Dr Carla Atkinson

Blog, Health

Perimenopause Symptoms: What’s Happening & How to Help

Perimenopause symptoms can creep up quietly – or hit all at once. Either way, if you felt like you finally knew your body and now nothing works the same way anymore, you’re not imagining it. The exhaustion, the irritability, the brain fog, the cycles that seem to have a mind of their own. This is perimenopause, and it deserves a proper explanation.

You’re not falling apart. Your body is shifting. And there’s a lot you can do about it.

 

Perimenopause vs Menopause – What’s the Difference?

Most women think of menopause as the whole chapter – the hot flashes, the weight gain, the mood swings. But menopause itself is technically just one day: the day your menstrual bleeds have been absent for 12 consecutive months. After that, you’re post-menopausal.

Perimenopause is everything leading up to that point – the transition period where your hormones begin to shift and your body starts responding. It typically begins in your early 40s and lasts an average of 7.5 years, though it can be as short as a couple of years or as long as 12.

Not all of perimenopause is symptomatic. But it is a phase when things are moving, and the more supported your body is, the smoother that tends to be.

The duration and intensity of your experience is shaped by lifestyle, stress, sleep, nutrition, digestion, gut and liver health, adrenal and thyroid function, and your body’s ability to detoxify. These are exactly what we look at inside Decode, my starting point program.

 

Common Perimenopause Symptoms

The most common perimenopause symptoms include:

  • Fatigue that doesn’t resolve with rest
  • Hot flushes and night sweats
  • Sleep disturbances – difficulty falling asleep, waking between 1–4am
  • Brain fog, poor memory, scattered thinking
  • Mood swings, anxiety, depression, tearfulness
  • Worsening PMS or cycle changes (heavier, lighter, irregular)
  • Joint pain and muscle loss
  • Heart palpitations
  • Low libido and vaginal dryness
  • Hair loss, dry or itchy skin
  • Weight gain, particularly around the belly
  • Digestive issues
  • Increased headaches or migraines

Perimenopause also has two distinct phases, which do feel different. In the early menopausal transition, oestrogen tends to run high and erratic, so you’re more likely to experience heavy periods, breast tenderness, emotional lability, and anxiety. Cycles become variable – sometimes wildly so.

In the late menopausal transition, oestrogen is declining, and symptoms shift toward hot flashes, vaginal dryness, depression, brain fog, and longer cycle gaps. Knowing which phase you’re in changes how you support yourself.

 

Why Your Symptoms Might Not Be “Just” Perimenopause

Brain fog, mood swings, insomnia, hot flashes, heavy periods – these can all be perimenopause symptoms but driven by inflammation, insulin resistance, chronically elevated cortisol, or poor cardiovascular health, completely independently of your hormone levels.

Which means two women with identical symptoms can have entirely different root causes.

This is exactly why a generic perimenopause protocol rarely gets the full job done. Your symptoms are a signal, but the source needs investigating. Layering supplements or lifestyle changes onto an unidentified underlying driver is, at best, slow. At worst, it makes things worse.

This is what we untangle inside Decode – looking at your individual body chemistry rather than guessing from a symptom list.

 

What’s Actually Happening to Your Hormones

Think of oestrogen in perimenopause like a ketchup bottle you’re banging on the bottom – nothing comes out, then a tiny bit, then a huge splodge, then nothing again. That’s the reality of what your oestrogen is doing.

As your ovarian reserve declines, your ovaries and follicles continue producing oestradiol, but progesterone drops as ovulation becomes less predictable. Your brain (the hypothalamus and pituitary) notices and turns up its signals, increasing FSH to compensate – which is why it can feel like a hormonal rollercoaster with no apparent trigger.

High oestrogen symptoms tend to look like: swelling, breast tenderness, migraines, heightened emotions. Low oestrogen symptoms tend to look like: dryness, joint pain, memory issues, low libido.

DHEA, testosterone, cortisol, insulin, leptin, and ghrelin are all impacted too – affecting your sleep, appetite, mood, metabolic function, and energy.

After menopause, when the ovaries stop producing oestrogen and progesterone, your adrenal glands, peripheral tissues (including fat cells), and even the brain take over small-scale hormone production. This is why adrenal health in perimenopause is not optional – it’s foundational. It’s also why the state of your adrenals before you hit this transition matters enormously.

My focus isn’t on managing your hormones directly – it’s on restoring the foundations that allow your body to regulate them better on its own.

 

This Is Not Something You Just Push Through

A 2023 study in the journal Occupational Medicine surveyed 407 women and found that the most common symptoms affecting employees more than 50% of the time at work were fatigue, difficulty sleeping, poor concentration, and poor memory. Work performance was impacted for 65% of respondents.

You are not alone in this. And you don’t have to white-knuckle your way through it.

Your body is speaking up for a reason. The question is whether you have the right information to actually hear it – and the right support to do something about it.

 

Where to Start

If you’re waking between 1 and 4am, running on coffee, crashing by afternoon, and wondering where your motivation went – your body is asking for support. That’s not weakness. That’s data.

Download my free Guide to Perimenopause – it covers the hormone picture in depth, what tests to ask your doctor for, how to support yourself through the transition, and much more.

Or if you’re ready to go deeper: Decode is my starting point program where we look at what your body actually needs to feel stable, energised, and like yourself again – using HTMA (Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis) to understand your individual mineral status, stress response, and body chemistry. Your data, not a generic protocol.

Because your experience of this transition is uniquely yours. And you deserve answers that reflect that.

[→ Download the Free Guide]
[→ Learn About Decode]

— Carla x

Blog

Copper Toxicity Symptoms & Detox Guide: Why am I so angry & moody?

If you’ve landed here feeling like you don’t quite recognise yourself anymore – the mood swings, the rage that comes from nowhere, the anxiety, the exhaustion – it might be copper toxicity.

I want you to know something first. You’re not going crazy. You’re not a horrible person. And you’re definitely not alone!

Take the Copper QUIZ HERE to help find out.

 

WHAT IS COPPER TOXICITY?

Copper is an essential mineral. But when copper accumulates in your tissues faster than your body can process and eliminate it, it becomes what we call biounavailable. It can’t be used. And at excessive levels, that unbound, unusable copper can wreak havoc.

What’s surprising is the primary cause of copper deficiency is actually a copper toxicity. The excess copper gets stored away, making it unavailable to the body – so you end up with symptoms of both deficiency and toxicity at the same time.

Copper dysregulation is incredibly common, frequently missed, and affects women, men, teenagers, and children alike.

