Blog

Blog

Food
Sarah Hopkins

How to stay healthy on a budget – My top 5 recommendations

With the cost of living becoming higher by the day for everyone, I thought I’d share my top 5 tips to get healthier on a budget.  Getting or staying healthy doesn’t have to cost a fortune, in fact, some small budget modifications can actually have a significant impact on your

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Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

Metabolic Health 101

  It’s warming up here in Perth and for some it’s a reminder to take better care of ourselves in readiness for the warmer months ahead.  For me, how my body looks and feels is most important in the context of health but I know for some, health takes a

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Autoimmune
Sarah Hopkins

Toxic Oils

I want to talk about a food that is in my opinion THE most toxic of all of the foods AND it’s the least recognised as toxic.  Every week when I go shopping, I share on my Instagram stories foods that are toxic and those that are better.  Every time

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Fasting – Trendy & Problematic

I’ve noticed that fasting has become super trendy.  I get asked what my thoughts are on fasting at least once a week so I thought I’d share them here. Whilst there seems to be some research indicating some positive benefits to fasting, in my experience for most people it is

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Dessert
Sarah Hopkins

Healthy Easter Alternatives

As Easter is almost here, I thought I’d share a few healthy chocolate recipes to get you through.  Next to Christmas, Easter is one of the most dietarily challenging times of the year.  Not only is there lots of socialising which equals eating outside of our ideal norm but there’s

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Autoimmune
Sarah Hopkins

Immune Power

If you want to look younger, have strong muscles & bones, heal your gut, have healthy digestion, thick hair, and strong nails then you need to be drinking bone broth.  To me, bone broth is one of the most essential and nourishing foods we can incorporate into our daily routine.

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Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

Balance

It seems a lot of people see me as having a very busy life yet somehow managing to fit in ALL of the things… here’s the thing, I definitely don’t! So I’m calling bullsh*t on balance.  I will, however, share the ways that I manage to maintain my wellbeing whilst

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A History Of Depression And The Cause Of Your Low Mood

Are you feeling blue and down in the dumps? If so, it might be worth exploring the history of depression and deep states of sadness. It’s worth perhaps noting that depression isn’t a new concept or problem. It’s been around for countless generations, but our understanding of this condition has

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Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

My Top Tips To Weight Loss And Keeping It Off

Most people I see are interested in losing a little or a lot of weight but as far as I can see, most people are confused about how to do this.  As far as I’m concerned, short term weight loss is pointless.  If you are losing weight only to regain

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Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

Spring Liver Health Practices

Springtime heralds the beginning of warmer weather.  Days get longer, temperatures increase and most people start to contemplate Summer.  Spring is also the time that a lot of people think about a detox.  Whilst I’m not a huge proponent of lots of detox methods that can ultimately put the body

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Stress Management
Sarah Hopkins

Cheeky Hacks to Help Maintain Health AND Save Time!

If you’re anything like me, you’re pretty busy and somewhat time-poor.  That means that sometimes finding the time to do all of the things we need to do to maintain a healthy body and mind is super challenging.  So it’s great when you find a cheeky hack that helps you

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Nutrients
Sarah Hopkins

Macronutrients – Part 3

This month I’m going to finish my 3-part series on macronutrients, this month, the most feared macronutrient – CARBOHYDRATES.  Below is a short reminder summary from part 1 about what macronutrients are. When we talk about nutrients in relation to food, we typically focus on Micronutrients and Macronutrients.  Micronutrients are

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Nutrients
Sarah Hopkins

Macronutrients – Part 2

Last month we started a 3 part series talking all about fat.  This month we’re going to talk about the most controversial macronutrient – PROTEIN.  Below is a short summary of what macronutrients are for you all. When we talk about nutrients in relation to food, we typically focus on

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Nutrients
Sarah Hopkins

Macronutrients – Part 1

  In my one-on-one client sessions, I often talk a lot about Macronutrients, so I thought I’d share some of my thoughts.  When we talk about nutrients in relation to food, we typically focus on Micronutrients and Macronutrients.  Micronutrients are things like vitamins and minerals found in foods. Macronutrients are

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Coaching
Sarah Hopkins

3 Steps to Creating a Mindset for Success

Having worked as a health coach for over 8 years, I’ve had lots of experience working with all sorts of health issues and conditions.  I’ve helped people overcome everything from stubborn weight to chronic autoimmune conditions and everything in between, but when it comes to achieving health goals there is

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Coaching
Sarah Hopkins

5 Tips To Achieving Your Goals

Happy New Year!  I’d like to share some of the strategies I use personally and professionally with my clients to achieve goals.  Whether you are a new year’s resolution type of person or not, most people start the new year hoping to achieve some improvements in their life for the

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

How to Stay on Track Over Christmas!

