Sugar and Sleep Workshop with Dr Julie Bhosale

Dr Julie Bhosale is a woman I am totally in awe of. Julie is a mum of two who managed to complete her PhD, run her own business, teach, write a cookbook and do many other things I can’t remember. She managed all of this at the same time while being a mum to her two boys, one of which was born while her PhD was in progress! Julie is on a mission to share her knowledge and she specialises in family health, pre and postnatal nutrition and children’s health.

While I do have to follow fairly well defined dietary recommendations laid out by my surgical team’s dietician I am always open to learning more about nutrition and seeing how I can make my diet more interesting and varied within the scope I have to work with. Julie invited me to attend her Sugar and Sleep workshop and I was very keen to see what I could learn.

Here’s me in action asking what I’m sure was an awesome question, look at my hands go!

Photo courtesy of Dr Julie Bhosale

Sugar is something I have to make sure I don’t consume too much of after my gastric bypass surgery and being a mum sleep is something I always need more of. Julie holds her workshops on weeknights and they start at 7.30 pm. For me this means I can have my little guy tucked up in bed before I skip out and leave him under daddy’s watchful eye.

On arrival at Julie’s workshop I was offered a glass of bubbly and given my goodie bag. Julie’s goodie bags are next level. When I get a goodie bag I usually expect lots of sample sized products and vouchers for things that I’ll probably never use. When Julie says her goodie bags are worth $XX retail they really are. Julie works with some amazing sponsors like Nairn’s, Red Seal, Get Real Food, Ecostore and Merino Kids. Here’s a peek below of what the goodie bag for the Sugar and Sleep Workshop contained!

On the table, waiting for us, we had workbooks which had notes about what we were going to cover and plenty of space inside to take you own notes. There was a selection of yummy healthy snacks on offer too. I’m a bit partial to Julie’s Breakie Bliss Balls!

Photo courtesy of Dr Julie Bhosale

The main things I have taken away from the Sugar and Sleep Workshop is that on those days where I have not had enough sleep it’s going to be a hard day trying to do the right thing with food. I really need to work on increasing the amount of sleep I have to try and keep my hormones in check (can someone send a memo to Mr4 please?) Also the best kinds of foods to base meals around are foods that combine protein (well that’s easy!) and good fats as these things are what are going to keep you feeling full for longer and won’t have a drastic (if much at all) effect on your blood sugar levels.

After talking us through all of the hormone stuff Julie did a smoothie demo and made a really yummy peanut butter smoothie for us all to try. The workbook also included her Breakie Bliss Ball recipe, the smoothie recipe and a breakfast muffin recipe. Then Julie circulated the room and we all filled out an example of what we eat in a day and she discused with us what simple swaps we could make to keep our blood sugars more stable throughout the day. Julie answered any questions we had and if there was anything in particular you wanted to ask she was very happy to answer.

Photo courtesy of Dr Julie Bhosale

Dr Julie Bhosale’s workshops are great, she is very knowledgeable and even though I would think I know a bit more about nutrition than your usual person I always pick up great tips for myself and my family. The goodie bags are amazing and you get a glass of bubbly and yummy healthy snacks/treats. Tickets are usually around $80 and I think they are an absolute steal at this price and if the subject interested you I would really recommend you come along next time! Keep an eye out for Julie’s next workshop, I know I’m really looking forward to it.

Julie would like to offer my readers a discount code for her cookbook Healthy Easy Dinners for Busy Mums which I reviewed here. Just go to Julie’s website here and you can get the hardcover version at 50% off and free shipping with the code COOKBOOK50. While it hasn’t been written specifically for weight loss surgery patients I really enjoy most of the recipes in the book and if I can’t eat the whole dish it’s still worth making as one meal for my family and I just eat the bits that are suitable for me!

Please note: This is a sponsored post. As always my opinion remains my own, I am being compensated for my time, not my opinion. I wouldn’t post or talk about anything on my blog if I didn’t see value in it for you, my readers.