My Story

So why am I so passionate about working with busy, time-poor, career-focussed or purpose-driven women, who are suffering from burnout?

Because, like everyone, I have a story – and this was mine.

Going back a few years, I was the girl that “got sh** done”.

I was “on the go” all the time, both mentally and physically – a behaviour fuelled by constant overwhelm and a feeling that I was not “doing” enough, that I was not working hard enough and that I somehow needed to be more and do “better”.

Working in pressure-intense, high-profile or performance-driven roles – my journey with burnout began. I was working super long hours at work (a lot of the time, unnecessarily) and whilst I gained a reputation for being some form of production superpower, I wasn’t getting promoted and I knew (deep down) that for me, professionally – this wasn’t it.

Meanwhile, underneath this productive veneer, I was a mess. I was energetically, emotionally and hormonally depleted, flat, exhausted and in a place of total disconnect from my body. I increasingly fell back on exercise as a natural pick-me-up and began to rely on running as part of my energy routine.

However, I was completely shut down about the additional pressure this endorphin-delivering tonic was placing on my already stressed system. Literally running my nutrient stores down, I desperately needed rest, but I was scared to slow down in case I lost momentum.

I was losing sleep, energy, vital nutrients, my voluminous shiny hair and my giggly, bubbly nature… my sparkle was gone. I ached and I was getting injured. [The only thing that picked me up was exercise. It was a vicious circle and I felt trapped.] It’s crazy, but I felt the way I was operating was normal, professional, healthy even.

When I finally came off the contraceptive pill after over 10 years, I was left with no period (functional hypothalamic amenorrhoea or HA), threatening my fertility, brain and long-term bone health. My body was in a constant state of fight or flight and my hypothalamus (a small region of the brain located near the pituitary gland) wasn’t receiving signals that it was “safe” to reproduce.

This was a wake-up call for me. I had lost a vital sign of my health and my identity.

Sadly (and in many ways, thankfully), other than go back on the pill there is no medical solution to HA other than address the route cause of the condition – in my case, chronic levels of stress coupled with a dislodged hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis,  overexertion, relative energy deficiency and nutrient depletion.

I knew that something was off-balance. I was missing out on something vital and I couldn’t find a way to break the chain to get my health back on track.

Having always been fascinated by the effects of nutrition on health (I recall fond memories of my late grandfather, a tree nurseryman, who ate two apples a day long into his 90s!), I sought help from a Nutritional Therapist, which reawakened a former passion for biochemistry and opened my mind to the powers of nutrition science.

I began to understand the role nutrients play, not only in the production of energy, but as vital information interconnecting every cell and every system in the body. Thankfully – with the right nutrients and a whole host of other tricks I dedicated time and a huge amount of research to understand – I was able to restore my adrenals, metabolism and menstrual cycle, switching my body back into safe mode, recovering a new level of energy and a deeper understanding of how I am meant to function.

I went on to train and qualify with a distinction in nutrition from the world-renowned College of Naturopathic Medicine. Through my experiences, mind and body work, working with clients, alongside thousands of hours of research, writing papers and training in nutrition, functional medicine, yoga and pranayama, I have made vital discoveries about the nature of both our innate infradian and circadian cycles, especially when it comes to energy, stress, sleep, the menstrual cycle and weight struggles.

Losing your energy and track of your periods can be emotionally draining and isolating, which is why I’m so passionate about supporting other women with their stress, hormone and performance struggles. I really know what it feels like to feel shattered, burnt out – as if you’ve lost your way. But I was not alone and nor are you.

I feel SO thankful for the whole journey and, having the chance to work with amazing and truly inspiring women, I see first-hand how diet and lifestyle changes can make such a huge impact.

Wherever you are on your journey, food doesn’t need to be an inconvenience or a source of anxiety. Food is not calories or simply a number. It is vital information. Knowing what nutrients and foods support your life and work demands, lifestyle, hormones and biological cycles can help you make informed and intuitive choices which your body will LOVE and respond to with more energy, mood-balancing, performance-enhancing and brain power than you thought possible.

Understanding when and how to eat is just as important. It will help to reassure your adrenals, metabolism and menstrual cycle, helping to switch your body back into a fat-burning but energy-conserving safe mode. I put these ingredients together with some essentially supporting tools and ground-breaking approaches to movement, rest and chronobiology – to reassure, nurture and restore your body systems and overcooked hormones back to brilliance giving you all the energy and vitality you need for life.

If you are a woman who strives to meet the physical and mental demands of your work, family, relationships and fitness – if you are emotionally, hormonally and energetically depleted – then I can help you.

I am so excited to share my knowledge and work with women everywhere, so that they can tap into their vibrant and creative powers, both personally as a woman and in business.