Rachel's Blogs
I’m Gonna Take My Vitamins…They’re Good For You, They’re Good For You!
Don't know this thrash anthem for all nutritional medicine practitioners written by Supernova about 20 years ago? Do yourself a favour and check it out!! It makes me laugh to the point of tears every time. What also got me giggling recently was a coffee catch-up...
Do You Remember?
I've seen two 20-year-old young men in my practice this last month who've already made a lasting impression on me. The first, is buff, full of cheek and humour while deeply engaged with his health, earnest in his desire to understand his 7 years of daily upper gastric...
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A Great Time To Be A New Practitioner
"Health issues are rarely one individual textbook condition like they were during my studies. The interaction of the body is complex, and Rachel has given me valuable insight into how to link various pathology markers & physical aspects together. Test...
Do you mind if I record our appointment?
I read an interesting news item in Medical Observer this week about the increasing number of patients either overtly or covertly recording medical appointments on their smart phones. Have some of your patients already asked if they could do this? Mine have and I’m...
Winning the Acid War
You might have heard me talk about using an ‘upstream’ rather than ‘downstream’ approach in nutrition – the concept is very naturopathic… look at the water source and address things there rather than just tweak things downriver! One of the most important upstream...
Australia’s Food Intolerance & Allergy Guru Will See You Now!
I’ve booked my flights and packed my bags (at least in my mind!) already. The annual Science of Nutrition in Medicine Conference is on 2-3rd May in Melbourne & there’s one name on the bill that alone I would be attending for – Dr Robert Loblay. He’s the head of...
The Sleep Prescription
How often do you find yourself writing sleep prescriptions for your patients? I do – frequently. I’ll include in my recommendations something like – ‘nap for 20 minutes every alternate day’ or, ‘commit to getting into bed 1 hour earlier 3 nights this week’ or...
Another Piece of Naturopathic Nutritional Wisdom Goes Mainstream
Over 20 years ago (ouch!) while studying at Southern School of Natural Therapies, I heard for the first time that calcium perhaps had a ‘dark side’! At the time, and still to a large extent now, calcium is publicly portrayed as something you simply can’t get enough...
New Mentoring on a Monday
Howdy everyone, thanks to popular demand (and perhaps something some people have against Tuesdays!! 🙂 ) we've opened up a new group on the 2nd Monday on every month at 1.30pm NSW time for mentoring. It's brand-out-of the bag-kinda-new with a small group of...
Optimal Thyroid Function In Pregnancy?
Thyroid function is critical to successful conception, healthy pregnancies, babies and mum's post-partum wellbeing, so we need to take the time to ensure we’re monitoring it properly. First of all you need the right tool for the right job & that means we need...
Is This Your Month to Start Mentoring?
We’re ready to begin another year of group mentoring from this Tuesday and we’ve got just 6 spots in total still available across all our time slots! Maybe you’ve heard the buzz about the sessions from some of our mentees over the past few years & are tempted but...
What to make of long-term low CRP
Ever had those patients… young, slim, fit…I won’t go so far as to say ‘well’ or otherwise they probably wouldn’t be seeing us right? But not overtly inflamed and yet when you measure their CRP, it registers. The average CRP of ‘healthy’ adult populations is reported...
PCOS families – are your male patients affected?
We now suspect that many of the drivers behind PCOS are heritable components – a genetic vulnerability passed from parents, possibly one but often both. This growing understanding has identified a phenomenon referred to as ‘PCOS families’ i.e. a family in which at...
Extra info on 2014 CD Deal
We've had a lot of inquiries regarding our end of year CD special. So just to clarify - here's the deal and below that how to make it happen! 🙂 Purchase any 2 CDs before Jan 31st and receive one complimentary Premium Audio Recording of your choice OR purchase 4 CDs...
End of Year CD Clearance
As we head rapidly towards the change over of our calendars we would like to offer you a special on the very best educational recordings from 2014 - buy 2 CDs before Jan 31st and receive one complimentary Premium Audio Recording of your choice OR purchase 4 CDs and...
Recognising A Tendency to Iron Overload Earlier
We've just had another mentoring case in which a 40 something female with deficiencies of almost all other minerals but 'pretty normal ferritin levels' presented with a range of endocrine problems and arthralgia. Sounds as if iron's not the problem right? Except...
Mental Health – The Real Story
“Two great speakers – inspirational in the first half and bang on in the second – I now know how much I don’t know” Just out now in time for Christmas…no seriously though… this year I had the good fortune to team up with Biomedica and in particular Rachel McDonald and...
Low T3 Syndrome & The Hibernation Effect
Apologies for having a one-track mind currently but yes I’m still banging on about the thyroid this week. You see, this year in my own clinic I connected up some dots I hadn’t connected before via a series of young female patients. Each of these women presented with...
T3 resistance?
Just been speaking on the thyroid at ACNEM last week and am finding that practitioners across the board are getting more and more curly thyroid cases. One scenario that we increasingly see is something that might be described as 'T3 resistance', when your patient's...
Where’s the Fire??
I learned to drive more than 20 years ago in a mustard yellow VW beetle with my ageing father beside me playing the dual role of instructor and slightly hysterical passenger. The one catch-cry that he screamed over and over again was, “Where’s the fire? Where’s the...
What have you learned in 2014?
I’ve learned a lot (!) and as always that learning has principally driven by my clients – their pathology, the diagnostic investigations we’ve employed to better understand the drivers behind their conditions, their response to various treatment approaches & of...
Knowing your (Se) Numbers in Thyroid Patients
I’ve been re-reading lots of studies for a talk I’m delivering at ACNEM in Melbourne, investigating the relationship between selenium and a myriad of thyroid pathologies: from hypo- to hyperthyroidism and from subclinical thyroiditis to cancer. The sheer number of...
The Emerging Impact of Artificial Sweeteners..via your Microbiome?
When was the last time you drank or ate something that contained an artificial sweetener (AS)? I remember it well and my most striking recollection was the way it ‘hit the spot’ just like I would have expected sugar to, making me immediately suspicious of the effects...