Teresa Palmer: Hi guys! Thank you for joining us today for another one of our V-logs. We are really excited! We have Maria Harpas here from Natural Health Medicine.

 

Maria Harpas: Well done.

 

Teresa: She is our go-to Lovewell nutritionist, has been just an amazing source and knowledge for us. So we’ve actually decided to start a series where you guys can ask questions and Maria will answer them. So we have four month’s worth of questions and we are so excited. And do you want to just talk about how you guys got to know each other and how you got involved with Lovewell.

 

Christiane Duigan: Yeah, that’s right. Well, myself, my husband James and our kiddies have been seeing Maria for many many years and she’s helped us with lots of different issues. You know, we’re the same as any family. As healthy as we’re trying to be, things come up. So, Maria has been our go-to. And so, we are so excited to have her working with us at Lovewell. She’s just helped us formulate the product, be a support for you guys as well. So, thank you so much.

 

Maria: My pleasure.

 

Teresa: And you’re also offering 15 minutes free consultation for anyone who needs her help. Guys, I’m telling you..

 

Maria: See if it will be the right fit.

 

Teresa:  Yes. But you need to speak to her because she is brilliant and she’s been so helpful to us. How do people get in contact with you?

 

Maria: Sure. So, they can through email or our clinic phone number or Instagram.

 

Teresa: And what’s your email?

 

Maria: Email is maria@naturalhealthmedicine.com.au.

 

Teresa: Great. Thank you so much.

 

Christiane: So, thank you so much for your questions. We’re so sorry if we don’t get around yours but hopefully some of the questions we do ask resonate with you. One of the ones that we do to get contacted regularly about is the benefits of the Lovewell products.

 

Teresa: We want to start with.

 

Maria: So, having a look at the products, I think the first thing that really stands out and it’s good to understand is that it’s a whole food product. So, you know herbs and nutrients are source from foods basically but foods that is sort of harder for us to get. You know things like wheat grass and Bali grass and spirulina that got the B vitamins and things and so that’s really different to isolated nutrient products where you just getting zinc on its own, vitamin D on its own. It’s much safer because nature knows how to put the nutrients into the foods correctly and balanced. So, that’s really good.

 

Christiane: So, a lot of the vitamins you can get out there are synthetic. Is that right?

 

Maria: Yeah, that’s right. There are not always coming from foods because we need to get them in high high doses to have a therapeutic change that we need but we’re checking and measuring to see and adjusting to see that what we’re doing is okay and working but when you don’t know your individual biochemical makeup, you should be using whole food products. So, that’s really the go-to and especially that’s what we trying to get people to. That’s what resolves things as well. So that’s always been really a big thing. So, I think that’s nice for everyone to sort of know that it is a whole food product.

 

Teresa: Amazing

 

Christiane: I know it’s not a substitute for food.

 

Teresa: It’s not a replacement.

 

Maria: And they are harder things to get like if you look at the mushrooms. They are not mushrooms. They are special therapeutic mushrooms.

 

Teresa: And the Trimela. Isn’t Trimela a vegan source for collagen?

 

Christiane: Exactly.

 

Teresa: It’s amazing. Chrissy wanted that in there. And she’s like “we need to have some form of collagen. And I was like “Oh, but it all comes from animals”. And then we manage to figure out one that comes just purely from plants. That’s amazing. Mushrooms – not my favorite thing to eat, I have to say. I can’t taste it in Lovewell though.

 

Maria: No, no. Because they’re so different. They’re really that therapeutic for herbs and they are not mushroom you normally eat. That’s good. And I think the other thing is, if we have a look at the ingredients in the Lovewell products, you can see that pathways are supported. So, detoxification pathways are up regulated with all the greens that are in there. Spirulina, the plorella. Plorella actually helps keloid which is remove heavy metals as well. So, it’s supportive in that way which is good. Other things that it does is it supports the immune system with the mushrooms but also the prebiotics as well that are in there. So it got immune-boosting properties.

 

Teresa: Fantastic.

 

Christiane: Good for gut health, right?

 

Maria: Yeah, gut health as well which the gut drops the immune system too. So, that’s really good. The other things in there are the detrogenic herbs in there like the maca root. The mushrooms as well are good for the adrenal glands so boost of energy!

 

Teresa: That’s good. I need that. That’s a tied mama!

 

Maria: Yeah, so that’s really good. And the gut health that we talked about. So, it’s got all of those things that it’s supporting which is fantastic.

 

Teresa: And it taste like chocolate!

 

Maria: Right, it taste really good. I did mine this morning with my sister-in-law, we did coconut milk and almond with milk parfait and a banana. It’s beautiful.

 

Teresa: I do that too. I have that nutty bread and it’s a split like coconut-almond. That’s exactly how I make it. And it’s delicious! It do really good.

 

Maria: That’s is beautiful.

 

Teresa: It do really good.

 

Christiane: And one important thing for me formulating it as well is that, you know a lot of us know the importance of B vitamin complex as well and I wanted to put that one in there and we found this great source from sprouted quinoa and which I got from a supplier in Germany. So, I feel like that’s really Innovative and what we’re doing and making sure it’s not coming from synthetic. So for those who don’t much about B vitamins, what would you say?

 

Maria: Well, energy, you need B vitamins. If you’re under more stress than normal, you need more B vitamins as well. If you drink alcohol, you need more than normal as well.

 

Christiane: I know that it helps set your mood. Is that right?

 

Maria: Yes, absolutely. We have not talked about it but it definintely is good for mood. I mean B12 and folate alone can fetch mood so it’s really important.

 

Teresa: Amazing.

 

Christiane: Great.

 

Teresa: Another question that we got actually I found quite interesting is about mental health and fluctuating hormones. I think those two can go hand-in-hand and people just wanted to know about supporting those particular things.

