So how do you feel?

07/09/2022

Set amongst the blooming cherry blossoms on a gorgeous Spring day in Bendigo, this artwork is entitled “The Dead are More Alive than the Living” 💀

Are you living the life you want to be living?
Or do you just mindlessly go through the motions and “keep on keeping on”? 🌸

This is a great example of a piece of art that is inspiring, thought provoking and a reflection of the time we live in.

This is, to me, exactly what art should be. 🤍

14/08/2022

James is part of the lead cast at Draculas on the Gold Coast and lives a hectic performer’s lifestyle with huge physical demands and late nights. 🧛‍♂️

Together, we modified my Love your Liver protocol to help him achieve his wellness goals. Here is James’ take on what he learned and achieved post the 21 day protocol.

“I decided to do the detox to improve my general health and create better habits and had also hoped to have some appearance changes as well.

Before the programme, I would say my energy levels tended to be inconsistent, I was less prepared with meal planning, felt I had a lot of bloat and I wasn’t having sleep that felt “deep” enough.

Afterwards, I felt more energetic, more specifically in the late afternoons where my energy used to crash, I lost alot of bloat and face puffiness around my cheeks and I feel as though I’m having more satisfying sleep now.

I learnt for myself that I can be a lot more disciplined with my meal planning and also to be more intentional with how often I eat, and at what times so I could keep a routine. I also learnt that my body tends to be inconsistent with certain processes and that it’s a continued journey to keep building upon the positive effects of the detox.

Post detox, at the moment I plan to keep eating clean as I did on the detox and don’t currently feel any need to change anything up as all the food has been satisfying and nourishing.

Nikki was so helpful in many ways. She was consistently in touch no matter how small the question offering support when I needed it on harder days and not only providing answers but explaining to me why certain things were happening. I was able to be successful in this detox due to Nikki’s kindness and knowledge.”

Amazing work James! 👏🏻

25/07/2022

Throwback to a gorgeous morning in Hobart in June where the skies were blue and the sun was shining ⛵️

Did you know that vitamin D is necessary for calcium absorption? 🦴

The best way to obtain vitamin D is from nature’s source - the Sun! 😎

A daily dose of 15 minutes of direct sunshine (without sunscreen!) on your forearms is sufficient for most people. I find it difficult to get this in the depths of winter in Melbourne so I supplement with vitamin D3 drops when I can’t get my daily dose of sunshine.

Also note Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin so you can build up your stores in your body.

How will you get your dose of vitamin D today? ☀️

27/03/2022

Perfect Sunday mornings 😎☀️ sunshine, coffee, puppies and cold water dips. What else do you need?

17/03/2022

I was recently speaking to one of my clients who is currently in the final week of his 21 day liver detox protocol. ⭐️

After the first few days on the protocol, he started experiencing headaches and nausea. 🤢 These symptoms went away fairly quickly but I think that what he was experiencing were Herxheimer reactions.

Let’s talk about toxins. We are exposed to toxins every day of our lives as they are present in our food, our water, our shampoos and soaps. Toxins are even produced inside of our body - some of our gut bacteria produce toxins.

All of these toxins have to be processed by our liver and converted into water soluble form so they can be excreted by your sweat, urine and p**p. Now that you know how hard our liver has to work, are you really surprised that our livers can become overloaded?

In short, the more overloaded your liver is, the worse you can feel during a detox. I know from my own personal experience that I experience hardly any Herxheimer reactions now compared to when I did my first detox.

The reason why many people experience Herxheimer reactions at the beginning of the detox is because the first 2 days of the detox involves intermittent fasting where no solid food is consumed. Because toxins are stored in our fat cells, when you start intermittent fasting and toxins from your fat cells are released into your bloodstream, your liver has more to detoxify.

Herxheimer rections are a sign that your liver is working hard to detoxify so that they can be effectively excreted by your body.

I’m pleased to report that my client’s Herxheimer reactions stopped within a few days and he’s already seeing positive signs in his body with a noticeable reduction in bloating and fluid retention. 🥳

21/02/2022

“I was sceptical when Nicola first spoke to me about putting myself on the detox but she knew that I’d been over indulging and neglecting my health due to my busy lifestyle. My initial response was ‘it’s too much work!’ but I decided to bite the bullet and commit to this 21-day detox to get my gut back on track.

Just 2 days into the detox, I was already feeling better. The shakes did not leave me feeling hungry and once I started eating again, I realised how different my shopping cart looked as I was loading up on foods I didn’t usually eat, or not in such large amounts. I felt ‘clean’ and the symptoms of my IBS disappeared from day 3, staying away for the entire 3 weeks. I lost almost 5 kilos and 2 weeks on, I’ve managed to keep it off.