I honestly cannot believe it is Christmas already but this blog post heralds the beginning of the Festive Season and all the busyness and socialising that comes with it.  Christmas is so much more than just one day these days, it seems to start around the first week of December

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

5 Tips to Shed the Winter Coat

The warmer weather usually creates a flurry of activity for most people to ensure that they are looking their best in their bikinis and boardies.  Given that Summer is just around the corner, I thought I would share my top 5 tips to help ‘shed the winter coat’ and get

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Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

Health Benefits of Meditation

What if I told you you could do something today (and every day) that would significantly improve your health? What if I told you that it takes just 5 minutes and is completely free…would you do it? I’m talking about meditation.  Meditation is by far one of the most effective

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Top 5 Water Priorities for Optimal Health

Drinking and consuming water seems like such an obvious part of being healthy to me that sometimes I forget to talk about it with my clients. The human body is 70% water and our brain is over 80% water so providing adequate hydration to our body is essential to long

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Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

How to Stay Healthy On a Long Haul Flight

Long haul flights can really disrupt our healthy homeostasis.  From messing with our circadian rhythm (jet lag) to dehydration, constipation and bloating, being seated in a compressed chamber for 10+ hours can significantly compromise our health and vitality.  BUT, it doesn’t have to.  Below are my hacks to minimise the

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Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

How to Stay Healthy While Travelling

So we’ve just arrived back from our month long holiday in Italy and as promised, I’m going to share what I did to stay healthy during this holiday.  I thought I’d share the contrast between myself and my partner Iggy who decided against some of the choices that I made

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Autoimmune
Sarah Hopkins

Simple Steps to Slowing Down

I work with a lot a busy Mums and one of the biggest issues that they face in managing their health is stress.  Often Mums are so busy caring for others that they don’t have time to care for themselves and as a consequence, their health suffers. Stress plays such

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Autoimmune
Sarah Hopkins

Gut Health 101

The Importance of Digestion Seems the hot topic on everyone’s lips lately is Gut Health.  As a busy Nutrition and Lifestyle coach, I know first hand that absolutely every health condition has an origin back to digestive function.  Hippocrates said it first when he claimed, “All disease begins in the

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Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

My Fave Podcasts

  I’ve been geeking out over all things health for about 20 years now, actually maybe even longer.  I remember as a young girl, somehow acquiring a scoby and making (mostly unsuccessfully) kombucha!  For the last 8 years or so though, most of my self-education has come through podcasts. I’ve

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Breakfast
Sarah Hopkins

What Can I Eat For Breakfast?

I think the most common question I get asked by clients, friends, and family alike is “what can I eat for breakfast?” Breakfast is arguably the most important meal of the day because it sets up our blood sugar regulation as well as kick starts the metabolic process. I’m not

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Eating Organic On A Budget

I’ve been talking a lot about the importance of organic food for long-term health so I thought I would share some tips to help you incorporate more into your daily life. Most people are aware that conventionally grown fruit and vegetables have pesticides and other chemicals sprayed on them and

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Five Steps to Healthier Hormones

In my nearly six years of working as a Nutrition and Lifestyle coach, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a client that didn’t have hormonal imbalances of some sort. If our hormones are out of balance we will feel foggy, tired, moody and struggle with weight loss, especially around the

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

All About Fat

Lately, in my one-on-one client session, I’ve been talking a lot about Macronutrients, so I thought I’d share some of my thoughts with you guys. When we talk about nutrients in relation to food, we typically focus on Micronutrients and Macronutrients. Micronutrients are things like vitamins and minerals found in

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Chocolate Coconut Squares

  I just made these treats up for a Halloween Party I am attending. What I love about them is that not only are they dairy and gluten-free, but they’re super low in sugar. The best part is they are quick and easy to throw together, don’t require any baking

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Decadent Vegan Chocolate Frosting

This chocolate frosting is completely dairy and sugar-free. The best bit? It’s filled with vegetables. It’s the perfect accompaniment to my Sweet Potato Brownie. Makes approximately 2.5 cups which will top a double size brownie or standard chocolate layer cake. INGREDIENTS · 1 cup mashed, steamed cauliflower · 1 Tbsp

