My Day On A Plate: Health Synergy Mother Daughter Duo Jennifer And Hannah

Health Synergy is a mother daughter business that aims to bring some clarity and context to help people navigate the abundance of health-related information widely available. As we are all different, we believe there is no ‘one size fits all’ where nutrition is concerned, which is why we have created our blog, placing emphasis on balance and variety. All of our recipes are gluten free and refined sugar free, as well as having several dairy free options. We do not believe in diets or deprivation, it is about nourishing the body and mind, and bringing awareness to the way we live our lives. Like everyone, we enjoy the occasional treat which is why we have created lots of nutritious desserts, completely healthy and completely delicious!

Jennifer Murrant

MASc (Psychology of Coaching); Grad.Dip (Psychotherapy and Counselling); BHSc (Complementary Medicine).

Jennifer, founder of Health Synergy, has worked as a naturopath and nutritionist for over ten years and specialized in mental health and flourishing. Her treatment programmes are individually tailored with a strong focus on both the physiological and psychological health of the patient. Her qualifications include a Masters of Applied Science (Coaching Psychology); Graduate Diploma in Psychotherapy and Counselling, BHSc (Complementary Medicine) and Advanced Diploma (Naturopathy). Addressing physiological, pathological, neurological and emotional patterns, her combination of skills allows a holistic approach.

Hannah Singleton

Hannah is a Media and Communications student at Sydney University with a passion for health and the enjoyment of good, wholesome food. She discovered during her HSC year that hard work and dedication needed to be balanced with exercise, some relaxation time and stress management. She also found that good nutrition was essential to maintaining good health in order to meet the demands of the task, stay in the ‘peak performance’ window and ultimately achieve outstanding results.

Apart from loving the way good, clean food makes her feel, Hannah’s strong sense of creativity led to innovative presentations of healthy food choices, whilst her interest in photography allowed her to capture these creations.
We have a varied lifestyle but a typical day for us includes….

6.30am:

We are early risers so tend to wake up between 6.30am and 7am. We love to start the day with warm water and lemon, followed by a 10 or 15 minute power plate session (we have one in our garage from when my Mum ran her own health and wellness clinic).

8am:

Breakfast time! Our go-to breakfast is an acai bowl, topped with buckinis, goji berries, cacao nibs, activated seeds and nuts, fresh berries and a dollop of coconut yoghurt (CoYo), but on the weekends we dedicate time to creating new recipes for our blog… As you can tell we love our Sunday pancakes! Breakfast is always followed by a big cup of sencha green tea with a pinch of Matcha Maiden Matcha powder. Mum also likes the occasional shot of Coffee (‘apparently’ it helps prevent Alzheimer's!)

9am:

By this time, I am usually on my way to Uni and my Mum will head to her city offices to see clients. We both take at least 1L of filtered water to ensure we drink enough throughout the day!

12.30pm:

For lunch, we tend to keep it quite simple with either some avocado and tomato on gluten free toast (we LOVE the gluten free bread from Organic bread bar in Surry Hills, which is also sold at Smiths Organic Market in Woollahra… it’s amazing!) Otherwise, for a packed lunch at Uni, I love a big salad of fresh greens, avocado, beetroot, goats cheese, activated seeds and nuts (or whatever vegetables are seasonally available).

3pm:

It is pretty rare for us not to have a nice sweet treat (healthy, of course!) in the fridge so we will usually indulge in a slice of raw ‘cheesecake’ or bliss ball for an afternoon snack (or we take it with us depending on where we are!). We both also love to have a herbal tea in the afternoon… At the moment we are loving the ‘Stay Foxy’ berry tea from the 'Skinny Fox Detox’ tea range.

3.30pm:

We try to dedicate at least 1 hour a day to writing blog articles (I upload the recipes/recipe summary while my Mum writes up all the nutritional info, as well as additional health related articles for our Executive wellbeing e-magazine). When we are not blogging, we are creating recipes (and we have several up our sleeves that we will be sharing on our Health Synergy App, to be launched in Feb!).

5pm:

nother daily ritual for us is to do the big loop of Centennial Park with our beautiful golden retriever, Heidi. We prefer to get out earlier in the day to soak up a healthy dose of Vitamin D but this really just depends on our commitments. Walking quickly, this takes about an hour so it is also great exercise! Walking in nature is our favourite form of exercise and is also a great time to reflect and practice ‘mindfulness’, bringing awareness to the present moment - this is a practice that we try as much as possible to incorporate in all aspects of our lives. Not only that, but walking is reported to be one of the best ways to tone up!

7pm:

Our dinner is probably our most varied meal of the day but we often have some grilled fish with a side salad or in winter, we have a lotttt of soup! Another favourite of ours is our Organic Truffle Eggs (recipe on our blog). My Mum also likes to indulge (occasionally) in a glass of red wine (apparently it has an anti-ageing antioxidant called Resveratrol! … As we said, we advocate balance). If we feel like something sweet after dinner, we might have a few squares of Loving Earth dark chocolate or 99% organic dark chocolate.

8pm:

As the day comes to an end, we like to relax with another herbal tea (My choice is an organic lemongrass and ginger tea and my Mum has a dandelion tea).

10pm:

We head to bed at about 10pm and often read for half an hour or so before getting a good night sleep (usually thinking about what we are going to make for breakfast the following day!)

Recipe for our creamy thai style pumpkin soup

Ingredients

Serves 4 (entrée size serves)

1 tbsp coconut oil
1 cup raw cashews (soaked for at least 4 hours in filtered water)
500 g kumera
500g pumpkin
1 leek
1 small onion
20g fresh turmeric*
30g fresh grated ginger
2 cups filtered water
Pinch Himalayan sea salt

*Note: Turmeric can stain clothing and surfaces so use caution

Method

Braise onion and leek in coconut oil for 3-5 minutes on low heat
Add chopped pumpkin, kumera and filtered water
Simmer and cover for 10-15 minutes (or until pumpkin and kumera are tender)
Add grated fresh ginger, turmeric and a pinch of salt and simmer for a further 5-10 minutes
Whilst this is cooking make the cashew milk:
Drain and rinse cashews (to remove phytates) and add 2 cups of filtered water
Blend until it forms a smooth ‘milky’ consistency and reserve liquid (we use a vitamix and store all our nut milks in glass bottles*)
Then, blend pumpkin mixture until smooth using a high power blender or vitamix
Place the mixture back in a pan and 1/2 cup of the cashew milk (add to desired creaminess)
Heat the soup on the stove before serving
Serving recommendations include a dollop of coyo (dairy free coconut yoghurt), fresh parsley, cracked pepper and a side of gluten free toast