The Best of Health

The finale of Season 4 with special guest Dr Fiona McCulloch ND features an in depth conversation around PCOS and diagnosis - this is a must-listen for all nutritionists and functional medicine practitioners!

As a woman with PCOS Fiona is passionate about health education and advocacy for women with PCOS, and serves on the medical advisory committee of the PCOS Awareness Association and as an expert on IVF.ca. She is also a medical advisor to Open Source Health and frequently lectures to professionals at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine.

Fiona gives us a unique insight to the PCOS updated diagnostic criteria and practice guidelines as well as her own experience of supporting diagnosis with adolescents and adults.

This week my guest is the impressive Henrietta Norton: nutritional therapist, author of the best selling book: Take Control of Your Endometriosis, founder of visionary food supplement brand - Wild Nutrition, and I’m very lucky to not only count Hen as a colleague but also a friend. 

I couldn’t invite Hen back on the podcast without asking her to share more about her Food-Grown® supplements - which have revolutionised the supplement industry for the better…. We discuss the groundbreaking Perimenopause Report that Hen wrote to change the way our daughters experience perimenopause and this theme continues  throughout the episode discussing perimenopause symptoms and support, the challenges of managing perimenopause as a woman, the importance of education, the art of listening to our bodies, the value of rest in regulating our nervous system.

There are so many wonderful golden nuggets within this podcast episode and Hen is a dream to talk with and so inspiring to listen to.

Have you heard of spermadine?

If not (and even if you have 😉) this week’s podcast episode should be a real educational delight for you. I had the absolute pleasure of speaking with @lesliesnewprime an Oxford-based entrepreneur born in California and a graduate of Berkeley and Harvard Business School. Leslie is founder of Oxford Healthspan, a Longevity Expert with plenty of life experience and evidence-based science as her basis.

Leslie shares her personal story of a diagnosis of an array of autoimmune conditions in the 30’s (lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and hypothyroidism) drove to the reject the dire prognosis and instead immersed herself in studying with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition on a quest for a more holistic solution. 

Leslie shares how her specialist interest in spermadine and it’s use in her own journey to wellbeing, developing her brand of spermadine / Primeadine® as well as diving into how our body makes it, and get it from our diet and how it increases longevity and results she’s seen when embraced by women from perimenopause into menopause.

Another incredible podcast episode ready for your listening pleasure this week - Lara Briden was so generous to gift me an hour of her time to talk about metabolism with women in perimenopause and through menopause.

We discuss what effects metabolism - from genetics and weight resistance, to the impact of epigenetics, the relationship of oestrogen therapy and insulin resistance, and how evolutionary mismatch means modern women approaching menopause are not recalibrating our metabolism like our ancestors. 

Lara is a dream to listen to - she effortlessly describes the influence of oestrogen on satiety, what metabolic inflexibility is and provides a really logical approach to the latest intermittent fasting craze.

I honestly cannot recommend this episode enough for practitioners and anyone who was interested in Lara & Nicky Keay’s talk last year.

Back in Season 3 of The Best of Health podcast, I had the first opportunity to feature Dr Mandy Leonhardt in an episode and our friendship and professional relationship has flourished since. 

I was honoured to have Mandy join me on the expert panel at my womens health masterclass last year and I couldn’t help but ask her back on the pod to develop further into understanding POI - Premature Ovarian Insufficiency.

POI is such a hugely complex health condition and women are significantly underserved and dismissed by our existing health system. Mandy’s expertise in POI shines through in this episode and One little golden nugget Mandy leaves with us is if a young woman has a gap of 4 months or more between periods, this need expert health support and investigation. She passionately explains POI, the importance of testing and diagnosis and also the challenges of women with POI getting the right treatment, throughout their life stages. 

We also steer our conversation towards about PCOS and surgical menopause and discuss the reality of PMDD affecting 5% of women and what is happening with chemicals in the brain in women with this mental health condition. 

Plus Mandy gives us a little exclusive to her new book coming out in summer 2024, focusing on hormones, skin and hair.

