My guest today is Georgia Bamber.

Georgia is an advocate of plant-based living, writer, athlete, business woman, mother and lover of good food who hopes to spread the word about the importance of eating a plant based diet -for the health of ourselves and the health of the planet.

Georgia is launching her 21 Day Plant Based Boot Camp on 2 January 2017 - you can sign up and register your interest at www.eatingcleanandgreen.com. The program is aimed at helping people to create easy, healthy eating habits, get more plants on their plate and learn all about how to eat plant based. It will include video lessons, weekly meal plans and recipes, video tutorials, a private community, live calls and more.  

You can find Georgia at www.georgiabamber.com

You can connect with Georgia on Facebook, twitter and Instagram.

You can listen to this episode via the link above, on iTunes or Stitcher or via the podcast app on your smartphone.

WHAT GEORGIA BAMBER AND I TALKED ABOUT

•do what you love

•starting her career as a banker

•education is a gift

•using the balance of evidence to make decisions

•eating a whole food, plant based diet

•becoming a vegetarian and then vegan

•exploring plant based foods

•plant based protein sources

•educating children about healthy food

•benefits of eating more plants

•95% of Australians aren't eating the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables

•free 7-a-day fruit and vegetable challenge (sign up here)

•if you pick it you have to eat it - teaching kids to grow veggies

If you enjoyed this podcast, I would love you to subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher or via the podcast app on your smartphone.

If you REALLY loved it, I would love you to leave me a rating and review on iTunes.

FELICE JACKA, FOOD AND MOOD

My guest today is Associate Professor Felice Jacka.

Felice is an NHMRC Career Development Fellow at Deakin University. She is president of the International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research (ISNPR) and the Australian Alliance for the Prevention of Mental Disorders (APMD).

She also leads the new Food and Mood Centre at Deakin University. Felice has pioneered and led a highly innovative program of research that examines how individuals' diets, and other lifestyle behaviours, interact with the risk for mental health problems. This research is being carried out with the ultimate goal of developing new, evidence-based prevention and treatment strategies for mental disorders.

You can find Felice at the Food and Mood Centre.

You can connect with Felice on twitter @felicejacka.

You can listen to this episode via the link above, on iTunes or Stitcher or via the podcast app on your smartphone.

WHAT FELICE JACKA AND I TALKED ABOUT

•having meaningful work

•microbiomes

•the link between diet and depression

•the link between mind and body

•the impact of mother's diets while pregnant and children's mental health

•how diet improves our mental health

•Barry Popkin

•the cost of mental health on our society

•the documentary Globesity and the impact of big food on our global health

•75% of psychiatric disorders will start before the age of 14

•kids whose diet quality gets worse around the age of 14 tend to have worse mental health than those whose diet quality is good

•the impact of diet on the size of the hippocampi (in the brain) and brain plasticity

•healthy diets are often the traditional diets, and these are often associated with better mental health

•Michael Pollan

•Just as Juicy - a menopause blog

•International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research

•food as medicine

•the importance of gut health

•the importance of diet, exercise and sleep

•Anxiety Release - meditation app

•the brain drain of our researchers due to a lack of funding in Australia

•the impact of diet in pregnancy on children

•being diagnosed with breast cancer during her first mammogram.

If you REALLY loved it, I would love you to leave me a rating and review on iTunes

.

My guest this week is Laura Trotta.

Laura is one of Australia's leading home sustainability experts and is a passionate believer in addressing the small things to achieve big change. She is here today to talk to us about how we can help protect the planet in practical ways.

Laura  has a Bachelor of Environmental Engineering, a Masters of Science (in Environmental Chemistry) and spent 11 years working as an environmental professional before creating her first online eco business, Sustainababy, in 2009.

She has won numerous regional and national awards for her fresh and inspiring take on living an 'ecoceptional' life (including most recently winning the Brand South Australia Flinders University Education Award (2015) for the north-west region in SA and silver in the Eco-friendly category of the 2015 Ausmumpreneur Awards). With a regular segment on ABC Radio and with her work featured in publications like Nurture Parenting and My Child Magazine, Laura is an eco thought leader who's not afraid to challenge the status quo.

A passionate believer in addressing the small things to achieve big change, and protecting the planet in practical ways, Laura lives with her husband and two sons in Roxby Downs, in outback South Australia.

You can sign up here to Laura's new membership club, Self Sufficiency in the Suburbs.

You can find Laura Trotta at her website, www.lauratrotta.com.

You can connect with Laura on Facebook and twitter and listen to her podcast on iTunes.

You can listen to this episode via the link above, on iTunes or Stitcher or via the podcast app on your smartphone.

