Melody Mackeown BSc (Hons) Psychology, DipION (Distinction), mBANT
Nutritional Therapy & Diagnostic testing
Melody Mackeown, Natural Nutrition, BSc(Hons), DipION (Distinction), mBANT
Nutritional Therapy
Helps you to work out what are the very best foods to optimise your health. There’s a wellknown saying that “we are what we eat”. It’s truer than you may think!
The body needs the right kinds of carbohydrates, proteins and fats as well as vitamins, minerals and plant nutrients to work at its best. The correct nutrients are essential for the digestive, reproductive, immune and nervous systems to function properly and also to prevent disease (incredibly, the World Cancer Research Fund has estimated that 30-40% of cancers could be prevented through correct dietary choices). Making adjustments to your diet can therefore help your body to work properly and to ward off or reverse ill-health, and what’s more, doing something positive can be a delicious and uplifting experience.
“The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition.”
Thomas Edison, c.1870
As lifestyle factors often impact on your general wellbeing (e.g. how much stress you are under and how much (or little!) exercise you take), I can not only help you to make the best dietary choices, but also guide you to the most appropriate lifestyle decisions. But rather than criticise and make judgements, my aim is to help you discover certain foods and habits that will really make a difference, and be a pleasure at the same time. Preparing food can be fun, preparing the right food can be even more so!
So, who can benefit from Nutritional Therapy?
All kinds of people who wish to improve or sustain their health, or those with a specific health condition. You may simply wish to discover your optimum state of wellbeing, or you have a problem with one of the following – all of which can be helped by the right nutrition and lifestyle advice.
Arthritis
Asthma
Cardiovascular health Pain relief (e.g. high blood pressure or cholesterol)
Children’s health (e.g.ADHD)
Digestive problems (e.g. bloating, constipation, diarrhoea, heartburn, indigestion)
Food allergies
Frequent colds, infections
Infertility
Injury repair
Insomnia
Low energy
Low energy Tiredness
Memory / concentration
Osteoporosis
PMS (irritability, breast tenderness, depression)
Pre-conceptual care, pregnancy and post-natal care
Skin problems (e.g. acne, eczema psoriasis)
Stopping smoking
Stress related illness (e.g. anxiety, depression)
Urinary infections (e.g. cystitis)
Weight loss/gain
Once you contact me, I will send you a comprehensive questionnaire to complete and send to me before your first consultation, which will last for one hour (although I am happy to allow a bit more time if you are coming with your baby/child - with a young child myself I understand frequent disruption!)
I will then take a detailed health and lifestyle history and explain possible underlying causes for any problem, and together we will develop a tailormade nutrition and lifestyle programme specifically for you/your child. If I feel it is necessary to contact your family doctor, I will discuss this with you.
Recipes and sample menus can also be supplied if required. And don’t worry…it’s not all rabbit food and lentils!
Your progress is monitored through follow-up sessions (for typically 2-6 months), where we will modify your programme together to suit your needs and tastes. Support can also be provided in between consultations.
Biochemical and Diagnostic Testing
Biochemical and diagnostic testing are powerful tools which can help identify why you may feeling under par. For example, an underactive thyroid may lead to weight gain and fatigue and food allergies/intolerance may result in bloating, diarrhoea and weight gain. If necessary, I will discuss with you which test I feel is appropriate. The results from the biochemical tests can be used to help tailor your diet in such a way to support your thyroid or in the case of food allergies/intolerances which foods to avoid and suitable alternatives (e.g. if you have a sensitivity to wheat, then I will provide you with alternative to include in your diet and a list of food products that may contain wheat). Biochemical testing can also be used to tailor a supplement programme to support you during this recovery period. I am also happy to write to your GP to ask them to consider diagnostic testing.
Melody Mackeown graduated with Distinction at the Institute for Optimum Nutrition (ION), in London, a training clinic regarded as one of the leading nutritional therapy organisations in the UK, with a reputation for both clinical and academic excellence. I was also awarded the prize for Clinical Excellence. Since qualifying I have also undertaken a practitioner training course at Foresight, the Association for the promotion of preconceptual care.
Melody lives in Putney with her husband, JP and daughter, Saffron. In her spare time, Melody enjoys cooking, growing herbs in her garden, reading and eating out.