David Peirce Naturopath

13/08/2025

The Importance of Healthy Body Composition: Understanding Fat, Muscle, Fluid Balance, the Power of Cellular Health Analysis!
When it comes to health and fitness, much of the conversation revolves around weight. However, the number on the scale tells only a fraction of the story. What truly matters is body composition—the proportion of fat, muscle, bone, and water in the body. Understanding and optimizing body composition can lead to better physical performance, reduced risk of chronic diseases, and enhanced longevity.
The Two Faces of Fat: Subcutaneous vs. Visceral Adipose Tissue
Not all fat is created equal. The body stores fat in different locations, and where it’s stored matters deeply for your health.
Subcutaneous Fat is the fat stored just under the skin. It serves as insulation and an energy reserve and, in moderate amounts, isn’t inherently harmful. It’s the fat you can pinch—often found on the thighs, hips, and arms.
Visceral Adipose Tissue (VAT) is stored deep in the abdominal cavity, surrounding vital organs like the liver, pancreas, and intestines. Excess VAT is metabolically active and has been strongly linked to insulin resistance, inflammation, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and even some cancers.
A healthy body composition includes a moderate amount of subcutaneous fat and minimal visceral fat. Reducing visceral fat through a combination of diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes has immediate and long-term benefits on overall health and metabolic function.
💪 Muscle Mass: The Metabolic Powerhouse
Lean muscle tissue is often overlooked in health assessments, yet it plays a crucial role in:
- Metabolism: Muscle burns more calories at rest than fat, aiding in weight management and energy balance.
- Glucose Regulation: Muscle tissue is a major site for glucose uptake, contributing to insulin sensitivity and blood sugar control.
- Physical Function: Strength, mobility, and injury prevention are all enhanced by adequate muscle mass.
As we age, muscle mass declines—a process known as sarcopenia. However, this can be mitigated or reversed through resistance training and protein-rich diets. Maintaining or increasing muscle mass not only supports body composition but also preserves independence and quality of life into older age.
Fluid Balance: Intra- vs. Extra-Cellular Water
Water is essential to every cell and system in the body. But just like fat, where water resides matters.
🔬 Intracellular Water (ICW) is the fluid inside cells. High ICW levels generally indicate good cell health and muscle mass.
Extracellular Water (ECW) surrounds cells and exists in blood plasma and interstitial spaces. While necessary for function, excess ECW—especially in relation to ICW—can indicate inflammation, edema, or poor cell integrity.
The ICW/ECW ratio is a powerful marker of cellular health and hydration. An ideal ratio reflects well-functioning cells, efficient nutrient transport, and minimal inflammation.
So, How Can I Measure My Cellular Health? Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA)
Traditional tools like BMI (Body Mass Index) fail to differentiate between fat, muscle, and fluid. Enter Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA)—a non-invasive, science-based technology that uses electrical currents to measure body composition with remarkable precision.
How It Works:
BIA measures how a small, safe electrical current flows through the body. Because fat, muscle, and water conduct electricity differently, BIA can estimate:
- Body fat percentage
- Muscle mass
- Visceral fat levels
- ICW and ECW volumes
Phase angle (a marker of cellular integrity and vitality)
Why It Matters: BIA provides a comprehensive snapshot of internal health—beyond what’s visible in a mirror or on a scale. Regular monitoring helps track progress, tailor interventions, and detect early signs of inflammation or muscle loss.
In Summary: A healthy body composition isn’t about achieving a specific weight—it’s about finding the right balance between fat and lean tissue, optimizing fluid distribution, and ensuring cellular health. Why does it matter?
- Reduced disease risk: Lower visceral fat and healthier muscle mass correlate with fewer chronic conditions.
- Improved energy and function: More muscle and better hydration enhance stamina, strength, and daily function.
- Longevity and quality of life: Balanced body composition supports aging with resilience and vitality.
With tools like Cellular Health Analysis, we now have the ability to accurately measure, understand, and improve these internal markers of health—empowering us to live stronger, healthier, and longer lives.