Ann Marie McQueen is a journalist with over 30 years experience, including reporting on  complementary and mainstream health care including covering the early days of marijuana law reform, holistic and alternative treatments, transgender issues and abortion rights in North America. 

Ann Marie shares how her own experience of perimenopause led her to delve into researching clinical studies, treatments, products, guidance in the perimenopause - menopause transition space and the dire lack of relevant content led her to launch Hotflash Inc in June 2020.

In this episode we discuss women’s denial of the approach of perimenopause / menopause and the growing conversation in society around women’s health and the more natural approach to the journey of perimenopause to menopause. Ann Marie also shares her own take on GP support, HRT and GP dosing and most importantly - how to present the facts to women who are in such need of making informed decisions about their health. 

As always, grab a cuppa, or pop on your walking shoes and join me on your podcast platform of choice and drop a comment to share any snippets that particularly resonated with you.

This week on the pod, I’m joined by a dear friend and colleague Dawn Waldron. Dawn is a qualified nutritional therapist and a nutrigenomic expert. Dawn is unique - one of the first K nutritional therapists who specialised in cancer, with over 26 years of knowledge and experience.

In this episode we of course delve into what drove Dawn into the specialism of nutrition and cancer - firstly her own experience of breast cancer and later, how a diagnosis of precancer on her tongue lead her interest into nutrigenomics.

We discuss how cancer impacts women and methylation and how Dawn supports clients through treatment and building longevity post-cancer. We discuss some of the nutrients that we know are absolutely critical for anyone with a cancer diagnosis and how identifying any genetic SNPs can help us map out and identify commonality in different cancer presentations. Dawn also shares with us her amazing concept of the “Power Journey” - to rebuild back to health after a cancer diagnosis, chemotherapy treatment and the aftermath.

I could honestly talk to Dawn all day long - this is a brilliant episode for practitioners and also anyone with an interest in nutrition, nutrigenomics and cancer.  As always, take a listen on your podcast platform of choice and drop a comment to share any snippets that particularly resonated with you.

This week, I’m joined by Robyn Puglia and I’m sure for the majority of you Robyn needs little introduction - Robyn is a Clinical Nutritionist and IFM Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner with a specialism in autoimmunity.

We of course delve into autoimmunity and why in particular it impacts millions of women, why it appears to be on the rise, affecting 20% of the population and the underlying factors - our triad of: genetic predisposition, immune system dysregulation and environmental triggers.

It’s no surprise that Robyn is a published author - listening to her mix of passion, and incredible knowledge is absolutely captivating. Robyn generously talks us through her fabulous concept of immunological lasagne and shares her thoughts on gender bias in autoimmunity medical research and continued misogyny in women’s health care.

Robyn also fabulously naturally weaves in references to one of my all time favourite films - Love Actually and calls out the pioneers or “Taylor Swift’s” in women who are standing up, shouting out and leading the charge for better proactive healthcare for women. AND calls out the podcast as a love letter to those who are striving for answers or those championing for a better way to help women with their health 💌 

Robyn is running a practitioner mentoring programme, commencing  in January 2024 - head over to her website to find out all  the details. 

This is a really powerful episode - if you’re a practitioner and in need of an inspiring pick me up, you need to listen to this. As always, take a listen and drop me a comment to let me know if you enjoyed the episode as much as I did recording it.

Dr Ghazala Aziz-Scott studied Medicine at Cambridge University and graduated with a Masters in Neuroscience, Medical Ethics and Law. She has been an experienced senior GP in a large NHS partnership in West London for over two decades but is now dedicating her career to Functional Medicine and the use of bioidentical hormones to provide an expertise in integrative women’s health.

Ghazala led her career into integrative women’s health and bioidentical hormones and gives us a unique insight to a GP prescribing HRT to women. 

We are also joined by leading Pharmacist Rizvan Batha who beautifully explains so many concepts like the difference between bioidentical, body identical and compounded hormones and introduces the wonderful concept of hormone restoration.

This really is another must listen episode for any women trying to fully understand the options of HRT. 

