My Long Covid Histamine SIBO Journey December 29, 2024

My Journey Back to Health

By Jo

In the early Spring of 2019 I ‘caught’ Covid-19 and by 2022 my symptoms put me in the ‘Long Covid – unexplained’ box at my local health centre . Since then I have been on a long journey back to health.

My experience of ‘Long Covid’ became the catalyst for creating the Make Selfcare Simple blog because simple self-care gave me the strength to get through each day.

This is my ‘Long covid’ story, it’s messy, I make mistakes, wrong choices, but also have breakthroughs, gain insights and slowly find answers for myself.

My story includes Long-covid, Chronic fatigue, SIBO/IBS, MCAS/Histamine/Allergy, Asthma, Skin issues and lots of ‘perfect test’ results that don’t help at all.

Honestly I am not sure how helpful sharing my story is, maybe reading my story will let you know you are not alone on your journey?

This is longer than I expected!

Why did I get Long-Covid?

I qualified (Master Herbalist & Natural Healer) way back in my early 30’s and went on to improve my well-being (I’d been poorly all of my 20’s) consistently for over 25 years until my mid-fifties.

So how come I was left with Long-Covid?

The answer is simple – Stress. I went though a difficult divorce and then my teenage daughter became very poorly (umpteen hospital appointments)for the next 5 years, I lost my dad suddenly, a new business venture had the plug-pulled and we moved home 7 times in 5 years.

I remember feeling this crushing responsibility.

Long-term Stress switches off your repair and maintenance systems.

My Long-covid Symptoms

I was quite poorly with long-covid, typical flu, breathing issues, and gastric flu symptoms all at once. But it passed and was over within a week.

But from that week my health has never been ‘right’.

Including 15 months of recurrent episodes of debilitating gastric flu and chest infections.

Gradually I started to have increasing random symptoms:

IBS – various and changing
Itchy ears – ezema inside my ear
Increasing Sinus infections
Asthma that started and finished very quickly
Weird skin rashes, from painful acne to rashes on my skin and inside my mouth and throat
Increasing joint pain, weakness and swelling
Hair loss one side of my head
Sinus swelling behind my right eye (extremely painful)
Feeling dizzy light headed in the head but my legs felt like lead
Low Blood Pressure
Fuzzy head and poor memory
Extreme Fatigue

Unfortunately this was during Covid. I still had to work and look after my daughter (single mum) and my local heath centre were unable to help.

The tests came back ‘good’ or as my GP told me, my tests were actually perfect for my ‘age’.

But I didn’t feel perfect.

Eventually my GP diagnosed me as having Long Covid because my health before and after Covid was so different.

Diagnosing Myself

The remedies I had used successfully for 25 years couldn’t help me this time

For a while I used my usual herbal remedies, essential oils, homeopathic pills, supplements and dietary changes. Remedies that had worked perfectly for the last 25 years based on supporting my inherited constitution.

And I seemed to get worse.

My local surgery offered me steroid inhaler for my asthma, steroids for my sinus, anti-histamines, Pronton Pump Inhibitors (PPI) and even HRT to ‘see’ if they ‘helped’.

I used a nasal steroid for my swollen sinus face once – but the next day the swollen face was gone and replaced with my right eye looking like something from a horror film. The ‘sinus reaction’ had escaped to the sinus area behind my eye.

I already had a long history of ‘reacting badly’ to normal medications and wasn’t convinced ‘testing’ by medication was the right path for me.

By this time I was worried and frustrated.

Without a concrete ‘diagnosis’ I was stuck in the dark.

I knew from my practitioner training that I needed to find a ‘root cause’ – but Long-Covid is cloaked in mystery.

The one ‘strange’ but consistent symptom pattern was waking up in the early morning with a ‘reaction’ usually sinus/skin rash/itchy ears which then developed into feeling faint, dizzy light-headed, followed by IBS symptoms and then joint pain/swelling and extreme fatigue.

This was a consistent pattern (70% of the time) – whatever I did during the day, my reaction seemed to happen between 3 – 5am the next morning. Weird right?

(Apart from quick onset asthma to chemical fumes/scents which were frightening)

I got tested for autoimmune which came back as negative.

Eventually I came across Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) which finally seemed to describe me!

Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS)

According to the WebMD MCAS is “Mast cell activation syndrome, also called MCAS or mast cell activation disorder, is a condition that causes mast cells to release high amounts of chemicals into your body. This chemical release causes you to have many symptoms.

I spent almost a year researching MCAS. There is a lot of information online. But here in the UK after waiting months for an appointment an Allergy consultant told me ‘ we don’t recognise it here in the UK’. And shoved me out the door in under 10 minutes.

Yes I still feel bitter about that.

The harsh truth is that it is difficult to test for MCAS or histamine intolerance – unless and maybe even if you go private.

By this time I had no social life (apart from work) and had to leave at least two jobs because I reacted to something in the work place. By this time I was having sudden scary reactions to chemicals, perfumes and scents including essential oils – so I went into recluse mode.

Through trial and error (and many reactions) I confirmed foods high in histamine or histamine liberators were an issue for me.

Even healthy foods, herbs, essential oils and supplements can be high histamine.

A low histamine diet really helped. So did taking Diamine Oxidase enzymes and Saccharomyces Boulardii.

Some people follow a histamine bucket approach where they can strategically include a few higher histamine foods if they keep their overall lifestyle low histamine.

Other people take various anti-histamines but there is conflicting information about the long-term impact of switching off the bodies alert signal from the immune system. *With conditions like MCAS you may need to take both H1 & H2 blocking antihistamines and at much bigger dose.

