Welcome to a special outdoor AND holiday edition of the Nuanced Naturopaths. We provide practical tips and advice on how to stay grounded, mindful, and true to yourself through the chaos of the holiday season. We emphasize the importance of maintaining mental health hygiene, sticking to personal boundaries, and understanding the motivations behind family dynamics. They discuss the role of communication, self-compassion, and practical naturopathic advice for maintaining physical health during festive feasts. Whether it's self-love, protein shakes, or herbal support, this episode is packed with strategies for navigating the holiday season with grace and health. Perfect for anyone seeking to balance joy and self-care amidst holiday pressures.00:00 🎅 Here Comes Santa Claus!00:13 🎄 Nuanced Naturopaths Christmas Edition01:00 🧘‍♀️ Collective Drop-In for the Silly Season01:44 🌬️ Grounding and Breath Awareness07:15 💬 Handling Holiday Stress and Family Dynamics11:18 🛡️ Protecting Your Peace During the Holidays13:03 🧠 Mental Health Hygiene and Daily Practices22:46 💖 Compassion and Understanding in Family Interactions32:33 Reflecting on Mortality: Embracing Stoicism34:09 Cultural Perspectives on Death38:00 Navigating Holiday Eating Habits41:06 Setting Boundaries and Communicating Needs42:01 Practical Tips for Holiday Well-being55:44 Final Thoughts and Encouragement

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DISCLAIMER FOR PUBLIC: The contents of this podcast or any information mentioned is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. If you're seeking assistance with your health, please contact an accredited healthcare professional. If you'd like personalised support with your health, you can book a session with Julie or Karinda using the links above.

DISCLAIMER FOR HEALTH PRACTITIONERS: The content provided is intended for entertainment and educational purposes. The information discussed in this podcast is not a substitute for professional training. While the authors/hosts make every effort to provide the most up-to-date data and evidence on naturopathic information, this content should not necessarily be considered standard of care and may not reflect individual practices within or outside of Australia.

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The Nuanced Naturopaths Podcast is a friendly conversation between two friends, us! Karinda and Julie. We’re passionate about finding the nuance in natural health. As degree-qualified naturopaths, we like to ask the questions that need to be asked - about all aspects of health, healing and well-being. We delight in questioning firmly held beliefs and finding the nuance in all subjects health-related and beyond. Sometimes it can get a little technical, but hopefully we explain things in a way that's accessible to anyone interested in natural health, whether you’re a practitioner or someone who wants to learn more and optimise your wellbeing. It’s a chat about poop, periods and everything in between - buckle up for a laugh, a cry and for some things you are yet to consider about your health! Stay nuanced!

TRANSCRIPT

17-12-2025_11-57-00_B

===

[00:00:00] Here

[00:00:03] comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa

[00:00:08] Claus

[00:00:08] of right

[00:00:09] down santa

[00:00:10] claus lane.

[00:00:13] Coming to you today

[00:00:15] from Jells Park

[00:00:17] is the

[00:00:18] the Nuanced Naturopaths, Christmas edition.

[00:00:21] Woo.

[00:00:21] Woo.

[00:00:23] Here

[00:00:23] come

[00:00:23] the naturopaths.

[00:00:24] Here come, come the naturopaths, right

[00:00:27] down.

[00:00:27] down Santa? Holistic Health Lane. Hey, Julie.

[00:00:32] Hey,

[00:00:33] Hey, Karinda. How's it going? Pretty good.

[00:00:37] Yourself?

[00:00:38] Pretty good? Yeah. Are you ready for Christmas? No.

[00:00:42] Me either.

[00:00:43] Couldn't give a stuff?

[00:00:44] No,

[00:00:44] me either. How are you, dear listener, feeling about Christmas? Yeah. How do you, and you know what? May, you know what may be a podcast for

[00:00:53] this

[00:00:53] time

[00:00:53] year

[00:00:54] pending my editing. I can pri I'll, I'll prioritize it. Priority editing for this one. [00:01:00] Let's

[00:01:00] start with

[00:01:01] like a, a drop in. Let's do a collective drop-in. because this time of year is

[00:01:07] so notoriously silly,

[00:01:09] hectic

[00:01:10] chaos...

[00:01:11] who couldn't

[00:01:12] do with

[00:01:13] just like a minute or so drop in?

[00:01:16] Hmm.

[00:01:17] Let's do it. Shall I

[00:01:17] lead us?

[00:01:18] Yes, please. Alright. Please.

[00:01:20] Let's just, wherever

[00:01:21] you find yourself, and I mean, of course, you know, don't Come on guys.

[00:01:25] Don't

[00:01:26] do this if you're

[00:01:26] driving,

[00:01:28] if you're listening to this while you're driving. And you know what, even if you're walking, I invite you to find a spot where you can just pop a squat or sit down on a patch of grass or rest your, rest your back against like a brick wall or fence somewhere if it's

[00:01:41] safe

[00:01:41] to do so.

[00:01:42] Tree. A tree. Yeah. Ideally a tree. But wherever you find yourself, just feeling where your body connects to the earth, whether that's your feet or your bum or your back, maybe your hands as well. Maybe you can get your hands on your earth and just doing any movements to help discharge like [00:02:00] any excess excitable, high

[00:02:06] intensity energy that you're carrying in your body

[00:02:09] that could do with

[00:02:10] discharging. Mm, just shaking that off and maybe shaking your hands, giving your feet

[00:02:15] a shake,

[00:02:16] giving your shoulders a shake. It's probably

[00:02:17] gonna stuff

[00:02:18] up the microphone, apologies. And if it's safe to do so, you can gently close your eyes or just lower your gaze if it feels safer to keep your

[00:02:26] eyes

[00:02:27] open.

[00:02:30] And just coming into the body, coming back to your body, your, your truest of

[00:02:37] true

[00:02:37] homes.

[00:02:41] And maybe

[00:02:41] just start

[00:02:42] before changing

[00:02:43] anything, just start noticing your breath.

[00:02:47] Noticing

[00:02:48] the energy flowing through your body. And you might be noticing things like the shallowness

[00:02:58] or

[00:02:58] depth of your

[00:02:59] breath.[00:03:00]

[00:03:00] You might be noticing. Where you are taking breath in, is it through your mouth? Is it at your nose?

[00:03:08] How deep or long are the exhales compared to the inhales? Where can you feel the breath coming in from? Where can you feel the breath coming out of? Maybe a good cue point for you is just feeling warmth in your body. Where does your body feel warm or cold or

[00:03:28] tingly

[00:03:29] or numb? Just sensing, no pressure to change anything.

[00:03:40] And

[00:03:41] just sitting with

[00:03:41] what is. Inviting yourself to see if you can radically accept how your body is feeling right now, the state of your mind right

[00:03:55] now.

[00:03:57] Any emotions that you're feeling right now [00:04:00] and where you find yourself in the world; are you able to radically accept where you are right now?

[00:04:11] And if

[00:04:12] you start

[00:04:12] to feel ungrounded or discombobulated

[00:04:15] at any point, just

[00:04:16] coming back to those touch points

[00:04:17] that

[00:04:17] have with the earth, whether that's feet, hands, bum, or back.

[00:04:26] And let's just wrap up with a few grounded breaths. I would recommend breathing through the

[00:04:33] nose

[00:04:34] and

[00:04:34] breathing,

[00:04:35] breathing

[00:04:35] in and

[00:04:36] out

[00:04:36] the

[00:04:36] nose if that's available to you. Getting the last bit of exhale out, and maybe you wanna make some noise, full permission to

[00:04:46] fully express yourself.

[00:04:47] Make

[00:04:48] whatever sounds or movements that

[00:04:49] you need to

[00:04:50] make.

[00:04:51] You're allowed to take up space in this world. And let's see if we can sync this up. [00:05:00] And it's okay if not. Taking your next inhale in through your nose, feeling your body fill up with that energy.

[00:05:11] Holding for a moment at the top, before exhaling it all out.

[00:05:20] Holding at the bottom of the exhale, and in again through the nose,

[00:05:29] feeling

[00:05:29] your body fill with vital life force energy before exhaling again. Discharging anything that needs discharging.

[00:05:45] And last one, in through the nose, being open to receive.

[00:05:55] And breathing out, letting go of anything [00:06:00] that you don't need to be carrying.

