My Biography (Sort of!)
I don’t know if any of you have tried to write one of these ‘about me’ style pages before?
It’s much harder to write about oneself than I thought, I mean, how hard can it be to reflect my passion and describe the actual journey I’ve been on so people can get to know me virtually… apparently very!
Apologies if not everything sounds completely sincere, or you are left feeling a bit erm bored!
Do feel free to head back to my balls at any time!
Anyway, here goes …
Starting with the obvious.
I’m Frankie ! I’m 35 and truly passionate about nutrition, food science, living in alignment with our ancestry and all things BOTH healthy and yummy.
However, to truly get to know me I need to start at the beginning, well the most relevant beginning anyway!
I was very young when my Mother discovered I had a Thyroid condition, I had little energy, and went from being a young, quite slender primary school girl to a rather chubby pre -teen who felt overwhelming fatigue a lot of the time! After the initial discovery by our family Doctor I was referred to a specialist quickly (THAT IS WHERE THE CONTACT WITH ANY SPECIALIST BEGAN AND ENDED!).
A very high percentage of people with Thyroid conditions come under the autoimmune bracket, either suffering with Graves Disease (Hyperthyroid /Overactive thyroid) or Hashimoto’s (Hypothyroid/Underactive Thyroid) Unbeknown to the masses these conditions can be hugely improved if not completely reversed with the correct nutrition and supplementation.
Unfortunately though, that is not the entire picture for me. My thyroid is both partially formed and ectopic, thus making my journey quite unique! The initial suggestion was to remove the remaining thyroid gland. My Mother flat refused this and I am so glad she did, at the time it would have meant a nasty scar down my neck and a rollercoaster ride whilst they tried to get medication dosages correct. Medication has still been a battle and as I grew older the dose of thyroxine medication I was on seemed to steadily increase along with my waist – size. I spent many years trying to be comfortable in a bigger body and had a group of girls who I adored through school who made it much easier to love the skin I was in (girls like that seem so rare these days) but to those who do celebrate and encourage each other I applaud you!
Nutrition information, or even marginally correct food advice didn’t seem to be available to me or my peers then, certainly not the sort to help with a worsening thyroid condition! My Mum was the only one injecting healthy food into my life and always telling me “listen to your body” she was born in India and always incorporated amazing spices, a good helping of different fatty meats and fish, along with fresh fruit and veggies into our home comfort foods. She later qualified in Aromatherapy, I am sure the specific essential oils she used (replacing toxic chemicals) ensured my body remained a little stronger.
My Father, a bachelor for most of my life! was the one to make sure I got some exercise in, he was an avid cyclist and completed the Paris to Hayling ride each year whilst I was young, most Sundays would be 50 mile rides at least, all be it with regular pub pit stops! However my diet whilst in his home was very beige, carb heavy foods. I remember now the realisation between how I felt in each household as a result but of course this was easy to ignore.
Teenage years where a particular struggle, I still had girlfriends around me, some confident in their body shape and others not so. My diet had become more classic of a student. By now I had fallen victim to total sugar addiction. This, I believe, is the modern day’s biggest cause of disease.
I began to feel more symptoms of brain fog and sluggishness. My confidence plummeted a little and despite some attention from the opposite sex I would have days where I literally wanted to claw at my tummy and inner thighs, I now know that hormones had a huge part to play in this rollercoaster, but of course my thyroid hormones and my sex hormones couldn’t have been more out of control. I would take my medication each day like clockwork and made the mistake of adding the contraceptive pill into the mix upon the advice of my doctor (I cannot begin to tell you the damage these tiny hormone - filled pills can do to our overall health!)
After initial schooling, I pursued a career in childcare whilst studying Health and Social Care at Chichester College. This was my first insight into some basic (and I mean basic!) good practices regarding food and how the quality of food not the quantity could have much more of an impact on health and fat loss.
I found concentration hard, but I completed College and wanted to continue at the nursery school I was working In. I loved working with children. and being an only child, the family feel within this little building was wonderful, I made firm friends with staff and parents and watched many children, and their siblings grow, injecting fun and love where I could.
