June 26, 2024 • 48 mins
Unlock the mysteries of managing a whirlwind life with Lisa Scarfo, a naturopath and clinic owner who's nailing the balancing act between her professional role, motherhood, and home renovations. In our enlightening conversation, Lisa lays bare her top strategies for time management that could revolutionize your daily grind. She takes us from her roots as a science student to embracing the human touch within naturopathy, illuminating her commitment to natural remedies and the profound principles at the heart of her practice.
https://www.lisascarfonaturopath.com/
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Episode Transcript
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Dana (00:01):
Hi, Lisa Scarfo.
Hello, welcome to the EmpoweredParent Podcast.
I'm thrilled to have you on theshow because what you do for
people who are unwell is soimportant.
You are a naturopath with aclinic in Adelaide called Lisa
Scarfo Naturopath.
You are a busy mum, a busyperson.
(00:23):
You are a busy mum, a busyperson.
You're on the verge of doingyour home renovations and you
also run your busy clinic andgive to so many people.
Welcome, Lisa, in your ownwords.
How do you do it?
Thank you.
Lisa (00:39):
Dana, that was a lovely introduction.
Wow?
I think I've just gotten reallygood at time management over a
number of years and I had mykids quite late in life, so I
guess my business and mypractice was still kind of
ticking along quite nicely whenI had my children.
But yeah, I think probably mykey thing that I do is just
(01:01):
chunk it down, Keep your tasksreally simple, Like I literally
think about a week at a time andgo right, what do I need to get
done this week?
And then I look at well, whatdo I need to get done today to
then, make those things happenthrough that week.
So chunking down is my probably,and you know I'm a list girl.
But do I beat myself up if thelist doesn't work?
No, I don't.
(01:22):
I just look at what are themost important things in that
list, get that stuff done andwhether that be through my
business list or a home list,it's a list and I just find that
that helps me stay organized,and I use my phone diary a lot
as well, so that's like a bigpart of like today us catching
up.
Dana (01:39):
That was in my phone diary Lots of reminders.
Lisa (01:48):
Yeah, but just also being kind to self at all times
because and you look so healthyand well.
Well, I try, I try to live bythe principles that I try to
share.
Dana (01:54):
Yeah, I can see, I can see , I'm just saying that for the
listeners who can't?
See you.
You look very healthy and well.
So how did you choose thenaturopathy?
Lisa (02:04):
journey?
Sure.
So when I finished high schoolI qualified and did a science
degree and started in scienceand I met a chappy in one of my
subjects who, his brother, wasstudying naturopathy.
And just over the period oftime I was learning about
naturopathy while doing myscience degree, I was kind of
progressing through my degreebecause initially I thought I
(02:26):
was going to be a medicalresearcher and so I did science,
thinking that that would takeme down that path.
But then I realized that wasn'treally.
I couldn't imagine myself in alab long-term and realized that
I needed more people engagement.
I also had accidentally sat inon a few medical tutorials where
I was doing some private studyand then all of a sudden these
(02:47):
med students came in and theywere being taught and I knew
that I wanted to help people butI wasn't sure that medicine was
going to be a good fit to me.
So towards the end of myscience degree I started doing a
bit more investigation around.
Naturopathy went to like anight that one of the colleges
had and I thought this soundslike a very good fit for what I
want to do and that's where Iwent.
So I finished science and thenstudied naturopathy and went on
(03:10):
my way.
So how long did you study for?
So I did my three years inscience um and then I did four
years in my um.
At that time, which was manymoons ago, there was only
advanced diplomas in naturalmedicine here in Adelaide.
So so that was another fouryears, whereas now we have
bachelor degrees here inAdelaide, again around the four
(03:30):
year mark.
I guess I had already decidedthat I wanted to finish my
science degree by the time.
I was interested in naturopathyI guess more so because I was
still curious about science, andI thought well, if this
naturopathy thing doesn't quitework, I could always go back.
So I had actually qualified todo honours in science as well,
but that kind of.
(03:50):
I thought I'll just trynaturopathy for a year first and
see how that goes, and then Inever went back to science.
Dana (03:55):
So seven years, I did seven years.
So yeah, it was a long time.
Lisa (03:58):
So like a medical degree, yeah but you you know there was
layers of things that didn'treally fit, like some of the
science subjects I did were notmedical subjects per se.
Again, if I had my time again,I probably would have picked
slightly different subjectchoices, but I didn't know.
Like you're 17 when you'remaking these life decisions for
yourself yeah, um, and but I,yeah.
As soon as I went intonaturopathy and I knew, within
(04:20):
probably the first few months, Ithought, yeah, this is where I
need to be.
It just really resonated withme on a lot of levels.
Dana (04:26):
And what exactly is naturopathy, and how is it
different from a nutritionist, amassage therapist and so on and
so forth?
Lisa (04:37):
Sure.
So I guess for me, my everynaturopath is probably going to
give you a different answer tothis question, but there are
some underlying principles maybeI'll touch on firstly.
So, firstly, doing no harm.
In regards to the remedies thatwe use are incredibly safe and
they come from nature, mainly inregards to we use plants, in
(04:58):
regards to our herbal medicines,we use vitamins and minerals,
we use nutrients, so there's nokind of artificial interventions
on that point of view.
Um, the main philosophy that Ialways think about from a
naturopathy point of view is thebody has its own innate ability
to heal if it's given theopportunity to do so.
(05:18):
So sometimes people will havepatterns in their body that have
built up over a number of yearsthrough maybe diet, lifestyle
habits, extreme stress, chronicinfections, whatever, you know,
whatever thoughts, 100% allthose things can start kind of
causing some skew in a person'sbody and then doing that over a
(05:39):
longer period of time.
You then start getting symptomsstarting to come up.
My job as a naturopath isobviously taking a case history,
but looking at what is theunderlying driver to all of this
, could that be like a chronicstress?
Could it be thinking negativelyfor a long period of time?
Could it be an exposure to avirus from many, many years ago
(06:03):
that has changed the way theimmune system is responding?
A whole heap of differentthings.
So finding a root cause is amajor philosophical kind of
principle of naturopathy.
We want to find what the driveris first and then try and help
the body get some rebalancearound that redriver.
Dana (06:21):
How do you do?
Lisa (06:22):
that Is it easy?
It is not easy.
No, and to be honest, I guessI'm still learning as we all are
.
I guess I sort of describe whatI do with my clients is like
layers of an onion.
So I will start peeling backthe first few layers and whether
that be more around, trying toget the person to feel a little
(06:45):
bit better first, and then westart digging a little bit
deeper.
Also, sometimes people don'thave the answers I need when I
first start to see them, andit's normally after I've worked
with them for a bit of time thatthey go.
Oh yeah, did I mention that?
This happened when I was 10years old and I like go bang,
right, that's where I need to go.
Dana (07:02):
So do you think people have sort of hidden these
answers into their deepunconscious or they just can't
remember them?
Lisa (07:11):
I'd say it's probably a bit of both, to be honest, and
sometimes like naturopathy takesa long time to work.
I'll say that straight up.
It's not that we have specificremedies that are for certain
conditions and everyone gets thesame thing.
That's not the case at all'sprobably another thing.
Big thing about naturopathy iswe treat the individual.
So if I've got 10 differentwomen that come in to see me
(07:32):
with menopause, I'll treat themslightly like there'll be common
ground to all of those things,but there'll be also some
individual um prescriptions thatmight be specific to that
person.
Now, whether that's aroundtheir mindset, whether that be
around a trauma that they've had, whether that be around other
things that are going on from abody system point of view, but
(07:54):
there's never one answer that'sgoing to solve that problem
across the board.
So it's very tailored protocols,which is kind of what I love
about naturopathy as well, butalso there'll be different tools
in my toolbox that I may usefor different people.
So I guess, yeah, it's a verylong answer, I guess, in regards
(08:14):
to naturopathy.
It's not, and it's not an easything, and I think sometimes in
today's society specifically,it's all about getting
everything done quickly.
Naturopathy doesn't workquickly.
I'm not saying I can get peoplefeeling better quickly, but
that's normally that first fewlayers.
Sometimes that's when peoplethink that their treatment has
(08:34):
finished and they'll disappear,and that to me is a bit
disappointing because I knowthat possibly some of those
patterns will come back intotheir life in a few years time
and quite honestly, I've had adollar for every time that has
happened.
Um, yeah, and it's sometimesonce people are in good health.
We then have to go a bit deeperas to what was starting that
pattern in the first place,where?
are those drivers, um.
(08:55):
So that's really the work thatI love to do, and when I can get
the opportunity to do that andyou get more permanent change
for people, that that's theultimate, really.
In regards to looking atnaturopathy, as a philosophy.
Dana (09:08):
You mentioned there's prescriptions.
What type of prescriptions donaturopaths?
Lisa (09:14):
give out.
Sure, so we use like herbalmedicines.
We use nutrients, lots ofvitamins and minerals.
But it might be exercise, itmight be getting out in the sun,
it might be some meditations,it might be other things in
their lifestyle.
It might be exercise, it mightbe getting out in the sun, it
might be some meditations, itmight be other things in their
lifestyle.
It might be looking at theirhouse and thinking do you have a
mold exposure going on?
It could be, you know,allergies.
(09:35):
It's really quite broad and Iguess it's more about trying.
I guess, with working withpeople over time, if things are
not kind of going to accordingto plan, I'll be wanting to dig
more.
What else is going in yourenvironment that could be
causing this imbalance?
So the script again like Ithink there are some people that
think that naturopaths can justbe like fancy vitamin and
(09:59):
mineral prescribers.
Dana (10:00):
Or they just give drops.
Lisa (10:01):
Or we just give drops.
Yeah, now the drops areprobably about homeopathic
preparations, homeopathics thatagain kind of falls under a
naturopathic umbrella, but alsohomeopathy in its own is its
completely separate modality.
A bit like a nutritionistNutritionists just use nutrients
, vitamins, minerals, otherproducts that are more in the
(10:23):
food space.
Naturopathy is like theumbrella that covers all of
those kind of natural therapies.
Homeopathy is in its own righta completely separate modality.
Do naturopaths use homeopathics?
Absolutely, but that may not bethe only thing that they use.
Dana (10:38):
So do you guys make up your own homeopaths?
Some do.
Lisa (10:42):
Yeah, yeah, I don't.
Personally, I found when I wentthrough my training, homeopathy
just didn't resonate with me asmuch as some of the other
modalities.
So I use herbal medicines, Iuse nutrients, I use like
lifestyle prescriptions diet um.
I do use new um homeopathics butI tend to use ones that fit my
brain and I know that soundsreally weird and there'd be some
(11:03):
homeopaths that completelydisagree with the way I use them
.
