I’m thrilled to offer you a spot on my ‘Revive and Thrive’ wellness retreat in Bali at the stunning Komune in Keramas Beach  (only 40 mins from Denpasar Airport), August 2026.

After such an incredible retreat in August 2025 – we all agreed we must ‘go again’ in 2026 – so Revive & Thrive 2026 will encompass a perfect blend of rest, self-care, rejuvenation, connection, growth & personal transformation…(and sun ☀️.. and fun!).

If you have never been on a retreat before, let me tell you, it is the most worthwhile investment you can make into yourself & your future – your body, mind and spirit get the love, attention and nourishment they deserve (and desperately need!) and you’ll come away LEVELED UP & feeling a whole body and soul buzz, a grounded but joyously enlightened state.. simply AH-MAZING..

The Retreat is LITERALLY LIFE CHANGING..

Friday August 14th – Wednesday 19th, 2026
6 days / 5 nights

The post Revive & Thrive 2026 – A Wellness Retreat Beyond Your Wildest Dreams!! appeared first on Emma Park Nutritionist.

It was alcohol 🍸.. and my oh my – it’s been a long, drawn out and tumultuous affair!! A relationship that started innocently enough, but
we ended up codependent and toxic..



I started drinking at 14 years.. And, like many of us, it was social & fun.   However, looking back, I can see that it wasn’t the social-ness that we considered social and fun; it was the alcohol.  As teenagers, we bypassed learning to have fun without it.



Sound familiar, anyone?



When I was pregnant & breastfeeding in my 20’s I had 5 years off the booze.  When my youngest was 2 years old, I was straight back into it, for many years to come.



I prided myself on being a VERY FUN TIME 🥳 – thriving in any social setting, the life of the party & more often than not I was crowned ‘last man standing’ (Or dancing 💃).

I was wild, free, and fun, and I loved that part of myself. I loved
 alcohol and the person it helped me be. For a lot of years, I had a handle on it. I considered my drinking “normal”. Everyone was doing it – partying was what we did on the weekends.



The dark side was always there.  I guess I just chose to ignore it, or justified it away under the small cost of being ‘fun’.  I can’t count the times over my life I had ‘too much’ and ended on the vom train 🤮 or was so hung over I wasted away a Sunday on the couch or in bed.  In my younger years it was just ‘part of the fun’ and worth it, but as I got older, more educated (you can’t ignore the freaking NEUROTOXIN bit) the more uncomfortable I began to feel. 

Yet I just kept doing it. I can say with certainty now that I was most definitely in the high-functioning alcoholic category. For many years. Sounds more serious than it felt – but in reality, that’s what it was.



When I became a Nutritionist, I made an effort to ‘drink less’. I did annual ‘detoxes’, big chunks of time with no alcohol at all, had AFDs during the week etc BUT it continued to be a constant battle between the ‘healthy functioning nutritionist adult’ (knowing I was slowly poisoning myself ☠️ – even with the moderating I was doing) and the ‘fun time party Emma’ 🥂 (that didn’t care, and loved wine, parties & fun). I was a straight-up living & breathing oxymoron.




Some of the stories I told myself;

“It’s ok if it’s just on the weekend.”

“Everyone does it, it’s part of the Aussie Culture / it’s NORMAL” 

“Humans have been drinking alcohol in some form or another for eons.” 

“I don’t drink nearly as much as I used to.”

So much time and energy went into the moderating and justifying my drinking  – I was in a constant wrestle with myself FOR YEARS & it was exhausting 😵‍💫.



Let me be clear, though – especially for previous clients who might be thinking “OMG – I went to this person for health advice”.  I never let it affect my work & commitment to my clients. The last 10 years it was either 1 or 2 drinks (or none) during a work week, followed by a weekend binge (not every weekend).



Unless, of course I was on holidays, or a work conference, or it was someone’s birthday, or ‘fill in the blank’.. there were plenty of exceptions to the rules – except when I was working with clients. 

