Mosman nutritionist of A Healthy View lives the Balmoral dream
NUTRITIONIST Michele Chevalley Hedge shows people how to take control of their health through food in her new book, The Australian Healthy Hormone Diet.
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BALMORAL’S Michele Chevalley Hedge is living the dream — while helping others to achieve their dreams too. The Mosmanite of 27 years — her New York accent is not exactly a giveaway — is a nutritionist, health writer and presenter.
Hedge, 52, and husband Steven own and live in the Balmoral Boatshed. The couple run the Boatshed (their “fourth child”) which offers mooring, hire boat and paddle craft rental. The Boathouse Group runs the popular cafe.
The family bought the property, a rarity on the shores of Balmoral, about six years ago: the realisation of a dream. “We lived around the corner from here and, like anybody from Mosman, we would come down here and walk The Esplanade,” Hedge said.
“This is where our children grew up, in the water, walking the dog ... we are a big yachting family and we love the water.
“And as soon as we purchased it, we knew what we were going to turn it into: we have had this entire picture, exactly what is here, in our mind’s eye, for 18 years.”
But, the building is hardly Balmoral’s answer to Upstairs, Downstairs: there is a fantastic harmony between the businesses.
“So, we went to Pip and Andrew Goldsmith who run The Boathouse Group. They had been running the Palm Beach Boathouse and so, the cafe there looked and felt like everything that we wanted this to be,” she said.
“When we asked if they would come and chat with us, there was such synergy, such good energy.”
A ceremony with the Goldsmiths celebrated the start of the Boatshed’s new life. “We came down here one night with their family — this will make me cry — and we had the blessing here of this building,” Hedge said.
“I had these, kind of, happy tears and my kids said, ‘Mum, why are you crying?’ And I said, ‘It is amazing to Dad and I that you could have something in your vision, for 18 years, and then it happens’.
“It’s extraordinary to me and it’s still extraordinary now when I talk about it.”
Hedge said the Boatshed’s casual vibe complimented its Balmoral neighbours: “We are constantly working in synergy with the Public Dining Room and Bathers and I love the fact that there’s such good synergy in this community down here.”
Hedge said it was an “absolute joy” living at Balmoral. The couple moved into the Boatshed because they expect to become empty-nesters: their children — Gabi, Jake and Holly — are all in university.
People often ask her if it’s noisy living on the beach. “There’s noise but it’s happy noise: you hear people laughing, you hear people kicking balls — it’s so joyous and so wonderful — I keep having to pinch, pinch, pinch myself, ‘Michele, do you really live here?’” Hedge said as she pinched her arm.
“I just feel absolute gratitude for every single second that I’m up here. It’s starting to feel like home, but it does feel like you’re on holiday.”
The vista from the balcony is indeed one more associated with a holiday: the baths, boats, beautiful waters to the Heads and families on the beach.
And it’s the perfect backdrop for her business, A Healthy View, where she helps clients achieve healthier lives through eating — minus fads and fasting — and finding joy in clean, real, wholefood.
Hedge has worked in the wellness industry for 15 years and previously worked in marketing for Microsoft for about 10 years, although an earlier career brought her to Australia.
“I was a schoolteacher who had been asked by IBM to represent them on integrating computers into the classroom which, in 1990, was such a novel approach,” she said.
“So, I came here in 1990 to be a guest speaker at the World Conference on Computers in Education, but within the first 48 hours I fell in love with a man and a country!”
But Hedge found her calling in a different world. “While I was at Microsoft, I started studying nutritional medicine — because I thought, maybe at some point I would become a GP,” she said.
“And I went, this is exactly where I am meant to be: I have a deep love of food, I love food and I want to bring back the love of food.
“And when we can underpin health — mental, physical and emotional health — with food, this is exactly what I love to do.”
Hedge might study for a doctor of nutritional medicine in future, but today she is happy to help people realise that taking control of their health is an attainable dream, one more-ish meal at a time.
“Being able to deliver my message to help people is just so incredibly rewarding, because there are so many diseases that have so many factors,” she said.
“Depression, it’s multi-factorial; cancer, it’s multi-factorial, and many of those things — by that I mean stress, I mean genetics, I mean different things that have happened — we can’t always control ... but, we can control what we eat.
“We’ve got food and food is the one thing that we can control when we look at causative factors.
“So, if even we make one per cent of a change with depression, anxiety and mood disorders ... or with someone who is suffering immensely from digestive issues, we’re winning with our fork — how good is that?”
Hedge has collected her 15 years of experience into a new book, The Australian Healthy Hormone Diet, with Jennifer Fleming.
Described as, “A four-week reset to help reduce weight, increase energy and improve mood,” Hedge said the recipes are accessible, achievable and delicious — concepts usually foreign to healthy eating.
“It’s all about taste and ease, because if things are tasty and easy, they are then repeatable,” she said.
“I would never ask anyone I know to eat a piece of broiled chicken and steamed broccoli! It’s got to have the yum factor.
“If you can afford organic, that’s a bonus, however, myself and most of my patients can’t eat all organic.
“So, we pick and choose where we can. It’s more important to be eating clean, real food, than to always buy organic — small steps into the world of wellness.”
Hedge will host a book talk in Mosman Library on February 21. Visit ahealthyview.com for details about her healthy eating advice.