Um, but it's more about what Ifelt I could get the best
results with my clients with.
So I use some homeopathics thatare pre-prepared from Germany
that resonate with me yeah and Iget great results with them
when I need to use them.
So that's the thing is, I don'thave a hundred different things
(11:24):
on my shelf that are going tofit every person.
Sometimes I have to order stuffin, sometimes I have to make
stuff up, sometimes I have toget stuff made.
It's just about what I thinkthat person needs at this point
in time.
Dana (11:36):
I've just had an idea.
What about?
Because I know when I, when Ilived in Germany, naturopathy
was a huge thing, massive, youknow, it's huge.
Lisa (11:45):
Yeah, it's great.
Dana (11:47):
And what about First Nations people?
Is naturopathy going down thatroute?
Are people starting to lookdown?
You know what we have inAustralia that are.
You know the herbal medicines.
Lisa (11:59):
Yeah, look, I must admit I don't know a lot about that
specifically.
I do know that there are somenaturopaths I'm going to say
probably more on the East Coastthat are possibly exploring that
a little bit more.
But I also kind of feel we needto be educated by Indigenous
cultures as to how they usethose preparations, because it
may not be in the same way thatI might use it as a naturopath.
(12:21):
So I guess the first thing Iwould like to know is is there
education around Indigenouspreparations and learning the
application respectfully throughtheir culture?
It's a bit like Chinesemedicine, it's a bit like Indian
medicine, all of these oldancient cultures that have been
around for thousands of years,including our Indigenous culture
(12:41):
here in Australia.
Sometimes they're not going tobe applied in the Western way
that a naturopath may use them.
I do use some Indian remedies, Ido use some Chinese remedies,
but I'm also respectful of thefact that I'm probably not going
to use them in the same way andas long as I can still get the
results for my client.
You know that's the main driver, but but yes, I'd love to learn
(13:04):
more about indigenous umremedies, but I'd like to learn
about the, how they are puttogether in the whole sort of
philosophy of their culture.
Dana (13:13):
I love it.
Lisa (13:13):
It's such a deep area that I wasn't even aware of so much
wisdom here in australia that wehaven't tapped into yet yes, so
, um, I love the quote on yourwebsite, lisa naturopathy treats
the whole person, not theillness.
Dana (13:29):
You have spoken a little bit to this.
Can you speak a little bit moreSure?
Lisa (13:34):
So I guess, from a philosophical point of view, yes
, naturopaths look for patterns.
We're looking for root causesand drivers.
Specifically, I guess probablythe easiest way for me to talk
about naturopathy treating thewhole person is, for example, if
I was going to look at someonethat has a lowered immune system
where they're getting frequentcolds and flus, if I just
(13:55):
literally said, okay, just takethese couple of nutrients and
it'll all go away.
That again is a verysuperficial way of treating that
, especially if it's somethingthat's happened over and over
again.
So I'd be wanting to look atwhat are the deeper drivers to
that lowered immunity for thatperson.
Now, that could be coming fromtheir gut.
Some people are not going toconnect an immune system to
(14:16):
their gut health, but we knowthat there is a lot of immune
cells that are based and getinformation through our gut that
are going to be sampling thingsin the sort of lumen of the
digestive system that has amassive impact on our on our
immune system regulation.
So that could be one area inregards to.
I might treat someone's gut totreat their immune system and
(14:36):
people go huh and I might justbear with me.
Dana (14:39):
Oh wow, I do love that that the gut gut has a bearing
on your immune system regulation.
I love that because it's thebrain has a bearing of the
emotional system, the nervoussystem regulation, and the gut
has a bearing on the immunesystem regulation.
I love that analogy.
Well, not the truth of that.
Lisa (15:01):
Yeah Well, I guess the flow on from that is if
someone's under an extremeamount of chronic stress, what
are those stress hormones doingto your immune system?
So sometimes I might betreating someone's stress
response to enhance their immunefunction.
Sometimes I might send them tothe chiropractor that I work
with because they've gotalignment issues in their spine
and the nerve responses to theirimmune system may not be firing
(15:24):
properly.
I might do some body work withthem.
I might look at their lymphaticsystem.
All of these other things canhave an influence on their
immune system or their reasonsfor lowered immunity.
So when I look at someone infront of me, yes, they're
telling me their story andthey're telling me what's going
on for them.
But I'm going to be looking alittle bit further underneath
(15:44):
that as to, of course I'm notgoing to be massaging their big
toe to fix their immune systemper se, but I'm looking at what
else is going on in going on forthat person in their body that
could be driving that imbalancein their immune system.
Dana (15:57):
so that's possibly does that help in regards to
explaining that from aphilosophical point of view.
What is your area of interestand specialization?
Lisa (16:05):
sure so.
So I was a general naturopathfor many, many years and I'm
going to say probably in thelast four to five years I've
really honed my skills inlooking at thyroid health.
I look at helpingperimenopausal women sort of
navigate that period oftransition and I look at weight
loss management.
So there are spinoffs withinthat.
(16:27):
Things like stress managementhave a massive tie into those
categories.
So does things like insulin andblood glucose regulation.
I'm not saying I don't look atother aspects because, yeah, gut
health can be part of that.
But yeah, those three areas arethe main areas I focus on.
And that was basically driven bymy own journey heading into
(16:47):
perimenopause and finding I hadan undiagnosed, very mild
thyroid issue that I'd neverreally been aware of.
I kind of just thought thatsome of my own health concerns
were because of my menopause,but it was actually because of
my thyroid.
So that kind of opened that canof worms and then I started
doing some more deep diving inthat space and I love thyroid
(17:11):
health.
I've got to say that is a verybig passion of mine.
But I also see that there's alot of crossover between those
things as well.
So sometimes someone will comein wanting me to help support,
or a woman will come in wantingsome support with their
perimenopause, but I'm thinkingthis is thyroid, this is thyroid
, this is thyroid.
I'll go get some testing doneand, sure enough, there could be
some thyroid involvement, aswell yeah.
Dana (17:33):
So why do you love thyroid health?
What is so great about thyroidhealth?
Lisa (17:39):
So our thyroid gland secretes a compound called
thyroxine and pretty much everycell in our body has a thyroxine
receptor.
Wow.
So it has a massive impact onour general well-being, um, and
I guess, just from my ownpersonal experience of being
able to identify what was goingon and then being able to
rectify it, I it was a huge,huge thing in regards to how I
(18:02):
was feeling um, and I guesssince then, being able to
identify thyroid issues are, Ithink, sometimes really not well
diagnosed in the medical space.
And I'm not poo-pooing gps.
I think they do the best thatthey can with the resources they
have um, but I feel that theway that medicare is set up,
(18:23):
they can't do adequate testing alot of the time.
They're very capped with whatthey can do and I guess, once I
started doing some deeperlearning and learning that there
are parameters that are oftennot tested and they're probably
some of the most important ones,and once I started learning how
I could apply that knowledgeand getting women feeling better
(18:46):
, I just I guess that's wherethat passion came from, and just
with my own personal experience.
Dana (18:52):
So what would be some of the symptoms for our listeners?
Lisa (18:55):
Sure.
So I'd probably say most of thepeople that I work with have an
underactive thyroid issue asopposed to an overactive thyroid
issue, so I'll probably focuson that, if that's okay.
So fatigue is one of the maindrivers.
Now, I know lots of busy, likeparents are tired, but the way I
guess I could describe it it'sfatigue that is like no other
(19:17):
that you like are physically andmentally completely spent, no
matter what you do to try andresolve it.
So it may be that you have hada perfect night's sleep, you're
fully hydrated, you're eatingreally well and you still cannot
, cannot function on a decentlevel and people go usually for
iron tests for that absolutelyright.
Dana (19:36):
And then they say my iron levels are normal.
That's right, and look I don'tdiscount that I always if
someone comes in with fatigue.
Lisa (19:44):
Yes, getting iron, getting b12 done, getting some basic
blood stuff, stuff.
It's very sensible to startthere, getting vitamin D
assessed as well.
Dana (19:53):
Vitamin.
Lisa (19:53):
D also has a massive influence on the energy
production.
And doing all that basicscreening and sometimes that's
when one of my clients might say, oh, but my GP tested my
thyroid and it was fine, andthen I'll look, and there was
like one parameter that was done.
I test for five.
So and I'm not only justlooking at extra parameters but
(20:13):
I'm looking at the relationshipbetween between those parameters
and looking at what could thatbe doing in regards to driving
that fatigue sometimes.
And the thing is with iron,specifically iron and thyroid
dysfunction um kind of go handin hand.
If you have an underactivethyroid, your digestive capacity
is possibly compromised, whichmeans you can't absorb your iron
(20:36):
.
If you can't absorb your iron,then you can't also make
efficient amounts of thyroidhormones.
So this is like this circle thatgoes through because we need
iron in every stage of ourthyroid hormone production.
So it's a bit of chicken andegg sometimes, uh, with
specifically with iron, but yeah, I find that one comes up a lot
.
So if I assume someone's gotunderactive, uh, thyroid
(20:59):
function, I'm going to look attheir iron anyway, because I'm.
Dana (21:02):
There's a very high correlation between those two
factors 100 so you can orderthose blood tests as a
naturopath.
Yeah, okay, great.
Lisa (21:09):
So unfortunately, because I'm not in the medical space.
It is a private cost, so Ican't get them done for free.
Um, normally if someone comesto me I'll ask have you had any
recent blood tests done?
I can sometimes use those as astarting point and then I may
need to order some, a couple ofspecific tests that haven't been
(21:30):
covered by a gp um.
But normally, um, I guess Ialways try and provide some
information.
If the client's going back totheir gp, I always write like a
gp wish list of pretty pleasewith a cherry on top can I get
these tests done?
But I'll always justify why I'mnot.
I don't um, I respect gps a lotin regards to, they are the
(21:54):
ones that are running thesetests.
They are the ones that aregoing to be audited by medicare,
not me, um.
But if I can justify within theletter that I write that I send
my client back with them to saythis is why I want this testing
done, I want to say a big chunkof the time I get the testing
done that I need because I canjustify why.
They also can see I have ascience degree, so that gives me
a bit of credibility as well.
(22:15):
In regards to.
I'm not someone that just wants50 tests done because I don't
know what I'm doing.
I can really be very clear onthis is why I need this
information.
Yeah, wow.
So there are some other signsand symptoms for underactive
thyroid besides fatigue.
I guess fatigue is the main onethat people come in with.
That is just blinding fatigue.
It's that fatigue that theyfeel like they cannot get out of
(22:36):
first or second gear all thetime.
