Optimum nutrition assessment and advice

with Clare Casson, Nutrition and Wellbeing Coach

Dip BCNH (Distinction), Dip ION, mBANT, CNHC

What is optimum nutrition?

You already know that how you eat now can affect your health and wellbeing in later life.

But did you know that how you eat could also help to alleviate a wide range of common health complaints that can occur at any time of life?

Of course, it's always important to seek your doctor's advice about health concerns. Nutrition isn't a magic cure-all. But it is widely recognised that some of the biggest health challenges we face are lifestyle related, and good nutrition has an important role to play for many of us.

The World Health Organisation states that: "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity". I share this philosophy. And at its heart is my belief that when you feel at your best in body, mind and spirit, you're better able to respond positively to the challenges of the 21st century: to perform at your best, achieve your potential, and live life to the full.

Optimum nutrition is all about helping you to thrive. If you want to feel the best you can and get the most out of life, actively managing your health and wellbeing with the help of the right nutrition is a great place to start.

Everybody's needs are different depending on their current nutritional status, health profile and what they want to achieve.

Optimum nutrition offers a personalised approach to nutrition that will help you identify what your body needs to get the results you want.

Do you want to...?

Maintain and protect your good health - make sure you're eating healthily and getting all the nutrients you need to help protect your health today and tomorrow, so you can live life to the full now and into the future?

Improve your energy, focus, resilience and performance - find a better way to keep yourself going than coffee, energy drinks and chocolate, so you can get more done and stay ahead of the game without feeling stressed and exhausted?

Restore your general health and vitality - so you can feel more like you used to and recover your zest for life?

Prepare for pregnancy or support your natural fertility - whether you're a would-be mum or dad?

Relieve your niggling symptoms and health conditions - so you don't have to just put up with them? Your GP is always your first port of call, but a nutritional approach may complement medical treatments.

Get the most out of your exercise routine - so you can feel like it's worth the effort and get the results you want? Eat right for your exercise goals, boost stamina and performance, or prepare for a sporting challenge.

Manage your weight - learn how best to lose unwanted fat and keep it off forever without feeling hungry and deprived, so you can look good on the beach, in the boardroom and in the bedroom?

How can a nutrition consultation help?

You want to feel the best you can and get the most out of life, so whichever option you choose, the aim is to help you manage your health and wellbeing positively with a healthy lifestyle incorporating the nutrition that's right for you.

You won't be told off or lectured: the pressures of today's lifestyles can mean it's a major challenge to eat as well as we might like. The aim is simply to help you understand the impact of your current eating patterns, and to support you in making realistic changes that will help you achieve the outcomes you want.

Eat well assessment

Personal nutrition assessment and healthy eating advice

What is it for?

The aim of an Eat Well assessment is to equip you with an understanding of healthy eating in line with the recommended Eat Well plate, so that you can support your general health, energy and wellbeing in the long term.

Who is it for?

An Eat Well assessment is for you if:

• You think you eat pretty well already and just want to make sure that you're getting the recommended balance of foods and sufficient intake of vitamins and minerals

OR

• You want to start eating more healthily and need to know where to focus, or some inspiration and practical advice on how to begin.

What's involved?

• You keep a 3-day food diary and return it in time for it to be analysed before your consultation.

What do you get?

The Eat Well assessment is based on a detailed analysis of your 3 day food diary and provides you with:

• A written report including a detailed evaluation of how your typical food intake compares to recommended minimum and optimum levels, with graphs and pie-charts as well as a written explanation to make it all easy to understand
• Advice on how to adjust your eating patterns to help ensure you get not only the recommended minimum nutrient intakes but higher, optimum levels to support your long term health.
• Handouts and tasty meal ideas to inspire your healthy eating.

Optimum nutrition assessment

Personal nutritional assessment and individual nutrition planning for your health goals

What is it for?

Whatever your health goals, an optimum nutrition consultation will assess your nutritional intake and provide you with a personalised nutrition plan to help you ensure that your body gets what your body needs. The aim is to:

• Enable you to understand the possible relationships between your eating patterns, lifestyle factors and the particular challenges you want to address
• Show you how making positive changes may help you to achieve your health, wellbeing and fitness goals.
• Help you to develop a practical strategy for making those changes.

Who is it for?