Each season of The Best of Health podcast, I have a wish list of professionals that I hold in high regard and would absolutely love to speak to. So when Prof Jerilynn C Prior agreed to join me on the pod for an episode I was beyond thrilled and in all honesty, a little nervous too!

Jerilynn C. Prior has over forty years life experience as an Endocrinology Professor.  In 2002 she founded The Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research, studying the physical and psychological causes and effects of ovulation disturbances on women’s overall health. The centre also publishes scientific results and disseminates information directly to women.

This episode is a must listen to - for any women’s health clinical practitioner and for anyone with a keen interest in women’s health and ovulation through the life cycle. The episode has had a profound impact on me - Jerilynn was so generous with her time as she has been throughout her professional career - bravely standing up and a beacon for  women’s health. 

I am fully committed to supporting the Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research - it’s a not-for-profit and the foundations that Jerilynn has established need to continue beyond her retirement. If you can support the centre through any charitable donations, please do: https://www.cemcor.ubc.ca/

Available to listen from most podcast platforms - take a listen and drop me a comment if you have found this episode as fascinating as I did.

First up in this season I welcome back my fabulous colleague Dr Nicky Keay to talk about the demystifying education around the menstrual cycle, specifically in the age group of teens and young women.

We both share such a passion about improving education with this age group about the menstrual cycle. We touch upon everything from the changing age of menarche, the health benefits of the menstrual cycle, peak bone mass, the impact of the oral contraception pill and how nutrition impacts our hormones.

Nicky has a captivating way of talking about women’s hormones - grab a cuppa and tune in via wherever you listen to your podcasts [search The Best of Health] and I also highly recommend Nicky’s book “Hormones, Health and Human Potential” if you want to delve deeper into the topic.

My last podcast episode of season 3 is the incredible Lara Briden - it was like Christmas come early spending an hour speaking with her and I’m so grateful for her time.

If you’ve not discovered Lara before, this is an incredible introduction to her natural ease of explaining perimenopause, menopause, HRT, metabolic flexibility, insulin resistance and so much more. But overall she gives the gift of hope - for all women going through perimenopause, there is so much you can do to overcome symptoms and to excel as you enter menopause and the next stage of life.

One of the many inspiring speakers at the Integrative and Personalised Medicine conference this year was Patrick Holden, Founding Director and Chief Executive of the Sustainable Food Trust. Patrick’s session really resonated with me as he shared his passion about the application of Nature’s principles of Harmony to food and farming.

I am thrilled that Patrick agreed to join me in a podcast this season to discuss why our food system is in desperate need of reform.

With nearly 50 years of farming experience, Holden Farm Dairy is now the longest established organic dairy farm in West Wales. As well as being hands-on at the farm, his role at the Sustainable Food Trust works towards accelerating the transition towards more sustainable food systems and influencing government policy - he only recently returned from COP27.

I’m so grateful to Patrick for his time to talk about how sustainable food systems directly impact our health - there's plenty that we can all learn and do to support sustainability.

This week’s podcast has been a long time in the planning so I am absolutely delighted to finally share with you my podcast episode with Dr Toral Shah.

We discuss how interactions between genes & environment impact both the risk of developing cancer and the intersection with social determinants of health. Toral talks about her own family’s personal cancer experience frankly, to help educate people about epigenetics and cancer. She also shares how stress is a major risk factor and we touch upon how personalising nutrition and lifestyle advice can be a huge support to your body to reduce the risk of cancer but also through perimenopause.

This week on the podcast I was delighted to speak to Dr Victoria Sampson, a dentist and scientist (shortlisted as one of the most promising young scientists in Europe for Forbes under 30💥) to talk about the second most diverse microbiome in our body that been largely ignored - the oral microbiome.

Victoria helps shed a light on this wonderful microbiome and is really fascinating with you consider that the teeth are the only non-shedding surface in the body, so it’s a really unique environment when you also consider the amount of things that are now in our mouths beyond food and drink - like braces, invisaline, fillings, crowns.