Things like unexpected weightgain, feeling the cold even in
the middle of summer, dry skin,brittle hair, brittle nails,
changes in menstrual cycles,worsening of anxiety and
depression, changes in bowelhabits these are not things that
people kind of think of withunderactive thyroid.
(22:57):
They normally just think aboutthe weight gain and the fatigue,
but there is a big like gamut.
So for me it's also aboutlooking at how much of this kind
of symptoms are a cluster forsomeone.
That's when I'll start thinkingabout thyroid, and also if they
are perimenopausal, when our sexhormones like progesterone and
(23:18):
estrogen start to decrease.
That has a direct influence onhow much thyroid hormones we can
produce.
So again, there's this otherlot of correlation that happens
for women at this time in lifeand those changes in those sex
hormones also have an influenceon immune system function.
That then can increase our riskof autoimmune disease around
(23:38):
thyroid.
And again, mainly Hashimoto'sis the main thing I'll see there
.
Hashimoto's is when our body isattacking our own thyroid gland
.
That mainly happens for womenonce they hit perimenopause.
So there are all these kind ofintricate connections.
I try and describe it to myclients.
It's like a spider web and I'mtrying to tease it all out.
Dana (23:58):
And so what about libido?
Libido definitely changes.
Lisa (24:03):
Specifically with thyroid health.
I'd say it's more probably tiedin with fatigue, but then I
want to probably look down thepath of looking at hormone
panels and looking at um howtestosterone is being affected
with that as well.
So, yeah, there is probably anindirect link, um, and it's more
about assessing well, whatinformation have we got to start
with and what do I need?
Dana (24:23):
I'm trying to marry those two things wow, lisa, it's it's,
it's tricky, it's not an easy.
That's why I wanted you to comeon yeah because I think people
look at naturopathy and go, oh,it's just the drops they're
gonna give me the drops, but I'mhoping to um bust that myth and
(24:43):
just see just how muchcomplexity and how much
knowledge goes underneath that,and skills.
Yeah, wow, yeah, thanks, wow,and I can see why thyroids are
so interesting.
Lisa (24:58):
Yeah, well, I think it was one of those things when I
started doing this extratraining because, again, it just
kind of opened my awareness.
I obviously had basic trainingin thyroid health through my
studies, but then I did somereally kind of tailored training
and it was just like the more Idug, the more I learned, the
more I was like, wow, this,there's more to this than what I
first thought, and I guess nowmy, my lens is all about thyroid
(25:22):
.
Sometimes I have to be awarethat not everyone has a thyroid
condition as well and reallytrying to make sure that I'm
teasing it out and making itappropriate for the right person
.
But the more testing I do,especially obviously I'm now
known in this space.
So I have some women that arelike I've been everywhere I
don't know, like no one's givingme answers and I mean I've had
(25:44):
women burst into tears becauseI've had an answer for them.
That's just it's, and it'sabout testing that's not been
done elsewhere.
And I'm not saying that to blowmy own horn, but just to be
able to give someone a reason asto why they're feeling so awful
and poorly and not being ableto function, because then they
have this whole thing of.
Maybe it's in my own head andunfortunately, sometimes that is
(26:04):
what they're told, and that isnot always the case, or you're
getting older?
Dana (26:09):
Yeah, and you accept it.
Lisa (26:11):
And I'm like that's baloney too.
Yeah, so, yeah.
So to be able to be able tofind those solutions for the
women that I see, it's justjoyful for me.
That's why I do what I do.
I love it.
Dana (26:24):
I love it and you're so passionate about it.
Thank you, but I do, I love it.
I love it and you're sopassionate about it, thank you.
How could the treatment ofthyroids then be helpful for
busy parents?
Lisa (26:35):
Yeah.
Dana (26:35):
So, like I keep thinking about parents and they often
don't even think about their ownhealth because they're thinking
about their children andthey're always on the go, go, go
, go go.
And then people talk abouttheir adrenals and that their
adrenals are drained and youknow, you've just got to rest.
So how would that help busyparents?
(26:57):
Sure.
Lisa (26:58):
So just to give you a bit of information about adrenal
fatigue and thyroid functionelevated cortisol, which is our
main stress hormone, willdownregulate thyroid function.
Elevated cortisol, which is ourmain stress hormone, will down
regulate thyroid function aswell.
So it can come from just beingincredibly busy or incredibly
stressed for a long period oftime that that does have a
knock-on effect to thyroidhealth.
So I don't discount stress andI feel that sometimes some
(27:22):
people are like, well, yeah, youjust need to rest, but you
probably can't rest becauseyou've got a really busy family
life and you've got youngchildren to manage.
Dana (27:30):
And you've got a house that you're going to renovate.
You've got a house to renovate.
Lisa (27:34):
You've got a shift-working husband and all of the things.
So what I try to instill in somepeople is do the best you can
in regards to if you've got a10-minute window when your kids
first go to bed that you canbreathe and lie on the floor or
stretch or do something foryourself to center yourself and
go right.
(27:54):
I survived today, fantastic.
But breath work is soundervalued, so undervalued, so
something like that.
I know some people go well, Ibreathe and it's fine.
But I'm like most people thatare really stressed shallow
breathe.
They don't engage the diaphragm, they don't push their bellies
out when they breathe out thatdirectly, like when you breathe
(28:15):
out and you can engage that partof your diaphragm to push
outwards that has like a nervereflex into, like the calming
side of our nervous systemthrough the parasympathetics.
So even like if you'rescrolling scroll about how to do
some proper breath work andthen stop scrolling and do it.
Yes, yes, get off the deviceand actually do the thing that's
(28:36):
going to help calm that stressresponse down.
I know a lot of very busy womenthat really push through on
lots of coffee and lots of sugarand lots of stimulants just to
get through and wine, wine atthe end of the day, to bring
them all down again.
But that's just going to whizeverything up overall yeah right
.
(28:56):
I'm not saying I'm anti-alcohol,but I've got to say a
perimenopausal woman that hasseveral drinks a night is not
doing herself any favors.
It really does exacerbate a lotof the symptoms that they could
be experiencing.
So I would say minimize, havealcohol-free days.
But also maybe looking at someother sorts of ways of managing
(29:18):
and, rather than revvingyourself up in the day or from
first thing in the morning withstimulants and then calming
everything down with wine in theevenings, trying to just
balance things out as best youcan.
But you know, I've been there.
I understand the challenges,especially with really little
people.
But then once they are thatlittle bit further along, then
(29:39):
looking at other sorts of umtechniques.
Or you know, we uh, quiterecently in my own family, uh
try to get outside with our kidsafter dinner and we're
fortunate we have a basketballhoop and we just shoot hoops
with the kids for 10 minutes andit's a really nice way to break
that habit of just sitting onthe couch and, like our bodies
(30:02):
really appreciate some movementafter eating.
And I'm not saying I'm gonnarun a marathon, but just getting
outside and walking or walkaround the block or but just
move.
Move on a really basic level.
You'll actually feel better forit, um, but your body will be
be grateful for it as well.
So there's lots of little tipsand tricks like that that, I
think, can go a long way, but,firstly, the most important
(30:26):
thing I'm going to say to yourparents that are listening is be
kind to yourself.
Do not beat yourself up aboutthe things that you are not
doing, as opposed to all thethings you are doing, and also
realizing that not everything isin your control, but of the
things you can control, what arethe things that you could
possibly do a little bit betterin regards to?
(30:47):
Are you drinking a glass ofwater?
Well, maybe, instead of goingfor four coffees, do two extra
glasses of water and only dothree coffees or just bring
things down.
Keep it simple, simple, simplesimple is what I do with lots of
busy women, because you'rereally busy, yeah, you know,
yeah, yeah, yeah and it's aboutI'd sometimes, with some women
I'll go for bang for buck tostart with, in regards to what
(31:09):
is the broadest way I can helpthis person with the least
amount of things they have to doand it sometimes is the basics
is where I start.
Making sure people are drinkingwater which.
I know sounds so random, butsome so many people just want
flavor in everything they drink.
Water is the thing our bodiesneed the most.
(31:30):
It's, you know, 60 to 70% ofwhat makes up our body and if
your body is dehydrated and it'sstressed, that just makes
everything a whole lot harder,Whereas if you are busy and
stressed but you're hydrated,your body's going to innately
cope a bit better.
Obviously, yes, we want to tryand address the stressors, but
sometimes they are out of ourcontrol.
(31:50):
But doing some breath work anddrinking some water and eating
close to nature, eating lots offresh food, not stimulating
yourself with lots of artificialeverythings.
And people push on sugar and Iget it.
I've been there in regards tohaving little people.
you are so tired sometimes a barof chocolate feels really good
at the time and I'm not going tolike berate anyone for doing
(32:14):
that, because I've done it yes,yes but it's about how often,
how much.
Yeah, quality and also lookingat.
Okay, I've done this for threedays in a row.
Maybe I need to think aboutanother option that's a bit
better for me.
Dana (32:26):
And I've also noticed, like when I'm very much in my
head and my thoughts are goinground and round and round, just
having a drink of water sort ofgets me back into my body and it
is quite grounding.
Lisa (32:39):
So I think that's really important.
Dana (32:43):
Do you use naturopathy at home for yourself and with your
children, and if so, how Sure?
Lisa (32:55):
So I guess this one's a bit tricky for me to answer in
some levels, because I have mytools in my toolbox for work and
naturally I have them for myhome life as well.
I guess, just looking at again,again, trying to provide the
healthiest lunches that I canfor my kids, trying to expose
them to as many fresh fruit andvegetables as I can and I'm
sneaky with that sometimes likemy son is a very visual eater,
(33:17):
so I cook bolognese sauce for mykids once a week, but there's
not just meat in there andtomatoes, there's seven or eight
different vegetables in thereas well.
And so I've made the sauce, theevent, and they get a little bit
of gluten-free pasta around theedge.
But they see the pasta, butthey are also getting seven or
eight vegetables.
Yeah, right so there's that sortof stuff that I do for them.
(33:39):
I'm going to say I food prepwhenever I can.
In regards to if I'm cooking ameal for tonight, I'm going to
make sure there's like goodhealthy options for tomorrow
night by cooking double.
So I'm always cooking lots ofgood healthy food, or I'll chuck
it in the freezer for when, ifwe've got a late night coming
back from sports, I know I'vegot something in my freezer I
(34:08):
can pull out defrost and it'snutritious.
So, yes, my kids getsupplements, but not every day.
Um, yes, they see how I?
Um try to instill good healthin my clients and we do eat
relatively healthily.
