Wild Vine Natural Therapies

23/05/2025

So excited to announce that this life long dream officially became reality today - first day as Naturopath and Remedial Massage therapist at Silky Oaks Medical 💞🙌

We are excited for Zorica to join our team as a qualified naturopath and remedial massage therapist with over 10 years of experience supporting women’s health.
She specialises in hormonal health, perimenopause, menopause, fatigue, and stress, combining evidence-based naturopathy with hands-on therapies like lymphatic drainage and myofascial release.

With a compassionate, integrative approach and lived experience managing chronic illness, Zorica works closely with GPs to deliver holistic, patient-centred care.

Please call the practice on 3396 9855 to book your appointment.

07/12/2022

Relax, Revitalise and Renew your body this Xmas with a Wild Vine Remedial Massage. Special now on - $75 for a one hour massage or a 3 pack @ $70 each (savings of $30). Beat the Xmas stress with Xmas gift vouchers also available for loved ones. Located Nerang - Ph: 0478173717. Blessings and a very safe and Merry Xmas from Wild Vine Natural Therapies 🌲🍒

25/08/2022

Plant-Based Chocolate Cheesecake 😍⁠
⁠
Impress at your next dinner party with this plant-based chocolate cheesecake. Made entirely from beautiful ingredients packed full of amazing nutrients - it's the perfect guilt-free dessert. Gluten free, dairy free and refined sugar free, you'll be surprised how easy this one is to make!⁠

https://changinghabits.com.au/recipes/plant-based-chocolate-cheesecake/

18/10/2019

I'm back at Fernwood Centre, Robina. ... come in and help celebrate my homecoming, at the special price of $60 for a one hour remedial massage (full health fund rebates available). Book in on Fridays - from 6am-6pm - and receive $10 off the normal $70 hourly rate - for the month of October. Relax, revive and start to feel human again .... call or text Zorica on 0478 173717 to book.

10/07/2019

An unhealthy lifestyle is merely a series of unhealthy habits, which can be replaced with healthy habits ... one at a time ... step by step... but this process does require time.

The more often I make the healthier choice, the more I program my brain to default to the new patterns (habits) I'm installing ... and these daily habits become my lifestyle.

As new habits form and are imbedded they become my automatic response, less effort (willpower) is required on my part, so the task becomes less and less challenging and more and more of a natural response (habit) - which makes it sustainable over the long term ...

Research in the past, estimated it took 21 days to form a new habit...

So far, on this journey, I have increased my intake of fibre, fermented foods, water, good fats and reduced sugar intake, increased sleep, confronted comfort eating, restricted late night eating, learnt to better deal with my emotions and commited to a regular exercise program ...

I'm embracing the long walk and establishing good habits which is a daily process and not a one time event

14/06/2019

Emotional hunger cant be filled with food:

In my last post I had achieved my 5klm running goal, which was great ... but then a crisis saw me retreat to an old comfort zone - comfort eating - a major obstacle of mine...

Many diets fail when emotions hijack and override logical nutrition and exercise plans ... and to that end ... I began to gain insight into emotions and how to utilise them to my advantage ... rather than being disadvantaged by comfort eating and suppressed emotions.

Emotions are powerful, they have the ability to alter our hormone levels - increase cortisol, decrease serotonin and distort ghrelin and leptin (appetite hormones) and insulin, which can have a profound effect on health.

The fatty and sugary comfort food, that I craved, reduced irritability and increased calmness to relieve stress and helped to cope with unpleasant emotions - and also provided a burst of energy and increased serotonin (feel good hormones).

Problem was that ultimately ... emotional hunger cant be filled with food. Eating felt good at the time ... but soon the feelings that triggered the eating returned, accompanied with a host of additional emotions including regret, shame and guilt - for having overeaten.

While, it seemed that the core problem was my powerlessness over food - it was actually my emotions I felt powerless over. I used food as my emotional coping mechanism - opening the fridge every time I was upset, angry, sad, anxious, lonely, exhausted, etc ... setting up an unhealthy cycle, where the underlying problem was never addressed ...

Eventually, the negative emotions became overwhelming and I had no option but to confront my emotions ... so ... I stopped running away ... and resolved to make an effort to stop making excuses, covering up and blaming others ... and instead take responsibility for my emotions ... and make some changes ... to gain the healthy character, integrity and clear conscious I desired. At this point ... I realised I could cope with even the most powerful of my emotions ...

