Rosemary Ferguson - Style DNA - Season 12

Amanda Wakeley: Style DNA

In this episode of Style DNA, Amanda Wakeley interviews Rosemary Ferguson, a former 90s supermodel turned functional medicine practitioner.

Key takeaways

• Rosemary Ferguson's book, 'The Reset', proposes a four-week accessible plan to improve metabolic health without extreme restriction.
• Ferguson identifies Gen X as a high-risk generation for health issues due to ultra-processed foods and sedentary lifestyles.

Main topics

• Functional Medicine
• 90s Supermodel Era

Notable quotes

Restriction never works. No, never, ever.

Conclusion

A thoughtful exploration of how authenticity in both health and fashio

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:02) Today I'm going on a style journey with the functional medicine practitioner, naturopath and the nutritionist, one of the defining faces of the 90s modelling scene, could say supermodel, and now the queen of the reset and founder of Our Health Club, the fabulous Rose Ferguson, MSc Advanced Nutrition. Speaker 2 (0:22) Yes. Hello, welcome Rose. Speaker 1 (0:24) Hi. So lovely to see you again. So nice to be here. God, the last time we saw each other, you were... A Wakely Woman styled by Cathy Kastring. Speaker 2 (0:35) Photographed Speaker 1 (0:35) by Laura. Speaker 2 (0:36) Laura Bailey, yeah. Speaker 1 (0:37) And those pictures are great. I still use them actually sometimes. Do you know what? I saw that the other day. I thought, yes, I love that one of you in the cream cashmere roll neck. It's just gorgeous. Yummy. Yeah, yummy. I mean, you are a busy bee. Your Instagram is just brilliant, giving us amazing nutritional tips, inspiring recipes that are super simple. So super simple that even I love to use them. And you're sharing a fountain of wellness knowledge. And you're doing it in your beautifully warm and pragmatic way. I never feel like I'm being preached to, which I love. I feel this is part of your kind and inclusive club. And now you've got a book. I do. What was the driving factor behind this? So this is the reset, the four-week plan to feel better than ever. Speaker 2 (1:31) That's it. Yeah. Thank you for your kind words. The book came about because, well, it was a few years ago when I was looking at metabolic health in my age group, our age group, midlife. Oh, that's very generous. Gen X. Speaker 2 (1:49) Well, I was looking at Gen X, who are the unhealthiest generation of all time, it turns out. Speaker 1 (1:53) Oh, why? And soon Speaker 2 (1:55) to be followed by millennials. Well, people, I mean, I love it because everyone's like, why? Because we were raving. I'm like, for some of us, maybe, possibly. But actually, no, it's got nothing to do with that. That was a very small proportion of Gen X. It's to do with a sort of a mixture of a huge antibiotic increase. Speaker 2 (2:14) ultra-processed foods, increased massive and sedentary lifestyle. If you look at those sort of three things alone, then that has led to really high, you know, increase in obesity, increase in type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular is still the biggest killer that we have, heart disease. And sort of thinking and seeing in my clinic, people come in and just that are my age, our age, older people, you know, some people who are in their midlife. Middle youth. Middle youth, exactly. Speaker 1 (2:45) And they would just tell me about Speaker 2 (2:47) things that they were accepting, like aching joints, fatigue, gaining weight, feeling just a bit shit, not feeling like themselves anymore. That's that outside. Obviously, there are things like perimenopause and menopause or andropause. but just sort of an accepting that things, life wasn't as good as it was. And I don't agree with that. I really don't agree with that. And I know that that's not, that's Speaker 1 (3:11) a Speaker 2 (3:11) sign of a body that's saying, Speaker 1 (3:13) help me. Speaker 2 (3:15) And I say, yeah, so this book was a response to that, but it was also a response to a world that I work in, which is the wellness world, which I think is ridiculously elite. It feels unattainable to most. I got into this. over 15 years ago to help people with simple sort of tools that are accessible to everybody food lifestyle And so this book is very, for somebody who is into, you know, I don't know, whatever the latest craze is, whether that's, I don't know, you know, hope or chambers or peptides, whatever it is, this book is really basic in a way, but also challenging to do. It's so funny. People who have done it are like, wow, it reads easy. And it is easy because it's meant to be an easy entry point into feeling better, but it's very, very effective because you're just working with what you have. There's nothing. like you can't afford. There's nothing that is unattainable for someone. So I hope that people find it. I hope that it's a revolution to people that have given up. So this is Speaker 1 (4:17) four weeks that you Speaker 2 (4:19) dedicate Speaker 1 (4:20) yourself to Rosemary. Yes, exactly. I just need four weeks of your time. Right. Four weeks. But you can