working with me
how i support my clients, find the latest research & my thoughts on wearable health tech
Hello people! As an ongoing series I’m going to start a weekly blog where I pick a few questions I get asked a lot and answer them on my blog!
This can be anything from my favourite yoga pose, to how I work with clients, to what keeps me from burn out when I’m busy. If you’ve got anything you want to know drop me a question in the comments and I’ll add them to the list!
Q: How do you assess clients' nutritional needs and develop personalised treatment plans?
By the time I write a clients nutritional plan we will have spent over 90 minutes together. We will have discussed their medical history, their family health history, their health goals, a comprehensive assessment of each system of their body to understand in depth what is going on with their hormones, liver or gut health for example. Before our session together they will send me a 3 day food diary and - without judgement - I will look into the nutritional needs of the client. I will have received their bloods or other test results if relevant and recent. Finally, during the session I am doing some intuitive assessment of how they hold themselves, their values, the beliefs they have, the mindset work they may need to do and if they have the energy or motivation to crack on straight away. Some clients come to me so depleted they need a couple of weeks on some nourishment just to stabilise their energy before we can even think about a nutrition plan. Then I’ll pull together a 12 week top-line timeline which we will work through over the weeks, and a detailed protocol. During each session we select one or two key habits to track to bring the plan into action.
Q: What do you enjoy most about working as a nutritional therapist?
I LOVE my work. It’s so beautiful connecting with women and holding space for them to make leaps in their health, finally prioritising their health over looking after everyone else. To love yourself enough to take care of your body’s needs rather than succumbing to a craving or dopamine kick is a really exciting place to be. To not beat yourself up when you do, but to look at your life with awareness. It's rewarding to see my clients shift into that powerful space where true transformation and growth can occur.
On top of that I love to learn and increase my knowledge. I am always looking at the next webinar, course or scientific paper I can dive into, to make sure I'm on top of the latest research and evidence. Nutritional science is a fascinating field with so many areas moving forward with new learnings every day, from gut health to women's health. So I’m always picking up new ways to support my clients with their goals. I love taking complex and complicated information and distilling it into a digestible ('scuse the pun) presentation for my clients so they can understand their body better.
Q: How do you support clients in your programmes as a nutritional therapist?
My programmes are twelve weeks long with fortnightly sessions so over time I really get to see my clients growth in their health and happiness.
Two weeks between appointments can seem a lifetime if you have emotional issues around food so my premium package has whatsapp access which means I can be on hand if a client feels they need some support between sessions. Mostly my clients drop me a message in the Nutrition with Millie app to ask any quick questions or to vent if they are feeling out of control / off track with food and it means we get these mini moments of support between appointments if needed.
The app also has a habit tracker, their protocol, and this links to nutrients, food sources and recipes. This is my clients favourite feature as they are filtered specifically for their health plan so they know they’re getting the nutrients they need for their goals.
Q: Can you walk us through a typical week in your role as a nutritional therapist?
My working week is generally split into two halves. The first half of my week is prepping for launches, planning, connecting with new clients in empowered health strategy calls, doing promotional work and building my business. The second half of my week is more practical: researching, seeing my clients for their follow ups and emailing my strategy call clients my suggestions from earlier in the week. I teach yoga a few times across a week so I try to allow some time to practice which I find hard to commit to but always feel better for. I teach a lovely slow flow class on a sunday, which is such a nice way to end the week and to look forward to the next with a clear mindset.
Q: What challenges do nutritional therapists commonly face in their profession?
Oh so many! One, being that the general approach to health in this country is that one pill fixes all and it allows people to continue making damaging health choices without getting to the root cause of the problem. We live in a society where the cheapest thing to eat is junk food and many are working multiple jobs, too tired at the end of it to do anything else other than numb out with telly or to drink alcohol to ‘wind down’. Then when we get sick we take pills and carry on as normal.
Another is that the internet has allowed everyone to become experts in the field of personal health and the overwhelming amount of information on the internet can make it difficult for people to know what to believe. It doesn’t take much to find various accounts online spouting nonsense as complete fact yet people believe it due to it’s gloss and punchy videos.
Similar to this is wearable health tech. These trends that are created with good intentions but get so hyped up that people forget about everything else and think that the singular approach will fix all their health problems. In my opinion, any company that promises a ‘personalised’ plan but doesn’t include a face to face consultation is not a personal approach and doesn’t take into account current lifestyle or commitments. It’s a completely different product to what I offer and because of the lack of direct contact, these companies offer a service that is cheap but generally doesn’t result in lasting changes, which can devalue the industry.
All these approaches tend to offer a quick fix approach which is the opposite to how real transformation happens. Nothing good comes easy and that’s why I can support my clients to help them build new habits that last a lifetime.
So in summary: lack of preventative healthcare, overwhelm of information, and access to generic health information leads people to think that they can resolve their issues in a flash without the help of personalised nutrition advice.
Q: How do you stay updated on the latest trends and research in nutritional therapy?
There are some amazing practitioners out there who also dedicate their time to educating the rest of us! And their knowledge is outstanding. I try and join as many webinars as possible as I pick up so many amazing tools and practices that I can implement into my plans. I also read a lot of text books and then study the corresponding studies and papers. There is a hierarchy of quality when it comes to research and it’s important to take this into account when using any recommendations with clients.
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And if you have any thoughts on my answers let me know in the comments below!