Welcome to Grow & Glow's 12 days of Christmas! I'll be releasing an episode every day in the lead up to Christmas.
This episode is JAM PACKED with so many health tips and hacks from an expert in women's health. EVERYTHING Tash teaches we can incorporate straight away to help us live a healthier lifestyle, to improve our energy, sleep, skin,vaginal health and hormones. Here are 20 things to help you start 2025 as the healthiest version of you!
@bloom.wellness.collective
Growing Glows Twelve Days of Christmas. Hello everybody, welcome back to Grow and Glow Twelve Days of Christmas. We've got another amazing guest on. Welcome Tash to the podcast.
Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.
I love anything health, so I was so excited you're going to come on board. We've got so much to jam pack in twenty minutes. But before we get started, do you want to do a little intro as to who you are, what your passions are and what you do.
Yeah? Absolutely so.
My name's Tash and I am a clinical netchpath so I have a virtual clinic that I see patients out of, so meaning I treat people all across Australia and New Zealand too. I have a special interest in women's health.
Just because we are so fascinating.
We have such a delicate hormonal cascade. And yeah, I really love supporting women. I also see me in but mostly in a sense of fertility treatment, and also love treading children too, being a mum and then also having a background and working with kids with like ASD and ADHD. That side really interests me and I love supporting parents and children through their health and bits and pieces.
Yeah, must be so rewarding helping not only women and men, but children through their health as well in a really natural, holistic way that you know, is benefiting their bodies. And there's no like long term effects like others medical drugs could have.
Yeah.
Absolutely, And I find that children genuinely have a really quick response because their conditions haven't been chronic over years.
And years and years. So generally, yeah, we see really good results really quickly with children. So it's so amazing, so good.
All right, let's get straight into it. So when I went to Tash, I was like, I would love you to talk about ten things that we need to stop doing and ten things that we should start doing.
Cool.
Number one is stop under sleeping. So sleep is so so important when it comes to our health.
And not many people know that we have something called.
A glymphatic system, and much like our lymphatic system, it's kind of like a waste clearance. So the lymphatic system is a waste clearance from like tissues in our body, whereas the glymphatic system is a waste clearance for our brain and spinal cord. So when we're sleeping, this is what's happening. Our glymphatic system is clearing out waste, and you know this is going to reduce inflammation in the brain and support our mental health to reduce you know, depression, anxiety, also reduce you know, cognition decline over the years. So yeah, I feel like it's really important to stop undersleeping, stop kind of like scrolling on your phone at night time and then you know, missing out on some really important deep sleep.
So important sleep is I always say it's just the foundation for everything. If I get a bad night's sleep, it throws my eating off, my mood's off, like I just I can't function at my best self. It is then viadation.
It's totally as right.
Number two.
So number two and something that we've probably all heard before, and it's stopped drinking coffee first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. So yeah, ideally we want to be waiting like at least ninety minutes if we can, because you know, when we're having coffee first up in the morning, it is going to peak our stress hormones like cortisol and you know, override other hormones like important reproductive hormones. So you know, if you're experiencing hormonal imbalances, and you want someone who consistently drinks coffee first thing on rising, it's definitely something to consider. Also suppresses our appetite, and then it can also just regulate our blood sugar, and that again is really important when it comes to.
Hormone or regulation.
And when I say hormonal regulation, I don't just mean reproductive hormones, you know, like hormones that influence our immune systems, so you know, if we're getting sick off in bits and pieces, something really important to consider.
So yeah, waiting that little.
Bit, I love that number three.
Number three is kind of like a flow on to that is we don't want to train fasted in the morning part, Yeah, yeah, particularly as women, like we are built different, so I know it's.
A controversial kind of topic, but.
As women, I think it's really important that we don't train fasted, and particularly we don't go to the gym in the morning with just a coffee because training itself is like a huge stresser on the body, and we want to be having you know, just some like small simple carbohydrates to give our body fuel, so we're not increasing those stress hormones even more so, just a little bit for fuel is fine, but just yeah, I recommend don't train faster.
In the morning.
Oh I'm glad you've said that, because I do train faster. I used to have half a banana and then I don't know why I stop, But I don't have anything. I'm going to start putting the banana back into my routine.
