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Connect with Dr Andrea Robertson:

🌐 www.andrearobertson.health

📲 Instagram: @andrearobertson.health & @nourishhealrisepodcast

Ready to go deeper? Learn more about the 3 Week Inflammation Detox and the 12 Week Whole Health Solution at www.andrearobertson.health

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Dr Andrea Robertson is an Osteopath, Naturopath, and Nutritionist. The information shared in this podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider before making changes to your health regimen.

Show Notes

Episode Transcript

Episode 1

Andrea: [00:00:00] What if this isn't as good as it gets? What if you could wake up with real energy, think clearly, move without pain, and feel at home in your body again? Not because you found a quick fix, but because you finally understood what your body actually needs. Welcome to Nourish, Heal, and Rise, the podcast for women who are ready to understand what's really going on in their bodies and do something about it.

I'm Dr. Andrea Robertson, osteopath, naturopath, and nutritionist with over 25 years helping women understand their bodies and transform their health.

Here we nourish because food is medicine, and what you eat changes everything. We heal because the body has an extraordinary capacity to self-repair when we remove what's blocking it.

And we rise because feeling well isn't the destination. It's the foundation for living the life you truly desire. Every episode we go deep. Hormones, inflammation, nutrition, gut health, perimenopause, menopause, weight loss, energy, brain fog. The full picture, not just the surface, [00:01:00] because that's what functional medicine is, looking at the whole person, finding the real cause, and building real solutions.

No quick fixes, no one size fits all, no compromise. Just the conversations women deserve to be having. This is Nourish, Heal, and Rise.

[00:02:00]

 

Andrea: Welcome to the very first episode of Nourish, Heal, and Rise. I am so glad you are here. If you have found this podcast, chances are something brought you here.

Maybe you've been feeling off for a while, and you can't quite put your finger on why. Or maybe you're exhausted in a way that sleep doesn't fix. Maybe you've been told your blood results are all normal, but you know, like you just know, that something is not right.

Or maybe you're a practitioner yourself looking for a different lens through which to see your clients. Whatever brought you here, welcome. This is exactly the right place. I want to start by telling you what this podcast is and what it is not. It is not a place where I will give you a list of superfoods and send you on your way.

It is not a place where I will oversimplify complex health issues or tell you that one supplement will change your life. And it is not a place where an influencer will tell you that this worked for them, and so you should do it, too. [00:04:00] And it is definitely not a place where anyone is going to tell you that the way you are feeling is just part of getting older and that you need to accept it.

What it is: this podcast is a place for real conversations about women's health, evidence-based, practically applied, and always respectful of the fact that you are an intelligent woman who deserves real answers.

Today, in this very first episode, I want to introduce myself properly, not just my qualifications, but my story, because I think the why behind what I do matters just as much as the what. And I want you to understand from the very beginning that everything I share in this podcast comes from a place of genuine lived experience, not just clinical theory.

So I'm Andrea Robertson, osteopath, naturopath, and nutritionist. I started studying osteopathy straight out of high school, and I've now been practicing for twenty-six years, and it remains one of the greatest loves of my professional life. Understanding the body as a structure, [00:05:00] understanding how the way we move and hold ourselves and live in our bodies affects every system within it.

Well, that foundation has informed everything I have done since. Then about ten years ago, I added naturopathy and nutrition to my practice, and I want to tell you why, because it connects directly to the story I'll share with you in a moment. I added those disciplines not because I thought osteopathy was not enough, but because I had experienced in my own body how profoundly food and natural medicine could heal in ways that structural treatment alone could not reach.

I wanted to understand the full picture. I wanted to be able to help women with not just their pain and their physical structure, but with the underlying biochemistry, the hormones, the gut, the inflammation that was driving so much of what they were experiencing. Before I jump into that story, though, a few more little things about me.

I trained in classical ballet from the age of three, and I spent 14 years as a [00:06:00] professional dancer, performing at the Moulin Rouge in Paris, at Sonoma in Spain, on cruise ships in the Caribbean. It was a pretty good life, actually. And then in television, corporate events, and film when I came back to Australia.