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Kale Pesto

This recipe has been requested many many times and to be honest, it’s a long time coming. One of the main reasons for this is because a lot of the food we cook these days is by feel. I’ve noticed that the more time I spend in the kitchen cooking

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Healthy Peanut Butter Fudge

This peanut butter fudge is so decadent and delicious and it’s relatively healthy. Free from the usual suspects like grains, dairy and of course sugar it’s also SUPER easy to make and if you know me well, you’ll know that’s the most important part. I’ve been making it every week

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Healthy Carrot Cake

I LOVE Carrot Cake. It’s fair to say it’s my favourite type of cake and I often find myself staring longingly at the decadent versions I see at cafes. Despite this, I almost never order it, even if it’s gluten free, because I find the “store bought” versions are super

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Life with Rafael – First Foods, Sleep and Parenting

It’s been 4 months since I last blogged about my motherhood journey so far and a LOT has changed (obviously) so it feels appropriate to share some of the more significant happenings here. Rafa is over 7 months old so definitely transitioning from a little newborn baby into more of

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Coconut Vanilla Gummies

So the obsession with gelatin gummies continues! But when searching for a different recipe, I wanted some variation on the fruit theme, partly for aesthetics (look how pretty the red and white look together in the pic!) and partly to see if I could incorporate some healthy fats into the

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Lemon Berry Gut Healing Gummies

I’ve been obsessed with gelatine gummies lately. I’d always liked the look of them on other people’s websites and instagram feeds but to be honest, I thought “too hard basket”….it couldn’t be further from the truth. These gut healing delicious snacks are the fastest and easiest treat to make and

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Healthy Sweet Potato “Gnocchi” with Iggy’s Pesto

I haven’t eaten gluten in like 6 years and I can honestly say that I don’t miss it at all. I love my favourite gluten free paleo bread and was never a big fan of pasta dishes (unlike my Italian partner). But the one exception/craving I continue to have is

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Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

Life with Rafael; Eats, Sleeps and More.

They say the first few months of baby’s life are the final trimester so it seems appropriate to share the first three months of Rafael’s life here on the blog. And who knows, perhaps I’ll keep making regular updates. I’ve had a lot of positive feedback and it’s been quite

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Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

Baby Rafael’s Entry Into the World

Rafael’s Birth Story As I write this final chapter in the journey of my pregnancy, I am looking down upon my beautiful little baby boy, wriggling and squirming on his little play mat on the floor….such an image of adorable perfection. It’s hard to believe he’s here and at the

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Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

My Third Trimester – Preparation for Birth and More

As I sit and write this final blog post before bub comes, I have to confess that I really can’t be bothered! And I feel that that really sums up how I may feel in these remaining weeks. I am currently 37.5 weeks pregnant and it feels as if the

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Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

My Favourite Toxin Free Makeup

Toxins are an inevitable part of our lifestyle today. They can be found hiding in our air, water and just about every other manufactured product we use in and around our home. In my experience as a health coach, it is rare to come across a client who isn’t suffering

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Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

My Second Trimester – Food, Moves and a Medical Scare

As I write this second instalment, I cannot believe how fast this journey is progressing. I have to confess to being a little clueless when it comes to counting weeks and knowing which week represents which trimester. A typical pregnancy is actually more like 40+ weeks which is more than

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Dessert
Sarah Hopkins

Paleo Lime Tart

This lime tart is so delicious and surprisingly easy to make. I have always shied away from any Paleo recipe that requires a shortcrust pastry, thinking it would be near impossible to create it without the traditional ingredients. I was pleasantly surprised with the results of this yummy tart and

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

My First Trimester – Carbs, Moods and More

Initially I really wasn’t sure if I was going to share the intimacies of my pregnancy on my blog. Although I have loved reading a few other blogs of pregnant mums to be, I didn’t really want to be self indulgent…would anybody really care what I ate, how I felt,

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Guilt Free Banoffee Pie

So this recipe was inspired by my autoimmune berry cheesecake. As I’ve shared in recent posts, my latest dietary limitation includes many delicious things like dates and honey so that cake was off limits (I’m currently eating low FODMAP). I can however, eat bananas and so it started…my healthy version

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Healthy Choc Mint Slice

I find that whenever I am following some type of dietary protocol, I get inspired to create new things in the kitchen, things that suit whatever dietary restrictions I might be subjected to. Lately I’ve noticed my digestion is a little off. The symptoms are subtle and to many people

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6 ingredient salted chocolate caramel slices
Food
Sarah Hopkins

