As we approach the start of a new year, many people may well be considering reaching out for support when it comes to making some long term, sustainable changes to their health. It takes so much courage to both acknowledge and accept that you would like support from a practitioner, and the initial reaching out can often be the hardest part of the process. I am aware of how difficult it is to then find the right person and so I wanted to share a little more about how I work to support my incredible clients in building healthy relationships with food.

I am a registered Nutritional Therapist and Health Coach and I help people break free from the cycles of dieting, emotional eating and binge eating through bespoke nutrition, coaching and lifestyle programmes. I am currently running a fully online clinic, working with my clients over Zoom.

Contrary to what many people believe about nutritionists, I don’t believe in restrictive diets and I don’t believe in putting my clients on specific meal plans.

Following certain diets, having beliefs around what you feel you ‘should’ and ‘shouldn’t’ eat, and comparing yourself to what others are eating, means the focus moves away from what your own body is telling you. By neglecting the body’s unique needs, we disrupt our instinctive hunger and satiety signals, which can leave us feeling frustrated, depleted of energy and unable to differentiate between physical and emotional hunger.

If you want to build a healthy relationship with food, in my experience, this approach isn’t helpful. What happens if you don’t feel like eating what is written down for you that day? What if you feel more or less hungry that what the meal plan says? What if you end up eating out with friends? Without trust and belief in your body and ability to make your own choices, situations such as these could result in further stress, anxiety, frustration, overwhelm and confusion. In my opinion, telling clients what to do, what to eat and when, doesn’t allow them to develop their ability to make decisions or build trust in their bodies, something which can suffer as a result of restrictive dieting.

Instead of meal plans, I LOVE discussing meal and snack recommendations as well as creating recipes that align with my client’s likes, dislikes and preferences. We work towards becoming in tune with personal hunger and satiety signals whilst also thinking about physical and emotional hunger. Teaching clients how to plan for their week, or weeks, ahead through the invaluable skill of meal prepping and planning, and understanding what my client needs to consistently make choices that feel good to them are just some of the areas I love to address when working together.

Learning to trust your body and getting to know what works for you, something that is unique for all of us, provides flexibility and confidence in all situations. Enabling clients to feel in control around food and their nutrition and lifestyle decision making skills, rather than feel controlled by food can be so powerful in helping them achieve and more importantly maintain their health goals.

Everyone is unique and so are our preferences, likes, dislikes and biological make up. There is no one right way to eat and certainly no one size fits all approach to making sustainable changes to one’s health.

My overall approach is therefore very personalised, and I prefer working with my clients over a period of at least 3 months. Making sustainable change takes time, commitment and consistency. Our weekly and fortnightly sessions provide the time and space to take a deep dive into your current health, your relationship with, and beliefs around food, your eating and lifestyle habits, as well as any health concerns you might have whilst gradually introducing nutrition and lifestyle interventions to get you to where you want to be. My role is to support, guide, occasionally challenge and provide you with the knowledge and skills to feel confident in making your own nutrition and lifestyle choices to achieve your health goals and build a healthy and happy relationship with food.

As the proverb says:

“If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.”

Putting clients back in the driver’s seat and teaching them the skills they need to support themselves moving forwards is a much more valuable investment of their time. Although it can initially feel scary to have this much autonomy over these decisions, this approach provides so much empowerment, freedom and confidence in the long run.

Only you will know when you’ve found the right person to help guide you, but here are 3 things to think about to help you on your way:

Do they specialise in the area you need support with?
Do they have the proper qualifications? (It terrifies me how many unqualified people there are dishing out nutritional advice that can often cause more harm than good. A rant for another day…)
Can you book a discovery call to get to know them and their approach to see whether you’d be a good fit before you start?

If you would like to have a conversation about working together, you can book a free discovery call by clicking the button below.

BOOK YOUR COMPLIMENTARY DISCOVERY CALL HERE