Heal My Health

Heal My Health BHSc Clinical Nutritionist | Disease Prevention | Longevity | Vitality

Episode #87 of The Heal My Health Podcast - Ashwagandha for Stress & Anxiety: Evidence, Benefits, and Health RisksAshwa...
22/04/2026

Episode #87 of The Heal My Health Podcast - Ashwagandha for Stress & Anxiety: Evidence, Benefits, and Health Risks

Ashwagandha is one of those herbs that’s been used for a long time as an adaptogen to help regulate the nervous system and reduce stress, but now we actually have some decent research to back it up.

It’s not a magic pill but it can make a meaningful difference for some people. In modern research we can see:

➡️ reductions in stress + anxiety
➡️ improvements in sleep
➡️ drops in cortisol (which is a nice objective marker that something is happening)

So it can be helpful, but it is best used during higher stress periods, not year-round. Your body still needs a healthy stress response. So make sure to cycle on and off using it to allow your natural stress responses for a few weeks before taking it again.

And importantly, there are medication interactions and contraindications for some people, so this isn’t something to just take blindly.

If you want the full breakdown (benefits, mechanisms, risks), I go into it properly in the episode on the podcast 🎙️ link is in bio !

21/04/2026

🎙️Episode #86 of The Heal My Health Podcast - Retatrutide: The New Weight Loss Drug Changing Obesity.

Weight loss isn’t just fat loss. On average, around 20–30% of weight lost can come from lean mass (including muscle). The faster and more aggressive the weight loss, the higher the percentage of muscle loss tends to be.

With medications like GLP-1s, weight loss can happen very quickly, often too quickly. Without the right habits and knowledge in place you may lose more muscle and bone mass than necessary, setting you up for future issues with your metabolism and skeletal health. This is why having a plan matters ⬇️

• Aim for a sustainable rate of loss (around 0.5–1kg per week)

• Avoid excessively low calorie intakes. You can identify your weight loss calorie target (20-25% deficit is good) and aim to reach this daily.

• Prioritise protein intake (2g / kg body weight, or if heavily overweight you can use the same number in grams as your height in cm)

• Strength train regularly to help preserve muscle and support bone health

These aren’t optional extras, they should be part of the foundation when using any weight loss medication.

Another important consideration is that when these medications are stopped, weight regain is common if lifestyle changes haven’t been established. The medication can be a powerful tool, but it’s not a standalone solution.

GLP-1s can absolutely support people who have struggled with overweight or obesity long-term. But they work best as a kick start and as a bridge to sustainable habits, not a replacement for them.

Otherwise, what we often see (both in research and what I’ve personally seen in clinical practice) is a cycle of rapid weight loss followed by regain.

Link to the pod is in my bio !

11/04/2026

Just a little foodie recommendation I’ve been loving in our current household rotation 🤍

Having healthy, whole-food freezer options is such a game changer for a busy and healthy household. We always keep frozen fish in the freezer to throw in the air fryer, plus a few single-serve meals in the fridge, but what’s really been a standout these past few weeks is the meals we’ve discovered from The Dinner Ladies

You can order for the whole family and everything is made with such wholesome ingredients. Some meals are ready to heat and eat, while others you cook and assemble yourself, which makes it feel a bit more homey !

10/04/2026

If you have never tried figs with fetta or gots cheese and a drizzle of honey, this is your sign to try.

Proper elite flavour combo, figs give you a good dose of fibre with a nice combo of calcium, potassium, and magnesium with a gentle mild laxative effect to help with got motility.

Use a light fetta and you’ve good a low cal source of protein, and the honey has beautiful anti-microbial and anti-bacterial properties with some antioxidants thrown in there.

Diversity is king !

07/04/2026

Having hard conversations and communicating difficult emotions to your loved ones is a sign of love and care, an indication you value that relationship enough to want it to last and feel safe for both involved.

The tricky thing for many people is communicating effectively how you feel and what you need. A great first step is understanding that if we are looking for support from a loved one, we don’t need that person to match our emotional state or feel our exact emotions with us, but instead we can “put our emotions on the table” for discussion and consideration.

Episode 85 of The Heal My Health Podcast I go deeper with psychologist Alana North - discussing how we can better understand and communicate emotions throughout our life.

You can listen wherever you get your podcasts! Link to both Spotify and Apple Podcast is in my bio 🙂

Here’s just a handful of products I regularly use myself and recommend as a nutritionist. Every day I aim for healthy wa...
27/03/2026

Here’s just a handful of products I regularly use myself and recommend as a nutritionist. Every day I aim for healthy ways I can get in fibre, protein, and probiotics into my diet and these always come in handy!