 

WHAT DOES COPPER DO IN THE BODY?

When copper is balanced and bioavailable, it plays a vital role in:

  • Energy production via the electron transport chain
  • Haemoglobin synthesis
  • Neurotransmitter activity
  • Immune system health
  • Cardiovascular health
  • Fertility and maintaining pregnancy
  • Collagen and elastin synthesis
  • Iron availability

It also has strong anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and anti-mould properties. A copper deficiency can contribute to yeast infections, candida, sinus issues, ear problems, and digestive complaints.

The goal isn’t to eliminate copper – it’s to get it working for you again.

 

SYMPTOMS OF COPPER TOXICITY

When copper starts to accumulate in the body’s tissues, liver, and eventually brain, the effects can be significant – particularly on mental and emotional health.

Mental and emotional symptoms include:

  • Mood swings and emotional outbursts
  • Rage, irritability, and a short fuse
  • Racing thoughts
  • Panic attacks
  • Depression and feelings of despair
  • Eating disorders
  • Brain fog and poor concentration
  • Memory problems
  • Social withdrawal
  • Heart palpitations
  • Frontal headaches and migraines

If your emotions feel like they’re all over the place – one moment numb, the next completely on edge – and you’re foggy, anxious, and not recognising yourself, copper could be at the root of it.

Researcher Rick Fischer has even linked copper toxicity to high divorce rates, such is its impact on mood, behaviour, and relationships.

The oestrogen connection

Copper and oestrogen have a deeply intertwined relationship. Copper stimulates oestrogen production, and oestrogen enhances copper retention. A double whammy that contributes to oestrogen dominant symptoms including:

  • PMS and painful periods
  • Acne
  • Histamine issues
  • Joint pain and headaches
  • Weight gain around hips, belly, and thighs
  • Low energy and chronic fatigue
  • Reproductive issues including infertility, miscarriages, endometriosis, fibroids, and ovarian cysts
  • A non-existent sex drive

Take the Copper QUIZ HERE.

 

HOW COPPER TOXICITY AFFECTS YOUR BODY

Beyond mood and hormones, excess copper creates a cascade of dysfunction throughout the body:

Liver and detox — excess oestrogen from copper retention thickens bile, impairing your liver’s ability to detox effectively.

Immune health — copper interferes with zinc metabolism, contributing to chronic yeast infections, candida, UTIs, and skin problems like cystic acne.

Energy and adrenal function — copper is an excitotoxin that overstimulates the adrenal glands, contributing to chronic fatigue, adrenal burnout, insomnia, and that classic “tired and wired” feeling. Do you get dizzy when you stand up quickly? That’s often a sign of adrenal stress connected to copper.

Histamine and skin — copper can inhibit histamine breakdown, contributing to eczema, rashes, hives, and sinus problems.

Iron and thyroid — copper dysregulation affects iron regulation and impacts calcium and potassium metabolism, both of which are essential for thyroid function.

Copper issues have also been linked to arthritis, coeliac disease, scoliosis, elevated cholesterol, and various neurological conditions.

 

WHAT CAUSES COPPER TOXICITY?

The most common culprits are closer than you think:

  • Copper pipes in your home’s water supply — one of the biggest reasons I recommend a quality water filter to every client
  • Hormonal contraception — the copper IUD, the pill, and even progesterone-only formulas (synthetic progesterone doesn’t interact with oestrogen the way natural progesterone does)
  • Hormone replacement therapy (HRT)
  • Passed from mother to baby in utero
  • Xenoestrogens, BPA and plastics, pesticides and fertilisers
  • Dental amalgams and alloys
  • Copper cookware
  • Chronic stress and slow oxidation
  • Vegetarian and vegan diets (most vegetables are high in copper and low in zinc)
  • Prenatal and standard multivitamins
  • Regular swimming pool use
  • Hair dye and some industrial exposures

It’s worth noting that copper doesn’t always cause problems immediately. If your zinc status is strong and your liver and adrenals are healthy, it may take 4-6 months or more before symptoms begin to show.

There is also research showing that mothers with postpartum depression have significantly elevated copper levels compared to non-depressed mothers — likely due to impaired liver function and drainage pathways that develop during pregnancy.

 

HOW DO I KNOW IF I’M COPPER TOXIC?

This is where conventional medicine can fall short. Given the symptoms, a GP is more likely to offer an anti-depressant, birth control pill, anti-anxiety drug, or ADD/ADHD medication than to investigate copper. None of which addresses the root cause and can make the problem worse.

The test of choice for copper toxicity is Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA) – a non-invasive test that gives us a window into what’s been happening inside your body over the past 3 months.

Take the Copper QUIZ HERE to get a sense of whether this could be you.

On a HTMA, copper toxicity is assessed through:

  • High or low copper (low copper can indicate a hidden toxicity stored in tissues)
  • High calcium, low sodium, low potassium
  • High or low zinc
  • Low phosphorus
  • Elevated Ca/K ratio, low Na/K ratio
  • High mercury, high Cu/Mo ratio
  • History of copper exposure

This is exactly what we look at inside Decode – my comprehensive HTMA analysis that gives you the full picture of what’s actually happening inside your body, why your symptoms keep returning, and what your body needs to start shifting. Written in plain language, with a clear protocol. No guessing.

[Explore Decode here →]

 

HOW TO DETOX EXCESS COPPER

Copper detox is not something to rush or attempt alone. Done too fast, it can make you feel significantly worse before you feel better. Done well, it’s genuinely life-changing.

 

Step 1 – Reduce your exposure to copper

Before we start pulling copper out, we need to stop more going in. Think of it like a sinking boat – you plug the hole before you start bailing water.

This means:

  • Remove the copper IUD if applicable
  • Stop hormonal birth control (I can support you with alternatives)
  • Filter your tap water
  • Reduce high-copper foods temporarily — liver, oysters, dark chocolate, cashews, spinach, avocado, lentils, sesame seeds, and most other nuts and seeds

This isn’t forever. Once your body is metabolising copper properly again, these foods come back.

 

Step 2 – Prepare your body

When metabolism is sluggish, the body holds onto toxins rather than releasing them. Before we push copper out, we need your adrenal, thyroid, and liver function to be in reasonable shape, your drainage pathways open, and your digestion moving regularly.

This is why working with a trained practitioner matters. Rushing this step is where things go wrong.

 

Step 3 – Support the release

Once the body is ready, it will begin releasing copper naturally – which will show as elevated copper on a follow-up HTMA. This is a good sign, not a bad one, provided it’s monitored and supported properly.

