Hi, my name is Talida. I’m a new mum living in beautiful Newcastle Australia.  I worked as a dental hygienist for the past 7 years and before that I did some studies in biomedical science.

I started my blog in 2016 after I had turned to diet to help me recover from a very severe hormone imbalance. I was so surprised at the power of food in my healing journey that I became incredibly passionate about wholesome plant based food and started a blog to help inspire others to eat their way to health. I also used it as a way to experiment, be creative and keep myself accountable for what I ate.

In 2018 I finally gained closure over my health experience and now, fully recovered, (after 7 long years) I’m using this platform to share my experience and as much information as I can on all things “hormone health.” My aim is to provide lots of  information and  inspiration to help women gain feeedom from suffering just as I did.  I’m very passionate about ongoing scientific research into women’s hormone health including the link between hormones and mental health. I try to provide as much quality evidence based information as I can in my articles as well as lots of recipe inspiration for hormone balancing food and healthy desserts.

The inspiration for the name of my blog comes from my most favourite food combination; chocolate and hazelnuts and a code name for Nutella. Like many other women I used to be able to eat an entire jar of Nutella at “that time of the month” before I changed my eating habits. Once I discovered the power of plant based eating I also discovered that chocolate and desserts could be used as a powerful tool to balance hormones. For that reason I think  Hazel & Cacao is a good representation of what my blog stands for: whole foods plant based eating for hormone health (with lots of chocolate and healthy desserts)

I really hope you enjoy visiting my blog and I hope that in a small way my blog can help inspire you to try the delicious plant based lifestyle and shed some light on important health topics that are so important for female hormone health