[00:06:02] Sending it back

[00:06:03] to the earth,

[00:06:03] back

[00:06:04] to the air. Letting your breath return to a natural rhythm. And really slowly in your own time, calming to awareness to

[00:06:24] wherever

[00:06:25] you find yourself. Gently opening your eyes, maybe just gently bringing some movement to your hands

[00:06:33] and

[00:06:33] feet, fingers and toes. Doing another shake if

[00:06:38] you need.

[00:06:39] And if you feel like you need some more grounding,

[00:06:41] place

[00:06:42] maybe a hand on your lower belly, a hand over your heart, just for a few moments before

[00:06:48] you,

[00:06:48] continue on

[00:06:50] with your activity or your next

[00:06:52] errand or next task.[00:07:00]

[00:07:02] Cool. How does that feel? Lovely. God, we should start all podcasts like that. We should, we should. Oh,

[00:07:11] that was

[00:07:11] really nice, thank you. That's all right.

[00:07:14] Yeah.

[00:07:15] A, a question that has been coming up with a few different patients recently has just been like, you know, what do I do when I feel ungrounded? What do I do when I don't feel like my body's a home or my body doesn't feel

[00:07:26] safe?

[00:07:28] And my invitation is like, you've always got the breath, you've always got some access point to nature, whether that's looking at natural light or coming into contact with

[00:07:39] the earth,

[00:07:40] even if that's

[00:07:41] a slab of concrete

[00:07:42] that you have

[00:07:44] on your balcony

[00:07:45] or on your patio. Um. Or, you know, walking around the block if you work

[00:07:50] in an

[00:07:51] office building,

[00:07:51] know,

[00:07:52] getting outside,

[00:07:53] you've always

[00:07:54] got these anchor points.

[00:07:56] E even in the most ungrounded or, you know, [00:08:00] dysregulated of times. And that's my, my, my invitation. Yeah, absolutely. Bringing it back to the body

[00:08:06] And

[00:08:07] feeling the sensations

[00:08:08] in

[00:08:09] body just gets you out of your head. Yeah. It's really helpful.

[00:08:12] And,

[00:08:13] and being aware of, you know, what's something that I can feel

[00:08:17] physically?

[00:08:18] Yeah. What's something I can smell? What's something I can the senses. All the

[00:08:23] the

[00:08:25] And I think that's,

[00:08:26] you know,

[00:08:26] I've been, I've been throwing around some terms a lot today in our, in our hanging out. Yeah. But yeah, just growing this

[00:08:32] like

[00:08:32] eco awareness of like being

[00:08:36] tuned into your

[00:08:37] environment in the

[00:08:38] present,

[00:08:38] you

[00:08:39] know, and

[00:08:39] using that

[00:08:40] as an

[00:08:40] anchor point for

[00:08:41] present

[00:08:41] moment awareness, mindfulness.

[00:08:44] How different would our

[00:08:46] vagus

[00:08:46] nerves be? How differently could our vagus nerves be operating? Yeah. How differently could our nervous systems as a whole be operating if we just took more moments to tap into our, [00:09:00] yeah. Our natural

[00:09:01] landscape that

[00:09:02] we find ourselves in. Yeah. So not, not just in that acute moment of anxiety or stress when you reach that peak, but avoiding reaching that peak

[00:09:12] by

[00:09:13] regularly. Yeah. Tuning in and making it a part of your daily practice, your

[00:09:17] daily

[00:09:18] rhythm. Yeah. However you can Yeah. Yeah. Before, but yeah, like you said before, it gets to that point of panic or. Yeah. It's that, um, daily mental health hygiene. Yeah. Isn't it? That's that,

[00:09:32] you

[00:09:32] know. We'll, and people say, oh, but I don't Yeah. You, we make

[00:09:37] time

[00:09:37] to clean our teeth. Yeah. We make time to have a shower. We make time to whatever it is that you, your routine before you can leave the house. Yeah. Um, because those things are important. Yeah. Um, making time for your mental health hygiene is, I would say

[00:09:55] more important.

[00:09:56] Absolutely. Um, yeah.

[00:09:58] My weakness

[00:09:59] [00:10:00] is dropping off the mental health habits when I'm feeling good. Yeah. I'm feeling good. I don't

[00:10:06] need

[00:10:06] a journal. I'm feeling good. I don't need a meditate. Yeah. And it catches me out every time because Yeah, me too. Guaranteed. Within a week of me noticing that, or a couple of weeks, you know, I might last, I might even last a month before I go, oh yeah, my mental health foundation is crumbling or non-existent because I've just been riding on the waves of my natural emotions, which will always change.

[00:10:34] Yeah. So like you have to create that consistency for yourself. Yeah. 'cause your body's gonna be somewhat inconsistent at least. And your emotions and your thoughts Yeah. Are also gonna be inconsistent. Yeah. Yeah. So you have to like come in with the discipline for your body, for your mind, for your emotions- in the same way that you would if you were

[00:10:58] taking

[00:10:59] a [00:11:00] supplement because you are nutrient deficient in something. Yeah. And, and you take that consistently. Yeah, the same You've gotta, but it's free on top of it. But

[00:11:14] it's free. Yeah.

[00:11:15] Yeah. Mm.

[00:11:16] Yeah. So,

[00:11:18] so today we thought it could be a nice idea to have a bit of a chat about the nature of the silly season and how you can dare I say, protect yourself.

[00:11:30] Yeah, yeah. This holiday season and like, isn't it such a, and maybe just

[00:11:35] like

[00:11:36] starting

[00:11:36] there. It's

[00:11:37] such a

[00:11:39] cultural

[00:11:39] shift at this time of year. Again, you know, contextually, depending on where you find yourself in the world,

[00:11:45] but

[00:11:47] it's the shopping, it's the

[00:11:50] impact

[00:11:51] on business, the impact on family, and then school holidays come and all of the obligation.

[00:11:58] Yeah. You know. [00:12:00] You, have to do particular things for, for particular people. Yeah. Or buy this by this deadline as well. Yeah. You know, the pressure of time. Yeah. And it's just a bit weird. And I think my, the challenge I've offered, the challenge I've invited myself into this year is to see if I can just like tap out of it.

[00:12:19] Yeah. Because ultimately, yes, it's pervasive in the culture. Yes. It's a kind of collective shift, but you're not obligated to, to get sucked into that energy. No. But it's easy to get sucked into. Yeah. And a lot of us feel it, even if we have the best of intentions of I'm gonna stay grounded and I'm gonna stick to

[00:12:43] my boundaries

[00:12:44] and you know, it can still get chaotic and.

[00:12:49] So, yeah, we wanted to talk about a

[00:12:50] couple of

[00:12:51] different things that, that you can do to, like, what's

[00:12:54] the goal?

[00:12:55] To to stay connected to yourself? Yeah. To stay true to yourself. To [00:13:00] stay, yeah,

[00:13:00] yeah.

[00:13:00] During this season. Yeah. To, and to hold onto your boundaries. The, the ones that are most Yeah.

[00:13:11] That often family, uh, or sometimes friends, but most often I think it's, it's family because family tends to press the buttons. Yeah. Because, you know, we, I think we all

[00:13:27] don't we? Yeah.

[00:13:28] I, yeah. I think well let us know. Please let us know that we're not the only ones who experience, you know, family stresses or, yeah.

[00:13:36] And so I think it can be challenging for, particularly for people who

[00:13:42] maybe

[00:13:42] are. Changing things,

[00:13:45] changing their

[00:13:46] health regime or changing, uh, something in their diet. Yeah. And then you come, come and even if you, even if this is, this is

[00:13:58] something that recurs

[00:13:59] [00:14:00] every year. Mm. That you come up against,

[00:14:03] uh, a

[00:14:04] family event where there's food, there might be food that doesn't meet with your requirements.

[00:14:11] Mm-hmm.

[00:14:11] You

[00:14:11] want to hold

[00:14:12] to those boundaries.

[00:14:15] Mm. And it's difficult to

[00:14:16] do that in that context because then you can

[00:14:21] be

[00:14:22] seen as,

[00:14:22] or feel that

[00:14:24] you are the difficult one. Yeah. Yep. So the first thing I would say is that, that grounding exercise.

[00:14:31] Mm. You know, do

[00:14:32] doing that regularly, leading up to that

[00:14:35] time.