But still, it was pretty ‘normal drinking’ by currently accepted social & cultural standards.. It was my own internal battle that was fucking with me.



(Note: BINGE DRINKING – I learned along the way somewhere – is anything more than TWO DRINKS, FFS. Also, why did they have to call it that -
such an ugly word.. binge, cringe 🫣.. oof… yep) 



When BF (Pete) had his accident, I started using Grey Goose (vodka) to ‘self-soothe’. We fell in love, me and the goose, BFFs.  And oh, did it work – especially in those early days when Pete was in ICU – I had a 1-shot or 2-shot system, depending on the extremity of stress each day.



It was easily justified.  Not just by me but by all – friends, family, society, and culture – everyone could understand “yes, yes, oh you poor thing – here have another one, you deserve it, you need it right now”. 
It was medicine for me then – I could feel it work and soothe my peaking nervous system ☺️.



Then my nervous system got used to it, then I craved it. All of a sudden I was using it to cope, with everything. 



Me and my old mate got our claws in each other even more. From the outside, I still presented as ‘functional’ and ‘in control of it’. I stopped buying the Grey Goose because I knew that particular love affair was very dark and dangerous.
I was still constantly moderating & justifying with “I drink way less than I used to”, but I was also now deep in the habit of ‘using it to get through life’ and still social bingeing on the weekends (remember that is only anything more than two standard drinks!)

I had jumped off the merry-go-round but straight onto the roller coaster 🎢



It was when it started to affect my relationship with BF that things came to a head. And I am grateful he was brave enough to call me out. 
(There is a lot more background to this story, but here is not the place for it. Relationships can be our biggest healer or our greatest torment
- they will bring up all our wounds and shit-ness. It’s our level of courage, emotional intelligence & our ability to communicate that determines which way it goes. Another blog post, maybe).



It wasn’t pretty looking it in the face, no, no fun at all. But I realised I was there, at the fork in the road. I already knew deep down I was going to stop completely one day (my intuition had told me that, over and over – lol, I just didn’t listen), so when I sat in the
raw ugliness of it all, I knew that day had come. I was so sick of myself and the internal wrestle, and all the time I was wasting justifying the relationship. Once I realised “this was the day,” IT WAS EASY. I was ready 💪. 



The switch was flipped, and I was a wagon rider!



Initially, I kept it mostly to myself. I didn’t make a big hoo-ha because I knew it would be hard for people to understand how done I was. Or they might think, “You can’t just become a non-drinker overnight because you
decide you are”. Ironically it looks like that’s what I did – however, it wasn’t overnight – it was all the years of regret, judgement & self-mind-fuckery that lead up to ‘that day’ which prepared me for the breakup.



Even BF didn’t know the depths of my addiction and determination to stop drinking at first – my therapist certainly didn’t & suggested I go to AA because; 

“alcoholics like you (even functioning ones) need structure & framework to make it last.”  

“There will be (not might be) more rock bottoms.”

“What are you going to do when (not if) you fall off the wagon?”  



All the narratives that usually go with it. But I knew I didn’t need the framework (after all, I am a rebel at heart 🤘) but I went along with it, quietly backing myself behind the scenes – like I say – it was a switch – and it was well and truly ‘flipped the fuck off’.



The best bit, well, there are three main ‘best bits’ for me;



🥰 All the time & energy that went into the moderating & justifying is now mine again, to do with what I choose. And the PEACE that comes with the quitting of all that fucking moderating effort and mind NOISE is blissful.. 


💪🏽 I’m extremely proud of myself – it’s very satisfying to end such a toxic and dysfunctional relationship. It literally took me YEARS to end it, but I have, and it’s big & incredibly EMPOWERING


✨ Now that alcohol (and the mind-numbing that goes with it) is out of the way the self-work I’m churning through is next level. The insights & connection I feel with myself, my friends, clients, other humans, nature, pets, life flow, etc, etc is SO AFFIRMING & positive.. My woo-woo has amplified beyond what I ever imagined (LOL – but it’s fucking rad, I love it). I’ve been doing self-work all the way through, that’s what prepped me – but now I’ve totally levelled up!



