# Jess & Kat Get Honest About Their Journeys with Natural Health

An episode of [The Cyclist](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1799823350), 10 Jun 2025, 33 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/101bd2764/podcast/play/103949978/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-5-10%2F8c4662f2-80cd-5c90-f3f5-9a8bb9f58231.mp3

This week, we’re sharing our personal journey into natural medicine, the real, raw, and surprising moments that led us to where we are today. Kat opens up about growing up in a medical family and how chronic UTIs became the turning point that led her to naturopathy. Jess shares how natural medicine became a powerful support during her cancer treatment and why it’s now an essential part of her holistic health routine. We talk about what naturopathy actually is, how we integrate it into our everyday lives, and how it’s shaped the way we think about our bodies, symptoms, and healing. We love these solo episodes, we yap about womens health all day long so it's nice to sit down and record it. Follow & Connect: ✨ Instagram: @wearethecyclist ✨ Website: www.wearethecyclist.com We’re so glad you’re here - hit play and let’s learn to cycle better together.

## Transcript

[0:06] This is The Cyclist, the podcast that finally talks about your
[0:10] reproductive health the way your group chat does.
[0:12] No awkward silence, no sugar coating, just the real messy.
[0:16] Holy shit why did nobody tell me this convos about your body?
[0:20] I'm Jess. Quinn, and I'm Catherine
[0:22] Douglas. We've been where you are,
[0:24] confused, dismissed and left figuring it all out on our own.
[0:28] So we're gathering the information we wish we had.
[0:31] We are the cyclist, your cycle. Decoded.
[0:42] I'll second official solo episode.
[0:44] This is quite exciting. Hi, Kat.
[0:46] Hey Jess, how are we doing? Good, thank you.
[0:49] I am excited to have it. I feel like we spend a lot of
[0:52] our meetings talking about stuff that could in fact be a podcast
[0:56] if so. Be around at times get and I
[0:59] either in a work meeting or we're catching up and we're
[1:01] like, we should have just set record and this could have been
[1:03] an episode. So we thought we would do some
[1:05] solo episodes to dive into our journeys, our thoughts on
[1:08] things, all of that kind of stuff because we like to yap.
[1:12] We do like to, yeah, it's confirmed.
[1:15] It is. Confirmed.
[1:16] So today we wanted to dive into Cat Andy's journey with natural
[1:19] health. I'll let Kat explain hers, but
[1:22] it's something that's been, I think, a really big part of both
[1:25] of our journeys. Definitely something for you
[1:27] both professionally and personally.
[1:29] So we thought we would die then A lot of people have been
[1:31] dreaming us about our thoughts on and atrophy or getting our
[1:34] thoughts from our experts on naturopathy and at where
[1:38] supplements can interject and all of that kind of stuff.
[1:40] So we just thought we would dive in.
[1:41] Obviously, we aren't qualified to prescribe any kind of natural
[1:45] health things. We're just sharing our journeys
[1:46] in the hopes that hopefully you'll find a little tit bits
[1:49] along the way for you. Yeah.
[1:51] I guess a little bit more about our attitudes and our experience
[1:54] as opposed to recommendations or anything like that.
[1:58] Um, the trophy is, or natural health is really become quite a
[2:04] significant part of my life. It's quite interesting.
[2:06] I grew up in a very medical family, so my grandfather
[2:11] founded Douglas Pharmaceuticals. We've had this family business
[2:14] for over 60 years now, which my dad also works in.
[2:18] My mum was a pharmacist, my uncle is a surgeon.
[2:22] So painting a very Western medicine kind of picture.
[2:27] And so I very much grew up with if you've got a problem, there's
[2:31] a pill to fix it kind of mentality.
[2:34] Sorry, obviously had quite stability, eating period pain
[2:38] when I was a teenager and there was a pill to fix that, you
[2:41] know, and the anti inflammatories that my mum would
[2:44] give me would get stronger and stronger.
[2:46] And that was just what I knew and used to be true.
[2:51] And I never questioned it because you don't question your
[2:54] parents, do you? No, no, no.
[2:58] And for the most part, it does deal with the symptoms, but, um,
[3:03] and it kind of got to the, the crux of my issues, which when
[3:07] you're young, you don't really care.
[3:09] No, you're happy to just like the symptoms or you want to get
[3:12] rid of right? You don't really care.