obviously go to work and do everything you need to do while doing this. Speaker 2 (4:32) Yes, 100%. So one thing that I've also learned, because I think I had a journalist say to me once, you're going to keep banging this drum. And I said, yes. And that drum that I bang is it's about balance. It's about consistency. And while I'm a big fan, I love going to do a hardcore fast or something like that. What actually works in life is something that you can learn from. and do while you're getting on with your life. So I think what happens for people when they think of the word reset, they go and reset, then they come back, normal life kicks in and they just go back to what, it's a bit of a binge purge cycle really. Which is pointless. Pointless. And if you're going to, yeah, it's absolutely pointless. Also, it gives you sort of negative feedback because you sort of, when you're away, you're like, I feel great, I'm going to carry this on when I get home. And then on the plane you go, oh yeah, I will have that glass of wine and I'll have, you know. Speaker 1 (5:25) And so then you feel it's like, oh, well, I failed. I've screwed up already. So I might as well just not, Speaker 2 (5:31) you know. Speaker 1 (5:31) And then next Mayo Clinic visit, I'll sort it all out again. And you get this sort of roller coaster, don't you? Yeah. Speaker 2 (5:37) But it is Speaker 1 (5:38) a bit of a binge purge. And people do Speaker 2 (5:40) this binge purge mentality is really detrimental to relationships with food. And yes, there is the extreme, you know, where it is a very disordered way of eating. But if you, I would love to. know what the listeners think because most people do it without even thinking about it you know they're really really really good all day long and then at night they go fuck it and they have a tub of ice cream or they are really really good Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday then Friday August shit Saturday terrible Sunday they start again you know there is this sort of cycle which as you get older as well it's quite stressful for the body you don't bounce back quite as fast as you did yep And so the book is all about it. There are a few, you know, the weeks progress. But by the end of it, it should all be back in. You should be all together. I am very committed to eating, you know, three meals a day. Which I Speaker 1 (6:34) love. I love your approach to nourishing yourself rather than depriving yourself. Speaker 2 (6:41) Restriction never works. No, never, ever. You can sustain it for three days, one week, two months. It doesn't last. And then inevitably the response to restriction is rebound. Speaker 1 (6:53) Yeah. Speaker 2 (6:53) That's Speaker 1 (6:54) a Speaker 2 (6:54) lot of hours for someone with a wet heart to say. Okay. So that's an autumn project for me. Yes, it is. Well, it's coming out. So it comes out now because it is a really good time to do stuff like this, I think, because you've still got bouncing. Lots of people have still got spring in their Speaker 1 (7:12) step from the Speaker 2 (7:13) summer. Speaker 1 (7:14) It doesn't feel quite as brutal as January, which is when... January is too brutal to do anything. I'm sorry. I know. It's like you should just hibernate. Yes. And Speaker 2 (7:23) just... Survive. Yes, just get through it. So, yeah, that's why we went with the September release because it's a really good time to do it. It's nice to get... It's a nice break before that sort of autumn, winter, Christmassy time. If Speaker 1 (7:37) you've followed me for a while, you'll know I'm a huge believer in LED therapy. and I've used it consistently for years. But the things I'm becoming more conscious of now are maintaining firmness through my cheeks and lower face, keeping my skin looking bright and even, and looking after those finer lines that naturally become more noticeable over time. That's why I've started using the new Silken LED Tri-Lift, which is now exclusively available at John Lewis. What interested me is that it combines the LED technology I already love with EMS, which works with the facial muscles to support firmer, more defined looking contours, and electroporation, which helps the included serum absorb more effectively. I'm going to incorporate it into my routine consistently over the next few weeks and see how my skin responds. Can Speaker 2 (8:33) you tell me about the R or your R Health Club though too? So R Health Club was again, it's a platform, it's resource-based. So there are lots of things like recipes, there's lots of information. So, you know, there are videos about things like senescent cells or methylation, things that people find confusing but here bandied around. And then we do quite a lot of plans on there together. It was my way. I wanted it to be a community and I wanted, again, for it to be accessible. I wanted it to just be somewhere we could all talk and there could be access to me without having to book a clinic appointment, which I know is, you know, that's private practice. It's not cheap. And I just wanted it to be another resource for people where people could find out. the