MEET

DR RON EHRLICH

Health Coach, Executive Coach,   Speaker, Author, Podcaster





Dr. Ron Ehrlich, or ‘Dr. Ron’ as he is affectionately known, is one of Australia’s leading holistic health advocates, educators, a podcaster and an author, with over 40 years of clinical experience.



Dr Ron has been in clinical practice for over 40 years focused on holistic healthcare in general and holistic dentistry in particular. 

Some 20 years ago he was introduced to holistic land management and the world of regenerative agriculture. The similarities between holistic management and holistic healthcare were obvious and consequently both are issues he is passionate about and believes are relevant to us all.

As a consequence, Dr Ron cofounded a not-for-profit organisation called Nourishing Australia, in 2007,  dedicated to educating and inspiring the public as the importance healthy soil, plants, animals, foods, people, and the planet….they are all connected

In 1998 he gained a Fellowship in Nutritional & Environmental Medicine (FACNEM) and has served on the Board of the Australasian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine (ACNEM) and is the Immediate Past President of that College.

In 2018 he released a book in Australia, the USA and the UK  called A Life Less Stressed: the 5 pillars of health and wellness  (Scribe Publications). He was awarded a Fellowship in Lifestyle Medicine (FASLM) as a result of the book.

The book explores his professional interests over the 40 years in 3 broad themes:

  • the politics of health care and the influence of the chemical, food and pharmaceutical industry in all levels of healthcare;
  • redefining stress as a combination of emotional, environmental, nutritional, postural, and dental/oral health stress;
  • building resilience by focusing on the 5 pillars of health (sleep, breath, nourish move and think).

Dr Ron’s weekly podcast Unstress Health with Dr Ron Ehrlich explores all of those themes and more.

In 2011 he founded a company called The Holistic Health Institute (HHI) which is focused on all of the above. In 2012/13 HHI received an Australian Government Research and Development Grant to develop a ‘health assessment tool’ based on the 5 pillars of health. 

Unstress Health's vision is to 'transform global health' by focusing on workplace wellness, built on clinical experience backed by science.

Dr Ron’s passion is to empower individuals to fulfil their potential, take control of their health, build resilience and be the best you can be.


Dr Ron's Health Philosophy

I want to empower you to take control of your health, build resilience and be the best you can be. 


Take control and build resilience

There has never been a more important time for us to build physical, mental and emotional resilience.

 If we only get once chance at life, then surely fulfilling our potential should be set as our highest goal.

Therefore, I would argue that good health should be our number one priority.

Take control of your health and be the best you can be. Be well.


A holistic view is not an 'alternative' view of health, this is just simply how the body and our world work.

Almost everyone agrees that they are affected by ‘stress’, but in our modern world what do we mean by stress ? How do those stresses affect our health? We have an epidemic of preventable chronic degenerative diseases, so that would seem like questions worth answering if we are serious about health..

In order to solve a problem, we need to understand what that problem is. And stress is clearly a problem.

For most of my professional life, I have defined ‘stress’ as a combination of emotional, environmental, nutritional, postural and dental stress. I’ve included dental stress may surprise people but there is a hidden epidemic going on right underneath people’s noses and most people are totally unaware. “Dental stress will be of interest to anyone with a mouth, who is interested in their health but have never fully connected the two”. There are many surprising connections, that include digestion, breathing, sleeping, posture, chronic tension headaches and neck aches, chronic inflammation, tooth decay, and toxicity. The common denominator in all chronic diseases is chronic inflammation and the mouth is the most common site in the body.

The five stresses in our modern world all have the potential to compromise our health.



Cherish and nurture relationships. Practice gratitude. Thoughts are powerful things, so have them working for you, not against you

The Harvard Study of Adult Devlopment has tracked individuals over eight decaes. It suggests that relationships are the best predictor of longevity, health and wellness. Whether it is a life partner, family, friend, community or or work, cherish and nurture relationships. They are important to your health.

And while you are at it, practice gratitude. It’s a powerful tool that doesn’t cost a cent and is great for the giver and the receiver, a win-win if ever there was one.

Thoughts are things and those “things” are proteins called neurotransmitters. Those neurotransmitters circulate through the body, attach to cell membranes and cause genes to express themselves.That thought and therefore that gene expression can either be good for our health or bad. Make it work for you, its your most powerful tool.It’s called ‘epigentics’, Nutirents and toxins also influence how your genes express themselves.


Our health system is life-saving when faced with a crisis, but sadly has become a chronic disease management system. A great economic model, just not a very good health model.

Our current health care system is excellent for crisis care but is predominantly built on a sickness model, which means that it is more a chronic disease management system rather than a true healthcare system. We are constantly reminded that our current “health system” is unsustainable financially and that the human cost is also enormous. While a chronic disease management system is an excellent economic model generating billions of dollars it is clearly not a good health model. The chemical and food industry feeds it, and then the pharmaceutical and medical industry manages it.

I believe we need to individually and collectively, take control of our own health and wellbeing. If we are waiting for the change to come from governments, regulatory bodies or professional organisations we will be disappointed because they are slow to adopt new information and often lack common sense and humanity. Reputation and ego often stand in the way of change. I believe that the change has to come from the ground up and I want to empower you to take control of your own health, build physical, mental and emotional resilience and be the best you can be.


A holistic view of our health and our world is worth exploring

The Western approach to medicine is very linear and reductionist in it’s thinking. For example, present with a symptom and the western medical model will try to find a pharmaceutical to manage the symptom ie. depression = anti-depressant; chronic inflammation = anti-inflammatory; reflux and heartburn = antacid or proton put inhibitor.

The reductionist model also compartmentalizes the human body into specialties. Each specialty is dealing with its own individual part and often ignoring the whole.

There are common themes which run through all diseases; chronic inflammation, high insulin levels, leaky gut. How this is expressed depends on your genetic predisposition. Taking a ‘holistic’ approach involves looking to identify and minimize the stresses in our modern world that have the potential to compromise and challenge our immune system, our gut health, and our mental health. The focusing on the 5 pillars of health; sleep, breathe, nourish, movement and thought, in order to build physical, mental and emotional resilience.

Our bodies and our planet are intimately connected. The two are inseparable. What’s good for one is invariably good for the other, and future generations.


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