[00:14:36] Yeah. So that

[00:14:36] you are. As stable emotionally as you

[00:14:39] can

[00:14:40] be. Yeah, yeah. Is

[00:14:41] a, is

[00:14:41] a really good starting point. Yeah. Um, and you know, that took like five minutes. You, some people could even do that in two minutes. Ideally, I think 10 minutes of that kind of grounding would

[00:14:52] be beautiful.

[00:14:53] But like, you know, even I'm picturing the households, I, I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of the [00:15:00] people, especially the women who feel maybe rushed in the morning.

[00:15:03] Maybe there's kids that like wake you up and especially Christmas morning and maybe you've got two or three families to visit that day, or maybe you are hosting Christmas and

[00:15:13] I, I, let's

[00:15:14] put that first invitation out there of like, it might be worth it to wake up five or 10 or 15 minutes earlier to center yourself to have the day and it's unfolding start on your terms. Yeah. Rather than being woken up by excited kids or by a stressed partner or, or

[00:15:39] whatever. Or even

[00:15:40] just having that cortisol wake up where you're like, you shoot out of bed and then your brain's like, "okay, time to get into

[00:15:45] action. We've

[00:15:45] gotta do this, this, this." Yeah.

[00:15:47] Can, can you challenge yourself to Yes, it's Christmas, or maybe

[00:15:52] Christmas

[00:15:52] Eve, or maybe it's Boxing Day. Maybe it's New Year's Eve or New Year's Day.

[00:15:57] You can still start off

[00:15:58] the day

[00:15:59] grounded.[00:16:00]

[00:16:01] And I

[00:16:02] hear the voices; I hear my own inner voice and I hear the

[00:16:04] voices

[00:16:05] of people listening

[00:16:06] like, no,

[00:16:06] no, no,

[00:16:06] but I

[00:16:06] can't.

[00:16:08] Yeah. But

[00:16:08] you

[00:16:09] can. I'm thinking about people who have small children who wake their

[00:16:14] up. Yes.

[00:16:15] Excitedly at some ridiculous hour of

[00:16:18] the morning.

[00:16:19] Yeah. So

[00:16:21] that might still be

[00:16:22] something that happens. So maybe, maybe you might, those people might need to just once the kids are settled Yeah.

[00:16:33] Doing something, then you take Yeah. out. Yeah. And if that's not a conversation

[00:16:39] you're already

[00:16:40] having with your kids, and again,

[00:16:43] like,

[00:16:43] I, I hate saying anything about

[00:16:45] parenthood

[00:16:45] 'cause I can just, so ec I, I just know I'm not a parent. I'm not a mother. I, I can imagine how hard it gets and it's a full-time job and it's full on.

[00:16:58] But

[00:16:59] again,[00:17:00]

[00:17:00] another invitation and something I probably would've loved from my own parents. Yeah. I'm not a parent, but I remember what it was like being a kid with dysregulated parents. Mm. And another invitation: start having that

[00:17:12] conversation,

[00:17:13] "guys, you know, we are gonna have a great day and it's gonna be so exciting and we're gonna open the presents and you're gonna see

[00:17:21] grandma and grandpa and all your cousins, and let's start off the day with some, just a little bit of peace" and

[00:17:28] whether

[00:17:28] you incorporate your kids

[00:17:29] into it

[00:17:30] and guide them if you feel confident to guide them through a practice like this. Maybe you take yourselves outside and get them connecting with their own senses.

[00:17:38] Yeah. How, how many dysregulated kids are there that so many that could benefit from this as well?

[00:17:43] Yeah.

[00:17:43] Or maybe it's, your situation looks different and maybe it's

[00:17:47] about

[00:17:47] you telling your kids,

[00:17:48] "mummy

[00:17:48] needs

[00:17:49] five

[00:17:49] minutes." Yeah. Yeah. "And I'm gonna go in the bathroom and mommy's gonna be back, but so I can have more energy for Christmas and to see what Santa's given us", you know, [00:18:00] whatever it is.

[00:18:00] I'm gonna take five minutes to charge up my batteries. You know, find, find the analogies

[00:18:05] and the wording

[00:18:05] that will meet your kids where they're at. Mm. Um,

[00:18:10] and

[00:18:10] same with your partner and the I, again, I can picture partners that aren't having these conversations with each other. Yeah. You know, if Christmas is a stressful or potentially triggering time for you, maybe

[00:18:24] you are meeting

[00:18:24] in-laws for the first time.

[00:18:26] Maybe you're going to your in-laws and you know, you've been married for years, or you've been together for years, but it's still- there is this stress or you know, your partner gets triggered by their own parents or, you know, yeah, let's start the morning, start Christmas morning, or better yet, Christmas Eve after you've watched the carols, you know, have these conversations of how are you feeling for tomorrow?

[00:18:50] What's your capacity feeling like? Rated out of a hundred. And go, where can I help or flip the conversation?

[00:18:58] "Here's

[00:18:59] what I need from you [00:19:00] for, to make tomorrow as easeful as possible. Yeah. Here are, here's one or two things that I

[00:19:06] think you

[00:19:06] can

[00:19:07] give me

[00:19:07] or offer the,

[00:19:08] the

[00:19:08] day. Yeah. That would just help me feel so much better.

[00:19:11] Yeah. Is there anything I can offer you? Here's my capacity. Mm. Let's work with each other's capacities." Yeah, absolutely. And what can you let

[00:19:19] go of?

[00:19:20] Oh yeah.

[00:19:20] What,

[00:19:21] what, what things, uh, you know, there could be, uh, um, anticipation that, you know, somebody's gonna say something 'cause they do every year, or

[00:19:34] this

[00:19:34] is

[00:19:34] gonna happen

[00:19:35] or that's gonna happen, or, um, you know, it could, it could be anything, but if, if there's something that's causing you

[00:19:45] anticipatory stress.

[00:19:47] Yeah. Can you

[00:19:51] let

[00:19:51] that go.

[00:19:52] you

[00:19:53] put that in a little box and and tie it up with a bow? Yep. And just put

[00:19:57] that

[00:19:57] aside for the moment? And [00:20:00] that doesn't mean losing power in a situation.

[00:20:06] No.

[00:20:06] In fact, I think it will. He who is calmest wins.

[00:20:11] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:20:11] Not that it's about winning and not that there's any competition, but I'm just thinking Oh, yeah.

[00:20:15] You know, sometimes being, being able to let

[00:20:21] go

[00:20:23] Is, is a

[00:20:24] power in

[00:20:24] itself. Absolutely. You like, and, you know, this could look like in different family scenarios. Maybe there's judgments or opinions or

[00:20:33] questions that

[00:20:34] you cop

[00:20:35] every year

[00:20:36] around the same time.

[00:20:37] Especially if you have like a kind of consistent, um, Christmas tradition of, you know, which family members you see or whose house you go to, and I, look, I off the back of what you said, I just

[00:20:47] fully

[00:20:48] believe that yeah, you give yourself more power and freedom when you decide that what

[00:20:56] other

[00:20:56] people think of doesn't [00:21:00] fundamentally, doesn't matter.

[00:21:01] Yeah.

[00:21:01] Fundamentally doesn't change your life. Fundamentally, fundamentally, isn't any of

[00:21:09] your

[00:21:09] business.

[00:21:10] No.

[00:21:11] That was something really hard that I had to come to terms with, like in my late teens, that like, "oh shit, what people think of me is none of my business." Yeah. And that was spending a whole life, you know, really caring, you know, learning from family members, learning that, oh

[00:21:25] "my God, what, what's so and so gonna think of me?"

[00:21:28] Or, you know. You'll be so much better for it if you can discharge that energy. And maybe this looks like, you know, to, make it a bit practical. Maybe this looks like writing out a list the night before or the morning

[00:21:42] of. Yeah. All

[00:21:43] the things that you usually stress about, or all the opinions that like that maybe you hear, you are sick of hearing, you know, from certain family members.

[00:21:52] We all know there's the auntie or

[00:21:55] the mother-in-law

[00:21:56] or the grandma who just always has to make a

[00:21:59] [00:22:00] comment.

[00:22:00] Yeah. Oh, you wearing

[00:22:02] that, are

[00:22:02] you? Yeah. Oh. Should she

[00:22:04] be eating

[00:22:04] that? Oh. Oh. Has your diet changed again? You know. Oh, are you eating wheat now? Yeah. Yeah. Oh my God. There's a million different ways it can happen.

