Blog - Whole Naturopathy

Breathing to move from 'fight or flight' to 'rest and digest'

Breathing to calm the mind

May 29, 2025

When you’re feeling stressed or anxious and especially if you’re feeling stuck in that state, it can be really helpful to have some tools that you can use, to move out of it, into your calm, rational mind. Autonomic nervous system Your autonomic nervous system has 2 modes: sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight), and parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest). Don’t worry too much about the names of these 2 modes, they were given hundreds of years ago and the original theories around what they did, turned out to be untrue. Long term balance To balance your autonomic nervous system in the long term, you want to make sure your life includes activities that you find fun or relaxing: exercise, time in nature, and time with friends (especially...

If you had a day to yourself, would you spend it in bed?

April 15, 2025

Herbal Medicine, Lifestyle, Nutrition

People often come into my clinic for fatigue, and this is one of the questions I ask, as it tells me some important information: if you had a day to yourself, would you spend it in bed? Fatigue can present in so many different ways, and understanding the nature of it is the start of understanding exactly what is going on in your body. Some people start their day with fatigue, and it improves as the day goes on. Others start fine, but can hardly stay awake after lunch, and others get progressively more exhausted as the day goes on. For these people, when It’s bad enough, their ideal day is a day in bed, as they are just too tired to enjoy other activities. Adrenal fatigue If...

Should we eat butter and saturated fats?

Saturated fats – friend or foe?

March 12, 2025

Metabolic health, Nutrition

To watch this as a video, click here. When I was young, the messaging was that butter hardens your arteries, leading to cardiovascular disease, and it also makes you fat. I found an interesting research article that explains where that information came from and why it’s faulty. If you’ve been around a while, like me, you will remember the song from the ‘Life be in it’ TV ads, “Eat more breads and cereals…” At time where we were told to fill up on the carbs, and to limit our fat intake. Interestingly since then, we have seen an increase in cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and obesity. The 2014 research article titled " The Questionable Benefits of Exchanging Saturated Fat With Polyunsaturated Fat” explains where much of this...

Targeting acne where it starts

February 27, 2025

Skin

Your skin is not just the shell to your body, it’s actually an organ, and whilst topical creams, lotions and balms all have their place, if the issue is due to the relationship between your skin and other organs, the topical treatment will likely fall short. Whilst hormones are usually the first place most people look, I actually find looking to the liver can be most helpful. The relationship between the liver and the skin is strong as the major role of the liver is in detoxification, and if the liver is unable to preform this task well, it’s often the skin that suffers as the body attempts to detoxify via the skin. But detoxification is not the only role of the liver, it also metabolises hormones....

How to look after your liver

December 5, 2024

Liver, Metabolic health, Nutrition

To watch this as a video, click here. Your liver is one of the major detoxification organs in your body. But not only does it work in detoxification, it also plays an important role in hormone regulation and blood glucose metabolism. It’s commonly known that too much alcohol is bad for your liver. But did you know that overeating, too much sugar or white flour products, as well as prescription medications (and recreational drugs) can increase the detoxification load of the liver? Some common signs of reduced liver function: Fatigue (especially after lunch or mid-afternoon) Brain fog Headaches Nausea Irritability, frustration, or anger Dry skin The good news is that the liver is an organ that can repair itself (at least at this point), and there are lots of...

Breathing to calm the mind

If you had a day to yourself, would you spend it in bed?

Saturated fats – friend or foe?

Targeting acne where it starts

How to look after your liver

Trouble getting your iron levels within range?

Springtime allergies

Vitamin D for a strong immune system

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