 

COPPER DUMP SYNDROME – What to Watch For

Certain supplements and activities can trigger a faster copper release than the body is ready to handle:

  • Zinc, molybdenum, chromium, manganese
  • Vitamin C and MSM
  • Adrenal glandulars
  • Intense cardio
  • Calorie restriction

When copper dumps too fast, symptoms can be intense – anxiety, panic, exhaustion, insomnia, emotional outbursts, and in severe cases, suicidal thoughts. This is why the pace of detox matters, and why having a practitioner who knows what they’re doing is essential.

The right support includes appropriate binders, digestive and liver support, bile support, and careful dosing – all tailored to what your HTMA is showing.

 

WHAT LIFE LOOKS LIKE ON THE OTHER SIDE

When you’ve worked through your copper toxicity, the shifts are profound:

  • Stronger immune system and fewer infections
  • Stable mood, less anxiety, depression, and panic attacks
  • Consistent, reliable energy
  • Better hair, skin, and nails
  • Improved reproductive health — less PMS, fewer period problems
  • Clearer thinking, better memory, better relationships

For mothers, healing copper toxicity can also reduce the risk of postpartum depression, morning sickness, and developmental issues in babies.

The symptoms of copper dumping are temporary.

The life on the other side – where you feel genuinely like yourself again – is not.

You might even say a life where you radiate from within.

 

Ready To Find Out What’s Actually Going On In Your Body?

 

If you’ve made it this far, I hope you’re not walking away thinking, “I’m copper toxic.”

I hope you’re walking away thinking, “I’m beginning to understand my body.”

Copper may be part of your story. It may not.

The goal isn’t to collect another label.

The goal is to understand what your body has been trying to communicate.

Because when you understand your body…

You stop fighting it.

You begin supporting it.

And from there, you create the capacity to live the life you want to live.

If you’d like to understand whether copper is part of your story, I’ve created a free quiz to help you explore the signs.

👉 Take the Copper Quiz

Or, if you’re ready to stop guessing and finally understand what your body has been trying to tell you…

👉 Learn about Decode

– Carla x

 

 

Matrescence

5 ways to manage postpartum fatigue and function on little sleep (that don’t include coffee!)

Whether it’s tending to your sick children, a racing mind due to financial stress or anxiety, your little ones waking from nightmares or bet-wetting, newborn night-feeds…

…or your body just being super used to being woken and then waking automatically when there’s no good reason (gah I hate this one!)…

…and you find yourself getting super frustrated that your partner seems to be oblivious to it all! (like seriously!)

…disrupted sleep is bloody tough!

To put the scale of the issue into perspective, studies suggest on average we lose the equivalent of 2-3 MONTHS of sleep in the first 6 years of motherhood! Faaaaarrrk!

Lack of sleep affects our mood, appetite, patience, cognition, and energy levels, which can make parenting and work (life let’s face it!) even more challenging.

That’s why I wanted to share some insights I’ve made during my struggles these last couple of months, so you have more tools in your toolbox than just a bazillion coffees to make it through the day!

Most of you likely rely on a good ol’ cuppa joe, but maybe you’ve had so much your adenosine receptors are downregulated and caffeine no longer gives you the kick used to…

…or you’ve got flagging adrenals, and the gitters and anxiety caffeine gives just makes you feel worse!

So, what’s a girl to do?

Here are my top tips to help you get through the day!

 

  1. Yoga Nidra

Yoga Nidra can be a game changer as studies show 30 mins of practice is equivalent to 2 hours of deep sleep!

It also helps reset the nervous system to manage stress better, which is especially useful when sleep deprived!

I’m recording 10- and 20-minute versions for my Radiant Mumma’s soon but let me know if you’d like a copy by replying ‘Yoga Nidra’ and I’ll send them to you!

 

  1. Breathwork

By increasing oxygen flow to the body and brain, breathwork can help to energise you and reduce fatigue, while also boosting mindfulness and focus, leading to a greater sense of alertness.

You can use breathwork to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, promoting relaxation and reducing stress and tension. This can lead to a calmer and more centered state, which can contribute to a feeling of increased energy and vitality.

Or you can use breathwork to activate the sympathetic nervous system providing a temporary energy boost and improving focus.

I like to use a combination I learnt from Ari Whitten that includes breath holds.

Breath holds increase carbon dioxide levels in the body and can stimulate the respiratory centers to increase breathing rate and depth upon resuming breathing, which leads to improved mental clarity and alertness.

I’m recording my favourite short 5-min practice for my Radiant Mumma’s soon so reach out and say ‘breathwork!’ if you’d like a copy.

 

  1. Sunshine & nature

Sunshine, especially in the morning, is like coffee for your eyeballs!

It stimulates your Cortisol Awakening Response helping to set your circadian rhythm (your sleep wake cycle) for the day.

Sunshine also helps convert the cholesterol in your skin to vitamin D, and it provides you with free redlight therapy to help charge your mitochondria (your cellular energy makers).

If you live in a place that gets little sunlight through part of the year, check out a Sperti Vitamin D Sunlamp for the family and/or redlight therapy.

Combining this with time in nature, ideally with bare skin on the earth, is also going to ground you.

Grounding appears to improve sleep, normalize the day–night cortisol rhythm, reduce pain, reduce stress, shift the autonomic nervous system from sympathetic toward parasympathetic activation (from fight, flight, freezer to rest, digest, repair), increase heart rate variability (resilience to stress), and reduce blood viscosity (better oxygenation of tissues, and nutrient transport).

 

  1. Adrenal cocktail

Our adrenals are like the body’s generator, kicking in when the main line (inc. the thyroid) needs an extra hand – like it does when we’re under stress from lack of sleep!

The adrenals are where our stress hormones are made, which are stimulatory and give us that get up and go (AKA get the hell outta there if there was a tiger chasing you).

They do this, however, by breaking the body down to produce quick fuel (glucose) – this is partly why our carb cravings go up during times of stress.

The adrenal cocktail contains nourishing nutrients for the adrenals.

I like to have mine either mid-morning or mid-arvo…or both!

My standard go to recipe is:

  • 4oz/100ml pure orange juice from real oranges
  • ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar/Pico Potassium or ⅛ teaspoon potassium chloride
  • ¼ teaspoon unrefined sea salt (I like Crucial Four or Mizzi)
  • 1 heaped teaspoon baobab powder
  • 4oz/100ml coconut water or filtered water
  • 2-4oz/50-100ml raw milk/coconut milk
  • 1 tablespoon collagen

 

  1. Shilajit

The active ingredient in shilajit is fulvic acid. It is the same thing that the microbes in the soil create to uptake minerals – and minerals are what’s needed for energy and for your body to function.

