I am here on my laptop while my 10 month old is eating a tiny piece of old cheese she found under the fridge. I guess that’s what being an adult is all about: deciding that your baby can eat cheese scraps while you try to learn how to use WordPress. Just like my mother did for me, and my grandmother did for her.
Before I get into a multi-generation lecture on eating old cheese, here is a little about me and why I choose naturopathy for my health and career (to heal my gut from years of old cheese scraps?).
I was raised in a huge, old Queenslander in Toowoomba, with an abundant vegetable garden and a flock of happy chickens. My parents were health-conscious and made sure we ate a varied diet. My mum was a nurse and homebirth midwife, and utilised both her background in conventional medicine, and natural medicine to grow and heal us.
In my teen years I got my first job and money… and access to Red Rooster. My late teens consisted of alcohol, partying and late nights, followed by early mornings and long days at my managerial job in retail. And so the spiral went. Lack of sleep and poor nutrition was having an affect on me I wasn’t yet aware of. Through my 20s my skin was breaking out, I became overweight and was frequently sick. I had dandruff, a huge list of gastrointestinal complaints and periods that were unbearably painful. At 22 I got Ross River Fever, and could barely get out of bed. My health was spiralling.
I had been going to so many doctors, but no one seemed to be able to get to the root cause of why I was so fatigued, depressed, overweight, with skin that just would not quit (not in a good way).
At 26 years old, I was at the end of my tether when a good friend recommended I went to see her Naturopath. They took a super thorough health history and connected the dots of diet, lifestyle and my previous health complaints. Here she created a super simple, wholefoods diet plan, and prescribed a herbal formula.
This naturopath changed my life. I cannot overstate how much of an impact this amazing woman had on me. My skin cleared up, my energy returned, and I was feeling radiant for the first time in years. I ranted about my naturopath to anyone that would listen. Within a year I was at Endeavour College to study a naturopathy degree so I could help people in the same way she helped me.
What I’ve learned in the subsequent 7 years of study was the huge range of ways naturopathy can be life changing, and how treating the root cause of an issue is the only way to resolve it. Just giving paracetamol for period pain doesn’t solve the reason why the pain is there, and treating the underlying hormonal dysregulation is the long-term solution.
One of the foundations of naturopathy is “Doctor as teacher”, meaning that I don’t just hand my clients a herbal and dietary prescription, I teach them why their health is disrupted, exactly how to get back on a path to health, and why these herbs will help them. Most importantly, how to achieve real change and not be on a prescription forever.
This brings me to the present day, a fruitful, happy life lived with intention and meaning, with a real excitement to help others.
Averil Naturopathics 