Salted Chocolate Caramel Slices

One of my clients sent me this recipe the other day and I immediately knew I had to make it..I totally LOVE anything sweet & salty, especially salted caramel. What I loved most about this particular recipe is that it only has 6 ingredients and is SUPER easy. I have

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Goat Curry & Dairy Free Raita

Baby goat is such a fantastic protein to work with. Many may not have not tried it but it’s so delicious and when cooked well, can make an impressive dish. I bought some diced goat from the Venison Farm in Margaret River when I was down there recently so started

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Raw Chocolate Fudge Brownies

These brownies are too good not to share! One of my beautiful clients brought me one a few weeks ago to try and I just HAD to make them for myself! The original recipe is from a blog called binnyliu.com and I’ve adapted it to suit my tastes/needs. I sometimes

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Sarah Hopkins
Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

Before you pop that weight loss pill….. read this…..

Earlier this year, I had the privilege of being interviewed by the lovely Melinda Trinder from Burn and Learn I thought I would share this interview with you all here. Nutrition has to be one of the most complex subjects on the planet. While I believe a healthy eating plan

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Autoimmune friendly coconut raspberry "cheesecake"
Food
Sarah Hopkins

Autoimmune Friendly Coconut-Berry “Cheesecake”

Many of my clients come to me with autoimmune conditions such as MS, Fibromyalgia, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Hashimotos to name a few. It’s so rewarding watching their chronic long-term symptoms diminish over time and a large part of this improvement occurs through removing “gut irritating” foods which in turn help

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Gut & Thyroid Healing Drink

This healing elixir is something I am increasingly recommending to every single client that I see, particularly my female clients. When I first started working with clients, I focussed primarily on the adrenals and looking at ways to nurture the adrenals through food and lifestyle. Lately though, my attention has

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Healing Hot Chocolate

This recipe was inspired by a chocolate creation of the smoothie kind, created by one of my wonderful friends Bronte from The Wellness Recipe I love the fact that my life is filled to the brim with so many inspiring people and Bronte is one of the best. I put

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Hearty Lamb Soup
Food
Sarah Hopkins

Guest Post – Kerryn’s Hearty Lamb Soup

There’s a growing community of amazing wellness women in WA, especially for those that choose the CHEK path. Kerry Nilsson – Linne is one such beauty and today she is sharing her amazingly healing and delicious lamb soup. Filled with lots of warming spices, winter vegetables and of course the

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Flourless chocolate cake
Food
Sarah Hopkins

Flourless Salted Chocolate Cake

I had some friends over for dinner on Friday night so it was the perfect time to experiment with something decadent. There were a few dietary requirements (hey, it’s me after all) so I was looking for something that was gluten and grain free but didn’t use any high fructose

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Healthy Sweet Potato Brownies

I love sweet potato and have been thinking for a while now that I want to start experimenting with them for dessert. So when a friend invited me over for dinner I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try adding this decadently healthy starchy veg to something sweet. The

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Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

How Anxiety Affects Your Eating Habits

How Anxiety Affects Your Eating Habits Maintaining a healthy relationship with food can be difficult when anxiety gets in the way, but it is also one of the most important things you can do to keep your anxiety at a minimum. While the bad eating habits anxiety can encourage can

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Cleansing juice fast
Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

All About Detox and Why I Did a Juice Fast

Like most people, my Christmas was pretty indulgent.  It was so much fun spending time with family and friends and with that amazing social experience comes lots of delicious food and of course, booze.  I’m not normally a teetotaller, in fact, I would have to say my main vice/weakness is

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Superfood Salad

This is a recipe that my partner Jeremy came up with last summer and it’s now a summer time staple for us.  It’s great to have for dinner on a really hot night or if you don’t feel like eating too much protein.  What’s great about it is that it

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

My Healthy Christmas Lunch – Dessert

This dessert is slightly less “healthy” than I would normally advocate but hey, it’s Christmas! Sometimes you have to live a little!! I will provide some alternatives to the conventional recipe which comes from Delicious magazine.  I had to post the front cover of this mag because the slice is

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

My Healthy Christmas Lunch – Main Course

Main – Turkey Roulades with Sage Stuffing   This turkey recipe is great if you are time poor plus who wants to spend all of Christmas day in the kitchen? Ingredients 4 x 180g free range or organic turkey or chicken breast or thigh fillets 2 tbs chopped sage plus

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

My Healthy Christmas Lunch – Entree

Last Christmas I invited everyone to come to lunch at my place.  We were a smaller group than normal as my brother and his wife decided to stay in Sydney.  For me, it was an opportunity to entertain (which I love to do) but also an opportunity to design a

