Midlife Illuminated

One thing I've learnt as a health coach is that being kind to ourselves works a whole lot better than beating ourselves up. In this episode, I chat to someone who brings this concept to life. Lynne Gill is a wise, funny and refreshingly straight-talking 69-year-old grandmother. Lynne has been married to her husband Jim for 50 years and had a long career in nursing (including as a paediatric nurse...

This episode is a very meaty conversation with an inspirational woman who unashamedly uses her gifts to the full and pursues her dreams - and who encourages others to do the same. Caroline Britton is an intuitive and transformational coach and an expert in helping people to fulfil their potential. In this conversation, we go deep into manifesting what we truly want in life - and how to use the sim...

As I've just turned 50, I thought I'd take the opportunity to pause and reflect on some of the big lessons that now shape my life. In this very personal episode, I share thoughts on what I've learnt - and what has allowed me to go from burnt-out and floundering at 40 to (mostly!) calm, positive and fulfilled at 50. I really hope my experiences and reflections strike a chord with you. Having suffer...

This episode marks the first anniversary of the Wellness Unwrapped podcast – and I’m so grateful to have you joining me as a listener. My guest for my anniversary episode is not a famous doctor or an author. Alice Hendy is someone who you won’t have heard of - but who I think deserves to be heard the world over. The topic of this episode is very different from what you may have come to expect from...

The huge benefits of walking for our physical, mental and emotional health are beyond question. However, I had no idea that the way I walked wasn't actually that great - and that I could be walking much more effectively to achieve so many more benefits. That's why I'm so excited to bring you this conversation with the wonderfully uplifting Joanna Hall, who has taught me to optimise my walking tech...

My conversation this week is a very deep dive with one of the wisest people I’m privileged to know. Ruthie Portnoy is a Couples Therapist, EFT Practitioner and Life Coach. She’s also mother to nine kids!  Ruthie's dream is to empower individuals and couples to find their best selves and to enjoy a more loving, rich and meaningful life. She is the person I turn to whenever I have a struggle that I...

Have you ever thought of yourself as a leader? Well, this super-juicy chat with Terri Creeden will make you think differently! Terri is exceptionally wise - and also unsparingly honest about how she recently "cracked" when she neglected her own self-care. She explains how - although we may not see ourselves as having a leadership role - we are actually all leaders in our own homes. She shares how...

Such a privilege to have Janey Lee Grace as my guest this week. 15 years ago, it was Janey's book "Imperfectly Natural Woman" which first opened my eyes to how to care for myself and my family. In this episode, Janey shares how to look great without overloading our body with toxic chemicals. We also chat through keeping our homes clean - cheaply and effectively - without resorting to chemical nast...

It's my privilege to bring you my conversation with a doctor who has been an inspiration to me ever since I met him at his New York practice a few years back: Dr Frank Lipman.  In this eye-opening conversation, Dr Lipman shares his refreshingly holistic, accessible view of how we can all feel better. I love the fact that he fuses ancient wisdom with cutting-edge science - and that his approach to...

As someone who has always classed herself as "rubbish at art" and "not very creative", it's been a revelation to me to witness the transformative effects of getting involved with creative activities. Not only can getting creative help to massively boost your self-esteem and self-image...it can even stop you bingeing on chocolate! I met my guest, Paul Pickford, when I pushed myself way, way outside...

Ever feel like you're carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders? Or that you're just too, too busy to stop and take some time out for self-care? This episode is for you! Have a listen to me chat with my yoga teacher, Karen Goldman, who's managed to help herself to slow down from her go-go-go corporate job - and helped me to slow down too. Karen is passionate about bringing the powerful be...

This episode of Wellness Unwrapped features a profoundly thought-provoking conversation with Zoe Blaskey. Zoe shines a light on why it's crucial to give ourselves permission to feel our feelings - and shares her personal experience of what happens when we don't. We have a deeply honest chat about caring for ourselves so that we can live our best lives and be a positive role model to our lo...

As we're hit by an ever-worsening tsunami of lifestyle-related chronic disease, the message that "eating real food saves lives" is more vital than ever. In this very straight-talking conversation, Dr Aseem Malhotra explains what everybody urgently needs to know about our food, to protect our precious health. I also share my own, first-hand experiences of the heartbreaking effects of poor diet. Dr...

