I was born to cook and it was a given that I would train to become a professional chef, first at Leiths School of Food & Wine and then, 2 years with Albert Roux in his London restaurants including Le Gavroche.

Working as a female chef during this era was tricky. I made a lifestyle decision to leave the male-dominated, unsociable, underground world of the professional restaurant chef to allow travel, marriage and family - it worked! (Gordon Ramsay stayed at Le Gavroche and managed it all brilliantly!)

Leith's invited me back to teach in my mid 20's and this progressed to a love of demonstrating. I now have a long-standing professional relationship with the school and I am currently a specialist 'Free-From' senior teacher and have written these workshops.

During my 30's I tucked my 3 young children into bed and spent a few years having fun working in direct sales for The Pampered Chef, an American company selling amazingly brilliant kitchen utensils. It was a fun time and they are very much missed in the UK. When the kids stopped going to bed at 7pm, it was time to get back to my roots!

I had in mind that teaching in schools would be the way forward, with Leith's being too far to travel, and spent 2 years gaining my DTLLS (PGCE) at Brooklands College, Weybridge. I was delighted to be qualified to teach, but the restrictive nature of the school environment and a beautiful new kitchen, with Aga, lead to me starting 'Be in the Kitchen Cookery School' in 2014. Hurray!

The passion for health began...

At this point I had become frustrated with my energy. I had not made progress with my GP, various consultants and traditional medicine, so I started to learn as much as I could on my own. Playing around with the 'free-from' world was enlightening and made a big difference. It seemed my clients loved all this information too and I ran my Vitality Group for 3 years, incorporating holistic training along the way and empowering my clients to understand how to look after themselves. We all loved this group!

The downward spiral...

However, things changed. Despite being fit and strong, eating amazingly, doing all the mindful things one should do, I lost all my energy and couldn't work. My GP left me with some final words: "I'm sorry, there is nothing wrong with you, I hope you find a way to live". I looked at my life and decided that there definitely was something to be done and enrolled with CNM.

Recovery...

Covid provided a wonderful umbrella for me to recover. I turned my DofE cookery skills classes into an online business and took great delight in being able to teach professionally with great value, yet reach more students but with less energy required! More of this here.

I became the most amazing 'case study' as I went through every investigation and functional medicine test possible (and as a nutrition therapist student there were lots to try!) I had the lowest levels of cortisol possible, there was hardly any iron in my body, my gut health was in chaos with SIBO, my hormones were non-existent and spent alot of time on the sofa. YUK!

The upward journey...

Well, it took me an extra year to qualify while I got myself out of the woods and applied the learning. I assigned myself to a wonderful Functional Medicine practitioner who went through everything systematically with me and ultimately gave me a last piece of advice: "Deal with your stress or you will not get better". She was absolutely right and the rest is history.

So in 2022 I gained my 3 year diploma as a nutrition therapist with the College of Naturopathic Medicine.

Along the way I found myself drawn to particular areas of health:

Reversing Alzheimer's

I follow the outstanding work of Dr. Dale Bredesen who has done unprecented work on reversing Alzheimer's disease. Do read his books, and then have a go at this brain test...

Cancer

There is no doubt that if you have cancer, then the incredible NHS care and medicine available is critical. However, with the disease coming to 1 in 2 of us, prevention will always be better than cure. I take myself to as many CPD event on this subject as I can and I have a sheet of links to an incredible list of people, books, website etc for those wishing to protect and support themselves. There is so much we can do to look after ourselves, but we need to be proactive and my friends and clients have found this information invaluable.

Click the 'contact' link at the top of this page if you would like this information sheet.

Gut Health and Paleo Keto

Gut health has been my genetic weak link and the greatest person I have found to support that, and much much else, is the wonderful Dr Sarah Myhill Mb Bs. I love the Paleo Keto diet that she promotes as the best way of keeping disease at bay and for long-term health.

Check out my 'Events' page for more excitement here!

And the rest...

I remain passionate about teaching teenagers - showing them professional techniques and empowering the with skills and fun in the kitchen for life. My goal to be the best DofE online cookery course provider is resolute and I have new courses coming out regularly.

Remember - buy an online course with me and you have the videos for LIFE!

a fantastic investment and I can't wait for you to join me.

See you soon, Be x