WHAT LAURA TROTTA AND I DISCUSSED

•living true to yourself and your values

•living in an Instagram world

•a passion for sustainability

•growing up in country Victoria

•living and working in remote Australia on mining sites

•starting her business while being 28 weeks pregnant

•how to live a more environmentally friendly life

•what eco-living is and some simple examples

•choosing quality over quantity

•real food vs packaged food

•local food

•how to reduce food waste

•the benefit of backyard chickens

•the benefits of being more eco-friendly

•reducing toxins in your home

•using reusable products

•meal planning

•entertaining at home vs going out for dinner

•showing our kids how to be more eco-conscious and sustainable

•Laura's new membership club, Self Sufficiency in the Suburbs

If you enjoyed this podcast, I would love you to subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher or via the podcast app on your smartphone.

If you REALLY loved it, I would love you to leave me a rating and review o...

My guest today is Anne Noonan.

Anne Noonan is a Yogini and a Food and Nutrition Coach with a focus on the women facing or going through their menopausal and midlife years.  

Her motto is 'you CAN have a fabulous life, body, business and kick some serious butt when you're in your 40's, 50's, 60's and beyond'.

It's totally up to us and our attitude toward this rather amazing phase of life. Anne has her own story of survival and rejuvenation through her personal experience of menopause and has been working and studying in this field for over 10 years. Her approach to having it all in midlife and beyond is one where that perfect blend of mind, body, spirit, intuition and belief meld together to actually create a younger, stronger attitude toward life.

You can find Anne Noonan at her website, www.annenoonan.com.au.

You can connect with Anne on Facebook.

You can listen to this episode via the link above, on iTunes or Stitcher or via the podcast app on your smartphone.

WHAT ANNE NOONAN AND I DISCUSSED:

•Mel's podcast episode with Simone de Haas

•Mel's menopause blog, Just as Juicy

•having freedom of choices

•changing your life for the better

•making small choices to improve our lives

•morning walks

•being a yogini

•focusing on women undergoing menopause

•the importance of food and movement

•starting yoga at 50+

•ideal exercises for women undergoing menopause

•adrenal fatigue and exercise - what to avoid

•clothing for women who are experiencing hot flushes

•leg makeup - yes, this is a thing!!

•inflammation and the impact on menopause

•having a spiritual view towards menopause

•women starting a new career in their 50s

•breaking up with sugar

•Mel's elimination diet

If you enjoyed this podcast, I would love you to subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher or via the podcast app on your smartphone.

If you REALLY loved it, I would love you to leave me a rating and review on iTunes.

My guest today is Lisa Corduff, wholefoods advocate.

Lisa has a successful online business helping real people eat more real food, in the real world.

After building an engaged community over two years, she created the innovative Small Steps to Wholefoods online program in 2014 when the youngest of her three children was four months old - the eldest was four years old! She went on to release two more eCourses and a membership program within 18 months of her business launching - generating a very healthy six figure income - amongst swing pushing, cubby-house building and toddler taming!

You can find Lisa at her website, Lisa Corduff, Keeping Food Real.

You can connect with Lisa on Facebook.

You can listen to this episode via the link above, on iTunes or Stitcher or via the podcast app on your smartphone.

WHAT LISA CORDUFF AND I DISCUSSED

•helping people take small steps to eat real food

•the difficulty of changing food habits

•the power of small changes

•starting her wholefoods journey

•the impact of having kids on Lisa's eating habits

•Jude Blereau - a food hero

•food fads as a reflection of society being off track

•paleo is not the only way to eat

•our childhood eating habits and how this creates a connection to food

•store bought birthday cakes

•learning simple cooking skills

•Cyndi O'Meara Changing Habits Changing Lives

•The Kaizen Approach

•rewarding yourself with food

•confusing food messages

•margarine vs butter

•sneaky sugar in cereal

•building a successful online business

•building a community of raving fans

•being present

If you enjoyed this podcast, I would love you to subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher or via the podcast app on your smartphone.

If you REALLY loved it, I would love you to leave me a rating and review on iTunes.

My guest today is Simone de Haas, renaissance woman.

Simone's creative capacities move effortlessly between stage and boardroom, singing or directing and leadership, and the freedom of improvisation to the acuity of corporate storytelling.

Her book 'Everyday Presence' has become the simple foreword to a compelling and interactive personal story of presence and perception that is continually expanding through her diverse portfolio of work. She offers unconventional breakthrough programs and coaching for professional speakers, business leaders, actors, singers and dancers who desire to have their voice in the world.

