Non-Diet Naturopath

What happens when you combine diet culture with MLM essential oil giants doTERRA and Young Living? Disordered eating, poor body image, and a burnt gullet. The practice of ingesting essential oils has been a wellness trend for the last few years thanks to essential oil MLMs. But most qualified aromatherapists and herbalists warn against it. Why the discrepancy? Let's spill the oil.

Access the FULL episode by becoming a Patreon for as little as $2 US a month at https://www.patreon.com/nondietyogi

SHOW NOTES for the full episode:

The first time I encountered essential oil ingestion at a Young Living meeting
The rise of mass essential oil ingestion
Essential oils are not the "essence" of a plant
Types of herbal medicine preparations and how they compare to essential oils
Can essential oil ingestion be therapeutic?
The three problems with essential oil ingestion
When diet culture and essential oil ingestion combine: doTERRA Slim & Sassy® and Young Living Slique®
Poisonings on the rise
Is CPTG (Certified Pure Tested Grade) really better than organic?


LINKS:
Support the pod! BONUS episodes and exclusive goodies for subscribers:
https://www.patreon.com/nondietyogi

Funky Forest Health & Wellbeing - online non-diet nutrition consulting services and in-person yoga classes
https://www.funkyforest.com.au

Grab your copy of my free e-book The Modern Yogi's BS-Free Guide to Wellbeing!
https://www.funkyforest.com.au/a-modern-yogis-bs-free-guide-to-wellbeing.html

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/funkyforesthealth

Instagram:
@nondietyogi    https://www.instagram.com/nondietyogi/
@funky.forest.health    https://www.instagram.com/funky.forest.health/

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Yes, we can hold both conventional and natural medicine in the same hand. Yes, we can work with traditional wisdom philosophies, whilst using modern science to provide cognitive inoculation against COVID disinformation. And we can do it all whilst staying heart-centred. Salvatore Battaglia, founder of Perfect Potion speaks about true integrative medicine in the time of the pandemic.

SHOW NOTES:

10:10    Sal’s journey from electrical engineer to aromatherapist, and how martial arts brought him to traditional Chinese medicine
17:16    How Sal integrates traditional wisdom with modern science
22:25    Holism in aromatherapy and the demand for standardisation
23:50    How neurobiology and neurotheology help us understand how aromatherapy affects us at a subtle level
25:45    The role of holistic health practitioners during the pandemic
28:47    Using essential oils, taking herbs, and getting vaccinated can all go together
29:33    Vaccination as a holistic approach to building acquired immunity
30:00    Understanding vaccine hesitancy
37:00    Providing cognitive inoculation against COVID disinformation whilst maintaining compassion
39:00    The psychological and spiritual aspects of healing
44:01    Vaccine mandates vs. taking the time to invite people into a conversation
46:33    MLM essential oil COVID claims
53:00    Important differences between essential oils and herbal medicine preparations
56:55    Aromatherapy, anosmia and COVID-19
1:00:03    The misappropriation of indigenous knowledge and shamanic practices within the holistic health and yoga communities 
1:06:00    Yoga, Jung, Freud and holistic spirituality
1:08:12    Lessons from Julian of Norwich, a 14th century female mystic who lived during a pandemic 

RESOURCES mentioned:

Sal's webinar on Julian of Norwich: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwnE5XC3ue4&t=2660s
The Complete Guide to Aromatherapy Third Edition Vol III - Psyche & Subtle: https://salvatorebattaglia.com.au/books

LINKS:
Support the pod! BONUS episodes and exclusive goodies for subscribers:
https://www.patreon.com/nondietyogi

Sal's website: https://salvatorebattaglia.com.au/
Sal's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/salbattagliablog
Sal's Instagram: @salbattagliaaroma https://www.instagram.com/salbattagliaaroma/
Perfect Potion on Instagram: @perfectpotion https://www.instagram.com/perfectpotion/

Casey's website: https://www.funkyforest.com.au
Casey's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/funkyforesthealth
Casey's Instagram: @funky.forest.health    https://www.instagram.com/funky.forest.health/

Non-Diet Yogi Instagram: @nondietyogi    https://www.instagram.com/nondietyogi/

Grab your copy of my free e-book The Modern Yogi's BS-Free Guide to Wellbeing!
https://www.funkyforest.com.au/a-modern-yogis-bs-free-guide-to-wellbeing.html

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Working amongst wellness and yoga circles, and living in a permaculture eco village that draws many alternative lifestyle-seeking fringe dwellers, I'm embedded within multiple vaccine hesitant communities. Navigating both my personal stance and my role as a holistic health practitioner within this intersection has been a growth-inducing and revelatory process.