Yeah, I think you should, Okay.
Cool. Number four.
Number four is stop throwing away money on topical treatments to fix your chronic skin concerns. So if you are someone that has experienced, like you know, ecne over the years or chronic XMAS risis frosation, you really really want to be looking internally and looking at your likes of your gut health. So your skin is your biggest organ and it's a direct reflection of what's happening internally. So yeah, I would definitely look at your gut health.
So true. I said this in a previous episode as well. One of my girlfriends was having massive reactions like siasis x SMA acne breakouts and she was buying all things. I said, oh, why don't you just try beef tallow, something really simple and easy, and she said that really clear everything out.
Yeah, totally.
Yeah, keep it simple, Yes, but it all starts within the gut. Hey, it's like our second brain.
It's just so importantly does yeah totally.
Number five to.
Number five, Yeah, stop self prescribing supplements. So, I know a lot of people, particularly with you know, social media, TikTok things, you're blasted with all these supplements and bits and pieces, and it can be overwhelming and they can get you.
At your pain point.
And you know, you just buy all these supplements, but you know you might not need them for one and particularly over the counter supplements. So if you're going into like you know, your chemist and your health food shops, some of the over counter ones aren't necessarily the best because they don't have the most bioavailable kind of.
Ingredients in them.
So yeah, and also they could have like a lot of like excipients, so other bits and pieces that fillers and stuff that's not needed in there, just kind of like cheap additives to make you know, the supplement. Again, if you're buying supplements from overseas like America, they are not regulated like we are in Australia. And Australia we have something called the Therapeutic Goods administration and you know it goes through rigorous testing all the supplements and bits and pieces, so yeah, i'd be mindful of where you sauce it, you know, the active ingredients in it. I would literally just go and see a practitioner and get supplements that are benefiting you, because you might be wasting so much money on a bunch of supplements that one your body's not absorbing, two you don't even need.
So yeah, just pay the.
Money to you know, chat to someone or to chat to you know, someone at the health food shop before you go and waste your money on, yeah, a bunch of supplements.
I think it's so important for us to just get our bloods done so often and checks any deficiency. So yeah, you can actually get exactly what your body needs because you might see someone on socials like I took this for my hormones or for my gut or for my skin or whatever, but you get it, but your body needs completely different things. That's such a good point.
Yeah, I totally agree with that.
Number six.
Number six is stop using plastics where you can, or like minimizing your plastic use. You know, we know it, and then you kind of get at a bit of a rut and you're just you know, use bits and pieces, right, but particularly like heating your food and plastic plastic chopping boards, because yeah, microplastics are getting into our food and then we're consuming them. And it's really scary to think that actually microplastics have been found in human placenters, so yeah, really it's extinctive microplastics in our world. So you know, babies are developing in a woman's uterus next to a placenta with microplastics in it. So just think about what the impacts of you know, the future generation health, you know, is how that's impacting them. So consider that when using plastic.
I love that I've just changed my chopping boards like only like a month ago to wooden, and then I've got this other like stainless steel one, and even all my plots and pans, pots and pans and spatulas and what do you call them, kitchen tools, I've changed them, got rid of all the plastic ones. So that's like a small thing they could do straight away for sure.
Yeah, totally.
It's just bit by bit, you know, when you need to replace something, changing it out, not all at once, because it can be really costly.
Yes, definitely, thank you. Number seven.
Number seven is ladies stop wearing synthetic underwear.
Bamboo, bamboo, organic bamboo.
Yeah, yeah, there's actually a really beautiful local Gold Coast James.
Yeah, I'm bring them now too.
They're best, they are the best. Yeah.
So being bamboo, it's moisture wicking, so it's going to draw the moisture out. Where is synthetic fibers draw that moisture in, and that is like a breeding ground for pathogenic overgross And you know, a vagina we have a microbuying of its own and we want beneficial beat to not the pathogenic bacteria. So that environment of having good fibers down there is so important.
It is a little bit more expensive to buy these underwears, but like gosh, when you understand how good it is for your vagina and they're actually so comfortable and you actually feel I feel like it's just breathing down there. Because if they ever were like you know those they like silky seamless ones. Yes, they look great under tight clothing, but like, yeah, it's just not as nice.
