Hey, I'm Karen
I’m a qualified nutritionist and mindset coach. I’ve been working in the wellness industry for over 20 years.
I started off as a personal trainer in my late 20s before qualifying as an NLP practitioner, a form of therapy that looks at how the structure of our thinking either helps or hinders us. It’s really useful for obstructive behaviours such as emotional eating and procrastination and for helping to move from a place of feeling stuck towards a goal that has felt elusive in the past.
Seven years ago I qualified as a nutritionist and I now combine mindset coaching and nutrition to help women gain a sense of ownership of their hormone health.
My areas of expertise
My passion for building health came from my own struggles
My interest in fitness began as a teenage amateur athlete. I have spent most of my life being very fit, but very unhealthy. As a child I would regulate difficult emotions with sugary foods. This went on into my adult years and I believe that it was my teenage experiences and eating behaviours that fuelled the hormonal imbalances in my health.
This led to the occurrence and removal of fibroids, firstly in my late 30s and then again in my late 40s.
I was fostered as a baby for five years and taken back into my birth family where I never really felt fully integrated. This led to feelings of isolation, anxiety and loneliness. These overwhelming feelings of abandonment led to a life of binge eating.
This issue, along with childhood challenges and a nutritionally depleted diet led to hormonal imbalance
causing fibroids, adenomyosis and a very traumatic transition into the perimenopause. The onset of pain and growth of fibroids the second time round was so fast and furious that I ended up having an hysterectomy.
I believe that healing from trauma is a lifelong affair. Cultivating self-love takes time and commitment. Trying to get healthy by just looking at your diet is often futile and it's why I look at mind and body for optimal results.
My Philosophy
I believe health is a skill. Ideally we need to learn the basic principles at a young age, but this is not the case.
We may do a bit of PE and some home economics. But we are not taught to understand how our diet and lifestyle affects our own unique physiology.
If ultra processed food such as sweets, crisps and biscuits are framed as ‘treats’ to us as children, it’s natural to want to ‘treat’ ourselves when we experience difficult emotions. This is how we start using unhealthy foods as a crutch when we feel we need support.
By the time we reach early adulthood, many women are ill equipped to be healthy. Over the years, I have explored several ways to help women work through past challenges in order to move energetically towards their health goals. It’s my mission to help as many women as possible reach the menopause in a state of healthy body and mind through diet, lifestyle shifts which focus on health and healing.
“Karen approached our sessions with warmth, empathy and kindness and I quickly grew to trust her enormously. ”
– Debby Strode, London –
