New mamas: Pre-conception, Bellies, Birth and Beyond!

Pregnancy and motherhood were hands down the most powerful catalysts for me to become more conscious and intentional with what I was putting in and on my and my baby’s body. It was that moment when I first saw my baby after I  gave birth that I instinctively felt an incredibly powerful urge to want to nurture and protect this perfect, pure and innocent being in order to give him the best possible start to life, unburdened with unnecessary and harmful toxins. 

I stumbled around in the dark not knowing which brands or products to use, largely ignorant to the slew of toxic ingredients found in with conventional products ubiquitously used even in the hospitals. 

Had I had access to the knowledge, resources and the supportive community that I have now, my experience as a young mum would no doubt have been radically different. 

If you are pulled to learn how to support wellness during the sacred journey of pre-conception, pregnancy, birth and beyond, then please join my free monthly community discussion on Thursday 5 Nov 7.30pm via zoom. 

Hear from numerous extremely knowledgeable and experienced oily mamas in my Young Living community who will share information and personal testimonials on how we use the Young Living oils and products to support:

- Pre-conception 
- IVF
- Pregnancy
- Birth
- Bubbas
- Fourth trimester

Did you know that Young Living are the ONLY oils company that have a range of essential oils and non toxic products specifically formulated for babies (called Seedlings)? 

To join the zoom gathering, simply click on the zoom link in our exclusive Member Resources page on my website. 

If you’re not yet a YL member in our community and would like to join the free community discussion - simply email me with your name and mobile phone number to have an honest chat about purchasing a YL starter pack and joining our heart-centred no-nonsense community where our focus is, and always will be, robust education and personalised and community support.

There’s no better time in human history for expectant and new mamas to learn how to best take care of themselves and their bubbas in order to build the healthiest, the most vibrant and most robust generation of children.  

Star Anise Organic Wholefoods turns 10 with some exciting news!!

Dear friends,

It is quite hard for me to believe that Star Anise Organic Wholefoods is now 10 years old. What started out as very humble beginnings – just a mama on a mission to heal herself and her little family by making nutrient dense food in her home kitchen– has grown into a flourishing company with 20 staff and a retail and online store.  

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank each one of YOU from the bottom of my heart for all your support, love and care over the years. I know some of you have been on this journey with me over 10 years (you know who you are!) and some of you are new friends. Even though I have wanted to throw in the towel a billion times over the past decade,  it was your encouragement and support that kept me going. This year has proved extra challenging in ways I can not even begin to express, and it is the power of my community – customers, staff, suppliers and followers - that forms the backbone to my passion project. Amidst the uncertainty and turbulence there is a beautiful light that shines so bright that I am often overwhelmed by its power. And that light is each of you that cumulatively form a community so powerful that we have created a movement and a ripple effect that can be felt across the globe. To all of the people out there who think that you are too small to make an impact, I am here to remind you to never stop believing in the beauty of your dreams. To question mainstream dietary and health advice and to take an alternative path is not  easy. In my 10 years I have been ridiculed, tried to be shut down (numerous times), stolen from and called a zealot and an extremist. But my mission to heal myself and my family, and to make a positive impact on the lives of others and the planet, can not be silenced. That unwavering desire, together with your support, is what drives me day after day. 

To mark our 10th anniversary, I decided that it was time to roll out some big changes and refresh our product range!

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Labels: Our labels have received a facelift! We have begun with the chicken and beef bone broths (our core products), which you will see on our shelves at the end of this week. Over the coming months, we will be upgrading the labels of all our products one by one. Sneak peak below!

Australian Certified Organic: We always use organic ingredients for all our products, and now our beef and chicken broth are officially Australian Certified Organic!

100% Australian grown, made and packed: The ingredients in our broth have changed ever so slightly to remove the imported dried herbs and to replace the imported Himalayan salt with Aussie (Victorian) Pink Lake Salt, making the product 100% Australian grown, made and packed.  This was important to me. The broths are still FODMAPs free, making them unique in the market. 

