My passion for food first began in the kitchen as a child watching my mother prepare traditional South Asian dishes for me and my five siblings. From then on, I\u2019ve always regarded home-cooking as a way to bring families and communities together over food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Growing up in a big family, scrapes, bruises and the odd few tears were a daily occurrence\u2015as to be expected! I only began to show a real interest in the medicinal side of food after realising my mother\u2019s food cupboard also doubled up as her medicine cabinet. From healing oils such as almond oil, which was massaged into our scalps to condition the hair and relieve head and neck tension, to medicinal spices such as Carom seeds, which were chewed to alleviate upset stomachs, and herbal teas made by simmering fennel seeds to add to my baby brother\u2019s bottle to soothe his colic, my mother was always on hand to quickly whip up a concoction for a whole host of ailments. She drew her knowledge from ancestral healing foods and therapeutic techniques derived from Ayurvedic healthcare and Unani medicine\u2015both traditional healing systems originating from India and Pakistan . I grew up always reaching for a natural remedy before a conventional medicine, and this later fuelled my desire to pursue a career in nutrition and holistic health services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Nutrition is not just a science but an art form.<\/em>“<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
My journey initially began as a way to improve my own\nhealth. Having struggled with PCOS and weight gain for years, my goal was\nsimply to achieve a sense of wellness, after realising conventional health\nadvice wasn\u2019t working for me. I soon started seeing my kitchen in a whole new\nlight, frantically rooting through cupboards ignited with this newfound hunger\nfor food ingredients that could be used medicinally in the same way my mother\nused them. As I experimented, the real reason why these traditional healing\nfoods and recipes had been used for so long instantly became clear. It was because\nthey worked! I learnt more about my body this way than I ever did in high\nschool biology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“One diet simply cannot and will not suit all people.<\/em>“<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Today, it seems dieting has become this craze, something driven by trends and celebrities, with one diet going \u201cout\u201d as another diet quickly becomes the new \u201cin,\u201d but what my years as a nutritionist have taught me is that one diet simply cannot fit all. Seeing the rise in serious health conditions, food intolerances and sensitivities, especially amongst young people, shows that a new approach to nutrition and wellness needs to consider tailoring diets to individuals, rather than individuals to diets. This is the fundamental approach I take with my clients. I first consider the individual\u2019s health as a whole, right from birth to present day, looking at both diet and lifestyle choices and the health of biological relatives, to really paint a picture of that person\u2019s health. From this, a tailor-made diet and lifestyle plan can be developed with the individual\u2019s personal health and wellness goals at the very heart of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A turning point for me was the passing of my father and\nmother-in-law, due to a heart attack and cancer respectively. Watching a loved one\u2019s\nhealth deteriorate really reinforced the idea to me that wellness is not just\nphysical, but includes mental and emotional health as well. It further ignited\nmy desire to use food to heal and alleviate symptoms in a way that conventional\nmedicine cannot. My daughter\u2019s struggle with anorexia and mental health really\nopened my eyes to the idea that food and diet has an emotional attachment for\nmany people, evident in my own weight loss journey. Understanding this is key\nto helping others achieve wellness through nutrition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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