29/01/2025

Welcome to 2025! FREE BODY COMPOSITION TEST! 😁🍎🌿 🏃 🧠 🤓
Would you love to have more energy? Better concentration and focus? Feel good in your clothes?
It’s a new year again, and we have a great opportunity to become our healthiest selves, to treat our bodies with the respect they deserve. After the indulgences of the holiday season, now is the time to make your healthy body a priority, and Natural Medicine can help you to do it! Your body is made up of cells, tissues and organs which need certain nutrients to function. They also need low toxin exposure and well-functioning detoxification pathways to get rid of anything that can interfere with proper metabolism. Our goal is to give your cells the optimal environment so that they can perform as they’re supposed to: efficiently and effectively. This results in more energy being available to your brain, your heart, muscles and all the other organs and tissues in your amazing body.
For the next 3 weeks, we are giving a FREE body composition analysis to every person who has an initial consultation with us. This fascination test tells us your muscle mass, body fat, and fluid distribution which can tell us a lot about your cellular health. And, even better, how it improves over time.
To book yourself an appointment, call us on 40430038. See you soon! 😊

29/12/2024

We are open today and tomorrow (Monday and Tuesday) from 9am to 1pm!
Say hello to Andrey. 😁

23/12/2024

To all our Clients and Friends, we want to thank you for your support in 2024. 😀
We will be closed on the 25th and 26th December, then open for half-days on Friday 27th, Monday the 30th and Tuesday the 31st.
We wish you all a happy, healthy and enjoyable holiday season, and we look forward to seeing you in 2025!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from David Peirce Naturopath and the Team! 🎄🎅

22/07/2024

Are you suffering this Winter? FREE NATURAL DECONGESTANT WITH EVERY NEW CONSULATION UNTIL AUGUST 16! 🙂🤜🦠
If you are one of the unfortunate people who have been sick with colds or other viral infections this year, there are Natural Medicines which can help! There are many clinically proven solutions to reduce the duration and severity of the symptoms of respiratory tract infections, and also reduce the chance of you getting them in the first place.
The challenge is for us to support our immune systems' many mechanisms for preventing the virus entering our body in the first place through our mucous membranes and skin, and then our innate immune cells, and finally our adaptive immunity. Natural medicines can help with all of these areas, and avoiding immune -suppressing behaviours and habits can also assist our bodies amazing ability to overcome these horrible bugs.
Until the 16th August, we are giving a FREE natural decongestant tablet with every Initial Consultation. This wonderful natural formula can help to reduce congestion and inflammation and is great for helping to reduce the excess mucous, discomfort and heat associated with common viral conditions. Call us today on 40320038 to book your appointment. 🌿🫐😊

25/06/2024

WE ARE HIRING!! 🙂
David Peirce Naturopath is looking for a Receptionist/Clinical Assistant. Our successful applicant must be honest, friendly, reliable, concientious and punctual.
Duties include:
• managing appointments
• taking and recording payments
• stock management
• telephone and email reception.
• basic computer skills are essential, and previous experience with Xero software is preferred.
We need someone for approximately 30 to 32 hours per week. If you are genuinely interested and would love to join our team, please send your CV and an introductory email to:
naturopathassistant@gmail.com

29/12/2023

How can you have "The World's Healthiest Arteries?" ❤️🌿🫐
A recent article published in Medscape discusses how the Indigenous people living in the Bolivian Amazon have much healthier arterial elasticity than people of the same age in Brazil and the United States. They also have much lower coronary calcium scores, which means less stiffening on the arteries and lower heart disease risk. Considering most people in the world die from heart disease and strokes, it's worth studying those populations that have the lowest incidence and finding out what we can do to mimic their fantastic cardiovascular health.
In contrast to people in the U.S. and other so-called "developed" countries, these individuals eat a natural, unprocessed, whole-food diet that they grow themselves. They are also very physically active, spending a large percentage of their waking hours moving. We in the developed Western world could benefit greatly from adopting these two principles: eat mostly unprocessed foods, and spend a large part of your day engaged in physical activity.
Have a wonderful New Year! 😊
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/worlds-healthiest-arteries-found-be-most-elastic-2023a1000wup?ecd=wnl_tp10_daily_231228_MSCPEDIT_etid6201229&uac=316273PT&impID=6201229