It acts as a delivery system to drive the 84+ organic minerals into the cell.

It’s believed to help transport other nutrients in the body, facilitate energy production within mitochondria, and support the body’s detoxification processes.

A 2012 study published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology found that shilajit helped reduce symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome in test subjects. 

Researchers noted that shilajit might help improve cell functions in the body, which means it may reduce fatigue at the source of the problem and increase energy levels naturally.

You can get a 5% discount on the shilajit I buy HERE (use code CARLA).

Start very small and work up to about a pea size of the resin dissolved in hot water with a little honey (cos it tastes bloody terrible if you don’t!).

It’s best to take shilajit first thing in the morning as it’s so energising – you don’t want it to affect your sleep!

 

Which are you going to try first?!

Off course, on top of these resources that help get you through the day, your sleep quality and sleep hygiene (the practices and habits that promote healthy sleep) are going to be something you also want to work on…but I’ll save that for another post!

I’d love to hear your favorite go-to tips for getting through the day, so I can share them with other mummas!

 

Matrescence

Nervous System Regulation vs. Mineral Deficiency: Which do you need?

I don’t know about you but everywhere I look on social media at the moment I see people talking about dysregulated nervous systems!

It should be no surprise given the health of our nervous system is integral to our well-being…yet whilst I use and recommend practices like breathwork, mindfulness, meditation, time in nature etc., which are all hugely beneficial here…I feel like most of these people are leaving out a key issue necessary for us to be able to properly regulate…
 
The key thing they’re missing is that most of us are severely mineral deficient, and this massively impacts the ability of these practices to manage our nervous system regulation effectively.
 
So is it nervous system regulation you need to focus on, or is it’s a mineral deficiency you need to restore?…

 

Symptoms of a dysregulated nervous system

  • Frequent energy slumps
  • Attention/concentration problems – brain fog and trouble focusing
  • Digestive issues – bloating cramping, reflux
  • Hormonal issues – PMS, dizziness, fluid retention
  • Anxiety, worried thoughts, frustration
  • Trouble sleeping
  • Mood swings, irritable, snappy, overreacting, emotional

 

Symptoms of a mineral deficiency

…see above!

Yep they’re the same! So what’s the answer?!

Well, they each lead to the other so that’s kind of a chicken and egg situation.

What causes nervous system dysregulation?

Nervous system dysregulation can happen when we’re in the fight/flight/freeze mode for too long.

This branch of our autonomic nervous system is called the sympathetic nervous system in contrast to our parasympathetic side, which is associated with rest/digest/repair.

In simple terms the sympathetic response is the ‘stress’ response and when we have too many stressors inputting to our system (our body) it causes numerous drains on our mineral reserves which are needed to make energy, as well as allow proper absorption of nutrients, movement of wastes and nutrients in and out of cells, proper nerve conduction, and much more.

Stress is a constant state of on.

It stimulates the production of cortisol at the expense of our sex hormones, and energy is conserved from the various systems in the body, in order to respond to the ‘threat’.

This means ‘less vital’ systems slow (things like reproduction and digestion) as energy is burned up with ‘being on’ all the time.

Whether they’re imagined stresses about the safety of our children, real stressors with a challenging relationship, or external stressors like toxins in our environment, our body essentially responds by burning through vital mineral stores needed to make the energy required to respond.

As mums we can have a constant input of worries, tasks to arrange, things to remember/organise/plan for etc. on top of fighting kids, annoying toy sounds, house chores, work and financial stress, spilt drinks on your newly cleaned floor, escalating piles of laundry…all draining our reserves.

So whilst working to calm your nervous system with things like breathwork, thought-work, meditation, and time in nature will most definitely help slow mineral loss whilst also helping you manage your stressors and stay more calm…

…if you aren’t properly replenishing your mineral stores that keep getting called on each day, with adequate nutrition and supplementation…it’s going to challenge your ability to do this well.

But…

If you could also support missing minerals that actually help calm the nervous system internally by taking a supplement and eating certain foods…

Well, it’ll be a heck of a lot easier for you to achieve more peace and calm and you’ll get more lasting results, quicker.

Ok so that’s the nervous system work to help manage emotional stressors first, which will help slow the drain on minerals, but what about the other way round?

Could a mineral deficiency occur first, which then goes on to impact your nervous system regulation and abilty to cope under stress?

Sure can!

Your nervous system may be doing absolutely fine then:

  • Your diet doesn’t contain enough of the right nutrients to properly nourish your body – maybe you’ve switched diets, started a different routine that has different demands on you, or you have some other external influence that effects how and what you eat.
  • You have a baby which depletes you of 10% of your minerals, and these reserves aren’t sufficiently replenished, then you experience sleepless nights, breastfeeding, and big changes to your life that further deplete you.
  • You have a toxic burden that your body is unable to clear which drains your mineral reserves A common one I see here is a copper imbalance that is impacting your iron metabolism and depleting your ‘zen minerals’ driving anxiety, irritation, and intrusive thoughts whilst also hindering the body’s energy production. Another is mercury toxicity draining zinc, which impacts stomach acid production and hence digestion and absorption of nutrients, whilst also hindering the body’s defence against gut pathogens, which further deplete the body and contribute to even more toxic burden.

If any of the above happen then vital minerals needed to help maintain a calm nervous system and produce sufficient energy may be lost, and this may lead to nervous system dysregulation.

So what to do?

Nervous system work alone won’t replenish depleted mineral stores needed to properly regulate yourself and allow your body system to function optimally, and…

…working just to replenish your minerals with diet and supplementation isn’t going to be sufficient if your lifestyle stressors keep you in a sympathetic domnant state that continues to drain you.

But, if you knew which minerals you were deficient in, you’d know which foods and supplements you needed most to help your body replenish and manage all it’s trying to do…kinda like mitigating for the inevitable stress we get in life…

…then topping up with the nervous system support is going to ensure you don’t keep on depleting those stores, thereby allowing your body to switch into rest-digest-repair mode, replenish and be more resilient to stress.

You can’t have one without the other if you want to properly heal and feel amazing…believe me I’ve tried!

I believed I could be the mum that could do it all right now in that moment.

The business, the clients, the homesteading, the parenting, the homeschooling, the ‘wifeing’, the good friend, the self-care rituals, the homecooking, the chores…

I could biohack my way to achieving everything now that I knew exactly what my body was missing.