And you know the other thing.. *Incoming Wisdom 🦉; It’s not actually the substance itself (and that can be any substance or addiction or dysfunctional behaviour – alcohol, other drugs, sugar, shopping, gambling, people pleasing etc) but it’s the triggers and the behaviour around it that gives us the biggest insights into our self & the drivers – at some point it served us – gave us something we needed or filled a void. It was all the self-inquiry I did around WHY I drank – I actually already had the understanding, structure & framework in place to break the ‘addiction’ (and stick to it) when the time came. I’m not sure where it leaves my ‘forever relationship’ with my old mate – like I’m not convinced I can never hang out with her again in small doses, or party girl Emma can never come out of her seat up the back of the bus. I’m so self-assured with the ‘break up’ and what I’ve gained even in a few short months – I know I’ll never ever get back on that ride. I can’t wait to see what I can create with all the extra time, energy & ‘me-ness’ (authenticity) I have now.



I can imagine having a nice glass of wine with a meal, or a nice glass of bubbles for a celebration.
PS – I know this is not standard for the sober movement, but as previously mentioned – I’ve always been a rebel!

Also, BF reminded me I was ‘bred in the grapes’ (growing up in Red Hill on the Mornington Peninsula) & that ‘high end pinot noir is in our veins here’ LOL 😂



Pinot Noir always was my fave 🍷

The post My Break-Up Story.. appeared first on Emma Park Nutritionist.

Over on my IGTV you’ll find the ‘IBS series’ .. I was compelled to record some short little snippets of info to help people understand IBS – because; Did You Know (??) 1 in 20 people have IBS globally – and 1 in 10 have it in Australia…

That’s right ONE IN TEN people have IBS in our communities... I’m actually not shocked or surprised AT ALL because every single person that comes through my clinic doors (or through my screen atm coz #melbourne #covid #lockdown) has some kind of gut stuff going on.. even if they don’t know about it!

You see our ‘glorious’ & ‘affluent’ modern diet & lifestyle causes A HELL OF LOT of problems for our gut & microbiome (if you don’t know what the microbiome is check out one of my posts – I talk about it ALL THE TIME)… Our crappy SAD (Standard Australian Diet) is just that – worth crying over.. It’s pretty bad… Macca’s Anyone?

Add to the SAD;

• environmental toxins
• chlorine etc in tap water & chemicals in food
• STRESS (Omg don’t get me started, STRESS needs it’s whole own blog as to what it does to us, our gut and our microbiome – I’ll do that next…)
• Alcohol (especially binge drinking – hello most Australians including myself sometimes – I wish I had emoticons in here – imagine the little lady with her hand up!)
• MANY common medications including the OCP, Nurofen & Panadol
• ANTIBIOTICS totally over prescribed for the last couple generations (& not just the ones that we take either – also in out FOOD – I shit you not 90% of the world’s Antibiotics get given to the livestock we eat & or it ends up in our soil / water / water table etc… )

All of the above really has caused ‘MASS EXTINCTION’ to our microbiome equatable to the mass extinction of flora & fauna on our planet… And it’s our western most ‘affluent’ countries suffering the most.. *We’re so lucky!

So unless you’re a super clean vegan robot living on the moon – your gut and microbiome is under the pump, amd most likely compromised…

And if you don’t have IBS get you soon will… No.. that’s a joke (insert laughy face AND winky face) .. but it IS likely..

So check out my IGTV series to learn some more and what you can do about it… and also;

Here’s a great article & here’s an awesome org doing GOOD to give you some hope (after all my doom and gloom & thinking ‘we’re all f*&cked’) …

The post IBS & The Microbiome & our ‘Glorious’ Modern Diets & Lifestyle appeared first on Emma Park Nutritionist.

