A clear journey to clear skin

Before your initial 90-minute consultation, you’ll be asked to complete a Client Questionnaire and a 3-Day Food Diary, so that I get a good idea of how you live and how nutritional recommendations can be incorporated into your lifestyle with minimal disruption.

After your initial consultation, you’ll be sent your personalised acne plan within 3 days. It’ll cover everything we spoke about during our consultation along with dietary changes, lifestyle advice and any supplement recommendations. If there are any areas that need further exploration, I’ll recommend functional tests, such as hormone testing or food intolerance testing, so that we can really get to the core of the problem.

Follow-up sessions last 45-minutes and are our chance to check in on your progress, tackle any ongoing concerns, and make any adjustments to your plan if necessary to tackle ongoing imbalances.

These sessions are here for you to be honest about your progress, how you’re feeling, and how you’re adjusting to the changes you’re making. After each follow-up session, you’ll be sent an updated plan that may have dietary, lifestyle or supplement dosage changes, depending on your progress.

Because I don’t believe in being strict and regimented with eating, I don’t give you a set meal plan to follow. After all, you’re never going to being able to stick to a strict meal plan for the rest of your life, and we’re looking for sustainable results!

Instead, I’ll give you recommendations of specific foods to introduce or remove from your diet. I don’t create my own recipes which is why I won’t create a full meal plan for you, but I am (obviously) quite a foody – so if you need recipe inspiration or cookbook recommendations, I always have plenty to share!

Absolutely. Nothing I do is based on any kind of template or copy-and-paste approach, because, as humans, we’re all unique. Even when I see two clients with the same health conditions and the same goals, my recommendations will be completely different for each client – not because their conditions are different, but because their bodies are different.

Every single one of us has a unique health timeline, including medications we’ve taken, illnesses we’ve experienced, infections we’ve had, as well as genetics, life experiences, personal choices and beliefs. All of these things work together to create a wholly unique being – which means that applying a template or cookie cutter approach to helping you reach your goals just won’t work.

Getting to know you during our initial consultation is a vital step on our journey together, so that I can recommend foods, supplements and lifestyle changes that actually work for you.

Diet recommendations for your goals are always tailored to you. If you have a food intolerance or are particularly sensitive to some foods, it’s likely that you’ll be advised to remove them from your diet.

But I’m a big believer in creating nutritional recommendations that are achievable and sustainable, so I’ll never recommend incredibly restrictive diets. It’s important that you feel like the changes you make during our time together are things you can stick with for the long-term, so it might be that I recommend removing a certain food temporarily before gradually reintroducing it into your diet – but my ultimate goal is to help you find foods that you enjoy and that help your skin and your body feel healthier!

In normal circumstances, eating a healthy diet is the foundational factor for healthy skin and a healthy body. But in reality, many of us lead lives that are stressful, full-on and tend to deplete our bodies of particular nutrients.

I often recommend introducing supplements into your diet to tackle any imbalances or deficiencies or support other health issues that aren’t directly related to your skin. Supplements are a useful addition to your diet, but aren’t necessary for everyone – which is why working with a holistic nutritionist in a 1:1 capacity can be so effective!

Everything I do is tailored to your body and your lifestyle, so any other health conditions you experience, including IBS, will always be taken into account. During our initial consultation, we’ll discuss the goals you want to achieve while working together – and if one of those is to better manage your IBS symptoms, that’s exactly what we’ll do.

Nutrition doesn’t just deal with one condition at a time, so every recommendation I make takes into consideration everything your body is dealing with. If you know that a particular food causes IBS flare ups, it’ll never feature in your nutrition recommendations – because, no matter how ‘good’ it might be for your acne, it’s not good for your IBS. My goal is to improve every health challenge you’re facing, not just one in isolation, so we’ll work together to find a nutrition plan that helps your acne and your IBS at the same time.