Simone is currently the Senior Vice-President (Qld & NT Chapter) of the National Speaker's Association of Australia. She has won theatre industry awards including a coveted Matilda Award for Directing, Acting & Design in 2011 and an ABC Bell Award for Best Production & Best Director.

You can connect with Simone on Facebook and twitter.

You can find Simone de Haas on her website, The Speakers' Director.

You can listen to this episode via the link above, on iTunes or Stitcher or via the podcast app on your smartphone.

What Simone de Haas and I discussed:

•being a multipotentialite / renaissance woman

•Emily Wapnick

•the idea of creativity

•doing what gives you joy

•Mel's menopause blog, Just as Juicy

•the importance of connections

•working from home

•winning a Matilda Award

•dealing with bad auditions (as a producer)

•using intuition to make more inspired choices

•everyone has a creative gift

•knitting as a metaphor for life

•working with people who don't believe they are creative

•saying "yes, and..." vs saying "yes, but..."

•the attitude around creativity

•Simone's new online course - Write your life in 7 scenes - and it's FREE!

If you enjoyed this podcast, I would love you to subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher or via the podcast app on your smartphone.

If you REALLY loved it, I would love you to leave me a rating and review on iTunes.

My guest today is Shirley Harring, founder of Hand Sourced.

Shirley is the director of Hand Sourced - an niche market food hub that operates both wholesale and farmshare produce distribution.

She is inexplicably drawn to food, and the kind of person you won't want to dine with unless you mind sampling innards, gizzards, or food related obscurities.

In another life, Shirley qualified and worked as a school teacher. She stumbled into writing back in the early 1990s when her love of gastronomy and words led her to a regular gig for food and wine column in a local newspaper.

Shirley holds qualifications in gastronomy and food history; food writing; education; adult education and is working on the Masters of Food Studies.

Outside of work, she grows vegetables, wrangles chickens and devours books. Now based in Brisbane, QLD she lives with her family of boys, who she finds are very useful for washing up and carrying heavy things. The teacher still lurks within - she hopes that one day, tuck shops will turn into fresh food cafeterias and school ovals into edible, self-sustainable gardens.

She is always hungry.

You can connect with Shirley on twitter and Facebook.

You can find Shirley on her websites shirleyharring.com and handsourced.com.au.

You can listen to this episode via the link above, on iTunes or Stitcher or via the podcast app on your smartphone.

What Shirley Harring and I discussed

•being the middle man between the farmer and consumer

•ethical food

•growing to organic principles vs certified organic

•the exclusion of packaging when certifying organics

•what organic fed actually means

•focusing on stories

•real farmers' markets

•slaughtering chickens and then butchering and eating them

•going from being a teacher for over 20 years to running Hand Sourced

•the impact of food on our health

•cutting out preservatives and processed sugars

•sponsorship of major sporting activities by companies such as Coca-Cola, KFC and McDonalds

•school chocolate drives

•challenges faced by our food industry and our farmers

•Tammi Jonas podcast episode 

•transport costs

•tips for people wanting to eat more ethically

•making the most out of your roast

•Flavour Crusader - an excellent site for information on ethical eating

•price vs provenance

•McDonalds and their meat

•eating weird foods

•food heroes

•International Year of Pulses

If you enjoyed this podcast, I would love you to subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher or via the podcast app on your smartphone.

If you REALLY loved it, I would love you to leave m...

My guest today is Bronwen Edwards, the founder and CEO of Roses in the Ocean.

Bronwen established Roses in the Ocean in 2011, a few years after the suicide of her brother Mark.

Bronwen is passionate about reducing the number of suicides that tragically occur every year in Australia. After her care of and bereavement for her suicidal brother, she realised she felt very strongly about the power of harnessing the voices of those with a lived experience of suicide to change the way it is spoken about, understood and ultimately prevented.

Roses in the Ocean works collaboratively with organisations to host public events linking communities with local service providers. It also collaboratively operates National Suicide Prevention Lived Experience Speakers Bureau with our peak body, Suicide Prevention Australia.

Bronwen's involvement within the suicide prevention sector also extends to a national level as a member of the Lived Experience Network Leadership Group, an initiative of Suicide Prevention Australia - the peak body.

TRIGGER WARNING: From around the 14 min mark we discuss suicide within this episode of A Great Recipe for Life.

You can find Bronwen on her website Roses in the Ocean, and also find information about their events there.

You can connect with Bronwen Edwards on twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

You can listen to this episode via the link above, on iTunes or Stitcher or via the podcast app on your smartphone.