 

Maria: So, there’s few things. First, from the products we got the maca root that’s in there. That’s really good because that specifically for hormone-balancing and fertility as well.

 

Teresa: Amazing.

 

Maria: It’s often given pre-conceptionally. So that can balance hormones. But I think dietary things are last. All things as well that can be done – making sure that you drink enough water. So usually we sort of recommend around 30 mules per kilo that your weighs. If your 65 kilos that would be about 2 liters, if I got that right. So sleep is important. Making sure that with your food that you’re not going too high on your sugars and the processed foods.

 

Teresa: Like the cheerios that my husband picked up in the super market for my children.

 

Christiane: Without vegan.

 

Teresa: Yeah, vegan. Mummy was away in Sydney and I came back and found cheerios in the house.

 

Maria: Yeah, the sugars is definitely and the processed foods. And good essential fats – so we want things like avocado, a coconut oil, chia seeds are really good. Flax seeds.

 

Teresa: There are essential fatties in here too. It’s so delicious.

 

Christiane: They are essential because our bodies doesn’t naturally produce that. Is that right?

 

Maria: Right. So you have to get them in your foods. And they are so important for hormones. The other thing also that I think people aren’t sort of realizes is the liver detoxifies the hormones and clears hormones. So, if livers not working well then you can have issues with your hormones. So, you need the greens and the certain things to help the liver.

 

Teresa: And is that particularly helpful for teenagers as well?

 

Maria: Yes, yes. Definitely yes.

 

Teresa: We have someone writing about that. Teenagers in their ups and their downs.

 

Maria: Yeah, same sort of things. That’s right. Then they need those things and then other foods as well. You know making sure protein sources are good. Even seeds, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds. They’ve got the essential fats in them. Fatty fish, eggs or [9:50]. So, they’re good sources. Sleep. That thing again because that pushes and affects your cortisol. That stress hormones. So that needs to be done.

 

Teresa: Would you say it’s like a mind-body-soul thing, right? Because I have people in my family who suffer from mental health issues and a lot of the time when they’re putting healthy things into their body, they’re getting enough sleep and they’re choosing something that they love, something that sparks joy in their lives like meditation or yoga or just some kind of movement – they’re always feeling like they are in the more balanced head space. So, do you recommend movement as well?

 

Maria: For sure. And I think if people are really fatigue as well because of hormones then gentle movements.

 

Teresa: Like swimming

 

Maria: Yeah, swimming and yoga and walking. And if they got good energy then they can do you know, more. But that’s definitely important. And you’re right. I think if the sleep is not right then that doesn’t put you in the right head space to eat well. You do reach for the sugars and the processed foods [11:03].

 

Christiane: Yeah. And then you sat down and not perspire. And you catch on and catch up.

 

Teresa: Oh my gosh. My husband literally gets addicted to sugar. He will have one as you know. Remember the chocolate at your house that time?

 

Christiane: I know. I have this chocolate bar that I had just one that I was just savoring for about a month. One square a day. Oh, you have to try this. And they’ve just gobbled it all out.

 

Teresa: The whole life of the chocolate bar that she would have had for atleast another few weeks.

 

Maria: Well that’s okay. We put some loving and fun.

 

Teresa: Oh yeah, good. And that was the brand.

 

Maria: Oh, okay. It’s got no nasty [11:40].

 

Christiane: Sugar is bad for everything. Another question we got is how do we improve hair, skin and nails?

 

Teresa: I’m sure also not having sugar.

 

Christiane: Not having sugar is like number one because James, my husband, he is big on that. First thing to cut out is sugar.

 

Maria: Yeah. I think because sugar definitely has lots of connection with chronic disease. That’s the big thing. But I wonder when it comes to skin especially like acne. What’s going on whether is what the sugar is in as well. So, there’s two main foods that some people have a real problem with with their skin. One is dairy and one is gluten. And so, it’s not that it run has to go take that out but you could experiment but if you have quite acne problems.

 

Teresa: I took dairy out recently because my baby was getting terrible breakouts on her skin and I may ended up cutting out dairy and her skin is beautiful.

 

Christiane: It clears out straight away.

 

Teresa: Straight away. On day 2 I notice the difference so I was whop! That’s it. There goes my Cadbury. Now I know it’s not good because Cadbury also has sugar. A good thing to cut out.

 

Maria: Yeah. Well that’s the thing isn’t it? You can experiment. Take about for few weeks, see if that solves the problem. If not, you can try the gluten. Because I have clients where it’s one or the other or sometimes both. And it’s not always the problem but you know it’s definitely worth trying.

 

Teresa: Like an elimination diet sort of where you take out.

 

Maria: Yeah. If you find it hard to do, you can just take one thing first and see if it makes the difference.

 

Christiane: Otherwise, you won’t know what helps.

 

Maria: Yeah. The other way is you take out lots of things out then you bring one back one at a time. So it’s just depends on.

 

Christiane: It’s a frequently asked question why again we wanted the Trimela, the collagen in there to really help. It helps from the inside.

 

Maria: Collagen is just fantastic, isn’t it? It’s good for the skin. And you need zinc, and again zinc is in pumpkin seeds, it’s in oysters. You also need things like some of your B vitamins, and magnesiums and things like that as well.

 

Christiane: So lots of those things are in the Blossom. Aren’t they?

 

Maria: Yeah. And the anti-oxidants.

 

Christiane: Yes. They’re in it too.

 

Maria: And actually the prebiotics as well because that really can affect skin health, what’s going on in the gut.

 

Teresa: That makes me happy. Well, thank you so much. We’ll be back with you another day to do the next series of questions.

 

Maria: Thank you.

 

Teresa: And thanks everyone for sending those questions and they’ve been wonderful. So, we will see you next week!