[3:13] About care, about in the moment. Yeah, totally.
[3:15] I want to go to the festival. Exactly.
[3:19] So it was working for a time and then I went on my OE in my early
[3:24] 20s and so went to Europe and I started getting real issues with
[3:30] the recurrence UTI, which is something I've spoken about a
[3:33] number of times on the podcast, but a really important part of
[3:37] my journey and kind of veggies quite a significant switch for
[3:40] me. So basically, um, one of the
[3:45] issues when you're travelling is you're going to the bathroom and
[3:48] a lot of on non sanitary environments.
[3:51] So you often will not empty your bladder properly because you're
[3:56] squatting and you're trying not to touch things.
[3:58] And this is probably too much information.
[4:00] Never anything like that, Yeah. And that was causing me excited,
[4:05] already had issues with my bladder, but it was actually
[4:09] causing you TI for me because I was not emptying the bladder and
[4:12] they fully. And then the urine that was left
[4:14] and there was growing bacteria. And well, that became a whole
[4:19] sing. And my mum had sent me off with
[4:21] the antibiotics cause I'd had the odd duty.
[4:23] I had nothing major leading up to there, but I had antibiotics
[4:26] on me. But also when you're in these
[4:28] foreign countries, you can just go get antibiotics Willy nilly
[4:30] from the pharmacy. Like there's no process.
[4:32] We have to go to the doctor or anything.
[4:34] So I started getting these Utis, was taking antibiotics, wasn't
[4:41] his, like wasn't going to the lab getting it tested.
[4:44] And anyway, I got into such a cycle where I was getting one
[4:46] kind of every four to six weeks. Wow.
[4:48] And I take antibiotics and because I've taken so many
[4:51] rounds of that, that was then disrupting all my flora.
[4:54] And I was getting yeast infections and I'd get on top of
[4:56] the yeast infection and then I'd have another UTI and then I'll
[4:59] be back on antibiotics and have none of us and a whole thing.
[5:03] And then I started getting antibiotics resistance, and it
[5:08] got to the point where it was so debilitating because I had to
[5:13] plan like my die around whether there was going to be a toilet.
[5:17] Wow. Because I just lost quite a bit
[5:20] of control of my bladder and so I Fast forward moved back home
[5:26] was I I need to get on top of this.
[5:28] Went to my Doctor Who put me onto a they call a Euro giant
[5:34] gyno urologist or something along those lines.
[5:37] I can't remember the exact technical term but it was
[5:39] basically a gynaecologist who specialised in the bladder and
[5:44] these kind of issues and her suggestion to me was to go on
[5:48] long term antibiotics. That's Is that something you
[5:51] take forever? Well, I don't know, but at least
[5:55] 6. Are quite ohh.
[5:56] Wow, OK. Wow.
[5:58] And I was like, I I don't know what part of my story you're not
[6:02] understanding that antibiotics upsetting.
[6:04] My gosh, I'm getting these yeast infections.
[6:07] I don't want to be on them long term and.
[6:11] How old were you at this point? How would have been 24 she is
[6:15] thinking. And so that was just a because
[6:18] again, I'm not like I've been taught to trust the medical
[6:24] professional, but something didn't sit right with me.
[6:27] And the other thing that had happened when I was travelling
[6:29] is I had had this experience where I had been opened up to
[6:34] more Eastern cultures in the way.
[6:35] So I was travelling through Central America and I had this
[6:39] very distinct moment where we went to this.
[6:42] It was called a healing garden. And effectively they had planted
[6:46] all of these medicinal herbs and they would do tours and you'd go
[6:49] around and the guys like, ohh, this is turmeric.
[6:51] My wife grinds us up when she is a period to help her period
[6:55] pain. And then there were plants that
[6:57] they would grind up and use for wounds to keep bacteria out and
[7:02] all of these types of things. And that that was just something
[7:04] I'd never really been exposed to.
[7:06] And it really kind of, I guess, sparked.
[7:10] Opened your eyes. Like, yeah.
[7:11] What we also they thought when you were walking.
[7:13] Through that garden, there's someone who like, I can imagine
[7:15] if you were a headstrong medical person, were you like, what is
[7:18] this? Who or were you really open
[7:20] doing? Kind of surprised by how open to
[7:22] what you were. I was really open to it because
[7:24] I was never one of those people That's Western medicine is the
[7:28] only thing. I'm a disbeliever.
