Better Than Yesterday with Osher Günsberg

Jamie Simmonds is the former Director of the Strengthening Grantham, which was the project to relocate the small Queensland town of Gratham following the statewide deadly floods in 2011.  The Grantham relocation is now regarded by industry and academics globally as the leading example of a managed retreat.

What’s a managed retreat? It’s a policy of slowly moving people and property and communities away from parts of the country that will now be unsafe to live in. Be it because they keep burning down, keep flooding, or are just now underwater because of Sea Level Rise…

In his role as director, Jamie successfully implemented an historic, Australian-first land swap process. Oversaw the creation, planning and construction of a new estate of 120 lots. Delivered the project in only 11 months, from the time of the flood event to seeing the first families moving into their new homes, a timeline that has yet to be replicated anywhere else in the world.

Jamie’s work includes advising communities on how to adapt to climate change or natural disasters, but also advocates that community mental health support is made a top priority throughout the process of a relocation.

Jamie is an American born Australian Citizen who is now based in Brisbane, Australia. Earlier this year he toured towns in the U.S. to view their relocation efforts and advise on how future efforts could be improved, an initiative that will continue as climate adaption continues to grow in urgency. Jamie has written a book about his work and it is going to be released in the first half of 2020.

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Checking in, January 10, 2020

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This week's Guest:

Dr Nick Fuller is a Leading obesity expert at University of Sydney and RPA Hospital and Creator of Interval Weight Loss.

His current position as research program leader within the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney involves working with government and industry to identify and develop cost-effective treatments for the treatment and management of obesity and related physical and mental disorders.

He’s the Bestselling Author of Interval Weight Loss and Interval Weight Loss For Life.

95% of people fail on their weight loss attempts.

Not because of a lack of willpower, but because of the biological protections left over from our time on earth as hunter gatherers. Dr Nick Fuller uses science to teach the body how to overcome these protections so a person can lose weight without the body fighting it.

It’s a great conversation that I hope you get a lot out of.

For more drnickfuller.com

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Checking in, January 3, 2020

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Briggs is an Indigenous Australian rapper, actor, comedian, and record label owner from Shepparton, Victoria. 

From his breakout album in 2009, Briggs has gone on to dominate the hip hop scene here and abroad. 

He’s released four solo albums, as well as the landmark “Reclaim Australia” with AB Original - an album that spoke volumes to the conversation about race relations in our country. 

A.B. Original were recently crowned APRA’s 2018 Songwriters of the Year and in 2017 won the ARIAs for Best Independent Release and Best Urban Album and Triple J’s J Award for Album of the Year for their album Reclaim Australia.

He’s an actor - featuring in Cleverman, Black Comedy and The Weekly - and also a highly regarded comedy writer, most notably working with Matt Groening on his series Disenchantment. 

Briggs' single “Life Is Incredible” is a shot to the gut aimed at life expectancy of Indigenous Australians compared to the rest of the population. 

Like all great artists - he performs to the top of his intelligence at all times. And as Briggs is a very, very smart man - that makes him a force of nature. 

Briggs is also a legit coffee nerd, so there’s a fair chunk of solid coffee talk at the top that will impress anyone who weighs their beans. 

@briggs on twitter and @senatorbriggs on IG to let him know you heard him here. 

Enjoy this conversation with Briggs. 

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Tanya Hennessy is a comedian, author, broadcaster and YouTube superstar.

Tanya has an incredible story to tell, and as a woman in Australian broadcasting has some excellent lessons about success when you’re up against it.

A note here at the top of the show.

Tanya wrote quite extensively in her book “Am I doing this right?” about body image.

She wrote a whole chapter on it. 

During this conversation she brings it up, and we begin to talk about it. 

I called her before this originally went out, to double and triple check to make sure that what we talked about was ok to go up on the podcast, and she assured me that it was. 

I am no stranger to body image issues - having been 112kg at one point, fat shamed by paparazzi and bullied in the press, I am well aware of what it is to be bigger in the public eye. 

My own story involves compulsive eating, portion control, and binge eating. 

So where I was coming from was a place of someone who works every day to keep on top of those compulsive behaviours, someone who tries to do the work every day around making sure what I eat is the right thing and the right amount, and someone who tries to train every day so that I am healthy and feel good in my own body.

That’s where I was standing when she and I dove into that often taboo discussion. 

It might be confronting to hear, and you might get an itchy outrage trigger finger - but I’d ask you to listen with an open ear and open heart to what the two of us were discussing and the reality of the business we both work in, and indeed the realities of health outcomes when you’re heavier. I can now officially say I’m a man that’ nearly 50 . If I don’t stay fit and watch what I eat it’s a slippery slope to blood pressure pills type 2 diabetes, erectile dysfunction and a stent in my arteries. 