I retired from dancing professionally at age 32, where I then moved to Adelaide, and I established and ran a large allied health clinic called Southside Clinic for 15 years. I sold that five years ago, and since then, I've been working with hundreds of women globally through my online programs. And on top of all that, I have navigated my own significant health challenges, which I'm gonna share with you now, because I think they are the most important thing I can tell you about why this podcast exists and what I am here to do.

My health journey has had several chapters, and none of them were easy in the moment, but all of them have taught me something that I now bring to every woman that I work with. So the first chapter in my health story was burnout. In my early 30s, I was living in Sydney, and I was dancing [00:07:00] professionally still and working as an osteopath.

It was during a particularly intense 12-week block where I had said yes to far too much extra osteo work, where I was actually seeing about 80 patients a week and for a bit of context, a full-time load is usually about 50. And so I had six days a week in the clinic, and at the same time, I was still dancing in shows five or six nights a week, too.

It was treat patients all day, perform at night, sleep not very much, and then repeat. And then one day, I was sitting down treating a patient. I was sitting at the top of the table treating her neck, and I felt my vision start to close in from the sides, almost like black curtains drawing across my eyes.

So my vision blocked out. The right side of my body went into spasm. My jaw locked up. Couldn't open it. And I just, I walked out on my patient. I left her in the room, walked out to my receptionist and said, "Something is wrong with me." She could see that, and she took me straight across the road to the doctor.

He sent me straight to hospital. I had two [00:08:00] days in there with every test, every scan under the sun. The whole time, I had this gut instinct that they weren't going to find anything. I don't know why, but I just had this instinct, and turns out they didn't. They didn't find anything, and I was told I had a migraine without a headache and was sent home.

So I went back to doing exactly what I was already doing. Except then I started gaining weight, which as a dancer comes with its own layer of pressure and expectation. So instead of resting, I started getting up at 5:00 in the morning to go for a run before going to the clinic for work, and I was getting worse.

So I was working harder to compensate, but it wasn't doing anything. I remember one day walking from the city clinic where I worked to my car, which I had to park 30 minutes walk away in order to get the cheaper all-day parking, before I would then drive to a different clinic for the afternoon shift.

And when I got to my car, I realized my car keys had fallen out of my bag at the first clinic. So I rang the receptionist there. She put the keys in a [00:09:00] taxi for me. I was waiting on the side of the road for a taxi, and I saw him driving up and down. He couldn't see me. I was waving him down.

So when he finally saw me, he stopped. He got out of the car, and he yelled at me for not making it obvious where I was standing and waiting. Now, I don't know about you, but I really don't like being yelled at. And so I got in my car, and I burst into tears, and I was thinking, "I cannot keep feeling this bad.

Like, I cannot keep going like this." That was the moment I knew I had to change something. So I don't know if you resonate to that at all, but we often have to hit our rock bottom in order to do things differently and make some positive changes, and that moment was definitely my rock bottom.

My dear friend Nat, who is gonna feature on this podcast, mind you. Natty is another osteopath, and she had mentioned to me a wonderful naturopath who she was working with named Amanda, who I'm also hoping to get feature on this podcast. And who later went on to become my mentor, and who I still love dearly [00:10:00] to this day.

But back then, when I first sat down with her and told her everything that had been going on, she finally made me feel heard. Because I remember her looking at all of it and saying very calmly darling, it all makes sense." Five words, and I completely dissolved into tears because nobody had said that to me yet.

"Darling, it all makes sense." She explained that my whole body was inflamed. My elimination systems had stopped working. My body was holding onto everything it couldn't clear. With her support, herbs, supplements, and going strictly gluten-free, dairy-free, and processed sugar-free, which I held on strictly for three years, the healing began.

In the first week, I sat on the toilet, and I peed out seven kilograms of fluid. Like, peed out seven kilograms. All accumulated inflammation That my body had been unable to clear. Within a week, the 10 kilograms I had gained was gone, but the healing took time. [00:11:00] I would say it was about three months to feel 60% better, three years to feel 80% better, and really ten years to feel 100% well.

