Health Choices
I never planned to do this job, and I still can’t really believe I’m doing it. I used to be a corporate lawyer, but my change of direction is all because of my eldest son, Amman, who is now 21.
He was born with severe food allergies and during the first few years of life was in and out of hospital. As soon as he ate anything, he’d get really ill – his skin would flare up, crack and bleed, and he would struggle to breathe. He went into anaphylactic shock, had to be resuscitated and was in intensive care in a coma. It was terrible.
Eventually, Amman was diagnosed with allergies to dairy, gluten, fish, eggs and nuts. But there wasn’t a lot of information out there back in the 1990s. So I thought, ‘What am I good at doing?’ As a lawyer, I was good at research, reading widely and thinking about the answers, so that’s what I did for my son.
I eliminated things from his diet and went back to Asian cooking, which doesn’t really use dairy or gluten. It was 10 years of trial and error, but eventually we got to a place where we had found what worked and what didn’t.
But I also saw that being and feeling healthy isn’t just about the food you eat, but how you are emotionally and how much it helps to have someone supporting you. Over the next couple of years, I did a nutrition therapy degree and I set myself up as a health coach around two years ago.
A health coach is a mentor who motivates people to make positive health choices across their entire life. I educate and support clients to achieve their health goals through lifestyle and behaviour adjustments.
Really, I’m just someone who keeps an eye on you and helps you question and focus on things. We often don’t take responsibility for our own health. With a health coach, you have someone holding your hand and thinking about it alongside you.
Most clients come to me because they want to lose weight or they are feeling exhausted. They are often at a stage where they don’t feel as though they have control over anything.
My first piece of advice is to start small – something like simply eating more fruit and green vegetables. Then it’s a case of looking at people’s lives and working out what’s working and what isn’t, just like I did with Amman all those years ago.
He is at university now, and he is happy and healthy. And he’s the only student I know among the boys who cooks all his own meals!
‘Start small by eating more fruit and veg’