[00:22:13] Yeah. Get it out of your own system first. Write it on a piece of paper. Tear off that piece of paper, burn it, soak it in some salt water. You know, you can, you know, permission to get witchy with it if we are talking to me. Yeah. Stuff it. Yeah. Yeah. So I, I really like that in that invitation you mentioned Julie, of like, what can you let go of that doesn't need to be brought in the day?

[00:22:35] Yeah, yeah. Maybe you visualize packing it

[00:22:37] in

[00:22:38] a suitcase and leaving that suitcase at home or throwing that suitcase in the

[00:22:42] and

[00:22:42] going, I actually, I don't need this. Mm. This isn't serving

[00:22:45] me.

[00:22:45] Mm-hmm.

[00:22:46] I

[00:22:46] think sometimes too, it helps to understand what their motivation is and it's, it's often out of love.

[00:22:54] Yeah. But it's also often out of seeing what you are [00:23:00] doing through their filter. Yeah. And their filter might have a basis in trauma, might have a basis in, um, not understanding what it is that, uh,

[00:23:15] you know,

[00:23:15] your choices. Yeah. Um, feeling that. They feel more comfortable controlling what you are doing because of a lack of control in their lives.

[00:23:32] Yeah. You know, and I don't think this is, you know, it, it's not helpful to to say that, but it is helpful to understand that, to understand that

[00:23:45] their motivations

[00:23:46] are actually their own

[00:23:48] motivations,

[00:23:50] and it's not about, necessarily about judging you, even though it might seem like that. Does make sense?

[00:23:59] That [00:24:00] does make sense.

[00:24:00] And I think the overarching reminder

[00:24:04] there,

[00:24:04] and you know this,

[00:24:05] this might

[00:24:05] change depending on. Your own psychology and outlook. Psychological, psycho, philosophical, philosophical. Go on words. Are we coming up with new words? Yeah, that's the theme of the day. Your outlook on the world.

[00:24:20] But

[00:24:21] like

[00:24:21] fundamentally, here's something

[00:24:22] I

[00:24:22] believe that that's helped me is that, you know, people will project onto you

[00:24:29] Mm.

[00:24:29] from a place of their own insecurities. Mm-hmm. And

[00:24:33] And it's so

[00:24:33] easy

[00:24:34] to have compassion

[00:24:36] for yourself. I mean, always bring it

[00:24:38] back

[00:24:38] to yourself where you can. But for other people, when you

[00:24:40] start

[00:24:40] to go, oh, you know, "my auntie made that comment about me and that didn't feel nice to receive, but maybe if I look at it from a lens of shit, she might have that own insecurity in herself."

[00:24:53] Yeah. And and how the unconscious plays out is by, you know, [00:25:00] casting onto others. Yeah. Casting onto, you know,

[00:25:03] people might

[00:25:04] react to what they see on the news in a certain way, or react to certain people they see, or, you know, commenting, casting judgment. I fully believe even when I'm judging others, reacting and responding to things I see in the world, nine times outta 10,

[00:25:18] I, I

[00:25:19] know that's coming from a unconscious pattern within myself.

[00:25:24] And

[00:25:24] ju if I have a judgment about someone else, it's coming from something that lives within. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Whether that's a part I'm

[00:25:32] aware of

[00:25:33] or not, and it's so much looking

[00:25:36] at people

[00:25:36] through that lens makes it so much

[00:25:38] easy

[00:25:38] to go, ah, suddenly the comment becomes so much less personal.

[00:25:42] Or

[00:25:43] what

[00:25:44] my mum

[00:25:44] thinks of me is less personal or what my uncle said is so less personal 'cause like it's about them more that what they

[00:25:51] say

[00:25:51] and think about me is more about them. Mm.

[00:25:54] And

[00:25:55] I

[00:25:55] wish them

[00:25:55] the best. And I can have compassion for those unconscious or [00:26:00] unhealed unintegrated parts of themselves that are coming out in snarky,

[00:26:04] judgy comments.

[00:26:05] Yeah. Go easy on yourself. Yeah. Yeah. Unconditional personal

[00:26:12] regard. Is there? Yeah.

[00:26:13] Po positive, positive regard. Positive regard.

[00:26:15] Yeah. That's it.

[00:26:15] Yeah. You UPC and

[00:26:19] personal. And personal. Yeah.

[00:26:22] It's, um, well, it is, it is the gift that gives to you as well as them. Yeah. Is if you can go

[00:26:28] in

[00:26:30] feeling love for somebody And, and receiving their love. Yeah. Even if it comes in a way that you don't, that is triggering to you or doesn't resonate with you. Yeah. And, and you can say in inside of you, you can go, "thank you. Mm.

[00:26:52] But

[00:26:53] I don't need that. Yeah. I know what I'm doing. Yeah. I've made

[00:26:58] my choices."

[00:26:59] I am, you [00:27:00] know. Yeah. Whatever it is.

[00:27:01] Yeah. Yeah. And really, and you know, if, if you, if you are someone who feels, you know, maybe this falls into the category of people who are more, maybe lean towards more perfectionistic tendencies. Yeah. People pleasing tendencies. Yeah. You know, maybe you do feel really strongly about other people's opinions of on you or what they have to say about your life.

[00:27:23] A nice, another nice reminder might just be

[00:27:26] remembering

[00:27:27] that like, you know, whoever the opinion's coming from, would you like their life or could, are your values exactly aligned with them? Yes. You

[00:27:35] know,

[00:27:35] do you want their advice? Like, do you, you know?

[00:27:39] Yeah.

[00:27:39] Don't,

[00:27:40] don't,

[00:27:40] was it, don't, don't. Uh, listen to the va to the opinion opinions of people whose values from your own.

[00:27:50] Yeah. Because it's not relevant to you. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yep. That's it. Yeah. And again, you know, I think [00:28:00] not being triggered Um, by what other people say or Um, is a gift that you give to yourself and to them. Yeah. And to the other people around you. Yeah. And I guess in that acknowledging that, you know, you might get triggered. Yeah.

[00:28:26] Because it's not about, it's not necessarily about not getting triggered,

[00:28:31] it's

[00:28:31] about how you respond Yeah. To what's happening within you. And I mean.

[00:28:38] What

[00:28:38] could that look like? That could be like, let's, I mean, if we're doing rapid fire examples. Yeah. "Oh, I look, I don't have the energy for this conversation right now.

[00:28:48] Yeah. I hear what you're saying. Yeah. Agree to disagree." Yeah. It might look like, "I'm sorry, I need to, I need to go to the bathroom for a sec." Yeah. You, you. "I need some fresh air." You might say, uh, [00:29:00] if somebody says something that's particularly triggering to you, you say, oh, that's interesting. What makes you say that?

[00:29:06] Or, yeah. What makes you ask that question of me?

[00:29:09] Yeah.

[00:29:10] And that superpower there in

[00:29:12] your example

[00:29:13] is curiosity. Yeah. Right. And especially when we want to react strongly or when something in us has been triggered. Mm-hmm. Curiosity

[00:29:23] is almost

[00:29:23] always

[00:29:25] the antidote. Mm-hmm. Even, even if it's responding to your, what's happening in your own body.

[00:29:30] "Oh. Why is that happening? Well, no. Yeah. Why did that comment hurts so much," or what, or "what part of, what part of me is feeling triggered by this," you know?

[00:29:41] Mm-hmm.

[00:29:41] And you're allowed to step away from the table, step away from the barbecue. Take yourself for a walk around the block. Sit in the toilet for five minutes.

[00:29:50] Go to the sitting room that no one's in yet for five minutes, wherever you find yourself. And to just inquire with yourself. Dialogue with [00:30:00] yourself. Journal on your phone. You know, you might not be bringing a paper journal to, to your family Christmas gathering. Pull out your phone. Just start. Write out something you need to write out.

[00:30:09] Yeah. "This

[00:30:09] part

[00:30:10] of me is your inner child. Is it your inner critic? Is it your, you know, an unhealed, part of you is feeling X, y, Z." Mm. You know, bring it down to the facts. Get curious

[00:30:20] about

[00:30:20] it. And, but always close off

[00:30:24] with.

[00:30:25] Some kind of compassion. Yeah. Some kind of love.

[00:30:28] I love

[00:30:29] and accept and forgive myself.

