MY COMMITMENT TO YOU
I am your personal health detective, your private health coach, and your patient teacher. I am committed to digging deeply into what is causing the issues that have been taking over your body and mind and preventing you from living life to the full.
I help you to understand the reasons behind your symptoms, and support you with practical tips, recipes and supplements to bring you back to a place of balance, using food and lifestyle changes as your medicine.
You are unique, and my gifts to you will never be off-the-peg protocols, but will always be tailored to your individual health picture and history… and that’s where the magic of reclaiming your health and vitality begins!
Let’s dive in together and start you on your personal journey to wellness. Book a free exploratory call today using the form at the bottom of this page.
What is Nutritional Therapy?
FOOD IS ENERGY, but some foods can actually leave us feeling drained and depleted, and even sick. That’s because…
FOOD IS INFORMATION, programming our cells for vitality and longevity or for disease and ageing. I work from the basis that chronic disease and decrepitude are not an inevitable part of ageing. I am passionate about nutrition and believe that we have evolved as human beings alongside and because of the food we eat, and our cells are designed to recognise and exploit the nutrients we eat. Unfortunately, the ways in which our diets have changed in the last few decades have thrown our cellular pathways into disarray and confusion, resulting in imbalances and disease. I work with my clients to bring their body back into balance and nourish them in ways that not only provide energy, but also every aspect of health.
FOOD IS MEDICINE, providing your cells with the vitamins, minerals, co-factors and phytochemicals (specialised protective chemicals found in plants) that we need to power the 30 quadrillion reactions that keep us functioning every single second. To a Nutritional Therapist, “food” not only means the protein, carbohydrates and fats that we eat in the form of meat and plant foods, but also includes nutrients in concentrated form in supplements to bring our intake up to the optimum levels that our paleolithic ancestors would have obtained from food alone. These concentrated extracts (vitamins, minerals, and herbal products) can also be used therapeutically in addition to a healthy diet to address imbalances, depletions and sub-optimal functioning, or to trigger natural, healthful physiological processes.
The Institute for Functional Medicine defines functional medicine as “a systems biology–based approach that focuses on identifying and addressing the root cause of disease. Each symptom or differential diagnosis may be one of many contributing to an individual’s illness.
“As the graphic illustrates, a diagnosis can be the result of more than one cause. For example, depression can be caused by many different factors, including inflammation. Likewise, a cause such as inflammation may lead to a number of different diagnoses, including depression. The precise manifestation of each cause depends on the individual’s genes, environment, and lifestyle, and only treatments that address the right cause will have lasting benefit beyond symptom suppression.” IFM
One-to-one consultations
Through one-to-one consultations, I work with you from a functional medicine perspective (see box above) to reclaim your vitality and optimise your health, identifying links between your symptoms and your history, diet, lifestyle and genetics. Functional lab tests may assist in this process. With many clients, I like to do genetic testing to really see what areas may need higher (or lower) levels of certain nutrients and foods. Together, we tailor a supported food, supplementation and lifestyle plan to your unique requirements.
As a new client, you will complete a comprehensive questionnaire about your health goals, current health status, symptoms, medications past and present, dietary habits and preferences, lifestyle, family health history and your own pre-conception and birth circumstances. From this information, I build a timeline to help us to identify where your symptoms might have originated. This provides an insight into the nutritional strategies we can work with to enable you to reclaim your health and vitality, whatever your chronological age.
All of the systems in our bodies are intertwined and influence each other. For example, thyroid function can affect digestion; gut health impacts on brain function and mood, etc. In order to identify the most effective place to focus our attention, I may recommend certain tests, such as a full thyroid panel, liver enzymes, blood glucose and insulin levels, hair mineral analysis, hormone testing, stool analysis etc. The cost of these varies from test to test, and is charged in addition to the nutritional therapy fee. Where possible, I will pass on any discounted rates to you as my client.
For most people, nutritional therapy is a journey, and it is not simply a case of prescribing a few nutritional supplements to treat a collection of symptoms. You will most likely need to stage the changes you make as your body adjusts to its new cellular environment and way of functioning. For this reason, a minimum of two sessions are advised, and generally three (or more if desired), so that I can support you in making your changes and follow up with adjusted recommendations.
We have come to expect immediate results in our modern culture of instant gratification. However, chronic conditions or nutrient depletions can take years, or even decades, to develop, and it sometimes takes time to bring things back into balance. Nevertheless, some changes can be seen very quickly, and our aim will generally be to focus on the “easy wins” wherever possible, as a first step in your health journey.
I offer a free, no-obligation Zoom call for us to discuss your needs and health goals and consider the way forward. This will also help me to advise on whether one, two or three consultations would be best for you initially, and for you to decide whether you’d like to work with me.
Click here to see my various packages and fees.
If you have a question about nutritional therapy, or would like to book a free half-hour no-obligation pre-consultation chat, please fill out the form below.