Dr Lucy Caratti's Morning + Evening Routine

The woman behind my healing and the inspiration for our byline - Born of Rest and Joy: Dr Lucy Caratti.

5:30am - waking before the world

I am a naturally early riser, usually waking around 5.30–6am. Even if I have gone to bed super late, I have never been able to sleep in. I love the quiet stillness of the world in the early hours, before anyone else in the house is up.

I start with a big glass of water, often with electrolytes, before hopping onto the couch with my dog for a cuddle and settling into 20 minutes of Vedic meditation. I learnt this last year and it has been life changing.

If I am particularly wired, I try to get outside into the sunlight without sunglasses on, feet on the grass.

6am - Listening to the nervous system 

If my nervous system is in a good way, I have a coffee with almond milk. In summer, I change to an iced long black. If my body is stressed, I skip this (well, most of the time!) and either try and wait until after I’ve eaten, or try and have a herbal tea or a matcha instead.

The main shift I notice is my breathing. When I am stressed, I revert back to that shallow chest breathing and muscle tension around my jaw and abdomen.
Your body is always giving you signs. It is just a matter of whether you are noticing them.

6:30am - Morning Movement

Most days I have an early exercise class booked in, pilates or weights training.
I have a chronic back issue, so my weights are now a lot slower and I can’t do the big group class setting anymore. More intentional and intimate training is definitely how I have to exercise now.

Otherwise, it’s the dog for a walk and morning sunlight.

7:30am - Breakfast as nourishment

One of my biggest bugbears is ‘breakfast foods’.
The foods we have come to see as normal are usually high in sugar, low in protein and sets the blood sugars on a rollercoaster for the rest of the day.
Instead?
We might have a steak, or leftovers, or omelettes with a big side of vegetables.
With breakfast, I take my supplements, including a methylated B multivitamin, NR, NAC and an antioxidant blend.

Nourishment is more important than ever in today’s society.  Our foods have completely changed, our soil is pretty nutrient deplete, and we are exposed to so many more toxins everyday.  

Add onto this a genetic variation which can mean one of your enzymes is only working at 30% of someone else’s (I am obsessed with epigenetics and nutrigenomics as part of a personalised treatment plan!). So our body is really working hard.  The liver and gut are so dependent on many specific nutrients, and it can be really hard to meet these requirements.  

This is why I do incorporate supplements. You can’t out-supplement a bad diet, so it definitely always starts with the food, but sometimes we do need higher levels of nutrients for these processes to work properly.  

I also take 15 ml of ZOI High Phenolic Olive Oil every day in the morning.

Lucy also believes nourishment is deeply tied to connection and purpose.
“We are meant to be connecting with people!”

Surrounding yourself with people and connecting for conversation, whether it is an art class, a book club or just a regular dinner club.  This is so essential for our nervous system. 

This also comes down to finding your purpose. This can be a tricky one, particularly for women who have dedicated themselves to a career that they no longer care for, or a mother whose kids no longer need them as much.  But this is an essential and often forgotten aspect of health.

Clinic Days and Learning To Slow Down

My clinic work on top of my other work commitments can leave me quite drained, so I really try to listen to my body.

That awareness came slowly.

I used to be very dysregulated and not have much awareness of this. Over the years, I have done a lot of work on this, so while I definitely have a tendency to be in fight or flight mode, I have become much better at acknowledging this and adjusting things accordingly.

Now, instead of pushing through, I try to respond to what my body is asking for.

Whether it is adding some more carbs like sweet potato to my meals, cutting out the coffee or having a day at home in my pyjamas and just resting, I no longer feel guilty about it. If I ignore it, my body will make me stop.

The Path To Integrative Medicine

I was so disillusioned with the healthcare system.
From the frequent flyers to the state of the hospital food we were feeding our sick population, I had to get out of there.

I just completed my mandatory hospital years and went into general practice.  However, my frustration continued there, with short appointments to give people quick fixes that weren’t really solving anything. 