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Guest Post by Jeremy Princi – Coconut Yoghurt

My partner is the BEST at fermenting foods, actually he’s pretty amazing in all aspects of the kitchen which is good news for me.  I’ve been enjoying the fruits of his labour for some time but my absolute favourite is his home made coconut yoghurt. It’s dairy free and filled

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Healthy Home Made Aioli

Fat is such a contentious issue these days!  For a long time, we thought we needed to minimise the consumption of all fats, more recently we discovered certain fats were good and others were bad.  Even more recently it turns out we were mostly wrong, our ancestors had it right

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CHEK
Sarah Hopkins

Food Rotation for Long Term Health and Weight Loss

As a health and nutrition coach I spend a lot of time analysing my client’s food diaries to see where they may be derailing their health goals.  Probably one of the most common red flags I see when reading these diaries is the regularity that people eat certain foods.  It

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Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

Yoga Alchemy

I have to confess, I am somewhat of a sporadic Yogi. I was once a dedicated Ashtanga Yoga practitioner, rising religiously at 5am to ensure I was on my mat and ready for my daily practice at 6am.  I did this for close to 2 years in my 20s, inspired

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Slow cooked Brisket
Food
Sarah Hopkins

6 Hour Braised Brisket

I love nutrient dense food that’s easy to prepare. That’s why I absolutely love my slow cooker.  The benefits of slow cooked foods are becoming more widely acknowledged and this is particularly true in relation to meat.  Eating meat that has been cooked at high temperatures can create a toxic

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Jezza's banana bread
Food
Sarah Hopkins

Healthy Banana Bread

This banana bread has been a staple in my life for years now and I enjoy it as a healthy snack or even sometimes for breakfast. The best bit about it is that it’s sugar, grain, gluten and dairy free but still tastes amazing. You will need to take the

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Chicken Liver Pâté
Food
Sarah Hopkins

Chicken Liver Pâté

Organ meats are one of the healthiest foods available for us to eat and yet they are not often on the menu these days.  Our ancestors intuitively understood the importance of this nutrient dense food with most indigenous tribes prizing the organ meats of animals over all other parts, ensuring

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Yummy Raw Carrot Cakes

  I’ve been lusting after raw carrot cake for about 2 years now…ever since I first tried the most delicious one ever at Samudra in Dunsborough.  I spent quite a bit of time scouring the internet for recipes but could never quite bring myself to attempt to replicate it (I’ve

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Amazing stuffed lamb rack
Food
Sarah Hopkins

Amazing Stuffed Lamb Rack

I love lamb…it is definitely one my favourite protein sources, especially on the bone.  It’s so rich, tasty and easy to work with. This recipe was adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe so you know it’s going to be good.  It’s decadent enough to serve for a dinner party but

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Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

Post Cleanse – My results

It has been nearly a week since I finished my 60 day cleanse so I thought it was time I shared a summary of my experience.  What seemed to be quite a challenging exercise has proven to be not only easy but also thoroughly successful (in my opinion). Here’s the

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Healthy baked custard
Food
Sarah Hopkins

Healthy Baked Custard

  This recipe is from one of my all time favourite books Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.  A good friend of mine made it a year ago and although I loved it, it tasted so amazing and delicious I assumed that it was more challenging recipe. Turns out it is simple,

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YogaPortraiture Cynthia Sciberras
Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

Yoga & Wellness Retreat in Ubud, Bali

Everyone who knows me knows I love a good health retreat, whether it be a juice cleanse, healthy mini-break or a detox retreat, there is nothing more regenerative than having a break to focus 100% on your body, mind and health. I’m blessed to have some amazingly talented and inspiring

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Healthy Warming Apple Crumble

As you know, I am on a sugar free, grain free cleanse which means there are a lot of sweet things that I cannot eat. Although the cleanse is mainly sugar free I can eat green apples and some berries. So with that in mind, I decided to tinker with

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

My Cleanse Diet

As I mentioned in my previous post I have started a 60 day cleanse. The cleanse comes with a supplement protocol that helps remove the body of toxins and other nasties during this period however does not have a specific dietary protocol. Whilst I believe that this cleanse is very

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Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

My All Natural Cleanse

I have been wanting to do an intense cleanse for a while now but it never seems to be the right time. There’s always events on that involve a social or celebratory glass of wine or events where sugary food will be involved. Now don’t get me wrong, I live