[00:30:30] I love and accept

[00:30:31] forgive my

[00:30:32] mom,

[00:30:32] my dad, my sister, my brother, my

[00:30:34] cousin, my uncle, my auntie, my grandmother, my grandfather,

[00:30:37] whoever it is, my

[00:30:38] partner. It just finishing it off with that can be so beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. I wish that I knew all of this stuff

[00:30:50] and

[00:30:51] was able to implement it. Yeah. 'cause there were times when I, in recent

[00:30:56] times before my brother

[00:30:57] passed, I'm thinking of my brother here.

[00:30:59] Mm-hmm. [00:31:00] Um,

[00:31:00] where he would trigger me

[00:31:01] all the time and

[00:31:04] I,

[00:31:04] wish

[00:31:05] I had been more compassionate now, that I've lost him. Yeah. And I can't

[00:31:09] have these conversations. I wish that I'd

[00:31:12] been more compassionate. Because the, the distance of not having him here anymore makes

[00:31:18] see how much of it

[00:31:20] was me.

[00:31:21] Yeah. Yeah. And that

[00:31:24] was a

[00:31:24] hard lesson. Yeah. Um, because I was quite sure that he was the problem. Yeah.

[00:31:32] Uh, yeah.

[00:31:34] And that's a good reminder as well of like, we'll receive comments based on our own filters. Yes. Yep. Mm. It's never ju it's,

[00:31:42] it's

[00:31:43] always energy intermingling. It's never just, you know,

[00:31:48] someone

[00:31:49] saying a hurtful comment to you and it's just hurtful.

[00:31:51] And it was just un there's

[00:31:53] always,

[00:31:53] you know, there's, there's giving and there's receiving and it's always a two way street. Yeah. And to [00:32:00] your point, you know, remembering your brother, and

[00:32:05] a

[00:32:05] lot of people would find this morbid, but I, I find it's one of the most powerful tenets of wisdom that, that came out of stoicism.

[00:32:14] Mm. Memento mori. Remember death. Mm.

[00:32:17] Remember

[00:32:18] that? I mean, a few things, this too shall pass. Yep. No matter how uncomfortable the moment you

[00:32:26] find

[00:32:26] yourself in is,

[00:32:27] this

[00:32:27] too shall pass. This shall pass. The good and the bad. Yep. Everything changes. Everything happens in cycles. And Memento mori, remember death.

[00:32:36] This is, this is, yeah. One of the big principles of stoicism where it's like if you can reflect to some degree every day that you will die, it's the thing you have in common with everyone and every life

[00:32:57] form.

[00:32:57] Yeah. Asterisks on this [00:33:00] planet.

[00:33:00] Yeah.

[00:33:01] We all have death in common. Yeah. And maybe, if you can remember death; so I could I and I, look, I'm hearing you guy. I'm hearing

[00:33:11] people who this

[00:33:12] just sounds so morbid for, please bear with me. No, my Venus is in Scorpio.

[00:33:16] If you are on

[00:33:16] the same generation as me, your Pluto's in Scorpio, and I'm sure you are happy to go here with me. So come on.

[00:33:22] Um,

[00:33:23] you know, hop on board, hop on board the morbid train, you know, as your

[00:33:30] family member or

[00:33:31] partner is triggering the shit out of you, they're gonna die.

[00:33:36] Yeah. And remember, and, and then maybe that makes you go, "oh,

[00:33:39] I don't wanna

[00:33:40] waste my energy on, on,

[00:33:42] know

[00:33:43] bickering" or Yeah. Having this confrontation or

[00:33:46] conflict with them.

[00:33:47] Oh,

[00:33:47] I can, oh, I can let this go. Yeah. I'm gonna die one day. Is this worth caring about? Yeah. Nah. Does this deserve my

[00:33:54] right now? Yeah. Nah.

[00:33:55] And the

[00:33:56] thing is,

[00:33:57] it can happen at any time. Yeah. [00:34:00] know, we, we don't know. When we are gonna go or when our family members are gonna go? No. Um, yeah, it's, um, a, I I don't think it's morbid. I think it's important. It's something that they practice

[00:34:21] in,

[00:34:21] in the Balinese Hindu culture. Oh

[00:34:23] yeah.

[00:34:24] Was that there's always two sides.

[00:34:26] Yeah. They always talk about the two sides. There's the, the, the dark and the light. The good and the evil, the, um, in everything. Yeah. And they, they really acknowledge that. So they,

[00:34:37] they talk about death. Mm-hmm. And they're very open about death. Mm-hmm. And at a funeral celebration, they will lay out the body, and everyone around them will come and, and prepare and wash the body and, and, and prepare it for,

[00:34:56] cremation is the ultimate goal, but often they can't afford it, so they will [00:35:00] bury the

[00:35:00] body until they can afford the cremation.

[00:35:03] But

[00:35:03] that event

[00:35:04] can

[00:35:04] be really contrasting because in our culture, it's a very dark, very somber event.

[00:35:12] Mm-hmm.

[00:35:13] But if you go to a funeral in Bali, there'll be,

[00:35:16] you know,

[00:35:16] someone, bunch of guys

[00:35:19] over

[00:35:19] there smoking cigarettes and laughing and joking, and there'll be kids running around and there'll be food and like, it's just, life is happening at the same time as this beautiful memorial and, and preparation ceremony is going on.

[00:35:39] I, I love how you said at the same time Yeah. You know, it's never one or the

[00:35:43] other.

[00:35:44] No. There's always that life and death in everything. Yeah. In all moments. Which is balance. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So, and

[00:35:53] yeah,

[00:35:54] like, you're

[00:35:54] right.

[00:35:54] It, it's fundamentally, it's not morbid, but it is a reflection of where our culture's at.

[00:35:59] Our [00:36:00] friend said yesterday, "we are not, we are not comfortable with death and we're not used to talking about it." Yeah. And that, that's to the detriment Yeah. Of, of our, our collective psyche, our culture. Yeah.

[00:36:11] Yeah.

[00:36:11] I, I'm happy to talk about it if anyone ever wants to talk about death. Oh, me too. Absolutely.

[00:36:16] Girls, we're your girls. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I think, I mean, I was, I was saying that I've been doing this exploration of

[00:36:25] all

[00:36:25] things to do with consciousness persisting beyond death. Mm. So whether that's, you know, near death experience stories or, mediums and know, past lives.

[00:36:38] I'm, I'm

[00:36:38] up for all

[00:36:39] of that because I genuinely believe That, that this is what happens. Yeah. That we just Yep. and for that reason, I'm not scared of dying. Yeah. I, you know, I'm not in a rush to get there, but when it comes my time, [00:37:00] I'm I'm not afraid. Yeah. And that's such a gift. And that's accessible to everyone, hey.

[00:37:07] Yeah. But it's so,

[00:37:10] uh,

[00:37:10] it's so determined by belief and what people believe and Yeah. Which often has religious undertones.

[00:37:18] And

[00:37:19] as we were talking today, religion has its place.

[00:37:22] Spiritual beliefs

[00:37:24] have their place

[00:37:25] and

[00:37:25] they're important.

[00:37:26] Oh yeah.

[00:37:26] Um, faith can be the difference in how someone experiences, you know.

[00:37:33] A deeply

[00:37:33] traumatic event or how they face death. Yeah. Faith alone could make it such a beautiful, positive experience. Yeah, yeah. Or face someone else death. Yeah. Someone else's death. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. It's, part of who, mind, body, soul. Yeah.

[00:37:49] It's what we do, We

[00:37:51] treat, we treat all the person, all the person, including the, the unseen parts of the, the non-physical.

[00:37:59] [00:38:00] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:38:00] I'm feeling called to

[00:38:02] see if we can offer some more

[00:38:03] super practical, super naturopathic tips

[00:38:06] as well in the realm

[00:38:07] in the realm of, I guess more so food. Yep. Given, you know, this can be an emotionally trigger triggering time of the year, and it can also be a physically challenging time of the year. And I, I really wanna talk about prote, like my brain is just

[00:38:22] like

[00:38:22] a protein shake in the morning. Anyway, but before I get to that, I, I want to talk about, you know. You might find yourself in one of two boats. There's thousands of boats, there are as many boats for as many people, but generally

[00:38:36] two boats.

[00:38:37] One boat might be, this is the time of year

[00:38:41] where

[00:38:42] you are so happy to indulge and eat whatever it is your heart and body and mind desires.