Once I completed my GP fellowshship, things all changed. A family friend called me, asking if I would like to join his practice. His words were “We do some pretty different stuff there, but we also have very regular GPs, so you can just come and do your thing”. Little did I know that this would completely change the trajectory of my life.  

The 3 main principals of the practice were all integrative GPs, having been in the area for years and were very well-respected for being pioneers in the area.  I began working there, and when discussing patients, when all testing came back “normal” and I had nothing else in my toolkit to offer the patient, they would suggest something.  Some dietary changes, a supplement, some meditation.  Not only did I pick up things that I could offer patients who were otherwise told that everything was normal, but patient’s were really getting great results. This piqued my interest and was the first time I actually felt excited for my career.  

I started training with ACNEM (Australasian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine) and have been learning and growing ever since.  

Purpose and Vision

Combining what I started learning about myself and what I saw in patients, I started realising the issues with society that were causing so much of our illness.  There is just such a disconnect.  Not living authentically to who we are, the lack of nutrients from the standard Australian diet, the issues with medicine being a treatment of a symptom, rather than looking at the root cause. 

I now live and breathe what I do, and that purpose and connection with people is something I will be forever grateful for.  But I am also aware that this is a privilege.  It is a privilege to be able to afford good quality fresh food, to be able to buy supplements when needed, to be able to see doctor specialising in integrative medicine. 

This is why the education piece is really important to me, with my podcast and education through Instagram.  It is only a small piece, but I am hoping that there then starts to become a shift with our food industry and our health system, where treatment of the cause of illness and presentation medicine become a priority and easy to access for everyone.

Evening Rituals 

I find my nighttime routine to be the one that nourishes me the most.

Dinner is usually early: protein and vegetables, sometimes steak, organic chicken thighs or fish curry, while weekends we may cook more of the beautiful Italian meals my husband grew up with.

If we have eaten quite early, I may try and get 30–40 mins in the infrared sauna, but no matter what, I always have a bath. I usually spend a good hour in the bath, after which I find immense pleasure at putting on my pyjamas and doing my nightly skincare.  I use natural products wherever possible,and have definitely noticed my skin’s need for a lot more hydration as I’m getting older.  Gel cleanser, serum, moisturiser, peptide cream then a thick blend of estrogen, hyaluronic acid and niacinamide just to lock it all in.

At this point, I generally go and check in on the family.  I find the evenings are the best time to connect with the kids.  If I hound them as soon as they are home from school, they tend to clam up. But as their brains are winding down, they tend to share more and have more questions, plus I am in a more regulated state to respond to them!

8:30pm - Winding Down

At around 8.30pm, I take my evening supplements, including Magnesium glycerinate and thiamine, a liver support supplement, vitamin C, pomegranate and fish oil. These are my regulars, I am often cycling through others.

I am then in bed with my book until 9.30pm, where I am lights out and off to sleep. If I have been a bit congested or feeling fatigued, I will put my mouth tape on. However, from previous regular mouth taping, I now breathe through my nose at night the majority of the time, so don’t use this every night.

REST and JOY

“Rest and Joy" really became something I felt I had to physically write on people’s treatment plans as a reminder and permission to listen to your body in a world where we have become so crazy with productivity and efficiency.

“We feel so proud when we say we have been so busy. Patients state it with a badge of honour when they say they literally don’t sit down throughout the entire day. Particularly with women, who become givers and nurturers whether they are a biological mother or not. We are constantly giving out, but without the awareness that we need to recharge ourselves in order for this to be sustainable.

I used to ask what they did for joy, what they did just for themselves, and they could not tell me.

This becomes particularly important through the perimenopause rewiring, where we are going from the ‘we’ wiring back to the ‘I’. So many women have lost themselves over these years of giving and have forgotten what they used to be like.

This is where the micro-moments become really important. Even five breaths into the belly with a longer exhalation before a work meeting can tell your body it is safe.

These little changes add up to a lot of change over a year. It’s the long-term plan, the small things that you can be consistent with. Not the all-or-nothing strive for perfection.”