Access the FULL episode by becoming a Patreon for as little as $2 US a month at https://www.patreon.com/nondietyogi

SHOW NOTES for the full episode:

• Fear and loathing: the reasons why people are vaccine hesitant
• My original vaccine hesitancy and how I came to my current stance on COVID 
• What “doing your research” means to me
• Love, light, and care for community: figments of the hippy imaginarium?
• On dealing with the social anxiety of being attacked for my viewpoints
• Science denial or poor accessibility? Other reasons why people don't get vaccinated
• The perception of holistic health practitioners as anti-vaxx

LINKS:
Support the pod! BONUS episodes and exclusive goodies for subscribers:
https://www.patreon.com/nondietyogi

Funky Forest Health & Wellbeing - online non-diet nutrition consulting services and in-person yoga classes
https://www.funkyforest.com.au

Grab your copy of my free e-book The Modern Yogi's BS-Free Guide to Wellbeing!
https://www.funkyforest.com.au/a-modern-yogis-bs-free-guide-to-wellbeing.html

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/funkyforesthealth

Instagram:
@nondietyogi    https://www.instagram.com/nondietyogi/
@funky.forest.health    https://www.instagram.com/funky.forest.health/

Support the show

In this episode I share why this podcast went quiet in the past year. I discuss divorce, compassion & critical thinking, and working as a holistic health practitioner in communities burdened by COVID misinformation. It contains a lot of personal details and reflections. If that's not your thing, no worries - scroll on.

SHOW NOTES:

02:30     On being a "muscles and bones" yoga teacher instead of a philosophising one
05:40     Prajna and critical analysis as ways of inner knowing
11:33   The place of compassion in reducing COVID transmission
16:13    Moving through separation and divorce
18:40    Career changes to make ends meet
21:20    Working as a holistic health practitioner in communities burdened by COVID conspiracy theory and medical misinformation
26:14    Vaccines and naturopathic medicine principles
31:32    The value of combining compassion with analytical reasoning 
42:37    How this podcast will evolve

LINKS:
Support the pod! BONUS episodes and exclusive goodies for subscribers:
https://www.patreon.com/nondietyogi

Funky Forest Health & Wellbeing - online non-diet nutrition consulting services and in-person yoga classes
https://www.funkyforest.com.au

Grab your copy of my free e-book The Modern Yogi's BS-Free Guide to Wellbeing!
https://www.funkyforest.com.au/a-modern-yogis-bs-free-guide-to-wellbeing.html

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/funkyforesthealth

Instagram:
@nondietyogi    https://www.instagram.com/nondietyogi/
@funky.forest.health    https://www.instagram.com/funky.forest.health/

RESOURCES MENTIONED:
Dr. Dan Wilson, PhD: A compassionate case for COVID vaccination:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-KdEgh4Ps8

Max Cohen, ND: Are vaccines consistent with naturopathic medicine?
https://ndsforvaccines.com/reconciling-the-irreconcilable-are-vaccines-consistent-with-naturopathic-medicine/

Pennycook, Gordon. (2019). Who falls for fake news? The roles of bullshit receptivity, overclaiming, familiarity, and analytic thinking. Journal of Personality. 88. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jopy.12476

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Restrictive eating is a major pain, especially when it causes you to lose your period. Hypothalamic Amenorrhoea (HA) leads to infertility but also a bunch of other lesser known issues. Anti-diet naturopath Phoebe Jobson and I talk all things HA - a condition close to both our hearts as we each have experienced and recovered from this condition.

In this episode:

• What is HA? Plus some signs, symptoms, and accompanying issues (short and long term)
• All about the food piece – how much, how often, and whether calorie counting to ensure minimum intakes helps or hinders (hint: it depends!)
• Why potatoes are not the devil (and carbs may actually be your secret weapon)
• Guidelines on exercise in HA recovery
• Why rest rocks
• The importance of seeing a psychologist / psychotherapist / counsellor as part of your team 
• Tips on dealing with diet mentality and diet culture 
• Busting some common HA myths
• Partial vs full recovery
• The problem with skipping the nutritional rehabilitation part of healing from HA and jumping straight to herbs, fertility medications and/or injectables
• Body appreciation

Links:
Phoebe's Website, Instagram & Facebook

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For our collective liberation, it is crucial that our wellness practices go beyond the mainstream representation of individualised, material self-care. Laura Jean, APD talks about community care as a form of self-care that creates space for everyone, including marginalised and oppressed people.

In this episode:

• The "epiphany moment" book that turned both of us onto the non-diet path
• Self-care is an act of liberation, especially for oppressed and marginalised groups of people
• Unshackling ourselves from patriarchal ideas of what it is to be a "good mother"
• Differentiating commodified wellness from community care as accessible, equitable self-care
• "Who benefits?" and "What feels nourishing?" as ways of questioning self-care practices 
• Why emotional and comfort eating are not “bad”
• Food is much more than medicine
• The radical, feminist roots of self-care
• How white supremacy shows up for health practitioners
• Investigating needs, values based living, and self-compassion

Links:
Laura's Website, Instagram & Facebook

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Did you know that many far-flung ‘superfoods’ carry a heavy environmental and social footprint?

In this episode:

• WTF is a superfood? (and some brief thoughts on Juice Plus+)
• Rarity breeds desire
• Issues around the sustainable harvesting of quinoa
• Yogis, food and karma
• Cost-effective alternatives to exotic $$$ superfoods

Links:
​Ep 15: Wellness Capitalism: Essential Oil MLMs, Whitewashed Herbalism, and "Naturopreneurs" with Katya Weiss-Andersson
Ep 11. Wildly Accessible Food & Medicine: Foraging Edible Weeds & Bush Foods with Pat Collins
Original article this episode is based on

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It's time we explored capitalism in it’s indiscriminately elderberry syrup guzzling, MLM essential oil dowsed, $400 supplement protocol pushing form: Wellness Capitalism. 

