problem for you.

Back on the Betaine for me!
It’s been a stressful few months for me and so the result of that??? My body is struggling to produce enough stomach acid.
Life has it’s ups and downs, it’s not static and so the support we need also changes. Cycles, seasons, age, life stage, stress, they all impact our health and what we need to do to stay healthy.
Health isn’t about a magic formula, what your body will need for health changes. That’s why my focus with clients at Wonderfully Nourished is to equip you to interpret the clues your body is giving you and adjust what you are doing for optimal health for YOUR body.
What is your body asking for support with?

I’m looking forward to presenting to my son’s class tomorrow about healthy eating! It should be fun and interactive learning about how our body breaks down food and uses it to build a strong and healthy body! Pretty excited about my Lego creation. The question is: is it an apple or a brussel sprout? 😆

The Environmental Working Group have updated their list of the Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 for 2022. Organic produce is expensive and household budgets are being squeezed to their limits so use these lists to help guide you on what to prioritise buying organic or growing your own or where the better choices are for conventionally grown produce.

How’s winter going for you all? How are you looking after yourself and building health into your daily practices?
In winter, my instinct is to be more insular, to rest more and to snuggle up so I try to give myself more down time to do that, to not force myself to be super busy and to rest when I need it. Not easy when life keeps going at full speed ahead but important none the less.
There are so many bugs going around at the moment, it’s important to spent a bit of time and energy on self care to give your body the best chance at fighting off those germs.
A nutrient dense, whole food diet is the number 1 tool to do just that!
Plenty of non starchy vegetables, grass fed (and finished) protein and some nice healthy fats.
What’s 1 tweak you can make or how can you shift 1 degree towards building health this week?

Common vs Normal

Who experiences the period like it’s the beautiful blooming rose in this image? No? Feel more like a rose where all the petals have fallen off and only the thorns are left?
Symptoms with our periods are super common but that doesn’t mean they are normal!
Cramps, pms, sore b***s, clots, mood swings, flooding, irregular cycles, spotting etc etc. These are all really common symptoms but they are NOT normal.

How your periods should look:

🌹arrives around the same time each month (25-35 day cycles are considered normal)
🌹bleeding lasts 3-7 days
🌹total blood loss of 30-60ml (6-12 fully soaked tampons)
🌹a bright red colour with a thin, smooth consistency with minimal clots
🌹minimal discomfort or pain
🌹lower energy than normal but enough to get on with your day to day

If they don’t look like this then it could be a sign of other imbalances within the body. Remember symptoms are our body’s way of communicating and period symptoms are no different. So what is your body saying to you?

Happy Twosday people!

What 2 things could you bring into your day or 2 things you could leave out of your day that will build toward better health?

My 2 things:
1) I made sure I got out for a decent walk this morning after school drop off.
2) I had some sauerkraut with my breakfast to get some good bacteria into my gut.

Comment below with yours.

This little beauty of a photo is a pic of me 2 years ago. No I am not pregnant, this was my bloating and it was a daily occurrence.

It was 2 years ago, almost to the day that I first stepped into the office of a Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner. It was a day that completely changed my life and is something that I am so thankful that I did.

The reason I finally made the decision to make this investment (and it was a big financial investment) in my own health, was that the cost to myself and my family for not doing anything was becoming too much to tolerate and it was time to stop playing around the edges and start getting serious about my health.

Read more here: https://www.wonderfullynourished.co.nz/blog/a-life-changing-journey

What would it take for you to say enough is enough and start working towards restoring balance and health in your body?
Don’t wait till crisis point like I did and remember there is always hope!

Since launching Wonderfully Nourished, movement has been one of the easiest of the juggling balls to drop.
My health has suffered as a result of my reduced movement.
You’ll notice I say movement and not exercise. Exercise is often associated with punishment for the food we’ve eaten or purely as a calorie burning exercise (pun intended) but movement is about the function and health of the body.
The benefits of regular movement are massive in terms of mental health, detoxification, cell oxygenation, improved posture, digestive health….the list goes on and on.