I'm also human, though there'ssometimes we get takeaway, but
I'm not going to be goingthrough a drive-through.
It's going to be somethingthat's more plant-based, um.
But yeah, we just pick the bestoptions that we can and so yeah
, we're busy parents.
(34:28):
We do the best we can with theresources we have some of those
choices are better than others.
But that's okay.
You know it's all about.
I'm a bit of a.
I always try and share 80 20.
If you can do the right thing80% of the time, 20% of the time
you'll get away with.
So, whether that is, you know,food that's not what I would
consider completelyhealthy-healthy all the time,
(34:50):
but brings my kids and my familyjoy, great, I'll take it.
But do we do that every day?
No, of course not.
So it's balancing it out, likeeverything.
And are you a coffee drinker?
I do drink coffee.
I mean, I'm half Italian, so ofcourse I drink coffee, but it's
one good one.
First thing, like after I'vehad food, it's not on an empty
(35:14):
stomach.
And I will also have decaf,like good decaf.
Dana (35:17):
Why not?
Lisa (35:18):
drink coffee on an empty stomach.
It just squeezes your adrenalglands even more.
So if you're, already in astressed state and then you add
a stimulant like caffeine inthere, it just squeezes them
even more and it just starts tostimulate more dysregulation.
The other thing is it's thoughtthat caffeine can also start
swinging our glucose and insulinmanagement, so it makes that
whole balancing act for our bodyjust that little bit harder.
(35:40):
So I always try and get peopleto.
If you want to have coffee,have it with your food, just
don't have it by itself.
Or I have some people they gooh, I'm fasting, but I have a
coffee and I'm like well, you'renot fasting, you're actually
having something.
Because they don't realize thatthe coffee like completely
black coffee won't impact a fast.
But most people have like a bigcup of milk that goes in with
(36:02):
the coffee.
Then you're no longer fasting,but that's also not serving you
as a good, grounding, nutritiousbreakfast.
Eat something with it.
What about milk?
Yeah, talk to me about cow'smilk.
Okay, this is a big topic, yeah, and the first thing I'm going
to say is cow's milk is the milkof an animal to feed its young.
(36:23):
In regards to baby cows, we arethe only species that I know of
that drink the milk of anotherspecies as opposed to just like
we should be drinking breastmilk once we're little, and
they're not really drinking milkanymore from there.
Right, ultimately right.
However, there are somenutritional benefits to some
people with dairy, but I'm gonnasay for some people it's also
(36:46):
quite inflammatory.
It's not great if you've gotskin conditions.
I'll say that straight up.
Um, it's probably the firstthing I rip out of people's
diets if I see skin issues.
Um it, I'm gonna say I tend tolike people to try either a2
milk or lactose-free milk,because most people will have
(37:06):
some sort of irritation to onething or the other.
Um, and I also say what is thea2 milk?
Dana (37:13):
I've seen it on the in the supermarket.
What is it?
I know lactose-free is, butyeah so a2 milk.
Lisa (37:20):
Basically there are two proteins in milk.
There's a1 and a2.
Most people, if they're goingto have a gut irritation to uh,
one of the proteins in milk,it's going to be the a1 protein
that causes the gut irritation.
So, uh, many years ago therewas some cows that they
identified that mainly producedmilk that only had the A2
(37:41):
protein in it, so it didn't havethe A1 in it, and they found
that that was less irritating tocertain people that had some
gut irritations based on dairy.
So that's kind of where the A2kind of milk came from.
And I've got to say there aresome clients that can tolerate
A2 milk totally fine, but theyget really feeling quite poorly
when they have normal milk.
And I say that in invertedcommas and same with lactose in
(38:04):
milk.
Some people do really well withlactose-free milk.
Others are okay, I'm going tosay, with normal milk.
Is it my favourite food on theplanet?
No, it's not.
I'd rather people useplant-based, like almond milk,
rice milks, oats milks, coconutmilk.
What about soy milk?
Soy milk has its place, but I'mgoing to say soy.
(38:28):
Because of genetic modificationwe sometimes can't get a really
clean soy milk.
So I'm going to say I getpeople to rotate their milks
really more than anything else.
So I'm just like get adifferent type of plant-based
milk, um on rotation.
But also I'm asking if it'sjust a wet cereal, well, is
cereal the best option for youall the time?
(38:49):
I'm not sure.
That's again going to be up tothe individual, um.
So yeah, milk is a tricky onebecause I'm not going to say a
hard no or hard yes.
Dana (38:59):
It's about what's going to be best fit for that person at
that period, because I knowthere's always a lot of
discussion in this area aboutmilk, yeah, and I've got to say.
Lisa (39:09):
I've got to say in general , if someone has got a thyroid
dysfunction, I would like toprobably rip the dairy out
because it's quite inflammatoryfor some people.
And if the thyroid condition isbeing driven by some sort of
inflammatory pathway, I'm goingto try and make their diet as
anti-inflammatory as possibleamazing, okay.
Dana (39:29):
Is naturopathy claimable on medicare or health insurance?
Unfortunately, not.
Lisa (39:35):
um, we used to be able to get rebates through private
health, but back in 2019, thatwas revoked.
There was 15 natural therapycategories that got removed, and
naturopathy was one of them.
So there has been a reviewspecifically around naturopathy.
That was apparently startednearly four years ago, but we
haven't heard anything since, soI feel like bureaucracy has
(39:58):
buried it.
Obviously, there was a prettymajor thing that was going on in
the globe that kind of possiblydistracted the government yes,
um, but uh, look, our we areconstantly asking our
associations what's going on.
apparently, the last I heard waslate last year and the review
was due to be completed, sort ofsoonish, but I haven't heard
(40:20):
anything more than that.
But yeah, I was devastated, tobe honest sort of soonish, but I
haven't heard anything morethan that.
But yeah, I was devastated, tobe honest, because I'd had a
provider number for 17 years andthen it got removed, and the
way it was removed was prettypoor, to be honest, in regards
to the criteria that they set,eliminated a lot of the evidence
that proved that naturopathywas applicable, and that was
basically so they could get ridof us pretty much, and I'm yeah,
(40:44):
I probably should leave itthere because I'm pretty dark
about it.
Yeah, um, because they weresaying there was no evidence
about what we do.
Yeah, that helps people, Iguess, and I had seen it in
clinic for 17 years at thatpoint and the other thing is you
guys are doing blood tests, sothat's very objective evidence
you know from going from this tothat.
(41:05):
Yeah yeah, so yeah, I'm hopefulthat it gets reinstated, but at
this point we don't know ifthat's going to be possible okay
, lisa.
Dana (41:16):
How do people get in touch with you and do you have a
waiting list?
Lisa (41:20):
I don't have a waiting list at the moment.
Um most people, if they want tofind me, look on instagram and
facebook.
I have a feed that I put postsup regularly on there and we'll
put your um details on thesession notes.
Great yeah awesome, um, and alsoI've got a website um,
lisascafonatropathcomau.
But also, if anyone ever hadany questions, they could
(41:42):
contact me direct.
Um, I'm quite happy to, like, Ido discovery calls with people
that are interested in my, myservices, which can either be
booked on a website or they canjust ring me.
But, yeah, um, it's more, Iguess, uh, learning about what
it is you're wanting to try andachieve.
Like, I may not be a good fitfor that for someone that's
inquiring about health.
(42:02):
So I'd say the good thing aboutsocial media is they can kind
of get a feel for what I'm about, what I do, and if I'm not a
good fit, there'll be someoneelse that can.
Um, especially, uh, like,obviously, women's health and
thyroid health is kind of my jam.
I'm not doing a lot of generalnaturopathy any longer, um, and
if someone has got somethingthat's very specific, that's
(42:22):
outside of my realm, then I'mprobably or possibly may not be
the right fit for them.
Dana (42:27):
That's okay, there'll be someone else as well and finally
, what would be threerecommendations you could give
other parents and businessowners okay, this is again.
Lisa (42:38):
I've probably touched on it already, but but I'm going to
say food prep whenever you can.
So if you have got some time todo some cooking, where you can
create some beautiful nourishingsoups or, you know, curries, or
even just throwing somevegetables in the oven to cook
so that you can plan ahead touse them, I would say food prep
for me is the key to how I cankeep feeding myself and my
(43:01):
family really well while I'mreally busy.
So, quite honestly, on theweekend I always try and
allocate some time just to dosome cooking.
So whether that be tray bakingsome vegetables or like cooking
some like chicken drumsticks, Icook them on.
I buy like two kilos and I cookthem all and I cool them down
and I shred that meat and then Ifreeze it cooked because again
(43:24):
that means I can rip it out in ahurry and put it like, defrost
it quickly and throw it togetherwith a salad and there's a meal
wow, great idea yeah.
So food prep whenever you can ismy first.
The second is always checkinghydration, and I know that
sounds so simple, but Isometimes get people to almost
do like with their food diary.
I'm like Mark, how much wateris going in there?
(43:46):
And they are so surprised athow little they are drinking
through the day.
So, and I guess the other thingI'll share is, when we think
we're hungry, it might actuallybe hydration that our body is
looking for, because we don'thave two completely separate
cues so we get this likegrizzlyly substance or we start
(44:06):
getting a headache.
We think I must need to eatsomething.
Not necessarily, it mightactually be water that our
body's looking for.
So if you know you've had a good, nutritious breakfast and
you're starting to feel a bitmid-morning, firstly I'd be like
well, check if you've hadprotein at breakfast time or not
.
But secondly, when's the lasttime you had a drink of water?
Um, so my rule of thumb forpeople that work in offices is
(44:26):
fill a big glass of water at thestart of every hour and make
sure it's finished by the end ofthat hour, and then you can get
like six or seven glasses ofwater quite comfortably in your
body through the day without itbeing a big deal, um.
So yeah, hydration is always akey and it is very it's just not
really recognised as it's justa core of good health.
(44:47):
And finally, move your body andhave some fun and I'm going to
put those two together becauseI'm not a gym person, but I love
going walking by the river orshooting hoops with my kids or
just playing chasey with my kidsoutside.
It's about just doing somestuff where you can have a laugh
but also get some movement aswell, and movement is essential.
(45:09):
We are born to move, so like doI do heaps of strenuous exercise
every day?
No, I don't, but I'll try andalways make sure there's some
sort of incidental movement if Iknow my day is full that I'm
still moving my body on somelevel.
Dana (45:23):
That's it.
Thank you, Lisa, so much.
I'm so intrigued about theworld of naturopathy now.
I learned so much and I'mhoping our listeners did as well
.
Fantastic, and I'll definitelybe booking in with you after
this.
Fantastic.
Thanks for having me and thankyou so much.