[7:30] I just didn't know about showing that option.
[7:34] Do it agree. And I just thought it was so
[7:38] cool that there's so much that you can take from nature that
[7:42] helps with things. So I'd had that moment and then
[7:45] I'd met this really cool woman in Honduras who was working on
[7:48] her parents Kakao farm and she um, was growing moringa trees
[7:54] and moringa used largely through Central America and a few other
[7:59] countries. But for like a lot of things,
[8:01] but largely energy Wellness. There quite is quite a general
[8:07] product. But I remember because it made
[8:09] some of these meringue catchalls.
[8:10] I've never been in such a good mood of my life.
[8:13] Wow. Yeah, and so I had this
[8:16] experience of actually taking something that shifted my energy
[8:20] and my mood and I guess just started to rewire something in
[8:26] my brain and the way that I think and realising that there's
[8:29] more often and so fast for come back to New Zealand.
[8:34] Had this experience with the doctor and then I went up to my
[8:37] mum's pharmacy and she had employed A naturopath who worked
[8:40] up there. So I was talking to her about my
[8:42] Utis and she was like, ohh, you need to retone, um, return your
[8:48] bladder and we need to get on top of the bacteria in your gut
[8:52] and a few other recommendations. And she sent me away with three
[8:55] products and I could, you know, I did not have a single UTI for
[8:59] another three years. Wow.
[9:02] That's huge. It was huge.
[9:04] Wow. And it was all from tackling
[9:06] supplementation. Wow.
[9:10] Ben's just something that aligns so much better with me because
[9:14] it meant that I wasn't getting all of the other side effects
[9:16] that were coming from the Western medicine that I was
[9:19] trying to take to deal with. Them and you were actually
[9:21] getting to the root cause. It was to like a preventative
[9:24] opposed to the ambulance at the bottom of.
[9:26] The exactly. And so I've learned for me that
[9:29] my, my gosh, and my flora balances are incredibly
[9:33] important to my bladder health. And then that started sort of, I
[9:37] guess stemming out into how, what else could I start
[9:42] addressing with my hearts with natural supplements.
[9:45] And it really lit a fire in me and a passion for
[9:48] supplementation. And now that's my job.
[9:51] Perfect. Which is wild.
[9:53] Would I now like, I haven't heard that full story in terms
[9:55] of like the herbal garden and then the moment that your mind
[9:58] shifted and all of that. So to me knowing you as I know
[10:01] you now, there's really interesting to hear your back
[10:03] story from personal experience, a really alternative upbringing
[10:09] to what you're now in and where those worlds collide.
[10:12] Where are you at with that now in terms of I guess natural
[10:18] medicine ends mainstream medicine, do they collide or do
[10:21] you only do one or the other? Yeah, absolutely.
[10:24] It's a great question. I am a big believer.
[10:27] So my whole mission is to help people to stay well.
[10:31] Hmm. So one of the things that I
[10:33] realised is what I was doing and what a lot of people do is we
[10:37] wait until we sick until we do something.
[10:39] And when you do that, you absolutely often need wisdom
[10:42] medicine because that's not something that's implants can
[10:46] necessarily fix. So how do we focus on taking
[10:53] what is given in nature to try and prevent getting sick in the
[10:57] 1st place? But I absolutely believe that
[11:00] there is a world for both. Like we are so lucky for Western
[11:02] medicine and how much that's advanced human health, longevity
[11:07] and, you know, disease fighting, infection fighting.
[11:10] There are a lot of things that we don't die of now that our
[11:13] ancestors would have died from and thanks to miss Western
[11:17] medicine. So I, I, I have strong belief
[11:20] that there is room for both. But what I love that Eastern
[11:23] medicine gives us is this ability to try and stay well or
[11:28] to try and treat mild, um, issues in a way that's not going
[11:33] to create a whole lot of negative side effects that can
[11:38] come with Western medicine. I would say for myself, I, I
[11:43] have to admit I have become a little bit sceptical of the
[11:48] healthcare system and times and that is sometimes smaller and
[11:53] different. So I've got almost a bit of an
[11:55] allergic reaction of going to the doctor.
[11:57] I'd rather try and solve it myself with my knowledge or with
[12:01] an echo path. So an example, I had a UTI that
[12:04] I was desperately trying to get rid of with some dead
[12:06] nanoscience and probiotics and some cranberry supplementation
[12:11] and I went to the next track because it wasn't working.
