The aim of the Health Nuts is to give people the tools and education resources to help themselves improve their own health. It’s about informing people about the simple, but better choices that they can make so that they can implement long-term changes to their health – by first changing their habits and then improving their lifestyle and thus life!

These changes do not necessarily have to be enormous. It is often the smaller things that make the difference. For example, consider a busy and stressed worker who consumes around 5 coffees a day… They wake, feeling tired and unrested so have a coffee first thing when they wake to help give them more “energy”.  By mid-morning they require something to help them concentrate so have coffee number 2 and then another at lunch because it is convenient. By 3 o’clock they’re really suffering from the constant peaks and troughs in their energy levels as the effects of caffeine aren’t quite working anymore, they didn’t rest well the night before (probably from too much caffeine in their system) so they have a couple of more coffees to get that report or assignment finished and to stay alert until 5:30pm.

They arrive home, with increased levels of cortisol (the stress hormone secreted by the body when caffeine is present) and adrenalin in their system – maybe add the drive home in peak hour traffic, and when they try to sleep at 10pm, they struggle; from the caffeine but also the due to the stress responses which have spiralled throughout the day. Again, the following day they wake feeling tired and so the cycle begins again. The solution would not necessarily be to cut out caffeine all together but to change the amount and times that it is consumed. The business would help provide tools of healthy alternatives to this, and healthy tricks to increase alertness at work as well as help wind down before bed and to reduce stress and the adrenal’s response. Simple but effective, and just one of many examples. Think of the impact that this would have over every dimension of life, including productivity at work, relationships at home, the health of the body and the clarity of the mind.

This would be a small change but something that would have enormous benefits to sleep, mood, nutrient absorption – caffeine affects this , thus one can feel more “hungry” due to a lack of nutrients being absorbed into the blood stream so overeating can occur– and an overall wellbeing.  We would firstly like to help people implement such changes, and secondly to make them sustainable so that the new choices last. Once people start to feel better from the changes we believe that they will stick with them and seek out more simple ways to improve their health because they love this new way of feeling so much.  This is just one example of a simple change creating large benefits in many aspects of life.

The business would also like to be a resource for people to constantly refer to. We have weekly “Topics of Interests” and challenges written by Physiotherapists, Exercise Physiologists, Nutritionists and other allied health professionals. These articles are stored within our Health Library that people can access and read up on a number of different topics. We have an extensive database that we can refer to – and if we don’t know, we will refer you to someone who will.

Health Nuts is not an extensive list of “do’s and don’ts” that are difficult to stick with so that people give up all together. We want to guide people to make changes to their life style habits. When people are unable stick to unrealistic fad diets or rigid ways/programs it generates feelings of guilt and decreased self worth. We want people to implement changes to their health in a positive way because we believe that choices made from here will lead to people being far more likely to continue. Then as they do they will want to make MORE new choices so that they feel even better! It is a positive outward spiral!

We provide information via our interactive website on an individual basis but we also do it on a more group-based and community level.

Group wise we work a lot in the corporate world. We go into businesses and then conduct exercise/ Pilates/ stretching/ relaxation/ stress busting classes… It is according to what the employees require; to what their postural or positional  habits are.

They are tailored specifically for those workers, for example people who work in IT – we would look at stretching the muscles at the front of the chest as they spend so much of the time with their arms in from of their body. And also the muscles at the front of their hip joint as they would be sitting for a lot fo the day. This would be different again for someone who worked on a production line and the majority of the day they were standing.- we would try and advise them on exercises that would mimic their activities of daily living.

We would also their worksite – for example looking at the workstation of an IT worker: what simple changes could we make? Again it’s often the small, simple changes which are most effective like the computer screen height or type of chair that they use.  At the end of a corporate visit we also provide a take home bag which provides a list of some of the exercises that they have just learnt in the exercise class which are tailored to them and some simple worksite exercises.  If the workers want to learn more they then have the option of making the classes permanent at their workplace, and they can occur on a weekly basis. Or they can come into our studio at…. and participate in weekly classes, which are tailored specifically to their needs.