That experience is what then inspired me into studying naturopathy and nutrition because I'd felt what it was like for food and natural medicine to heal from the inside out in ways that nothing else had reached, and I needed to understand that. I needed to be able to bring that to the beautiful women I was working with.

Then when I was feeling really well again, I decided to do IVF. Four rounds of it, and I am sad to say it didn't work. So I'm not gonna spend a lot of time on the heartbreak of that because anyone who's been through IVF knows it, and those of you who haven't, well, I hope you never have to. What I will say is that I genuinely wanted to have children, and there was a period of profound grief in coming to terms with the fact that it was not gonna happen for me [00:12:00] in that way.

But I want to share something about what IVF did to my body because that is something that is rarely discussed and that I think is deeply important. IVF is a profoundly inflammatory process. The hormonal stimulation, the procedures, the medications, the physical and emotional stress. All of it creates a significant inflammatory burden on the body.

And what I experienced, and what I have seen in clients who have also been through IVF, is that the body carries that inflammatory load for a long time after the process ends.

It took me six years after my IVF journey to feel like I had my body back to a truly low inflammation state again. Six years. Not because I was doing anything wrong, but because some healing, significant healing, simply takes time. The body is not a machine that can be reset in three weeks. It is a living, complex, deeply intelligent system that heals at its own pace when given what it [00:13:00] needs.

That is something I say to every woman I work with. Three weeks of doing the right thing can produce remarkable change and often does, but the full arc of healing can be three months, six months, two years, six years. It's not a destination, it's a journey. And I know that sounds cliché, but it's true. And the journey requires patience, self-compassion, and a willingness to keep listening to what your body is telling you.

What came out of that chapter, alongside the grief of course, was a clarity of purpose that I had not had before. I remember thinking, after making peace with all of it of course, that I had more time now, more energy. More capacity to give to the women I was working with, and my mission became clear in a way it never had before.

I knew then that I was here on this earth to help as many women as possible live long, healthy, vital lives. That is my life's work. That is [00:14:00] my legacy. That is why this podcast exists. Now, I may not have had children of my own, but I do have a very cute little poodle called Sunny. Of course, the most gorgeous fur baby in my life.

She brings me enormous joy every single day. And so I carry the perspective that loss and sadness and disappointment can exist alongside deep purpose and genuine fulfillment, that life can be both hard and beautiful, and that what we do with our challenges matters enormously. Beyond my own health journey, there's another deeply personal reason that drives me to do this work, and that is my beautiful mum.

My mum, I call her Pammy Bear. All my friends call her Pammy Bear too. My mum has been through breast cancer twice, and she's been through chemotherapy, And she now lives with osteoporosis. That is a leftover of those treatments and of the significant inflammatory and hormonal disruption that came with them.

I watched my mum navigate those challenges. I went through [00:15:00] my own, and I've helped hundreds of my patients through theirs, and I learned to see what the accumulation of inflammation and hormonal disruption over a lifetime can do to a woman's body. And it drives me genuinely and deeply to be a walking example of what I advise my clients and patients to do.

Like I walk the walk, I talk the talk, not because I'm trying to be perfect, but because I see every single day what the alternative can look like. I do not want cancer. I do not want osteoporosis. I do not wanna live my later years with a body that has been paying the price of chronic inflammation for decades.

And so I live this approach. I eat this way. I support my body in the ways I will be talking about in this podcast. Not obsessively, not rigidly, but with consistency and with genuine commitment. Because I believe from the research, from my own clinical experience and my own lived experience, that the way we nourish and care for our bodies [00:16:00] today is profoundly connected to the health we will experience in our later years.

And if I have the knowledge and the ability to help other women do the same, then sharing it as widely and as generously as I can is the most meaningful thing I can do with my time on this earth. That is my why, and it's the why behind every single episode of this podcast.

[00:17:00]

Andrea: Now, I want to introduce you to what is coming up in this podcast series, because the next eight episodes are going to be unlike anything most of you have listened to in the health and wellness space.

