“One of the biggest reasons I went to uni was because I watched a lot of family go through heart disease, dementia and Alzheimer’s. All of those things as a teenager really frightened me, because I understood at a pretty young age how genetics work. I knew that, if I had to watch my grandparents go through that, then I’d have to watch my parents and then my brother and then myself. It was always in the back of my mind that eating healthy, exercising and sleep were important. “Now I am loving biomed. My electives are all foodbased, so I am doing nutritional biochemistry. I realised that I could be potentially capable of doing a PhD in nutrigenomics, so the effect that our food and body has on the expression of genes. Doing nutrigenomics would be a lot of research, but that’s what every PhD is. “I guess for me, I would probably focus on brain health and what sort of things an average person would do if they had the gene for Alzheimer’s and wanted to prevent the expression of that gene. It’s usually sleeping between a certain number of hours and eating a certain array of vegetables. “Every decision you make, even the first thing you do in the morning, changes your genetic expression. I know it sounds hectic when you hear it, but then you realise that you can actually make a positive impact on your genes with just the little choices.” Listening to Shay talk about nutrition and people’s wellbeing with a spark in her eyes is enough to see that she has found one of her true callings. With all of her passion and knowledge, it was only natural for us to ask what on earth she fuels her body with to stay so fit. What could possibly be the key ingredient in the life of someone so active and intelligent in the area of nutrition? At first, Shay just said one thing – quinoa oats. “That’s it! No but for real I would say my diet is 95% plant-based foods with a bit of fish and oysters. I have lots of quinoa, grains, seeds, nuts and like a ridiculous number of veggies. I sort of steer away from the word vegan because it comes with extra connotations. I’m not afraid to eat anything if someone offers me a bit, but I won’t order or buy it. “My body feels so much more efficient now in my thirties then it did in my twenties. I think it’s because I was just eating whatever I wanted and was quite uneducated in terms of refined sugar and saturated fat. “I am actually writing an eBook at the moment on refined sugar, and how we are all so addicted without even knowing it. What it does to our moods has such a ripple-on effect to your microbiome and your long-term health and genes. I get super into this stuff. “Some people say that if they knew all of this information about nutrition it would be causing them more stress about every eating decision, but I don’t feel that way because I’ve chosen a life where I know I can have a treat after 16 days of lentils, so I feel even better eating it.” It was during her time studying, surfing, working and living a busy life in the Sunshine Coast when she got the call to spend almost 50 days in the Australian outback on the ninth season of Australian Survivor – as if her life wasn’t vibrant enough already. Shay said her journey with the show actually began about six years ago, when she auditioned previously and got through to the final round. “They gave me a call and said I’d made it in, but I was actually in Ecuador running one of my retreats. I obviously couldn’t do it, and at the time I was distraught because the timing just wasn’t right. “Then, years later I get an email from the producers of Survivor saying they hadn’t found the right dynamic yet for the 2022 season and they wanted me to audition just a month before the game started. Because it was Blood Vs. Water, I called my family to find someone to go with and I ended up choosing my partner at the time, Ben. “We zoom called the producers together and it was just an organic conversation. They were amazed at the difference between us, Ben is a huge human, like 6’5, and I’m like 5’3. The next day they said we were on the show, so we needed to sort our lives out quickly and do all of these tests – fitness, health, psyche and just every test imaginable. They took so much blood – I had like no blood. “Originally, we weren’t prepared at all. We had never watched an episode of Survivor. We at least tried to watch a whole season beforehand, but Ben kind of wanted to enter it as is. The funniest and most ironic thing was that we had this little argument one day because I was trying to make a fire in the back yard to practice for the fire challenge in the show, and he was getting frustrated with me and thought I was taking it way too seriously. Little did we know he ends up in a fire challenge and he left the game because of it.” From impressive shelter building to dodgy challenges to the length of time it takes to cook rice and beans, Shay’s personal experiences on Survivor are fascinating. Hearing her stories made it abundantly clear how strong, resourceful and genuine she had to be to make it to the end of the game as a runnerup – especially with how strangely cut-throat the season was. Shay said while it was an overall incredible experience, the biggest negative during the game was the bullying. “I’m not really afraid to say it anymore because I used to think I should be more positive about it. But in all honesty, it was a lot. There was a really rare dynamic in the game, and so many people from so many different seasons have told me it wasn’t normal. If you weren’t in a clique you were just an outcast, and it was actually worse than what I experienced in school.
Shay has a down-to-earth approach to life and everything in it, so naturally we had to ask her where she draws her courage from. Shay said she doesn’t think she felt truly confident until she was in her mid-twenties, when she learnt to embrace the wild and lovable sides of herself. 59 / #55 / <strong>SB</strong>
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