But then at the end of last year I had three friends that were pregnant at the same time – they weren’t officially ‘my clients’ so I hadn’t supported them through their whole pregnancies – but I had the opportunity to advise them a little along the way & towards the end.. And the stories were all versions of being UNPREPARED, FEARFUL, CONFUSED or DISMISSED by their primary carers.

1/ Was confused by information give at check up & fearful of birth so she just avoided thinking about anything to do with the actual birth = completely unprepared, confused & very fearful

2/ Had tested positive to GBS but didn’t really know what that meant = confused

3/ Was an older mum (40+) so was told she HAD TO be induced at 39 weeks, but she didn’t want to = dismissed & unheard *see full story below

All of these stories have the underpinnings of going on to have a traumatic birth experience.. Which is happening to 1 in 3 of our Australian mums.. thats around 33%.. That is NOT OK!!

And I was like – oh ok – I know all this stuff that can help prepare mums for having an empowered birth, & to reduce the likelihood of intervention and/or reduce the side effects of ongoing interventions if that happens (side effects to the microbiome particularly but also the side effects to EVERYTHING that comes after birth for mum AND bubs AND Dads & siblings!) … And how to support & optimise the microbiome in this most crucial stage > The First 1000 Days..

So Introducing The First 1000 Days Self-paced Online Program – for Mums, Dads & Maternity Care Workers

A program to educate, empower & improve outcomes all the way from conception through pregnancy, birth, feeding & infant development to 2 years old!!

The over medicalisation of birthing & maternity care (not to mention HELATH care in general – but that’s a while other story!) has a lot to answer for. Just as an example > we have a 40% induction rate in Australia (and rising) and ONLY AROUND 10-15% of them are for MEDICAL REASONs… that a pretty big gap huh!?!?

*DON’T get me wrong – there are times medical interventions are necessary and SAVE LIVES and I thank all the amazing specialists and systems that do that..

What I’m talking about is the UNNECESSARY interventions and the DISEMPOWERMENT of mums & dads to make their own informed decisions.. Let’s get better at informing.. And better at empowering..

This is the ‘extended’ version of one of the above stories – it can help explain how easily things can go ‘wrong’ and lead to unnecessary or unwanted interventions that can have huge impacts to birth, feeding & infant development outcomes.

Empowered Birth Stories Like these are all the way through the Program…. This was the main one the propelled me to write it;

My friend was getting late in her pregnancy and because she was +40 age group she was told by her Obstetrician that she ‘had to be induced at 39 weeks’ … Essentially because the ‘risk’ of still birth goes ‘up after then’… NO other discussion, no options discussed, no actual statistics or ‘real risk’ explained.. Just THIS IS WHAT WE’LL DO… *CUE moment control is taken away from mum & ‘medicalisation’ / intervention begins…

When she told me (at gym because we work out together – yes she was 42 & super healthy and fit!) I was like; ummm.. NO you don’t HAVE to.. It’s actually YOUR choice… (I didn’t actually SHOUT but I wanted to!!)

You see no one had explained to her the RISK vs BENEFIT.. Also it wasn’t offered as ‘choice’ or even a ‘recommendation’ – but it was ‘this is what’s happening’. And when she first told me, she was really disappointed and sad this ‘had to happen’… 

But for her, there was some very compelling reasons to wait for spontaneous labour and that her ‘TRUE RISK’ was extremely LOW… . And even if she went ‘late’ those risks CAN BE MONITORED very accurately…  There was no real medical reason to induce at 39 weeks.. none

You see, Just going from her age 42 (which was THE ONLY REASON her OB suggested induction at 39 weeks) didn’t consider the fact it was her second baby, she was extremely fit and healthy & she was also very in tune with her body & baby.. But most importantly – SHE DIDN’T WANT TO BE INDUCED!

