I’m Joan, and I want to share my passion for nutrition with you so that you can be the most energetic, vibrant and empowered version of yourself possible!
I am a BANT Registered Nutritionist ® with a particular interest in cancer support, particularly for women who have had a breast cancer diagnosis. I no longer carry out one-to-one consultations, but am available for talks and group work. I love nothing better than to witness the improvements in health and vitality that can occur as a result of nutrition changes – something I’ve seen often, but which never fails to bring me joy!
More than anything, what defines me as a practitioner is that I understand what it’s like to have chronic health issues, and the impact that nutrition and lifestyle change can have on them. I have had health challenges all my life, culminating in a cancer diagnosis. In clinical practice, I always met my clients with compassion and empathy. My role is never to be judgemental.
Accreditations and Experience
- Diploma in Naturopathic Nutrition from the College of Naturopathic Medicine, 2017
- BANT Registered Nutritionist ®
- NTEC approved Systems Approach to Cancer training with Dr Nina Fuller-Shavel
- Course in Cancer: Nutritional Support Before, During, After Treatment and Beyond at the Institute for Optimum Nutrition
- FLUXABLE practitioner training with Dawn Waldron
- Member of the British Society for Integrative Oncology
- Certified dnalife® practitioner
- A minimum of 30 hours of Continuing Professional Development each year
Many clients have worked with me in a one-to-one capacity as well as in groups. I have enjoyed delivering talks for breast cancer charities including Flat Friends UK, Make 2nds Count and Victoria’s Promise. I have delivered corporate talks, mini workplace consultations and blogs with my colleagues at Vital Health Nutrition.
More of my Story
Me in a nutshell:
- Grew up in Belfast, now living in London
- Wife to my long-suffering husband of 25+ years, and mother to three grown up boys with enormous appetites
- Former engineering acoustic consultant
- Lifelong amateur musician (viola and piano)
- More recent convert to running (5km or less!) and spending time in forests
- Living well with secondary breast cancer since 2018
Growing up, I was never particularly interested in either health or food! Like many people, I took my health and my body for granted. I accepted that I seemed to acquire medical conditions as I aged (eczema, hypothyroidism) without questioning why, or what was going wrong in my body. I trusted that conventional approaches to medicine would provide all the health input I would ever need.
All that changed when I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 40. I suddenly became aware that what I was putting into my body was vitally important. When I asked my oncologist what I should eat, his answer (“Just eat a balanced diet”) intuitively seemed woefully inadequate. I had a poor prognosis and knew that my life depended on finding additional ways to support myself after my treatment had finished. After a residential course at the Penny Brohn Cancer Care Centre in Bristol, I realised that I had spent most of the time there talking to the other course participants about the power of food, and immediately decided to retrain as a nutritional therapist.
Since 2018 I have lived with secondary breast cancer, which is incurable. I find nutrition and lifestyle medicine absolutely invaluable tools for keeping myself well and thriving alongside my medical treatments, and I review my approaches to my own nutrition regularly. My diagnosis and experience of living with cancer have taught me humility above all else. Cancer is enormously complex, perhaps the most complex of all diseases, and I would advise you to beware of anyone who claims to have it all figured out! I recognise that nutrition is but one pillar of health, and that it is essential to address body, mind and spirit to heal.
I believe that everyone can use nutrition to support their health. Nutrition might be able to help you in moving towards optimum health and feeling the best, most vibrant version of yourself that you have ever felt. If you are living with a very challenging condition as I am, nutrition may not be the magic bullet that resolves it, but it always has the potential to improve your quality of life. Whichever applies to you, let me be in your corner.