Carlton Wellness Centre

Sarina is an experienced practitioner and is passionate about promoting health and wellness by supporting her patients to improve their overall health using acupuncture, Chinese herbs, supplements, dietary and lifestyle suggestions.

She enjoys working with individuals and couples to achieve their health goals and tailors her treatments according to her patient’s needs.

Sarina loves working with and has a special interest in:
🍍Fertility, IVF support
🫐Preconception care
🤱Pregnancy, labour preparation and postnatal care
🩸Menstrual issues

Sarina is registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and is a member of the Australian Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Association (AACMA). Sarina studied at RMIT University in Melbourne and was awarded the double degree in Applied Science; Chinese Medicine and Human Biology in 2006 and completed an internship at the Jiangsu Hospital in Nanjing, China.

On her days off, Sarina can either be found in the garden or cooking, studying, riding, jogging or spending time with her family and friends.

Sarina is available in our Carlton clinic on Wednesday mornings.

Happy World Earth Day 2025!

Here are some ways we can take care of the Earth and our bodies:
🥑Eat organic when possible, even if it’s only for 1-2 types of veggies or fruits.
🥩Choose pasture-raised meat, if you eat meat.
🥛Store food and drinks in glass or metal containers and avoid plastic containers.
🌿Grow your own plants - get your hands dirty and reconnect with the earth while improving air quality. Don’t have a garden or a balcony? Get a little pot plant instead.
💻Turn off all screens an hour before bed, improving sleep and reducing electricity usage.

Dr Virginia Scarff is an established and experienced Chinese medicine practitioner with a special interest in fertility, women’s health and oncology support. With a warm and compassionate approach, Virginia aims for the highest level of care and believes in the importance of educating her patients so they can understand and engage better with their health care.

Initially training as a medical laboratory scientist in diagnostic pathology she worked in hospitals, forensics and eventually landed in diagnostic gynaecological cytology. Virginia combines her western scientific and medical knowledge with her Chinese medical training to provide comprehensive and integrative care for her patients.

Virginia understands that there are differences and complexities with each individual and she strives to ensure that each patient’s needs are met and treated with respect and dignity.

Alongside her clinical practice, Virginia works as a clinician and lecturer at RMIT University in the Chinese Medicine Bachelor and Masters programs where she is involved in the training of undergraduate and postgraduate students as they develop into future Chinese Medicine practitioners and acupuncturists.

When Virginia is not in clinic or teaching she enjoys cooking, being creative and spending time with her three rapidly growing children and her friends.

Virginia is available on Tuesdays.

Here are our 5 top tips for staying hydrated this summer:

🍋Add a squeeze of lemon, a couple mint or rosemary leaves, or even sliced cucumber to your water to make it even more appealing to drink.

💦Invest in a SodaStream or similar - adding carbonated water to the mix can help you drink more water in summer. Just make sure you also drink normal filtered water as well, not only carbonated water.

🫶“Double your Sips” - each time you drink water from your water bottle or glass, instead of just taking one sip then putting it down, double your sips - have two sips. You can double your water intake without having to remember to drink any more frequently!

🌿Try herbal teas - these count as water! Play around with some until you find one you like. If you drink multiple coffees or caffeinated teas per day, swap one for a herbal tea. If you like the bitterness of coffee, try dandelion root or chicory tea with your milk of choice.

💙Keep your water bottle in front of you on your desk so you can see it and it’s in easy reach. Don’t have a water bottle? Get one that is made of metal or glass.

Are you optimally hydrated? While the amount of water to achieve this does vary from person to person, drinking 2 - 3 liters of water per day seems to be generally accepted as a baseline.

Factors affecting hydration include temperature, age, weight, exercise levels, pollution, health conditions, and more.

We know that proper hydration supports with:
💦Healthy blood pressure
💦Weight loss
💦Urinary tract infections
💦Digestive function and the microbiome
💦Muscle strength
💦Brain health and ability to focus
💦Healthy follicular fluid
💦and more

Stay hydrated this summer (and beyond)!