[12:12] She was like, Catherine, just go on the antibiotics, you're going
[12:15] to give yourself the kidney infections.
[12:16] So I have to be really careful that I don't allow that previous
[12:22] negative experience to cloud better judgement.
[12:27] Than to go too. Far the other way, yes.
[12:29] I think as you were speaking, I was thinking about how I feel
[12:32] like the online conversation, as it is with many online
[12:34] conversations is really black and white.
[12:36] You're either into the natural world or you're into the medical
[12:39] world. And if you're into one of those,
[12:41] it's like people and, and there is some people who are at both
[12:44] ends of those extreme, but I think most people are open to a
[12:47] bit of both or some people are still learning about the natural
[12:49] health world, but it may be open.
[12:51] But I think it does really feel like you have to pick a camp.
[12:53] And I think hearing you explain that it's a really good reminder
[12:56] of like you, they can both work together and there is a time and
[12:59] a place for which is something I really believe I've been on a a
[13:03] huge journey in our journey overlap so many times when I
[13:06] feel like we speak, I'm like, wow, it's very interesting.
[13:08] But then they obviously I had cancer as a kid.
[13:11] I went through chemotherapy and that saved my life.
[13:13] Also shopping off the loom definitely helped with that.
[13:16] But like I had, in my opinion, I really felt like I that was
[13:20] crucial for my recovery was to get the treatment that I needed.
[13:23] And obviously over the years, I was fully in the medical world
[13:27] through surgeries and like I'm, I am in awe of people who are in
[13:31] medicine and save lives like mine.
[13:33] But then at the same time, I've lived with many a chronic health
[13:37] issues that I think are preventive.
[13:39] If I look after my body in a holistic kind of way, whether
[13:43] that's through natural health medicine or through other forms
[13:47] of, of, of healing, acupuncture, all these different
[13:49] psychologists, all these are free kind of things.
[13:52] But for me, I remember when I had cancer, my mum, obviously,
[13:57] as many parents with a kid would do just, and this would back in
[14:00] 2001. So naturopathy wasn't really a
[14:02] common thing and she took me to this lady, many of different
[14:06] people, I must say, while I was getting treatment to try
[14:09] different forms of healing. And we went all the way up to
[14:11] Orewa, which was back when there was like only back Rd. sort of
[14:13] felt like we were going hours on Elena journey to a lady who did
[14:17] homoeopathy and I had to take all of these tiny, tiny little
[14:22] white pills and then also all of these supplements.
[14:25] And this is our hand on heart the truest story.
[14:28] Mum and I were actually laughing about it really recently.
[14:30] But while I was going through chemo, she was trying to find
[14:32] these different modalities to help support my body to help
[14:34] fight what I was going through. And I just, I was, I, I just
[14:38] didn't understand why I was having to take these ginormous
[14:41] pills. I had to learn how to swallow
[14:42] them in the first place. And one time mom was vacuuming
[14:45] behind the couch and there was just a whole lineup, like a
[14:49] grave site of all of these pills.
[14:50] Cause I would watch TV, Mum would bring me my pills.
[14:53] I'm not taking these and throw them behind me out, which now is
[14:56] someone who is paying for my own supplement.
[14:57] And they were like practitioner grade, like very expensive and
[15:01] we didn't have a lot of money. I feel terrible because mum
[15:05] would just buy me well behind the couch.
[15:08] So it's definitely something. And now I'm like, I'm the
[15:10] complete opposite. And I'm like you, I can relate
[15:12] to that a lot. And I think it's been quite
[15:15] humbling having Marla where I'm like at what I mean, am I
[15:17] intervening with her health needs as well with antibiotics?
[15:21] And when am I taking the natural route to support her health and
[15:24] and also my health? So it's definitely something I
[15:27] can relate to. And yeah, I've had a very
[15:30] similar journey where I've had tidbits.
[15:32] My mom obviously has taken natural supplements for years.
[15:35] So I've had that have seen them combining for a really long
[15:39] time, but I am a true believer and preventative medicine and
[15:46] taking things that and and learning about these people who
[15:50] are experts in these fields, like these people you saw in
[15:53] these farms and and just understanding that there is this
[15:56] whole other world out there. If you're open to.
