Episode 101 – Christine Pope

Dave Sheehan chats with Naturopath and Nutritionist Christine Pope about her career in the industry and some wonderful free resources members can tap into for their own self-care. 

For more information on Christine Pope and the resources discussed in this episode, visit: https://www.christinepopenutritionist.com/

Transcript

Intro

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hi, I'm Christine Pope. I'm a naturopath and nutritionist, and I'm looking forward to talking to Dave on Connect today about all things naturopathy and nutrition.

Christine Pope

SPEAKER_00 0:16

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SPEAKER_01 0:50

Hi everybody, this is Dave Sheen on the Connect Show. I'm very excited to have Christine Pope with me today, and we'll be talking lots about her adventures in the well-being space. So welcome, Christine.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

Hi Dave. Thanks for having me here today.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Now, you and I have sort of known each other for quite a few years and we've crossed paths, even though that we're from kind of different camps originally, which was ATMS for yourself and Massage Myotherapy Australia. Did you want to just sort of touch for the viewers a little bit about your past and where you've come from? Because it's kind of interesting that it hasn't just been in this space, but it's also the Cosmos space, the business space as well. So, which which is aligns with our CEO and Davy. So off you go.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

So look, many years ago when I was looking at studying, and we went, we don't need to go into how many decades ago that was, because we both got an idea of that, but I was looking at commerce or chiropractic. And the reality at the time was that, you know, I was 17 years old and I was in Sydney, and the only course offered in chiropractic was in Melbourne. But I was really interested in natural medicine even at that stage. So I actually did do a commerce degree, which, you know, the business skills have been useful. I I could always say that I wish I'd done more marketing because when I first set up my own business, that would have been really helpful. But I spent 20 years working in banking, finance, investment banking, and then I decided I need to change and moved into venture capital because I thought it would be family-friendly and less stressful. And that was probably the single worst decision I've ever made. Because I think I spent six months on planes sorting out DUD assets and investments, and then I went, okay, I really need to look at something else. And I went to an open day at Nature Care College and I looked at it and I thought, actually, I'm going to go study nutrition and homeopathy. I want to actually work with adults and spend time helping people instead of just doing bigger and better deals.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

Wow, what a flip. What a flip from what you were doing originally. Yeah, it's great.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

Yeah, it is, and it isn't, because uh, like in my career, I was always very focused on risk management. And ultimately, when it comes to health, it's a risk management decision, isn't it? You know, it's like, okay, do you take the decision that you're going to go hiking a few weeks after an operation, or do you actually That's mean.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

You shouldn't do that.

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Well, it's risk management. You make the decision and you accept what the consequences are. But I think a lot of health is, you know, it's analytical, it's looking at the information, the person in front of you, the symptoms that are emerging, and putting that together with the other information you have from tests and things.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Absolutely. And you talk about risk management in terms of self, and that's today's little discussion, really. For the punters at home, we wanted to talk about self-care. So you fit really well into that little window there. So, did you want to? I I just thought, Christine, if we could just some people watching may not know the difference between naturopathy and homeopathy. So I believe there are props involved. So off you go.

SPEAKER_02 3:58

There are. So for a lot of people, I think the thing is with naturopathy, it's what we have is tools of trade. So the things that we can use, kind of we're like the equivalent of a natural medicine doctor, you know. So one of the things that most people are familiar with is liquid herbs. So hence the, you know, bottle of the this is actually gention, which is a lovely herb for stimulating the production of stomach acid. So for people who are having, you know, reflux and burping and that sort of thing. And then I also, but people have heard about homeopathy, but they're not quite sure what it is. And homeopathy is much, much more dilute. It's almost energetic, it's more about information. So when I'm prescribing a homeopathic medicine, I'm usually medicating these little pillars and I'll put two drops of whatever it is on there. So I might use something for, you know, if I'm going with stomach problems and acid, there's a remedy called arsenicum that's often used. And it's really interesting because I do find that people respond to different levels of intervention. You know, some people they really only need a little bit, so the homeopathics are really ideal. Others need a lot more physical intervention. So you might find this in the massage spaces too. There's people who are like, you go like this and they go, ooh, you know, there's too much. And other people who are like, get the elbow in, you know.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

And how how easy is it for you to define how someone's going to respond to to your treatments?

SPEAKER_02 5:26

Well, I it's usually based on, you know, I I find people who are more sensitive tend to have food intolerances and allergies or they're sensitive to light and noise and you know, they just seem to be more sensitively wired.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 5:40

It's not always the case, but that's a kind of good guiding protocol.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:45

And look, sometimes I also find it depends on what's going on. Sometimes if you've had, you know, if you've had, you know, a parasite in your gut, for example, then you're probably going to need something more physical to respond to that, which is when you might go in with the liquid herbs. But what I might do is so, you know, often the dosing can be like five mils twice a day. I might start lower and then gradually build up based on that person's response and how they cope with it. So I think the thing that's really lovely about naturopathy is that you can tailor the treatment to the person in front of you rather than being one size fits all. You've got a number of tools in your kit. So, you know, I've talked about herbs and homeopathy, but also nutritional supplements. And I said earlier, I'm pretty sure you all know what they are, but you know, there's a cupboard behind me.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

And you know, vitamins and minerals can also be really useful. And in my clinic, I actually do some testing on minerals so that I can see where people are deficient or have excess.