The mouth is the gateway to gastro-intestinal tract, so if there is an imbalance in the oral microbiome there are systemic body-wide implications. We discuss everything around the oral microbiome including implications of an oral microbiome imbalance on men and women’s fertility, to the topic of fluoride and also the importance of brushing and flossing!

As always, I could have chatted and listened to Victoria all day - this episode is packed full of gems for anyone interested in their optimal health.

This podcast episode was a huge eye-opener for me and features Dr Emma Ping, an accredited registered member of The British Menopause Society who is passionate about offering women holistic, patient-centred, bespoke advice and support and another passionate believer that it’s never too late start improving your life.

Dr Ping reached out to me to generously share her specialist knowledge in ADHD (attention deficit hyperactive disorder) and her particular interest in women and how hormones influence ADHD symptoms.

I found this episode a huge education and a really fascinating guided expert insight into women’s health, the neurodivergent brain, and the connection between female hormones and ADHD.

Find out more about Dr Ping and Menopause Care Clinic here: https://menopausecare.co.uk/dipl-team-member/associate-dr-emma-ping/ 

This week’s podcast episode features immunologist Jenna Macciochi and we delve in exploring the part our immune system plays in ageing well.

The Immune System is a part of the body that we have all become acute more aware of in the last 2 years so I was thrilled to get Jenna on the podcast as the queen of the immune system to explain the many different facets to this beautiful system and how environmental factors like stress impact it as well as her thoughts on supporting immune functionality.

It was such a wonderful conversation, we discussed as working mothers ourselves the personal experience we both have encountered with the natural changes to our hormone levels on immune system and wider health as a whole!

It’s a fabulous episode for anyone with an interest in looking after your immune health through all life stages.

If you’ve been listening to my podcast since season one then today’s guest will be a familiar voice… I had the joy of spending an hour with my wonderful friend and professional colleague Emma Beswick from @LifeCodeGx

Emma and I discuss metabolism and how nutrigenomics profiling can give a truly unique insight to how you generate and use energy, as it relates to weight loss and weight management, energy for optional brain health, and summarise the involvement and usefulness of sirtuins in anti-ageing interventions….. It’s fascinating folks ….. The next frontier of  truly understanding and navigating YOUR metabolism as we age is here!

Joining me on the podcast mic this week was not just one but two incredible women who are so passionate about supporting and educating women through menopause. So much so, that they together wrote a book about it!

This weeks episode features Dr Mandy Leonhardt & Dr Hannah Short who co-authored The Complete Guide to Premature Ovarian Insufficiency and Early Menopause.

Early menopause is so poorly understood, not just by the general public but indeed healthcare providers and policy makers so this this episode we discuss everything from understanding what exactly induced menopause (medical and surgical) is and Premature Ovarian Insufficiency, the differences and tests / investigations that can be used to confirm or rule out as well as support for women including HRT options.

In season three, I am shining a spotlight on longevity, anti-ageing & ageing well in relation to women's health.  

The topics I will be discussing will range, literally, from head to toe - discussing brain health, metabolic flexibility, nutrigenomics, hormones and neurotransmitters, microbiomes and environmental factors.  My conversations with leading experts will tap into a deep well of knowledge and uncover an array of clinical pearls, to be an illuminating and helpful support on each listener’s personal health journey.

This is the final episode of season two and a fantastic episode that everyone can benefit from listening to.... This week my guest is the incredible Dr Tina Peers, who joins me to talk about how her own daughter's health led to her on a crusade to get the root cause of her issues. Dr Peers wonderfully explains what histamine is and what happens when we have too much what can go wrong.

Trained as a GP and more recently focusing on menopause, Dr Peers provides a wonderful explanation of the interplay between the immune system and the endocrine system. 

And if you're interested in long-covid and treatment - this is the episode for you. Dr Peers talks about long covid prevention and treatment and how her own quest to find appropriate treatment for clients drove a national campaign to collect information and share evidence-based practice for long-covid treatment clinics. 

