Rachel's Blogs
I Was Wrong
I take my job to heart. When someone asked me recently to choose the single value that spoke most to me personally I couldn't seem to go past, 'Purpose'. I feel very honoured to have contributed to the learning of so many health professionals in their undergraduate...
We Know – But Do They?
When a teenage girl presents seeking her first oral contraceptive pill (OCP) script, what information is she privy to that enables her to make an informed decision? Read the insert inside the box? Please. Which 50 year old, let alone 15 year old does that? Forget it!...
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‘Sup with Zonulin?
Watch the gap! You know I love a good diagnostic test probably (way!) more than the next person but I am slow to come around when there's suddenly a 'new-kid-on-the-block' that every functional testing company wants to offer you. This is how I felt about serum...
When it Quacks like a Duck…it Could be a QIR!
Yet another sensational week of group mentoring last week. Holy guacamole...these cases just get more and more tasty! So much to talk about on every case presented, we all learnt buckets from a smorgasbord of conditions including: sudden onset thyroiditis (with a T4...
Money V Meaning
At the end of last week I spent 3 days engrossed in intensive ANS planning for 2018. As you can probably imagine these planning days are incredibly exciting, creative, stimulating processes. If everyone involved had brain PET scans performed during these discussions,...
Taking a Stand!
This year I've given up sitting & I couldn't be happier or more annoying. I've become one of those evangelical people that wants to now spread the word as far as possible. I bought a standing desk and it's radically improved my energy at the end of every work...
Working on the Edge
May was the month of teenage girls presenting with severe digestive problems, especially 'food intolerances', leading to avoidance of specific foods and at times significantly reduced food intake overall. As integrative health practitioners, validating and creating...
Pyrroles…I Recant!!!
This year has been a steep learning curve but this is exactly as I had hoped and planned for. I strapped myself in for my roller-coaster ride, a series of intensive upskilling initiatives undertaken with mentors and experts in specialist areas, and I haven't hurled...
No Patch on Iodine Testing
Whenever I talk to practitioners about thyroid health, like I recently did at MINDD, I can guarantee I'm going to get 2 questions: Shouldn't we aim for the high iodine intake of Japanese? Can we use the patch test for testing iodine levels in our patients? I...
Skip the Spin & Just Kiss
I've been given a lot to think about. With ACNEM Science of Nutrition Conference and then MINDD both this last week, I've heard a lot. Not all of it good, useful or accurate of course. 'Beware the Spin!' I would say to anyone wondering how to sift through the...
Fearlessly…or fearfully (?!) entering Twitterland
I was typing notes furiously throughout the ACNEM Science of Nutrition conference last weekend. So many gems, so many gems, from researchers & clinicians - I just got so much out of it. I love the slightly awkward mismatch between the research world, aka 'don't...
Last days to take advantage of the Update in Under 30 sale!
Make the most of this special offer! If you become a 12 month subscriber before the end of the week you will pay less than $13 per edition. Save more than 50% than if you were to buy the podcasts individually. Stay up to date with the latest in integrative nutritional...
1/4 of a packet of Activated Almonds a Month…
'How much does the Update in Under 30 podcast subscription cost?' I hear you ask...about 1/4 of a packet of Activated Almonds per month, that's about 1 activated almond per day I reckon. This is a Byron Shire joke, the idea being that Activated Almonds are the...
Joining the Campfire Conversation
So you've heard part of that BIMA story...now here's the rest. To be honest, I was pretty surprised to win anything given I've spent the last 20 years 'agitating', challenging the misinformation and strongholds of the big companies etc. Funnily enough, in my post...
Beaming About My BIMA
Psssssssssssst....just thought I would share a special moment from a couple of weeks ago when I received the BIMA for Lecturer of the Year. Thanks to all those practitioners who nominated me for Lecturer, Nutritionist & Researcher of the year! It was really...
Satisfaction in Strange Places
There are many different potential sources of satisfaction that come from working in integrative health. The first that comes to most of our minds of course is the deep satisfaction that comes with solving a complex health riddle for someone and knowing that you have...
Who is ‘Molly’??
I keep hearing the name, 'Molly': "I think I'll use 'Molly' for this patient" or "A bit of 'Molly' might go well with the zinc for their high copper"... a moment of confusion on my behalf, (Molly who?) and then the slightly late...'ooooooooh Molybdenum'. Gotta love a...
The Conference Trifecta! This is a Must Watch
Recently, I posted about my very positive experience of the AIMA NZ conference, prior to that I was gabbing on about the upcoming ACNEM Brain Health conference in Melbourne in May and now I am going for the conference hat trick! I want to revisit a really impacting...
Elusive Integration?
Just back from a truly wonderful Australasian Integrative Medical Association (AIMA) conference in NZ. I don't know what it is about the land of the long white cloud but they seem to produce some of the loveliest, most earnest health practitioners and this conference...
Did we Leave Oestrogen in the 80s?
Duck duck GOOSE! Do you know this game? That's how I'm feeling with oestrogen - high-high-high-LOW!-of late. Likely similar to your experience, the majority of my female clients battle with oestrogen dominance, therefore I get so used to looking for it, expecting it:...
Pig Thyroid For Who?
Got any patients on Natural Thyroid Extracts (NTE)? Me too...and I am finding it's on the increase. What's the deal? What do we need to understand about this form of thyroid replacement therapy to best monitor and manage those patients already on it or...
Hear ye, hear ye…Adrenal Fatigue is Dead!
That's the word on integrative medicine street. I had a sense this was coming, not just a tightening of our terminology but also a challenge of the very concept of 'adrenal burnout'. Hear me out. This important information was presented by Dr. Kamal Karl, an...
Welcoming a New Member to the Family!
I just want to scream with joy...and then keep on screaming with utter frustration! Last week I presented the culmination of months of work looking into the extraordinary manifold relationships between thyroid health, fertility, pregnancy & post-partum health for...