Yeah, moisture yeah.
Grows. But yeah. Number eight.
Number eight is something that you've probably all seen. Stop drinking tap water. So yeah, here in Australia, the contaminants in our water are crazy, you know anywhere, from bacteria, pisticides, chlorine, heavy metals. So filter your water, and I wish I could just say, you know, use this particular filter.
But it really depends on we are living.
If you're in you know, a long term house, your financial situation, whereas you could get like a on the counterfilter and under the bench filter a whole house filtration system. But if you're someone with like a skin condition like exma, I would really really highly recommend getting a shower filter because you know, the heavy metals and bits and pieces can really affect skin conditions as well.
So yeah, look at your water quality.
I am in number nine.
Number nine is stop drinking water with your meals.
I've heard this recently.
Yeah, so a lot of people don't realize that when drinking water with meals, it actually dampens down our digestive secretions.
So yeah, making it harder to judge his foods.
So we want to ideally be having water fifteen to deny minutes prior to our meals and then waiting the same amount of time after our meals to really optimize digestion. But yeah, I think a lot of people are still under the impression that you know, wash yourt food.
Downe with water, right, Yeah, but no, it can really affect digestion.
So if you're someone that already kind of struggles with digestion, I would yet avoid water with your meals and even consider like a diluted apple stated vinegar prior to meals to like prime your digestive system.
Love that to number ten, last one to stop doing.
Yeah, so NIV ten is just simply stop. I know, like we're so plugged in to text messages, phone calls, social media apps and yeah, it's so hard sometimes to just sit with yourself and not reach for some sort of stimulation.
But I urge you to just stop.
Go outside, go for a walk, like sit with your thoughts and it can be really hard and confronting, but it is so good for your health.
Yes, it's such an important one, so important. Glad you put that in there. Just stop. Yeah, right, let's move on to the things that you want us to start doing. I'm so excited to hear these and see if there's some new ones that I can pop into my routine.
Yeah.
So number one is just start prioritizing yourself. So I know, as like a mother and bits and pieces that I can prioritize my kid's health all the time, and sometimes we can, you know, be pushed back a little bit. And I know for you you can probably resonate with this that sometimes it can take a health scare to really make you prioritize your own health and really assess what's important. So booking those health appointments, booking that dentist at skin check that pets me, or go to your doctor for some blood tests, or your holistic healthcare professional for some functional gut tests, and yeah, start prioritizing your health.
Love it so important.
So number two is going back to that quality sleep. So if you have some that sleep onset issues, maybe you need to start looking at, you know, optimizing your circadian rhythm, so your internal body clock. So my first suggestion would be to get up in the morning and look at some natural sunlight, go outside within those first couple of hours.
Yeah you're doing that.
I love it. First five minutes straight outside, Yeah, yeah, it's so good.
It's like telling your body, hey it is daytime. We're going to suppress that melatonin and then your body notes to naturally increase that at night time, so it's going to make going to sleep a little bit easier. But if you're still struggling with you know, sleep on set and it's you know, due to like a busy mind, that mental load that to do list, I would suggest, you know, even doing a little brain dump to get that off your mind. And if you're still struggling, I would suggest looking at some herbs and nutrients to really calm your body, calm your brain, your nervous system to help with that sleep on set. So things like magnesium, alth or particular herbs like passion, flower, lavender can all be really really nice. So I would talk to someone about, yeah, introducing some things to.
Help with that. And then if you are waking up.
During the night, so say you're waking up between like one and three am, for instance, in traditional Chinese medicine, this is kind of a sign that your liver is under pressure or it's burdened. So maybe you've got a hormonal imbalance that needs to be addressed, So you know, consider looking deeper and finding out what's really going on support that sleep love. The next one is number three, Hydrating your body properly. And yes, I mean water, but I also mean supporting your body's hydration at a cellular level. So things like electrolytes, so your magnesium, potassium, calcium can really help the way that your body obsord water into its cells.
And then also sexual fords is like amiga threes.
They really help the integrity of all the cells within your body, so they really help your body's ability to hold onto that water.