An Optimum Nutrition assessment is for you if:

• You have a particular challenge relating to health, wellbeing or fitness that you want to address with the help of nutrition. This could be:
  • A health-related concern. Your GP is always your first port of call for any symptoms you may have, but a nutritional approach may complement medical treatments for a wide range of health concerns.
  • A positive health, wellbeing or fitness goal such as getting the most out of your exercise programme, or improving your resilience, concentration and performance.
• You would like to understand the role that optimum nutrition can play.
• You are open to making changes to your eating patterns and lifestyle in order to achieve your health, wellbeing and fitness goals.

What's involved?

• You complete and return a health questionnaire and 3-day food diary before your consultation.
• I then analyse this. If your questionnaire indicates that it would be advisable for you to visit your GP (for example, if you have a self-diagnosed condition), I will refer you and we will be able to proceed with the consultation once we have his or her opinion.
• During the initial consultation, I will explain how your eating patterns and lifestyle may be influencing your health or performance. I may recommend tests to help establish this. Sometimes tests can be done by a GP, or they may need to be done by a medical laboratory at additional cost. Tests are optional.
• We then work together to agree a health improvement plan including staged nutritional and lifestyle changes. The emphasis is on the food you eat, but I may also recommend supplements where there is evidence to suggest they could be beneficial. Supplements are also optional.
• A follow-up consultation is recommended after 4 to 6 weeks, and at least one further follow-up is usually advisable.

What do you get?

An Optimum Nutrition assessment will:

• Identify the underlying factors that may be related to the challenges you want to address, based on analysis of your health status questionnaire.
• Assess your nutrient intake against recommended minimum levels and higher optimum levels, based on a detailed analysis of your 3-day food diary.
• Explain the impact of your eating patterns and how they may be directly related to the challenges you want to address and to any underlying factors.
• Advise you on nutritional and lifestyle adjustments that may help to address these and enable you to achieve your health, wellbeing and fitness goals.
• Make recommendations for nutritional supplements where evidence suggests these may be helpful.
• Provide you with a written report including a detailed evaluation of your typical food intake against recommended and optimum levels, with graphs and pie-charts as well as a written explanation to make it all easy to understand, and recommendations for how to adjust your eating patterns to help ensure you get not only the recommended minimum nutrient intakes but higher, optimum levels.
• Provide you with handouts and tasty meal ideas to inspire your new eating patterns.
• Help you to set SMART goals so that you can evaluate your progress moving forward.
• Incorporate coaching to help you to harness your motivation so you can embed lasting changes to address your heath challenges and achieve your wellbeing and fitness goals.

Free taster consultation

I offer a free telephone consultation up to 20 minutes long which will:

• Give you a broad insight into how your eating patterns could be influencing your health
• Help you to understand whether nutritional therapy could help you achieve the outcomes you want
• Help you decide whether you think nutritional therapy may be for you
• Help you to decide which programme would be most appropriate for you

To book your free taster

Phone me on 07902 686 301 or email me at hello@clarecasson.co.uk

Consultation fees

Please call for details of consultations fees and any current promotional offers 07902 686 301 or email me at hello@clarecasson.co.uk

Payment

Payment is in advance by bank transfer.

Money back guarantee

If you are unhappy with a consultation, I will refund the cost.

Free telephone and email support

You are free to contact me as often as you need to with enquiries and for brief coaching following a consultation. If I am unable to talk when you call, I will arrange a time for you to call back. There is no contractual limit to the telephone and email support offered, however, please note that email and telephone support are not intended to replace follow-up consultations or to discuss and plan options for health improvement plans. If I felt the extent of support required or the issues being raised warranted a formal consultation, I would ask you to make another appointment for an additional consultation and reserve the right to limit support in such circumstances, as it is in the best interests of client safety and wellbeing.

About me

• I am a fully qualified Nutritional Therapist and a trained personal and executive coach. See website for details www.clarecasson.co.uk. Only nutritional therapists and dietitians are qualified to give 1:1 nutritional advice in a clinical context. Nutritionists who haven't also qualified as nutritional therapists or dietitians are not.
• My training complies with National Occupational Standards and I am registered with the official regulatory body, the CNHC (Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council). The Department of Health has recommended that doctors refer patients to CNHC-registered nutritional therapists.
• I aim to provide sensible, practical, realistic advice based on eating a wide range of fresh, healthy, tasty and satisfying foods. You can find out more about my philosophy and approach on my website www.clarecasson.co.uk