[15:58] It there's so much wisdom, ancient culture.
[16:03] Ohh. And you know, cultures that have
[16:06] been using natural products for years and I think part of the
[16:12] struggle these days is often they've been used traditionally,
[16:15] but they haven't had clinical trials and we're behind them.
[16:18] So people poo poo it, but it's like, you can't tell me that
[16:21] hundreds of generational, hundreds of generations, but
[16:24] generations and generations have used this with success, but it
[16:28] doesn't work because there's not a clinical trial behind it.
[16:30] So I think that's where some of the bad, bad reputation comes
[16:34] from. Um, no, loved what you touched
[16:37] on there with becoming a mum. This has been something that
[16:41] I've had to really give myself a bit of a pep talk around.
[16:45] There's not bringing my own very strong and sometimes too skewed
[16:50] natural beliefs into my child because my child cannot talk to
[16:54] me and I am not a medical expert.
[16:58] And when something is wrong, I need to go and get advice.
[17:01] And that was something I had to be very conscious of because I
[17:05] noticed myself a few times being like, oh, we can go on and solve
[17:09] this with some herbs. And yeah, that was a little bit
[17:13] of a. And their bodies manufacturing
[17:16] so quickly. Yeah.
[17:18] And it's just another learning curve of being a mum of where
[17:21] you're like morals and values kind of fit in with your
[17:24] responsibility to look after them, right.
[17:26] Yeah, and I think for a long time, I, I just, I didn't have a
[17:31] doctor that I found this great. My, my doctors keep retiring.
[17:36] Found this great holistic Doctor Who kind of understood my values
[17:40] and worked within that. But then since then I really
[17:43] struggled to find a good doctor. And that's when I can get a
[17:46] little bit like, I'm not gonna go to the doctor.
[17:48] I'm gonna try and sort this out myself.
[17:51] And so for me having a child, it was really important to go and
[17:55] find a GP that I could trust and would understand the values.
[17:58] And yeah, because I don't get sick often.
[18:03] So I just hadn't put the effort into finding a good practitioner
[18:07] because you don't think about it until you're sick.
[18:08] And then you're like, I'll just go down to that person that I
[18:10] didn't have a great experience with it because now I'm sick and
[18:13] I need to go today. Differently, I should totally
[18:15] relate to that. What has your experience with
[18:18] natural health been on your woman's health journey?
[18:23] Women's Health journey. To I I guess like.
[18:26] Yeah, So there's the UTI pace I there's I often am taking stuff
[18:31] to try and keep on top of that. And then when I leave that lapse
[18:35] is when I regret it asleep. So that would definitely works
[18:39] with Indo. It's been really about like it's
[18:42] not just in the trophy, it's about a holistic approach.
[18:44] So the thing that I've actually found most powerful for my endo
[18:47] symptoms, which is predominantly period pain, is a low
[18:50] inflammatory diet that has a significant effect.
[18:54] But also taking some supplementation like a really
[18:57] good dose of magnesium helps with that.
[19:00] I take a product called Pee I. Was gonna say you would take We
[19:02] were both on this P a supplement, which we found the
[19:05] yearly helpful, not recommending just in our journey.
[19:07] We both down there. We both saw some natural based
[19:10] at Motherwell and they put us constantly.
[19:12] We weren't the same appointment. We were just coincidentally
[19:15] going there and Yep, hey, that's a really.
[19:18] Interesting, really helpful and I'm a big believer and said this
[19:22] the other day she if you're not testing you guessing.
[19:25] So I worked with Motherwell over a number of years through
[19:29] various parts of my fertility journey.
[19:32] And we, every six months or so, would be doing tests and
[19:35] adjusting what I was on based on that and based on the symptoms
[19:39] that I was experiencing as the time.
[19:41] Because, you know, we're organic beings and that's always moving
[19:44] and we're moving and shifting. There are new focuses and you'll
[19:48] fix one thing and then something else kind of crops up.
[19:51] Do you feel like I find the testing really helpful with that
[19:54] blood test or you're doing some more high level kind of guts or
[19:56] like genetic kind of testing? But I find it really helpful
[19:59] because for me, I think there's so many symptoms that can
[20:02] crossover to different things. Like, I live with anxiety, I
[20:05] live with endometriosis. I have chronic pain, I obviously
[20:07] have a disability, but I've got a whole conundrum of things.