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broth cooling
Food
Sarah Hopkins

Amazing Elixir of Health and Youth – Bone Broth

Now that the weather is cooling down, it’s a great time to start making some bone broth. I started experimenting with and consuming bone broth a few years ago when I first read Nourishing Traditions. Before this time I was completely unaware of the benefits of drinking what some people

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Healthy and Hearty Osso Bucco

The weather is finally starting to cool down so I can pull out my slow cooker again. I can’t believe I am going to say this because I absolutely LOVE Summer time but I have to confess to being ready for some cooler weather. I like to eat seasonally as

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Dinner
Sarah Hopkins

The Most Delicious Green Chicken Curry

This recipe was given to me a long time ago by an old friend of mine and was one of the first dishes I entertained with. Given my lack of cooking expertise at the time this was perfect as I could prepare the whole thing prior and then relax and

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Daily Food Log
Sarah Hopkins

Beet Kvass

I have spoken in previous posts about the extremely necessary benefits of fermented foods to repopulate our mostly depleted gut flora.   There are many fermented foods that can deliver these valuable probiotics to us but some say that Beet Kvass is the mightiest of the tonics.  Beet Kvass is one

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Coach With Me

Health Coaching with Sarah Hopkins. Phone 0400 647 822 Email sarah@hwb.rockingrose.technology “Healthy weight loss is achievable, Disease and stress are preventable through healthy eating habits & lifestyle management” Why coach with me? Holistic Lifestyle Coaching provides the perfect template to offer a unique way to improve health, vitality and appearance. 

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Sarah Hopkins

How I Think

“Healthy weight loss is achievable, Disease and stress are preventable through healthy eating habits & lifestyle management” The modern day health care system is so focused on symptoms they often forget (or are too busy) to look for the root cause. Sometimes this can be as simple as chronic dehydration

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sarah-hopkins-who-i-am
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Sarah Hopkins

About Sarah

My name is Sarah Hopkins and I am a CHEK Holistic Health Coach (Level 3) & Trainer here in Perth, Western Australia. For the last 15 years I have been on a journey of self discovery with an emphasis on health and well-being.  This has developed into a passion for

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Daily Food Log
Sarah Hopkins

Grain free paleo “muesli”

As most of my followers will attest to, I LOVE instagram.  I’m forever posting photos of my food on there and sometimes (not very often) other things of interest.  I love how visual it is, I love checking out what other cool people that I follow do/like/eat.  I also get

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Daily Food Log
Sarah Hopkins

Healthy and Easy Lamb Rogan Josh

I found this recipe at an amazing place in Margaret River called Providore.  It has loads of delicious condiments, sauces and spices with lots of recipes to go with it.  This recipe calls for the Rogan Josh spice mix from Providore but you could easily create your own spice mix

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Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

New Year’s Resolutions 2013

Well 2013 is well under way now for most of us.  The fun and craziness of the Festive season is becoming a distant memory as the reality of the day-to-day sets in once again.  It’s during this period from New Year’s Eve onwards that most people reflect on the year

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Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

A Healthy Guide to Surviving Christmas

  Well we’re half way through December and it seems that the silly season is in full flight for most of my friends and clients.  Christmas is so much more than just one day these days…it seems to start around the first week of December and finish some time after

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Healthy Sugar Free, Trans Fat Free White Christmas

There’s nothing more reminiscent of Christmas to me than White Christmas.  I remember as a child my grandma would always have some on hand during the festive season, along with rum balls and short bread.  But it was always the White Christmas that would get me.  I think it was

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Daily Food Log
Sarah Hopkins

Sugar Free, Dairy Free “Ice Cream”

The weather is warming up, I can feel summer in the air so yesterday I was inspired to make some delicious ice cream for a good friend.  I have posted a healthy dairy ice cream recipe here but yesterday I needed something sweet & ice cream – like fast. There was

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Daily Food Log
Sarah Hopkins

“Paleo” Zucchini Hummus

I have always loved hummus and up until a few years ago it was a staple in my diet. Hummus was my go to “healthy” dip when entertaining, an easy and quick snack between meals, I even used it to dress salads and vegetables to add some creaminess.  I have

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CHEK
Sarah Hopkins

My Week of Learning and Fun – HLC 3

I’ve just returned from an amazing experience over in NSW.  It involved staying at  the stunningly beautiful Billabong Retreat, nestled in the tree tops near the Blue Mountains.  Apparently it was “study/education” but when you love something it doesn’t feel like work! For the last few years I have been