[00:38:50] And the goal for you might be loving and accepting and forgiving yourself

[00:38:55] for

[00:38:56] mm-hmm. Any food choices. Mm-hmm. Or any ingestion of [00:39:00] any kind, not just food, you know, and it, and maybe it's just about gracefully, gracefully indulging. Yeah. Not

[00:39:08] have,

[00:39:08] not being like, oh, you, oh,

[00:39:10] all

[00:39:10] the Christmas pounds. Or like, you know, all the food coma and, and you know, there's so many ways we subtly, so subtly, subtly shame ourselves for the choices we make.

[00:39:21] So maybe one category, one boat is about just fully embracing you're gonna make the choices you make. And that's that. And we, and,

[00:39:29] and, and do

[00:39:29] them mindfully so that you don't have regret the next day. Yeah. I'm

[00:39:34] going to

[00:39:35] enjoy Yeah. The abundance Yep. And the, the, the sharing of food with my people. Yes. And I'm not gonna regret it.

[00:39:47] Yep. And when you go in with that intention, I wanna almost guarantee, don't wanna make guarantees, but I can almost guarantee that when you, when it, when the decision has come from a place of you [00:40:00] deciding for yourself and going in with that powerful intention,

[00:40:04] you're

[00:40:04] not gonna feel as bad. Yeah. And I could imagine that there's a lot of people who just totally dissociate because this time can be triggering and stressful for other reasons.

[00:40:15] But maybe just can be such a time of Yeah. Deep shame or feeling guilty the next day. And, and your body has, and your body and your mind

[00:40:22] has

[00:40:23] learn to just yeet out of the situation, and then you, and then

[00:40:29] again, it, it comes

[00:40:30] back to that feeling of out of controlness. Yeah. And that perpetuates, I think the guilt, the guilt and the shame of whatever choices you made, whether it was

[00:40:38] alcohol,

[00:40:39] tobacco, drugs, certain

[00:40:41] foods, uh,

[00:40:43] quantity of foods, quality of foods.

[00:40:45] You

[00:40:45] know. Can you let that all, can you let

[00:40:49] that

[00:40:49] go and just face and embrace and go, yeah, I'm gonna eat what I'm gonna eat and

[00:40:55] it's

[00:40:55] gonna be okay. Yeah. It's a day and it's a time of year and [00:41:00] this doesn't determine the rest of my life. Yeah. Yeah. And it's not that big a deal. Yeah. Now the other boat, the other boat is like, "no, I have some really serious health goals and physical desires or, or goals, health goals for myself that I really want to stick to my plan. Mm-hmm. I don't want to indulge. 'cause maybe I know that this

[00:41:27] indulging

[00:41:27] at this time of the year always throws me off course or does set the tone for how I enter the new year and then that sets the tone for the whole summer.

[00:41:38] Yeah. You know, in the southern hemisphere or then the rest of the year, the first half of the year. And it just doesn't start me off good. Indulging at Christmas does mean no good." Yeah.

[00:41:46] And that's,

[00:41:46] you

[00:41:47] know, whichever

[00:41:47] boat you're in. That's okay.

[00:41:48] Mm-hmm. And

[00:41:49] Mm-hmm. And

[00:41:49] people,

[00:41:50] what, what can we offer as ways

[00:41:53] to

[00:41:54] stick to your health boundaries?

[00:41:57] Stick to your, your eating preferences. [00:42:00] You

[00:42:00] know,

[00:42:00] how, what can we offer there? I, well, I think a good start would be naming them. Yeah. Naming

[00:42:06] what,

[00:42:07] what your limits are, you know, uh,

[00:42:11] whether

[00:42:11] it's,

[00:42:13] I'm,

[00:42:14] I'm just gonna have. Two glasses of whatever. Yeah. Or, or I'm, I'm not gonna drink today. Yeah. You know, I'm take

[00:42:22] something non-alcoholic

[00:42:23] that looks like it's alcoholic, have that.

[00:42:28] Yeah. Nobody needs, nobody needs

[00:42:29] to

[00:42:29] know. Yeah. You know, or whatever. You work it out. Yeah. Naming, I think naming it to say, I'm,

[00:42:37] I'm

[00:42:38] not gonna eat more than one

[00:42:40] dessert.

[00:42:41] Yeah. Because often that's, you know, you have

[00:42:43] big

[00:42:43] meal and then there's desserts that someone else

[00:42:47] brought.

[00:42:47] Yep. Um, or you might decide,

[00:42:53] I'm

[00:42:53] going to chew my food really well

[00:42:58] and

[00:42:58] eat mindfully.

[00:42:59] Mm-hmm. [00:43:00] So that I savor every every mouthful that I eat.

[00:43:04] Yeah.

[00:43:04] And that way you allow your body to receive the signals of fullness. Yep. Much eat much quicker before you overeat. Yep. And that will help you keep on track. So that's an another way of doing it. Yeah. Nice. What else? I think, yeah, comm, I think communication

[00:43:21] can

[00:43:22] be a part of

[00:43:22] it.

[00:43:22] You know, maybe you've got a

[00:43:24] family member or

[00:43:25] host

[00:43:25] that really

[00:43:26] insists on cooking everything. A feeder. A

[00:43:28] feeder. And

[00:43:30] maybe you've decided this

[00:43:31] year,

[00:43:32] you know,

[00:43:34] dairy really doesn't

[00:43:36] serve you. Mm. You can indulge,

[00:43:38] you love the taste, but

[00:43:40] you feel crap afterwards. Maybe you are trying to, you know, heal

[00:43:46] or manage your endometriosis

[00:43:48] or autoimmune condition

[00:43:49] and

[00:43:50] you've identified, or your IBS and

[00:43:52] you've identified that

[00:43:53] dairy just does not make you feel good.

[00:43:56] Mm. And you

[00:43:56] don't

[00:43:57] want to.

[00:43:58] Yeah. You don't wanna.[00:44:00]

[00:44:00] Indulge

[00:44:01] at all, let alone overindulge. Mm. Can you communicate and say, "Hey, I'm, I'm avoiding dairy. Like this is my boundary, I'm avoiding dairy. Is

[00:44:11] this

[00:44:11] something that you are happy to accommodate for? Mm. Because

[00:44:14] because

[00:44:14] I

[00:44:15] you

[00:44:15] love to cook and I know you love feeding everyone.

[00:44:17] Or would it be easier if, should I

[00:44:19] bring a dish of

[00:44:20] my own or will, you know, will you have any dairy free options and, you know, dairy free can be substituted with, you know, meat free, egg free,

[00:44:28] soy

[00:44:29] free, gluten-free. Yeah. Wheat free, you know, whatever your, whatever your goal is. And I think so communicate. And then I think another really important, helpful thing can be like connecting to your why.

[00:44:41] If it's something that you really wanna stick

[00:44:43] to,

[00:44:44] if you are just decided on this thing arbitrarily, like, "oh yeah, this person, I saw this person on TikTok or Instagram, they said like, gluten's bad for this. So like, I'm gonna like go off gluten." That might not be a strong enough reason. Hmm. Because that's just, that's just kind of coming from the external and [00:45:00] you might not really be connected to why that's helpful for you in your body.

[00:45:06] So know your why. Yeah. How is that gonna make- And do it on both sides. How are you gonna feel if you do consume the

[00:45:14] the thing

[00:45:14] that you don't wanna consume,

[00:45:16] whether it's

[00:45:16] alcohol or dairy, or whatever food group it is? And how are you gonna feel if you don't do it? Yep. And maybe you can more strongly tap into one,

[00:45:27] one side or the other. I think it's always more powerful if you can tap into the positive side of it of like, "oh my God, if I can go through Christmas and Christmas

[00:45:37] Eve

[00:45:38] and Boxing Day without having, you know, an expo flare 'cause I ate dairy, oh yeah, my God. Or reflux or, um, or an IBS flare up, or, you know, having the runs the next day or having a hangover the next day, my gosh, if I can get through this period without having that because I, because I've identified that this thing is [00:46:00] connected to this symptom and I know I'll be better for avoiding it.

[00:46:03] Oh, I'm just gonna feel so proud of myself. And so sovereign and empowered of like, yeah. Wow. I didn't

[00:46:11] let

[00:46:11] other people's food choices influence my own. Yeah. I, I didn't let, I didn't

[00:46:15] let

[00:46:15] my body and my health goals be influenced by those around me or the food that was available to me." Yeah. Um. I, I should just say if you are going to, um, communicate with, with whoever is feeding, preparing the food mm-hmm.