You after this fantastic um,and thank you so much and um,
(45:46):
yeah, and if anybody wants toreach out to Lisa or contact her
, just look down um at our at mysession notes and I'll have all
of Lisa's contact details.
So thanks again, Lisa.
Thank you for coming, thank you.
Hi, Lisa Scarfo.
Hello, welcome to the EmpoweredParent Podcast.
I'm thrilled to have you on theshow because what you do for
people who are unwell is soimportant.
You are a naturopath with aclinic in Adelaide called Lisa
Scarfo Naturopath.
You are a busy mum, a busyperson.
(00:23):
You are a busy mum, a busyperson.
You're on the verge of doingyour home renovations and you
also run your busy clinic andgive to so many people.
Welcome, Lisa, in your ownwords.
How do you do it?
Thank you.
Lisa (00:39):
Dana, that was a lovely introduction.
Wow?
I think I've just gotten reallygood at time management over a
number of years and I had mykids quite late in life, so I
guess my business and mypractice was still kind of
ticking along quite nicely whenI had my children.
But yeah, I think probably mykey thing that I do is just
(01:01):
chunk it down, Keep your tasksreally simple, Like I literally
think about a week at a time andgo right, what do I need to get
done this week?
And then I look at well, whatdo I need to get done today to
then, make those things happenthrough that week.
So chunking down is my probably,and you know I'm a list girl.
But do I beat myself up if thelist doesn't work?
No, I don't.
(01:22):
I just look at what are themost important things in that
list, get that stuff done andwhether that be through my
business list or a home list,it's a list and I just find that
that helps me stay organized,and I use my phone diary a lot
as well, so that's like a bigpart of like today us catching
up.
Dana (01:39):
That was in my phone diary Lots of reminders.
Lisa (01:48):
Yeah, but just also being kind to self at all times
because and you look so healthyand well.
Well, I try, I try to live bythe principles that I try to
share.
Dana (01:54):
Yeah, I can see, I can see , I'm just saying that for the
listeners who can't?
See you.
You look very healthy and well.
So how did you choose thenaturopathy?
Lisa (02:04):
journey?
Sure.
So when I finished high schoolI qualified and did a science
degree and started in scienceand I met a chappy in one of my
subjects who, his brother, wasstudying naturopathy.
And just over the period oftime I was learning about
naturopathy while doing myscience degree, I was kind of
progressing through my degreebecause initially I thought I
(02:26):
was going to be a medicalresearcher and so I did science,
thinking that that would takeme down that path.
But then I realized that wasn'treally.
I couldn't imagine myself in alab long-term and realized that
I needed more people engagement.
I also had accidentally sat inon a few medical tutorials where
I was doing some private studyand then all of a sudden these
(02:47):
med students came in and theywere being taught and I knew
that I wanted to help people butI wasn't sure that medicine was
going to be a good fit to me.
So towards the end of myscience degree I started doing a
bit more investigation around.
Naturopathy went to like anight that one of the colleges
had and I thought this soundslike a very good fit for what I
want to do and that's where Iwent.
So I finished science and thenstudied naturopathy and went on
(03:10):
my way.
So how long did you study for?
So I did my three years inscience um and then I did four
years in my um.
At that time, which was manymoons ago, there was only
advanced diplomas in naturalmedicine here in Adelaide.
So so that was another fouryears, whereas now we have
bachelor degrees here inAdelaide, again around the four
(03:30):
year mark.
I guess I had already decidedthat I wanted to finish my
science degree by the time.
I was interested in naturopathyI guess more so because I was
still curious about science, andI thought well, if this
naturopathy thing doesn't quitework, I could always go back.
So I had actually qualified todo honours in science as well,
but that kind of.
(03:50):
I thought I'll just trynaturopathy for a year first and
see how that goes, and then Inever went back to science.
Dana (03:55):
So seven years, I did seven years.
So yeah, it was a long time.
Lisa (03:58):
So like a medical degree, yeah but you you know there was
layers of things that didn'treally fit, like some of the
science subjects I did were notmedical subjects per se.
Again, if I had my time again,I probably would have picked
slightly different subjectchoices, but I didn't know.
Like you're 17 when you'remaking these life decisions for
yourself yeah, um, and but I,yeah.
As soon as I went intonaturopathy and I knew, within
(04:20):
probably the first few months, Ithought, yeah, this is where I
need to be.
It just really resonated withme on a lot of levels.
Dana (04:26):
And what exactly is naturopathy, and how is it
different from a nutritionist, amassage therapist and so on and
so forth?
Lisa (04:37):
Sure.
So I guess for me, my everynaturopath is probably going to
give you a different answer tothis question, but there are
some underlying principles maybeI'll touch on firstly.
So, firstly, doing no harm.
In regards to the remedies thatwe use are incredibly safe and
they come from nature, mainly inregards to we use plants, in
(04:58):
regards to our herbal medicines,we use vitamins and minerals,
we use nutrients, so there's nokind of artificial interventions
on that point of view.
Um, the main philosophy that Ialways think about from a
naturopathy point of view is thebody has its own innate ability
to heal if it's given theopportunity to do so.
(05:18):
So sometimes people will havepatterns in their body that have
built up over a number of yearsthrough maybe diet, lifestyle
habits, extreme stress, chronicinfections, whatever, you know,
whatever thoughts, 100% allthose things can start kind of
causing some skew in a person'sbody and then doing that over a
(05:39):
longer period of time.
You then start getting symptomsstarting to come up.
My job as a naturopath isobviously taking a case history,
but looking at what is theunderlying driver to all of this
, could that be like a chronicstress?
Could it be thinking negativelyfor a long period of time?
Could it be an exposure to avirus from many, many years ago
(06:03):
that has changed the way theimmune system is responding?
A whole heap of differentthings.
So finding a root cause is amajor philosophical kind of
principle of naturopathy.
We want to find what the driveris first and then try and help
the body get some rebalancearound that redriver.
Dana (06:21):
How do you do?
Lisa (06:22):
that Is it easy?
It is not easy.
No, and to be honest, I guessI'm still learning as we all are
.
I guess I sort of describe whatI do with my clients is like
layers of an onion.
So I will start peeling backthe first few layers and whether
that be more around, trying toget the person to feel a little
(06:45):
bit better first, and then westart digging a little bit
deeper.
Also, sometimes people don'thave the answers I need when I
first start to see them, andit's normally after I've worked
with them for a bit of time thatthey go.
Oh yeah, did I mention that?
This happened when I was 10years old and I like go bang,
right, that's where I need to go.
Dana (07:02):
So do you think people have sort of hidden these
answers into their deepunconscious or they just can't
remember them?
Lisa (07:11):
I'd say it's probably a bit of both, to be honest, and
sometimes like naturopathy takesa long time to work.
I'll say that straight up.
It's not that we have specificremedies that are for certain
conditions and everyone gets thesame thing.
That's not the case at all'sprobably another thing.
Big thing about naturopathy iswe treat the individual.
So if I've got 10 differentwomen that come in to see me
(07:32):
with menopause, I'll treat themslightly like there'll be common
ground to all of those things,but there'll be also some
individual um prescriptions thatmight be specific to that
person.
Now, whether that's aroundtheir mindset, whether that be
around a trauma that they've had, whether that be around other
things that are going on from abody system point of view, but
(07:54):
there's never one answer that'sgoing to solve that problem
across the board.
So it's very tailored protocols,which is kind of what I love
about naturopathy as well, butalso there'll be different tools
in my toolbox that I may usefor different people.
So I guess, yeah, it's a verylong answer, I guess, in regards
(08:14):
to naturopathy.
It's not, and it's not an easything, and I think sometimes in
today's society specifically,it's all about getting
everything done quickly.
Naturopathy doesn't workquickly.
I'm not saying I can get peoplefeeling better quickly, but
that's normally that first fewlayers.
Sometimes that's when peoplethink that their treatment has
(08:34):
finished and they'll disappear,and that to me is a bit
disappointing because I knowthat possibly some of those
patterns will come back intotheir life in a few years time
and quite honestly, I've had adollar for every time that has
happened.
Um, yeah, and it's sometimesonce people are in good health.
We then have to go a bit deeperas to what was starting that
pattern in the first place,where?
are those drivers, um.
(08:55):
So that's really the work thatI love to do, and when I can get
the opportunity to do that andyou get more permanent change
for people, that that's theultimate, really.
In regards to looking atnaturopathy, as a philosophy.
Dana (09:08):
You mentioned there's prescriptions.
What type of prescriptions donaturopaths?
Lisa (09:14):
give out.
Sure, so we use like herbalmedicines.
We use nutrients, lots ofvitamins and minerals.
But it might be exercise, itmight be getting out in the sun,
it might be some meditations,it might be other things in
their lifestyle.
It might be exercise, it mightbe getting out in the sun, it
might be some meditations, itmight be other things in their
lifestyle.
It might be looking at theirhouse and thinking do you have a
mold exposure going on?
It could be, you know,allergies.
(09:35):
It's really quite broad and Iguess it's more about trying.
I guess, with working withpeople over time, if things are
not kind of going to accordingto plan, I'll be wanting to dig
more.
What else is going in yourenvironment that could be
causing this imbalance?
So the script again like Ithink there are some people that
think that naturopaths can justbe like fancy vitamin and
(09:59):
mineral prescribers.
Dana (10:00):
Or they just give drops.
Lisa (10:01):
Or we just give drops.
Yeah, now the drops areprobably about homeopathic
preparations, homeopathics thatagain kind of falls under a
naturopathic umbrella, but alsohomeopathy in its own is its
completely separate modality.
A bit like a nutritionistNutritionists just use nutrients
, vitamins, minerals, otherproducts that are more in the
(10:23):
food space.
Naturopathy is like theumbrella that covers all of
those kind of natural therapies.
Homeopathy is in its own righta completely separate modality.
Do naturopaths use homeopathics?
Absolutely, but that may not bethe only thing that they use.
Dana (10:38):
So do you guys make up your own homeopaths?
Some do.
Lisa (10:42):
Yeah, yeah, I don't.
Personally, I found when I wentthrough my training, homeopathy
just didn't resonate with me asmuch as some of the other
modalities.
So I use herbal medicines, Iuse nutrients, I use like
lifestyle prescriptions diet um.
I do use new um homeopathics butI tend to use ones that fit my
brain and I know that soundsreally weird and there'd be some
(11:03):
homeopaths that completelydisagree with the way I use them
.
Um, but it's more about what Ifelt I could get the best
results with my clients with.
So I use some homeopathics thatare pre-prepared from Germany
that resonate with me yeah and Iget great results with them
when I need to use them.
