The Grow Project

19/10/2025

Sundaze. With vocals by Sienna, while I bask in the spring sunshine at our place.

☀️

16/10/2025

Breaking the fast. Aka breakfast. I did a repeat on my cheats congee (in the feed yesterday), in terms of ingredients, and instead of using the stove top, I put it all into a small ceramic dish and cooked it in the oven.

You’ll see in the clip I put in the rice, cubes of frozen coconut cream, herbs and spices, and the dehydrated chicken bone broth powder, added water, and cooked it in the oven for about 15 minutes on 140°.

Once the rice was absorbing liquid, I scissor chopped in some kale, gave that a few minutes to wilt with the lid on, gave it another stir, put an egg in and umeboshi plum vinegar and gave it a few minutes in the oven to cook.

I then stirred it all up, placed it in a bowl, and that is what I had for a nourishing breakfast on day four of my 21 day spring cleanse and health reset, which is being masterfully facilitated by Anthia Koullouros of Akademia.

However, you fuel your breaking of the fast, I hope you find ways which set you up for the day.

I have found this multi ingredient breakfast to be working better for me at the moment, then the egg heavy breakfast I was having on days one and two. I will still rerun some experiments later in the day count, to see if it was more related to the change at the start of the 21 days, or if it’s the ingredients themselves. Feeling grateful to have had this insight, and also grateful to have the more sustained energy, which I have really appreciated.

And yes, that cup at the start of the clip is my tea, which I started on the move on the early morning dropping of kids to their 1 million and one destinations, a.k.a. basketball and band practices, and I am still loving reconnecting with the quantity of Apotheca teas.

And yes, I have been listening to Taylor Swift’s new album start to finish on repeat in the car, in the house, pretty much anywhere and everywhere at the moment. I really like it, and while some people say, apparently, it’s too simple, I’d say it’s refinement, and I appreciate it, and enjoy it enormously. Fabulous to sing and dance and do work to too. Thanks TS.

.koullouros.naturopath .by.anthia .by.anthia

14/10/2025

This morning in cleanse mode, I made a quick cheats congee, inspired by the recipe list in Anthia‘s Akademia cleanse guide.

The cheat element is that I had already cooked the rice from last night, I didn’t have fresh herbs or much in the veggie department, and I don’t have any chicken broth or stock yet, so I used a high-quality dehydrated broth from Changing Habits, mixed it in boiling hot water with the ginger and onion powder, put it in a pan with the rice, added more water progressively, and after cooking for a short while and wanting more flavour, I added the tiniest amount (1/8 teaspoon-ish) of the curry powder.

As it simmered away, while I was packing school, lunchboxes, the flavour was nice, but the dry herbs and spices were a little intense, so I added a bit of coconut cream to round it out (and froze the leftovers in silicone ice cube trays).

I added in the stems of kale, cooked those, and then stirred in the kale leaves at the end, popped it in a bowl, popped an egg into the hot congee and put a plate on top, to use the residual heat to cook the egg. The egg didn’t cook as much as I wanted after five minutes, so I popped it in the oven, and finished it in there. Yum. Nourishing. From scratch.

Feeling more energised today. Didn’t walk this morning … as it was a little too much too early in the day yesterday, so going to do it later in the day, and possibly do a short sauna. Will see how the day unfolds…

Day, three of the 21 day spring cleanse and reset is underway, as the kids head into day, two of the final term for the year.

.koullouros.naturopath .by.anthia

12/10/2025

Nothing like a Monday for a reset. Nothing like an .by.anthia led 21 day seasonal reset to support me, and sync in with the seasonal rhythms, let go of things which no longer serve, move myself out of the ease of winter long slow cooks and into spring’s offerings, and reintroduce yummy and powerful teas (.by.anthia) and reconnect with some other habits I’d like to add in (sunrise is back on my agenda, and consistency of movement, now that I’ve got a little more energy in the bank, for example). Yes, there will be some taking out of things too (coffee and grains this time), and yes, I’m going straight into it without prep week so will probably get a headache of some degree in the coming days, and yes, it’s always worth it to gently reconnect with seasonal wholefoods and reconnect with habits which serve me and may have slipped away. I always learn something new, deepen my learning or connection to something I already knew, and I’m always so grateful for .koullouros.naturopath having taken the time to refine the structure, the content, and the flow of the program, as she does each and every season over many years and with grounded wisdom. I started Anthia’s spring cleanses in September 2012, alongside Mark, as part of preconception care.