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Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

Healthy and Sustainable Shopping – Farmer’s Markets

Quality food is one of my top priorities in life.  I believe it is vitally important to nourish our bodies with clean organic whole foods to ensure health and vitality.  Unfortunately, this means I spend a significant proportion of my income on food on a weekly basis.  Now that I

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Everything free chocolate treats

I am currently obsessed with these new chocolate – like treats.  I may have had 3 already today and it’s not even morning tea time..there are lots of raw chocolate recipes around these days and they are absolutely delicious but most have some sort of sugar added to them to

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Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

Detox Cleanse Retreat

So I finally took the plunge and left my comfortable corporate job to work for myself – in health & wellness! For the last 7 years I had been working as a State Sales Manager for Fairfax and it has been a great journey.  One of the most rewarding parts

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Healthy Breakfast Ideas

I think the most common question I get asked by clients, friends and family alike is “what can I eat for breakfast?”   As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’m not a fan of grains in any capacity as they cause a lot of gastrointestinal dysfunction as well as stimulate insulin. So

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Warm Winter Shepherd’s Pie

It’s been cold and rainy for the last few days and a friend brought over the biggest cauliflower you have ever seen…so I decided to make Shepherd’s Pie – my way!   Cauliflower mash/puree is one of my staples, especially in the cooler months.  It’s a fantastic substitute of mash.

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Date Macadamia Cacao Balls

I’m going hiking in the Stirling Ranges this weekend.  It’s going to be cold and we will be expending a lot of energy climbing as many of the peaks as we can manage over 3 days.  One of my hiking partners is a real carb kid.  He’s an endurance athlete

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Savoury Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins

I have to confess to being somewhat a creature of habit, I like my routine and usually adhere to it fairly strictly.  So when it comes to food and recipes, when I’m on to a good thing I tend to stick to it.  Luckily for me my flatmate is a

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Making Sauerkraut

The mention of Sauerkraut evokes some interesting reactions in people and I have to confess that when I first learnt about the benefits of fermented foods making Sauerkraut out of cabbage was not high on my agenda.  In a previous post I have written  about the necessity for probiotics in

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Rich and Delicious Chocolate Mousse

This recipe is similar to the Healthy Chocolate Mousse Tarts I posted a month or so but I made this chocolate mousse based on a recipe given to me by Jenny from Living Synergy.  It looked so amazing and delicious so I posted it on Instagram and had an instant

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Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

Gracetown Rock Stack

  I have just returned from an amazing weekend down in one of my favourite places in the world, Gracetown.  Turns out that Gracetown is the perfect place to do a functional and invigorating work out, you see one of the beaches there South Point has an abundance of rocks

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Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

The Most Enjoyable Way to be Super Healthy and Vital

We’re all so busy these days with hectic schedules and the demands of daily modern life that we often overlook the most simple things when it comes to our health and wellbeing. I have mentioned this before and will no doubt mention it again in future blog posts, maintaining health

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Healthy Chocolate Mousse Tarts

I am currently addicted to chocolate, or more specifically raw cacao.  The great thing about raw cacao is that it is an amazing super food which is high in magnesium, chromium, tryptophan and many other anti oxidants which makes it a great alternative to processed chocolate (even the 70%+ ones).

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A Great Weekend

Weekends for me are sacred.  When life is super busy with lots of commitments, the weekends are an opportunity to wind down and also focus on all of the things that I love to do. A few close friends and I recently had an amazing weekend which involved all of

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Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

Caffeine and Meditation

I was in Sydney recently for work and was fortunate enough to spend some quality time with some of my favourite people.  One such person is my sister in law and over a delicious wholesome dinner we started talking about the addictive nature of caffeine. Although I love having the

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Yummy Coconut Flour Pancakes

When your favourite things in the world are deemed by some people to be a little bit crazy or extreme, it’s really nice to find like minded individuals who share your passions and interests.  Recently I have been fortunate enough to stumble upon one such person and we are always

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Healthy Travelling

I have been travelling a lot lately for work, which as I’ve mentioned in this blog before makes it challenging to maintain all of the healthy habits  that are now so much of my daily life.  Not only are my sleeping habits compromised by different time zones but it gets

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Books
Sarah Hopkins

Primal Body Primal Mind

My interest in health and wellbeing has stimulated a keen interest in uncovering credible sources of information, not only to increase my own knowledge and experience but also to pass on to clients and loved ones as a way of extending this knowledge.  I have already shared some of my