And the other thing – she actually knew exactly when she conceived – so she knew the ‘guess-timated’ due date was actually wrong. And get this – when she told her OB that he said ‘oh well, we don’t do it like that’ & dismissed her… 

THANK GOD we had the conversation when we did and she was able to take back control… So she told her OB she didn’t want to be induced and his response “oh you want to go to term? Ok it’s your body”… 

This made me furious, particularly his blasé attitude…  but the whole story explains how unless you are very sure of yourself, the physiology of birth, your options and your rights – you can easily be led ‘up the garden path’ or should we say .. ‘down the cascade of intervention & medicalised birth’ 

The GREAT news is my friend went onto to have a spontaneous physiological labour, great birth & easy breastfeeding and transition into the new little human’s infancy…

But as I mentioned at the beginning it was this story (and MANY others like it) that compelled me to write this program – because this mumma’s story could’ve ended up VERY DIFFERENT.. She could’ve been one of the 30% or so mums that have disempowered traumatic experiences – that was actually SO EASILY AVOIDED in the end because she made her own informed decision about her birth… 

Please spread the news about the program and help me improve pregnancy, birth, feeding & infant development outcomes for everyone!! 

Get in touch if you need any more information.

Emma Xx

The post Why I wrote ‘The First 1000 Days’ Online Program appeared first on Emma Park Nutritionist.

One of my reflections over the year is how much I’ve learned through my role as Health Professional Educator with Qiara Probiotics – I’ve attended soooo many professional conferences getting to hear the latest clinical updates on all things maternity care & mum & baby outcomes;

Australian Breastfeeding Association, Maternal Child Health & Family Nurses Association, Australian College Midwives, Lactation Consultants Australia & NZ, College of Lactation Consultants WA to name a few!

And I’ve delivered our Education Module on The Microbiome and Probiotics in Pregnancy & Lactation to hundreds of Australian Health Professionals on the front line working with mums and babies – but also listening to their stories and hearing what’s going on in the current Maternity Care landscape in Australia..

I’ve also had the incredible honour of advising three close friends on their pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding journey just in the last couple months & it made me realise – ALL OF THE AMAZING STUFF I’VE LEARNED THE LAST YEAR CAN REALLY HELP MUMS AND BUBS GET BETTER STARTS… But it’s more than just nutritional medicine & gut health… It’s THE WHOLE PACKAGE….

So I’m talking about the whole First 1000 Days Journey – from conception to 2 years old. This is when we lay the foundations FOR LIFE… So… Watch this space – I’m in the process of building a package for mums & bubs to EMPOWER them during the First 1000 Days…

For now head on over the The Fist 1000 Days FB group and join up – I’ll post all the info (and including lots of FREE resources) as it’s available…

Stay tuned – I’m so excited to be sharing this with you ASAP….

The post Ready for 2020! appeared first on Emma Park Nutritionist.

The webinar OR live workshop covers the latest clinical updates on the microbiome and why optimisation is so crucial in this life stage. Including a review of scientifically researched therapeutic probiotic strains for pregnancy and lactation. As this is a super dynamic field the module is updated regularly as new research is published.

This non-product, evidence based educational seminar covers the topics of:

• What the microbiome is
• Breastmilk microbiome & PREbiotics
• What causes Dysbiosis?
• Restoring & maintaining the microbiome > Diet and lifestyle
• Why the microbiome is crucial in pregnancy and lactation
• What are probiotics and why does STRAIN specificity matter?
• What makes a probiotic effective and therapeutic?
• Which strains are clinically relevant in pregnancy & lactation?  > a review of research on specific strains and why evidence matters.
• A closer look at breastmilk strain Lactobacillus Fermentum CECT5716 > clinical research & case studies

I present the workshop at in-services on-wards, education days, pre-conference & conference workshops. The events are always a huge success generating a lively discussion & great feedback

Please get in touch if you have an event opportunity coming up..

