Meet Maria
“Mangia Bene!” : Eat Well!
Meet Maria means also meeting (not literally!) my family who had a big influence on my relationship with food. I grew up in an Italian family where food was central to our lives. My friends would always want to “meet at Maria’s” because there was a warm welcome and the gift of delicious food. Everything stopped for meal times and it didn’t matter what we were doing or who we were with. Sitting down to a lovely meal with my family still feels like a celebration.
My Mother, like most Italians, believed that good food was the key to everything: to happiness, to good health and, it could even help you find a ‘bello e bravo marito’ (a handsome and good husband)!
It wasn’t surprising that I turned to nutrition in my twenties to address a health problem which I was told could only be treated by medication and which had unpleasant side effects. I made an appointment to meet a nutritionist in London and, on her recommendation, modified my diet. The hardest thing was weaning myself off the five espresso’s a day!
Changing my diet had a profound affect. I went from feeling powerless to having some control over my health. Within a month my energy levels improved, I was sleeping better and I got my ‘mojo’ back. After three months, I had no symptoms. After twelve months I went to see my GP to confirm what I already knew: that there was no sign of my previous condition!
I then started to read lots of books on nutrition and attended seminars which fuelled my interest.
Meet Maria – the nutritional therapist and kinesiologist
I started helping friends and family and enjoyed it. I decided that if I was going to advise people I should get a formal qualification. The course I chose was holistic and had its foundations in naturopathic principles. This means treating the person as a whole and focusing on encouraging the body’s natural ability to heal itself. I then enrolled on a Nutritional Medicine degree. I haven’t looked back. I love my job.
I live in Bath with my husband and twin daughter and son. I enjoy yoga, jogging, ‘shooting the breeze’ with my children, cooking, calligraphy, making things, reading about nutrition and all things health-related, going to bed early, girls’ evenings, good design, juicy, fat blueberries and stroking my gorgeous dog, Blue!
I hope you will want to ‘meet Maria’ in person and find out how I can help.