Call me stubborn, but I still wanted to find the root cause and heal myself.

Insights from Living with MCAS / Long Covid

I firmly believe that the most healing diet is when you can eat a full varied diet. The low-histamine diet on top of my existing dairy and gluten-free requirements was incredibly limited.

Turns out that I could eat chips and plain crisps with no reaction – and boy did I make the most of this!

I spent hours researching ‘alternative’ recipes which was my inspiration for creating the ‘Nourish‘ Challenges. My beautiful kind daughter was very tolerant of my experiments and meal time choices

And if I ‘cheated’ or accidently ate a food that was high in histamine or an histamine liberator I was ‘punished’ with painful and weird symptoms.

I would wake early morning in agony with one red swollen eye and an unhealthy ‘pressure pain’ behind my eye. I would boil a kettle and grab a bowl and towel and steam my face. My eye would stream thick clear gunk and there was revolting post nasal drip. After this I could open my eye and see, but the whites of my eye were blood red. Nice. I would repeat steaming and use a heated eye-pack and my eye and the pain would slowly return to normal within 2-3 hours.

Then would follow various strange symptoms, sometimes I had a tight chest and lost my voice, I often felt dizzy and light headed and ‘wobbly’, and worse for me was that my head felt fuzzy and muddled. There would be pain in my neck, hips, and knees and sometimes my hands and feet would become swollen and painful. And for ‘days’ I would feel wiped out. Just in time for the next reaction.

I share this because so many people said they also suffer with ‘hay-fever’. This was not the same as hay-fever although hayfever may be linked to histamine overload.

I had a lot of problems with supplements and ‘natural’ remedies that also caused reactions. DAO (Diamine Oxidase) which is a miracle support for me, but when my supplier ran out (!) I reacted to each alternative I tried.

Let’s talk about my hair!

I quickly found that hair products including shampoo caused really big reactions. The more often I was reactive the more I noticed hair loss and just on one side of my head!

Honestly I spent a fortune on trying different ‘natural’ shampoos. If I didn’t react to the shampoo then it didn’t suit my hair. Call me vain but hair like straw is not a good look. Yes even the no-poo curly hair shampoo caused reactions. So did organic ones made with essential oils.

In fact it is very expensive having a reactive body! In the end I found an inexpensive unscented shampoo bar. It was the same story with all my body and cleaning products. Many essential oils trigger a reaction.

Reacting to Nature!

I also reacted to nature! As a former natural therapist & herbalist the irony is not lost on me. Grass and tree pollen were problematic and so was any time spent in my garden or walking my dog (RIP my beloved Sox).

Symptoms-body-wisdom-make-selfcare-simple — Replacing lawns with beefriendly plants

My home and street is surrounded by grass – that needs regular cutting. I did remove almost all of my lawns and just prayed that the replacement plants were kind to me. I also gave up my dream of walking holidays and permculture forest gardening.

Most ordinary people would by now have taken all the anti-histamines!

I will try to explain.

Call it intuition, pig-headedness or dilusional thinking but I 100% believe that if I can find the root cause then I can find a healthy way to support my body to recover and repair.

And that was the problem with a MCAS or Histamine reactions or Long Covid Diagnosis – none of them gave me a root cause I could work with.

Whole Body Healing

Diet and supplements are never the whole picture when it comes to healing.

I include (where possible) many self-care practices in my daily routine.

Pssst my regular newsletter is where I share more details about my current self-care practice.HERE

Close family and friends are my life-line and are incredibly important to my whole body healing. I am still at the time of writing this, pretty much living like a recluse.

The enforced isolation that you can experience on the healing journey is one reason I would like to create an online self-care community.

I recently lost my beloved dog Sox, and know first hand how healing our pets can be and how real the grief of losing them is.

My beloved companion Sox – big part of my healing journey

Something else that I believe is that the body mind and soul are all connected.

Specifically I think that past experiences especially trauma links the mind to physical illness. So I was aware that my set of symptoms directly linked to fear – the world literally felt unsafe for me.

I am not a worrier by nature. But in iridology I have the golden eye which is linked to kidneys and fear. I deal with my fear (of histamine reactions) by controlling my situation and avoidance.

Which in one way is prefectly normal and practical.

So another part of my healing journey is to look at fear. I scheduled therapy sessions which were really helpful and have noticed that recognising my fear pattern is helpful in reducing my symptoms.

This is where Journal work has also been helpful.

Dealing with trauma or past experiences that impact your current health, is a work-in-progress for me.

However I am also cautious about getting stuck in your past – while its helpful to identify previous causes and patterns – please know that the focus should be on creating a better future.

I also try to avoid blame in all its forms. Tricky because it is so satisfying to give the blame to someone else.

Instead I try to ask:

How am I now going to respond to this situation?

What new and better choices and decisions will actually improve my future and bring me inner-peace?

Light at the end of the tunnel?

Whew well done if you’ve made it this far!

I had a bit of a ‘red herring‘ in that both my daughter and father had genetic Haemochromatosis (Iron overload) which interestingly can display many similar symptoms to what I experienced.

It took months to wait for tests and results – and I was hopeful that I’d found my root cause.

But no surprise my liver came back as ‘fine’ and blood tests confirmed I am just a carrier.

I am sure many of you have been in this strange situation where you almost want a test result to show something!

If my story does nothing else, it highlights the frustration of test results!

New Symptom – Upper Stomach Swelling

Anyway earlier this year 2025 I noticed a swelling in my upper stomach.

I thought it might be a flare-up of diastasis recti (caused by having C-section complications 20 odd years ago) and started following the exercises. NB I do think I have DR

However my stomach swelling quickly got larger and more painful despite me eating less food. It was a strange ‘stretched feeling’.

