I am so lucky to do a job which I not only love but have a passion for.
I often get asked what a nutritional therapist does and who I see in clinic?
First of all the British Association for Nutrition Therapist (BANT) describe Nutritional Therapy as the application of nutrition science in the promotion of health, peak performance and individual care. Using a range of tools such as a consultation interview to include numerous questions on the person, diagnostics testing and also visual tools to assess and identify potential nutritional imbalances and understand how these may contribute to an individual’s symptoms and health concerns. This approach allows them to work with individuals to address nutritional balance and help support the body towards maintaining health. Nutritional Therapy is relevant for individuals with chronic conditions, as well as those looking for support to enhance their health and well-being – I call this a health MOT.
I consider each individual to be unique and recommend personalised nutrition and lifestyle programmes rather than a ‘one size fits all’ approach. I never recommend nutritional therapy as a replacement for medical advice and always refer any client with ‘red flag’ signs or symptoms to their medical professional. I work alongside and will communicate with other healthcare professionals involved in the client’s care to explain any nutritional therapy programme that has been provided.
I often see a client and may feel that a multi-disciplinary approach to full health is needed. For instance a person who has migraines may also benefit from osteopathy or a client who has issues with conception may also benefit from acupuncture or learning relaxation techniques such as yoga.
Every case is different and my aim is to support the client to ‘good health’. Many times I hear that the internet is so confusing and contradictory. I say ‘the way I see it is I read all the books and articles and sift out the relevant information that the person needs and summarise it all’ I never believe in telling someone what to do my ethos is to provide the science and information so they learn to know how to heal themselves (with a little help from me).
So just a few areas I have been involved in over the years:
• Clinic – Skin Health; Parkinson’s; Gut Health; Chronic Fatigue; Fibromyalgia; ME;MS; Fertility; High Blood Pressure; Cholesterol; Weight Loss; Pain Management; ALS; Depression; Insomnia; Stress Management; Migraine; PCOS; Fibroids; Menopause
• Working with schools on health eating programmes
• Writing educational information for lecturers in sport and fitness nutrition
• Research for food companies
• Research for Supplement Companies
• Developing and writing recipes
• Running Workshops on various subjects i.e. Skin Health
• I wrote a book ‘Eat Beautiful’ with a couple of colleagues
• Just about to finish my Masters
• The list goes on
Thank you for reading.