Supporting our young girls and women through adolescence is such an important role and the best place to start is understanding what's happening in their body. I am delighted to have the wonderful Lorna Driver-Davies join me on the podcast to focus on exactly this and her specialist area of support Nutritional Therapy, Functional Medicine & Naturopathy. We start with the basics: understanding what is happening to our young girls and the key vitamins and minerals we should be mindful of when girls start their menstrual cycle. We also discuss the teenage microbiome, what's important to consider if young people are choosing  vegetarianism / veganism, the importance of teenagers getting complex carbs, and of course nutrition for teenage skin. 

This is a fabulous discussion for anyone but especially any parents of young people!

I couldn't resist to ask the lovely Emma Beswick from LifecodeGx back on the podcast for another episode to delve into epigenetics and women's health. In this episode Emma talks about how your behaviours and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work. We discuss her wonderful Female Health Hormone panel that helps us understand how women are “set up” to produce, receive and clear oestrogen and progesterone, and the benefits of this panel specifically for women at perimenopause / menopause life stages who are at the cross-road of considering HRT. Plus if that isn't enough, we also discuss an amazing metabolite ALLO that has anti anxiety effects and new genes on LifecodeGx reporting that help us in this area.

This weeks episode focuses all on fertility with wonderful expertise shared by the delightful a Nutritional Therapist who focuses specifically on fertility. Sandra explains the importance of nutrition and how it can impact fertility and optimum conditions for conception including plenty of tips about managing stress and essential nutrients.  

Robyn Puglia is a wonderful friend and colleague who trained in functional medicine the same time as me many years ago. Robyn and & reunite our passion for women's health in this episode discussing everything relating to autoimmunity and women's health. Robyn's own journey to understanding her autoimmune condition is an incredible and inspiring story and she explains the immune system with so many illustrative analogies. Another fabulous episode with golden nuggets of information for you to take away & I hope you agree. 

I enjoyed the podcast episode with Dr Nicky Keay so much last season that I had to invite her back, this time to focus specifically on the endocrine system and shining a light on the menstrual cycle - absolutely essential for all women!

This episode really hones in on understanding the menstrual cycle, how the hormones in our body adjust throughout the system and nutrients to support us each month. Dr Keay also so eloquently explains what’s happening in women’s bodies in relation to endometriosis and PCOS, including the clinical testing that’s involved for a true diagnosis.

I recommend this episode highly for women who notice irregularities with their menstrual cycle, a good starting point to understanding what going on in your body.

In this week's episode I talk to Debbie Cotton about everything relating to the vaginal microbiome. Debbie explains the concept of microbiome so easily and goes on to explain what a 'normal' microbiome would be and what happens in a case of dysbiosis. Debbie's depth of knowledge goes even further explaining how particular testing can help identify and imbalances and also support making healthier choices for an optimal environment and how proboitics can support the optimal health of the vagina. 

Welcome back to the Best of Health podcast! This season is all about Women's Health uncovered and for the opening episode I am joined by my dear friend and professional colleague Tracey Randell. We talk about the role SIBO and histamine play with our hormones and is a hugely insightful discussion for any woman peri or menopausal. Grab a cuppa and your headphones, it's a brilliant episode to kickstart the season packed full of information. 

Welcome back to the Best of Health podcast. Season two brings another group of inspirational and enlightening leading professionals to share their expertise with you. Get ready to tap into a deep well of knowledge and discover an array of clinical pearls, for illuminating and helpful support on your personal health journey.

The final episode of Season 1 of The Best of Health podcast. And no one better to finish with than my lovely colleague Emma Beswick. As two self confessed geeks - we have a wonderful conversation about nutrition and genetics. Emma explains the concept of nutrigenomics and illustrates it perfectly through Vitamin D and Histamine as examples. We also talk about the impact of stress on our body and how her company Lifecode Gx is helping people to get the root of health issues within our control.

I recently was introduced to Dr Nicky Keay, the Chief Medical Officer at Forth with Life and as soon as I realised her speciality and passion for female hormones I had to ask her on the podcast.

Dr Keay is a lecturer, endocrinologist, research fellow with extensive experience in the field of hormones and is also a passionate dancer!

