I have always been a keen health enthusiast – even as a kid I loved dance, sports and being outside (growing up in New Zealand definitely supported this love) and as a teenager I became very aware of the importance of physical health and aesthetics; possibly taking my passion a little far as a 14 year old when I began to boycott after school hang outs by refusing to go to Maccy D’s!
I graduated from High School at the age of 17 (I like to tell people this was due to my academic genius, but really I was just young for my year) with the original idea of going to University to study Physical Education and a Dance Major . When I soon realised that my chances of a career on the stage were slim, I wasn’t too devastated as fortunately for me I had already fallen head over heels in love with anatomy, physiology and biology in my first semester at Otago University and little did I know at the time, the Universe had big plans for me in health and fitness. It didn’t take long before I set my mind on helping people to become better versions of themselves and so I went on to finish my degree in Exercise Prescription (a fancy degree name for Personal Training) and Sports Nutrition.
Doing very little with my nutrition training immediately after graduating, I was very focused on exercise and rehabilitation. When I returned to Wellington (my home town) after Uni I was very fortunate to be selected to work at a prestigious private hospital’s Back and Rehabilitation Clinic and built my personal training experience along side the rehab work. It was at this time it really hit me how much of a vital role nutrition plays in every single physical goal people have from injury recovery all the way through to getting a 6-pack.
My love affair with nutrition began to deepen and by the time I arrived in the UK 18 months post grad (2005) I had already begun my studies in Functional (holistic) Nutrition, which at the time was more relevant to my own life and that of my client’s, so I left the sports nutrition alone for a while.
When I began my ‘Functional Medicine for Personal Trainers’ Internship with an experienced practitioner in London in 2008 I was awakened to some (what I like to call) unarguable ‘truths’ relating to health and weight loss in the 21st century and that attaining results is no longer just about ‘eating less’ and ‘exercising more’, but more importantly hormonal balance, quality and type of food, stress management, sleep, detoxification and digestion.
So in 2009 when I co-opened a private Health Studio in Liverpool city centre, I launched Optimal Nutrition Clinic which soon became a thriving functional nutrition consultancy business. I had clients form all walks of life – many of which were really troubled with digestive issues, fatigue and exhaustion, diabetes and heart disease and through the implementation of detoxification, optimal nutrition, lifestyle changes and natural supplements we found the best natural solutions for them.
By 2011, despite my ‘healthy lifestyle’ I, like SO MANY professionals in health and fitness, faced extreme burnout. A very scary and for the ‘fit and healthy’ incredibly alien thing to experience. My physical and mental health hit the wall and for a number of months I was out of action. I had to build up my strength to be able to see clients again, which took some time, so (as I was not as good at rest and relaxation back then as I am now) I used the time I had to create a programme that simplified and condensed the nutrition work I had been doing with my private client base and created a programme based simply on my ‘Three Truths of Health & Weight Loss’:
1. Don’t Diet…Detoxify
2. Count Nutrients not Calories
3. Balance Hormones.
To this day these three truths underpin every programme I create and they have never let me down!
As a consequence of how consistently successful my ‘truths’ philosophy became, over the past 4 years I have licensed my programmes, recipes and methods to other personal trainers, the national gym chain Lifestyle Fitness and online health and fitness companies such as Lucy Mecklenburgh’s ‘Results with Lucy’, ‘Results Retreats’ and ‘Results with Bump’ (anti natal fitness & nutrition) and in January 2015 I had the privilege of co-authoring an Amazon best seller with Lucy – ‘Be Body Beautiful’.
I am also incredibly grateful for opportunities I have to travel the globe helping other personal trainers to develop their own successful nutrition businesses that sit alongside their fitness work. It’s crazy to think how one moment of ‘burnout’ can change your life – some would say ‘it’s funny how things work out’ but I say it was meant to be!
My current schedule only allows for a few hours of private work each week but I still LOVE helping those I can. My coaching is specifically focused on health and weight loss through personalised genetic diet and fitness profiling and other laboratory tests where needed to investigate common health and weight loss ‘road blocks’ that people may be experiencing.
Many of the people who have great success on my programmes had tried so many conventional diets and exercise regimes yet failed to see the results they desired. When I moved them away from the old school approach of ‘Energy In Vs Energy Out’ and onto my ‘Three Truths of Health and Weight Loss’ magical things started to happen.
I understand completely how daunting, scary and downright frustrating it is when you feel you’ve lost control of your health and body! If you are struggling and ready for a change, we can start with a free call back – jump over to CONTACT ME today and let’s sit down, have a nice comfy cuppa and a chat.
healthy sexy happy life 