Ingrid Milnes Metabolic Health Coaching

24/10/2025

I finally get to test out a recipe from the book I purchased at Low Carb Down Under last weekend. It was delicious and the kids happily scoffed it too. The creamy “gravy” was a nice change to the tomato based meatball sauce we usually make. We served it with creamed spinach and the kids had new potatoes. I would recommend you try it.

22/10/2025

I’m wearing a Linx Continuous Glucose Monitor at the moment and I wanted to share two great insights it has given me this week. INSIGHT 1. Overnight oats on the plane flight from Brisbane to Auckland: I hadn’t eaten breakfast before boarding and overnight oats was the only food option on board. It spiked my blood glucose up to 8.3. I was stuck in a chair meaning I couldn’t use much of it up using movement. Oats increase blood glucose very rapidly and if we can’t utilise that glucose it will be stored either as fat or glycogen (depending on how full/empty your stores of the latter are)
INSIGHT 2: intense physical activity increases blood glucose. I did shuttle runs at cardio tennis (high intensity effort) and saw my blood glucose spike up 7.2. I wasn’t fasted; I had eaten a carb free 4 egg omelette for breakfast (much earlier) but thanks to my muscle glycogen stores and liver I had a quick supply of glucose to fuel me. It’s a good reminder that our bodies have backup energy systems to ensure we don’t fall in a heap, and carbohydrates are not essential for energy (in my case I wasn’t pushing hard effort for long, but if I was an endurance athlete or a super active person I would need some carbs to replenish my glycogen stores).

20/10/2025

The PREKURE coaching posse and I at the Low Carb Down Under conference last weekend. It was great to hear speak and Dr Caryn Zinn too. I have been on a Business accelerator programme over the last 6 months led by Louise Schofield so it was lovely to finally meet her in person.🤓

20/10/2025

A sample of the powerhouse of metabolic science and clinical experience using Therapeutic Carbohydrate Restriction that I was fortunate to be able to soak up at Low Carb Down Under over the weekend.

🔥 Saturday Highlights — Day 2 at the Low Carb Brisbane 🔥

Another powerhouse day of cutting-edge science, clinical insight, and lively discussion — expertly chaired by Dr Sanjeev Balakrishnan, Dr Susan Swanston, Dr Peter Brukner, and Prof Grant Schofield.

🎯 Highlights included:
• Dr Andrew McIntyre on Low Carb Nutrition in Gastroenterology
• Dr Matthew Phillips exploring Ketogenic Nutrition for Neurological Conditions
• Dr Carlo Longhitano on The Role of Ketogenic Nutrition in Psychiatry
• Dr Deepa Mahananda on the coolectuve power of the Australasian Metabolic Health Society
• Dr Tania Farrah on Ketogenic Diet Therapies in Epilepsy — an established highly evidenced field
• Dr Paul Mason diving deep into Atherosclerosis and Cholesterol — challenging textbook thinking!
• Nina Teicholz (via Zoom) on Changes in US Dietary Policies
• Dr Peter Brukner on GLP-1 Agonists – Friend or Foe?
• Dr Helena Popovic connecting Nutrition and Dementia in a thought-provoking close

👏 Huge thanks to all our speakers, chairs, and attendees for another incredible day of learning and collaboration!

18/10/2025

Glycated haemoglobin(HbA1c) is an easy blood test to ask your doctor for, and if it’s elevated there is a lot you can do to bring it down and avoid type 2 diabetes entirely.

Your HbA1c test shows your average blood glucose over the past three months – a crucial indicator of your risk for type 2 diabetes or type 2 diabetes complications.

Understanding your numbers helps you take charge of your health and track how lifestyle changes are making a real difference.

Don’t wait. Know your risk today. 👉 https://bit.ly/3BD7Jjp

18/10/2025

Dr Peter Brukner founder of Defeat Diabetes speaking about how the Diabetes food guidelines in Aussie are going to change in line with the scientific studies ie to low carb. This is huge for helping Type 2 Diabetics to improve their health 👍 Hopefully NZ follows suit…

18/10/2025

Dr Matthew Phillips presented to us at Low Carb Down Under this morning. He is a neurologist based in the Waikato using metabolic therapies such as the keto diet to help patients with awful life limiting and life ending neurodegenerative conditions like ALS, Parkinson’s and Alzheimers…which are all on the rise sadly. His research gives us hope. The focus is on mitohormesis; a mix of stress and recovery of our mitochondria. So using diet as an example this would be eating (a mitochondrial stress) and fasting (mitochondrial recovery). Which is why only eating 2-3 times a day max is important for keeping our mitochondria healthy. Also what we eat is very important too (see revised food pyramid in my pic) ; keeping sugar out and carbs very low. Some exercise but not excessive amounts and avoiding toxins like lead, cigarette smoking and seed oils where possible. Love his work

10/10/2025

I like the Gerry’s pizza bases. They’re crispy and low in carbs. Tonight I had prosciutto, blue cheese, walnut and pear with some olive oil drizzled on top.

10/10/2025

Ok so I’ll definitely be sticking with the Whittakers 86% choccy

I compared the Whittakers 72% v the 92% dark chocolate. You might be surprised:

Protein 11 v 13 g | Fat 34 v 47g | Carbs 51 v 14 g | Sugar 32 v 6 g
(per 100g 72% v 92%)

Analysis: way way more carbs and sugar in the 72%, probably why it tastes so good…

But here’s the thing…a glazed doughnut has roughly the same carbs and sugar as the 72% block, around 50g of carbs and 30g of sugar per 100 g. You’re basically in doughnut territory disguised with cocoa.

Therein lies the problem with nutritionism - it's easy to sell single nutrients dressed up.

Nothing wrong with eating these things in a broader context of a mainly healthy whole food diet.

In nutrition (and science) we must be very careful not to fool ourselves and as Richard Feynman said “you are the easiest person to fool.”

Data will smile at you while lying through its teeth if you’re not paying attention. Don’t forget how good a glass of red wine a day is for you … right?

Do we have a nutritionism problem in the field of nutrition?

10/10/2025

Supplementing with creatine monohydrate is something I do religiously. Even as an omnivore we need to get more in by supplementing our diet. On my blog I explain more…
https://ingridmilnes.com/blog/f/creatine-benefits-of-supplementation-beyond-exercise-performance

07/10/2025

I’m not a great sleeper so I’m always thinking about how to do it better. Sleep is SO critical to brain health, body repair and metabolism.
Last night I achieved 96/100 as a sleep score: my best ever. So what did I do differently? ✔️I have been drinking decaf coffee this week. Which is huge as I LOVE coffee. I have noticed more sleepiness in the evenings - which makes sense as caffeine blocks adenosine receptors and adenosine build up is what makes us feel relaxed and sleepy in the evening.
✔️I drank electrolytes before bed (and no alcohol - but I don’t drink any during the week anyway)
✔️I exercised early in the day - cardio tennis in the sunshine. Getting a good spike in morning cortisol ensures we get a nice drop in the evening, because cortisol release is on a negative feedback loop. To help boost morning cortisol it is important to eat breakfast, hydrate sufficiently, get sunlight exposure (even 5 mins helps)and exercise.

02/10/2025

I find that most recipes can be adapted and made to be low carb. Our family style of eating revolves around recipes like this where the adults omit the starchy carbs and our growing kids get them all (in this case they had tostadas). This recipe has black beans in it, so it’s not zero carb, and that’s OK because beans are really nutritious and when combined with protein and fibre they don’t cause a spike in blood sugar. The latest Dish magazine has quite a few adaptable recipes like this one.