Put your hand up if you LOVE brownies?! I sure do! 

This Raspberry Brownie is lushes and rich, and delectably moist. It's gluten-free, dairy-free, and Adrenal Diet friendly (after the initial 2-week blood-sugar reset elimination - just don't eat the whole tray, haha!).

Raspberry Brownie

Ingredients

• cup coconut oil, melted and cooled
• 6 large eggs
• 1 cup coconut sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• cup raw cacao powder
• 1 cup almond meal
• pinch of sea salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• cup chocolate chips (dairy free)
• 1 cup frozen raspberries, roughly chopped

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Line a baking pan with baking paper.
3. In a bowl, whisk the eggs, then add in the cooled coconut oil, coconut sugar and vanilla and mix together.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Add the chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of the frozen raspberries and stir through.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared baking tin.
6. Add the remaining ½ cup of chopped frozen...

There was a time when Chris & I worked apart - Chris with his coaching, myself with my healing. There were certain clients, however, that just weren't getting results.

For example, as great as Chris's mindset coaching skills are, some clients had some serious physiological imbalances that were majorly affecting their motivation, mood and fatigue, that made making changes near impossible. There were also some clients who had physiological imbalances that led to addictive thoughts and behaviour - as much as Chris tried to shift a person's mindset to enable change, those addictions were just too strong.

On the other hand, although I have pretty kick-butt testing analysis skills and clinical nutritional knowledge to reverse physiological imbalances (if I do say so myself, haha), some clients needed more coaching and support to overcome mind-blocks and stay on track with treatment plans. Healing is never as simple as doing some tests and...

Do you feel like you're drowning? Choking? Like you're being tossed by the waves? Every time you get up, you get slammed back down?

You're stressed out, worn-out, overwhelmed. 

You can't seem to get on top of your fatigue, your anxiety, and all the other related symptoms that occur when your body wears out and your mind is overwhelmed. Insomnia. PMS. Catching every bug and virus that goes around. Achiness. Food cravings. Gut issues: bloating, reflux, constipation, diarrhoea.

The breaking down of your body has started affecting your life. Your relationships are breaking down. You can't perform at work like you used to. Your kids call you the "Dragon Mum." You haven't been intimate with your partner for who knows when. You can't even enjoy going on holidays, because the food makes you sick, or you're bound to catch the flu every time you go on an aeroplane. 

You feel chaotic and confused. Lost, without any answers. You don't know what's causing your sickness (all...

Do you put everyone else first...and yourself last?

We call these beautiful souls *Obligers. They have a wonderful, caring heart - always thinking about others. Always doing their best for others. Obligers help the world keep turning. Without them, we'd all be doomed.

However, if you're an Obliger, this wonderful trait can end up being your nemesis. 

Putting everyone else first, means you will always put yourself last. And your health is absolutely going to suffer. Mumma's in particular can fall prey to this.

MICROBIOME IMBALANCES - your gut can start to falter. Mum's - are you prone to feeding the kids first, and then times flies by and you've forgotten to even sit down for breakfast or lunch? Then you get so ravenously hungry and low-blood-sugary that you snack on biscuits and chocolates and quick energy foods in the arvo? Do this too often and you're going to be feeding all the wrong bugs in your gut, leading to pathogenic overgrowth which can cause all sorts...

Are you a Do-er? You know, the type of person that is always on the go, doing-doing-doing (and often doing waaaaaaay too much)?

Do-ers struggle with balance. They over-work (or more rightly, over-VALUE-work). They can't seem to stop. Even at night, they are cleaning or studying or completing some job. They struggle to slow-down, relax, chill.

Do-ers can be obsessive. This could show up in repetitive thought patterns. Too much screen time. Sugar addictions. 'Healthy eating' addiction. Over-exercising. Coffee junkie. Insomnia from 'trying too hard' to sleep. 

Sound familiar? :( 

Physically...YOU WILL BURNOUT. Maybe not straight away. But some day. Your bucket. It's just going to - BAM! - overflow. 

ADRENAL STRESS HORMONES are going to go nuts and eventually start to deplete, leading to fatigue, anxiety, depression, insomnia, immune system issues, achiness.

FEMALE HORMONES are going to flunk out, leading to PMS, infertility, hot flushes, hormonal headaches, low libido....

We have three scrumptious apple trees in our garden, all with different varieties. They all bloom and ripen in stages, which means we have six glorious months of organic, homegrown apples. This makes me smile. A lot.

Needless to say we have been eating apple-everything. Apple crumble has been our #1. I've experimented with lots of topping varieties, and this is by far my fav!

Filly's Favourite Apple Crumble

Ingredients

• 1 kg of apples, peeled and cored
• 1 cup almond meal
• ½ cup rolled gluten-free oats
• 1 tbsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• ¼ cup cacao nibs
• cup flaked almonds
• 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
• 100g coconut oil

Method

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.
• Thinly slice apples and place in an ovenproof dish.
• In another bowl, place all other ingredients and mix until the consistency of bread crumbs. You may need to soften the coconut oil, and/or mix everything together with your hands.
• Sprinkle the topping over the apples and bake for 30min, or until apples are...

It’s not just what you eat – although that is very important.

It’s also how well you digest and absorb what you eat.

Why you eat what you eat.

And how you eat.

When it comes to nutrition, we take a holistic and individual approach, to ensure each of our clients are nourishing their bodies, in a mindful and emotionally and mentally healthy way.

There are a lot of diets and meal plans out there, but all too often there is no thought or coaching around your relationship with food. Many people will start out on a new nutritional plan, and maybe only stick to it for 2-12-weeks, as it all gets too hard, too unenjoyable, or they just slip back to their old harmful eating habits. Then the pattern of yoyo-dieting sets in. Some ‘health-nuts’ will stick to a ‘clean’ eating plan for a longer duration – maybe many years, maybe for life – yet even if this is the case, too often these people develop disordered eating. Stressed about if they're...

Functional Medicine is the opposite of DYSFUNCTIONAL medicine. In Functional Medicine we are not interested in band-aiding the symptom, condition or disease with a drug or surgery or even a natural supplement. Functional Medicine is about getting to the ROOT CAUSE of your health issues by treating imbalances in your body (physiological imbalances, as well as mindset & lifestyle imbalances). It involves using natural, low-risk treatments, including therapeutic nutraceuticals, nutrition, lifestyle modifications, and inner mind and spiritual work.   

Functional Medicine is PERSONAL medicine. Every person is unique, and so in order to treat and heal your body properly, we need to take an individual and personal approach. No two treatment plans are ever the same!

It’s also the medicine of CONNECTIVITY. In conventional medicine we have doctors specialising in the brain or the hormones or the gut or the reproductive system. This is all good and well, but it fails to see...