I first started studying nutrition and health coaching back in 2016 when I got an unexpected redundancy from a company and found myself with a few months time out from the normal 9-5 grind. I signed up to the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) to qualify as a health coach (a relatively unheard of term back then). I completed that course and really enjoyed it but did not feel in anyway ready to start taking on coaching clients.

My interest in the area of nutrition, performance and self improvement continued to grow and in 2018 I decided to undertake a Diploma in Nutritional Science to qualify as a nutritionist from the Irish Institute of Nutrition and Health (IINH). Why they all call themselves institutes I do not know but anyway…

I am in the middle of Year 2 currently and this weekend just past we were focused on Cardiovascular health, a topic that is very dear to my heart (boom boom!) with my own dads history in mind. We studied the entire anatomy and physiology of the heart and cardiovascular system and the dysfunctions and disorders that can arise in this area and how to treat clients with these issues.

Now to the muddy waters…

I just finished my lecture weekends on the Immune system. I thought Digestion was complicated (Its Just One Bite of Food). I thought Biochemistry was mind-blowing. I was amazed at the Liver and all the things it does for us.

However, the immune system is on another level.

Let me give you an example. We have 2 types of immunity in our bodies.

We have “Innate” immunity which we are all born with and provides us with a universal defense mechanism against infection and invading pathogens (the bad guys – viruses, bad bacteria, toxins, parasites). It works in a non-specific way in that it looks for and kills anything that looks even remotely suspect floating around inside of us. This is a super important defense mechanism as when we are born this is the ONLY defense we have for the first 4-7 days of life. Incredible right?

After 4-7 days, a second type of immunity is born.

Continue reading “Super Immunity” →

There are so many things going on in these miracle bodies of ours even just to process one bite of food, that it amazes me how we are still alive at all! As well as so many processes going on in parallel, there are so many things that can and do go wrong in this digestion process, it’s no wonder the pharma companies are making a fortune from all our foodborne diseases. Taking a pill for every ill is far easier for most people than doing the hard yards of working out what it is that you are doing or eating that is not serving you well. Well, that’s where Nutritional Therapy comes in.

Continue reading “It’s Just One Bite of Food” →

In July of 2016, I got redundancy from a software job I was working at the time. This was the first time, in my 17 years working that I have actually been made redundant from a job. I have been in plenty of companies where they had rounds upon rounds of redundancies but it just never involved me. So anyway, it was my turn so off I went with a miserable severance and a big smile on my face. I actually liked the job so it was a pity but it was due to circumstances beyond my control and the redundancies were wide and deep. So in the end, I decided I would deliberately take 4 months off. The job market was and still is good here in Dublin so I wasn’t worried about picking up another job but I was worried about finding a good job.

Anyway, long story short, this was when I decided to run my first marathon and when I started into a Diploma in Health and Nutrition Coaching from IIN.

Continue reading “Going Back to College” →