Helen Ritchie
Registered Nutritional Therapist
Helen Ritchie - Registered Nutritional Therapist
I specialise in women's health and nutrition. I am passionate about helping women STOP their menopause symptoms from disrupting their lives and careers so that they can START feeling at their best again.
When menopause symptoms struck me 9 years ago, I recognised the hot flushes and acute anxiety, but not the brain fog and disrupted sleep, which overnight left me feeling unable to perform in my senior marketing career and ultimately contributed to me being fired from that job.
Unable to take HRT due to my history of breast cancer, I started researching natural alternatives and eventually retrained in nutrition so that I could help other women avoid the unfortunate consequences of menopause and perimenopause that I experienced.
I provide personalised nutrition and lifestyle plans and advice on a one-to-one basis.
Helen Ritchie, Registered Nutrition & Lifestyle Practitioner
BA (Hons), DipION, mBANT, rCNHC
How can a Nutritional Therapist help me?
If you're looking for a natural way to manage the menopause and perimenopause transition, symptoms such as hot flushes, night sweats, brain fog, weight gain, disrupted sleep, anxiety, mood swings and energy, can all be effectively supported through personalised nutrition and lifestyle changes.
I can also support you in preventing diabetes and managing conditions such as osteoporosis, osteopenia, pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, chronic headaches, acid reflux, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
In addition to running my private clinic, I work as a Health & Wellbeing Coach on the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme.
Nutritional Therapy is not a replacement for medical advice, it is complementary, meaning that I frequently work alongside healthcare professionals to support your overall health and wellbeing.
My approach is holistic and based on the Functional Medicine model. I aim to uncover the biochemical root causes of your symptoms and then address them through personalised nutrition and lifestyle changes. It all starts with a comprehensive assessment of your health and medical history and 3-day food and lifestyle diary, to start piecing together the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle.
In our sessions together we discuss your priorities and goals and together create an agreed plan of action based on my recommended nutrition and lifestyle changes that fit around your lifestyle, likes and dislikes.
Services
Please click here for more information on the services I offer.
Nutrition MOT
Are you confused about what's healthy and what's not when it comes to good nutrition?
Would you like me to cast my expert eyes over your current diet and lifestyle habits?
Let me review what you're currently eating and provide some simple advice on how to make healthier choices.
This is for you if you don't have any specific symptoms or health concerns that need addressing, and are just aiming to be the healthiest you can be.
Based on a 3-day food diary completed in advance of our 60-minute session, we will discuss my recommendations, agree what changes you can make and I will email your personalised plan of action to you afterwards.
One-off Nutrition MOT: £95
Supplement and Medication Review
Are you confused about dietary supplements and unsure whether they're making a difference?
Or are you taking prescription medication and want to be sure that your supplements are safe to take and not going to cause any interactions with your medication?
Then this review is for you.
Supplements are big business and many of us take them hoping they will magically fix our symptoms.
Whilst there is no substitute for good nutrition and lifestyle practices, this one-off, 60-minute review will take the guesswork out of your supplements and ensure what you're taking is both safe and also effective.
One-off Supplement and Medication Review: £150
Wellness Check
Are you concerned about your risk of developing future health conditions? Or maybe you'd just like to have a comprehensive check of your overall nutritional status?
A wellness check provides you with a detailed assessment of your current state of health, based on a comprehensive blood test via a private laboratory that includes 56 markers, including many not routinely tested by the NHS.
We discuss the results of the test in a one-off 60-minute session and together we create a personalised action plan of agreed nutrition and lifestyle changes. .
Other tests, including urine, stool and saliva are available, as well as blood tests with more or less or specific markers.
Wellness Check: £450 [includes a nurse home visit to take blood]
One-off Intensive Session
If you have one major symptom or health concern that is bothering you and would like to come up with a strategy for dealing with it naturally through nutrition and lifestyle changes, then this one-off 90-minute intensive session is an alternative to working with me in a series of session as part of a 12-week programme.
Based on filling out a detailed health questionnaire and 3-day food diary, we discuss my recommendations during the session and together create a personalised action plan of agreed nutrition and lifestyle changes that will be emailed to you after the session.
One-off Intensive Session: £295
Intensive Session with a Follow-up Review: £445
The Menopause Method
My 12-week programme of 1:1 nutrition coaching is for menopausal and perimenopausal women who are ready to start getting back to feeling normal and like their old selves again.
Working with me in a series of sessions over 12-weeks allows us the time to uncover the underlying root causes of your symptoms and for you to make changes that will have a noticeable difference on how you feel.
Here’s what you’ll learn during 12 weeks of powerful 1:1 nutrition coaching:-
- How to clear your brain fog and regain focus and clarity.
- The best way to lose weight healthily and sustainably.
- How to stop anxiety and overwhelm for good.
- Techniques to reduce hot flushes and night sweats.
- How to get a good night's sleep.
The Menopause Method 12-week Programme: from £995
Corporate Wellness Workshops
and Talks
Many organisations are now investing in employee wellness programmes. With a 30 year corporate career in marketing behind me, I understand the challenges of working full-time in a stressful environment.
I can design and deliver bespoke workshops, talks and mini wellness sessions, aimed at educating, empowering and inspiring your workforce to live happier, healthier, more productive lives. These can also include food and cooking sessions if that is appropriate.
Recent workshop topics, in addition to managing menopause naturally, have included healthy eating, how to manage stress / lose weight / get a good night's sleep / reduce your risk of cancer / prevent dementia and Alzheimer's.
To discuss your requirements for a talk or workshop, please get in touch.
Not sure what support is right for you?
Let's chat!
Work with Me
Working with me within a programme of 1:1 nutrition coaching sessions over a period of 12-weeks is designed to uncover the underlying causes of your symptoms. It also gives you time to make changes at the speed you are comfortable with. Incremental small changes that fit with your lifestyle all add up to make a noticeable difference in getting you back to feeling good again. Most people underestimate the power of good nutrition and lifestyle choices on their health and wellbeing.
Working with me within a 12-week programme includes:
- An initial 90-minute in-depth consultation to assess current nutrition, lifestyle, symptoms and medical history, based on a detailed health questionnaire.
- A series of 5 x follow-up sessions to review progress, provide ongoing education and support, plus programme adjustments.
- A final review session to ensure you're on track and equipped to maintain the changes to ensure you continue to feel well.
- In-depth analysis of your 3-day food and lifestyle diary.
- Review of any prescription medication and check for any nutrient interactions [if appropriate].
- Personalised nutrition action plan and education based on YOUR goals and health concerns.
- Recommendations for supplements [if appropriate].
- Interpretation of any recent NHS blood test results and communication with your GP [if required].
- Recommendations for additional functional tests and interpretation of the results [if appropriate].
- Recipes and meal ideas/plans if required.
- Access to me between sessions via email or private messaging to answer any of your questions.
Location
I am based in Windsor and work online [via Zoom] and face to face in a local clinic.
If you've got questions and would like to understand how it could work for you, why not book a free call?