WHAT BRONWEN EDWARDS AND I DISCUSSED

the absolute freedom of travelling

the people you meet when you travel alone

World Press Photo exhibition

orangutans

how Roses in the Ocean was founded and where the name came from

improving suicide literacy

using the word suicide when no one talks about it

working with people with a lived experience of suicide

Suicide Prevention Australia

national speakers bureau

how your story changes over time

how to recognise when people aren't coping

the non-reality of Facebook

over half of suicides are not related to mental health

building up personal resilience

eight Australians a day take their own lives, which is a greater number than are killed on the roads

Queensland Maternal and Perinatal Quality Council

more men take their lives, more women make attempts

the rate of suicide of the LGBTI community is 14 times higher than normal

just be kind

how a death is deemed a suicide

Headspace

Standby Response Service

many anti-depressants have suicide as a side effect

how you can get involved with Roses in the Ocean

If you enjoyed this podcast, I would love you to subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher or via the podcast app on your smartphone.

If you REALLY loved it, I would love you to leave me a rating and review on iTunes.

TAMMI JONAS, ETHICUREAN FARMER

My guest today is Tammi Jonas.

Tammi describes herself as an ethicurean farmer and a mindful meatsmith. Tammi, her husband Stuart and their three children, own Jonai Farms, where they raise pastured rare-breed large black pigs and a small herd of cattle, just outside Daylseford in Victoria.

They started their farming life in May 2011, when they left their suburban Melbourne environs behind.

In 2013 they were the first in Australia to successfully crowdfund major infrastructure for their farm, via a very successful Pozible campaign that gave them the money to construct a butcher's shop on their property. Today they do all their own butchering in the converted 40-foot refrigerated container that is now licensed as Jonai Meatsmiths.

In 2014, they successfully crowdfunded again, this time to build a commercial kitchen and curing room to make a range of farmstead salumi, as well as to turn their operation into a full nose-to-tail, no waste offering.

They have a thriving Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) membership model and limited custom orders available in their region. You can read more about it and join to ensure you have a reliable source of ethically-raised meat!

Tammi is also the President of the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance.

You can find Tammi on her website tammijonas.com or at jonaifarms.com.au.

You can connect with Tammi on twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

You can listen to this episode via the link above, on iTunes or Stitcher or via the podcast app on your smartphone.

WHAT TAMMI JONAS AND I DISCUSSED

•stopping her PhD

•productive leisure and enjoying our work

•designing your day

•moving to Australia from Oregon, USA

•US politics

•transitioning from being a vegetarian to a pig farmer to a butcher

•reading Peter Singer's Animal Liberation

•starting to eat meat after many years of being vegetarian

•deciding to become a pig farmer

•retraining as a butcher

•getting funding via Pozible campaigns

•Hand Sourced

•the rural revival

•selling via a CSA, and what a CSA is

•the Teikei principles of a CSA

•testing their CSA model during a low supply period

•Chinese garlic

•Victorian Farmers' Market Association

•naming and shaming on social media

•what food sovereignty is and how it differs from food security

•regulatory challenges faced by small farmers

•the "salami wars"

•the criminalisation of raw milk

•dealing with the vegan...

RACHEL SMITH, UNDERSPENT

My guest this week is Rachel Smith.

Rachel is an author, blogger, speaker, story-teller, transport planner and a keen cyclist.

She has spoken at more than 200 conferences, delivered two TEDx talks and her work has appeared in international media including the BBC, ABC, SBS, Disney Channel and The Economist.

Rachel's main areas of interest are in creating cities for our modern lifestyle and spending money - or to be more precise, not spending. In 2014 she didn't buy anything new or second hand and saved 38% of her take-home salary. She wrote about this in her book Underspent.

You can listen to this episode via the link above, on iTunes or Stitcher or via the podcast app on your smartphone.You can find Rachel at www.cyclingrachelsmith.com and buy her book Underspent.

You can connect with Rachel on twitter.

If you enjoyed this podcast, I would love you to subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher or via the podcast app on your smartphone.

WHAT RACHEL SMITH AND I DISCUSSED:

•financial security

•writing a book

•a year of buying nothing new or second hand

•failing on her first attempt of having a year of not spending

•Amanda Palmer TED talk and book, The Art of Asking

•borrowing from the neighbours and friends

•waiting before you buy

•manifesting what you need

•being underspent and saving money

•the changing nature of the transport planning and engineering sectors

•being retrenched from her job and taking a redundancy

•homelessness

•shared housing when you're in your 50s because you can't afford to live alone

•tips for people who want to spend less

•keeping a budget and only spending what you have

•have a clear goal for your money

•being an urban planner

•cycling superhighways

•challenges of urban planning today

•making cities fit for our modern lifestyles

•the Thank-You brand

If you REALLY loved it, I would love you to leave me a rating and review on iTunes.