[00:46:36] Maybe don't do that the day before Christmas. Oh yeah.

[00:46:39] Maybe

[00:46:39] give them notice. Give some, give them some notice about that.

[00:46:42] Yeah.

[00:46:43] And, if you are aware that there will be multiple food sensitivities within the group Mm. Offering to bring something Yeah. Um,

[00:46:55] that

[00:46:56] ac accounts for you and

[00:46:57] maybe accounts

[00:46:58] for someone else [00:47:00] Yeah.

[00:47:00] Yeah.

[00:47:00] Might

[00:47:00] be really helpful to that person. Yeah. And, and also just showing your appreciation for, for what they, for what they do and for what they're preparing. Yeah. Um, so that it's not a, a rebuttal

[00:47:14] or,

[00:47:15] or a rejection of,

[00:47:16] of

[00:47:17] their way of showing love. Yeah. Yes. Because, because, and for some people it is.

[00:47:21] And the bigger conversation here is that,

[00:47:24] know,

[00:47:24] we are talking about a really potent time of

[00:47:26] year

[00:47:27] that is really meaningful to a lot of

[00:47:29] people. And

[00:47:30] let's not ignore that food isn't just fuel

[00:47:34] for

[00:47:34] the body. Mm. Food is culture, food

[00:47:37] is

[00:47:37] love, food is

[00:47:39] community,

[00:47:40] you know, and it means so many different things to different people.

[00:47:43] And so people may be more sensitive about your requests than others, than you know, you know,

[00:47:50] there may

[00:47:50] a gap between how you

[00:47:51] feel about it, and to

[00:47:52] you it's just simple and no stress. And it's just, you know,

[00:47:55] it's

[00:47:55] not that important.

[00:47:56] just

[00:47:56] about taste or pleasure. And for others it's like, oh, so deeply like [00:48:00] what you are, you're not gonna eat the meal that we're all eating.

[00:48:02] Yeah. But I want you to have the thing that I made because it's traditional. Hold your bound, and again, that's where your why

[00:48:11] be

[00:48:11] so important. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, I understand.

[00:48:14] But.

[00:48:15] I know this makes me feel good in my body when I do this. Or I, my body goes through such a hard time when I eat this thing. Yeah.

[00:48:23] It's not worth it. Yeah.

[00:48:24] That's

[00:48:25] not pleasure or empowerment to me. Thank you for the, the gift of giving the food that you

[00:48:33] do.

[00:48:34] Yeah. I love your food. I, I I love what you bring to the table. Yeah. But this thing

[00:48:41] just

[00:48:41] doesn't work for me. Yeah. And it's not, it's not about your food. Yeah. It's just, its personal.

[00:48:48] About It's not personal. Yeah. Yeah. And can that, is that

[00:48:51] allowed

[00:48:51] to be okay? You know? Yeah. Yeah. Are we gonna be okay? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can

[00:48:58] we move

[00:48:59] [00:49:00] through this together? Yeah. And the family member takes a deep

[00:49:04] breath and goes

[00:49:06] I think so. Yes. Yes. Yes. What other tips

[00:49:13] do we

[00:49:14] have? I think, you know,

[00:49:16] bring

[00:49:16] a bottle of water.

[00:49:17] Stay hydrated. Stay hydrated. If you, if you do take supplements that help your mental

[00:49:22] health

[00:49:22] or your nervous system, or your digestive symptoms, keep 'em.

[00:49:27] Let's,

[00:49:27] and you know, rapid fire? Peppermint tea.

[00:49:30] Chamomile tea. Iberogast. I

[00:49:33] will shout

[00:49:34] that Iberogast. 'cause you can get

[00:49:35] that over the counter. Yep. Um, as just a beautiful digestive tonic if you do tend towards bloating or gas, or just feeling ble and heavy after a meal.

[00:49:44] Ginger. Ginger.

[00:49:46] Yeah.

[00:49:46] Diet

[00:49:47] Slices of fresh ginger. Yep. In some hot water. Sip away. Yep. Go for gold. Mm. Um, licorice tea

[00:49:56] tea as well. If

[00:49:57] If you find yourself low energy or wanna raise your [00:50:00] vibe a bit, but not necessarily be

[00:50:01] caffeinated. Mm.

[00:50:02] Licorice tea can be really nice. Mm. Um, going for a green tea or a matcha tea if you do.

[00:50:09] A bit

[00:50:10] a, a mild caffeination without that intensity of coffee, you

[00:50:14] know,

[00:50:14] starting

[00:50:15] the

[00:50:15] day with

[00:50:15] a

[00:50:15] Maura or

[00:50:16] a green tea.

[00:50:17] Mm. Um oh, what about peppermint tea? And I feel like I've said this in another episode. Mm. Maybe two. With peppermint tea. I find, and I have spoken to a few people that also find that

[00:50:31] the

[00:50:31] talons in peppermint tea can make reflux worse.

[00:50:35] Yeah, definitely. That's so just be aware of that too, that Yes, people take peppermint tea as a, a carminative Yeah. For, for the gut. Mm-hmm. But it's not for everyone. And

[00:50:48] this is a classic example

[00:50:49] of

[00:50:50] Yeah. You know what's right for me Yes. And my body and what, and always bring it back to that, a

[00:50:59] general

[00:50:59] rule [00:51:00] of thumb.

[00:51:00] Again, even take general with a grain of salt. Are you someone who genuine generally tends towards cold

[00:51:08] feeling

[00:51:09] cold, feeling chilly, feeling like

[00:51:12] you

[00:51:12] don't have that digestive fire? Go

[00:51:15] ginger.

[00:51:15] Yeah. For example, if you are someone who does tend to be the more clam, warmer, gets easily overheated, sweat ier

[00:51:23] aside and, and

[00:51:24] can

[00:51:24] get heated, especially while eating, peppermint may be a more suited remedy for you.

[00:51:29] That's 'cause I would've said that you're the, that I'm the, the hot sweaty, so peppermint should work for me. No, but but there's still nuance. It's still not, yeah.

[00:51:39] yeah. Yeah. Because

[00:51:41] ultimately it's, it's interacting with your, your gut microbes. Yeah. And that's probably gonna be the determining factor.

[00:51:48] Yeah. Interesting though. Yeah. I, uh, yeah. And do you know what I would say ginger and peppermint are so powerful, but on opposite ends of the spectrum.

[00:51:58] Balance

[00:51:58] it out. I feel like [00:52:00] licorice, other than if you've got really high blood pressure, that's uncontrolled. Mm.

[00:52:03] Be careful of your

[00:52:04] intake of licorice tea.

[00:52:05] I feel like

[00:52:06] chamomile

[00:52:07] is a nice, gentle, safe one. I was gonna say that. Or lemon balm le Oh, lemon balm. You know, and

[00:52:11] back

[00:52:11] the day, I might

[00:52:12] been

[00:52:12] more concerned

[00:52:13] about

[00:52:13] FODMAPs in terms of chamomile tea. You know, it will

[00:52:16] come

[00:52:17] up if you're looking at your Monash

[00:52:18] FODMAP app,

[00:52:19] if you've

[00:52:20] got

[00:52:20] IBS or you're in on a FODMAP diet, it's gonna come up as

[00:52:23] amber

[00:52:24] or red.

[00:52:24] Mm. I'm not super concerned

[00:52:27] about that

[00:52:29] Yeah. It's generally a gentle, super well tolerated one. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:52:34] Um,

[00:52:34] so yeah, let herbs help you.

[00:52:36] Pro

[00:52:36] a protein shake, collagen peptides if you're open to animal foods. Otherwise a nice, a nice, uh, plant-based, um,

[00:52:45] protein

[00:52:46] powder. If, if you are more on the side of I don't wanna overeat, I wanna stay full.

[00:52:51] I know my sugar cravings are gonna be out of control and I'm not interested in eating too much sugar this

[00:52:58] Christmas. Mm-hmm. Protein

[00:52:59] shake or

[00:52:59] [00:53:00] or refined

[00:53:00] carbohydrates or refined carbohydrates protein shake in the morning. Maybe you,

[00:53:04] maybe

[00:53:05] you skip breakfast 'cause you, you

[00:53:07] want

[00:53:07] to save up

[00:53:07] the room

[00:53:08] in your stomach.

