For as long as I can remember, food has been at the centre of everything.

From sugary porridge made by my grandad and rhubarb crumble pulled straight from my grandparents' garden, to discovering entirely new cuisines through staff lunches in restaurants and eating my way across Japan, Vietnam and Australia, food has always been how I experience life. It's also how I show love. Your birthday? I'm making dinner. It's Christmas? I'm already planning the buffet.

I don't need an excuse to want to eat well. I never have.

But a few years ago, enjoying food to the point of personal detriment caught up with me. I didn't feel like myself. My fitness was low, my skin was suffering, and I'd lost my glow. The ‘obvious’ solution of chicken, rice and broccoli, wasn't one I was willing to accept. If I was going to change how I felt, it had to be delicious.

So I signed up to PT sessions, started cooking with purpose, and discovered something I genuinely didn't see coming: I fell in love with fitness. Which led to a new obsession… how to fuel and recover properly, without compromising on the food I actually wanted to eat.

Then came the lightbulb moment. I realised that my genuine love of food love and nutrition was exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I enrolled at Mac Nutrition University while working full time, and eighteen months later, I sobbed reading the words: passed with distinction.

I'm now an MNU Certified Nutritionist with a Level 5 Diploma in Advanced Nutrition Science. And the most important thing my training confirmed? That you don't have to choose between eating joyfully and feeling your best. Science and joy are not in conflict but come hand in hand.

If you want to reach your goals without giving up the food you love, you're in the right place.