Meet The Team: Lauren Walker, Nutritionist

By Krista Harris | 24 April 2023
5 Minute Read

Get to know Lauren Walker, Association for Nutrition (AFN) registered, who is offering nutrition consultations and support at Instinct, Tarporley. Lauren is the newest, friendly face at Instinct, who has just completed her education, so has the most up to date nutrition knowledge possible.

You may have noticed Lauren’s name appearing next to some of our nutrition blog posts and content recently! Click here to see the latest blog post written by Lauren.

Tell us a little bit about you…

I’m Lauren Walker, a highly motivated, enthusiastic, and qualified Registered Associate Nutritionist with the AFN.
My background starts within public health and working in the community to support healthy lifestyle changes. With my passion for physical fitness, post university I decided to delve into sport and exercise nutrition where I have now had the pleasure of working with some of the best people in the field.

How did you become a Nutritionist?

After A-levels I went on to complete my Bachelor of Science in Human Nutrition. I took every opportunity thrown my way, until the pandemic hit… what was supposed to be the best 3 years of my life, turned into 2 years. In my bedroom. Infront of a laptop. HOWEVER, instead of complaining I got on with things and did my best.

I contacted local nutritionists and grew my network. If university wasn’t going to give me the practical experiences, I was going to do it myself!

After completing my dissertation in my bedroom. Having graduated, I applied for my registration with the AFN and got straight to work in the industry. Over a year later and I have met some of the best people and worked with amazing clients. I am so grateful and so excited for all the people I am yet to work with.

Why did you decide to become a Nutritionist?

During my high school years being a keen long-distance runner had quite a toll on my health. I was diagnosed with severe depression from the ages 14-15 and used running as a way to feel good. However, I wasn’t eating enough.

Once I started to learn more about nutrition during therapy, I realised my pursuit to being happy and healthy, was actually quite disordered and was impacting my health. I could never find help for gaining weight apart from “eat more” and as a young girl who was probably consuming less than 1000kcal per day I physically couldn’t do this without being in pain. I wish I could have had a nutritionist or dietitian for guidance back then.

This is why I am so passionate about what I do. With this personal connection and lived experience, I want to share my knowledge, mitigate under-fuelling, and therefore the health and performance consequences that follow.

What do you actually do in your nutrition sessions?

A nutrition consultation with me typically involves an initial assessment of your diet and lifestyle habits and health goals to develop personalised recommendations to improve your overall health and well-being. Here is a quick breakdown of a consultation and why it is important:

  • Dietary analysis: We will review your current diet to understand your nutrient intake and identify areas where you may need to make changes.
  • Lifestyle assessment: We will evaluate your lifestyle habits, such as exercise routine, sleep habits, and stress levels, to determine how they may be affecting your diet and overall health.
  • Goal setting: Together we will establish health goals, such as losing weight, improving digestion, or improving performance.
  • Personalised nutrition plan: Based on your dietary analysis, lifestyle assessment and goals, I will develop a personalised nutrition plan that includes recommendations for specific foods, portion sizes, meal timing, and supplements if necessary.
  • Follow up sessions: After this we will schedule follow-up sessions to monitor your progress, make adjustments to your nutrition plan, and provide ongoing support and guidance to help you achieve your health goals! These may be in person or via phone call.

What’s the goal?

I value meaningful relations and supporting my clients to make simple, effective, and sustainable changes to their nutrition and lifestyle by providing them with the skills and knowledge for success. I consider myself as empathetic and aim to take away the guess work around nutrition, with so much misinformation around I will always use evidence-based research.

Life gets in the way sometimes; however, I am here to make life just that bit easier by accounting for any barriers or changes you may be experiencing.

I am a big advocate for fuelling for the work required and ensuring my clients, especially athletes are aware of their nutritional requirements.

If I am able to make you feel more confident and improve your relationship with food, I will be one very happy Nutritionist!

What makes you stand out?

I believe that to make a real difference to someone’s lifestyle and relationship with food it is to be a support system for them. I will never give a client a restrictive set meal plan. These are a huge red flag and are often a cause for most of my clients struggles with their nutrition now. I will work with you and support you in every way I can. Results shouldn’t be drastic. We want to think long term sustainable changes, a happy, healthy, lifestyle.

Finally, tell us a little about your personal life…

If I’m not in a coffee shop working, I will be at the gym training during the week, I like to switch days up and incorporate some running too as well as parkrun at Delamere on a Saturday!

I am lucky to have a rugby boyfriend (Max) who has a similar lifestyle to me, we like to visit new places together, rate flat whites and when I am free, I enjoy watching him play! I am a huge foodie (shocker) and love to make and film recipes for my Instagram (@Laur.walkernutrition).During the summer months I like to be a social butterfly and be outside constantly. I am always up for trying something new and love activities!

Book a consultation with Lauren:

If you would like to book a nutrition consultation with Lauren Walker, get in contact with her via email: info@laurenwalkernutrition.com or call 07950710074.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

2 × 4 =

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close