But my nutrition couldn’t out run my draining lifestyle.

My mineral levels remained low, my worst symptoms little changed, despite all my nutritional therapy.

I needed to find another way.

I learnt we can do everything and anything we want…just not all at once.

We move through seasons in our own life, our monthly cycle, and in our mothering role.

Truly healing our depleted broken bodies requires 3 key steps:

  1. Uncovering the hidden stressors and drains that are depleting us and/or causing our dysfunctions
  2. The right nourishment with quality food, supplementation, rest, and sleep
  3. Nervous system healing and transformation to connect back to ourselves and our passions

That’s when our light stops being dimmed and we can radiate as the beautiful lights that we are.

There’s levels to healing in each of these areas, and this can be overwhelming to tackle when we’re already feeling fried and overburdened.

This is why I developed my 3-phase program, Radiate from Within, to help walk you through the steps all in your own time, whilst being supported in a community of women doing the same!

I’d love to see you on the inside!

 

Health, Nutrition

Best detox for when you’re fatigued

Is not to ‘detox’! Work on your minerals and drainage instead…

Forcing toxins out of storage in the body (with things like sauna, intermittent fasting, juice cleanses, or rapid weight loss) can be dangerous, especially if your drainage pathways (how these toxins leave the body) are clogged (which is super common if you’re struggling with fatigue).

Your body is super smart, always working to keep you functioning as well as possible. It’s working to eliminate wastes and toxins daily, so if your body chose to store those toxins instead of eliminate them, there’s gonna be a reason for it.

Our body needs minerals to function and act as cofactors for the enzymes responsible for various detoxification processes in the cells and in the organs of our body.

In depleted fatigued bodies we generally see the body sequesters (holds on to and stores) toxins. That’s because we need good body function; strong liver health, kidneys, adrenals, thyroid etc to be able to properly metabolise and eliminate waste and other toxins.

When the body isn’t strong enough in those areas (not enough energy to do the task), it will prioritise other tasks first and store the toxins until later (often this is in fat tissue but can also be in the liver, brain and other organs).

That’s why I instead encourage my clients to:

  1. Support your drainage pathways AKA how the wastes and toxins get excreted from your body, and
  2. Support your cells and organs to function at their best by increasing important minerals needed for the detoxification process.

I have a 30-day Energy & Drainage Boost Challenge that helps you do just this! Join HERE.

 

What exactly is drainage?

For our body’s detoxification to be efficient, and to avoid becoming congested, we need good drainage pathways. 

Watch this video for an introduction to drainage or scroll down and click the transcript if you prefer to read.

 

How do I know if my drainage pathways are clogged?

If you’re answering yes to the following, your drainage pathways need support:

  • Are you pooping less than 2-3 times a day?
  • Do you have chronic fatigue you can’t explain?
  • Do you barely sweat when exercising or in the sauna?
  • Do you have rashes, dark spots on your skin, and/or cellulite?
  • Do you have swollen glands and lymph?
  • Do you have tender breasts?
  • Do you have puffy eyes when you wake?
  • Do you have fatty yellowish lumps around your eyes?
  • Do you have liver or gallbladder pain or congestion (pain around the bottom of the rib cage)?
  • Do you have trouble digesting fatty foods?
  • Do you wake up between 1-4 am?
  • Do you have brain fog?
  • Do you retain water easily?
  • Do you have mood problems?
  • Do you have a suppressed Immune system?
  • Do you suffer with low blood sugar, high blood pressure, and/or high cholesterol?

 

Why you also need to support your cellular energy production with minerals…

Minerals are what we call the spark-plugs to the chemistry of life. They are literally required for life and for our bodies to function well. Yet for whatever reason they often get overlooked.

Watch this video to understand why you want to start working with minerals, or scroll down and click the transcript if you prefer to read.

 

Can you work on energy & drainage when pregnant or breastfeeding?

Can you detox when pregnant or breastfeeding? No
Can you support minerals and drainage pathways when pregnant or breastfeeding? Hell Yes!!!! You NEED to!

Watch this video for why, or scroll down and click the transcript if you prefer to read.

 

Are you ready to start your first Energy & Drainage Boost Challenge?

This 30-day challenge gives you the steps to help support your drainage pathways and boost your energy. Click below to join!

Best detox for when you’re fatigued
What about you mumma?

I’d love to know – did this resonate with you? What do you feel your biggest energy and drainage concerns are?

Health

The reality behind your ‘iron deficiency’ anemia…

Many of us tired mums have been told that our fatigue is partially due to low iron. We feel guilty for letting ourselves get so depleted and grab the Floradix, Ferro-grad C, or maybe even go for an iron infusion.

These might even make us feel better initially, but often we get the same issues again and find ourselves in a vicious circle where we’re constantly feeling drained and exhausted.

Maybe we start to believe this is what mumlife feels like and there’s little hope for us.

Well, mumma stop right there! If you’ve been told you have low iron, or even super high iron (haemochromatosis) as often we can flip between the two (I’m one of those people!) then you need to read on.

Over the last 12 months I’ve been learning a lot of eye-opening information about iron. I’m not going to go into everything here, but I do want to highlight and summarise some of the key things I’ve discovered in the hope you’ll at least seek further testing before you agree to add more iron to your body.

If you can you relate to any of the following signs and symptoms, then you’ve got something going on with your iron (and the chances of that are high if you’re reading this blog!):

Iron can’t work alone

Our lifeforce and energy depends on iron, but not on its own. It needs its chaperone, copper, to be able to do its job.

Before I go any further, let me explain the terms ‘bio-available’ and ‘bio-unavailable’ as they’re kinda the key to getting what I’m talking about here.

Bio-available means that it’s useable by the body. Bio-unavailable means that, even though it’s there, maybe even in excess, the body doesn’t have what’s needed to use it. When things are bio-unavailable we may get symptoms of being deficient but in reality, it’s building up in our tissues, which can be very dangerous.  The body is essentially lacking the ability to use it, it’s not that there’s not enough of it.

Right so now you get that, you’ll get this…

We need bio-available (useable) copper for iron regulation. Copper changes the form of iron from ferric to ferrous and back again and is required to incorporate iron into haemoglobin and get that all important oxygen around the body. (Check out my copper blog and quiz HERE to see if this is an issue for you).

If you don’t have adequate bio-available copper, taking iron supplements could lead to iron overload as the body is unable to use it (bio-unavailable) and so we see symptoms of deficiency when there is really an overload.