23/12/2023

Merry Christmas!! 🎄🎅🎁🧑‍🎄
From David and the Team, we hope you have a wonderful, healthy, happy holiday season and we look forward to seeing you in 2024. We will be open for limited hours on Wed, Thurs and Fri next week, so please let us know if you need anything.
Cheers! 🍒🍎🥝

18/12/2023

WE ARE OPEN!! 🙂
To all our clients and friends, we hope that you are safe and well, and that the cyclone and floods have not impacted you too much.
We are open as usual, our Clinic was not damaged at all and we hope the rain stays away for a while!
Stay safe,
David and the Team.

31/10/2023

Healthy Body Composition, Stress & Appetite 🚶‍♀️☘️🥑

- Are you as healthy as you’d like to be?

Recently, I’ve had a lot of people coming up to me and say “You haven’t aged in the last 15-20 years! How do you do it?” Of course, I have had changes in my body, but I do think it has been very gradual and subtle, and I’m very happy with my health, energy, strength and body composition.
But, to get back to the question (“How do I do it?”) The answer is both simple and complex. Simply, I try to give my body what it needs, and minimise the things that reduce my health. That includes what I eat, my exercise habits, sleep and rest, and also my study habits: what I’m feeding my mind on a daily basis. I also believe that the high-quality nutritional supplements and herbal medicines that I take make a huge difference to my energy, my skin, my hormones, my immunity, my ability to deal with stress and my memory and concentration. Our bodies need an optimal nutritional environment to function, not just the bare minimum to prevent an obvious deficiency. So, the RDI is not going to cut it if you want to have a long, healthy and productive life.
Herbal medicines on the other hand are not nutrients, and neither are they drugs: to me, they are in their own category. They can enhance our different cells, organs, tissues and our entire body to function better, repair damaged cells and protect us against the ravages of stress, inflammation and time. Stress can also impact our appetite regulation, and improving our resistance to stress can help us to burn fat and improve our body composition. If you’d like to know more about how to create a healthier, younger feeling body and improve your cellular energy and health, call us to make an appointment today on 4032 0038. See you soon! 😊

12/09/2023

Have you learned anything interesting today? 🤓 I recently went to the Natural Medicine Symposium in Brisbane on the subject of Oncology and Supportive Integrative Therapies. It was amazing! The speakers were so knowledgeable and informative and the information was at the cutting edge of natural medicine and supporting the body through the trials and tribulations of dealing with cancer. They didn't make any outrageous claims, rather there was an evidence and clinical experience based series of lectures with Q & A sessions for each of the speakers. My brain is overflowing with new, quality information. Thank you so much, Integria Health Care! 🌿

16/08/2023

How's your brain? 🙂🧠🫐
A recent article in The Guardian has challenged the belief that many people have about dementia: that's it's all about aging and genetics, and there's nothing you can do about it. The article suggests that 40% of dementia risk can be eliminated by eating properly, exercising appropriately, getting enough sleep, minimising alcohol consumption, and managing stress. There is a lot of evidence emerging to support this. But does it go far enough?
The website Food for the Brain thinks the answer is no; that we can probably reduce dementia risk by around 80% and that the additional protective factors are nutrients like omega 3 fatty acids and B-vitamins. Furthermore, the author suggests that the RDIs, or recommended daily intakes in some countries are pitifully inadequate to nourish our aging brains. Do we require a rethink of how we use food and nutritional supplements in the prevention of degenerative diseases? Can we move from a paradigm that's based on the standard Australian diet, inevitable diseases emerging as we age, and then just managing them with pharmaceuticals? Should our health system be based more on prevention through optimal nutrition, rest, and activity, working with our bodies rather than relying on the massively overburdened health system?
As a person with a strong family history of dementia, I'm definitely taking matters into my own hands in the quest to prevent this horrible disease. 🥦🤓❤️

Researchers say lifestyle changes could prevent up to 40% of dementia cases. Our readers share their efforts to mitigate the risk