The moment I went back to my ‘regular programming’ I realised how much meat I used to consume and was quite surprised at how smaller portions would satisfy me.

Nicola has been there for me the entire way, checking in on me almost daily, encouraging me and the online community has been incredibly supportive. I never once felt deprived during the detox as there were so many food choices and I was still able to make tasty, satisfying meals that left me feeling good when I was done.”

Thanks for your testimonial 💙 I’m looking forward to 21 days of simple, unprocessed and nourishing food - this protocol really shows you how to respect your amazing body and how good you can feel.

After a thoroughly enjoyable but indulgent Summer, I’m looking forward to starting this protocol on 28 February and giving my body a well deserved rest and reset.

14/02/2022

This one is for all my plant lovers! ❤️

Happy Valentines Day all! 🍑🥦🍎🫐🍍

11/02/2022

This is my beautiful client, Marie.💗 Marie McLeod

Marie has always been a healthy and active person but for a long time now, she has struggled with gut-based issues including acid reflux, bloating and food sensitivities. Having tried many gut-based protocols in the past, she was reluctant to commit to another protocol and had resigned herself to having gut issues for the rest of her life.

2 years later (after achieving amazing results doing my Love your Liver protocol which I tailored to take into account her food sensitivities), Marie is now 2 weeks into her gut healing protocol.

Today we had a coaching session over lunch to catch up on how she’s been finding the protocol and to discuss the supplement regime, the nutrition plan and how she’s been able to incorporate the protocol into her lifestyle.📝

She will freely admit that the first two days of the protocol were tough as her body adjusted to her new supplement regime but since then, she has been feeling great and has found that the protocol has been easy to fit into her daily routine.🗓

I’m looking forward to giving you another update on her progress in the next month or so! If you suffer with gut based issues and would like to know more about the protocol, drop me a DM!✌️

28/01/2022

I couldn’t have said this better myself!

“Self-care is often a very unbeautiful thing.

It is making a spreadsheet of your debt and enforcing a morning routine and cooking yourself healthy meals and no longer just running from your problems and calling the distraction a solution.

It is often doing the ugliest thing that you have to do, like sweat through another workout or tell a toxic friend you don’t want to see them anymore or get a second job so you can have a savings account or figure out a way to accept yourself so that you’re not constantly exhausted from trying to be everything, all the time and then needing to take deliberate, mandated breaks from living to do basic things like drop some oil into a bath and read Marie Claire and turn your phone off for the day.

A world in which self-care has to be such a trendy topic is a world that is sick. Self-care should not be something we resort to because we are so absolutely exhausted that we need some reprieve from our own relentless internal pressure.

True self-care is not salt baths and chocolate cake, it is making the choice to build a life you don’t need to regularly escape from.

And that often takes doing the thing you least want to do.

It often means looking your failures and disappointments square in the eye and re-strategizing. It is not satiating your immediate desires. It is letting go. It is choosing new. It is disappointing some people. It is making sacrifices for others. It is living a way that other people won’t, so maybe you can live in a way that other people can’t.

It is letting yourself be normal. Regular. Unexceptional. It is sometimes having a dirty kitchen and deciding your ultimate goal in life isn’t going to be having abs and keeping up with your fake friends. It is deciding how much of your anxiety comes from not actualizing your latent potential, and how much comes from the way you were being trained to think before you even knew what was happening.

If you find yourself having to regularly indulge in consumer self-care, it’s because you are disconnected from actual self-care, which has very little to do with “treating yourself” and a whole lot do with parenting yourself and making choices for your long-term wellness.

It is no longer using your hectic and unreasonable life as justification for self-sabotage in the form of liquor and procrastination. It is learning how to stop trying to “fix yourself” and start trying to take care of yourself… and maybe finding that taking care lovingly attends to a lot of the problems you were trying to fix in the first place.

It means being the hero of your life, not the victim. It means rewiring what you have until your everyday life isn’t something you need therapy to recover from. It is no longer choosing a life that looks good over a life that feels good. It is giving the hell up on some goals so you can care about others. It is being honest even if that means you aren’t universally liked. It is meeting your own needs so you aren’t anxious and dependent on other people.

