Hi!

My name’s Olly and I’m delighted to introduce myself as a health coach.  I’ve been asked to work alongside the team at Natural Ketosis with the aim to help people make positive changes to their health and habits.

I’ll give you an idea of where I came from, and why I’m so interested in health and wellbeing…and how I can hopefully help in your quest to get healthier!

I’m now a health coach working for the NHS within the New Forest, and I also do private coaching one-to-one.  I now love what I do for a living.  It’s great to help people help themselves. 

Previously, I worked in the travel industry…my last job was working for a small group adventure company as a sales and marketing rep…I did 12 years of that.  Sounds quite glamorous, and yes, I did travel around and I enjoyed many adventures…but after that amount of time with the same company, it didn’t make me jump out of bed with enthusiasm any more.  I more than dabbled in depression and anxiety during those years, as something wasn’t really fulfilling me...and I had little understanding of how my highly processed, convenient diet of was not helping me out.  I had poor mental health and poor dental health – having gum disease on and off for a few years. 

In late 2016 I quit the job and had a year out…spending 2017 in India and Nepal.  Amongst other things, I trekked in the Himalayas, spent time in Buddhist monasteries, learnt meditation, went to yoga school and volunteered to teach English and sports in Kerala.  I spent my downtime listening to podcasts, watching YouTube and reading books on all aspects of health and wellbeing.  Life away from western cultures was so refreshing.  In the places I stayed in South Asia, eating and cooking fresh food was prioritised.  I can’t remember eating a bad meal.  (I certainly wasn’t low carb or keto then – but I was making the transition from junk food to real, home-cooked food). 

Amongst the hours and hours of podcasts I listened to, Wim Hof kept popping up…and the timing of his winter retreat worked out nicely…so December of 2017 I spent a week with Wim and loads of other blokes in Poland.  A fully immersive experience of some crazy cold exposure, breathing and mindset challenges. 

With a full year away from the UK, I came back with new perspectives on life and health.  I’d improved my mindset, I had ditched the convenience food, I had better sleep hygiene and had practised many positive ways to combat my stress.  A few observations hit me when I began to settle back into the UK:

-       A lot of people look sick.
-       Most of the food in our shops and restaurants produces illness.
-       Most of the food is highly processed.
-       Chronic stress and inactivity are very common.
-       People spend a lot of time indoors looking at screens.
-       There are many obstacles in the way of great sleep hygiene.

With these thoughts in mind, I took a 6-month online health coaching course in Jan 2018.  And along with my own research, I got my head around being a health coach.  The course I took explained the benefits of keeping blood sugars in check…and with lots of dietary experiments I’ve got a good understanding of what foods serve me well now. 

I started out working for myself, but was always keen to work within the NHS, and I’ve been working full time in GP surgeries for the past 3 years as a health coach – seeing patients one to one, and also running low carb groups.  It’s very satisfying seeing patients make progress with their health…by making one change at a time. 

I’m also an ambassador for the Public Health Collaboration charity…and I’ve learnt a lot from them in the past 4 years.  Dr David Unwin is a particular favourite of mine, as he continues to inspire people to improve their health using the lower carb or keto approach.  A few other people who I’ve learnt lots from (in books, YouTube and podcasts) are Dr Jason Fung, Dr Ken Berry, Dr Brian Lenzkes, Dr Aseem Malhotra, Dr Peter Brukner, Professor Tim Noakes, Professor Ben Bikman, Dr Rangan Chatterjee, Gary Taubes, Nina Teicholz.  A few of my favourite podcasts are UK Low Carb, Low carb MD and Fabulously Keto.

In our modern world, it’s not always easy to be healthy…as our default ways of life aren’t always leading us down best paths (no shame or blame in this), but if you want to be healthy, we have to make a change or two.  This transition from the junk habits to better habits isn’t always easy…but it’s 100% possible…and health coaching can help!  With the right resources, support and accountability, it’s always possible to improve our ways.  Little changes over time can make massive differences. 

Dr Unwin frames each patient’s situation as like a puzzle to solve…and it’s one piece, or one meal at a time.  Progress, not perfection…and giving people hope that health can be upgraded is very important.

Day to day, I now help people get healthier, with food as the main tool.  It’s amazing how people make progress with their health by changing what’s on their shopping lists.  I really do love it when I hear that people have worked themselves out…I use the analogy of the hare and the tortoise all the time…and if you can be the tortoise and keep plodding along…then good things eventually happen. 

I’ll look forward to connecting with anyone in the low carb/FATT/Natural Ketosis community in the coming months.

Healthy regards,

Olly