The post My talk on The Microbiome & Probiotics in Pregnancy & Lactation appeared first on Emma Park Nutritionist.

And it TREATS the underlying cause of the disease by; 

• Providing the tools and creating the environment for the body to heal itself. We support the physiology AND the psychology required to do this. 
• Targeting CELLULER health – our body cells are the building blocks of everything – groups of healthy cells make healthy tissues, makes healthy organs, make healthy systems (digestive, immune, skeletal etc etc), makes healthy WHOLE HUMAN. Without addressing the CELLS we’re still just treating ‘downstream’ symptoms.

A consultation starts with a thorough case history (that goes all the way back!) and a review of current health conditions including any pathology, blood tests, biomarkers etc

Then on a case-by-case basis the treatment plan consists of a combination of functional foods, lifestyle medicine, plant medicines, cutting edge nutraceuticals, peptides & stem cell stimulating phototherapy technology – along with bespoke psychotherapy – to create a tailored approach to optimal healing and wellness. 

This is the combination ‘therapy’ that is life changing – the functional & holistic approach, building your health and vitality ‘from the cells up’. 

It’s as if all my years of learning and practicing and helping humans BE WELL have lead me here – I love working in private practice – I LOVE connecting with you and hearing YOUR unique story. I love working WITH YOU and giving you what YOU NEED to reach your gaols and create the healthiest self and most amazing life that YOU LOVE.

The post How a Nutritional and Regenerative Medicine Consultation can change your life appeared first on Emma Park Nutritionist.

My role as Health Professional Educator with Puremedic (Qiara) began in July 2015. Through a connection with Colette, the accounts manager (our kids went to kinder together!) – I joined the team.

Qiara is a Pregnancy and Breastfeeding probiotic containing a strain isolated from human breast milk. We recommend it from the third trimester to boost beneficial flora – particularly if mum knows she will have to take antibiotics during birth (C-sections and GBS+ve mums). It is also very effective to increase beneficial bacteria balance post-birth and throughout breastfeeding. Recent research has shown the strain (Lactobacillus Fermentum CECT5716) to be extremely effectively for prevention and treatment of the dreaded mastitis – it actually kills the infective bacteria that causes mastitis – and without the nasty side effects of antibiotics! 

I Love my ‘other job’ as I get to connect with many Health Professionals from different modalities, providing educational presentations to – GPs, Maternal Child & Health nurses, Midwives, Obstetricians, Naturopaths, Peadiatricians, Nutritionists, Chiropractors, Osteopaths etc.

Over the years we have developed accredited training modules for Midwives, LCs, MCHN, Naturopaths & pharmacists etc 

We also get to help many mums, bubs and kids with a quality, efficacious and strain specific probiotic.

Puremedic is an Australian owned, family run business – there are only five of us. As Helen (the CEO) always says “We are a small company with a fabulous product”.

If you are a Health Professional or consumer please click on the link to the website or email me for any further info.

www.qiara.com.au

The post Emma Park: Health Professional Educator appeared first on Emma Park Nutritionist.

In April 2015 I did a trip to Fitzroy Crossing in The Kimberley, WA to deliver a 3 day corporate Nutrition & Good Health Workshop for Marra Worra Worra – the oldest and largest independent Indigenous Resource Agency in Australia. Since then I’ve made regular visits educating the staff & community members on all things Holistic Nutrition.

Our focus is on creating greater awareness around the dangers of over-consuming processed carbs & sugars and the move back towards a more traditional diet to combat the dire levels of obesity, diabetes and kidney disease in the region.

Through Marra Worra Worra’s ongoing commitment to reducing preventable disease in the community we’ve seen the opening of ‘Jalagurru Mayi – The Good Mood Food’ Cafe open in Fitzroy Crossing. I’m thrilled to have been be part of this process.

For any future project consultation please get in touch

www.facebook.com/JalangurruMayi

www.mww.org.au

The post Indigenous Community Health appeared first on Emma Park Nutritionist.