So that's the thing is, I don'thave a hundred different things
(11:24):
on my shelf that are going tofit every person.
Sometimes I have to order stuffin, sometimes I have to make
stuff up, sometimes I have toget stuff made.
It's just about what I thinkthat person needs at this point
in time.
Dana (11:36):
I've just had an idea.
What about?
Because I know when I, when Ilived in Germany, naturopathy
was a huge thing, massive, youknow, it's huge.
Lisa (11:45):
Yeah, it's great.
Dana (11:47):
And what about First Nations people?
Is naturopathy going down thatroute?
Are people starting to lookdown?
You know what we have inAustralia that are.
You know the herbal medicines.
Lisa (11:59):
Yeah, look, I must admit I don't know a lot about that
specifically.
I do know that there are somenaturopaths I'm going to say
probably more on the East Coastthat are possibly exploring that
a little bit more.
But I also kind of feel we needto be educated by Indigenous
cultures as to how they usethose preparations, because it
may not be in the same way thatI might use it as a naturopath.
(12:21):
So I guess the first thing Iwould like to know is is there
education around Indigenouspreparations and learning the
application respectfully throughtheir culture?
It's a bit like Chinesemedicine, it's a bit like Indian
medicine, all of these oldancient cultures that have been
around for thousands of years,including our Indigenous culture
(12:41):
here in Australia.
Sometimes they're not going tobe applied in the Western way
that a naturopath may use them.
I do use some Indian remedies, Ido use some Chinese remedies,
but I'm also respectful of thefact that I'm probably not going
to use them in the same way andas long as I can still get the
results for my client.
You know that's the main driver, but but yes, I'd love to learn
(13:04):
more about indigenous umremedies, but I'd like to learn
about the, how they are puttogether in the whole sort of
philosophy of their culture.
Dana (13:13):
I love it.
Lisa (13:13):
It's such a deep area that I wasn't even aware of so much
wisdom here in australia that wehaven't tapped into yet yes, so
, um, I love the quote on yourwebsite, lisa naturopathy treats
the whole person, not theillness.
Dana (13:29):
You have spoken a little bit to this.
Can you speak a little bit moreSure?
Lisa (13:34):
So I guess, from a philosophical point of view, yes
, naturopaths look for patterns.
We're looking for root causesand drivers.
Specifically, I guess probablythe easiest way for me to talk
about naturopathy treating thewhole person is, for example, if
I was going to look at someonethat has a lowered immune system
where they're getting frequentcolds and flus, if I just
(13:55):
literally said, okay, just takethese couple of nutrients and
it'll all go away.
That again is a verysuperficial way of treating that
, especially if it's somethingthat's happened over and over
again.
So I'd be wanting to look atwhat are the deeper drivers to
that lowered immunity for thatperson.
Now, that could be coming fromtheir gut.
Some people are not going toconnect an immune system to
(14:16):
their gut health, but we knowthat there is a lot of immune
cells that are based and getinformation through our gut that
are going to be sampling thingsin the sort of lumen of the
digestive system that has amassive impact on our on our
immune system regulation.
So that could be one area inregards to.
I might treat someone's gut totreat their immune system and
(14:36):
people go huh and I might justbear with me.
Dana (14:39):
Oh wow, I do love that that the gut gut has a bearing
on your immune system regulation.
I love that because it's thebrain has a bearing of the
emotional system, the nervoussystem regulation, and the gut
has a bearing on the immunesystem regulation.
I love that analogy.
Well, not the truth of that.
Lisa (15:01):
Yeah Well, I guess the flow on from that is if
someone's under an extremeamount of chronic stress, what
are those stress hormones doingto your immune system?
So sometimes I might betreating someone's stress
response to enhance their immunefunction.
Sometimes I might send them tothe chiropractor that I work
with because they've gotalignment issues in their spine
and the nerve responses to theirimmune system may not be firing
(15:24):
properly.
I might do some body work withthem.
I might look at their lymphaticsystem.
All of these other things canhave an influence on their
immune system or their reasonsfor lowered immunity.
So when I look at someone infront of me, yes, they're
telling me their story andthey're telling me what's going
on for them.
But I'm going to be looking alittle bit further underneath
(15:44):
that as to, of course I'm notgoing to be massaging their big
toe to fix their immune systemper se, but I'm looking at what
else is going on in going on forthat person in their body that
could be driving that imbalancein their immune system.
Dana (15:57):
so that's possibly does that help in regards to
explaining that from aphilosophical point of view.
What is your area of interestand specialization?
Lisa (16:05):
sure so.
So I was a general naturopathfor many, many years and I'm
going to say probably in thelast four to five years I've
really honed my skills inlooking at thyroid health.
I look at helpingperimenopausal women sort of
navigate that period oftransition and I look at weight
loss management.
So there are spinoffs withinthat.
(16:27):
Things like stress managementhave a massive tie into those
categories.
So does things like insulin andblood glucose regulation.
I'm not saying I don't look atother aspects because, yeah, gut
health can be part of that.
But yeah, those three areas arethe main areas I focus on.
And that was basically driven bymy own journey heading into
(16:47):
perimenopause and finding I hadan undiagnosed, very mild
thyroid issue that I'd neverreally been aware of.
I kind of just thought thatsome of my own health concerns
were because of my menopause,but it was actually because of
my thyroid.
So that kind of opened that canof worms and then I started
doing some more deep diving inthat space and I love thyroid
(17:11):
health.
I've got to say that is a verybig passion of mine.
But I also see that there's alot of crossover between those
things as well.
So sometimes someone will comein wanting me to help support,
or a woman will come in wantingsome support with their
perimenopause, but I'm thinkingthis is thyroid, this is thyroid
, this is thyroid.
I'll go get some testing doneand, sure enough, there could be
some thyroid involvement, aswell yeah.
Dana (17:33):
So why do you love thyroid health?
What is so great about thyroidhealth?
Lisa (17:39):
So our thyroid gland secretes a compound called
thyroxine and pretty much everycell in our body has a thyroxine
receptor.
Wow.
So it has a massive impact onour general well-being, um, and
I guess, just from my ownpersonal experience of being
able to identify what was goingon and then being able to
rectify it, I it was a huge,huge thing in regards to how I
(18:02):
was feeling um, and I guesssince then, being able to
identify thyroid issues are, Ithink, sometimes really not well
diagnosed in the medical space.
And I'm not poo-pooing gps.
I think they do the best thatthey can with the resources they
have um, but I feel that theway that medicare is set up,
(18:23):
they can't do adequate testing alot of the time.
They're very capped with whatthey can do and I guess, once I
started doing some deeperlearning and learning that there
are parameters that are oftennot tested and they're probably
some of the most important ones,and once I started learning how
I could apply that knowledgeand getting women feeling better
(18:46):
, I just I guess that's wherethat passion came from, and just
with my own personal experience.
Dana (18:52):
So what would be some of the symptoms for our listeners?
Lisa (18:55):
Sure.
So I'd probably say most of thepeople that I work with have an
underactive thyroid issue asopposed to an overactive thyroid
issue, so I'll probably focuson that, if that's okay.
So fatigue is one of the maindrivers.
Now, I know lots of busy, likeparents are tired, but the way I
guess I could describe it it'sfatigue that is like no other
(19:17):
that you like are physically andmentally completely spent, no
matter what you do to try andresolve it.
So it may be that you have hada perfect night's sleep, you're
fully hydrated, you're eatingreally well and you still cannot
, cannot function on a decentlevel and people go usually for
iron tests for that absolutelyright.
Dana (19:36):
And then they say my iron levels are normal.
That's right, and look I don'tdiscount that I always if
someone comes in with fatigue.
Lisa (19:44):
Yes, getting iron, getting b12 done, getting some basic
blood stuff, stuff.
It's very sensible to startthere, getting vitamin D
assessed as well.
Dana (19:53):
Vitamin.
Lisa (19:53):
D also has a massive influence on the energy
production.
And doing all that basicscreening and sometimes that's
when one of my clients might say, oh, but my GP tested my
thyroid and it was fine, andthen I'll look, and there was
like one parameter that was done.
I test for five.
So and I'm not only justlooking at extra parameters but
(20:13):
I'm looking at the relationshipbetween between those parameters
and looking at what could thatbe doing in regards to driving
that fatigue sometimes.
And the thing is with iron,specifically iron and thyroid
dysfunction um kind of go handin hand.
If you have an underactivethyroid, your digestive capacity
is possibly compromised, whichmeans you can't absorb your iron
(20:36):
.
If you can't absorb your iron,then you can't also make
efficient amounts of thyroidhormones.
So this is like this circle thatgoes through because we need
iron in every stage of ourthyroid hormone production.
So it's a bit of chicken andegg sometimes, uh, with
specifically with iron, but yeah, I find that one comes up a lot
.
So if I assume someone's gotunderactive, uh, thyroid
(20:59):
function, I'm going to look attheir iron anyway, because I'm.
Dana (21:02):
There's a very high correlation between those two
factors 100 so you can orderthose blood tests as a
naturopath.
Yeah, okay, great.
Lisa (21:09):
So unfortunately, because I'm not in the medical space.
It is a private cost, so Ican't get them done for free.
Um, normally if someone comesto me I'll ask have you had any
recent blood tests done?
I can sometimes use those as astarting point and then I may
need to order some, a couple ofspecific tests that haven't been
(21:30):
covered by a gp um.
But normally, um, I guess Ialways try and provide some
information.
If the client's going back totheir gp, I always write like a
gp wish list of pretty pleasewith a cherry on top can I get
these tests done?
But I'll always justify why I'mnot.
I don't um, I respect gps a lotin regards to, they are the
(21:54):
ones that are running thesetests.
They are the ones that aregoing to be audited by medicare,
not me, um.
But if I can justify within theletter that I write that I send
my client back with them to saythis is why I want this testing
done, I want to say a big chunkof the time I get the testing
done that I need because I canjustify why.
They also can see I have ascience degree, so that gives me
a bit of credibility as well.
(22:15):
In regards to.
I'm not someone that just wants50 tests done because I don't
know what I'm doing.
I can really be very clear onthis is why I need this
information.
Yeah, wow.
So there are some other signsand symptoms for underactive
thyroid besides fatigue.
I guess fatigue is the main onethat people come in with.
That is just blinding fatigue.
It's that fatigue that theyfeel like they cannot get out of
(22:36):
first or second gear all thetime.
Things like unexpected weightgain, feeling the cold even in
the middle of summer, dry skin,brittle hair, brittle nails,
changes in menstrual cycles,worsening of anxiety and
depression, changes in bowelhabits these are not things that
people kind of think of withunderactive thyroid.