Each episode is going to take one of the eight most common signs of chronic inflammation that I see in women's bodies and go deep on it. Not [00:18:00] just what the sign is, but what is actually driving it, the real clinical mechanisms, and most importantly, what you can actually do about it. But before we go there, I want to give you a quick overview of all eight, because I want you to listen to this list and notice with genuine curiosity, not with alarm, of course, but genuine curiosity about how many of these resonate with your own experience.

Because chronic inflammation is one of the most common and the most underdiagnosed drivers of women's health challenges in this modern world. And the women who carry it can often look fine from the outside, so it can absolutely be a hidden problem unless you know how to go looking for it.

So let's start, first of all, with what chronic inflammation is and then go into the signs. When I first started my online programs in 2021, I had this beautiful business coach, Nicole, who told me, "Nobody knows what inflammation means, so if you mention it in your marketing, it's gonna confuse people."

I listened to her on many things, but I only listened to [00:19:00] her about that for a hot minute because I started talking about it, and people started to listen. And now five years on, I know that more people have heard about chronic inflammation and why we don't want it, but I still think the knowledge and education around this really important topic needs to catch up.

Most people have a vague sense that inflammation is bad, but they really don't know what it is, where it comes from, or why it matters so much. So let's start at the beginning.

Inflammation is actually one of the most incredible things your body does. Like when you cut your finger or you catch a cold or you walk down the street and you roll your ankle and you twist your ankle, your immune system kicks into gear. It sends white blood cells to the site of injury or infection.

The area gets red and swollen and warm. So that's inflammation doing its job. That's acute inflammation, and it is absolutely essential for healing. Without it, we wouldn't survive. The problem [00:20:00] is not acute inflammation. Acute inflammation is short-term, serves its purpose beautifully, and then the inflammatory response finishes.

The problem is what happens when we have a low-grade, chronic, ongoing version of this, an inflammatory response that never fully switches off. When inflammation becomes chronic, when it's low-grade, persistent, and systemic, it stops being your body's defense system and starts being the thing your body is defending against.

And this is where things get really interesting and really important. Chronic low-grade inflammation is now understood to be a root driver or a significant contributing factor in an enormous range of conditions. We're talking cardiovascular disease, type two diabetes, autoimmune conditions, depression, dementia, obesity, gut disorders, hormonal imbalances, chronic pain, skin conditions, and so much more.

Having chronic inflammation doesn't mean you're gonna [00:21:00] develop these diseases, but each of these diseases has a link back to chronic inflammation, so it's definitely something we need to address and avoid for long-term best health. And here's what I find most fascinating and most confronting about this.

Many of the women I see in my practice who are living with chronic inflammation don't look sick. They're functioning. They're showing up. They're parenting. But they are tired in a way that goes bone-deep. They have a brain that feels like it's wading through thick fog. They have a body that feels inflamed and uncomfortable and foreign to them.

And they've often been told, sometimes for years- that their blood tests are all fine. And so women are sent home with a clean bill of health, but yet a quiet desperation that something is still very wrong.

If that resonates with you, I want you to hear this clearly. You are not losing your mind when you are told you're all good and off you go. But let's go into the eight main signs of [00:22:00] inflammation now as a summary,   So we know what we are going to dive deeper with in the coming episodes. Sign number one is fatigue, especially fatigue that doesn't improve with sleep. This is the number one thing I hear from women, sleeping six, seven, eight hours and waking up exhausted. Sleep that does not restore.

That persistent low-level tiredness that sits in the background of everything. That is not ordinary tiredness, it is inflamed tiredness, and there is a profound difference. So we're going to explore exactly what is happening in the body when inflammation drives fatigue and why sleep alone cannot fix it.

Sign number two is weight that will not shift. We're looking at that in episode number three, and it's the weight that won't shift, particularly around the middle. Women who are eating well, exercise, doing everything right, and the weight simply will not move. Inflammation drives insulin resistance. It disrupts cortisol, it interferes with thyroid function, all three of which make fat loss profoundly difficult, [00:23:00] and no amount of willpower or calorie restriction overrides the biochemistry.