Packaging & pricing: In line with our ambition to reduce the company’s carbon footprint, we decided to discontinue the 500ml beef and chicken broths in the cardboard containers (with plastic lids). We will continue to supply our 500ml and 1L sizes of chicken and beef broth in glass jars only. The price of the 500ml chicken and beef broth in glass jars will stay the same ($14/500ml), and we are happy to announce that the 1L has reduced to $24/1L, making it more affordable to you and is priced at the equivalent of 2x 500ml cardboard containers (plus you get to keep a glass jar! 

Shelf life: The chicken and beef bone broths are now fridge stable with a 1-year shelf life. We recently trialled our fridge stable broths at Broth Bar & Larder and customers overwhelmingly loved the convenience of always having fresh broth on hand. So no need to ever freeze broth! Yay! Keep a whole stash in your fridge to consume over the year. Handy when returning from a long trip. 

What doesn’t change: The vegetable (vegan) broth and fish broth, as well as our range of soups, are currently still available in 500ml cardboard containers as well as 500ml glass jars and are available frozen only.  

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We pride ourselves on setting the standard in the Australian organic artisan wholefood industry, and for being the pioneers in broth manufacturing in Australia – being the first to make and sell broth commercially in Australia (well before paleo was even a thing or broth became trendy). With 10 years under our belt, we are committed to continuing to provide the community with the cleanest, ethically-sourced and traditionally prepared whole foods for vibrant health and longevity. I am proud to say that Star Anise Organic Wholefoods still is a local artisan business and still 100% owned by a single mama (me!) on a serious mission to inspire and empower as many people as I can to be conscious consumers and to nourish themselves with the nutrient dense traditional wholefoods that we as a species have evolved to eat.

I hope that you love the new branding and are as excited about these changes as much as I am. 

Thank you again for your love and support!

Love Soulla xx

52 Weeks of Healthy Swaps – how are you travelling with your swaps???

In case you didn’t know, I am posting a series on Instagram and FB called 52 Weeks of healthy swaps where I write about 1 simply and easy healthy swap that you can be inspired to do each week (or at your pace) to live a less toxic and more nourishing and conscious life. While the focus is on dietary changes, the posts cover topics from all of the 8 pillars of health as health indeed is multifactorial. 

Small changes add up over the course of a year to make a big impact. It’s all the little things that we do each and every day that might seem insignificant but actually have a profound effect. The point of this series is to show that leading a healthier life is not about deprivation, but is actually about healthy swaps. Deprivation leads to resentment, whereas healthy swaps leads to a healthier, more vibrant, rich and delicious life– in all areas of your life! 

Some of the changes are so subtle that your family might not even know that you’ve made them but the effect on their health will be profound e.g. swapping margarine to butter, canola oil to olive oil, grain fed meat to grass fed meat, or farmed fish to wild fish. 

You can check them out on IG and FB by searching the hast tag #52weeksofhealthyswaps

I would love to know how you are enjoying this series? Do you find it helpful? 

If you are wanting to dive deeper and spend an entire day (9am- 3pm) with me and my co-host holistic dietician Marieke Rodenstein talking all about the fundamentals of robust nutrition and robust gut health, I invite you to register for my next Food as Medicine talk held by zoom webinar 1 August. For $150, participants will also receive a soft copy of my comprehensive How To manual (over 60 pages) that sets you up for life, including access to all 5 of my online cooking classes (valued at $79 each) so you can put the nutritional theory you’ll learn into practice! 

If you think you’ve got the food side covered and are now ready to really clean up and streamline your personal care products (including make up), cleaning products, and wellness cabinet (to become pharmacy free and chemical free), then I invite you to book  to my next free zoom webinar on The Essentials held 23 June 10am-12pm. I run these monthly, bit if none of the monthly dates/times suit you, and you prefer to watch a pre-recorded 50 minuter version whenever it suits you, simply fill out the contact form of this page and we will be in contact and send you the video link. 

Health isn’t an end goal or a destination. It’s a life long journey of swapping, pivoting, learning, and changing. It’s a journey of growth and evolving into a better, more vibrant, version of ourselves, day by day. So when you look back you see just how far you’ve come and how delicious the journey was. And that is a beautiful thing!

Love Soulla xx