So drinking enough water, having electrolytes and amiga.
Threes is really important to really hydrate your body at that cellular level. So if you want, you know, plump hydrated skin, I would make sure you're doing all of those things.
So cool, and I think that's spoken about enough. People think when they think like hydration, it's just pure water, but there's actually more to it.
Yeah, absolutely, and it can be you know, coconut water, natural electrolytes, or one of my favorite little like cocktails is coconut water, a bit of line and a bit of Celtic sea salt in that is just ideal. Yeah.
I have coconut water in my smooth every day now and I put a little bit of Celtic sea salt and you can't even taste it. No, I can't.
Yeah, yeah, love that.
So Number four another kind of foundational health thing to really assist is your diet, so it sears your protein intake and fat intake because yeah, that's so important when it comes to health, and a really big emphasis.
On protein at breakfast time.
So we want to be aiming for like twenty five to thirty grams of protein in the morning, which can be a lot. And I say to my clients, you know, you can break it down into you know, for your first two meals, so like your breakfast in your morning tea, because it can be really hard and particularly if you're someone that's skipping breakfast or heaving caffeine, it can be a really tough transition.
So it's really important to you know.
Really support those digu sub secretions if you're someone that's not eating protein currently in the morning, to you know, ease your weight into doing that, because yeah, when you're eating enough protein in the morning in particular, you'll notice a huge difference in your overall health.
Oh you do. I have every day, like a protein smoothie and then three eggs with some chopped up ham and I just feel so full and so satisfied and since I've like increasing amount of protein I have in the morning, it just makes you feel so much better.
Yeah, and you're not getting these crashes and cravings and bits and pieces.
Yeah, so important. Number five is another foundation to health.
Start moving your body daily and don't commit to a movement that you hate and you find a chore and like, you know, just because.
Everyone else is doing it, do something like for yourself.
And it doesn't need to be big. It can just be like a ten minute walk or a stretch. But people really underestimate moving your body for health, and it can really impact your digestion and your circulation, your CRTI, your vascular health.
So yeah, find something that you love.
It could just be even dancing with your kids or something, but just stick to it and move your body.
You'll never stick to it if you hate it, for sure, exactly.
Yeah.
So number five is another really important foundation to health, and that is your mental health. To start prioritizing your mental health. Because you can eat all the healthy food, do all the exercise, take all the supplements, but if you don't have control of your mind, your whole body will feel the impacts. Your thick psychological stress has on your body is huge, and it can be very different person to person, Like it can affect your immune system, so you know, you could be frequently sick. It can affect your whole mental health and so on. So definitely check and on your mental.
Health so important. Oh my goodness, it really does affect everything. If you're not emotionally regulated and getting back to your center and being in control of your emotions, it affects everything. Like it's always hard to function in your day to day living if you're not taking care of your mindset.
It really is, and it is a missing piece that I find a lot of my clients aren't doing that. Like I'm doing this, I'm doing this, I'm doing this, and you know, it might work short term the supplements and the bits and pieces, but long term, if you don't have control of like they're inner critic or you know, all the things going on in your head, then it's really not going to be a sustainable health journey for you.
It is one of the most important things that every single person needs to focus on. Yeah.
Yeah, Number six is start consuming enough fiber. So the amount of people that I see in clinic that don't have enough fiber in their diet is actually wild. And everyone puts a huge emphasis on probotics when it comes to gut health. But probotics aren't like beneficial if you're not having your fiber and your probiotics. So a type of fiber like probiotics, is a fuel for probiotics. Right, So if you're taking a probitic capsule, it's entering your digestive system and it will only stay there for about a week or so, right, you need to feed it to establish a really healthy gut microbiome. So I think fiber is really overrated, and things like slow cooked apple or so stewed apple are really good, green bananas, the fibers, and lots of different foods, but just increasing those.
In general love it.
So number seven is practice mindful eating. When we're stressed, blood is diverted away from our digestive system throughout our body. So if we're sitting down to eat our lunch in front of our laptop or replying to emails and bits and pieces, then our digestive system isn't.
Primed to eat food.