More tests and examinations followed all showing as fine!

Grrrrr

My GP was really pushing for Omeprazole – which conflicts with DAO – so I had a dilemma.

But for once my attention was on my IBS not my histamine reactions.

Honestly my IBS symptoms were much easier to deal with except now I had a painful swelling I couldn’t ignore.

Handy reminder to myself that ALL symptoms no matter how small are important

Long story short I started to consider SIBO Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth.

SIBO can cause painful upper stomach swelling reduces DAO from being made in the body – ding dong! And there is a direct link between SIBO and Histamine intolerance (MCAS). AND Omeprazole can increase the risk of SIBO.

I couldn’t get tested for SIBO on the NHS so I went private.

My test result was positive for Hydrogen SIBO!!

Which brings me to the end of this mammoth post.

And the start of a brand new post.

This was my personal story about stubbornly holding out to find a root cause, probably a bit extreme to most people.

If you only take medicines to reduce/hide symptoms – without addressing the root cause – the body will keep giving you new symptoms

I quickly discovered that being tested positive for SIBO was just the first step and that there is very little free support/guidance for when you have both Histamine/MCAS and SIBO together.

So that is what I will share next – my journey to address my root cause!

Self-Care

What I haven’t talked about is my regular daily self-care practice – which has been a crucial part of my whole journey.

I do not think I would have survived this last few years without a self-care practice supporting my poor body each step of the way.

Join my newsletter to read my current experiences and adventures with self-care as I follow along with you!

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MindCraft December 26, 2024

How this works

By Jo

A simple, calm orientation to the Make Self Care Simple approach.

Welcome — I’m so glad you’re here

If you’ve landed here, you may be thinking:
“This makes sense… but how does it all fit together?”

Make Self Care Simple isn’t more health advice.
It’s a calm, personalised system that helps you understand how your body responds — so you can stop guessing and start noticing what genuinely helps.

The Make Self-Care Simple System

Everything here works through three connected parts:

The Blog

A free library of easy, follow-along self-care challenges you can explore at your own pace.

The Toolkit

A simple, step-by-step process that shows you how to:

find a personal starting point
choose one supportive practice
listen for real feedback from your body

The Community

A quiet, supportive space where you don’t have to do this alone — offering shared perspective, encouragement, and a place to stay connected while you learn.

You can explore any part on its own.
But together, they make it much easier to understand what’s actually helping your body.

Is This Likely to Help You?

Make Self Care Simple is especially helpful if you:

you try something new, feel hopeful… then stop because you can’t tell if it’s helping
results feel slow, unpredictable, or non-existent, even when you’re doing “the right things”
advice seems to work for other people, but not for your body
your body feels over-reactive, unresponsive, or hard to read
you keep starting and stopping because there’s no clear feedback to guide you
you find yourself chasing more information, hoping this will be the missing piece
you’re tired of guessing — and want a way to understand what your body is actually asking for

Being healthy isn’t always easy —
but it can be made simple.

Where Most People Begin

If you’re new, the best place to start is the free Self-Care Toolkit.

It gently guides you through:

noticing what your body is already communicating
choosing one manageable self-care practice
beginning in a way that feels calm and doable

Your Free Self-Care Toolkit

From there, you can explore the blog challenges freely — and if it feels supportive, stay connected through the community or newsletter.

There’s no rush.
No pressure to “do this right.”
You’re allowed to move slowly here.

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MindCraft September 10, 2024

The Missing Self-Care Skill

By Jo

How to recognise your next step when self-care results are unclear.

Most healthy-living advice tells you what to do.

But when the results from a healthy change feel unclear or slow, it can be hard to know what your next step should be.

Should you keep going… adjust something… or move on and try something different?

Make Self-Care Simple helps you recognise whether a self-care practice is working for you — and what to do next if it isn’t.

Research shows there is huge variation in how people respond to lifestyle changes.
One review notes that although behavioural treatments work on average, there is “considerable individual variation in treatment response.”

So if you have been following healthy advice but seeing unclear, slow, or almost non-existent results, you are not alone.

Sometimes the reason isn’t that the advice is wrong.

It’s that an important piece of understanding has been missing.

Make Self-Care Simple was created for women like you.

Why it starts with self-care

In clinic, most of my clients had no difficulty taking a remedy or medication.

But as soon as I suggested lifestyle changes, it was a different story.

And I understand that — because at first, I was the same.

But over time something became very clear.

The clients who made the steadiest progress weren’t the ones taking stronger remedies or medications.
They were the ones supporting their body with simple self-care alongside their treatment.

Self-care is a bit like watering a thirsty plant.

You provide the simple things the body needs — the basic support that only you can give — so it can function as well as it’s able to.

Without that support, the body simply can’t repair and rebalance itself.

You are not “average”

Research often talks about the average result.

But in real life, people are not averages.

I saw this often in clinic.

Two people with the same problem.
The same remedy.
Very different results.

And the same thing happens with self-care.

Two thirsty people drink the same amount of water.
One instantly feels better.
The other doesn’t.

Maybe you’re the second person.

And the reason may simply be that your body does not respond in an average way.

This isn’t good or bad.

It just means your body may need a more individual approach to lifestyle changes.

The simple MSS process

Make Self-Care Simple helps you recognise whether your chosen self-care is working for you.

It’s especially helpful for those of us whose bodies don’t respond in an “average” way — when the expected results just don’t seem to happen.

Explore a change
Try one healthy adjustment.

This could be any healthy practice you’re curious about — something traditional, something new, or something you already do.