So that’s where we both were really when we talked about what we talked about. I hope you can listen in the spirit of which it was conversed - that of two colleagues discussing the reality of where we work, the nature of our business and the plain facts about health. 

Tanya is snort-laugh funny, so I’d caution against drinking or eating when listening to this episode. 

If you want to let Tanya know you heard her here on the show - she’s online, mostly FB and Youtube - just search Tanya Hennessy. 

Her book is out wherever books are out. 

So you ready?

Get set for a fabulous sit down chat with Tanya Hennessy. 

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Checking in, December 20, 2019

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Johann Hari is the author of two New York Times best-selling books. 

His first, ‘Chasing the Scream: the First and Last Days of the War on Drugs’, is currently being adapted into a major Hollywood feature film, and into a non-fiction documentary series. You can search for his Ted Talk “Everything you know about addiction is wrong” online or in the show notes. 

His most recent book, ‘Lost Connections: Uncovering The Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions’ really struck a chord with me - because he describes that depression and anxiety are a less about what’s going on in your brain but more about what’s going on in your environment. 

That the causes of Anxiety and Depression while in some parts indeed genetic - environment and how we live goes a long way to affect us. 

To quote him directly: 

"If you are depressed and anxious, you are not a machine with malfunctioning parts. You are a human being with unmet needs. The only real way out of our epidemic of despair is for all of us, together, to begin to meet those human needs – for deep connection, to the things that really matter in life.”

Over the course of the book, Johann identifies nine different causes of Anxiety and Depression and offers solutions to the issues he talks about, but at the bare minimum, what he’s found over his exhaustive research is stuff we all seemed to know already:

We as humans need to feel we belong. 

We need to feel we’re good at stuff. 

We need to feel valued by others. 

We need to feel secure about the future.

We need to feel that our life and work has meaning.

Take those five things away, and it’s easy to see how you can slip off the edge of the world.

Two quick notes: 

We talk about medication in this conversation. 

Do NOT stop or change your dose of medication without talking to your doctor. We discuss the helps and hindrances of medication - and I disclose as I have done with you many times that meds saved my life, they helped me incredibly, until they didn’t. And then it was time to find a way to live without them. Then live with them again. But that is my journey and my journey alone - it was a decision made by me and my doctors together over the course of many months. 

I’ll say it again, Do NOT stop or change your dose of medication without talking to your doctor.

Also: This conversation covers issues such as severe childhood trauma, including sexual assault and violence. So if that’s a trigger for you when you hear Johann say “this is tough for me to talk about but I’ve been trying to do it more in interviews” - skip forward about ten minutes and you should emerge ok on the other side. 

I can’t thank Johann enough for being on the show. 

His new book Lost Connections is out NOW in Australia in Paperback , and I can’t recommend it enough. It’s a total game-changer. 

We did catch up over Skype and internet being what it is in my country - there’s a few glitches here and there, apologies - we can Fax Scott Morrison and ask where out information superhighway is. 

I hope the glitches don’t detract too much from your enjoyment of this superb chat - Enjoy part one of my conversation over Skype with Johann Hari. 

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Tom Nash aka @DjHookie is a DJ, promoter, speaker and quadruple amputee from Sydney Australia. 

At 19, Tom contracted severe meningococcal septicaemia which put him in a coma for three weeks, and caused the amputation of both his arms and legs.

Tom is a shining light of a human. He was heavily involved in the Sydney party scene, around when I was most definitely out and about.

I would bump into him all the time and was always fascinated watching him be able to light a cigarette with his articulated prosthetic limbs which, you guessed it – have pincers and hooks at the end of them to allow him to reach and grab for things.

He’s a truly inspirational human, I’ll let him tell the story-however don’t be surprised if you take a long hard look at your own life after listening to this man describe the joy and possibility available in life, even after something as traumatic as what happened to him.

He’s a truly inspirational man, and I’m very very grateful that he took the time to come and visit my house a little while ago.

We recorded this before Wolfgang was born, so there’s a few perspectives from me while we were still pregnant which I left in because it was interesting to listen to it back.

Hope you enjoy this conversation with Tom Nash.

LINKS

• Follow Tom (@djhookie) on Instagram 
• More from Tom on Substack
• Sign up to the Better Than Yesterday newsletter
• Watch episodes of Better Than Yesterday on YouTube
• Watch full stories recorded live at Story Club on YouTube
• Get tickets for our next Story Club show
• Get Osher's latest book "So What? Now What?" here
• Send a pic of what you're looking at to [email protected] 

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