About
Ali Muir DipION RCNHC MBANT
This is my story.....
My path to becoming a Registered Nutritional Therapy Practitioner started with a 3-year period of ill health. During that time a bad week could mean being off work with muscle aches all over, ‘brain fog’, and not having the energy to stand up or even hold a coffee mug between sips. At times I couldn’t lift my hands to my head to wash my own hair.
On my very best days I could make it to work, but for every day in the office I would need at least two days lying down afterwards to recover. To colleagues I looked fine on the outside, but I was in constant pain, couldn’t keep up with conversations, and dreaded being asked how my days off had been.
I was passed from GP to GP, from specialist to specialist — endless blood tests, MRI scans, ultrasounds. With a diagnosis of Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, and the suggestion I was suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, I was discharged and told there was nothing more they could do. They said I was “managing the symptoms well”.
The big turning point....
I didn’t feel like I should have to "manage" these symptoms, and I wasn’t going to take this lying down. Although I had no choice but to actually be lying down most of the time, I refused to accept this was how my life was going to be. As a mum of two young children, I couldn’t bear the impact this was having on them either. Normal everyday things like playdates, trips to the park, birthday parties, even shopping for school shoes were simply impossible.
Following research, I made some dietary changes myself, but the big turning point was getting personalised nutrition advice. Within a few months I was tentatively living a normal life again. After over 3 years of chronic pain, fatigue and frustration, I was amazed that something which seemed so simple — changing what I ate — got me my life back.
My interest was sparked. With my new lease of life and restored brainpower I completed a 4-year nutritional therapy course. Having graduated with a distinction from the Institute for Optimum Nutrition, my passion is now to empower others to realise they don’t have to accept “managing" their symptoms either.
I use a functional medicine approach to work with people to get to the bottom of their symptoms, to make nutrition and lifestyle changes and to get the life they once had back too. So that they can play with their children… go shopping….do the hoovering…go on holiday…socialise… and so much more.
All with a renewed energy and lust for life.
Qualifications, Professional Memberships and Registrations
I graduated with a distinction in Nutritional Therapy after 4 years of studying at the Institute for Optimum Nutrition.
I am a member of the British Association for Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine (BANT). BANT members are qualified in the science of nutrition as well as in clinical practice. BANT practitioners must have met the required standards of training, be fully insured and adhere to the CNHC Code of Conduct, Performance and Ethics and the BANT Professional Practice Handbook.
I am registered with the Complementary & Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC), the national voluntary regulator for complementary healthcare practitioners. The CNHC's key purpose is to protect the public. The Department of Health recommends that, where CNHC registers the therapy in question, you should consult with someone who is CNHC registered.
