I’m Lucy. I love thinking and talking about food, and helping people like you empower yourselves to choose good nutrition. There’s a wealth of information out there about healthy eating, and my mission is to help you carve your own path through the confusion and become your own expert nutritional guide.

I dislike blanket labelling foods as “healthy” or “unhealthy” – health is about more than just the nutritional content of what’s on our plates. Context matters. Yes, large amounts of sugar can lead to physiological damage – but glucose gels can enable some distance athletes to train longer & harder. What about a cup of hot lemon and honey to soothe a sore throat on a cold day? Even small quantities of alcohol, which becomes poisonous once we start to metabolise it, can oil the wheels of social interaction and facilitate social connections that contribute to our overall health and wellbeing.

So far, so confusing: food and health refuse to sit nicely in neat boxes, but I think this empowers us: No one else has the capacity to understand our own context as well as we do, so ultimately we have the most powerful insights into what healthy means for us. I’m not saying we can expect to avoid the physiological consequences of our choices; lots of sugar will ultimately damage blood vessels and feed bacteria that cause tooth decay, and we might feel regret or even shame a while after a sugar splurge. But if we can understand why we crave a sugary snack, what needs were in the driving seat, then we can start to look at what else might meet those needs, and make alternative plans that don’t cause so much collateral damage along the way.

Our priorities constantly shift. In order to make sustained changes to what and how we eat, we need to be honest with ourselves about how these priorities compete and sometimes cause us dissonance and conflict. Sometimes we eat for enjoyment, sometimes for security and sometimes for social connection or to express our love for people we cook for. We can also be mindful of eating to protect ourselves & our loved ones from disease, to change how our bodies feel or look, to improve our physical and/or cognitive performance, to reduce our burden on the Earth’s natural ecosystems or our financial resources, and/or to help us have a more positive mental outlook. All these kind of angles, and more, jostle for our attention as we try to make a seemingly simple decision like what to make for dinner….

Add in the multitude of other factors that influence how we experience our bodies and minds, and how the same foods can affect us differently at the biochemical, hormonal, psychological and other systemic levels because we all have a unique historical tapestry…It’s no wonder that we feel confused about how best to feed ourselves and those we love!

I aim to help you identify your priorities and explore ways to enjoy food while taking steps to improve the aspects of your health that matter most to you. Work with me to regain the confidence to become your own nutritional guide and work what you need to consistently and sustainably choose to nurture yourself with good nutrition.