Sports Nutrition and Psychotherapy
Optimise Sports Performace
Through psychotherapy approaches such as somatic therapy and Internal family systems (IFS) I teach athletes firstly how to feel into where they ARE, rather than where they want to be. This helps the body and mind build its capacity for the intense performance pressures and ups and downs of an athletic career. To ride the big sensational moments of success, grief, joy, and love and to ground into each moment. Once we have established this framework we can fine-tune the physiology through nutrition practices.
The results have been remarkable.
Learn how to feel safe inside your body
Trauma, stress, and anxiety are not what happened to you, but HOW the body reacts and stores what happened. Stress responses occur over time as an echo - a reverberation - a felt experience stuck in the tissues and nerves of the body. If we can learn to identify the sensation of threat, HEALING can emerge in a way that goes far beyond symptoms.
The work is about getting to the root.
Root of trauma and stress response…
The body doesn’t speak though words, that is the mind. The body speaks through sensation. I teach physical embodiment which is a state that helps us to get in touch with ourselves.
I teach you how to nourish your mind and your body.
II will show you how to build a foundation of safety in your body and your life, so you have the capacity needed to relate to your trauma and stress. I can also show you how food and movement can be an ally in trauma healing when used in the right way.
Lauren specialises in Health At Every Size® (HAES®) and incorporate HAES philosophies into her inclusive, respectful therapy that focuses on well-being and self-compassion for my clients. Her personal experience and specialist training in these areas allow her to hold space with clients who wish to make peace with their bodies.
Helping people find freedom of mind and body.
Hi 👋🏼! I’m Lauren, an energetic explorer who joins forces with competitive, high-achieving performers with #eatingdisorders in Australia who need to be seen for the exquisite radiance that they are, under elite-level performance pressures and a hyper-controlled body, so they can liberate themselves through inner wisdom treasure hunting.
Unwanted thoughts can be tangled into uncomfortable bodily sensations such as anxiety, emotional and physical pain. I can help you feel safe and bring back feelings of acceptance, self-love, and emotional regulation = Freeing you from mind and body distress.
Trained in HAES (Health at Every Size) I am available for walk-and-talk sessions on the Gold Coast, or online, via telehealth.
Spotlight on Hypothalamic Amenorrhea
Hypothalamic amenorrhea is missing 3 or more periods and is often caused by under-fueling, overtraining, stress, or hormonal imbalance.
The hypothalamus is a major control centre in your brain. It takes in inputs from all over your body including information from your stomach in terms of the mechanical receptors that tell it how much you've eaten, and various hormones that are generated as you eat. When you eat fat or protein or carbs, different hormones are generated. Those travel through your bloodstream to your hypothalamus. This sends information about your stress levels, such as cortisol which sends out signals that tell the rest of your body systems what to do.
When your hypothalamus senses that it's not getting enough energy, it shuts things down to conserve energy. The reproductive system is one of the primary areas and as a result, you may feel cold, tried and have brittle hair and nails. This can also impact bone density.
Psychological stress or stress from exercise layered on top of that can also suppress healthy hormone production and amplify HA and make things even worse.
I can help you overcome complicated relationships with food and exercise, and create a personalized plan that is right for you.
Exercise Addiction
Compulsive Exercise and addiction occur as a result of an unhealthy obsession with exercise and movement. These thoughts about body composition, fitness and physical goals are connected to dysregulated emotional and eating patterns.
People who are addicted to exercise work out obsessively, sometimes even ignoring injury or illness. They may neglect other areas of life to exercise, such as:
Time devoted to other responsibilities, like school or work
Marital or family relationships
Social life and personal commitments
Signs and symptoms of exercise addiction can include:
Unhealthy focus on exercise, experiencing cravings and withdrawal
Feeling high from the satisfaction of a workout
Tolerance and the need to increase amounts of exercise to get the same “high” or satisfying effect
Relationship conflicts because of the obsession with exercise
Decreased involvement in other activities
A compulsive need to work out even when injured, ill or exhausted
withdrawal symptoms can also occur including anxiety, depression, body aches, headaches and other issues.
Sports Naturopathy & Fertility
Naturopathy can help athletes of all levels achieve performance and recovery goals through optimal health. Sport offers us the opportunity for self-exploration through body, mind and spirit. Sports naturopathy provides a holistic perspective on training, injury recovery, and long-term health sustainability.
Professional athletes are increasingly interested in naturopathic medicine for safer options to fine-tune their performance and improve:
Rapid recovery
Injury prevention
Nutritional support
And to improve their performance
In sport, mental focus and concentration are as important as the physical mechanics of the body. Therefore, we address the mental blocks that prevent athletes from delivering their optimal performance.
I believe that sport offers people the opportunity to creatively express who they are as individuals. As someone who works with athletes, I want to help them harness their life force, their will, and desire to reach the greatest expression of their potential."