So we're gonna look at the full picture of why and what actually works. Sign number three that we're looking at in episode four is brain fog. That feeling of mental fuzziness, words that won't come, walking into a room and forgetting why. Operating at 60% of your cognitive capacity. Inflammation is one of the key drivers of neuroinflammation, neuro meaning your brain, and neuroinflammation is one of the key drivers of brain fog.

So we're going to look at the gut-brain axis, the role of estrogen, the glucose piece, and why brain fog is a message from your body, not something that you have to live with forever. Sign number four that we're looking at in episode five is joint pain and body aches. So think waking up stiff, aching through the day, pain that moves around with no real pattern, pain that is worse after certain foods or drinking alcohol, pain that your doctor can't quite explain.[00:24:00]

As an osteopath, this is territory I know intimately, and the connection between systemic inflammation and musculoskeletal pain is one that is often underestimated. So we're going to explore what is happening and what to do about it. Sign number five that we're visiting in episode six is gut issues.

Bloating, particularly after meals,, irregular bowel movements, sensitivities that seem to be multiplying, that uncomfortable distended feeling that makes you feel like you're carrying something extra around your middle. The gut is not just a digestive organ, it's an immune organ, and when it is not well, nothing else can be fully well either.

We're gonna go deep on dysbiosis, leaky gut, the gut microbiome, and the practical steps that make the most difference. I'm so excited for that episode. And then sign number six that we're looking at in episode seven is skin conditions. Eczema, psoriasis, rosacea, that's the rosy cheeks that often comes with perimenopause and menopause.

Also rashes, acne, [00:25:00] even adult acne that will not resolve. is often the last organ to receive nutrients, and the first to show signs of systemic inflammation, because the outside of our skin is always a reflection of what's happening on the inside. And so we're going to explore that connection in depth, including the gut-skin axis that you're going to be absolutely fascinated to learn about.

Sign number seven that we're looking at in episode eight is mood changes. So anxiety that feels disproportionate to your circumstances, low mood, irritability, that feeling of being overwhelmed. The connection between inflammation and mental health is one of the most exciting areas of research in modern medicine at the moment, and it is profound.

We're gonna look at the cytokine model of depression, the gut-brain connection, the role of cortisol dysregulation and the hormonal piece, and why mood changes in women are so frequently a biological issue dressed up as a psychological one. Then sign number eight is hormonal [00:26:00] chaos.

Think irregular cycles, heavy periods, PMS that has escalated, perimenopause and menopause symptoms that feel unmanageable. Inflammation disrupts the delicate hormonal conversation happening in your body every single day.

This is the sign that pulls everything together, because when you understand how inflammation affects every player in the hormonal system simultaneously, the complexity that has felt so confusing suddenly starts to make sense. Over the next eight episodes, we're gonna spend a full episode on each of these signs.

Each episode will cover these three things. What is actually happening in your body, like the real clinical mechanisms behind the sign. What is driving it, like the root causes specifically to that particular presentation. And what you can do about it practically, specifically,

and in a way you can start implementing immediately. This is not a podcast where you get vague inspiration and a smoothie recipe. This is a podcast where you get the full [00:27:00] picture, the biology, the drivers, the solutions, and leave each episode genuinely better equipped to understand and support your own health.

If you found yourself nodding along to any of these eight signs, or maybe all eight of them, I want you to know something. You are not imagining it. You are not being dramatic, and you are 100% not running out of options. You are simply missing information, And information, the right information, explained clearly and applied practically, changes everything.

That is what we are here to do. So please hit subscribe or follow the show on whatever platform you're listening on right now, because you do not want to miss a single episode in this first series of my podcast. And if someone in your life needs to hear this, please share it with them too. Because the more women who have access to this kind of information, the better.

And just a little note that all of my free resources, my three-week inflammation detox diet, and my [00:28:00] 12-week whole health solution can be found at my website, andrearobertson.health.

Everything you need is right there waiting for you. If you loved today's episode, please take 30 seconds to leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening to your podcasts. It genuinely helps more women find the show so they can nourish, heal, and rise too. Until next week, nourish your body, keep healing, and never stop rising. I'm Dr. Andrea Robertson, and this has been Nourish, Heal, and Rise.

[00:29:00]