How to make the sauerkraut

Sauerkraut is a great staple to have in the fridge to add to any dish as a side, awesome salad replacement when you’re lazy and strange I know but pretty nice in smoothies too!

This has got to be the easiest recipe. It just requires a bit of manual labour but it’s all worth the effort.

Slice red cabbage as thinly as possible. The thinner the slicers the better. If you have a food processors or slicer, this would be very handy. Unfortunately I don’t and if you don’t either, don’t worry – you’ll still make delicious sauerkraut.
Place the sliced red cabbage in a big bowl and add a teaspoon of pink salt. Massage the red cabbage until the cabbage starts to glisten. You’ll start to notice, the cabbage is also sweating. The more sweat, the better.
Once you are happy with the amount of juice, place the sliced red cabbage and juice in a jar. Make sure the brine is covering all the cabbage. You can place a smaller jar with (sand / water inside) as a weight or rocks to help the cabbage submerge.
Cover with a tea towel and secured with a rubber band. You can leave the sauerkraut to ferment for a couple of days. Keep tasting it every now and then until you have the desired taste and texture. I have my fermenting between 3 – 7 days depending how quickly I want some. Once the sauerkraut has reached the taste and texture to your liking, place the jar it in the fridge and consume within a week.

Tip: make sure the red cabbage is at room temperature. I made this sauerkraut while the cabbage was cold from the fridge and almost froze my fingers off!

Should you become a health coach with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition?

I graduated in November 2018 from The Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) and I loved it every minute of it.

When I enrolled I was a stay-at-home mum and breastfeeding my 9 month old baby and this transition into motherhood was a turning point for me to turn my passion for health and wellness into a career.

My story

Prior to enrolling into IIN, I had been researching a couple of courses, I looked into counselling, naturopathy and life coaching but something about IIN really resonated with me.

About a decade ago I studied with the Australasian College of Natural Therapies to study Nutritional Medicine but didn’t complete it due to lifestyle circumstances at the time.

So when I happen to come across a friend who had studied with IIN, I reached out and everything she shared with me, I just knew it was exactly what I was looking for. That’s why I believe it’s so important to be able to talk to someone who has gone through it, especially in Australia when health coaching is in it’s infancy.

When I look back, I don’t know how I was able to run my online wellness and consulting business, function as a co-sleeping and breastfeeding mama and still manage to fit in my study.

It really came down to the fact that studying with IIN felt so aligned with what I wanted to do with my future. So instead of feeling tired at the end of the day, I was excited to be studying between naps and from the hours of 9pm to midnight!

What is the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN)

IIN is the world’s largest nutrition school that offers a year-long online program designed for people who are passionate about health and wellness.

Perhaps you just want to study for your own personal benefits, launch a new career or adding it to your existing business in health and fitness.

Below you can download a sample class:

What is a health coach?

Firstly, Health Coaches do not replace the role of a GP, Psychologist, Nutritionist, Dietitian or any other allied health professional.

The same way a Fitness Personal Trainer can work in partnership with a Physiotherapist, is the same as a Health Coach can work closely with GPs, specialists and other allied health professionals to support clients in their journey to build healthy new habits and create sustainable dietary and lifestyle changes.

Whilst studying, I developed a strong understanding of many dietary theories however this is considered secondary in our training, primarily we focus on the food that nourishes the soul such as things like fulfillment in relationships, career, exercise, spirituality and home environment to name a few and how this has an impact on our health.

Our lifestyle choices are interrelated to our food choices.

I’ve heard some Health Coaches say they are like Life Coaches with an emphasis on food, self-care and healthy living.

The mission of the school is to “play a crucial role in improving health and happiness, and through that process, create a ripple effect that transforms the world.”

What I loved about the health coaching training program

It’s a 1-year program that’s delivered entirely through an impressive online learning platform where you can study from your phone, pretty useful when I had to maximise my time like breastfeeding or trips to the grocery store
They have a coaching circle where you get to speak to a Mentor and other students to delve into more what you’re learning and putting it into practice
They have a Facebook Group dedicated to all the students that are studying the same time as you, so you can connect with students in your country and abroad
You’ll learn over 100 dietary theories as well as business skills and coaching training
The school teaches you how to work with clients one-on-one, run group programs and hold workshops
IIN covers cutting-edge, modern, traditional, and holistic nutrition concepts you won’t find in a traditional nutrition program
You’ll fall in love with it’s founder Joshua Rosenthal, hubby called him my boyfriend because I talked about him so much
IIN has a global community of over 100,000 students and graduates from over 150 countries and provides ongoing training and support

Sharing the love

Graduating from IIN was a turning point in my life. I had already had years of experience running workshops and coaching people 1:1 in my corporate career and online wellness business and doing this course was the next piece of the puzzle.