As iron is a strong neurotoxin and carcinogen* this is of big concern when iron supplements and infusions are so readily dispensed to tired mums without (in my opinion) the proper testing.

Our life force and energy depend on bio-available iron and copper, if it’s not bio-available it builds up in the mitochondria and robs us of our energy production (I’ve heard it’s about 97% of energy production!).

Mitochondria are everywhere, there are 1-2 thousand per cell, 100K in an ovum – so you can see the potential for issues!

We’re not just talking how energetic you feel here either. Energy is needed by every cell in your body to perform its function. You literally need this process to work to survive.

*To read all about the many negative impacts of iron please source ‘Iron: the most toxic metal’ by Dr. Jym Moon

 

If you’d like to learn more, you can also grab my Overcoming Copper & Iron Imbalance Masterclass, where I teach you all the foundations to balancing your minerals, healing your hormones and gut, and cleansing your body of toxins.

Health

Morning Ritual for Energy

I highly recommend having your own morning ritual for sooooo many reasons! These all essentially lead to a happier, more content you, but I wanted to give you some tips to help set you up for good energy throughout your day too.

Your morning routine/ritual doesn’t have to be some unattainable hours long sacred alone-time-thing but if you can carve out carve out at least 10 minutes or so for some time to ‘be’, before you embark on the day’s activities I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised how much it improves your day!

Your morning routine or ritual to yourself can be absolutely what the bloody hell you want it to be. I have however, given a few practical tips you may like to include to help set you up:

  1. Wash your mouth out with water and scrape tongue before you consume anything to remove the toxins that accumulate there overnight. Then look in the mirror and say some words of affection for yourself…”today is going to be a great day”, “today I’m going to pay attention to….”, “I can, I will, watch me”, “today all the doors are open to me”

  2. Sip 1 litre filtered, room-temperature or slightly warmed water with a pinch of sea salt, in the first hour of waking. Optional: add juice of ½ lemon and ½ tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (ACV) to cleanse your system, ready your stomach acid for breakfast and hydrate you…best to drink with a straw and rinse your mouth straight after drinking to avoid acid erosion of your teeth (can replace with herbal tea or bone broth).

  3. Dry body brush for 2 minutes (I do this whilst brushing my teeth!), this is great to stimulate circulation as well as the lymphatic system and helps to get rid of dead skin cells and detox.

  4. Do 100 jumps. I like to do these on my rebounder to activate my lymph but you can just as well do them on the floor. Just little heal raise jumps also help move the digestive system. I literally do mine as the ghee is melting in the pan before I pour the pancake batter in…it takes less than 2 minutes to do!

  5. Do 5 minutes of stretching and twisting. Especially think about mobilizing the spine and opening the hips. This is great not only for your mind but for circulation, posture, and emotions.

  6. Get 20 minutes of sunshine to help activate your Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR) and help set your circadian rhythm in place (read more on that HERE). Have your breakfast outside in the sun or in a window.

  7. Give yourself some space to take in your life and find a couple of things that light you up to feel grateful for. Gratitude is powerful and a great way to start the day in a good mood! These can be as simple as admiring the art on your favourite mug, relishing in the messy hair do of your mini-me, watching the flowers blow in the breeze out your window.

  8. Eat a breakfast high in protein, fat and fibre. Try eggs and sautéed veggies and spices in coconut oil with avocado, or sausage with some fruit and a milky coffee.
Matrescence

Recommended Books & Podcasts for Mums

Pregnancy & Birth 

Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong – and What You Really Need to Know – Emily Oster

Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth – Ina May Gaskine

The Mama Natural Week-by-Week Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth Paperback – Genevieve Howland

Give Birth Like a Feminist: Your Body. Your Baby. Your Choices. – Milli Hill

 

Birth Trauma

More than a Health Baby: Finding Strength and Growth After Birth Trauma – Dr Erin Bowe

 

Early Motherhood

Mindful New Mum: A mind-body approach to the highs and lows of motherhood – Dr Caroline Boyd

The First Forty Days: The Essential Art of Nourishing the New Mother – Heng Ou, Amely Greeven, & Marisa Belger

Nourished Postpartum – Shannon Hayes & Alana Milhall

The Motherhood: Australian Women Share What They Wish They’d Known About Life With A Newborn – Jamila Rizvi

Postnatal Depletion Cure – Dr Oscar Serralach (please note I do not agree with iron, vitamin D, and DHA supplementation)

 

Motherhood

Conscious Motherhood: Finding Yourself in the Beautiful Madness – Cathy Spooner

Days Like These: A comforting, practical companion for tired and terrific mums – Pip Lincolne

Mothering the New Mother – Women’s Feeling & Needs After Childbirth, A Support & Resource Guide – Sally Placksin

Beyond the Bump : A clinical psychologist’s guide to navigating the mental, emotional and physical turmoil of becoming a mother – Sally Shepherd

To Have and to Hold: Motherhood, Marriage, and the Modern Dilemma – Molly Millwood

The Mask of Motherhood: How Becoming a Mother Changes Our Lives and Why We Never Talk About It – Susan Maushart

Ordinary Insanity: Fear and the Silent Crisis of Motherhood – Sarah Menkedick

Anxious Mums: How mums can turn their anxiety into strength – Dr Jodi Richardson

Babies are the Worst: A Memoir about Motherhood, PPD, & Beyond – Meagan Gordon

 

Power of the Woman

Herstory: womanifesto – Jane Hardwicke Collings

The Whole Woman – Germaine Greer

Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype – Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Fed Up: Emotional Labor, Women, and the Way Forward – Gemma Hartley

 

Self

How to do the Work: Recognize Your Patterns, Heal from Your Past, and Create Your Self – Nicole Lapera

Step into You: How to Rediscover Your Extraordinary Self – Lorraine Murphy

Untamed: Stop pleasing-start living – Glennon Doyle

Setting Boundaries: Care for Yourself and Stop Being Controlled by Others – Rebecca Ray

Find Your Unicorn Space: Reclaim Your Creative Life in a Too-Busy World – Eve Rodsky

Rushing Women’s Syndrome: The Impact of a Never Ending To-Do List on your Health – Dr Libby Weaver

Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (And More Life to Live) – Eve Rodsky

Risk Forward: Embrace the Unknown and Unlock Your Hidden Genius – Victoria Labalme

More than a Body: Your Body is an Instrument, Not an Ornament – Lindsay Kite and Lexie Kite

Girl, Wash your Face: Stop Believing The Lies About Who You Are So You Can Become Who You Were Meant To Be – Rachel Hollis

