Laura Clark
I am a Registered Dietitian, nutrition consultant and food 'therapist'. I support women with a holistic approach grounded in science combining nutritional components with behaviour change therapy and various psychological tools to support positive relationships with food and nourishing diets and habits for body, mind and soul.
I specialise in women who are in mid-life juggling changing bodies and fluctuating hormones, especially those who have spent decades dieting and for whom food relationships are confused and all consuming.
I am an anti-diet advocate and take a weight neutral approach to improving health in both the physical and emotional sense.
I am particularly interested in perimenopause and menopause, and support women to achieve strong nutrition foundations and food relationships that allow them to act with confidence and clarity, reconnect with their bodies and harness their power in mid-life!
I provide 1-1 clinics using a combination of nutrition science, behavioural therapy and psychological modalities.
It was very early on in my career when I realised, we're a lot more complicated than we like to admit.
Combining a degree in nutrition and dietetics with a compassionate heart only seemed to get me so far.
It worked for those on prescriptive diets in hospital beds, but for the free-living individuals who came to clinics, it was a completely different ball game.
They were out there, just like you, living life, interacting with food in all sorts of different ways and juggling their health needs, daily wellbeing, mindset and behaviours.
I didn't want to be that dietitian who only did surface level stuff; who quizzed people on their diets and then gave them practical advice and a snazzy diet sheet.
I had a desire to dig a bit deeper. What's really going on here? How is this person feeling? How are their habits related to how they see themselves or how others are perhaps judging them?
Is food an afterthought in a busy life or perhaps a coping strategy for emotions that feel tough to handle? Whatever might be your struggle or frustration, it's easy for food to not feel as nourishing or as nurturing as it could.
With a solid foundation in nutritional science, I was drawn into the worlds of behavioural therapy and certain psychological modalities to help people more authentically.
I completed various trainings and qualifications in these specialisms, for example cognitive behaviour therapy, intuitive eating counselling and acceptance and commitment therapy. These are now the very foundations of my ethos and approach.
It is possible to be evidence based (and I have a huge passion for cutting through the nutribollocks) but also holistic, considering the person I'm working with as a whole.
We're complicated, but in an intriguing way. If it was simply about knowledge or calories in, calories out we'd have it all sussed. But we don't.
From daily clinics in the NHS and time in healthcare services abroad, I've totted up over 12, 000 patients and honed my craft.
I've always had an interest in science, but not in a lab coat type of way. I've eaten food now for over 40 years and studied nutrition for more than half of that time.
The Menopause Dietitian has evolved out of my first venture - Laura Clark Nutrition, which I established in 2004.
It's here as a calm, concise service to help navigate the choppy waters and unpredictability of hormonal changes in midlife.
It is representative of my stage of life and the awesome women I have the privilege to help every day.
Bringing together solid nutrition and behavioural change foundations and mixing them with spoonful’s of compassion and realism, I love to get to the heart of what women need.