I get questions all of the time about my journey as a health coach, I love sharing information about the program with anyone else who might benefit from it and created this post specifically to answer the most frequent questions I get.

This may or may not be for you but if you’re curious about starting your journey? I’ll be in touch to answer any specific questions and I can share exactly how much you can save through me. Click here to chat!

As an IIN Ambassador, I received a small commission for every person who signs up and mentions that I have referred them. I choose to be an Ambassador because I had such an amazing experience and it has changed my life!

Ready to enrol?

Call (844) 780-3300 (US) 212-730-5433 (International) to speak with an admissions advisor, or email: admissions@integrativenutrition.com to schedule an appointment.

Be sure to mention “Merly Hartnett” as your referrer to get you savings and bonuses!

Blacktown City Council hosts Women’s Wellness Workshop

About this Event

It’s International Women’s Week!

Join us for this informative workshop discussing a variety of issues around women’s health, delivered by certified Health Coach Merly Hartnett. Topics covered will include:

Common health concerns for women.
Self-care strategies for an extraordinary life.
Discussion on top causes of women’s health issues.
Top foods for improving women’s health.
Warning signs for women to look out for and not to ignore!

Date And Time

Wed., 4 September 2019 at 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm AEST

Location

Max Webber Library, Blacktown Cnr. Flushcombe Road & Alpha Street Blacktown, NSW 2148

Claim your free ticket

Veggielicious polenta bake

Tried a new dish called polenta bake with veggie stuff for hubby and Laura’s lunch box tomorrow and it’s OMG delicious! So good I had to share.

Prep time 30 minutes
Serves 3 – 4 people

1 pumpkin, peeled, de-seeded and cut into cubes
Herbs of your choice (I used Italian mixed herbs)
500mls of stock (I used veggie stock)
1 cup of polenta
100g of greens stuff (I used baby spinach, I think baby kale would be delicious too)
Jar of stuffed bell peppers
Handful of sliced cherry tomatoes or whatever veggies you have on hand, olives, capsicum or mushrooms would be nice.
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese or whatever cheese substitute you prefer

Roast pumpkin with oil and herbs for 20 mins at 200’C.
Boil stock, then slowly pour the polenta and stir continuously on low heat for 8 mins. When ready stir in 50% of the cheese in mixture. Add the roasted pumpkin.
Scoop out polenta onto a baking dish, push handfuls of the green stuff into the polenta, decorate with bell peppers, cherry tomatoes and the remaining cheese then bake for 20 mins.

Oh and season with salt and pepper whenever you like, at the end when serving, perhaps before baking or when cooking the polenta.

Tadaaaaah! Your welcome.

Tip: You could also swap out the pumpkin for zucchini or sweet potato and totally go crazy with the garlic and spices. Let me know if you try it and what you changed for your tasty buds.

Get even healthier!
Want help learning how to choose and use nutritious fats and other good-for-you foods? Curious about how health coaching can help you make your own healthy changes? Let’s talk! Schedule a complimentary health discovery consultation with me today or pass this offer on to someone you care about!

About me
I received my training from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, where I learned about more than one hundred dietary theories and studied a variety of practical lifestyle coaching methods. Drawing on this knowledge, I will help you create a completely personalized “roadmap to health” that suits your unique body, lifestyle, preferences, and goals.

Learn more about my training and my unique approach to health coaching.

Curious about starting a career in health and wellness?

There is no better time in history to start a career in the health and wellness industry. If you are looking for a career that you can be passionate about and enjoying making a difference in the lives of others then you are in the right place.

See yourself as a wellness warrior & business owner?

As a wellpreneur, all you need is passion to work in the health and wellness industry and that entrepreneurial spirit to get up and go!

Starting a heart-centred wellness business is something you can do as a side gig to fit around your family and lifestyle but still pursue an exciting career in wellness today or make it your full-time ambitious if that’s what you want. We have lots of people in our community that are doing life like that right now.

You don’t need to have any formal qualifications in health or wellness, just a desire to want to make a difference in the lives of others, enjoy working as a part of a team, self motivated and coachable.

I started helping people by created my own health and wellness programs back in 2011 before I even became a certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach in 2018 as a direct result of the transformations I created in my own life. As a result I helped so many women with their own health and wellness journey.