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Balcony Workout

I’ve found a new place to work out or in during the warm/dry months of Summer (which is over half the year).  My balcony has fantastic railing overhead where I can hang my Ultimate Instrument and my TRX.  My bedroom windows provide the reflection I need so that I check

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Real Ice Cream

I love ice cream as much as the next person and in summer time, there’s no better dessert.  Unfortunately the modern day version is filled with all sorts of nasty ingredients, thing such as gluten, glycerol monostearate, polysorbate and sodium citrate to name a few.  I don’t know about you

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Food
Sarah Hopkins

Healthy Christmas Treats

With the indulgences of Christmas just around the corner I wanted to share some healthy recipes with you from one of my favourite blogs.  It’s called Mark’s Daily Apple and has some amazing information and also recipes. The below spice balls are a good source of healthy fats and are

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The Problem with Cardio

I remember I used to spend a lot of time doing “cardio”.  At one stage about 5 years ago I was running 60kms per week.  Granted, at the time I was training for a half marathon (which I finished in 48 mins, so I was happy with the end result)

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Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

Living Synergy Retreat

  I have just returned from the most amazing and relaxing weekend retreat in Dunsborough.  My friend Jenny Keenan has recently created a small and intimate space where people can come to experience a lifestyle retreat.  Jen lives on a raw food diet and offers her expertise in how people

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Hotel Room Workouts

I’ve been travelling a lot lately for work which sounds way more glamorous than it actually is.  Not only does it compromise my ability to eat good quality healthy organic foods but different time zones means that my sleeping patterns get a bashing too.  I like to carry on my

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What I Eat
Sarah Hopkins

Fish and Veges

Sometimes the simplest things are the best… Last night I cooked healthy meal for a friend who has been sick with a severe case of the flu for a few weeks.  He’s been stuck at home suffering from cabin fever and eating a lot of fast food so his request

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Lifestyle
Sarah Hopkins

The Importance of Good Digestion

I recently discovered that a close member of my family was taking Nexium which is a prescription strength drug used to counteract the effects of reflux and indigestion.  I was pretty surprised and also worried about the long term side effects of using this particular drug so I did a

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nourishing traditions
Books
Sarah Hopkins

Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon

Sally Fallon is one of my all time favourite authors.  As the founding president of the Weston A. Price Foundation she is at the forefront of the functional food/medicine revolution. Nourishing Traditions is more like an encyclopaedia of nutritional truths but was written primarily as a book that would combine

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Raw Milk Kefir
Food
Sarah Hopkins

Amazing Healthy and Delicious Kefir

For the last three months I have been experimenting with a fantastic cultured dairy product called Kefir.  Kefir is a living culture, a complex symbiosis of more than 30 microflora that form grains or cauliflower-like structures in the milk.  As this culture ferments the milk, these structures grow, creating new

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Today’s Workout – Park Playground

I love working out in interesting places.  I really can’t understand why, weather permitting, people head into the gym to labour away on a machine when you can do the same thing (and yield a much stronger result) outside.  I love grabbing my pooch and heading out first thing in

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Books
Sarah Hopkins

How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy by Paul Chek

I love to read books about health and wellbeing, and in coming posts I will share some of my old and new favourites with you.  I have read a great deal of “health” orientated books from the latest fad diet books through to quite dry scientific text books, but the

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Milk
Food
Sarah Hopkins

The Truth About Milk

Today I want to share some information with you that has completely changed the way I look at and consume dairy products, especially milk. Milk is so much a part of our day to day lives and until recently, I was drinking quite a lot of milk on a daily

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Delicious smoothie
Food
Sarah Hopkins

Delicious & Nutritious Smoothies

  When you’re in a hurry, it is often hard to create meals/snacks that are wholesome and deliver the right combination of protein, fat and carbohydrates.  Smoothies are a great way to get good quality nutrition fast without compromising on quality ingredients.  Here are some of my favourite smoothie combinations,

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Organic Chilli Beef with Avocado & Sheep’s Yoghurt

This was our delicious Sunday night meal. Made with Red Tail Ridge organic beef, as well as organic avocado, it was the perfect wholesome and warming way to end the weekend. Instead of sour cream, I served this with sheep’s yoghurt which has a similar taste and consistency, if you

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For a healthy lifestyle – keep it simple!

There’s so much information these days about absolutely everything to do with health and wellbeing. Not to mention fitness and weight loss, you only need to google these words to find yourself lost in hundreds of thousands of references to websites, blogs, articles and the like. Ongoing learning and self

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