At the group level we also conduct a “feel-good morning” where we can come into a work place, conduct a specific exercise class and then teach you to make a breakfast that is appropriate for you. We use organic ingredients where we make delicious and healthy breakfasts, followed by snacks to have later in the day. This is a wonderful way to implement change because once people have felt that feeling of being able to think clearer, work more efficiently, have more energy and then they sleep better that night they will want to continue this! We have the tools for them then to continue to implement these changes by our website supplying a full data base of where they can purchase this produce, such as organic fruit, vegetables and eggs, or how they can get this produce delivered to their home or workplace so that they have an abundance of healthy options. We also supply information for people who work on the road of places around Victoria that make healthy options. This means that the preparation is done for you and it avoids the situation of purchasing poor food when options are limited. We also sell snack-bars that can be kept in the car, desk drawer or hand bag which have the perfect balance of nutritional content.

Our website also contains a list of the organic/healthier options for eating out whether it’s for dinner or when needing to get something on the go. We have recommendations for these places and more importantly we have information on why we believe these places are best.

We also do seminars on nutrition and they give a broad over view of what options are best and why. We promote why you SHOULD eat certain foods or make certain changes rather than excluding things and leaving people with a feeling of lack or that they are missing out on something. A lot of diets for example don’t allow alcohol. By no means are we promoting alcohol but we can supply nutiritional information about it and what the business recommends and why, and then the choice can be made from there. We are not coming from an “all or nothing” view point, but looking at tweaking habits in a subtle way so that people are happy to try something else that is more beneficial for their health.

Furthermore we want people to feel relaxed, confident and involved in life. That they can participate fully in all that they enjoy and is important to them without worrying about their health. For example, if going out for dinner what choices can be made so that I can still continue to progress my health and well being and feel relaxed about it. What are some of the better choices for me to order and why? There is no invite or occasion one should have to miss out on because of concern about there health, even if sometimes you choose to leave something on your plate!

Often people realise that they’re dissatisfied with their health or it is not where they want it to begin and don’t know where to begin to improve it. So they make big plans for themselves to be at a certain point in a very short time. They may be at point A and want to be at point D. Rather than slowly taking the steps to point B and C, they skip straight to D which may be difficult for them to stick to. We want people to recognise, appreciate and celebrate that it’s often the smaller changes that make the most difference to your health, and they are more likely to be stuck to in the long term when they are gradual and sustainable. Most of the time people have feelings of guilt for NOT being at point D. We want to help, encourage and support people to get to point D but to also help people be proud of the steps that it takes to get there. Yes, we do endorse large changes where necessary, but we want people to make safe and sustainable changes AND to enjoy the journey of this. To enjoy the feeling that they have slept better, can think clearer, have less mood swings , have increased clarity. The advantages are infinite.

The business belives that energy is the source, and the currency of life and food is where the body gets this energy from.  For example, how do you feel after eating 4 tim tams compared to a fresh piece of wild salmon?

We also have an online store to purchase mats, foam rollers, ergonomic products for work and at home, ergonomic support for the car, clothing for exercise.

We have our own snack range with carefully selected ingredients. We provide information on our website as to WHY these are best, rather than using “low-fat” supermarket snacks… Low fat maybe, but high sugar also with lots off additives and little satisfaction. These snacks again are useful in times of emergency when there are no healthy options. But, we want to do the preparation work for you via our interactive web system which shows where healthy options can be purchased all over Victoria so you never need to do the Macca’s run when your options are low. And, as mentioned -  our database of where organic produce is, rated in price and what can be delivered. This includes beef, poultry and seafood. We want to make healthy options as EASY for you as the unhealthy options are.

For those people who appreciate the face to face value of seeing someone, we also conduct sessions from our home office. Here we have a variety of health professionals that you can speak with, or if required receive hands on treatment from. We have a fully equipped Pilates Studio and also a store where you can try on our clothing range or sort through our ergonomic equipment.  We have cooking monthly cooking demonstrations which includes fresh organic local produce and teaches you the healthy options. We stock a wide range of Vitamins as well as food such as The Worlds Best Cereal

We have speakers frequently come in to our office to hold talks on ways to improve your health…

We want to make change for your health as easy as we can, in a simple, inexpensive, convenient an easy way. If coming to our location is too difficult for you we will find someone who offers health solutions near you , whether it is Pilates, or stores that stock healthy produce or changes which can be implemented into your day- whatever your lifestyle. We also want to help you to continue to progress to the next stage of your health and continue to guide you on the right track.

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