With some big holiday meals coming up, here are some tips to help you manage the season a little healthier.
💦Drink a glass of water between alcoholic drinks. Aim for 2 litres of water per day.
🍋Choose soda water with lemon instead of an alcoholic drink.
🥗Fill your plate with salad first and eat that. Then grab a big portion of protein and a vegetable dish. After you’ve filled up on salad, veggies, and protein, feel free to enjoy the carb foods.
- At this point in the meal, they are going to impact your blood sugar less than if you eat them first, and you are less likely to eat as much of them.
💊Supplement with a multivitamin each day with breakfast or lunch.
🫣Take a couple of moments to be on your own and check in with yourself during the day - this could be as simple as a check in when you go to the bathroom, standing outside to get some fresh air, or taking a few breaths in another room.

We are open (reduced hours) at the Carlton Wellness Centre over the holidays!

If you're wanting a bit of extra health support over the next few weeks, we're here to help.

Call us on 03 9348 2867 to find a time.

On top of these hours for acupuncture, the excellent myotherapist, Hayley Corkery, is available on Monday, Dec 23 and Monday, Dec 30.

p.s. we've seen that acupuncture can help with the effects of hangovers 😆

Happy holidays! ✨

There are different ways to increase iron levels:

🥩Diet
💊Supplements
👨‍⚕️Infusions and injections

Iron is found in red meat, chicken, turkey, fish, seafood, eggs, dark green leafy vegetables (kale, spinach, beetroot greens, chard, silverbeet, etc.), beetroot, chia seeds, apricots, some beans and legumes, tofu, quinoa, nuts and seeds.
🥦🥚🍗🍖🥗🍱

However, if you are deficient in iron, we’ve seen it is extremely hard to increase levels to optimal from diet alone.

Usually, our practitioners recommend a mixture of diet and supplementation. We recommend practitioner brands that are easy on the digestive system and are well-utilized in the body. It can take 3-12 months for levels or iron to improve significantly.

If you are extremely deficient in iron, your doctor may recommend an iron infusion or injection. If you choose this route, speak to your practitioner because there are nutritional supplements you can take to support your body and liver to process the large influx of iron that is delivered with this method.

Reminder about our first post on iron - there are health factors that can make the process of absorbing iron slower.

‼️And a couple important notes of caution: unless you are deficient in iron, you should not supplement in iron. Too high levels of iron can be toxic and cause cellular damage. If you are supplementing, you should work with your GP or practitioner to regularly check your iron levels through blood tests.

When looking at your blood tests, those assigned female at birth want to be aiming for 40-70 ng/mL of ferritin (the iron stores in the blood). The other iron markers tell part of the story as well, but for simplicity, this is what you want to be aiming for.

In studies, ferritin levels under 30 ng/mL have been linked with unexplained infertility and miscarriage.

Especially for those wishing to conceive, it’s important to be on the higher end of this spectrum as during pregnancy iron levels drop dramatically and it can be almost impossible to keep them in the ideal range. The good news is that post birth is a great time to bring iron stores up again.

We’ll share next time our recommendations for supplementation of iron if you are low.





Some references:
https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2023.1173100
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2020.08.1410
https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/deac107.393

Iron deficiency is one of the most common nutritional deficiencies in women and we see this in our acupuncture and naturopathy clinic as well. It can take many months for iron stores to increase with supplementation.

Iron is crucial for energy, immunity, reproductive health, brain function, and much more.

Some of the factors that can lead to low iron and a difficulty to increase iron stores are:
🩸heavy periods
💩digestive issues (which impact absorption)
🥩not eating meat
💊some medications, e.g., antacids

We recommend iron supplements that are easily absorbed and utilized and which have cofactors to support this and to reduce digestive upset.

If you have low iron, or a history of low iron, speak with your practitioner during your next appointment.