#MOTHERMUSE | Julia Tellidis

Meet Julia Tellidis, a qualified Nutritionist, Health Coach, and the talented author of the best-selling Baby Food Bible, Bable!

Jules is passionate about guiding her clients towards discovering their healthiest selves. She firmly believes that embracing a healthy lifestyle should be a holistic journey that considers the body, mind, and soul.

We had a delightful chat with Jules about her daily rituals for maintaining her own health and how you can incorporate these rituals into your life to reach your wellness goals as well.

Do you have any rituals or a favourite way to start your day?

As much as I would love to say I do, and once upon a time in another life I absolutely did (pre-kids), but right now with a 1 year old and 3.5 year old my mornings are dictated by them. My day starts at 5am, feeding, trying to put her back down, feeding more, basically  attending to their every need until 9am! Ask me again in a year and I hope to have some more balanced mornings (in the depths of motherhood right now!)

 What about an evening wind down routine?

This is definitely something i'm working on getting back, i long for my zen nights but right now i hate to admit it but I'm working way too late every night, packing orders and fitting a whole day into a few hours once the kids are sleeping. My non-negotiables are magnesium in my water before bed, this helps me unwind, relax my body and helps me sleep. My favourite tea at the moment I’m obsessed with making is ginger, turmeric, orange, lemon and honey, this has such a calming effect on me and tea instantly calms me! And I always leave at least 30 minutes before bed without screens.  

When do you feel your highest self?

After a workout, always. Nothing quite beats the endorphin rush and spending 45 minutes doing someone for myself and my body.

What wellness hack has made the biggest improvement to your life in the last 5 years?

I don't think this is necessarily a hack, but for me I really believe in the philosophy that ‘Food is Medicine’. Less eating out, very limited take-out foods and prioritising my diet by cooking with whole foods is the best thing i have ever done for my health. I view every meal as an opportunity to nourish my body, what can I add in to give my body as much goodness as possible. I think about this every time I prepare a meal (even if that is just adding some hemp seeds or sauerkraut to some eggs and toast). I try to avoid ultra-processed foods as much as possible, whilst I have a lot of balance in my diet, I always try to ensure I am eating real foods!

What are your top tips for mothers wanting to try for a baby in the next 6 months?

I believe it’s never too early to start prepping your body for a baby. I personally started making lifestyle changes 12 months out, but 6 months out is when it’s really time to knuckle down!

• You really want to focus on removing as many of the toxins you have control over in your environment; Not only do they effect our health but they also impact our chances of conceiving, the quality of our eggs as well as the developing fetus.
•  Slowly swap out the chemicals from your skincare, make up and sunscreens to natural alternatives.
• Get rid of any Teflon non-stick cookware and replace it with cast iron/stainless steel or ceramic to name a few
• Invest in a water filter
• If you haven't already, no more perfumes!!
• Limit plastics exposure! Swap out any plastic bottles with stainless steel and store all food in glass
• Foods: Remove all the additives from your diet, always read ingredients lists and stay away from ultra-processed foods with ingredients you don’t recognise. Try to limit pesticide exposure in your foods as much as possible, I would recommend soaking all fresh produce in bicarb soda solution before consuming. When possible buy organic if it's realistic for you.
• I always like to recommend getting your bloods done to understand your current state of health, understanding any deficiencies so they can be worked on prior to conceiving.
• Start taking a high-quality pre-natal supplement 6 months out and ensure you are walking into pregnancy with sufficient iron stores as this is something that will start to deplete as you move through to your second trimester (you want to start on the front-foot).

Why is it so important to try to stay away from endocrine disruptors and how do they affect our hormones?

Endocrine disruptors are chemicals found in everyday products that disrupt our endocrine system, which is the system that regulates our hormones. These chemicals can mimic, block and alter our bodies natural hormones. They are shown to cause fertility issues, hormonal imbalances and cause negative effects to our thyroid,  impacting our metabolism and weight, energy and overall health. 

What endocrine disrupting ingredients do you tend to stay away from in your skincare?

 Phatlates, parabens, fragrances (also referred to as perfume), SLS, SLES (to name a few) are some of the chemicals you would have heard of, these are things i always ensure are not in the ingredients list when choosing my products! 

 These chemicals can be incredibly disruptive to our hormones (endocrine disruptors), especially when we are lathering them on daily through so many different products we use! Think makeup, body soaps/wash, shampoo's, cleansers and oils, hand soaps (which we would use about 10x a day!) It all adds up and adds to our body's overall toxic load.

What do you look for in an SPF? Do you prefer a mineral SPF or chemical? If so, why?

 I am absolutely a mineral girl! The chemicals we put on our skin is absorbed into our bodies, the skin is our largest organ, what we put on it truly matters. All of these chemicals people apply on their skin everyday adds to their chemical load, giving your liver a real workout to remove these toxins from the body.

Lastly, where can we purchase Bable and if you could pick 1 favourite breakfast, snack and dinner recipe. What would it be! *I know hard!

 You can get our book from all major book retailers, or buy direct via www.babyfoodbible.com

Fave breakfast; our Bable cereal or chickpea pancrepes, snack would be our chewy cookies and 3 ingredient power balls, dinner has to be our 7 vege Bolognese with a side of our sweet n sticky carrots! (sorry impossible to just choose one!)