Listen for feedback
Notice how your body responds.

Decide what belongs in your personal self-care menu

Keep what helps.
Adjust what needs refining.
Let go of what doesn’t suit your body.

Over time this becomes your own Menu of Self-Care — a collection of practices that work well for you.

This simple process works well — but only when you know how to notice the feedback your body is giving you.

The Missing Skill

What makes this approach different is that we explore the missing skill — how to listen for feedback.

I created MSS because I realised that when you can listen to your own body’s feedback, you have your own built-in guidance system.

In practice, this skill helps you recognise your next step when the results from a self-care practice feel unclear or slow.

As people begin learning this skill, they often notice something interesting.

Bodies tend to give feedback in different ways.

Some signals are clear and immediate.
Others are slower, subtler, or easier to misinterpret.

Over time I noticed that these patterns tend to fall into a few recognisable Body Feedback Types.

Understanding your own pattern can make self-care decisions much easier and remove much of the guesswork.

If you’d like to begin exploring how your own body tends to give feedback, you can start with the free Body Feedback Finder.

Body Feedback Finder

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Start HERE September 9, 2024

Start Here

By Jo

Start Here – Discover the Missing Piece That Helps Your Body Finally Respond

If self-care hasn’t worked the way you expected, you’re not broken.

You were simply never shown how to read your body’s feedback.

That’s the skill we begin learning here.

If you haven’t read it yet, this short article explains why self-care can feel confusing — and what’s actually missing:

When self-care doesn’t seem to work for you

This page is where I share the simple answer I observed not just from my own experience but from over 20 years as a natural health practitioner.

What we do differently here

Most health advice teaches you to add more:

more routines
more changes
more information
more rules

But none of that helps if it isn’t what your body truly needs.

The work here isn’t about pushing harder.

It’s about learning how to offer support your body can actually use — and noticing how it responds.

Not someone else’s plan.
Not a perfect system.
Not a list of “shoulds.”

Simple, everyday care that matches:

your energy
your patterns
your real life

Because your body isn’t waiting for a perfect routine.

It’s waiting for the right kind of support.

How we begin

Instead of forcing complicated plans, you start with something much smaller:

a single, doable self-care practice that gives your body space to respond.

These are the self-care challenges you’ll find throughout the blog — gentle experiments that help you feel what truly supports you.

Not to fix.
Not to push.
Not to get it right.

But to listen and learn.

As you continue, you begin to notice:

what restores you
what drains you
what feels grounding
what your body quietly appreciates

That clarity builds slowly and naturally.

And it’s enough.

Why small steps work

Trying harder doesn’t help a body that’s already overwhelmed.

Your body isn’t a machine.
It’s responsive, aware, and constantly communicating.

When you stop guessing, small shifts become visible.

When you stop pushing, clarity grows.

This isn’t instant transformation.

It’s a steady relationship you build with yourself.

And once your body feels supported in the right way, the things you’re already doing begin to work better.

You don’t have to do this alone

If staying with self-care has been hard in the past, that’s not a personal failure.

Learning to listen to your body is easier when you’re not doing it in isolation.

There’s a free, private community where you can explore this alongside others who are learning the same skill.

A supportive space to share reflections, gain perspective, and stay connected — without pressure or comparison.

And whether you prefer to work quietly on your own or alongside others, the first step is the same.

Your First Step: The Free Self-Care Start-Up Toolkit

The Free Start-Up Toolkit shows you exactly how to choose and complete your first self-care challenge — step by step, at your own pace.

A calm, clear way to begin your journey in a way your body can truly respond to.

Inside, you’ll quickly discover how to:

🌿 Find your personal starting point
so you begin in a way your body is genuinely ready for.

🌿 Choose the right first self-care challenge
matched to your energy, needs, and real-life situation.

🌿 Listen to your body from the very first step
so you can notice what’s helping (and what isn’t) without overwhelm.

🌿 Understand the simple MSS process
so you know how to begin in a way that actually leads to results.

🌿 Feel confident and prepared to start your first challenge
with a gentle rhythm you can follow over the weekend and begin on Monday with clarity and ease.

You can complete the Toolkit in a relaxed afternoon or over a calm weekend, with short step-by-step videos and simple printables to guide you.

There’s nothing to push through.
You simply begin.

👉 Get My Free Toolkit & Choose Your First Challenge

The content shared on Make Self Care Simple is for general information and personal growth only.
I’m no longer working as a practitioner, and the ideas shared here are not medical advice or a substitute for professional care.

Everything you read here is designed to help you explore gentle, everyday self-care practices that support your overall well-being — but please always consult your qualified health professional before making any major changes to your lifestyle, diet, or treatment.

Your body is unique, and only you (with the right support) can decide what feels right for you.

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Where To Start September 9, 2024

The Body Feedback Finder

By Jo

When results don’t make sense

Know what to do next when your results are unclear

When results are unclear, it’s easy to feel stuck –
unsure whether to keep going or try something else.

And that’s where most people stay for far too long.

Trying more things.
Second-guessing every decision.
Wondering if they’re doing something wrong

Why this keeps happening

Most health advice gives you more to try.
This is different.

It gives you a simpler way to decide what to do next –
based on what’s actually happening in your body.

So instead of guessing,
you have something real to work with.

This is where things start to make sense again.

You can try this for yourself in a couple of minutes –
simple, practical, and easy to apply

You’re not alone in this

If your results have felt unclear, slow, or confusing…
you’re not alone.

For years, I worked with women who were doing all the right things…
but not getting the results they expected.

Most assumed something wasn’t working –
or worse, that something was wrong with them.

