Your Therapist

As an adolescent and adult I always suffered from depression or so it was I thought. I always had a problem in the area of socialisation and making friends. When I started investigating my son's autism and nutritional connections I realised that the basis of my health problems were related to his condition.

When I was younger I used to think the reason for my depression was an unhappy family life but later on in life and after various therapies and courses I found these to be unfounded. None of the therapists I saw, whether be medical or complementary, were able to put a finger on to why I was continuously in a low state of mood. One therapist I saw simply put it as 's**t happens - you just got to learn to get on with it'!

I had postnatal depression with both of my children and resorted to go on drugs to save my sanity with my second child. Although the drugs helped to stabilise my condition they never addressed the underlying nutritional deficiencies that were riding my deteriorating health. It was only when I started to incorporate my nutritional knowledge to help with my condition that I finally started to see the light.

I am happy to say that now I am free of depression, free from drugs and take only very few nutritional supplements to maintain my health. My main therapy is my diet and fitness regime that keeps me stable and motivated.

As I related my condition to that of my sons I found there were some similarities (cross over).

Some of these are stress, anxiety, social withdrawal, difficulty dealing with change etc.

Years ago when I used to work in London as a chef, my health was deteriorating due to extreme stress caused by the demanding nature of the kitchen work. As I did not socialise or have many friends and I never talked about it I started experiencing severe anxiety resulting in panic attacks. I never discussed this with my doctor as I was very embarrassed and felt guilty as to what I was going through, or rather what was happening to me. I ended up buying a meditative audio type and listened to it before I went to work to calm me down. This indeed did help calm me down and enable me to go to work but did not solve the problem in the long run, for as long as I kept my job the anxiety continued.

I was suffering from such extreme stress that I started to find it difficult to walk down the road to go to the superstore; eye contact became difficult and I never knew why this was. This was especially evident at the superstore at the checkout for me. This had not happened to me before and I just did not know why it was happening. I know now this was due to the physiological effects of the extreme stress that I was experiencing. Later on not only did the stress affect my metal health but it also started to affect my digestive health.

During this period, although on a better than average, relatively healthy fresh food diet (coupled with the occasional take away) I had lost considerable amount of weight. I would skip breakfast for the first time in my life, rely heavily on caffeine, smoke heavily and drink considerable amounts of alcohol. I hardly had any energy or any interest in anything other than what I would cook at work and at home and felt if I showed interest into anything else I would not be able to perform to my best at work. I was wired and tired and ran on adrenaline. When my shift would finish I would usually crash and not have energy for anything much else. I would spend most of my time off work reading about food and recipes and experimenting in the kitchen with recipes I had not cooked before. Although I would buy and cook from scratch and I ate an all fresh food diet with abundance of fruit and vegetables I was not healthy. My skin was clammy and pale and I was anxious and stressed.

My diet now is very different from the diet I had then. I know what foods are good for me and what foods are not. I also have a higher need for certain nutritional supplements that I take on a regular basis to help keep me healthy. Although arguably it can be said that I don't have a job as nearly as stressful as my work experience in London. If I feel my stress levels are getting high I know how to not let things get out of hand.

When it comes to helping a client with stress it's not just about controlling the environment; it has a lot to do with nutrition and supporting clients when they are going through extreme stress whether it be with work (because most people can't and won't change their jobs) or other factors such as heavy training which reflects a different level of stress on to the body.

By applying quality and targeted nutrition it is possible to improve on many areas of health as I have done for myself.