Girl, Stop Apologising: A Shame-Free Plan for Embracing and Achieving Your Goals – Rachel Hollis

Comparisonitis: How to Stop Comparing Yourself to Others and Be Genuinely Happy – Melissa Ambrosini

Own Your Self: Surprising Path Beyond Depression, Anxiety, and Fatigue to Reclaiming Your Authenticity, Vitality, and Freedom – Kelly Brogan

A Mind of Your Own: The Truth About Depression and How Women Can Heal Their Bodies to Reclaim Their Lives – Kelly Brogan

 

Parenting

Parenting Book Club with Holly – Facebook Group

Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us About the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans – Michaeleen Doucleff

Raising a Secure Child: How Circle of Security Parenting Can Help You Nurture Your Child’s Attachment, Emotional Resilience, and Freedom to Explore – Kent Hoffman

Rest, Play and Grow: Making Sense of Preschoolers (or anyone who acts like one) – Deborah Macnamara

Raising Good Humans: A Mindful Guide to Breaking the Cycle of Reactive Parenting and Raising Kind, Confident Kids – Hunter Clarke-Fields

Why Love Matters: How affection shapes a baby’s brain – Sue Gerhardt

The Whole-Brain Child: 12 revolutionary strategies to nurture your child’s developing mind, survive everyday parenting struggles, and help your family thrive – Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson

Raising Girls Who Like Themselves: In a world that tells them they’re flawed – Kasey Edwards and Christopher Scanlon

 

Podcasts

Dear Mama Project by Nikki McCahon

The Good Enough Mother by Dr Sophie Brock

Healthy Her by Amelia Phillips

Working Mumma by Corina O Brian

The Motherkind Podcast by Zoe Blaskey

Mommy Brain Revisited by Dr Jodi Pawluski

Respectful Parenting by Janet Lansbury Unruffled

Health

Tired all day and wide awake at night?

As mum’s this can be a common struggle, especially with disrupted sleep from our kiddos, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do about it.

If you’re super tired, maybe you’re even waking up tired although you’ve slept through the night…but when it comes to bedtime…bing! You become an energiser bunny doing all the things you couldn’t muster your zombie self to do all day, chances are you have what we call dysregulated cortisol and an out of whack circadian rhythm.

Let me explain…

Circadian rhythm is our body’s 24-hour clock that regulates our sleep and wake cycles. When this natural rhythm gets upset, our energy level and sleep quality go to pot.

Kid disturbances aside…back in the day we would wake and sleep with the sun rise and set. The sun was our light source in the day, candles, fire, and moon light at night. But with our modern way of life, we’re often shut indoors all day away from the sun under artificial fluorescent lighting, surrounded by computer screens and WiFi, and we are stimulated by TV screens, lighting, computers, and mobile phones in our evenings when we should be winding down.

Why is this such an issue?

Well, bright lights in the evening stimulate our suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) and pineal gland affecting our melatonin production. Melatonin is our sleep hormone (it’s also produced in the gut so good gut health, in particular a healthy mucosal barrier, is also important for healthy melatonin production).

Melatonin is not only our sleep hormone, but it is also one of the body’s important antioxidants, way more powerful than acai and goji berries! Melatonin goes into our mitochondria (our energy powerhouses that pretty much run your bodily functions) and protects them from oxidative and nitrosative stress.

When we protect our circadian rhythm we protect our melatonin production, which in turn protects our mitochondria and therefore our energy.

Not only that but altered circadian rhythm also upsets autophagy. Autophagy is the cellular clean up mechanism where damaged cells get gobbled up and recycled as new healthy cells and mitochondria are formed. Autophagy takes place predominantly at night, so if you aren’t getting deep restful sleep, less autophagy occurs, which speeds up aging, and suppresses cellular and mitochondrial regeneration, again impacting your energy levels.

But it doesn’t stop there! Circadian rhythm upset also affects our neurotransmitter production, so we have less serotonin (mood, joy, pleasure), dopamine (pleasure, reward, motivation/drive and stress tolerance), GABA (relaxation and calm), and Orexin (energy and wakefulness). Which all leads to an unhappy, deflated, knackered, wired, stressed out, burnt out, sleep deprived…you get the picture…mumma!

Messed up hey?!

Ok, so I don’t expect you to be outdoors all day and basking in the moonlight at night…well not every day anyway! …so what are some things you can do to help protect your circadian rhythm?

 

1. Get bright sunlight in your mornings

Getting 20-30 mins of morning sun, ideally between 8am and 10am, helps to set your circadian rhythm in place right from the start of the day by stimulating your Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR), helping to energise and wake you up (our cortisol should be high in the morning then switch with melatonin in the evening when we’re wanting to slow down and sleep). So, as soon as you can, make enjoying a cuppa in your garden or in a sunny window your morning priority!

 

2. Work out in the morning

Working out in the morning also helps our CAR, setting us up for the day. If we workout in the evening there’s a chance we’ll raise our cortisol when it should be decreasing, ready to switch over with melatonin for our sleep time. Workouts should be after a balanced breakie of protein, fats, and carbs of course, to avoid slamming your adrenals. If you feel drained after a workout consider if you’re doing too much and pushing too hard. You may benefit from a slower more nourishing movement program such as walking, swimming, yoga, or simple stretching.

 

3. Avoid bright lights in the evenings

Avoid suppressing melatonin release by using lamps, dimmer switches, and red lights in the evenings. I like to use salt lamps for a low, warm light (and decreased fire hazard compared with candles!). I have red light bulbs in my bedside lamps so I can still enjoy reading my book before bed without supressing my melatonin production.

 

4. Turn off your electronics 2 hours before bed

The blue and green wavelengths of light emitted from these devices really disrupt your melatonin (sleep hormone levels). 2 hour may seem impossible so start with 30 minutes – anything is better than nothing – but aim for no devices after 8pm. This can be a nourishing time for you to enjoy with your partner or have some alone time reading a book or enjoying a hobby (I’m planning on trying some macrame next!).

5. Put your devices on night mode

Set your ipad/phone’s brightness to change automatically in the evenings – just a flash of blue light from your phone can reduce melatonin by up to 60%!

6. Get a pair of “blue blocker glasses”

If you absolutely and positively can’t in any way avoid being on screen devices and/or in bright lights up until bedtime as a matter of life or death, then, first ask if that really is true, then consider blue-blocker glasses during these hours.

Blue Blockers block blue (and green if you are hardcore like me) wavelengths of light (try TrueDark or SafetyBlue). My super sexy SafetyBlue Sleep Saviour Ultra wrap around glasses are the best, as these avoid light entering from the sides of the lens. Plus you look super sexy…right?!