truth about things or ask questions. So we've got a nice community chat on there. Speaker 1 (9:25) And I mean, you come from a long line of healthy people. Your grandmother, wasn't it, that set up the first... health food shop was it one of the first health food shops Speaker 2 (9:35) in the Speaker 1 (9:35) country yeah and i used to i mean Speaker 2 (9:37) talking about age it's hilarious i used to do i used to weigh out the turmeric on scales with and i think i think unless i'm making this up in my head we used to have weights yes Speaker 1 (9:46) and then and then i used to pour the turmeric into brown paper bags or whatever the spices were do you think that was what trigger first triggered your love of of nurturing yourself I Speaker 2 (9:59) think I grew up, the culture in my house was very much take care of your body and it'll take care of you. Speaker 1 (10:04) And your wellness expertise has led you to be a global wellness expert for Dior Beauty. Speaker 2 (10:14) Yeah. What Speaker 1 (10:15) exactly does that mean? I mean, it sounds amazing. Speaker 2 (10:18) It is amazing. I love it. Jake, my husband, calls it my Dior bubble because the team is so fantastic. And I think people are a bit like, why have they got an expert in functional medicine? But what is genius about them, considering this site, you know, there's just such a huge company, is that they really want to understand what the, how the inside works on the outside. You know, they really want to know and want to learn how they can improve their wellness spas and their retreats. and then the outcome of people's treatments with what they are doing to the inside so it's been really nice working with a company like that because they really genuinely want to know they are really interested and and it just keeps growing so i think we're in our third year of contract now so how gorgeous and do Speaker 1 (11:14) you get dressed head to toe and deal as a result i do I do when I'm working with them and then they kick me back out Speaker 2 (11:20) into my Levi's and Speaker 1 (11:21) my Speaker 2 (11:22) white t-shirt. But they are, no, they're a dream to work with. And I think people are always, like I said, a bit surprised. They're like, well, I don't get it. But it's because they want to understand. They want to understand the mechanisms that go on inside that help you Speaker 1 (11:37) feel and look better outside. And they're sharing that with their... retreat guests yeah Speaker 2 (11:44) so we've done some protocols for some experiences um at some of the spas so that if you know things like meditation quite a lot related at the moment around stress management um and then yeah and then we advise on drinks and things like that so yeah any Speaker 1 (12:01) other projects that you're super excited about at the moment Speaker 2 (12:04) i've got i'm working with some really nice um brands so i work with your And that's been ongoing for years. And then Ancient and Brave, I am working with them quite closely at the moment. And I have, it's such a dream partnership. And actually Kate Price, the prince who is the founder. Who I met recently. She's great. She's great. Yeah. But years ago, she said I was one of the very first people to champion them years ago. And it's sort of, I've always, I've always never wavered, never strayed from my path. Ancient and Brave is one of my go-to always brands. And then they wanted to work more closely. So that's been really nice. So we've been doing stuff with them. Also, it's nice to get the back end of a company like that and see how, because they have, you know, they have the lovely Dr. Jenna who does all the development of the products and stuff. So quite nice talking nerd stuff with her. Speaker 1 (12:59) But would you ever be tempted to do your own line of products? Do you know what? It's so funny. I've always said. Speaker 2 (13:06) It's never, no, it's not that I've always said it. I've never felt ready because there's so many brilliant labs out there making brilliant products. I was like, I don't feel like they need, I don't know how to do it because I don't just want to stick my name on a bottle and go and make it pretty. Speaker 1 (13:21) I Speaker 2 (13:21) need to, you know, so, but it's on my mind at the moment actually because a few people have been, I've had a few Speaker 1 (13:27) meetings about it, but I, it's not, I'm not ready yet. But I always think of you as a nutritionist that first and foremost says, It's about good food and nourishing rather than supplementing. Yeah. Speaker 2 (13:41) Well, it is. And that's the drum that I'm going to keep on beating. Intermittent Speaker 1 (13:47) fasting for women. Yeah. I'm a big fan, but I'd love your take on it. I Speaker 2 (13:53) did my master's on intermittent fasting. That was my research project. I said that... I have an issue around all this chat around hermetic stress in women. So hermetic stress is fasting, cold water therapy. There are so many good things about it. It's Speaker 1 (14:10) just that Speaker 2 (14:10) it doesn't have to be that extreme. Speaker 1 (14:12) And Speaker 2 (14:12) if you are