These days I’m a nutritional therapist and podcast host, but I’d say that what I mainly tend to practice is lifestyle medicine. I might help a patient through a gut health battle or a hormonal imbalance, but at the same time ask them to go outdoors more to regulate their circadian rhythm, or give them breathwork exercises to do daily.
In my own life, lifestyle medicine has played a huge part in the good health that I now, finally, maintain, and it comes down to one thing in particular: nature. Over the last five years I’ve gone from bacterial overgrowth and terrible gut health to chronic eczema and allergies, to a face so swollen that I permanently looked like a cyclops for almost a year (my left eye kept swelling shut), and fatigue and low mood that impacted every corner of my life. It’s safe to say that my health to date has been one hell of a journey but one thing has been constant: the curative and healing effect of being outdoors.
I am so passionate about our planet because of what it has given me, and I’m particularly fond of cold water swimming, preferably in the ocean, but normally in the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond on Hampstead Health. When you plunge yourself into sub 10 degree water you feel instantly alive and awake, which for someone that’s spent most of their life feeling tired and sluggish, is immensely addictive. I also find there is no better way to connect with nature than to literally get in it! Our bodies are approximately 70% water - it’s no wonder we have such an affinity for it as humans.
I started immersing myself in nature as much as I could, spending every spare second I had outdoors or in the water and bit by bit, my mental health that was so badly affected from years of being unwell pieced itself back together. We all have so much to be grateful to Mother Nature for, and this is where my journey with sustainability started.