Holistic Life with Rita Caukurs

THE LIVEWELL Hervey Bay podcast recently sat down with Rita Caukurs, a local Naturopath who has been in the industry for 25 years.

The focus of this podcast was to explore the use of naturopathy and natural therapies focusing on diet, lifestyle changes and practical steps people can take to improve their health.

“In the last five to 10 years, there has been a huge shift with naturopaths becoming more science and evidence-based with their practices and their treatment options,” said Rita.

“We are about preventative health. Traditionally when people came to see naturopaths, they are worried about the cost. They are worried they are going to be over prescribed with a heap of supplements. This certainly isn’t the case.”

“Now we have a lot more people using naturopaths as their first line of therapy.”

“People are wanting to make sure they are putting all the right things into their body, from a food to supplements to ensure they are having the best opportunity to prevent disease.”

“They want to live the healthiest and longest life they can.”

“Most Western diseases like heart disease, kidney disease and cancer are all now considered preventable lifestyle diseases.”

“The true statistics show that only 3% of obesity is actually inherited genetic. The rest of it comes down to diet and lifestyle choices.”

“Therefore, we try to encourage people to use natural services and look at diet, lifestyle and environmental factors to help prevent these diseases.”

“We are breaking the cycle, there is more to food than just your standard meat and three veg.”

“When you come to see a naturopath, we are looking at your upbringing, the food you currently eat, any viruses that you may of had recently to try and figure out what could be impacting health”.

“Everything we put into our body is 100% going to impact your health.”

“Majority of the food we have in our supermarkets to is not real food, its manufactured products imitating food.”

“The vegan alternatives we find in the supermarkets have a huge amount of chemicals in them to make them look and taste like meat.”

“I would encourage everyone to go to your local farmers market or grow your own fresh fruit and vegetables. At least then you know it's real fresh food going into your body.”

“I understand budget is a big factor for everyone, so even simple things like getting up when the sun gets up, eating before the sun goes down, you’re going to make a huge shift in your health.”

“When a client comes to see me with an alignment issue (sore neck, back etc), rather than band aiding it with painkillers, I will look to see what the trigger was.”

“If we are looking at something structural, it’s going to take some time to heal, and I would recommend you to take some nutrients that are going to speed up that healing.”

“For example, if there are signs of inflammation going on in the body, we might jump straight to herbal options instead of supplements with nutrients, like turmeric. Most people have taken turmeric but there’s a good difference in the different qualities of turmeric options on the market.”

“Its like food from the supermarkets, supplements are just the same in the quality available.”

“Stress also has a huge impact on our health. We all need to make sure we are managing this and seeking help when needed.”

“Staying active is so important, we were born moving and we really should be moving right up until our very last day.”

“You don’t have to have structure, simple things like parking further away from work, spend time in the garden and playing with pets.”

“If we don’t move, we are dramatically reducing our lifespan.”

“I would recommend anyone thinking about going to see a naturopath to make a list of things you want to address. We ask lots of questions which can be quiet overwhelming, but above all make sure they are qualified.”