Welcome to my first ever blog!

Welcome to my blog!

I have decided to take the plunge and start writing a blog! So, here goes.

Hi everyone – My name is Maria Bates and before I get going, I would like to apologise in advance as I am no expert in creative writing so, please excuse any grammatical errors (not sure I really listened in that class – even though I got my English Language O Level!). I do realise that starting with an apology is possibly not the best way to start but it is always good to manage expectations right from the word go!

I would also like to thank you for spending some of your time reading this – many of the clients I see are incredibly time poor, so I appreciate you spending your time here – I do hope it will be worth it.

Why now?

It has taken me a little bit of time to build up the confidence to get going as there is a lot of stuff out there on the internet about nutrition – but hopefully via this blog, I can help to stop you feeling so overwhelmed and will be able to share some of my knowledge and experience gained over the years to throw some light on what may be going on in your body and some ways to start feeling better!

It is clear to me that the Internet is awash with “Nutritionists” - so what is the difference between us all and what should you look for when picking one of us to work with. So here’s a little bit about the difference between me and some of the other "Nutritionists" you may come across.

I studied for three years, gaining a level 5/6 Diploma (Dip CNM) which covered biochemistry and nutrition with biochemistry with CNM in London. In the final year I saw clients face to face under supervision and they were real people with real health concerns.

I am a “registered nutritional therapist” – what does that mean? I am registered with the Association of Naturopathic Practitioners (ANP) and to gain and maintain this registration I had to pass my diploma and then continue to complete a minimum of 20 hours Continuous Personal Development (CPD) a year – so the learning never stops!

An advantage of this qualification is that I am registered with a number of different laboratories and I can do private testing in a number of different areas, such as DNA, hormones, and the microbiome if we get to the point where testing would be a good option – it’s not always necessary.

One other thing – it is really important that you feel you can work with your nutritional therapist – which is why that 20 minute free discovery call is so important! It is your time to start to talk about what has been happening and you will quickly know if you connect and feel comfortable sharing the detail.

What can you expect?

So – what can you expect from my Blog. I am going to try and pick a health concern to share my knowledge and experience with you on, or talk about some of the CPD and research I have been doing which may benefit you to know as well.

I have recently taken a course to become a metabolic balance© Health Coach and I will be talking about that in my next post as I am currently doing the diet myself to see if it works!

It is an individualised diet, based on your blood results, to balance insulin which balances your blood sugar and supports weight loss and metabolic health. You may not know that Insulin not only utilises glucose but is also a fat storage hormone1 so balancing it is important at all stages of life.  Weight gain around the middle is one of the aspects of health that can change for women during peri menopause as other hormones start to fluctuate. But for some people weight management has been an issue most of their life – and when people say “it’s my hormones” – I would support that for some people it really could be!

I am really looking forward to talking to you, and hopefully working with you in 2024.

1.      Rahman M.S. et al (2021). Role of Insulin in Health and Disease: An Update. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 22(12), pp.6403.