In this episode, I share the impact that a chance encounter with a stranger had on me. I've recorded this solo episode as a reminder to myself of her words. I hope they strike a chord with you too. If they do, drop me a note! You can find me here: https://peppermintwellness.co.uk/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PeppermintWellness Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peppermintwellness/

This week's guest on Wellness Unwrapped is Pilar Gerasimo - someone who I've looked up to as one of my guiding lights, ever since I came across her work a few years back. I love her gentle, wise, self-deprecating, fun approach to empowering people to take their health back. Pilar and I have a very honest chat about how we need to embrace deviance if we want to live a vibrant life. Pilar is refresh...

Welcome to Season 2 of Wellness Unwrapped! In this introductory solo episode, I share a lightning bolt moment that hit me while journalling by a Scottish loch over the summer. It’s no exaggeration to say that this has been the single most life-changing insight I’ve had this year - and it has already lowered my stress levels considerably. I’m really hoping that me taking the decision to do less and...

The last episode in the first series of Wellness Unwrapped is a golden, heart-warming (and often hilarious) chat with one of the most straight-talking women I’ve ever met – the fabulously relatable Lynda Sackett.  Lynda lays bare her struggles with her husband after his heart attack; her battle with depression and anxiety; and her reliance on alcohol to numb feelings she didn’t want to feel.  Her...

Most of us know that junk food is bad for our health. So why do we still fall victim to eating it? In this week’s episode of Wellness Unwrapped, Dr Austin Perlmutter blows the lid off the way insidious marketing and other factors in our modern environment push us to make decisions that eat away at our physical, emotional and mental health. It's essential for us to be wise to this if we’re to have...

We all know that exercise is fundamental to our longevity and wellbeing on every level...but lots of us are put off by the whole concept of “working out”.  That’s why I love the playful approach of my guest on this week’s episode of Wellness Unwrapped. Darryl Edwards is a movement coach, author of the best-selling book Animal Moves and a thought leader in the area of creativity and innovation in f...

We'd all love to greet each day feeling refreshed, mentally resilient and full of energy. But the reality is that most of us struggle to get the sleep our body and brain crave to work optimally. In this refreshingly candid conversation, the wonderfully wise Dr Sally Bell shares her own struggles with sleep and what she's found really helps. Dr Sally Bell has 20 years' experience as a medical docto...

You probably have a first aid box for cuts, grazes and burns. But wouldn’t it be great to have a first aid tool for stress? Well, now you can have a tool like that - and you can draw on it any time you need it, for free. In this week’s episode, Gwyneth Moss shares an incredibly simple, quick and effective way for you to find your way back to calm. It's called Traffic Lights Tapping and it's very e...

Do you ever find yourself putting more and more effort and time into whatever task you're trying to finish...but don't seem to be making progress? Do you ever find yourself using caffeine or sugar to help you "push through" energy lags and brain fog? This week, I'm sharing something that's so fundamental to our productivity and wellbeing - I just wish I'd learnt this before I started my first job....

Even before "lockdown lethargy" became a thing, most of us were suffering from an epidemic of low energy. In this episode, I share two, super-simple ways that you can transform your energy levels - from this week. I also spill the beans on what happened earlier this year when I got hit by fatigue when out on a date (with myself!)...and how my mood took a dive when I tried to mask my tiredness with...

This week, I’m thinking about how hard it can be to keep promises to ourselves – and how much easier it is to follow through when we team up with someone who we can be accountable to.  If this episode strikes a chord with you, do drop me a note. You can contact me via my website or on any of my social media platforms: https://peppermintwellness.co.uk/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PeppermintW...

I’ll look back at this crisis as the time I learnt to breathe. In this episode, I share how being trained to correct my poor breathing helped me to tap into an unexpected calm amidst the crisis. Here are a some websites you might find useful for further information: https://www.breathingremedies.co.uk/ https://www.buteyko.co.uk/ https://buteykoclinic.com/breathing-exercises/ I'd love to know what...