18/09/2025

I’ve been feeling rather nostalgic in many areas of my life this spring, as I grow out of a pretty tough ‘wintering’, return to some base principles, look at key environments and structures in my life, reflect to renew and re-choose, and also see symbols of my past adventures and milestone moments popping up, nostalgia has settled in.

The biggest reflections in early September 2025? The impact working on the Sydney Olympics had for me, and continues to have, on my life and on my philosophy. Fair to say it is a very significant reflection prompt for the things which have transpired 25 incredible years ago, at a time when I am entering a new chapter; a ‘spring’.

As I research and reflect, and look at different structures and environmental factors, including media and messages I’m surrounded with, as I was preparing lunch for Mark and I in the office yesterday, throwing together a ‘roast chicken fridge salad’ (which was looking innately rainbow and pretty, until I tossed it), it reminded me of the topic I have been most asked about on Instagram, and where it started for me - capturing and sharing food pics and moments in time I now see as milestones in my health and wellness journey, and learning about vitality.

If you scroll back 800 odd posts, you’ll find me delving into how I entered a whole food way of living, at a time when I was testing food as medicine in a therapeutic sense with the auto immune protocol, learning to meditate on the headspace app, learning about essential oils with Twenty8, and reading books like Mother Om which put language to ideas I had inklings for but never had seen a complete picture or one I could explain like colours and chakras for example (thanks ).

So the most asked question, what do I eat, and how did I make that?

Like many things on Instagram, it’s not necessarily a simple answer, it’s not the same day in and day out, and it’s not very pretty most of the time. And, I don’t feel it is something suitable to answer on social media, with my expertise, because the answer is SO individual. What I have tried to share over the years is insights, which encourage that it’s possible to … cont. in comments 💓

17/09/2025

30/07/2023

What a wonderful moment… to witness Elle performing on stage in the Concert Hall at the , with her junior dance group. This ghost was super proud, and has loved being part of creating their ghostbusters routine. I’m definitely not up for the gig of dance mum, but I found a soft landing in our school community this morning, to help with the gel and the pins, while we’re in the midst of moving apartments (yes, perfect timing). I am here for the big moment, the big stage, the dedication to hours of practicing, and the pride of this little lady moving with such joy, oh, and I’m here for the architecture too .

02/04/2023

Come along today and learn … how you can positively impact our future. It’s facilitied by North Sydney’s MP, , who has bought together a stellar lineup of international experts, many who I’ve listened to on podcasts, including .electrify on , and incredible CEO of the

23/11/2021

Spring soups for the win • There is something a little magical about soup 🍲. Sydney is getting a massive dose of spring rains, and I guess considering so many of us need to head to bed and recover, maybe nature is calling us to remember growth from a recharged base sustains wayyyyyy better than building from depletion. It also feels so much more enjoyable. For now, I’m going strong 💪 on the soup game.

15/11/2021

2022 • my thoughts have been really quite distracted by 2022 at the moment, and I definitely feel like I’m recovering from the impacts of living differently in 2021. Sometimes it feels fabulous to be exploring 2022, and other times it feels like I’m trying to wish away the end of 2021, or just make a massive change, and it’s at this point I catch myself, breathe, and switch to conservation mode to work with today, with smaller doses of tomorrow and the future, and I settle again, rather than distorting to grass is greener thoughts. Honestly, these are so kind to me, even on days when they don’t feel light. They have this way of rolling out the bumps in the road - aka the thoughts going on between my ears which can recycle themselves without examination - and putting them into context. I deeply encourage you to have ways in your life - whether verbal, conversational, written, or another way - to get your thinking out of between your ears, and popped into context. It creates a lot more ease, and joy … and then clarity and calm, being able to see the micro details and decisions in the bigger picture. Good morning world 🌏💝😌

06/11/2021

When you go out to breakfast and find you’ve walked into a light box … you whack out the camera pronto, snap away, drink your divine long black, and then giggle and marvel to yourself … whoa, I’ve got three little people who call me Mum. Still amazes me, even after nearly 11 years. Thanks for the lighting and the delish breakfast .