[20:10] And so you're like, well, is this because my vitamin D is
[20:13] low? Is this because I'm actually
[20:15] just anxious cause I'm busy at the moment?
[20:16] It's because I'm living in pain. Whereas when you're testing you
[20:18] can be like, okay, no, my vitamin D is low.
[20:20] And I find what I learnt a lot through working with naturopaths
[20:23] is their, how do I explain it? They're kind of tolerance for
[20:28] your markers and your blood is a lot more broad, right?
[20:32] How? How would I explain that?
[20:34] So the bankers are now village. So if you take iron, for
[20:40] example, it's like if you're below, I think it's 40 between
[20:45] 40 and 220 or something, you're normal.
[20:48] That might not be quite right, but that's taken on the average
[20:52] population, which is not necessarily a healthy
[20:54] population. And so quite often when you get
[20:56] blood markers back, you can be in the healthy range, but
[21:00] actually it's still lower than optimal.
[21:02] Is that what you? Mean, yes, that's exactly what I
[21:04] was meaning, Yeah, the lower than optimal.
[21:06] Is. Yes, and that's where I found
[21:07] working the truth really interesting because like you're,
[21:09] you're like you're safe. It's not causing any major red
[21:12] flag, but that doesn't mean you're performing at an optimal
[21:14] level, which is the other reason why I like to dive into natural
[21:18] health. It's not just about have UTI
[21:20] need to fix it kind of thing. It's about how can I feel my
[21:23] best each day, especially if I'm not getting the nutrients that I
[21:25] need from my food for various reasons.
[21:28] I find that really helpful and I learned a lot about that through
[21:31] saying an entire path. It's not as black and white as.
[21:35] Better with the difference between like you get your bloods
[21:37] done with your doctor and they like, ohh, everything's in the
[21:39] normal range and then you go to the edge past and all of a
[21:42] sudden they like, we need to focus on these three things.
[21:44] That's why that range is really brought and there's not
[21:47] necessarily representative of an optimal healthy person that's
[21:50] representative of the population.
[21:52] I found that really helpful and interesting on my trying to
[21:55] conceive journey, which is where I was really working deeply with
[21:58] Motherwell because I was able to.
[22:01] I kept hearing you're fine, you're fine, you're fine.
[22:03] And and like, sure, maybe I was fine.
[22:05] And who knows what it was that it eventually allowed us to fall
[22:08] pregnant with Marla. But having someone be like, ohh,
[22:12] there is some things going on there.
[22:13] And whether that's going to help me for pregnant or just help me
[22:15] feel better is something that for me, is definitely worth
[22:19] addressing. Yeah, this is really, it's, it's
[22:23] not the nicest metaphor, but there's a metaphor that makes a
[22:26] lot of sense to me, which was told to me on my travels.
[22:30] I I need to come up with a better one that's a little bit
[22:32] less crude. But basically it's like if
[22:36] there's manure in the centre of a room.
[22:38] So imagine we've got a pile of cow manure in the middle of our
[22:41] podcast studio. Lovely.
[22:42] And it's attracting flies. The western approach would be to
[22:46] come in and spray, fly spray and the fly star and the horrible's
[22:51] gone, but the manure is still there.
[22:54] The eastern approach would be to come and Renew removed the
[22:58] manure from the room and therefore the flies disappear.
[23:04] I love that. Yeah, I know he's come up with
[23:07] something that's nice when you were on the floor.
[23:09] I'm sure we can buy a. Little bit that.
[23:11] Really explains the differences like the difference between
[23:15] treating the symptom, getting rid of that okay can go there's
[23:18] no more flies, it's not a problem versus actually getting
[23:22] to the root cause of the problem and therefore alleviating room
[23:27] the symptoms. The trouble that we have in
[23:29] today's society is when a poor GP has 15 minutes with us, like
[23:34] how do you get to the root cause of a problem?
[23:36] Because as you know, with your list of things that you're
[23:39] dealing with, it's complex and they're all interrelated.
[23:43] And often then I think part of the issue with naturopathy as
[23:48] well or the natural holistic approach is it can be a bit of
[23:52] trial and error. Hmm.
[23:53] And you often have to commit a significant amount of time and
[23:57] effort and advertising money to get to the bottom of it.
[24:02] Because our bodies are complex. All of our different systems and
[24:05] things interact and what works for you.