Business Support & tools for success

You can be part of our thriving community and tribe of wellpreneurs and receive:

Comprehensive training modules to graduate from
Personal 1:1 business coaching with me and your support team
Access weekly business mastermind group
Monthly online training
Dedicated corporate team that manages all the administration, marketing and promotions as well as cheering you on to success
Opportunities to be recognised for the impact you are making in the world and to qualify for awards, holidays and more for your service to the community

Check out our photo from a recent event that happened Plant 4 Bowden (June 2019)

Imagine having a career where you can work anywhere in Australia, all your need is good internet connection, laptop and mobile phone, the rest I can teach.

Book in for a chat in person or video conference and let’s start exploring what’s possible for you, let’s chat!

Natural solutions for infertility

Let’s talk about infertility and what that really means because there is likely a ton of people who think they are infertile, panicking and the reality they’re not. I remember clearly when we started our journey on starting a family, on the first month of trying I didn’t fall pregnant. I panicked as I was convinced I should have fallen pregnant, I mean how is this possible! So the next month, I decided to get an ovulation test kit so I knew exactly when I was ovulating as baby making had now become a science project. As much as I tried to be relaxed and be spontaneous about getting it on, underneath it all I was riddled with anxiety.

Every day I peed on a stick, waiting for the stick to say I was ovulating, as each week went by I grew ever so more anxious. It got so ridiculous that I even order hubby to get his sperm checked because clearly it was his fault! Poor guy, I was literally a train wreck. When his results returned as positive, I was dumbfounded, convinced there was something wrong with me. I booked us in to see a Fertility Specialist and next minute we were sitting in her office and discussing our problems. She asked us how long had we been trying, I said we’re in our second month but I wasn’t ovulating so something must be wrong. I remember her just looking at me strangely and although she was trying to be as diplomatic as possible, see said come back to her after 6 months of trying. Whether she felt sorry for me or I was very convincing about my concerns of my lack of ovulation, she sent me off for a round of tests.

Being impatient with the whole experience, it became all consuming me obsession and I couldn’t concentrate at work. I woke up one morning for a split moment I entertained the idea that I could be pregnant but of course that’s can’t be, cause I didn’t ovulate but I followed my intuition I did a pregnancy test. Now by this time my husband was getting quite frustrated at me at the amount of money I spent peeing on a sticks. One time he caught me with 3 pregnancy sticks stashed in the bin all in the same day. After being completely adamant I wasn’t pregnant, when I saw two faint lines on the pregnancy stick, I was convinced it was a mistake. So I suggested I should pee on another stick, he said Merly, relax just give it another week. But I couldn’t relax and the next day, I didn’t it again and was confirmed I was in fact pregnant with JohnnyMax.

So the reason why I was out of my mind bonkers, it was all hormonal, I had actually fallen pregnant in my first month of trying, my period in the first month was in fact implantation bleeding and explains why I didn’t ovulate in the second month. Now there was some cause to my insanity, I had always suffered from irregular, heavy and painful periods, a sign of disordered ovulation. Fortunately through balancing my hormones naturally to the point that it was clockwork every 30 days, my heavy 7 day period went down to 3 days light to medium and the pain was nearly non-existent. Better still, my mood swings weren’t swinging around like an adolescence Spiderman on a mission to save the world which is why I was so convinced I’d fall pregnant even if hubby just breathed on me. When I thought I didn’t and coupled with the fact my hormones were raging without me knowing, it just goes to show how stressful it is for couples who are able to fall pregnant, let alone couples who are struggling with infertility.

My point is that there is plenty of healthy couples going around thinking they have infertility issues because they don’t really know what that actually means.

Infertility is defined as being unable to fall pregnant after 12 months of unprotected sexual intercourse. In Australia, infertility affects about 15 of every 100 Australian couples of reproductive age. I know couples who have been trying a couple of months and worry that they are infertile.

One of the most common forms of infertility is ovulation disorders, which is an umbrella term that accounts for 1/4 to 1/3 of cases that include poly-cystic ovarian syndrome POCS and irregular ovulation. The second is male factors and the third tubal disease.

However there are many reasons a woman may have difficultly becoming pregnant and there is a number of things you can do to increase the likelihood of pregnancy. Things you can start today include making healthier lifestyle changes where a Health Coach can support you every step of your journey as well as simple ways to balance your hormones naturally.

Many people are unaware that diet can play a huge part in improving fertility, studies have shown making simple changes as follows can help:

Choosing whole grains and low GI over refined carbohydrates
Avoid trans fats and instead use monounsaturated fats like olive oil
Favouring vegetable sources of protein over animal protein sources
Eating adequate about of folate and iron from plant sources
Taking quality supplements to support the endocrine system
Aiming for a healthy weight
Engaging in vigorous exercise at least 30 minutes a day

Why minerals are important for hormonal health

This week I had a lovely meetup with some women to educate them about hormonal health and got the opportunity to share some stories of the many women I’ve supported in their health journey.