[00:53:08] Yeah. Don't

[00:53:09] Don't for the

[00:53:10] meals. Have a protein shake in

[00:53:12] the

[00:53:12] morning, please. Yeah. And then have a protein shake if you're, if

[00:53:16] you're feeling

[00:53:16] the cravings, have a protein shake after or with lunch as well. Yeah. Or with dinner. Yeah. Help that

[00:53:22] satiation,

[00:53:23] um, help insulin response and insulin sensitivity. Um, yeah. Also go for a walk.

[00:53:30] Yeah. If you can, if you can go for a walk before Christmas lunch. Yeah. Um,

[00:53:37] if

[00:53:37] particularly if you can, if it can be a brisk walk

[00:53:41] and,

[00:53:42] and sort of bring yourself

[00:53:43] up

[00:53:43] to that 60% of your energy capacity.

[00:53:46] Yeah.

[00:53:47] Um, so that might be walking and you can still talk, but you're a bit breathless. Yeah. That's, that's sort of

[00:53:54] that

[00:53:54] level.

[00:53:55] You can keep that up for

[00:53:56] about 20

[00:53:57] minutes. Your carbs [00:54:00] after that for the next

[00:54:02] hour,

[00:54:03] hour and a half

[00:54:04] at a stretch mm-hmm.

[00:54:05] mm-hmm.

[00:54:05] Are,

[00:54:07] um, almost bonus carbs.

[00:54:10] Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

[00:54:11] They, they're, um,

[00:54:12] metabolized,

[00:54:14] um, differently. Yep.

[00:54:16] And

[00:54:17] less likely to, I mean, you know, there's nuance

[00:54:21] in

[00:54:21] this because it depends on how much you eat in total.

[00:54:24] If, but, but if you're gonna eat some carbs

[00:54:32] Yeah.

[00:54:35] If you're

[00:54:35] going to, if

[00:54:36] you're gonna eat the carbs

[00:54:36] anyway,

[00:54:37] go for a walk. Yeah. Less of them will be stored as fat. Yep. Yep. Pretty much. And that's, and that's because

[00:54:43] can we easily say,

[00:54:46] if you activate muscles or sort of Yeah. Get to that, like you

[00:54:49] 60%

[00:54:50] exertion level

[00:54:51] a walk.

[00:54:52] I, I'm even thinking car, you

[00:54:54] know,

[00:54:54] a, a

[00:54:55] sets

[00:54:55] of calf raises or star jumps

[00:54:57] or

[00:54:57] body weight squats.

[00:54:58] know, depending on

[00:54:59] your level of [00:55:00] where you're at, activating the muscles, like you're

[00:55:02] sending the signal

[00:55:03] to your

[00:55:03] body

[00:55:03] that like, oh, we are ready, we are utilizing carbs. Yeah.

[00:55:06] No need to store

[00:55:07] them. Yep. My cells need them.

[00:55:09] And, you know, and again, nuance. Nuance. Yeah. If you have issues

[00:55:13] with blood sugar regulation,

[00:55:14] metabolism, if you feel like it's sluggish or that you're not utilizing the nutrients from the food you're

[00:55:19] properly, get

[00:55:20] in touch with us. We

[00:55:22] help. Yeah. You

[00:55:23] know, this is,

[00:55:23] uh,

[00:55:24] an aspect of our bread and butter.

[00:55:26] Yeah, absolutely. Naturopathically and how we can help you. Yeah.

[00:55:28] Um,

[00:55:29] but yeah, rule of thumb,

[00:55:31] whether you've

[00:55:31] got a sugar craving or you've just

[00:55:34] eaten,

[00:55:35] go

[00:55:35] for a

[00:55:36] walk,

[00:55:37] do

[00:55:38] some squats. Mm. It's

[00:55:40] gonna improve

[00:55:41] how your body can use the sugar, as Julie said.

[00:55:43] Mm.

[00:55:44] We hope. Hmm. At least you know, we've said a lot. I hope that you can take at least one tiny thing, whether it was just a sentence or a suggestion we had in this episode. One thing that you can [00:56:00] bring to whatever this time of year looks like for you,

[00:56:05] Mm.

[00:56:05] maybe share with a family member or a friend, if you feel like you want someone on the same page.

[00:56:10] If anything's inspired you from this conversation

[00:56:13] Mm.

[00:56:13] and you're like, oh gosh, my auntie would really benefit from this.

[00:56:17] Oh

[00:56:17] God, I think

[00:56:18] I

[00:56:18] need to send this to, you know, get people on the same page. You, you don't have to do all this hard work alone. You don't need to be doing all this emotional labor alone.

[00:56:27] You know? Yeah. Share it and if it feels like a lot, just take whatever was the easiest suggestion that

[00:56:34] we offered, or so in

[00:56:35] summary. Yep. They are.

[00:56:36] are

[00:56:38] ground yourself. Ground yourself with a daily practice.

[00:56:41] Yep.

[00:56:42] Communicate, communicate, communicate. Needs and capacity. I think Be aware of your boundaries. Yep. And com And, and enforce them.

[00:56:51] And enforce them. You get to walk away. Yeah. Don't be attached to what other people think of your [00:57:00] boundaries. Yep. And try not to, um, try to let go of your, your anticipation of

[00:57:09] things

[00:57:10] or, or let go of. Yep. What might be stressing you.

[00:57:13] Yep.

[00:57:14] Yep. What else did we

[00:57:14] say?

[00:57:16] mindful eating. Mindful eating. Yep. Let, let go of judgment if you're going to be in the boat.

[00:57:23] Party boat. Yep. Self-judgment and judgment from others. Yep. Just

[00:57:27] totally let

[00:57:28] it, can you just embrace what you would

[00:57:31] like to eat?

[00:57:31] to eat? Yeah. Yeah. Compassion and understanding for where people are coming from when they're, when they're giving you messages aren't well received. Yeah. Uh, protein hydration.

[00:57:45] Yeah.

[00:57:46] Herbal supports to help, to help with your digestion if that's a, an area of, of that needs support for you. And love. And love tis Love the season of giving Yes. [00:58:00] Make the yule

[00:58:00] tide

[00:58:00] gay. Can we just make the yule tide gay? Can we, can we just, can we just?

[00:58:09] Yeah.

[00:58:09] Because we all die. Yep. Eventually. Yep. And

[00:58:16] spending

[00:58:17] time with our loved ones, even if sometimes they are challenging.

[00:58:24] This a time that should be appreciated while we have it. absolutely. If we know your people are listening. I look at the stats, people are listening. Yeah. If

[00:58:36] If anything in

[00:58:36] this episode has helped you or inspired you

[00:58:40] or really Yeah.

[00:58:41] Sparked something up in you. Let us, let us know if you had a favorite tip or

[00:58:46] liked a

[00:58:47] part that we said, or something you hadn't thought of before, or something that you were already thinking of and you're like, oh my God.

[00:58:52] Yes. I'm so glad they said it. Please let us know. We'd love to hear from you. Equally, if there's

[00:58:57] anything

[00:58:58] you'd like

[00:58:58] to

[00:58:58] talk for us to talk about, [00:59:00] especially in the new year, this might be our last episode for the year. Yeah. Let us know what you want us to

[00:59:04] hear

[00:59:04] about in the realm of, yeah.

[00:59:07] Disease,

[00:59:08] health, holistic, healing, natural

[00:59:11] medicines,

[00:59:12] conventional

[00:59:13] medicines.

[00:59:14] You know, science.

[00:59:16] Science.

[00:59:17] Let us know. We're happy to go there. Happy holidays, seasons, greetings again, whatever this time of year looks

[00:59:26] like for

[00:59:26] you. Stay true to yourself. Stay connected to you.

[00:59:30] One breath at

[00:59:31] a time.

[00:59:32] You, you've got this.

[00:59:34] Yeah. I promise you've

[00:59:35] got this.

[00:59:37] And

[00:59:38] this too shall pass.

[00:59:39] This too shall pass

[00:59:40] Before we know it, it'll be next Christmas. That's it. This too shall pass. So enjoy it. And if it's a bad thing, this too shall pass,

[00:59:50] so

[00:59:50] don't worry about it.

[00:59:51] You know?

[00:59:52] You know? Exactly. Yeah. See ya. Much love guys.

[00:59:57] Bye.

[00:59:57] Bye. [01:00:00]