Episode 120. Resilience, Menopause & Vibrant Health: My Honest 2025 Reflection

This reflective solo episode marks a special milestone: the 120th episode of the Prescribing Lifestyle podcast and the close of 2025.

I share openly about my professional growth, personal health journey, and the challenges and wins that have shaped this year.

What’s inside this episode

Professional growth and expansion

• How Melbourne Low Carb Clinic has grown from 1 to 5 physical locations across Melbourne (Wantirna, Pascoe Vale South, South Yarra, Beaumaris, Canterbury) plus telehealth across Australia.
• Collaborations with like‑minded clinics and practitioners, including Aston Rx, Core Foundation, and Lymph & Floor Physio.
• Deepening expertise in menopause care:
  • Attending multiple menopause and hormone therapy conferences
  • Integrating evidence-based menopause hormone therapy with lifestyle medicine
  • Learning from and collaborating with other clinicians in the metabolic, menopause, and lifestyle space

Book, speaking, and visibility

• Writing and publishing my book Prescribing Lifestyle: A Doctor’s Prescription for Lasting Weight Loss and Vibrant Health
  • Celebrating its launch alongside my 50th birthday
  • Hearing how readers are sharing it with family and friends
  • Becoming an Amazon bestseller
• Growing into the role of speaker:
  • Talks at OsteoStrong South Melbourne & Hawthorn, Rotary, 10X Speakers Tribe, and community events
  • Keynote on menopause and lifestyle medicine for the WINE (Women in North East) group in Mansfield
  • Entering Next Top Speaker competitions and making the Top 100 twice
  • Refining and repeatedly delivering my “Creating Vibrant Health” message

My personal health and menopause journey

• Entering perimenopause myself:
  • Irregular cycles, night sweats, sleep changes, body composition shifts
  • Starting menopause hormone therapy (estrogel and Prometrium) to support symptoms, insulin resistance and long‑term health
• Exploring and applying circadian health:
  • Attending the Regenerate Health Retreat with Max Gowhane
  • Learning about light exposure, blue light reduction, breathwork, sleep optimisation and stress management
  • Bringing circadian rhythm practices into my daily routine and into patient care

Fitness, strength and acceptance

• Acknowledging changes in my endurance and running capacity with age, hormones and a busy life
• Continuing consistent movement:
  • Three run‑walk sessions per week
  • Strength training twice per week
  • Fortnightly posture and movement training with Core Foundation
• Focusing on glute activation, alignment, and efficient strength work rather than chasing old performance benchmarks

Setbacks, resilience and honesty

• Candidly sharing that I have faced another professional complaint this year
  • How this has tested my resilience, mindset and emotions
  • My commitment to work through the process, learn what I can, and keep serving
  • Trusting that, whatever the outcome, I can pivot and keep living my purpose

Motherhood, family and balance

• Parenting two teenage boys (14 and 17) as they move into young adulthood
• Trying to balance:
  • Clinical work
  • Business growth
  • Speaking, writing and creative projects
  • My own health and wellbeing
• Feeling both stretched and deeply grateful for the growth, grounding, and joy that family brings

Gratitude and what’s next

• Reflecting on 2025 as a year of massive growth in:
  • Professional identity
  • Clinical scope
  • Personal evolution
  • Resilience and courage
• Gratitude for:
  • Patients and clients who trust me with their health
  • Collaborators who have welcomed me into their spaces
  • Listeners who tune in, share episodes, and send messages
• Announcing a short podcast break and a fresh return in February 2026
  • With new guests, deeper conversations on metabolic health, menopause, lifestyle, breathwork, circadian health and mindset
  • A continued mission: helping you create vibrant health through realistic, sustainable lifestyle medicine

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If this podcast, my clinic, my book or my talks have supported you in any way this year, I’d love to hear from you. Reach out, leave a review, or share an episode with someone who needs it.

Prescribing Lifestyle will be back in 2026—let’s keep growing, learning and creating vibrant health together.