This episode of the podcast is really special and flows so naturally from reflecting on women’s menstrual cycles, hormones and optimal health, perimenopause and the importance of exercise reviewing your lifestyle during this lifephase. We also touch upon the impact of the oral contraceptive pill on hormones, and how Forth’s female hormone mapping works, so women can navigate the fluctuations of their hormones for a better understanding of their body.

Fertility and nutrition is a really hot topic, especially if you are a woman of a certain age trying to conceive… This week’s podcast features one of the best Nutritionists specialising in fertility, IVF and pregnancy - the lovely Melanie Brown.

I have known Melanie for such a long time and we so naturally fell into a conversation about how nutrition plays a key role in the health of our reproductive system. We talk about terminology used around women’s health, her top tips for nutrition when trying to conceive, managing PCOS and the difference between folic acid and folate.

This week’s episode is another bumper issue, so easy to listen to with great practical tips.

This week on the podcast I had a wonderfully insightful conversation with my wonderful friend & colleague Deedee Nazareth, Functional Medicine Practitioner and Osteopath.

Our conversation flows from discussing how gut health and the microbiome impacts chronic pain and how you can manipulate the microbiome to lower the inflammatory response. We also discuss how taking a functional medicine approach and understanding the role of osteopathy can be so helpful for so many women.

This episode is full of practical tips around breathing and posture that we can all implement to positively impact our health and wellbeing - have a listen and I’ll guarantee you’ll get so much from listening to Deedee’s wonderful expertise.

This week's episode features Ben Brown, naturopathic physician, lecturer, speaker, author & colleague.

Ben and I delve into discussing IBS, touching upon the microbiome, testing, restrictive diets and the importance of diversity in your diet. It’s a wonderful conversation and I highly recommend listening to Ben’s insight at every opportunity!

This week bring your episode 3 from the Best of Health podcast. I had such an engaging conversation with Henrietta Norton from Wild Nutrition all focused on women’s health: from fertility right up to menopause, specifically talking about Hen’s personal experience of endometriosis. We also delve into the sustainability ethos behind the global “food-grown” brand Wild Nutrition, from choosing herbs and creating new formulations.

The sound quality is a bit glitchy at times from Hen.... But it was SUCH a fabulous conversation so I didn’t want to cut any of it. So bear with it and hope you enjoy!

This week is another truly fascinating conversation with the lovely Mel Lawson from Bare Biology. If you haven’t heard of Bare Biology before, they specialise in high quality and purity EPA and DHA fish oils.

Our conversation naturally is led by delving into the difference between Omega-3 and Omega-6 plus uses for their mental health, memory, cognition and anti-inflammatory properties. The journey that took Melanie to personally using fish oils, sourcing high-quality fish oils, and then founding Bare Biology is really inspirational. Plus Mel shares a sneaky little hint about their newest product in development towards the end!

I’m absolutely thrilled to release my first full-length podcast episode feature the wonderful guest Humphrey Bacchus from Invivo.

This was a wonderful episode to record as we discussed everything from the growth of a love of microbes ❤️, the relationship between our ecosystem and our health, the change in perception of the gut and our common love of microbiology, right through to the panels and products Invivo have created. But don’t worry - this isn’t a full-on science lesson, Humphrey has a wonderful way of relating microbes to normal everyday life.

Hi, I’m Tanya Borowski, a functional nutritionist of 15 years and certified IFM practitioner, passionate about health and education. Combing these two passions, through engaging conversations with many different guests I invite you on a journey that will illuminate the time of preventive healthcare is well and truly here. That you can, with the right information, change the course of your health path, ageing free of pain, inflammation and dis-ease.

Over each season of The Best of Health Podcast, I’m going to be covering topics broad and wide across all aspects that make up our health: from gut our microbiome, nutrigenomics, to chatting with food and supplement suppliers - it’s all on the table to discuss!

Each episode provides insightful conversations with a varied scope of health care professionals, clinicians, researchers, functional medicine practitioners and industry leaders   to open up the dialogue and inspire, you - the listener to consider that declining health as we age is not a given, that with the right information - many chronic Dis-eases are indeed preventable. I hope to engage and inspire you to achieve The BEST of health!