As I shared some of my client’s health journey from having hormonal imbalances and struggles with endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome, heavy and irregular periods, amenorrhoea (lack of period) to uncomfortable menopausal symptoms, I also talked about the importance of nutrition in our foods.

As much as we all would like to think we can get all our nutrients from the food we eat, unfortunately this is often not the case. The truth of the matter is that many of our foods are robbed of their nutrients through chemical-laden growing methods, toxic environments, length transit times and long shelf life.

Even if we choose to eat organic, we can’t rely on it’s nutrient content because we live in Australia which is a massive island that sits in the middle of a tectonic plate where the soil profile is nutrient deficit in much of the fertile ground of Australia. Do you know the nutrient loss our foods can be:

Early harvesting up to 25%
Transporting up to 25%
Canning up to 83%
Pasturisation up to 50%
Overprocessing up to 100%

In fact on Wednesday, I caught up with a previous client of mine who supports farmers with providing custom stock feeds where supplementing the diet of farm animals are essential and an exact science in order to keep the animals healthy for consumption because they aren’t getting enough from the land.

When it comes to mineral supplements be wary of products where the minerals come in the form of inorganic or metallic minerals, these have an absorption rate of about 3-12%. We are designed to consume minerals derived from plants and animal sources. I like to get my plant-based natural occurring minerals in a colloidal form such as the Modere’s Mineral Drink.

Tip for painful cramps – potassium, magnesium and calcium are all minerals which are needed for contraction of the muscles. A lack of any of these minerals may result in irritability of the muscles and cause problems with uterine contractions during a cycle.

3 simple steps to start eating clean

What is eating clean? If we asked this question in a room, I’m sure you’d get lots of different responses on what that means to everyone which I think is great because eating clean is a journey rather a destination. One person’s way of eating clean might be getting rid of sugary drinks from their diet for 3 months while for another it’s cooking more at home and reducing the amount of takeaway foods they buy. I think sometimes when we want to make better choices and start to eat clean but then life get’s busy and we start to compare ourselves to other people and get embarrassed or feel guilty if we aren’t eating healthy 100% of the time.

So here are some 3 simple steps to start eating clean GUILT FREE!

Eat Whole Foods

Start including more whole foods in your diet. So what are whole foods? Whole foods are fresh and natural foods with no or minimal processing. Think nuts, fruits and veggies. To me, it’s opting to grab a banana rather than a muffin for a snack. Hey if you want that muffin afterwards no problem, at least you filled up with the banana and you might not eat all that muffin. But if you ended up with the muffin, choose a wholemeal healthy variety. Making these tiny changes really do add up. You might not be prepared to change everything in your diet but if you are somebody who use to have a muffin a day, well this is a good place to start.

Cook more at home

When you cook more at home, you are more likely to eat real food. However, this is easier said than done right? For a long time it was just my husband and I. If you ask our friends, they would say you’d find us at some cafe somewhere because we were rarely home. After having a baby, we were no different either so choosing to cook more at home was a big challenge for us because we loved being out and about.

However, there are some perks about staying at home to cook, one of the massive cost savings, having time to actually do the laundry in between and three the house seemed to stay clean. So how did we make the transition to cooking more at home?

We started with meal prepping one a week. Meal prepping was amazing, just having diced raw vegetables ready to go whenever we wanted to make a stir-fry, soup or salad was amazing. It took the stress out of cooking. The other is when we cooked, we cooked double, so there was always leftovers for the next day or pop in the freezer for one of those lazy days.

Eat slowly

Hmmmm your thinking what does eating slowly got to do with eating clean? One of the best cooking shows I loved to watch was Nigella Lawson because she really got the meaning of the joy of eating. We live in such a fast-paced world and so naturally, we eat fast too. We need fast food, to eat fast to do more stuff fast.

So when we take 5 minutes to just sit with no mobile phone to simply eat and enjoy our food, we tend to appreciate the effort made to make such a meal even if it’s just eggs on toast (quite an achievement if you a first time mum with a newborn). It’s the ultimate form of self-care. When we eat mindfully, we are likely to choose foods to cook mindfully and that in itself is a mindful act of love. Ultimately we feel good and will inspire and motivate us to do more of the things that make us feel nice and continue on your wonderful journey to eat clean every day whatever that might look like for you.