My passion is really around patient choice: Our right to choose what form of treatment is acceptable to us and our right not to dismiss nutrition and lifestyle factors as ineffective because it is too complicated. From my own experience, it was not so complicated: changing my diet and lifestyle put my chronic symptoms of 27 years into remission in just 4 weeks. Functional Medicine changed every facet of my life.

I graduated from The University of Hertfordshire with B.Sc. (Hons) Biochemistry in 2002. I went on to work in Drug Discovery in Neuroscience, Oncology and Virology. Feeling a little disillusioned by the process of drug discovery, I went on a search to see the big picture of how pharmaceuticals are produced, regulated and surveilled. I found my place in medicines regulation working for the regulator and then within pharmaceuticals. The process seemed somehow lacking when I saw the big picture and I could not reconcile what I had learned in my Biochemistry degree with what was happening in the world of pharmaceuticals. Although I saw a place and value for pharmaceuticals, I also saw a value for nutrition and lifestyle, particularly in the context of chronic illness.

I had been raised with an eastern philosophy of mind-body connection – ayurvedic and yogic practices were just an integral part of my life. I also ate what I thought was a good diet – I had only had 3 ready meals in my entire life and I cooked from scratch most days! Yet, on my quest to have a healthy and fulfilling life and career, I found myself in the midst of a crisis. By this time, I was a mother of one with another on the way, with some low-grade undiagnosed chronic illness. Life stressors became amplified and my job stress became unbearable. This was the point at which my mother became suddenly ill. This tipping point in my life drove me to seek solutions for my mother and in doing so, I found answers for myself.

I found Functional Medicine through my research into my mother’s condition but it resonated with me so strongly that I wanted to learn everything about it. It was the meeting of Eastern and Western philosophy and the connection between science and intuition that I had been looking for. During this time, I had also become extremely ill through neglecting self-care. I was a mother, after all and that is what my mother did for me! Then I saw it…the inevitable decline of my health to where my mother was. I was on a trajectory that I just had to change. I did it for my children. I didn’t have the strength to resist medication for myself but the side-effects prevented me from functioning as a mother. Functional Medicine touched upon every area of my life and impacted me so much more deeply than any intervention I had ever tried before because it worked on me as a whole person, not just a collection of body systems or parts.

I overcame fatigue, found purpose and resolved relationship issues. I regained confidence in my abilities after resolving decades of cognitive dysfunction in just 4 weeks. I had energy for my children and a zest for life that I didn’t think was possible. I honestly found a way to be happy. I believe that there is benefit for everyone in