Innate Wellness
Hello and welcome to week 12! This will be the final week of the nutrition plan. I hope you have enjoyed the journey and made some changes to your diet? Nutrition constantly evolves and the goal posts move readily. Ultimately you should enjoy what you eat and make sure it's nutrient dense!
For our final week, we have another great little piece from Nutritionist Lisa - this time on post workout nutrition. Enjoy the read!
Hello and welcome to week 11!
One of the concepts I love about nutrition is 'food as fuel'. We can use food for so many positive reasons including to help regulate mood! Naturopath Nicole Woodcock wrote this great piece on the food and mood connection. Check it out below:
Do you feel like your moods, anxiety and stress are impacting your life? Anxiety, low mood and stress can make life feel like an uphill battle. These feelings can drain you of energy and motivation, making your day-to-day life harder to handle. When you are not balanced and grounded life’s challenges can seem impossible to overcome, leaving you feeling overwhelmed and defeated.
Hello and welcome to week 10!
We had nutritionist Lisa Stanton- Smith write a piece on Kombucha and gut health as it's such a topical area or nutrition. Check out her article below:
A hot topic at the moment, optimal gut function is the foundation to all health. However there is a lot of misinformation out there, so in this blog I hope to provide some new insights for you.
Hello and welcome to week 9!
Herbs and spices - do you use many in your cooking? Once upon a time, I would buy pre-packed salad dressings and cooking sauces to add to my food. Little did I know just how many additives are in there! Once of the main culprits is sugar.
Hello and welcome to week 8!
Nuts and seeds - do you eat enough? Many of the meal plans contain nuts as a snack, often with a piece of fruit. If you engage a dietitian or nutritionist, they will most likely get you to include nuts in your diet - why?
Hello and welcome to week 7!
Red meat or white? Whilst historically we all sat down to consume 'meat and three veg,' the tides are turning on how many servings of red meat we should be eating per week. Why?
Hello and welcome to week 6!
Brown rice or white? You may notice that many of the dishes include things like brown rice or brown rice chips? When food processing occurs, the bran and germ (the two outer layers of brown rice) get removed, leaving white rice. It is these 2 layers however, that contain most of the vitamins and minerals in the grain. When we strip them away in processing, we are left with a grain with few nutrients and a lot less fiber.
Hello and welcome to week 5!
Lentils - they're taking over the world! With more people turning to vegan diets and looking for meat alternatives, these seeds pack a punch. Lentils are tiny round legumes (a seed that grows in a pod) that come in a variety of sizes and colors, including black, brown, yellow, red, or green. They are relatively cheap and have been a staple in many cultures around the world including India.
Hello and welcome to week 4!
Eggs play a big role in breakfast dishes this week. Eggs are super versatile whilst being exceptionally nutrient dense. They provide multiple vitamins and minerals as well as good quality fats and protein. The protein they provide is one of the highest quality, as eggs contain all 9 essential amino acids. These are the building blocks of protein which are essential for the strength and repair of muscle and tissue, amongst other things.
Hello and welcome to week 3!
This week we see lots of 'left overs' being used. In this plan, dinners are frequently used as lunch the following day so be sure to make enough to set aside. You might also notice that many of these plans contain smoothies for breakfast. One of the many benefits of smoothies is that you can add so many nutrient dense ingredients in one delicious serve! We should be aiming to eat 5 cups of vegetables per day - now if you're anything like me, I certainly find that difficult! In order to try and meet the recommended daily intake, I always have at least one smoothie per day. I even add vegetables I don't like to ensure I have diversity.
Hello and welcome to week 2! How did you find the first week? Are you making some small changes to your diet? You will notice that many of the recipes contain good quality, unprocessed foods that are high in fibre, protein and complex carbohydrates. Many of us consume too many simple carbohydrates (found naturally in fruits, milk, milk products and in pre-packaged foods such as candy, table sugar and soft drinks). Complex carbohydrates (peas, beans, wholegrains and vegetables) on the other hand, provide vitamins and minerals as well as glucose, the bodies most readily available fuel source.
Hello and welcome back to the Innate Wellness Centre! The team at Innate are keen to build on our fitness platform from last year by delivering more holistic advice on your health and wellbeing. Accordingly, we have put together a 12 week nutrition plan for you to use in whatever capacity you would like. You may choose to follow the meal plans as prescribed or you may just like to try some new recipes from the plan? The best part is that it provides a good variety of nutrient dense meals which will hopefully educate you on the food groups you should be eating most.