7. Get blackout curtains or wear an eyemask

Ensure your bedroom is dark and there are no lights from clock radios, streetlights etc. Use light reducing stickers on electronics if needed (although these are best kept out of the bedroom due to the EMF they emit). I use a Dream Essentials Pure Mulberry Silk Side Sleeper Eye Mask.

8. Turn off WiFi router overnight as well as wireless devices

(and keep them well away from where you spend most of your time during the day).

Use a timer to do this automatically for you if you forget. The electromagnetic fields (EMFs) disrupt the quality of your sleep as well as the ability of your body’s immune system to do the cellular repair work it is supposed to do during the hours of sleep, which can lead to a range of health problems.

 

9. Get to bed before 10pm

This is when your cortisol and melatonin switch. Miss this and you may get a second wind and find it harder to wind down and fall asleep or get quality sleep. I’ve even had self-professed night owls tell me this has been the biggest game changer for them, and something they never thought was possible.

10. Keep your wake and sleep times the same everyday

This allows your body to get into a rhythm i.e. get up and go to bed at the same time on the weekend as weekdays.

 

Now obviously as mum’s this will go to shit at times but having any of these things in place will help you to regulate your sleep/wake cycle for more sustained energy throughout your day.

Pick just one and start there, I promise you can’t help but see improvements.

I’d love to hear how you go and how your energy improves!

Blog

Is milk bad for you?

If you are my age you will remember enjoying your ‘cream on top’ milk in the playground each day at school. Milk being promoted as an important food for growing children. So why are you now hearing from many health professionals that you should omit it from your diet all together?

When you search online you find heaps on conflicting info, some loving on milk others hating on it. What are you supposed to do?

My conclusion is that it depends on the source and processing of the milk (and on the state of your gut), and I feel the confusion comes because we are essentially talking about at least three different kinds of milk:

  1. Pasteurised
  2. Pasteurised and homogenised
  3. Raw

Here, let me break it down…

Milk contains a protein called casein, and a sugar called lactose, which are said to be a predominant cause of inflammation in the population today.

Back in the day cows were fed on lush pastures and the milk we drank was raw and fresh, pretty much straight from the udder. Cultures learnt to ferment the milk and create cheeses, curds and whey that reduced the lactose content making them easier to digest.

Somewhere along the way a mutation occurred, and people produced the lactose enzyme allowing them to consume milk on a regular basis.

But remember, the cows were fed on green pastures and this milk was raw and fresh.

Nowadays cows are often fed high PUFA containing grain, hormones, and medications, they are kept in, let’s just say ‘less than desirable’ conditions, and milk is pasteurised and homogenised.

 

PASTEURISATION

This high heat treatment of milk kills any viruses and bacteria present. However it also:

  • Alters the delicate proteins, enzymes and immunoglobulins, vitamins and minerals present.
  • Converts lactose into another form, called beta lactose, which is more rapidly absorbed and can adversely raise blood glucose levels.
  • Destroys a lot of the vitamin C and iodine present.
  • Alters the calcium into a form that is harder to absorb.
  • Denatures many enzymes, which can make it harder to digest.

Any mother will know that breast milk is ‘alive’ and should not be overheated to preserve the nourishing properties, yet we do this with other milk all the time. It is not the complex nourishing medium it once was. Yes it can be a useful source of protein, but it can also harm your body at the same time.

 

HOMOGENISATION

This is when the fat globules are passed through a fine sieve, so they are broken down into tiny particles – why you don’t see the cream on top of milk anymore! There is research to suggest that the body can’t properly distinguish these fat particles and thereby has difficulty processing them, as well as research that shows the milk proteins and fats get modified and re-sorted into a kind of protein-fat matrix that causes increased risk of allergies and digestive issues. Milk has also been linked to skin disorders like hives and eczema.

It was thought that milk increased mucus production, which has been found to be false, however it does cause mucus to thicken. This can be particularly bad if you are an asthmatic or suffer from sinus problems,

Milk is considered second only to gluten as one of the most inflammatory foods, hence why many people say you should omit it from your diet…and why many people find symptoms vanish when they do omit it!


RAW MILK

Let’s look at raw dairy that hasn’t undergone any form of heat processing or homogenisation.

Raw milk is directly from cows, goats, sheep, and camels and retains all nutrients and enzymes (including enzymes that can break down lactose).

Raw milk is rich in vitamins, iron, calcium, amino acids, antimicrobials, fatty acids, and other nutrients. It is proven to boost your immune system and reduce the risk of disease or skin conditions. It also helps with allergies, asthma, and lactose intolerance.

I believe this makes it a good food source for nutrient depleted mummas and growing children.

It’s important that you don’t just consume dairy from just any farm. Conventional dairy farms where the milk is sent to be pasturised often have lessor standards of hygiene. Ensure you are getting your dairy from a reputable organic farm, with pasture-raised grass-fed animals, where the calves aren’t abducted from their mothers in the first few hours of life. Ensure you know other people consume that raw dairy with no ill effects.

 

LEGALITIES OF RAW MILK CONSUMPTION

Here in Queensland, I’m personally happy to consume Heavenly Bath Milk and Cleopatra’s Bath Milk and offer this to my boys. You will note it’s called ‘Bath Milk’ and you’ll also see ‘NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION’ on the label. This is because it is illegal to sell raw milk for human consumption in Australia.

THIS is a good summary of raw milk benefits with links to peer reviewed papers.

For those with concerns about raw dairy, or that have difficulty sourcing it, there is now cold-pressed raw dairy available from a farm here in Australia, in NSW. Essentially the milk is put under high pressure that ruptures bacteria killing them, whilst keeping the enzymes etc all intact. You can read all about it on their website HERE. The black label Jersey Milk is the one I would buy. You can see stockists on their website (it appears to be at most Supa IGAs Australia wide). This form is approved for human consumption here in Australia.

 

INTOLERANCE TO DAIRY/LACTASE

If you know you have issues digesting dairy and/or you’ve removed it from your diet for some time, you will need to develop your lactase enzyme. For this you need to start slow, with one tablespoon of raw milk a day and work up from there. Hard aged cheese like Parmesan is generally better tolerated as is the A2 protein found in goat milk and Jersey or Guernsey cow milk.

You may also need to do some gut healing as the lactase enzyme is made by the cells in the brush border of your gut mucosal barrier. If you have a damaged gut lining, you likely won’t be able to make lactase enzyme, which could be the cause of your dairy problems.