Why this happens

Research shows that a significant number of people don’t respond to healthy changes in the expected way.

In other words, you can be doing the right things –
and still not see the results you were expecting.

There is nothing wrong with the advice.
And there is nothing wrong with you.

The Body Feedback Finder was designed for this moment –

when your results don’t make sense,
and you’re left wondering:

What do I do next?

The missing piece

Over time, I started to notice clear patterns.

Different women could follow the same advice –
but their bodies would respond in very different ways.

And once you can recognise those patterns,
it becomes much easier to know what to do next

How this helps you

That’s what the Body Feedback Finder is based on.

It helps you see which pattern your body follows –
so you can make sense of your results
and decide your next step with more confidence.

Most people fall into one of three feedback types.

As you go through,
it usually becomes clear which one fits you best.

There are no right or wrong answers –
just choose what feels most familiar.

You can try this for yourself in a couple of minutes –
using something you’ve already tried
so you can see how it works straight away.

Find your Feedback type below:

START HERE

Answer these four questions based on your usual experience.

There are no right or wrong answers –
just go with what feels most familiar.

As you go through,
it will usually become clear how your body tends to respond –
a simple way to start making sense of your results

Q1 — When you try a new healthy habit

(diet change, exercise routine, supplement)

A. It can take quite a while before I notice any clear change
B. My body usually reacts quite quickly
C. I usually notice gradual changes over time

Q2 — When something doesn’t suit your body

(food, product, medication)

A. It may take a while before I realise something isn’t right
B. My body lets me know fairly quickly
C. I usually notice within a reasonable amount of time

Q3 — How would you describe your body’s general response?

A. Changes tend to be subtle and slow to appear
B. My body tends to react strongly or quickly
C. My body responds steadily — not too fast or slow

Q4 — When a healthy change is helping

A. The improvements are small and gradual
B. The improvements are quite noticeable early on
C. The improvements appear gradually but clearly

Your Result

Mostly A → Subtle Responder

Mostly B → Sensitive Responder

Mostly C → Steady Responder

“You may sit between two styles — this is very common.”

🌸 Subtle Responder

Your body tends to show change gradually and quietly.

Which can sometimes make it feel like nothing is happening –
even when your body has already started to respond.

🌺 Sensitive Responder

Your body tends to respond quickly and strongly to change.

Which can make it hard to tell
whether something is helping… or making things worse.

🌹 Steady Responder

Your body usually responds at a fairly steady pace.

Which can make it confusing
when something works in one situation… but not in another.

🌿What this means

Your body is already responding to everything you try.

So when your results don’t make sense,
it’s not because nothing is happening
it’s because you haven’t been shown how to see it.

And that’s the moment most people get stuck.

They keep going with something that isn’t right for them…
or give up on something that might have worked with the right adjustment.

🌿What this gives you

Knowing your Feedback Type is just the starting point.

Because the real value is this:

It shows you what to do next.

Not in theory.
Not in general advice.
But based on what’s actually happening in your body.

This is where your results start to make sense.

And where you stop second-guessing every decision.

You don’t have to keep trying more things.
Or wondering if you’re doing it wrong.

You just need a way to see what’s already there.

This isn’t just about one situation.

It’s a simple skill you can use again and again –
with any healthy change you make.

So instead of starting from scratch each time,
you begin to understand what works for your body –
and what to do next.

You don’t need to take my word for it.

You can try this for yourself in a couple of minutes –
simple, practical, easy to apply, and completely free.

find your next step

Hosted on Skool — a simple, private space away from social media (quick sign-up required)

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MindCraft September 8, 2024

The Four Pathways to Simple Self-Care

By Jo

A simple map to understand your body’s needs — and support yourself in a way that fits you.

Self-care shouldn’t feel like another job.
It shouldn’t feel like guessing, forcing, or trying to follow routines that work for everyone else but leave you feeling worse — or simply unchanged.

Most women I meet aren’t lacking effort.
They’re carrying too much information, too much pressure, and too many “shoulds”.

This page introduces four pathways — not as a system to follow perfectly, but as a calm way to explore what supports your body and your real life. You don’t need to work on all four at once.
You simply begin where you are, try one small focus, and notice what helps

All of these pathways are grounded in a quieter, body-led approach to self-care — one that focuses on listening rather than pushing.
You can read more about that perspective here.

Practical Selfcare Challenges - MakeSelfcareSimple — Practical Self-Care Challenges

1. Practical Self-Care

The most underestimated kind of self-care

Practical self-care rarely looks impressive.
It looks simple. Repetitive. Almost boring.

Hydration.
Gentle movement when exercise feels like too much.
Daily rhythms.
Rest.
Small supportive habits repeated quietly.

At first, these practices can feel too subtle to matter — because there’s no instant feedback.
And yet, this is where the body often responds best.

Practical is about two things:

giving your body what it quietly needs to function more easily
learning which small actions are actually worth your energy over time

This pathway helps you shift from:
“These steps are too simple to matter…”
to
“This is the foundation my body has been asking for.”

👉 Explore Practical Self-Care

Nourish Recipe Challenge — Nourish Challenges

2. Nourish

One recipe, your way

Nourish isn’t about following a food plan.
It’s about exploring food with your body, not against it.

There is no single “right” way to eat — only what fits your body, your energy, your sensitivities, and your real life.

Each month, you’re invited to choose one new recipe each week, adapt it as needed, try it gently, and notice how you feel. You keep what works and let go of what doesn’t.

No rules.
No pressure.
No perfect plate.

Just small, thoughtful experiments that turn saved inspiration into lived nourishment.

This pathway helps you shift from:
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to eat…”
to
“I can explore and create food that works for my body.”