So if you're someone that's getting bloated and you know, struggling with digestion and you're not sitting down, being mindful and actually thinking about the food in front of you, smelling it, really priming your digestion. Then definitely consider there and start practice mindful eating.
Love that definitely not spoken about it enough, is it, No?
And even just chewing your food properly, Like you know, if we're in a rush and you're in the car and you've got to be somewhere, if you're not actually breaking it down properly in your mouth, how's it going to break down properly in your stomach?
Should be like full mush in your mouth, hey, like yeah.
It should be almost liquidized. Yeah.
Yeah. So number eight is start noticing how food makes you. So getting to know your body is a really powerful tool. And I find in clinic when I ask clients about their food, and you know, if particular foods make them feel a.
Certain way, they just have no idea.
And you know, when you've become in tune with your body more, then we can kind of identify what's going on. So, for instance, if you're someone that has like a cheeseboard with some girlfriends, you're having some age cheeses, some cured meat, but you find that the next day you're always getting headaches and you're not even drinking alcohol, then it could be a sign that your body is really struggling to break down histamine. So it's, you know, some work that needs to be done in the gut. So you're getting really nauseous after high fat foods, could be a sign that your liver is not producing enough fial to break down foods. So if you're able to kind of identify these bits and pieces, then you're able to kind of find out what's going on and we can work towards optimizing your body and how it functions.
So interesting.
Yeah, number nine is start switching up your personal care products and your cleaning products. And yet just when you run out making the switch, because like I mentioned earlier, microplastics are everywhere, Intocrine disrupting chemicals are everywhere.
So I feel like deodorants a big one.
I feel like you need to make the switch to a natural deodorant if you're not doing that.
Already, and it can be a tough switch.
If you're someone that's used a conventional deodorant for years on end, your sweet glands are essentially been blocked with chemicals, so that transition, you're probably going to be a lot sweatier, a lot smellier. You need to push paths that transition period which can last a couple of weeks, and there are things that you can do to support it. So particular binders like being tonight clay and things are really useful if you pop it on at night time. And there's even like particular like if you google a detox deodorant, you can wear it at nighttime and it might have ingredients like the benternightclay, draw out the toxins and then when you wake up you can expoli it really well and then put on your natural gyodorin.
Yeah, natural doodas are all.
Very different, so I would recommend trying one that suits you and your body before you disregard them completely.
Yeah, they're hard to find, that's for sure.
Number ten.
The final one is trust your gut and trust your intuition. So if you feel crap, you go to the GP, they run some bloods and they come back with everything is normal, everything's within range. Please know that these general ranges are based off the general population, so these within ranges, so the general population includes people that are unwell, So if you are, you know within this range shape the lower end it could be suboptimal, and because people function very differently, some people don't function well with those suboptims ranges. So I would suggest pushing for more tears, going to see someone else for a second opinion, and trust your gut. Don't just think, oh, I've said I'm okay, I'm okay when you know, dip.
Down that you're not.
And a mother's intuition is so on, whether it's for yourself or for your kids, it is. I feel like it's your body, like waving a red flag, you know.
Yeah, one hundred really got to listen to it.
I feel like every time we don't listen to our gut, something happens and we look back and be like, damn it, I really should have done that, Like something told me to not go there, or to ask more questions, or to get that test, you know exactly. Yeah, there's so many cool takeaways. So for everyone listening, like you can always rewind, write things down, take more notes. But thank you so much. That was so informed. I'm definitely going to add in my banana for my workout. Where can we find you? And you obviously work with like a lot of people online. Can they see you face to face.
Yeah, so I predominantly you can find me on Instagram. So my Instagram handle is Loom dot Wellness dot Collective and so, like I mentioned, I've got a virtual clinic only at this stage, so I can see anyone across Australia and New Zealand, just you know, different time zones and bits and pieces.
And then also I'm doing some retreats next year, in person retreats.
Yeah, so I love seeing people in that setting as well.
Oh, that'd be awesome. If you guys love a tree, definitely go up and check that out on Instagram. That's so exciting. Yeah, thank you so much for joining us. I hope you have a beautiful Christmas and I'm sure we'll cross.
Thank you Monday. Thanks jan bye