[24:10] So we might be both having period pain, but what works for
[24:13] you might be completely different to what works for me.
[24:15] And you've got to have the patience and the the
[24:18] practitioner actually needs to have the ability to have the
[24:21] time with you to ask those questions, get to know you, be
[24:24] able to potentially test and then really try things and see
[24:28] whether that's working and if not, move on to the next thing
[24:31] that will try. It needs to be so tailored,
[24:34] which is why I think you and I are really strong and we put a
[24:37] lot of effort with the cyclists. We were really nervous of, ohh,
[24:39] we don't want this to come across like we're giving out any
[24:41] kind of medical advice. You should do this, whether it's
[24:43] without blogs or podcast or whatever it might be about Al
[24:46] thing has always been we're head off for you all of the
[24:48] information on the silver platter for free, because
[24:50] gathering all of that information is something that
[24:52] you and I have had to do over years and unfortunately with a
[24:54] lot of money to kind of learn that for ourselves.
[24:56] So we're saying, here's all of your options of different path
[24:59] that things might be for you. And whatever sparks your
[25:01] interest is something that you can kind of dive deeper into
[25:03] because it's really important that we tailor things to
[25:06] ourselves. Because as you say, there could
[25:08] be, you could think this one thing, but there's actually this
[25:10] other little thing bugging in the background that's causing,
[25:13] causing that, you know, So, yeah, I find that really
[25:16] important to, to I like at the moment we're getting quite a few
[25:20] messages of people asking, what would your advice be in this
[25:22] particular thing? And it's something that you and
[25:24] I obviously can't speak to cause we're not qualified to.
[25:26] But also it's just so different for everybody that it's, it's
[25:30] hard, which, which makes it hard because as you touched on going
[25:33] down these parts and you're not both experiences as expensive.
[25:36] Like I had to make a lot of sacrifices And, and still I'm
[25:39] privileged that I could even make those sacrifices.
[25:41] But to be able to afford this. And it's something that has
[25:45] become harder since I've now got to get and have more
[25:47] experiences. You know, it's, you know, when I
[25:49] was like a little Dinks double income, no kids, it was a lot
[25:53] easier to afford to go to the nature paper.
[25:55] And now I'm like, Oh my God, take care bills.
[25:58] But, you know, so I totally understand if anyone sitting
[26:00] there at home, they like, this is really expensive, but
[26:03] hopefully we can help bring you some people to educate you on
[26:07] how you can, yeah, help feel better.
[26:09] Provide a small passport of experts and you can pick and
[26:12] choose what aligns with your values and kind of.
[26:15] What works for you differently is the goal.
[26:17] I thought before we wrap up because we haven't actually
[26:19] touched on this yet, we've talked about your personal
[26:22] journey and we've talked about how this is now your career, but
[26:24] you have you launched Brave Base, which is one of your
[26:27] supplement brands. How obviously this was a part of
[26:31] your personal journey leading into your professional career.
[26:33] You want to talk a little bit about why you started Brave Face
[26:36] and what that's meant? For you, yeah, sure.
[26:39] Obviously the pharmaceutical companies in my family, we also
[26:43] do supplements. So we've got a brand called
[26:45] Clinicians, which is number 2 supplement brand in New Zealand
[26:49] pharmacy. And so I was working quite
[26:52] closely with that brand and had gathered this passion for this
[26:58] preventative Wellness thing. And we were having a
[27:01] brainstorming session one day. It was actually 4 clinicians
[27:04] without it. Hess, who's amazing and she
[27:07] raised in there the session that she was getting a lot of people
[27:12] coming through her clinic with anxiety and she was getting
[27:14] really great results with passion flower, which is a herb.
[27:19] And I went away and I just couldn't stop thinking, well, it
[27:21] was some some racism that night and started doing all of this
[27:26] research. I was like, gosh, I've noticed a
[27:29] lot more people are talking to me about feeling anxious.
[27:31] That just seems to be something that's quiet and pop culture and
[27:34] a bit of a conversation at the time.
[27:36] When was this? It would have, it was pre COVID.
[27:39] So I think it would have been around 2018-2019 when we
[27:44] started, can't remember exactly, but I actually sent a message to
[27:49] my girlfriends. We had this group chat.
[27:51] There's six of us in there. And I was like, Hey, do any of
[27:53] you have anxiety and would you be willing to talk to me?
