Meet our Gut Health Dietitian
Wow, there is a lot of nutrition information out there. It’s conflicting and confusing and all you want is some answers. Perhaps that’s how you found yourself in front of this page.
Maybe you’ve been suffering from gastrointestinal issues for ages and you don’t know what’s causing it. You’re frequently in pain or discomfort. You find that your poo changes from constipated to loose and you have no idea why. You’ve tried eliminating some foods and including more fibre, but nothing seems to help…
But how do we do it?
In studying the human body and nutrition for more than 5 years I have gained a solid understanding of how nutrients effect our physiology. But knowing nutrition and applying that to everyday food choices are two very different things. That’s where my passion and skills lie. I can help you to feel comfortable with your food choices by giving you practical strategies that you can apply straight away. I can:
- find meal ideas and recipes that fit within your busy life
- determine your energy and nutrient requirements and translate that into real food,
- develop eating patterns for sustained energy,
- help you to challenge your relationship with food and emotional eating, and
- give you the skills to maintain healthy eating long term.
It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen (I can’t believe I’m quoting a Pantene Ad)!
Over the past 8 years working with clients, one-on-one, I have seen what a difference small changes can make. It’s about incremental change and an accumulation of marginal gains.
If you’re:
- looking for the silver bullet or quick fix,
- close minded or unmotivated to change, or
- wanting someone to do it all for you.
I can tell you now that I am not the health professional for you.
But if you’re:
- looking for long term change,
- wanting to do your body (and mind) a favour,
- willing to be open minded and give some different things a go, or
- not sure where to start
Then I’m the dietitian for you!
Gut Health
Beyond helping people feel confident and comfortable with food in general, I have a particular interest in gastrointestinal (gut) health. I am fascinated by the way our body breaks down our food, absorbs the things that it needs and then eliminates the things it doesn’t. And by extension, I’m fascinated by all the ways that process can go wrong.
Abdominal bloating. Excessive wind. Heartburn. Nausea. Cramping. Urgency. Diarrhoea. Constipation.
All of these symptoms are signs that something is not right with your gut.
While there’s no doubt that food effects these symptoms, figuring out which aspect of our food is causing what symptoms is a challenging puzzle to solve.And, the most common struggle I see when investigating gut symptoms is a sporadic or inconsistent approach.
Maybe you were really motivated to fix your gut symptoms, so you started taking a probiotic and a fibre supplement as well as eliminating wheat and dairy all in one go. You may have even felt better with those changes, but you’re not sure which of the changes helped. After a while found it hard to keep up so you started forgetting your probiotic and included a few more wheat based treats. Throwing everything at the problem, all at once, often makes it harder to figure out the causes and contributors.
To get some clear answers on what’s causing your gut symptoms I really like to take a holistic and systematic approach. I work in close communication with you and your GPs to consider the functional, infectious, bacterial and common dietary factors before completing a step-by-step investigation into possible intolerances.
Clare can help you with:
General Health and Wellbeing – weight maintenance, weight loss or weight gain through balanced and healthy habit changes.
Gut and Digestion – irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, low FODMAP diet, food intolerances, food allergies, maximising and improving gut health, digestive issues (diarrhoea and constipation), diverticulitis, celiac disease, Crohn’s disease and support for other gastrointestinal issues.
Chronic Disease – lowering cholesterol and/or blood pressure, type 2 diabetes management, gestational diabetes management, reducing insulin resistance.
Mental Health – eating disorders, disordered eating, managing emotional eating, support for depression and anxiety, food anxiety and stress, building a healthy relationship with food.
Women’s Health – pregnancy and postpartum nutrition
Sports and Performance – endurance sport performance (running, cycling, rowing, dancing), race day/competition day nutrition.
Clare’s Qualifications:
- Accredited Practicing Dietitian (APD) with the Dietitians Australia (DA).
- Bachelor of Human Nutrition from the University of Canberra.
- Master of Nutrition and Dietetics from University of Canberra.
Clare has been featured in publications including Canberra CityNews:
Q&A with Clare!
What’s your favourite food?
Sticky date pudding. I have a pretty big sweet tooth and sticky date pudding reminds me of family birthdays at the Southern Cross Club and winter weekends as a kid. I usually check the dessert menu at a restaurant before the mains list. If sticky date is an option, then the main meal has to work around that!
What’s your favourite cooking method?
Baking – but not just baked cakes and biscuits. I love roasted vegetables and baked marinated meats. The classic method of whacking it all in the oven and forgetting about it for 20 minutes to an hour is so fantastic. Plus, in winter it helps to heat the house and fill the room with beautiful smells.
Why did you become a dietitian?
If I am being 100% honest, I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I left school. I knew that I was good at human biology and computers and it was a toss up between the two. Human biology won out because I knew that I wanted to interact with people on a day-to-day basis, rather than a computer screen (though I seem to do a fair bit of that now anyway). Nutrition was the most appealing course in my home town that had a focus on human biology.
I regret nothing! The more I studied the chemical structure of food and how it interacts with our body the more fascinated I became. I would come home and rant and rave about carbohydrates, amino acids and different types of fats as well as vitamins and minerals and how our body uses them all. I was excited by the idea of sharing what I have learnt and the possibility of helping people apply scientific evidence to everyday food decisions. It sounds really nerdy, but that is what I am at heart. A really big nerd who loves to help people!
Yes, I love food but that is not why I got into nutrition. If anything the study of nutrition has turned a moderate interest in food into a love. What’s more, studying nutrition has made me realise that no food is good or bad. It’s just a different mix of chemicals. And by making some simple adjustments to our relationship with food, we can achieve good health and happiness!