25/03/2026

Two kiwifruits per day could be an effective place to start if constipation is something you struggle with 🥝

A 2023 randomised control trial found that consumption of green kiwifruit was associated with a clinically relevant increase in bowel movements and significantly improves measures of gastrointestinal confort (DOI: 10.13005/bpj/2891).

Why kiwi works so well:

•it provides both soluble + insoluble fibre 🥝
•it helps draw water into the stool 💦
•it contains actinidin, a natural enzyme that may support digestion 👍

The key is to increase fibre gradually and increase water at the same time. Too much fibre too quickly can make constipation feel worse. Small increases are often better tolerated than suddenly adding large amounts of fibre.

I break this all down in Episode 82 of the Heal My Health Podcast - Constipation: Lets Fix That🎙️listen wherever you get your podcasts 🙂

If there was one thing, just one thing, that I could snap my fingers and magically have all women do for their health, i...
22/03/2026

If there was one thing, just one thing, that I could snap my fingers and magically have all women do for their health, it’s heavy weight training.

Weight lifting is the most efficient, proven, and targeted form of exercise for stimulating muscle growth and preserving muscle mass. No other exercise modality consistently matches it for that purpose.

Yes other forms of exercise can improve some strength and muscular endurance, but none offer the same ability for continuous progressive overload and muscle development that weight lifting does.

Adequate muscle mass is key for healthy again and metabolic health, and therefore strength training is truly long term disease prevention.

18/03/2026

Choline is one of the most underrated nutrients for brain health!

It amazing for improving memory, learning, focus, and nervous system function, and is especially important during pregnancy, where choline contributes to fetal brain and nervous system development 🧠

Eggs are one of the richest whole food sources of choline, which is one of the reasons they make such a valuable everyday staple.�
Here’s my simple egg sandwich recipe:
Makes 2 sandwiches
�🥚 4 eggs�🥄 2 tbsp whole egg mayo�🥄 1 tsp mustard�🧂 Salt + pepper�🥬 Cos lettuce�🍞 4 slices fresh seeded bread

1. Add eggs into boiling water and boil for 9 minutes.
2. Cool eggs in an ice bath, peel, then chop into small pieces
3. Mix mayo, mustard, salt and pepper, into the eggs
4. Layer the egg mix onto fresh bread with cos lettuce.

Okay, coming out of third trimester is a bit like a “wow, what the hell was that” kind of moment 😅 No woman experiences ...
13/03/2026

Okay, coming out of third trimester is a bit like a “wow, what the hell was that” kind of moment 😅 No woman experiences their journey in the same way but for me, I needed to go completely on my own time and inward for this first step. But here I am - in my new form - a mother!

The journey of surrendering my body to create life has been a challenging one for me. Although I would say my first trimester wasn’t as intense as other women may have experienced, I still had to let go of my normal high functioning self and give way to naps and nausea majority of my days 🙃

I have been humbled with food and now have a whole new understanding on what it is to live in the life of a picky eater (I am so sorry for you guys!). Trying to navigate hypersensitivities to smells, textures, and tastes whilst aiming to be as healthy as I can for myself and this baby - it hasn’t been easy 🤢

But this moment now feels like a veil being lifted off my mind and I’m looking back on the start of the year as though I was in some kind of sickness/daze of reality.

As a woman we have to shift and change with our bodies, not only with our monthly cycles, but throughout the seasons of pregnancy, postpartum, and menopause. I am 5 days late to international women’s day, but here’s to us girls because we are badass. The way we move through life despite these major challenges on our body, emotions, and minds, is truly something to marvel in.

So here’s to being a woman - as I also carry and grow a baby girl 💕 who I am so excited to bring into this world and show her just how incredible we can be 💪

10/12/2025

Understanding macronutrients there role in wellbeing can be a massive game changer for many people.

Calories matter, especially for weight management, but quality matters more when it comes to how you feel day to day and how you performance.

You could eat 2300 calories of high-fat, high-sugar foods and feel sluggish with little change in body composition. Or you could optimise those same calories with high protein, fibre, and nutrient-rich foods and watch your energy, performance, and wellbeing drastically improve.

Address

Springwood, NSW
2777

Telephone

+61413637898

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Heal My Health posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to Heal My Health:

Shortcuts

Share

Category