Identifying the root cause of the problem - then owning the problem and addressing it - either doing something (if we are responsible to) or letting go (if its not our responsibility) is the way to true comfort.

Finding the truth and taking the action dictated by that truth really does reduce stress levels almost instantly - and it left me feeling calm, relaxed, happy and at peace - which is the foundation where health thrives!

I have since progressed to a 10klm running program and am loving the challenge, and the emotions involved here ... I can almost feel that cholesterol dissolving from my arterial walls :-)

23/04/2019

Getting Comfortable with Discomfort:

Well ... just after my exciting win of getting back to running 5klms again ... a series of family crises sent me pummeling down old familiar paths of anxiety, depression and isolation - and back into my old comfort zone of self soothing with comfort eating - as my brain tried to comprehend the situation and minimise the pain and damage to body systems. Of course the comfort eating created more problems than it served ... so if I want to attain a different result in the future ... I have to be willing to step outside of my comfort zone - and confront discomfort head on - to challenge lifestyle patterns and habits which repeatedly damage my health and wellbeing. It has been well said that 'a comfort zone is a beautiful place ... but nothing ever grows there...'

Getting comfortable with discomfort is crucial to success - and lifestyle changes take time - its a long road of gaining insight into why we do what we do - and then making wiser choices and rewiring the brain to default to the newly installed healthier habits.

At the end of the day - it's really a choice between the discomfort of eating well and sweating it out at the gym - or - the discomfort of carrying excess weight, being fatigued, increasing the risk of chronic illness and possibly having the choice of being able to achieve dreams and goals stripped from us. So we may as well make friends with discomfort - it's unavoidable - might as well embrace it as an inevitable growth curve in life.

Join me in my quest for health as I extend my cholesterol challenge to explore comfort eating in more depth and uncover healthier options available to me outside my current comfort zone. I will also continue to pursue my understanding of the complexity of all body systems and their interlinked involvement in the homeostasis of my cholesterol levels. :-)

01/04/2019

Week 7

Yesss - first 5klm run in about 6 months!! Not my best time but not bad considering I started running from scratch (30 secs run / walking 1 min 30 sec) - only 6 weeks ago.

Six weeks of ground work (running, weights and core) has restored a good level of fitness and now I have the muscles to increase my metabolism and start some serious fat burning - to free my liver of excess abdominal fat and allow it to function optimally.

Im continuing to eat 3 healthy meals a day, (1/2 plate vegies/salad, 1/4 protein and 1/4 complex carbs) with some good fats as well. No night time eating - to reduce caloric intake and more so to allow my body to heal and restore overnight.

I'm getting my 7-8 hours of sleep per night - for a myriad of reasons - but also to avoid raising unhealthy cholesterol levels unnecessarily.

My mind is thinking more positively with each new hurdle I jump - and each time I raise the bar I feel good about doing the right thing and looking after myself.

This week's goal: time to start entering those winter fun runs - and slowly increase my running back to 10klms! :-)

30/03/2019

Cholesterol & Sleep:

The cooler nights and my herbal mix - have thankfully helped me to regain a good night's sleep. Just as well with research indicating that both too much sleep, and too little sleep, can have negative impacts on my cholesterol levels.

Research, by the Sleep Research Society, found that sleeping less than 5 hours, and more than 8 hours, increased triglycerides and decreased the good HDLs - in as little as 5 days. Too little sleep led to increased bad LDLs - and findings revealed that women who regularly slept less than 6 hours a night increased their risk of cardiovascular disease.

Not getting enough sleep was found to increase appetite, decrease physical activity and elevate stress levels. In addition, snoring was found to be implicated with lower levels of the good HDL cholesterol.

All of the adverse effects caused by lack of sleep were then reversed with adequate sleep - and cholesterol levels improved with every hour of sleep restored.

Holistic health recognises that the body is connected in more ways than we may ever fully understand. Taking care of health involves addressing the whole person - mind, body and soul - and the multifaceted complexities of all of the intertwined systems - because all parts of the body work together as a whole.

Lifestyle choices - exercise, good sleep, eating well, thinking good thoughts, maintaining stress levels, and having a healthy spiritual life are all facets to consider in the attempt to attain and maintain good health.

Sweet dreams 😪

Reference:

Kaneita Y, Uchiyama M, Yoshiike N & Ohida T, 2008, 'Associations of Usual Sleep Duration with Serum Lipid and Lipoprotein Levels,' Sleep Research Society, vol 31, Iss 5, pp 645-652, Oxford Academic