Hello again and welcome back to the Innate Wellness Program. We feel it’s timely that we re-engage with you all as we unfortunately enter lockdown 2.0. Having the benefit of hindsight, we all know how hard it is to again be limited in our movements within our own communities. It’s challenging physically, mentally and emotionally and so it’s fundamental that we continue to focus on promoting good health and fitness.
This week I am excited to bring you a discussion on the importance of having strong gluteal muscles. Whilst many of us have been quite active during isolation, others have become more sedentary. This can cause weakness and muscle imbalances that may lead to injury.
So before we head back to the gym when they reopen shortly, I thought I would have a discussion with you about the core and give you some basic exercises on how to strengthen them at home. I spoke to Chiropractor Anna Kennedy from Macedon Chiropractic who put together this exert for you.
We’re all breathing a sigh of relief as the country begins easing restrictions; how nice was it to see some family members again! I hope that we can continue to ease our way out of lockdown and be liberated to do more as the weeks go by…
So as we start to re-engage in our communities and emerge from ‘hibernation’, we’re now seeing lots of data from our time in lockdown. During previous blogs we discussed nutrition and last week we talked about the second wave of chronic illness that will emerge from how we lived our lives during isolation. We now have some interesting statistics on what really went down during lockdown…..
It’s official, our lifestyles have had a forced overhaul since lockdown. Life as we knew it changed overnight and that included what we were putting in our mouths! Now I’m sure all of you are having a chuckle thinking yep – I’ve definitely tweaked my diet a little……
Well here’s some data straight from the companies that are bringing food to our doors. According to Deliveroo, our go-to lockdown meal has been fish and chips. Their data reveals that in the last month, deliveries for take away ‘fish n chips’ were up 597%! It was also the top rated search on their app. You will also feel validated in knowing that ice cream sales have gone up by 139% too…. 😊
There is a feeling of positivity this week as we see a huge amount of testing across Victoria and overtly busier shopping centres and public places.
When coronavirus first hit our shores, there was a lot of hysteria. From a health perspective I recall ambulance bays being turned in to triage areas – there were hoards of people presenting to Emergency Departments to get tested as people felt vulnerable and ill-equiped to deal with COVID-19.
Once the health authorities realised how contagious the disease was and modelling showed exponential growth if we didn’t intervene, we were rapidly thrust into isolation.
Breathe in……Breathe out – have you been taking a moment to re-connect during isolation? The world is embracing meditation as a way to decompress and allow the mind to focus on a single thought. Now I already hear a collective sigh and a plethora of excuses being thrown around -"I don't have time to meditate," or "I can't sit still long enough," or best one yet - "it’s boring!" Well I empathise with you because that was me not long ago......... Fast forward a few weeks and several podcasts later and here I am meditating daily (I even have my husband on board!). Now if you’re thinking this is not for me, maybe you could reconsider….. What if I told you going for a walk can be a form of meditation?
When we lose routine, we can get bored and turn to food as a form of ‘entertainment.’ In my earlier blog, we discussed the benefits of a nutrient dense diet in order to maintain health and immunity. Now generally when we’re going to work or school, our day is pretty structured and most of us are also routine around meals. But have you noticed that you've been wanting to snack more now that we're all spending a lot more time at home? Why is this??
We all seem to be getting into the rhythm of social isolation, adapting to what has become the new ‘norm.’ I have had some lovely feedback from you all regarding the Innate Wellness Program and I’m so pleased that we have been able to work with you all in this unique time. Hopefully we’ve been able to alleviate some tension by enabling you to continue to work out - I’m not sure about you but I’m a much nicer person to be around when I have done some exercise……….!
All this social distancing, despite being challenging/repetitive/isolating/mind-numbingly boring - is helping mitigate spread. I’ve even done a few novel things like tackling some bike ramps with my son as we find innovative ways to pass the time at home. As a family, we have certainly been more engaged, indulging in some epic games of monopoly…. Some future investors in the making perhaps???
We have recognised that in this time, your financial, physical and mental health may all be compromised. I’ll leave it up to Innate to navigate your financial affairs however we would love to collaborate so that we can help cater for your physical and mental health too. So without further ado, I present our first blog which has some advice on how to traverse self-isolation.