News • Assertive Health

Assertive Health and the Rainbow – A note about my logo 😊!

Nicole Gray — Wed, 20 May 2020 06:55:28 +0000

Hi there,

Have you thought that my logo is a little bit “different” for a Naturopath or Nutritionist? No food or herb related pictures? No? Never mind, I’ll give you an insight anyway.

I thought about it a lot and my inspiration for this logo has come from various angles.

As you can see, it is a head with the brain designed like a tree and each branch is represented in a colour of the rainbow (sorry for stating the obvious). The trunk of the tree represents the gastrointestinal system and the roots of the tree represent the various aspects to achieve optimal physical and mental health, including nutrition, exercise, mindfulness, stress reduction, positive mindset, herbal medicine etc. So pretty much a hole person approach rather than one system fits all.

It represents my main interest in depression, anxiety, learning and behavioural difficulties and the gut-brain-axis and how the break down in communication between the gut and the brain (and these mental health concerns) are contributed to by nutritional imbalances/deficiencies and inflammation amongst other things.

I have always been drawn to the colours of the rainbow. I love its vibrancy in contrast to a sometimes grey sky. Most rooms in my previous home were painted a different colour depending on what the room is used for and the psychology of a colour. Blue for example is the colour of rest and orange is the colour of joy. Where I grew up we had a colour sauna that changed colours in a certain interval to stimulate the various aspects of emotion, energies of body systems and well being. I found that fascinating and it has stuck with me ever since.

I am assuming you have heard of the catch-cry “eat the colours of the rainbow “? This is encouraging you to eat as many different coloured fruits and vegetables as possible to offer you a vast array of beneficial antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals for optimal wellness.

Another inspiration is the book “The gift in you” by Dr. Caroline Leaf. In her book she described 7 pillars of the brain. I won’t go into details about it but it describes how we are all wired differently and that we use different parts of the brain depending on what we like best. For example, one likes to be analytical, one loves communicating and for one person everything is easier with music. Another important aspect described in this book is the powers of negative and positive thinking and how that will affect your health and mind.

So, you can see my logo is as complex as one’s health or dis-ease and needs to be addressed with an open mind.

Have a wonderful day. 🙂

Yours in health and happiness,

Nicole

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Australian Government Rebate on Private Health Insurance for Natural Therapies unavailable from April 1st.

Nicole Gray — Thu, 07 Mar 2019 04:06:51 +0000

Did you know that from 1st April 2019, you will no longer be able to claim private health insurance rebates on Naturopathy, Herbal Medicine and 15 other natural medicine modalities?

Despite a wealth of scientific research on natural medicines published in peer-reviewed journals, the Government’s ‘Review of the Australian Government Rebate on Private Health Insurance for Natural Therapies’ concluded that there is “no clear evidence demonstrating the effectiveness” of 17 widely used natural therapies, including Naturopathy and Herbal Medicine.

The Review’s findings have been used to justify removing private health fund rebates for widely used natural therapies.

When zero published scientific papers on Naturopathy and Herbal Medicine were actually reviewed in reaching this conclusion, how can we trust this conclusion was based on sound scientific principles?

What can you do? If you too would like to see these natural medicine rebates saved, now is your chance. Have your say by clicking the link below to email your personalised message to Health Minister Hunt, your state Liberal National Party Senators and your local Federal Member if you reside in a Liberal National Party seat.

Maintaining these private health rebates will benefit around 20,000 small businesses in the natural medicine profession and continue to encourage more of the population to utilise this preventive health care model, thus reducing the strain on the overburdened public health system.

Health Minister Greg Hunt has the power to change the Business Rules to allow insurers to continue to offer rebates for these services.

Please share the below link far and wide, https://www.yourhealthyourchoice.com.au/save-rebates/

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Have you heard about the “My Health Record”?

Nicole Gray — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 04:08:39 +0000

The government has come up with the idea of offering a system for consolidating all your health records in one place. Great idea… or is it?

I am not sure at this point. I have come across this article¹ and it made me wonder if I would rather wait to sign up until the system is running smoothly and all possible flaws are considered. At the same time, I am not sure if I really want every healthcare provider to have access to my health record.

Than the question is, are only health care providers having access in the future? What if the government decides that they will privatise this department and hence sell it off. Consider also, that the government has the possibility to change the legislation about how the information is accessed and kept. Will that make our records vulnerable? It is well known that very well protected agencies and even Facebook has had security breaches, what will make this system any better?

Maybe this system is not such a bad idea. I am undecided. However, my main concern is, that not many people may be aware of this record. From this Year 2018 everyone will have a health record unless you opt out² by the 15^th of November 2018.

Here are a few locations to get some more information, My Health Record³, the ABC article⁴ and this article⁵ to make your own decision.

References:

¹https://www.medicalobserver.com.au/views/how-fake-data-led-me-dump-my-health-record?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiT1RreU1tTmtPV016WldVeSIsInQiOiJXMUFvY3FRbzRwNU9Xb3lWMG9LWEpzdko4QktTSVg0OXprZUxlZHFvK0FLSlwvXC9USGtwOHFGRENoSHA5a2FjZERramNDelNlMGtHNlFkUW5pbDNwNUYydUFGZkt1aFdtQ0Y4XC9xWTk1c3BEZ0c0Nkp3SUV6TVpaRVNiTk1WR01CNSJ9

²https://www.myhealthrecord.gov.au/for-you-your-family/opt-out-my-health-record

³https://www.myhealthrecord.gov.au/for-you-your-family

⁴http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2018-07-16/my-health-record-experts-say-its-safe-privacy-concerns-remain/9981658

⁵https://theconversation.com/what-could-a-my-health-record-data-breach-look-like-100090

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