👉 Explore Nourish

Align & Uplift Challenge - MakeSelfcareSimple — Align & Uplift Challenges

3. Align & Uplift

Small shifts that change the tone of a day

Some days don’t fall apart — they just feel heavier than they should.
Not enough to stop life, but enough to make everything take more effort.

On days like that, you don’t need deep work or a new plan.
You need something that helps now.

Align & Uplift is a collection of short, gentle practices designed to shift how a moment feels in the body: a pause, a breath reset, a change in sensory input, a tiny ritual that helps your system soften.

They’re intentionally simple, because low-energy moments don’t need another task.

No preparation.
No fixing.
No pressure to feel better.

You try one. Notice what shifts. Return to what helps.

This pathway helps you shift from:
“I don’t have the energy for anything…”
to
“I can do one tiny thing — and feel a little less stuck.”

👉 Explore Align & Uplift

Pathway to understand yourself — Mindcraft Support

4. Mindcraft

Understanding yourself changes everything

Self-care isn’t just what you do.
It’s what happens inside you when you try.

The hesitation.
The doubt.
The urge to stop before you start.

Mindcraft helps you understand those moments — not as failure, but as patterns, protection, and information.

Instead of pushing harder, you learn to pause.
Instead of quitting, you get curious.
Instead of self-criticism, you respond with understanding.

Mindcraft supports consistency not through discipline, but through self-awareness — because when inner resistance softens, everything else has room to follow.

This pathway helps you shift from:
“Why do I always get in my own way?”
to
“This is a pattern — and I can move differently, with self-trust.”

👉 Explore Mindcraft

How the Four Pathways Work Together

The four pathways support different parts of you — body, mind, emotion, nourishment — and together they form a calm, complete approach to self-care.

You don’t have to start perfectly.
You don’t need to use all four at once.
You don’t need to know the whole plan.

You only need one gentle starting point — and the willingness to notice what helps.

Your Next Step — A Simple Guide to Begin

If you’d like help understanding where your body needs support right now, the Self-Care Start-Up Toolkit will walk you through a gentle, personal starting point.

Inside, you’ll discover:
• how to assess your current needs
• how the pathways work together
• how to begin simply and confidently
• tracking tools that help you notice what’s working
• the first steps in building your Menu of Self-Care

👉 Get Your Free Self-Care Start-Up Toolkit

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MindCraft September 7, 2024

Why Self-Care Challenges Work

By Jo

See why self-care challenges work and how gentle, focused practices help you listen to your body, build confidence, and create steady, meaningful change.

Let’s be honest…
On paper, self-care sounds ridiculously simple:

Just drink more water.
Eat more vegetables.
Move a little more.

On Day 1, it feels almost too easy.
You might even think: “Honestly, I could add more.”

By Day 3…
Life happens. You’re busy. You forget.

By Day 5…
Your energy dips, your motivation evaporates, and suddenly you’re saying:

“I’m not sure I can do this forever… is it even worth it?”

If you’ve lived anywhere inside that cycle — welcome, you’re not broken, you’re human.

And this is exactly why self-care challenges work so beautifully.

Not the hardcore, all-or-nothing challenges that demand perfection.

But the kind I teach here at Make Self-Care Simple:

Gentle, curiosity-based experiments

that help you discover what actually supports your body.

After 25 years as a natural health practitioner, I noticed something surprising:

Women who tried ONE small self-care practice consistently for a few weeks always saw better results
than those trying to overhaul their whole life in one go.

When I said to clients, “Try this one practice until your next appointment, just long enough to see if it works for you,”
— most of them finally made progress.

Here’s why.

1. They’re long enough for your body to show you what’s working

Most self-care advice promises quick results.
But real change needs time.

Your nervous system needs time.
Your digestion needs time.
Your hormones need time.
Your habits need time.

And above all, your body needs to feel safe before it can change anything.

Here’s the nuance:

In my experience, Practical and Nourish practices often show their true benefits over a few weeks… whereas Align & Uplift or Mindcraft shifts can often be felt much more quickly.

This makes every challenge the right size for the type of support your body needs.

2. They Turn Self-care into a Simple Experiment

Most women feel overwhelmed because they think they must:

choose the perfect routine
get it right immediately
stick to it flawlessly

But a self-care challenge reframes the entire process:

“Let’s just try this. Let’s see what happens.”

You’re not committing for life.
You’re just gathering feedback.

It removes pressure
and builds confidence.

3. They stop the spiral of overthinking

If you’re intuitive, thoughtful, or sensitive (many of my readers are), you might recognise this:

You want to feel better →
You research →
You get overwhelmed →
You freeze →
Nothing changes.

A challenge cuts through the noise:

Choose one thing
Try it long enough to learn something
Reassess at the end

Even on low-energy days, this is doable.

4. They help you build your personalised Menu of Self-Care

Every challenge teaches you something:

what your body loves
what helps a little
what makes the biggest difference
what does nothing
what’s worth keeping

Over time, these little experiments become:

your personal Menu of Self-Care A living list of practices that genuinely support your body —
with no guilt, guessing, or copying other people’s routines

Personalised Menu of Self-Care Practices — This is what I know works for my body

5. They create momentum — without overwhelm

They create momentum — without overwhelm
One of the biggest reasons women don’t see results?
Trying to change everything at once.

Self-care challenges keep things simple:

Challenges work best when they’re focused.
Usually, this means choosing just one supportive practice at a time and — only if you want to — pairing it with a simple mood- or mindset-shift.

This structure matters.

Your four pathways work together — but focusing on just one at a time helps you clearly see which practice is making the difference.

