Each day my best friend and I do our traditional afternoon walk. We talk about everything under the sun including our great love of food and what we shouldn’t be eating… It’s like we use our stroll as some sort of confessional for our food sins.

We chat about what dietary mistakes we have made in the last 24 hours and somehow reassure each other that all is forgiven and tomorrow is a new day.

When I really think about it though, I believe that the reason my friend and I are struggling with our eating habits is because there is so much information out there about diet and lifestyle. Truth be told, I always fall into the trap of following in the footsteps of celebrity tips and tricks, (whatever the Kardashian’s whip-up in the kitchen must be good enough for me too, right?). I know it sounds silly to trust diet trends, but it’s safe to say that many people look to these guides for inspiration and “professional advice”.

When I got home from my afternoon walk a couple of weeks ago, I looked at all of my fitness magazines and thought, “enough is enough of the self-help methods for healthy living.”

I booked myself in for a Nutritional Medicine appointment at Endeavour Wellness Clinics and as I walked out of my initial consultation, I felt motivated by the personalised treatment I had received.

It is accurate that Nutritionists have a key focus on food as medicine, but many people often believe that this is all they work with. People also assume that a nutritionist will act like the “bad cop” who will present a long list of food that they have to give up and changes they need to make.

I’m here to tell you that, yes nutritionist’s help you make better food choices, but they also do so much more. For example, the outcome from my appointment with my student nutritional medicine practitioner was a tailored lifestyle plan to optimise my health and achieve my desired results. The process of the consultation involved a breakdown of my current diet and health status. The nutritionist looked for food intolerances and assessed my pain, weight, stress and energy levels among other things.

My weekend social life and dining out inhibits my ability to micromanage my meals, yet surprisingly the nutritionist kept these factors in mind when formulating my health plan and we tweaked some things to make gradual but long term changes toward improving my overall well-being. Best of all I didn’t have to give up on the things I love in my life such as going out with friends and socialising on the weekend!

I have booked follow up appointments to track my progress and re-evaluate whether any changes need to be made as my work/life routine changes over time.

I read somewhere that Kim Kardashian has a personal nutritionist and now I do too, so obviously that makes me one step closer to having my own reality TV show and feeling like a million bucks.

But in all sincerity, I can’t praise the one-on-one support of my student nutritional medicine practitioner enough and it is great to know that someone is there to help me make the best health choices for my future self.

This article provides general information and is not intended to constitute advice. All care is taken to ensure information is accurate and relevant. Please see your Practitioner for health treatments and advice.