Becoming A Functional Nutritionist. Taking Back Control of Your Health & Your Life.

By Emily McGuigan. 18th July 2023

“It’s been a long road for me to finally reach a pathway that feels like it is my purpose in life”.

Hello, I’m Emily, wife and mother to three young kids. I would like to share with you a long story cut short on how and why I chose to become a Functional Nutritionist and why I chose to study with the The Nutrition Academy in particular.

Beginning my career in hairdressing in 2003 I have spent the most of my working life in a salon. Why did I choose this career? I fell into it really. I wasn’t one who loved school, I was an okay student, but the academics of it wasn’t something that came naturally to me. So, I left school and became a hairdresser at 15. Fast forward about 4 years and it was then that my health started to decline. I began with small patches of eczema, which eventually spread to my whole body. I would itch until I bled, it was horrible. Dermatitis on my hands followed, caused by constant exposure to chemicals and water. My declining health journey would go on for years. My skin issues, then became gut issues, I was on birth control which caused me to have depression, I became intolerant to foods, and the list of intolerances continued to grow and grow. It's not until I look back now that I realise just how poor my health was, even though I would have considered myself healthy.

Over the last 15 years I have spent thousands of dollars and hours of time seeing specialists, having tests done, all to come back clear, nothing wrong with me, and my only relief being some sort of prescription drug to hide the symptoms. But there was something wrong with me, and it was because of this journey, with no answers, no one to turn to, that I had to begin digging for myself. I began reading book after book, I would research all kinds of topics, trying to find answers, or to find people who had the same issues as me. I spent hours reading other people's testimonials, just hoping there would be someone out there who could help me. I began to feel as though I would never get better, as soon as I'd get on top of one thing, something else would take its place. It has been quite an emotional rollercoaster.

Growing up I had a conventional view of the world, the doctor knows best type thing, my diet looking back now was poor, but unfortunately it was just a result of generations before me being told the wrong things about food. No fat, low fat, low carb, aerobic exercise, processed low calorie foods, eggs are bad, cholesterol is bad, cereals are a great breakfast, I could go on and on. I cringe when I think of my lunch box as a kid, we, my brother and sister were fussy eaters, and our lunch box looked something like, a packet of tiny teddies, roll ups, muesli bars, chips, maybe a piece of fruit and maybe some home baked slice. How un-nutritious! But I know it wasn’t just me, most of my friends had similar lunch boxes. It again came down to people not knowing or understanding what these artificial colours, flavours, preservatives and highly processed foods were doing to our health.

So, with my conventional views on health, (doctor knows best and drugs are the answer) I had such a poor understanding on what it meant to be healthy. I watched my mum mainly focusing on weight loss and the latest fad diets, again, she was not alone, most women were focused on the same thing. Their weight going up and down like yo-yo’s. I do feel as though many of today’s issues come from the fact that there were so many generations who simply had no clue about health, and had been told such wrongs, who went from making everything at home from scratch to buying everything in a packet. The result being poor health for the generations who followed.

One of my health issues was constant bloating, gas and discomfort. I had consulted with my regular GP on the matter, and I was told I had IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and that’s all there was to it, nothing really to be done. On the recommendation of a friend who was much more clued into the world of natural therapies I went and saw a homeopath. She did some testing and she concluded that I was lactose intolerant, I was like lactose what? Having no clue what this even was. She explained what it was and told me to cut it out of my diet and see how my symptoms went. You can imagine my surprise and delight when my bloating, gas and discomfort all went away once lactose was excluded it from my diet. It was just another moment in my health journey that pushed me to keep searching for more knowledge, more answers and beginning to question if doctors really did know what was best? Had I not dug further I may never have worked out I had a simple intolerance and may have suffered for years with a condition that was totally treatable.

I knew health and wellness was something I was truly interested in, after spending so much of my free time educating myself, as much as it was to try and solve my own health issues, it wasn't a chore, I enjoyed learning about the human body. I had wanted to change careers for a very long time, but I had my own salon and three kids to raise, I didn’t know how I would ever fit it in. So, I just continued reading and listening to as much as I could in my spare time, still trying to find answers, when we eventually decided that we would travel Australia, a long-held dream of ours.

It was also at this time that my two boys were diagnosed with Coeliacs Disease, just another spanner to throw at me I thought. But as a mother you just do what you must and carry on. In my search for a better understanding on Coeliac Disease I watched the documentary "What's with Wheat" by Cyndi O'Meara, who is the founder of The Nutrition Acadamy. With my kids a bit older and my salon now closed, I had the time to seriously pursue my passion. I began googling nutrition courses, at first not recalling the academy run by Cyndi. I found that all the other courses were so expensive, or I had to live in a certain area to attend classes, when I stumbled across The Nutrition Academy, and I started looking into the courses they had to offer.

The Nutrition Academy ticked all my boxes, I could study at my own pace, 100 percent online, and it was affordable. I mustered up the courage, told myself I could do this, and I enrolled. It has been one of the best things I have ever done. I am currently only halfway through my course, but the knowledge I have not only learned but been able to put into practise, so far has been amazing. Along with some other complementing education I am finally getting on top of my health issues, without the need for a doctor. One day at a time I am taking back control of my health and my life. The community is wonderful, I feel like Cyndi is a friend even though we have never met, it’s such a beautiful course and has been put together so well. The courses are based around Cyndi's 40 years of experience in the industry and what she teaches is so relevant in today's world. I particularly love her focus on teaching her students how to critically think, a skill that so many have forgotten these days. Thanks to this course I personally feel so much more confident about expressing my advice to people, I am even more aware on how the body works, the importance of good nutrition and how to achieve it.

My personal goal of becoming a Functional Nutritionist is to not only heal myself but to hopefully help others avoid the train wreck of a journey I’ve been on. To teach people how to find good health through better nutrition and lifestyle choices as opposed to a bottle of pills from the pharmacy. I cannot recommend The Nutrition Academy enough, and should you decide that studying Nutrition is for you, you may use code EMILY100 at the checkout to receive $100 off your tuition fees.

Emily

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