That’s what builds confidence.

And once a practice earns its place, you can gently layer in the next.

They Help you see Patterns in your Body

When you focus on just one practice, you can clearly see what difference it makes.

You might notice:

that recurring headache appears less often
your mood lifts in the afternoon
the after-dinner bloat you’d accepted as “normal” softens
your energy lasts a little longer

These tiny shifts are valuable clues.

And you can only spot them when you’re not juggling ten changes at once.

7. They work with your body — not against it

Women over 40 often tell me:

“My body just doesn’t respond like it used to.”

And that’s true —
because your body now needs a gentler, kinder, more consistent approach.

Self-care challenges honour that.

They give you space to:

rebuild trust
restore balance
reconnect with your natural rhythm

This isn’t self-improvement.
It’s self-connection.

🌿 Ready to try this for yourself?

You don’t need to figure everything out first.

The easiest way to understand this approach
is to experience it with something you’ve already tried.

Inside the community, you’ll find:

– a short Body Feedback Journal to help you make sense of your own experience
– a way to recognise how your body responds
– and a simple next step based on what you notice

👉 Explore the community

Prefer to take your time?

You can follow along with the monthly updates –
and see how this approach looks in real life.

👉 Read the latest updates

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The missing key to your results September 6, 2024

Find Your Relaxation Switch

By Jo

When you want your body to relax –
but it just won’t…

This is a simple place to start.

The Relaxation Switch helps you find what actually helps your body settle –
so you’re not guessing
or forcing something that doesn’t work.

The hidden reason your healthy efforts might not be working — even when you’re doing everything right

It felt like something must be missing.

I was doing the right things to support my health –
but not seeing the results I expected.

After a vague diagnosis of long covid – and being told it was “just age”,
I researched everything.

I had learned how to listen to my body.
Changed my diet.
Tried countless supplements.
Explored different remedies to see what helped.

And there were definite signs of improvement.

But…it was as if something was blocking my results.

It felt like I was riding the clutch –
both the accelerator and the brake on at the same time.

Maybe you can relate?

If you can, I want to share the hidden reason this was happening –
and the simple shift that helped.

The reason

I wouldn’t describe myself as anxious or a worrier.

In fact, I’ve always felt quite resilient – able to keep going with a cheerful smile, whatever life throws at me.

So when nervous system support and vagus nerve exercises started appearing everywhere, I didn’t immediately see myself in it.

But something made me take another look.

What I hadn’t realised

The nervous system and inflammation are closely linked.

When the body feels safe and relaxed, it can focus on repair – including calming inflammation.

But when the nervous system stays in alert mode, the body leans more towards protection.

And inflammation is part of that protective response.

Midlife changes aren’t caused by just one thing.

But research suggests that low-level inflammation is one of the key processes happening in the body at this stage of life.

And when I looked at my own symptoms, many of them could be described that way.

Why this can be easy to miss

The part that surprised me most was this.

I didn’t feel stressed.

Life had its demands, yes –
but there were also many good things happening.

Then I came across an idea that immediately resonated.

That the nervous system can act like a quiet guard on duty.

Listening.
Watching.
Ready to step in if needed.

Not overwhelmed.

Just… always on.

And for the first time, I could see it.

Maybe my body wasn’t fully switching off.

Maybe it was quietly waiting for “what next?” –
because it had learned to stay ready.

A quiet shift

I’ll be honest – that realisation changed how I saw things.

I began to feel a lot more empathy for my nervous system.

Not broken.
Not failing.

Just… working hard to protect me.

Why relaxation felt so difficult

Once this clicked, I set about supporting my nervous system.

I had a long list of exercises ready.

And…

I kept forgetting.
Didn’t have enough time.
And felt a quiet resistance when it was time to do them.

I kept trying – because I really did want to feel better.

And I knew relaxation was important.

But if I’m honest, I wasn’t sure if they were actually working.

The strangest part?

The exercises themselves were simple.

So why was it so difficult for my body to relax?

Still lotus flower resting on calm water, representing a gentle pause and nervous system rest

The moment everything changed

Then I remembered something.

For years, I had been able to meditate daily with no problem.

So what had made that feel easy?

There was one simple element that had always been part of my practice.

When I came back to that – on its own – everything changed.

It was like finding a switch.

Where before there had been resistance, now my body softened almost instantly.

For the first time in a long while, I could feel real relaxation again.

There was no second-guessing.

It felt familiar.
Natural.
Even enjoyable.

What I discovered

That experience made me curious.

Would the same thing work for everyone?

And the answer was… not exactly.

Because what I began to see was this:

There isn’t just one way the nervous system relaxes.
There are different pathways.

Different “switches”.

Over time, I could see six clear patterns in how people’s nervous systems responded to those pathways.

I call these nervous system signatures.

Each one reflects the kind of support your body responds to most easily –
the pathway that acts like a “switch” for your nervous system.

So it can move into rest… and allow repair to begin.

A simple way to find your relaxation switch

If any of this feels familiar,
you don’t need to figure it all out on your own.

This is where you can begin to understand
what helps your body relax more easily —
so the things you’re already doing
can start to work better for you.

You’ll begin to see:

• the type of support your body responds to most easily
• how to recognise when your body is starting to settle
• and how to work with your nervous system, rather than against it

Alongside this, you’ll find a gentle exercise called the Drop Test –
a simple way to notice which type of support your body responds to most easily,
without needing to try everything or second-guess yourself.

It’s not about getting it perfect.
Just finding a place to start.

👉 If you’d like to discover your relaxation switch and begin to understand what helps your body settle, you can explore this for yourself here.