There is no right or wrong way to move your body, it is highly individual. I struggle with stress and so anything that increases my cortisol levels like running or HIIT just don’t work for me right now but it might be perfect for you.
Maybe you love gardening or heading to the gym.
I love walking and reformer pilates. They are my jam and with the boys back at school I’m going to prioritise regular movement back into my routine.

I had a couple of clients reschedule today and so I took the opportunity to head out for a decent walk and I’ve been reaping the benefits ever since!

How do you fit movement into your week?

Happy New Year to you all!

The beginning of the year is often a time of reflection, goal setting and resolutions and your feeds will be full of aspiring posts on how to lose weight, and be a better version of yourself.
Can I encourage you, that being a better version of you isn’t about being a thinner version of you but a healthier one. Healthier physically, mentally and emotionally. Life is about far more than size and kgs.
When you start focusing on health, rather than weight, it becomes about what you can add not what you take out. How you look after yourself, not how you punish yourself.
The most powerful thing I did in my health journey was to connect my actions to my ‘why’. My health and being a great mum to my kids was far more important to me than eating the things I knew were bad for my body, my choices weren’t about punishing myself or depriving myself but about building towards my goals and my why!
So what is your why? Help that to frame your choices as you head into this new year.

Wonderfully Nourished will be here to support you in your health journey.
We have a brand new detox treatment available in clinic and I am busy developing a new course and planning some further training this year to further support you, my lovely clients.
Watch this space, it’s going to be an exciting year!

Merry Christmas to you all!
Enjoy this special time with family and friends.
My biggest tip for you:
Leave guilt at the door, it doesn’t deserve your time and energy. Make conscious, mindful food choices and enjoy them!
Connect with your body and understand how your choices make you feel but don’t feel guilty about the extra slice of pudding or chocolate treats. Create balance where you can and HYDRATE!!! 😆

See you in the new year!
😘

#2021

Christmas hours for Wonderfully Nourished!
I will be taking a bit of a break over Christmas to spend quality time with family and have a rest to re charge ready for an exciting year ahead.
I encourage you all to find some time to unplug and switch off. It’s been a big year and we owe it to ourselves to do a bit of self care.
Wonderfully Nourished will be closed over the following dates:
1pm on 16th December - 4th January
17th January - 24th January
31st January - 4th February

Let me know if you’d like to book in around those dates.
I look forward to working with you in 2022!

Did you know that I am the in house functional nutritionist for Bevy? Bevy is an amazing community for women, to support them in becoming the best ever version of themselves.
There is heaps on there other than me and you can utilise what works for you and leave what doesn't.
With a free trial period there really is nothing to lose!

Stress free meal times!
Being in a parasympathetic state when we eat is one of the best ways to support healthy digestion.
This can feel like an impossible feat when in the throws of raising a young family. Meal times can be a chaotic and stressful affair but it is good for everyone (kids included) to make meal times as stress free as possible.
Finding strategies to keep the kids focused and engaged will definitely help remove some of the stress factor.

As a family, we go through different strategies to engage the boys and avoid the chaos. At the moment we are enjoying these family conversation starters. One of the boys will pick one out and we’ll share our answers one by one as we enjoy our meal. The boys love it and it definitely helps to bring calm to meal times.

What ways have you found to achieve stress free mealtimes when young children are in the picture?

FUN! Do you take the moments for fun and joy in your life?
This was me last weekend celebrating my niece’s birthday. We decided to head down to the local rope swing. It was a typical Wellington spring day and was blowing a gale!
I was wearing a skirt and wedges and it wasn’t the sensible thing to have a turn but I wanted to have some fun.
My niece had to help me up onto the seat but it was a moment of fun and joy in my day.
Life can be so serious, and it’s easy to sit in the seriousness of being an adult particularly in the midst of a global pandemic but sometimes it is worth taking a moment to do the fun thing and experience the joy.
Apart from the fact that it just makes life more enjoyable, it’s good for your mental and physical health.
How do you incorporate fun into your day?