Mind Nourishing

My story

At the age of 22 after travelling solo around South East Asia I visited Wales, fell in love with its beautiful surroundings and friendly people and moved there. As a Englishwoman figuring out my new surroundings I did the cultural essentials like try my first Welsh Cake, learnt lingo like ‘cwtch’, ‘butt’ and ‘bardy’ and realised that rugby means everything.

With a fresh Exercise, Nutrition and Health degree I began working in the community organising the ‘Cardiff cycle challenge’ and a variety of other active travel events. I was then offered the most amazing opportunity to work within the Welsh Valleys for a Social Housing Association. I co-ordinated (then later managed) a programme which was all about supporting young families to become more active alongside teaching basic cooking skills and healthy eating advice.

Although I absolutely adored the job and the changes the programme made to families, I was blown away by how so many of the families that I worked with struggled with their mental wellbeing. Some of the parents were unable to leave the house and were so crippled with anxiety, depression and overwhelm that the last thing that crossed their minds was preparing food and fuelling their bodies. Processed foods were usually on the menu and along with a lack of fruit and vegetables, energy levels and feeling of wellbeing were often limited.

When the funding for this valuable programme ran out I felt the need to learn more about nutrition and in particular ‘how food can affect your mood’. From personal experience I knew that when I ate a colourful, diverse, nutrient rich diet I felt amazing. I was determined to support others to have that feeling and wanted to show people that it doesn’t need to be a complicated and expensive thing to do. So with a passionate heart I went off back to University to gain a masters degree in Nutritional Therapy.

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