Free to explore — inside a simple, private space (on Skool)

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Learn and grow together September 5, 2024

Community

By Jo

A private, supportive space to explore self-care alongside others — at your own pace.

If you’re here, something about this quieter, more personalised approach has probably resonated.

Many people find self-care difficult not because they lack information, but because their body doesn’t respond clearly — or responds in ways that are hard to interpret. When you’re learning to listen more closely, doing it alone can feel isolating. Doubt creeps in. You start to wonder if anything is actually helping.

This community exists to change that experience.

People join not because they want to share more — but because illness and uncertainty can quietly make life feel smaller and lonelier.

It’s a calm, private space — away from social media noise, pressure, and performance — where you can explore self-care alongside others who are also learning to listen to their bodies.

Why community helps

When your body doesn’t feel well, everyday life often shrinks.
You cancel plans. You stop doing things you enjoy. You spend more time alone — not by choice, but because your energy, symptoms, or uncertainty make it harder to engage.

Over time, that isolation can quietly turn into doubt.
You start to wonder whether you’re doing this wrong… or whether anything is really helping at all.

Learning to recognise feedback from your body is a skill most of us were never taught. Seeing how others notice patterns, respond to setbacks, or stay with small practices often brings clarity sooner — and helps soften the self-doubt that can arise when you’re figuring this out on your own.

This space is a room you can return to when uncertainty or everyday life gets in the way.
You don’t need to have the answers.
You don’t need to be doing it “right.”

You’re welcome exactly as you are.

What you’ll find inside

This free community offers a gentle place to:

follow along with the Self-Care Toolkit in your own time
share small reflections or questions, if and when it feels right
give and receive quiet encouragement
or simply read and stay connected

There’s no pressure to post, no expectation to keep up, and no “right” way to take part. Life is messy — this space is designed to fit around that.

A gentle invitation

If exploring self-care alongside others feels supportive right now, you’re very welcome to join the free community.

And if you’d prefer to continue quietly through the blog and newsletter, that’s absolutely fine too. Both paths are valid here.

Visit the free Self-Care Community

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Align & Uplift September 4, 2024

Align & Uplift: Emotional Self-Care

By Jo

Discover simple quick mood boosters and 5 minute self-care rituals to boost your mood, raise your vibration, and reset your energy anytime you need it.

Quick Mood Boosting Practices: The Align & Uplift Challenges

Life will always have its ups and downs. Some days your energy flows easily, and other days your mood dips and everything feels heavier.

I’ve learned that emotions and feelings are feedback from your body — gentle messengers, even when they’re difficult. They can reveal where your energy’s out of balance or where you most need care.

But sometimes, it’s not that deep. One random comment, an off-day, or just sheer exhaustion can throw everything off.

And the truth is, when you most need to lift your mood, your motivation and energy are usually at their lowest.

That’s why these challenges exist.
In those moments, you don’t need deep soul-searching or a new technique — you just need something ready and easy that actually helps.
That’s exactly what these challenges are designed to give you.

What Are Align & Uplift Challenges?

Think of them as a “pick & mix” menu of mini self-care rituals, short, simple, and powerful practices you can sprinkle throughout your day, week, or month.

Many of the challenges take just a few minutes and are designed to either boost your mood or raise your vibration when you need it most.

Some Align & Uplift challenges go deeper and may need a little preparation beforehand, perfect for the days when you have more energy or inspiration to put to good use.

You’ll find a mix of breath resets, quick visualizations, movement prompts, sound rituals, creativity sparks, and more. Most of these mood-boosting practices don’t require any special equipment, and you can do them right at home.

Why So Simple?

When you’re feeling low, time and energy are in short supply.

That’s why each challenge is short and easy, so you can actually do it, even on your hardest days.

The magic is in the micro-shifts. Small, consistent moments of alignment create powerful transformation over time.

Your Personal Mood Toolkit

Align & Uplift Challenges - makeselfcaresimple — Boost your mood and energy

Here’s where it gets personal: each practice will feel slightly different for each person.

Some will become your go-to quick mood boosters, while others may serve as deeper resets.

Two people can try the same challenge and walk away with different. but equally useful results. That’s part of the process.

That’s the point: to discover what truly lifts you..

If you want extra clarity, the Mood & Frequency Check-In Sheet inside the Self-Care Start-Up Toolkit can help you notice your own experiences as you try different practices.

You can download your free copy by signing up to my gift to help you get started: Selfcare Challenge Toolkit Here.

Over time, you’ll naturally discover which practices feel most supportive for you — the ones you return to when you need a quick lift or a gentle reset.

Ready to try your first Align & Uplift Challenge?

Start with any of the mini practices on this page — and let your journey begin.

Nourish Your Mind, Lift Your Energy, and Reconnect With Joy

Join the Make Self-Care Simple Newsletter and receive:

gentle self-care reminders that help you stay connected to what your body needs
small mindset shifts and reflections that make self-care feel easier and more natural
calm, practical insights to help you explore what supports your wellbeing
your FREE Self-Care Challenge Toolkit — everything you need to choose and complete your first gentle challenge

Take your next small, meaningful step toward simple, personalised self-care — at your own pace.

Join Now & Download Your Free Toolkit

The content shared on Make Self Care Simple is for general information and personal growth only.
I’m no longer working as a practitioner, and the ideas shared here are not medical advice or a substitute for professional care.

Everything you read here is designed to help you explore gentle, everyday self-care practices that support your overall well-being — but please always consult your qualified health professional before making any major changes to your lifestyle, diet, or treatment.

Your body is unique, and only you (with the right support) can decide what feels right for you.

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