I’ve struggled with IBS and acne myself, so I know how hesitant you might be about changing your diet at the risk of causing a flare up. If you are concerned about any recommendations I make during our time together, please tell me and we’ll find an alternative that works for your body.

As part of our initial consultation, we’ll discuss the possibility of food intolerances and I may recommend gut function testing to give us more insight into why your body reacts in particular ways to particular foods.

Identifying food intolerances can be incredibly insightful and gives us a foundation to build on through nutritional and lifestyle changes, but testing isn’t necessary in all cases so we will discuss the specifics of your needs and goals at the start of your journey. While I sometimes recommend food intolerance testing in particular cases, I usually recommend a gut function test, which not only tells us how your body reacts to certain foods but also why.

The cost of gut function testing or food intolerance testing is not included in programme fees, but are usually in the range of £150-£335.

I’ll forgive you for thinking that ‘holistic’ means everything organic and wholesome and, quite frankly, expensive. That’s not what holistic means in holistic nutritional therapy.

What it really means is that I take a holistic  approach to your body – I take into account your diet (the ‘nutritional’ part of ‘holistic nutritional therapy’) but I also take into account your lifestyle, your habits, your routines, your skincare regime, your stress levels, your gut function, your sleep patterns, your entire life.

Taking such a wide approach means that we can tackle not only the issue you’re struggling with, but also make overall improvements to your life – so you can live a happier, healthier, acne-free life for years to come.

That’s exactly what a holistic nutritional therapist can help you with! As a nutritionist, my specialist focus is foods – but as a holistic  nutritional therapist, I take into account everything from hormone imbalances to stress management to how much sleep you get at night.

Our bodies are incredibly complex things, so for us to achieve long-lasting clear skin without restrictive diets or dependence on medications, we need to dig deep into every interaction your body has with your diet, your lifestyle and your health.

On my acne journey, I discovered my acne was primarily caused by PCOS resulting in hormone imbalances that caused regular breakouts. And by making changes to my diet and lifestyle, I was able to rebalance my hormones and, as a result, see huge improvements to my skin.

So whatever is causing your acne, nutrition can  help.

Unfortunately not. Nutrition is powerful, but it can’t completely heal acne scarring. Eating a balanced and nutritious diet will help to minimise scarring to a certain extent, but it isn’t a miracle worker.

Once your acne is under control, you may want to seek advice from a cosmetic specialist who can support with scar removal.

Yes, I can! While acne is my specialism, I often work with clients who are experiencing other skin conditions, including psoriasis, eczema and rosacea. I also work with clients whose primary concern is a health condition, such as IBS, IBD, PCOS, endometriosis and autoimmune diseases.

Many skin conditions and health conditions are interconnected, so while acne is my focus for many clients, I also use holistic nutritional therapy to treat a range of other conditions too.

Unfortunately, there are some conditions that nutritional therapy can’t help with, including cancer, diabetes, eating disorders, chronic kidney disease, and mental health conditions. If you aren’t sure if your condition can be improved through nutritional therapy, please get in touch for a chat.

Yes, definitely! During our initial consultation we’ll discuss all medications you’re currently on so that we can avoid anything that might interact or interfere with your medication.

Nutrition can often help to alleviate the negative side effects of medications too, so nutrition and medication work alongside one another to make big improvements to your skin and your health.

Nutritional therapy is a lifestyle change, not a quick fix. Making long-term positive changes to your life does require an investment of time, effort and money on your part – but the pay off is always worth it. Investing money and time into your health now will not only help you to achieve the clear skin you’ve been craving, but it will also reduce the likelihood of disease and other health conditions later in life.

Nutritional therapy with me costs between £395 (the Bare Basics programme, including a 90-minute consultation, personalised nutrition plan and 45-minute improvement session) and £645 (the Glow-Getter programme, including a 90-minute consultation, personalised nutrition plan, and 3 45-minute improvement sessions). Any additional testing (including functional testing and food intolerance testing) costs extra, but generally ranges from £150 to £335.