It is becoming the person you know you want and are meant to be. Someone who knows that salt baths and chocolate cake are ways to enjoy life – not escape from it.”
-Brianna Wiest
https://ko-fi.com/donate_nepenthe



[Illustration: Yaoyao Ma Van As Art ]

08/12/2021

🚃 On my tram ride to work, I listened to some words of wisdom from my friend Marie on the Potential Psychology podcast. She spoke about the concept of negative bias - how many of us dwell on things that we perceive as negatives in our daily lives and we give more weight to the things that go wrong.

For the month of December, per Marie’s suggestion, I have committed to the daily practice of writing down:
🔹 3 things that went well; and
🔹 Why they went well

This is my 8th consecutive day of this practice and as time goes by, noticing the things that went well gets easier and I can definitely find more than 3 things that went well. Interestingly, I don’t think that more things have gone well in my day, I think I’m just noticing more of them.

At this time of the year, I really want to be present with my loved ones and enjoy the quality time with them. I think it’s the perfect time to kick that negative bias to the kerb so that I can try not to get overwhelmed with the hustle & bustle of the silly season and turn my attention to all the magical moments this special time has to offer.🎄

I’ve encouraged my family to participate in this with me for the month of December and I hope you’ll join in too! ❤️

31/10/2021

Just enjoying my brekkie and setting some goals for the next 3 weeks of my Love your Liver protocol. ☕️

1️⃣Simplicity

This is about keeping everything as simple as possible with easy recipes and consistent movement regime and morning/evening routines. I sometimes feel pressure to have variety in the things I do but my focus is going to be on consistency. Repetitiveness will be just fine with me.

I know that I’m probably going to be eating the same meals each week (and no wine and croissants 😩) but it’s only for a short period of time. Now is the time for discipline so I can indulge over the end of 2021 festivities!

2️⃣Lightness

I want to lose a few extra kilos and feel lighter physically and mentally. My protocol will allow me to focus my thoughts and attention to help me achieve this goal for myself.

3️⃣Disconnect to Reconnect

I’m going to immerse myself in my own protocol bubble so that I can reconnect with myself and what I want out of life.

See ya on the flip side! ✌️

17/10/2021

A morning coffee is one of my most loved daily pleasures and I’ve often wondered whether this little ritual is actually good for me. ☕️

Thankfully, I’ve discovered that drinking coffee has significant health benefits.

Yes, coffee contains caffeine but it also contains proteins, amino acids, carbohydrates, fibre and numerous polyphenols.

An article published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 2012 summarised a study which explored a database of diet and lifestyle factors of 400,000 individuals for 13 years. Coffee drinking was associated with a reduced risk of death from heart disease and diabetes and is an insulin sensitiser. Insulin sensitivity is important to ensure that our cells are able to efficiently mobilise blood glucose. Insulin resistance is a precursor to type 2 diabetes.

Have you ever asked your GP for a liver function blood test? Elevated levels of liver enzymes like GGT and ALT are markers for liver inflammation which can lead to non alcoholic fatty liver disease and cirrhosis (marked scarring and liver damage).

There have been numerous studies done in Italy, Japan and the US that have demonstrated an improvement in liver inflammation markers in blood tests with the consumption of coffee. Two cups of coffee a day can reduce the risk of developing cirrhosis by 80%.

While there is compelling evidence that there are significant health benefits of drinking coffee, it’s important to remember that caffeine is a stimulant. Some people are more sensitive to caffeine & experience anxiety or disrupted sleep. This is usually due to caffeine causing production of adrenaline.

Caffeine also speeds up one of the phases of liver detoxification which is fine if your liver is functioning well. However for many of us, our liver function is compromised by consuming too many liver loaders (like excessive alcohol consumption, processed foods and chemicals). For these substances to be properly detoxified by the liver, all phases of liver detoxification must occur. If this does not occur, these partially altered substances are released back into our bloodstream in a more reactive form.

On balance, coffee is good for your liver however if your liver detoxification pathways need some support, it’s probably best not to go overboard. On my Love your Liver Protocol, you can still enjoy one coffee daily before midday. My next 21 day protocol starts on 1 November – show your liver some love and join us! ❤️

12/10/2021

Hi guys! 👋🏼 it’s been a while since I’ve posted content here and it’s because I’ve recently expanded my role in my corporate job. I’ve also been trying to make sure I keep up with my own self-care at the same time. The balancing act is real! ⚖️

BUT when I’m not reviewing legal documents, attending Zoom meetings and drafting policies and procedures, I’ve been doing a lot of reading and research on all my favourite topics - liver detoxification and gut health. I’m excited to start sharing that information from a balanced and realistic point of view with you very soon! ✌🏼

25/09/2021

All the colours of the rainbow at the farmers market this morning 👩🏻‍🌾🌈💜

29/08/2021

Yes, it’s tough at the moment.