(22:57):
They normally just think aboutthe weight gain and the fatigue,
but there is a big like gamut.
So for me it's also aboutlooking at how much of this kind
of symptoms are a cluster forsomeone.
That's when I'll start thinkingabout thyroid, and also if they
are perimenopausal, when our sexhormones like progesterone and
(23:18):
estrogen start to decrease.
That has a direct influence onhow much thyroid hormones we can
produce.
So again, there's this otherlot of correlation that happens
for women at this time in lifeand those changes in those sex
hormones also have an influenceon immune system function.
That then can increase our riskof autoimmune disease around
(23:38):
thyroid.
And again, mainly Hashimoto'sis the main thing I'll see there
.
Hashimoto's is when our body isattacking our own thyroid gland
.
That mainly happens for womenonce they hit perimenopause.
So there are all these kind ofintricate connections.
I try and describe it to myclients.
It's like a spider web and I'mtrying to tease it all out.
Dana (23:58):
And so what about libido?
Libido definitely changes.
Lisa (24:03):
Specifically with thyroid health.
I'd say it's more probably tiedin with fatigue, but then I
want to probably look down thepath of looking at hormone
panels and looking at um howtestosterone is being affected
with that as well.
So, yeah, there is probably anindirect link, um, and it's more
about assessing well, whatinformation have we got to start
with and what do I need?
Dana (24:23):
I'm trying to marry those two things wow, lisa, it's it's,
it's tricky, it's not an easy.
That's why I wanted you to comeon yeah because I think people
look at naturopathy and go, oh,it's just the drops they're
gonna give me the drops, but I'mhoping to um bust that myth and
(24:43):
just see just how muchcomplexity and how much
knowledge goes underneath that,and skills.
Yeah, wow, yeah, thanks, wow,and I can see why thyroids are
so interesting.
Lisa (24:58):
Yeah, well, I think it was one of those things when I
started doing this extratraining because, again, it just
kind of opened my awareness.
I obviously had basic trainingin thyroid health through my
studies, but then I did somereally kind of tailored training
and it was just like the more Idug, the more I learned, the
more I was like, wow, this,there's more to this than what I
first thought, and I guess nowmy, my lens is all about thyroid
(25:22):
.
Sometimes I have to be awarethat not everyone has a thyroid
condition as well and reallytrying to make sure that I'm
teasing it out and making itappropriate for the right person
.
But the more testing I do,especially obviously I'm now
known in this space.
So I have some women that arelike I've been everywhere I
don't know, like no one's givingme answers and I mean I've had
(25:44):
women burst into tears becauseI've had an answer for them.
That's just it's, and it'sabout testing that's not been
done elsewhere.
And I'm not saying that to blowmy own horn, but just to be
able to give someone a reason asto why they're feeling so awful
and poorly and not being ableto function, because then they
have this whole thing of.
Maybe it's in my own head andunfortunately, sometimes that is
(26:04):
what they're told, and that isnot always the case, or you're
getting older?
Dana (26:09):
Yeah, and you accept it.
Lisa (26:11):
And I'm like that's baloney too.
Yeah, so, yeah.
So to be able to be able tofind those solutions for the
women that I see, it's justjoyful for me.
That's why I do what I do.
I love it.
Dana (26:24):
I love it and you're so passionate about it.
Thank you, but I do, I love it.
I love it and you're sopassionate about it, thank you.
How could the treatment ofthyroids then be helpful for
busy parents?
Lisa (26:35):
Yeah.
Dana (26:35):
So, like I keep thinking about parents and they often
don't even think about their ownhealth because they're thinking
about their children andthey're always on the go, go, go
, go go.
And then people talk abouttheir adrenals and that their
adrenals are drained and youknow, you've just got to rest.
So how would that help busyparents?
(26:57):
Sure.
Lisa (26:58):
So just to give you a bit of information about adrenal
fatigue and thyroid functionelevated cortisol, which is our
main stress hormone, willdownregulate thyroid function.
Elevated cortisol, which is ourmain stress hormone, will down
regulate thyroid function aswell.
So it can come from just beingincredibly busy or incredibly
stressed for a long period oftime that that does have a
knock-on effect to thyroidhealth.
So I don't discount stress andI feel that sometimes some
(27:22):
people are like, well, yeah, youjust need to rest, but you
probably can't rest becauseyou've got a really busy family
life and you've got youngchildren to manage.
Dana (27:30):
And you've got a house that you're going to renovate.
You've got a house to renovate.
Lisa (27:34):
You've got a shift-working husband and all of the things.
So what I try to instill in somepeople is do the best you can
in regards to if you've got a10-minute window when your kids
first go to bed that you canbreathe and lie on the floor or
stretch or do something foryourself to center yourself and
go right.
(27:54):
I survived today, fantastic.
But breath work is soundervalued, so undervalued, so
something like that.
I know some people go well, Ibreathe and it's fine.
But I'm like most people thatare really stressed shallow
breathe.
They don't engage the diaphragm, they don't push their bellies
out when they breathe out thatdirectly, like when you breathe
(28:15):
out and you can engage that partof your diaphragm to push
outwards that has like a nervereflex into, like the calming
side of our nervous systemthrough the parasympathetics.
So even like if you'rescrolling scroll about how to do
some proper breath work andthen stop scrolling and do it.
Yes, yes, get off the deviceand actually do the thing that's
(28:36):
going to help calm that stressresponse down.
I know a lot of very busy womenthat really push through on
lots of coffee and lots of sugarand lots of stimulants just to
get through and wine, wine atthe end of the day, to bring
them all down again.
But that's just going to whizeverything up overall yeah right
.
(28:56):
I'm not saying I'm anti-alcohol,but I've got to say a
perimenopausal woman that hasseveral drinks a night is not
doing herself any favors.
It really does exacerbate a lotof the symptoms that they could
be experiencing.
So I would say minimize, havealcohol-free days.
But also maybe looking at someother sorts of ways of managing
(29:18):
and, rather than revvingyourself up in the day or from
first thing in the morning withstimulants and then calming
everything down with wine in theevenings, trying to just
balance things out as best youcan.
But you know, I've been there.
I understand the challenges,especially with really little
people.
But then once they are thatlittle bit further along, then
(29:39):
looking at other sorts of umtechniques.
Or you know, we uh, quiterecently in my own family, uh
try to get outside with our kidsafter dinner and we're
fortunate we have a basketballhoop and we just shoot hoops
with the kids for 10 minutes andit's a really nice way to break
that habit of just sitting onthe couch and, like our bodies
(30:02):
really appreciate some movementafter eating.
And I'm not saying I'm gonnarun a marathon, but just getting
outside and walking or walkaround the block or but just
move.
Move on a really basic level.
You'll actually feel better forit, um, but your body will be
be grateful for it as well.
So there's lots of little tipsand tricks like that that, I
think, can go a long way, but,firstly, the most important
(30:26):
thing I'm going to say to yourparents that are listening is be
kind to yourself.
Do not beat yourself up aboutthe things that you are not
doing, as opposed to all thethings you are doing, and also
realizing that not everything isin your control, but of the
things you can control, what arethe things that you could
possibly do a little bit betterin regards to?
(30:47):
Are you drinking a glass ofwater?
Well, maybe, instead of goingfor four coffees, do two extra
glasses of water and only dothree coffees or just bring
things down.
Keep it simple, simple, simplesimple is what I do with lots of
busy women, because you'rereally busy, yeah, you know,
yeah, yeah, yeah and it's aboutI'd sometimes, with some women
I'll go for bang for buck tostart with, in regards to what
(31:09):
is the broadest way I can helpthis person with the least
amount of things they have to doand it sometimes is the basics
is where I start.
Making sure people are drinkingwater which.
I know sounds so random, butsome so many people just want
flavor in everything they drink.
Water is the thing our bodiesneed the most.
(31:30):
It's, you know, 60 to 70% ofwhat makes up our body and if
your body is dehydrated and it'sstressed, that just makes
everything a whole lot harder,Whereas if you are busy and
stressed but you're hydrated,your body's going to innately
cope a bit better.
Obviously, yes, we want to tryand address the stressors, but
sometimes they are out of ourcontrol.
(31:50):
But doing some breath work anddrinking some water and eating
close to nature, eating lots offresh food, not stimulating
yourself with lots of artificialeverythings.
And people push on sugar and Iget it.
I've been there in regards tohaving little people.
you are so tired sometimes a barof chocolate feels really good
at the time and I'm not going tolike berate anyone for doing
(32:14):
that, because I've done it yes,yes but it's about how often,
how much.
Yeah, quality and also lookingat.
Okay, I've done this for threedays in a row.
Maybe I need to think aboutanother option that's a bit
better for me.
Dana (32:26):
And I've also noticed, like when I'm very much in my
head and my thoughts are goinground and round and round, just
having a drink of water sort ofgets me back into my body and it
is quite grounding.
Lisa (32:39):
So I think that's really important.
Dana (32:43):
Do you use naturopathy at home for yourself and with your
children, and if so, how Sure?
Lisa (32:55):
So I guess this one's a bit tricky for me to answer in
some levels, because I have mytools in my toolbox for work and
naturally I have them for myhome life as well.
I guess, just looking at again,again, trying to provide the
healthiest lunches that I canfor my kids, trying to expose
them to as many fresh fruit andvegetables as I can and I'm
sneaky with that sometimes likemy son is a very visual eater,
(33:17):
so I cook bolognese sauce for mykids once a week, but there's
not just meat in there andtomatoes, there's seven or eight
different vegetables in thereas well.
And so I've made the sauce, theevent, and they get a little bit
of gluten-free pasta around theedge.
But they see the pasta, butthey are also getting seven or
eight vegetables.
Yeah, right so there's that sortof stuff that I do for them.
(33:39):
I'm going to say I food prepwhenever I can.
In regards to if I'm cooking ameal for tonight, I'm going to
make sure there's like goodhealthy options for tomorrow
night by cooking double.
So I'm always cooking lots ofgood healthy food, or I'll chuck
it in the freezer for when, ifwe've got a late night coming
back from sports, I know I'vegot something in my freezer I
(34:08):
can pull out defrost and it'snutritious.
So, yes, my kids getsupplements, but not every day.
Um, yes, they see how I?
Um try to instill good healthin my clients and we do eat
relatively healthily.
I'm also human, though there'ssometimes we get takeaway, but
I'm not going to be goingthrough a drive-through.
It's going to be somethingthat's more plant-based, um.
But yeah, we just pick the bestoptions that we can and so yeah
, we're busy parents.
(34:28):
We do the best we can with theresources we have some of those
choices are better than others.
