For the last 26 years I have been on a constant rollercoaster of weight gain and weight loss, all stemming from quitting smoking during my first pregnancy at the age of 21. I swapped my addiction with cigarettes for one with sweets, the more sugary, the better! How I didn’t develop Gestational Diabetes I’ll never know. As I never started smoking again, my addiction with Sugar slowly became more embedded over the years. 

In 2011 I met my current partner, with the sociable side of dating I quickly piled on the pounds (again) so in 2013 I decided to join one of the High Street Slimming Clubs you will find running from local church halls.

A few years before this I had embarked on the long journey to become a qualified Psychotherapist so alongside the five years of study, I decided to become a self-employed Weight Loss Consultant with the above mentioned UK company, thinking it would keep me on the straight and narrow!  At first I lost around a stone in the first 3 months and then it just plateaued and over the next 3 years of being a consultant I constantly yo-yo’d, gaining and losing that same 1 stone. I felt a complete fraud because I didn’t know why and yet I was supposed to be advising others on their journey. I wasn’t alone though, 90% of the consultants were exactly the same! Now I know why!

Although the company offered ongoing training, I was always curious about the ‘science’ behind their ‘Eating Plan’ as it was never explained to us consultants.  It felt like I was in a Cult and we were being brainwashed, especially with the constant mantra of “trust the plan, it works” yep! for limited time only though!  With my awareness being ever heightened, thanks to my Psychotherapy training and my natural rebellious streak, this never sat well with me and I would run my group in my own way (much to the distain of the company!)

People loved my approach along with the fact that we didn’t go around the room openly discussing and concentrating on personal weight gains and losses because, for me it was all about lifestyle change – common sense told me you can’t lose weight if you don’t change your lifestyle (and stick to that new change).  This was at odds with the company doctrine – I was known as a ‘rebel’ (yeh!) which I was quite happy about as what they wanted me to do, really  did not sit well with me ethically – it was tantamount to weekly ‘fat shaming’ and the constant clapping was like being back at school.  As the majority of my members actually stayed for group sessions and didn’t just pay to ‘weigh and go’, it proved to me I was doing something right and that I had a better formula, that the members actually enjoyed and got something out of my weekly groups – real support and learning!

Once I was a fully qualified Psychotherapist,  I decided to put my qualifications to work and left the weight loss company and started my own Private Practice specialising in Relationship Therapy.

During this time I started to get more interested in Neuroscience, which led me to research what role our modern day diet and nutrition contributed to our general Mental Health. In 2016 I decided that I would tie in my knowledge of Psychotherapy with my experience of helping people lose weight and the concept of The Healthy Hub was born.

I embarked on an intensive, dedicated study of nutrition and the various diets out there – comparing data, reading clinical trials, and listening & watching many hours of audio-visual presentations by medical and scientific professionals.  After all that research I came to really realise the ‘Why’ I and the weight loss companies had got it all wrong and as a result, I adopted the learning and necessary lifestyle changes needed and BINGO! Not only did it deal with my food addiction issues, I lost 3 stone!  Fantastic!

I set about asking some friends who I knew wanted to change their unhealthy relationship with food to trial my new educational program. They trusted me and agreed to be my volunteers. They achieved some truly amazing results! All round general health factors considerably improved and all the volunteers were elated at the easy changes to their lifestyle in comparison to all other diets they had tried and as an added bonus they lost lots of inches too, some dropping 2 dress sizes in 3 months. 

I love to help empower people, so my vision for The Healthy Hub is that by teaching you the tools of living a healthy lifestyle, you will gain the knowledge to make informed choices - knowledge is power after all!.  As far as I’m aware we are the only Lifestyle Change educational program on the market.

So what are you waiting for?  Come on in and join us!