SPEAKER_01 6:47

No, I did want to touch on that because when I was having a briefing a couple of weeks ago about this upcoming interview, you do blood, you do you do a little blood testing with pinpricks and that sort of thing?

SPEAKER_02 6:59

Or oh, look, I send people off for anything invasive because I'm a bit of a wuss. But, you know, there are a number of different tests we use. At the moment, I'm actually I'm using a lot of fit genes testing, which looks at nutritionally influenceable genetic variables. So you can see whether someone is look, and you know, to give you a recent example, I had someone who's developed a lot of pain. And what I when I did the testing, a lot of their inflammatory genes were the least beneficial option. So what I knew is that I had to go in with a lot of support for those genes because they're very prone to getting inflamed and then it being hard to resolve.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

So, you know, but what I like about this testing is it doesn't show up anything nasty. It just tells you whether there's more of a whether they've got more problems with their detoxification or whether they've got more problems with inflammation and other things. So, you know, it is still very focused on my areas, core areas of expertise. I'm not having to become a geneticist to understand it.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:05

Although some days when I'm looking at these gene SNPs, I'm thinking, hmm.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Now, Christine Pope, I've had a look at one of your one of your websites. I thought you had one, but you you informed me that there are others. But Christine Pope Nutritionalist.com, and we'll probably put that up right now on the screen for everyone at home. There is a wealth of free resources, and there's even a one-pan meals cookbook.

unknown 8:31

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

I love one pan meals. Tell me about that.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

When I was setting up the website, you know, I've I've did a lot of other training about how you do this stuff and everything else. And, you know, for those of you who are setting up your own businesses, I'm sure you realize how much tech and admin goes on behind the scenes. But they said one of the things you've got to do is have something so that people will sign up for your list. And I tried a couple of things that really didn't work. Yeah. And then one of the things that they said was, you know, look at the stuff that you use all the time with your clients. And I'm like, oh, well, that's kind of obvious. So it was the one-pan meals download. Yeah. And I really like that because I find I think 70% of the issues for people can be solved by proper nutrition. And, you know, really it's about proteined every meal and vegetable, lots of vegetables. And one pan meals are really great at that because basically what you're doing is putting a heap of vegetables and some protein on a plate, flavoring it and shoving it in the oven and then going off and doing whatever else you want to do and coming back to food.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Good meat, good midweek dinners, which are healthy. And you know what? You and I talked about what we wanted to talk about today. And one of the things we we discussed was it's one thing to talk about certain types of health, but mental health was something that in your work is really, really important, even though you're treating other sort of more physical symptoms in some ways. Um, but did you want to sort of unpack that a little bit too and the importance of that?

SPEAKER_02 10:00

Yeah, look, I think the thing is I would say that when I was first in clinic, I would have said 50% of the people who came in to see me about something physical also had stress, anxiety, depression. But I think increasingly now it's most people who come in to see me, and particularly as they get older. And I think a lot of our mental health is also really shaped by our diet and environment. And I think increasingly, you know, we live in a culture where being busy is, you know, kind of a badge of honor, but it's not necessarily the best thing for ourselves or maintaining good mental health. And I do find, Dave, I'm gonna say this, particularly women, they tend to take on the mental load of everyone else in the household.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:45

So I've now started charging my family for when they want to use my mental capacity. So you know, when my husband says, What time is that reservation? It's like five bucks.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Oh, so it's straight out currency. Yeah, it's like it's not you can do you can do this.

SPEAKER_02 11:02

Something you can look up or find yourself, then please don't use my mental capacity to do it.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

And no doubt soon after the questions start to to be reduced in somewhat in some way, yeah. No doubt.

SPEAKER_02 11:15

Because I think most of us have enough on our plates managing our own, you know, schedule and timetable. And I think one of the things we really need to look at, and I think it's a you know, because we're having this, we're doing this chat in January. This is a really good time of year to think about what you can declutter from your brain so that it's not constantly on alert. And, you know, I think one of the things I love doing, but I don't want you to do this from my list, is unsubscribing from newsletters.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

Yeah, I had a had a crack at that before Christmas, actually. Yeah. While I was uh yeah, resting.

SPEAKER_02 11:48

But the other thing is, you know, it's also this is a great time of year to think about what do you need to do to support yourself so that you can keep helping everyone else. And I think for from a self-care perspective, it's really important to understand that it's the priority. Absolutely. And for me, I block in two Pilates sessions a week. Um, part of it's because I've had a couple of major surgeries, and that was my rehab, and that worked a lot better for me.

unknown 12:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

The fact that the building I'm in, they're downstairs also helps. Yeah, yeah, for sure. It's very accessible. And also I find, you know, whether it's some form of exercise, some form of practice that actually helps your brain calm down, because most of us are really overstimulated nowadays. You know, we're constantly uh scrolling on the phones, we've got a lot of other things that we're juggling. You know, if you can give your brain 15 to 20 minutes a day where it's not on, you'll really help maintain that your mental health and your brain health for as long as possible.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

Yeah, absolutely. No, I totally agree with you. Totally agree with you. Hey, um, one last point before we go on your website, and we've talked about it a little bit aging outrageously programmed. It's fantastic. So, how do we go about doing that as I'm now 59 going on 60?