In this episode:

• The value of healthy skepticism, and where Katya's comes from
• How capitalism takes holistic healthcare - which was traditionally accessible, deeply contextual and collectively empowering - and warps this to make it inaccessible, commodified and whitewashed
• The trouble with smudging
• Cultivating a relationship with the plants you use in your healing
• Essential oils: would a simple tea do? Plus oral ingestion, COVID "cures", and MLMs
• One-size-fits-all herbalism versus constitutional herbal traditions such as Ayurveda and TCM
• Over harvesting of medicinal herbs and "superfoods"
• "Naturopreneurs", supplement-heavy protocols, and Tony Robbins
• Disease mongering in holistic wellness
• Finding a practitioner who will help, not harm
• Katya's recovery from anorexia nervosa and PTSD, and how lived experiences with disordered eating can make us better practitioners
• Astrology, tarot and the truth about cusps!

Links:
Katya's website, Instagram, and her podcasts: Kumbaya Confessional and Queer Wellness
The Dream: a podcast exposing the dangers of multi-level marketing
Food Empowerment Project: a resource to help others recognise the power of their food choices

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There has been a phenomenal uptick of rising yoga and wellness influencers posting anti-racism sentiments on social media. Yet in stark contrast to the important message of bringing light to police brutality against BIPOC, or tackling underrepresentation of coloured folks in wellness spaces, these feeds are filled with white, thin, able-bodied, cis-het women striking yoga poses on beaches. Are these influencers for real?

In this episode:

• The current phenomenon of performative activism in yoga social media, and why it comes across as disingenuous
• How white yoga and wellness influencers can leverage their privilege to do better
• My personal experiences of racism growing up, how these pale in comparison to those of BIPOC, and how I'm responding to racial injustice
• The damage done by sentiments like, “No One Is Superior”, "We Are All One", or "I Don't See Colour"
• Spiritual capitalism and the ways white supremacy manifests in real-life white yoga studio culture
• 3 tactics of defence and dismissal used by white wellness influencers to deflect accountability around racism
• People who are doing excellent work in allyship, de-centering themselves, raising the voices of BIPOC, and/or speaking out as BIPOC wellness and yoga influencers themselves

Resources mentioned:

• Dianne Bondy on challenging racism and spiritual bypassing, on the triyoga podcast
• Acknowledgment of Country by Georgia Mae Capocchi-Hunter
• Casey's article on The Spiritual, Sexy, Successful Woman Ideal
• Transcript of this episode with links to posts mentioned
• Yoga is Dead podcast

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There is a lack of representation of women aged 40+ in fitness. Rachelle Ballard-Clayton is shifting that pattern by basing her approach to training womxn on their shifting internal landscape and cyclical patterns.

In this episode:

• A little pre-interview solo ramble on systemic racism and unrecognised privilege in yoga/wellness/spirituality worlds
• Training womxn and running a fitness business, without body transformations or weight loss challenges (!)
• The importance of strength training – as opposed to just cardio and yoga - for womxn, especially those over 30 years of age
• Movement and the menstrual cycle: adapting your training to the hormonal fluctuations of one’s menstrual cycle - or mood cycle for peri-menopausal womxn
• What movement might look like for a midlife womxn 
• Why we might find ourselves at this stage of life feeling less likely to move, more burnt out than ever and what we can do about that
• Throwing all expectations of what we should be doing out the window
• Understanding what our bodies are doing by tracking cycles
• How to work with and not against your body 
• Why some weight gain around menopause is normal and protective
• “Focus on what you can do, and understand YOU better”

PLUS, some post interview-thoughts on:

• Rites of Passage in womxn’s lives, also known as the blood mysteries – menarche, childbirth, menopause
• The phenomenal benefits womxn get from strength training
• Better indicators of fitness than six pack or how lean you are
• “Does weight training make you bulky?” 
• #YogaEveryDamnDay – with no other form of movement - is non-sensical
• What yoga is missing that strength training can provide
• What my own personal movement practice looks like

Rachelle’s Bio: Rachelle Ballard-Clayton owns MEE Active a Womxn’s health and movement coaching practice on the Gold Coast, Australia and delivers her programs worldwide. She creates a safe space for midlife womxn to step off the sidelines & connect deeply with their mind & body.

Resources mentioned:
Wild Power by Alexandra Pope
The Optimised Woman by Miranda Grey
The work of Jane Hardwicke-Collings

Casey's articles on why strength training is especially helpful for breastfeeding women: https://www.funkyforest.com.au/blog/breastfeeding-and-barbells

https://www.funkyforest.com.au/blog/youre-a-yogi-why-the-eff-are-you-powerlifting

Will Lifting Weights Make Me Bulky?
https://www.girlsgonestrong.com/blog/articles/heavy-bulky/

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