Let me tell you a story…

I am a former professional tennis player and played for Great Britain on numerous occasions, travelling the world and competing until I was 18. I went to Rice University in Houston, Texas where I was awarded a full academic and tennis scholarship, and graduated with a BA in Psychology and Pre-Medical Sciences.

My weight was something I had always struggled with, even when I was playing 4 hours of tennis a day. I was diagnosed with a condition called polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) at the age of 14, which explained some of the reasons why I struggled with weight, such as increased insulin resistance and irregular periods compared to my tennis peers. I was told at 16 that if I wanted to have a family later on in life and protect my fertility, I would need to consider choosing between being an athlete and having a more ‘normal’ life. I chose to continue the tennis route as I didn’t even know whether I wanted a family in the future and fertility was not a priority to me as a teenager.

Fast forward a few years and my tennis career came to an end; I struggled with a loss of identity and lacked direction and purpose in life.  This manifested in a full-blown eating disorder (which had been bubbling under the surface since my teens) and with the help of therapy and support groups, I found recovery at the age of 23.

I was then inspired to do a Masters in Clinical Nutrition & Public Health at UCL. This degree left me eager to learn more about the role nutrition plays on mental and physical health and wanting to be a practitioner, and so 3 years later I qualified as a Naturopathic Nutritional Therapist at CNM.

I truly believe the combination of nutritional knowledge, therapy, yoga and healing work all helped me to not only manage my PCOS and eating disorder symptoms but also optimise my overall health and fertility for later on in life.

The strength I have gained from recovery has also helped me get through my fears of pregnancy and birth, gifting me and my husband our gorgeous baby daughter in Spring 2022! I feel it was a miracle we fell pregnant within three months of trying to conceive – I truly believe there is a silver lining in having a diagnosis of PCOS at the age of 14 and coping with the many undesirable symptoms (such as excess body hair, skin tags, irregular periods and easy weight gain); it taught me the fundamental role of nutrition in life and specifically for me, regulating blood sugars and hormones, managing weight, having a more positive outlook on life and, of course, increasing chances of fertility. Though my journey with balancing hormones is on-going, my experience so far has provided me with a wealth of knowledge I am inspired to share in the hope to help women in a similar situation. 

I now find myself in a career which I am extremely passionate about and find hugely satisfying and rewarding – helping others with their own fertility struggles through the use of healthy and balanced meal plans, and using healing techniques and creativity to help find ways to work through resistance or any blockages they may have.

Having contended with PCOS, higher chances of infertility, eating difficulties and weight fluctuation for many years, I now find myself thoroughly enjoying a life of a mumma with a great relationship with my food and body and have the ability to approach clients with similar difficulties with empathy and compassion.