The collective energy has been heavy.

We’re all feeling the frustration, the anxiety, the lack of control and the loneliness. 💔

As my husband said recently, it feels like we are living in perpetual lockdown with occasional snap openings. 🤯

But how do we navigate this time with ease and grace and support each other effectively when the world seems topsy turvy? 🙃

🔹Be mindful of your expectations - people are not mind-readers so communicate clearly what you need and don’t get mad if they don’t behave in the way that you expect.
🔹Get out of the victim mentality, look after yourself and take charge of what you can control.
🔹Remember that your friends and family have their own lives (and their own struggles) and they are doing their best.
🔹If someone has reached out to you, listen with compassion. Practise listening without judgment.
🔹Be kind to yourself but take responsibility for your words and actions. Before you speak, consider whether you are responding from a place of love or fear.

14/08/2021

Lockdown 6.0

27/07/2021

“What are you up to this weekend?”

It used to be a good way to make small talk at Friday afternoon drinks at the office.

Now that question asked on the Friday afternoon Zoom call with colleagues is tongue-in-cheek and kind of depressing. 😑

So how are you feeling lately?

Are you feeling a bit “blah” with a general lack of motivation and energy?

There is a new buzzword in psychology circles – languishing. It is the antithesis of flourishing and sums up that feeling where you wouldn’t describe yourself as being depressed but you wouldn’t say you were thriving either.😒

For many of us (particularly in NSW and Victoria), that feeling is all too familiar.

We don’t have anything interesting to say about our weekend plans or our holiday plans and the conversations with our friends revolve around the daily case numbers, when we are coming out of lockdown and what we are watching on Netflix.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

The first step is being aware of how you’re feeling, do something for yourself that makes you feel good and appreciate why it makes you feel good.

This can be as simple and small as:
🫖making a pot of your favourite tea and taking a deep inhale of its aroma
🧦having a hot shower, putting on a cozy pair of socks and appreciating the warmth on your feet
🤣having a good old chuckle at an inappropriate tiktok video or meme

During this mini-lockdown, I’ve been making a point of going for a beach walk almost every morning (rain, hail or shine).

During our walks, I breathe in the fresh ocean air (negative ions!), sip our hot coffee that warms us from the inside out and enjoy our morning conversations. ☕️

Here are some strategies to boost your wellbeing:
🔹Go for a daily walk in nature (and be prescriptive about this – it is like medicine)
🔹Don’t be afraid to make plans for your future (we won’t be in lockdown forever!)
🔹Raise your vibration by thinking about all the things that make you happy in your life, smile and feel the shift in your energy✨

What’s the one thing you can do tomorrow to help you lift your mood and get into a better headspace?

21/07/2021

Have you ever counted how many plant-based foods you eat in a week? 🤓

In 2018, the American Gut Project analysed stool samples from over 10,000 citizen scientists from around the world (primarily the US, UK and Australia along with 42 other countries).

One of their key findings was that participants who ate more than 30 different plant types per week had gut microbiomes that were more diverse than those who ate 10 or fewer types of plants per week.

Apart from plants being a great source of fibre (which can help create nice healthy p**ps), why is it important to maintain good gut diversity? 🦠

For some perspective, we used to have 300-400 different types of bacteria in our microbiome but the average Western person now has between 115-120. 😮

In addition, when we experience a loss of balance in our microbes, this can cause a breakdown of the tight junctions in our gut lining (which separates our gut contents from our blood stream) causing toxins to leak into our bloodstream. This can play havoc with our immune response.

Our microbiome produces metabolic by-products called postbiotics. These affect our immune system by:
🔹Fighting infections by turning up the specific virus fighting cells
🔹Conversely, dialling down our inflammatory response and switching on our own anti-inflammatory immune regulatory cells
🔹Keeping our gut barrier tight by making a healthy supply of mucus and anti-microbial microbes

So how do you improve your gut diversity?

Aim for at least 30 different types of plant-based foods per week. 🥗

Each type of fibre feeds a particular set of bacteria and remember plant-based foods include fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds and grains.🍎

The American Gut Project study demonstrates that our gut microbiomes are incredibly dynamic and this means we can change its composition. Diet is only one factor – our microbiomes are also affected by various lifestyle factors including our home and work environment, exposure to toxins, sleep quality and levels of stress.

Did you learn something new about your microbiome? Comment below! 🍏