But that's okay.
You know it's all about.
I'm a bit of a.
I always try and share 80 20.
If you can do the right thing80% of the time, 20% of the time
you'll get away with.
So, whether that is, you know,food that's not what I would
consider completelyhealthy-healthy all the time,
(34:50):
but brings my kids and my familyjoy, great, I'll take it.
But do we do that every day?
No, of course not.
So it's balancing it out, likeeverything.
And are you a coffee drinker?
I do drink coffee.
I mean, I'm half Italian, so ofcourse I drink coffee, but it's
one good one.
First thing, like after I'vehad food, it's not on an empty
(35:14):
stomach.
And I will also have decaf,like good decaf.
Dana (35:17):
Why not?
Lisa (35:18):
drink coffee on an empty stomach.
It just squeezes your adrenalglands even more.
So if you're, already in astressed state and then you add
a stimulant like caffeine inthere, it just squeezes them
even more and it just starts tostimulate more dysregulation.
The other thing is it's thoughtthat caffeine can also start
swinging our glucose and insulinmanagement, so it makes that
whole balancing act for our bodyjust that little bit harder.
(35:40):
So I always try and get peopleto.
If you want to have coffee,have it with your food, just
don't have it by itself.
Or I have some people they gooh, I'm fasting, but I have a
coffee and I'm like well, you'renot fasting, you're actually
having something.
Because they don't realize thatthe coffee like completely
black coffee won't impact a fast.
But most people have like a bigcup of milk that goes in with
(36:02):
the coffee.
Then you're no longer fasting,but that's also not serving you
as a good, grounding, nutritiousbreakfast.
Eat something with it.
What about milk?
Yeah, talk to me about cow'smilk.
Okay, this is a big topic, yeah, and the first thing I'm going
to say is cow's milk is the milkof an animal to feed its young.
(36:23):
In regards to baby cows, we arethe only species that I know of
that drink the milk of anotherspecies as opposed to just like
we should be drinking breastmilk once we're little, and
they're not really drinking milkanymore from there.
Right, ultimately right.
However, there are somenutritional benefits to some
people with dairy, but I'm gonnasay for some people it's also
(36:46):
quite inflammatory.
It's not great if you've gotskin conditions.
I'll say that straight up.
Um, it's probably the firstthing I rip out of people's
diets if I see skin issues.
Um it, I'm gonna say I tend tolike people to try either a2
milk or lactose-free milk,because most people will have
(37:06):
some sort of irritation to onething or the other.
Um, and I also say what is thea2 milk?
Dana (37:13):
I've seen it on the in the supermarket.
What is it?
I know lactose-free is, butyeah so a2 milk.
Lisa (37:20):
Basically there are two proteins in milk.
There's a1 and a2.
Most people, if they're goingto have a gut irritation to uh,
one of the proteins in milk,it's going to be the a1 protein
that causes the gut irritation.
So, uh, many years ago therewas some cows that they
identified that mainly producedmilk that only had the A2
(37:41):
protein in it, so it didn't havethe A1 in it, and they found
that that was less irritating tocertain people that had some
gut irritations based on dairy.
So that's kind of where the A2kind of milk came from.
And I've got to say there aresome clients that can tolerate
A2 milk totally fine, but theyget really feeling quite poorly
when they have normal milk.
And I say that in invertedcommas and same with lactose in
(38:04):
milk.
Some people do really well withlactose-free milk.
Others are okay, I'm going tosay, with normal milk.
Is it my favourite food on theplanet?
No, it's not.
I'd rather people useplant-based, like almond milk,
rice milks, oats milks, coconutmilk.
What about soy milk?
Soy milk has its place, but I'mgoing to say soy.
(38:28):
Because of genetic modificationwe sometimes can't get a really
clean soy milk.
So I'm going to say I getpeople to rotate their milks
really more than anything else.
So I'm just like get adifferent type of plant-based
milk, um on rotation.
But also I'm asking if it'sjust a wet cereal, well, is
cereal the best option for youall the time?
(38:49):
I'm not sure.
That's again going to be up tothe individual, um.
So yeah, milk is a tricky onebecause I'm not going to say a
hard no or hard yes.
Dana (38:59):
It's about what's going to be best fit for that person at
that period, because I knowthere's always a lot of
discussion in this area aboutmilk, yeah, and I've got to say.
Lisa (39:09):
I've got to say in general , if someone has got a thyroid
dysfunction, I would like toprobably rip the dairy out
because it's quite inflammatoryfor some people.
And if the thyroid condition isbeing driven by some sort of
inflammatory pathway, I'm goingto try and make their diet as
anti-inflammatory as possibleamazing, okay.
Dana (39:29):
Is naturopathy claimable on medicare or health insurance?
Unfortunately, not.
Lisa (39:35):
um, we used to be able to get rebates through private
health, but back in 2019, thatwas revoked.
There was 15 natural therapycategories that got removed, and
naturopathy was one of them.
So there has been a reviewspecifically around naturopathy.
That was apparently startednearly four years ago, but we
haven't heard anything since, soI feel like bureaucracy has
(39:58):
buried it.
Obviously, there was a prettymajor thing that was going on in
the globe that kind of possiblydistracted the government yes,
um, but uh, look, our we areconstantly asking our
associations what's going on.
apparently, the last I heard waslate last year and the review
was due to be completed, sort ofsoonish, but I haven't heard
(40:20):
anything more than that.
But yeah, I was devastated, tobe honest sort of soonish, but I
haven't heard anything morethan that.
But yeah, I was devastated, tobe honest, because I'd had a
provider number for 17 years andthen it got removed, and the
way it was removed was prettypoor, to be honest, in regards
to the criteria that they set,eliminated a lot of the evidence
that proved that naturopathywas applicable, and that was
basically so they could get ridof us pretty much, and I'm yeah,
(40:44):
I probably should leave itthere because I'm pretty dark
about it.
Yeah, um, because they weresaying there was no evidence
about what we do.
Yeah, that helps people, Iguess, and I had seen it in
clinic for 17 years at thatpoint and the other thing is you
guys are doing blood tests, sothat's very objective evidence
you know from going from this tothat.
(41:05):
Yeah yeah, so yeah, I'm hopefulthat it gets reinstated, but at
this point we don't know ifthat's going to be possible okay
, lisa.
Dana (41:16):
How do people get in touch with you and do you have a
waiting list?
Lisa (41:20):
I don't have a waiting list at the moment.
Um most people, if they want tofind me, look on instagram and
facebook.
I have a feed that I put postsup regularly on there and we'll
put your um details on thesession notes.
Great yeah awesome, um, and alsoI've got a website um,
lisascafonatropathcomau.
But also, if anyone ever hadany questions, they could
(41:42):
contact me direct.
Um, I'm quite happy to, like, Ido discovery calls with people
that are interested in my, myservices, which can either be
booked on a website or they canjust ring me.
But, yeah, um, it's more, Iguess, uh, learning about what
it is you're wanting to try andachieve.
Like, I may not be a good fitfor that for someone that's
inquiring about health.
(42:02):
So I'd say the good thing aboutsocial media is they can kind
of get a feel for what I'm about, what I do, and if I'm not a
good fit, there'll be someoneelse that can.
Um, especially, uh, like,obviously, women's health and
thyroid health is kind of my jam.
I'm not doing a lot of generalnaturopathy any longer, um, and
if someone has got somethingthat's very specific, that's
(42:22):
outside of my realm, then I'mprobably or possibly may not be
the right fit for them.
Dana (42:27):
That's okay, there'll be someone else as well and finally
, what would be threerecommendations you could give
other parents and businessowners okay, this is again.
Lisa (42:38):
I've probably touched on it already, but but I'm going to
say food prep whenever you can.
So if you have got some time todo some cooking, where you can
create some beautiful nourishingsoups or, you know, curries, or
even just throwing somevegetables in the oven to cook
so that you can plan ahead touse them, I would say food prep
for me is the key to how I cankeep feeding myself and my
(43:01):
family really well while I'mreally busy.
So, quite honestly, on theweekend I always try and
allocate some time just to dosome cooking.
So whether that be tray bakingsome vegetables or like cooking
some like chicken drumsticks, Icook them on.
I buy like two kilos and I cookthem all and I cool them down
and I shred that meat and then Ifreeze it cooked because again
(43:24):
that means I can rip it out in ahurry and put it like, defrost
it quickly and throw it togetherwith a salad and there's a meal
wow, great idea yeah.
So food prep whenever you can ismy first.
The second is always checkinghydration, and I know that
sounds so simple, but Isometimes get people to almost
do like with their food diary.
I'm like Mark, how much wateris going in there?
(43:46):
And they are so surprised athow little they are drinking
through the day.
So, and I guess the other thingI'll share is, when we think
we're hungry, it might actuallybe hydration that our body is
looking for, because we don'thave two completely separate
cues so we get this likegrizzlyly substance or we start
(44:06):
getting a headache.
We think I must need to eatsomething.
Not necessarily, it mightactually be water that our
body's looking for.
So if you know you've had a good, nutritious breakfast and
you're starting to feel a bitmid-morning, firstly I'd be like
well, check if you've hadprotein at breakfast time or not
.
But secondly, when's the lasttime you had a drink of water?
Um, so my rule of thumb forpeople that work in offices is
(44:26):
fill a big glass of water at thestart of every hour and make
sure it's finished by the end ofthat hour, and then you can get
like six or seven glasses ofwater quite comfortably in your
body through the day without itbeing a big deal, um.
So yeah, hydration is always akey and it is very it's just not
really recognised as it's justa core of good health.
(44:47):
And finally, move your body andhave some fun and I'm going to
put those two together becauseI'm not a gym person, but I love
going walking by the river orshooting hoops with my kids or
just playing chasey with my kidsoutside.
It's about just doing somestuff where you can have a laugh
but also get some movement aswell, and movement is essential.
(45:09):
We are born to move, so like doI do heaps of strenuous exercise
every day?
No, I don't, but I'll try andalways make sure there's some
sort of incidental movement if Iknow my day is full that I'm
still moving my body on somelevel.
Dana (45:23):
That's it.
Thank you, Lisa, so much.
I'm so intrigued about theworld of naturopathy now.
I learned so much and I'mhoping our listeners did as well
.
Fantastic, and I'll definitelybe booking in with you after
this.
Fantastic.
Thanks for having me and thankyou so much.
You after this fantastic um,and thank you so much and um,
(45:46):
yeah, and if anybody wants toreach out to Lisa or contact her
, just look down um at our at mysession notes and I'll have all
of Lisa's contact details.
So thanks again, Lisa.
Thank you for coming, thank you.
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