When I was two years old I became very ill. After two years of not knowing what was wrong with me, I was diagnosed with a rare Auto-immune disease called APECED syndrome. Basically my immune system had gone rogue and was attacking my hormone producing glands. Because of this i’ve spent my life in and out of hospital.
Over the years I developed a number of chronic illnesses including Type 1 Diabetes, Addison’s disease, Hypo- thyroidism and Hypo – Parathyroidism. I also developed severe malabsorption. This means I am unable to absorb enough nutrients from my food to be healthy, or even to survive…
I was severely underweight for as long as I can remember. The doctors tried everything, but nothing worked. I would manage to gain a few kilos and them lose it all after a few bad days. At seventeen my doctors decided I wasn’t going to live very long if they didn’t do something drastic. I had a central line, which is a tube into my subclavian vein. Specialised intervenors nutrition goes through this tube into my bloodstream at night. It was a big step, but after a few weeks of my body getting the nourishment it had craved for so long…I felt amazing! I had so much more energy. Wasn’t cold all the time and had less hospital admissions and I looked a lot healthier.
I’ve had an interest in Nutrition from a young age. I had seen my fair share of Dietitians and then when I started secondary school I loved Biology and Home Economics. I knew I wanted to help people realise that you don’t need to go on crazy restrictive diets and detoxes to look and feel good. You just have to nourish your body by giving it what it needs and enjoying food, because food.
I got my BSc first class honours degree in Food Science & Nutrition as well as a Professional Diploma in Food Science, Nutrition & Menu Planning. I am also a qualified Fitness instructor, a YouTuber and I write frequent newspaper articles and Blogs.
My goal is to help people become as passionate as I am about healthy living without restrictions.