SPEAKER_02 13:04

Oh, well, that's actually the you know, I designed this program for over 50 years, and it was based on the training I did with Dr. Dal Bredison on Alzheimer's and dementia, but the principles apply regardless. So it's regular exercise, you know, that is kind of the key thing, and I can't get away from that, you know. It's like everything I read, all the research I'm doing, you know, you need to be doing physical activity. We are designed to move. Movement is medicine. Getting protein at every meal would be the other trick, I would actually say is really essential for your brain health. And if you want to switch your brain on, have good steady blood sugar rather than peaks and troughs. Because, you know, one of the things they say about dementia is it's really diabetes type 3. So get your blood sugar sorted because it's really critical. And your brain runs on glucose. So, you know, you need to make sure it's a steady flow rather than up and down. The other things are more about sorting out whatever else is going on for your health. So if you're constantly in pain and inflamed, get yourself to a good massage therapist or a lymphatic therapist or a craniosacral therapist or whatever works for you, you know, is I think really critical, but also dealing with the underlying source of that information.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Yeah, right. Good, good tips, good tips, Christine. So we might finish off there. Is there anything else you want to talk about? Anything coming up for 2026 that might be of interest to the members, any programs that you're offering? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

So I've got a few, I've got a few programs that I'm rolling out this year. There's one recorded program. If you're interested in homeopathy, I have a little course that is 50% off on the website at the moment, but it's basically a recording of four sessions where I teach people how to use homeopathy themselves. So it's like so you can travel with a little first aid kit and cover off on most of the things you need to handle, whether it's injuries or stomach upsets or anything else. So a lot of my clients managed to go into Asia and India and and still maintain reasonable health, though I always make sure they've got something for the dreaded barley belly.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

So I've got to ask you, having had young daughters who smack their heads a number of times by tripping up and whatnot, and we used to give them the little Annika pills.

SPEAKER_02 15:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

And I'm sure they worked. Oh, they do, and we use the Annika cream too. The the yeah, that was amazing too.

SPEAKER_02 15:27

But they're still you can get there, was a gel that Traumeal did, which was fantastic because it was so well absorbed. And if you'd overdone it in the gym, Arnica is also really good for that.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:38

Um, but they don't have the gel anymore. I've been trying to find it, but so the cream works well, but you know, it's it's something else you can use. But I say with an a head injury, I'd be using the Arnica like four or five times a day.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

So is this the pill, the homeopathic?

SPEAKER_02 15:54

Yeah, the homeopathic pills. Because if it's a head injury, it's internal and it's deep. So you can't really get to it with a cream.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

Yeah, no, well, it's still used to be on the on the on the forum, they just waked there. But anyway, so yeah, Martin and Pleasants, wasn't it? Are they still make the cream? I think.

SPEAKER_02 16:11

Yep, Martin and Pleasants, and I think Boyron as well. Okay. But just in terms of the other programs, so if you're interested in doing more education on about aging well, my Aging Outrageously program is an eight-week recording, or I'm about to start a live version of it with six mentoring sessions.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

Okay. So when you say live, you mean still online but live?

SPEAKER_02 16:36

Well, so they've got eight weeks of recording plus six weeks of calls. So we we have a weekly Zoom call so people can because you know, the thing is you listen to it and then you're like, does she mean this? Does she mean that? You know, or how does that more more often it's how does that apply to me? Um and in May, I'm running a course on reducing recurrence risk. So I've looked at some of the because what I find is I I've managed people who have had cancer treatment. And then, and you know, cancer is just another chronic disease that we're experiencing now as population. But the thing is, once treatment finishes, it's kind of like off you go, you know, and people need to know how to maintain good health, reduce the risk of it coming back. So that's what I'll be focusing on in May.

SPEAKER_01 17:25

Okay, a busy year for you this year, 2026. Well with balance, right?

SPEAKER_02 17:31

Yep, exactly. I've got a month in Europe in March, April.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

There you go. We need balance. Good for you, Christine. It's been lovely to talk to you on Connect for this episode. Uh, wish you all the best for the year. Yeah, and we'd love to get you back again at some point. And for everyone at home, I'm gonna put that website up again underneath me here, Christine Pope Nutritionalist.com. Go visit as I I only touched on a few of the free resources there with Christine, but there's a whole bunch of other stuff. Christine also does a like a blog, if you like, or posts lots of articles, which are really interesting. So if you are interested in looking after yourself, as we all should be, go check out her website. There's some really great resources. So uh, once again, Christine, thank you so much for being with me. And everyone at home, thanks very much for listening. Bye bye.

SPEAKER_02 18:22

Thanks, Dave. It was a lot of fun. See ya.