[27:55] Garbage. And every single one of them
[27:57] came back and said yes, Wow. And that was just a moment for
[28:01] me because I knew that a couple of them were anxious, but not
[28:06] all sex. And these are my best friends
[28:08] who wow. And so that made me realise that
[28:10] there's also a big job to do in terms of the conversation around
[28:16] mental health and anxiety. And then I was thinking about,
[28:19] okay, well, if you do have anxiety, what are your options?
[28:23] And it was kind of like, there's homoeopathic options, things
[28:27] like Rescue Remedy and those types of brands, and then
[28:30] there's prescription medication. And those two felt like very
[28:34] extreme ends of the spectrum and there was kind of nothing in the
[28:39] middle that was, um, scientifically researched with
[28:43] clinical based doses and had a little bit more grunge, but not
[28:48] all the way towards prescription.
[28:50] And a lot of the people that I was talking to, we're doing
[28:53] nothing about the anxiety because they didn't want to go
[28:56] all the way there and they didn't necessarily believe in
[28:59] the homoeopathic option either. And so they, they were just
[29:03] living without. So I guess that opened a whole
[29:06] can of worms around. Is there a space for a herbal
[29:12] range that's actually got clinically backed doses in it
[29:18] that would make a difference and help people to manage this?
[29:21] And then COVID happened and we all got increasingly more
[29:25] anxious that the timing. Showing with uncanny in the.
[29:28] Timing was uncanny. And so it's been a really, and
[29:32] the reason we launched it as a separate brand rather than
[29:34] clinicians is because I felt like we really needed to have a
[29:40] brand that could help to change the narrative around talking
[29:44] about mental health and anxiety and justice focus and became the
[29:50] expert on that topic. Which is such a big pillar of
[29:53] Ray face because, like I am a follower and have been since the
[29:57] beginning and and and the fan of the supplements.
[29:59] But actually the Instagram page and the information that you
[30:02] guys are putting out is also just as incredible to feel less
[30:05] alone, You know, which I think is so important.
[30:07] And so, especially back then in quite new for a brand to do.
[30:12] You know, that just felt really amazing and this wasn't met
[30:17] planning on turning into a brave face at all.
[30:19] So sorry if it sounds like that. I just said it was a really
[30:22] important to get like kind of close that whole circle and your
[30:25] journey because I find that really fascinating.
[30:27] Of well, I. Like it on Yes.
[30:30] Endorsing this is not an ad to try and sell the brand, but I
[30:33] guess it calls my full purpose. Like to go from my early 20s
[30:38] where I didn't even really know about a natural route to having
[30:42] a positive experience myself and then wanting to bring this to
[30:47] Western culture in a way that is more accessible.
[30:51] Um, I feel so privileged to have had the vehicle of my family
[30:57] business where I could tap into scientists and new product
[31:00] developers and actually be able to make some products that can
[31:05] help people because it's just really cool to be able to have a
[31:09] bigger impact than yourself. And I can see how much of an
[31:14] impact that having a holistic approach has had on my health
[31:18] and my Wellness and my life. And I would love to be able to
[31:23] open that up to more people. Totally.
[31:26] Now we get student cyclists, but we get to educate people on,
[31:28] yes, they're woman's health bodies because why has no one
[31:31] else been doing that? Why?
[31:34] The stats are just an absolutely unreal.
[31:37] Yeah, the more the longer we do this Yeah, I think I say that
[31:41] all the time, but they keep waiting to be like ohh this
[31:43] already exists So like ohh, we were educated we weren't yeah
[31:46] yeah, that's very interesting. Well that was so nice.
[31:49] I I really like these one-on-one chat so.
[31:52] Good. Aren't we lucky to be able to
[31:54] call this work? I know that's pretty epic.
[31:56] Let us know if you guys have enjoyed having a little sit down
[31:59] chat with Kat and it's something that we would really love to
[32:02] continue. If if you have enjoyed it, let
[32:03] us know if there's any topics that you want us to cover or
[32:06] just yarn about or any trending videos you see that we can
[32:08] breakdown. We really love yapping.
[32:11] And as you say, if we can call this work, that's that's bloody
[32:15] epic. That's it.
[32:25] Thanks for listening to The Cyclist.
[32:27] To join the community, follow us at We Are the Cyclist Your.
[32:31] Cycle decoded. Ohh.

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.