However, food was still an issue, the girls I worked with and I regularly indulged in deliveries of baguettes and pastries along with the nursery food that was on offer! We would laugh and joke about the amount of food we consumed without a moment’s thought for the consequences or the quite unhealthy picture we were painting to little eyes! I do get quite sad thinking of this now.
The opposite of this is now true in that I want to be able to positively affect the lives of little people with food as much as possible, giving them the best start in life and the tools to overcome in a world where we mask the root cause instead of fixing it!
Fast forward through 10 years of juggling my careers in education, my unique condition, hormones still running wild after having my own beautiful children and being neglected by our medical system. I had an unhealthy relationship with food and had undergone gallbladder surgery. I regret wholeheartedly letting go of my gallbladder, If I had known then what I do now I would never have made the decision to undergo this op. Anyone telling you that you do not need one of your organs, is lying to you! However, you can still thrive, It just takes some work and the right advice.
These experiences left me determined to find the truth lying within the power of food. The literal hunger to understand only grew from this point on. I started reading medical papers, books about the science of nutrition and evolution, looking into what gut health really meant, learning about my own condition (which included information about absorbing vital nutrients without a gallbladder) as thoroughly as possible and looking at all arguments with as little bias as I could. What I found continued to astonish me, the untruths that are spoken daily by trusted doctors and physicians is so sad. We are conditioned from the moment we enter this world to do the exact opposite of what our own DNA and human body requires. We have gone so far away from the path that was meant for our bodies and what we were designed to eat and yet we are amazed that we live in a world abundant with pain and disease.
I want you reader, to know that you have been wronged. After discovering the truths, I am not looking on with criticism but grace and respect for where you have been and what you have experienced. I was once where you are which is why my experiences and my own chosen research has been, and continues to be, above all else, the most valuable education I’ve ever had.
It is now 2016 and unbeknown to me I am working in my last school setting, a place for boys with a wide variety of additional needs and behavioural challenges. This was a happy time for me but also a significant stepping stone in my journey towards really being able to help people. I loved working with these young boys and having a part to play in their progression into young men, it was a place of change and positivity and thus somewhere I was able to influence in little ways with my knowledge about good nutrition. I noticed here a huge connection between gut health and cognitive function, this is obviously hugely important for boys battling ADHD, autism and other conditions. I would have little conversations with parents which turned out to be more impactful than I ever imagined. The boys whose parents were able to implement a low sugar, higher fat diet or even progress towards this were seeing huge improvements in their child’s abilities. I watched boys sit through lessons who were previously unable to concentrate for more than a minute and even assaulting staff who attempted to help. This school was sadly academized three years into my time there and unfortunately because of their decision to decrease my earnings it became impossible to continue.
But …….
Here lies the moment that The Kitchen Detox, my business, encompassing all my knowledge and love, was born!
I was penniless, scared, and a little angry, but it gave me the ultimate drive to succeed, equipped with my own mind now full of knowledge and almost ready to explode about it, my books, my kitchen, and a humble Nutri-bullet. I designed my website as a complete technophobe and converted my social media platforms into business pages. Enter the Pandemic facade! (I won’t bore you with another monotonous lockdown story here) but no, I was not issued government help or financial support. I started to share some favourite nutritious staples and what I was putting in practice for my own family.
… my balls came to life!!
I created a high fat, nutrient dense, refined sugar free snack initially for my children to enjoy, I used collagen having studied its huge role in gut health, along with precisely sourced superfood powders to give them all their own unique nutritional profile to support different needs. I was absolutely convinced I could make a superior tasting snack without the absolute junk packed into our current UK snacking habits and even that of many store brought “health foods”. Again, I am a firm believer that your gut is your second brain, so lets give it the respect it deserves! I am pleased to say my snacks are now sold in a number of local Café’s, Clinics, Refillery’s and of course on my own website to individuals looking for something that will give more than a moments satiation. I am still so frustrated when I see PT’s and coaches pushing protein bars and shakes or coca cola and ‘fat free’ yogurts packed full of the most hormone disrupting artificial crap just because it fits their calorie recommendations or macro design! Not to mention the energy drink crisis! For me, this is more of a crisis than covid any day!
The multiple failings I have had to endure through our modern medical system and also watch others endure, have left me even more determined to offer the practical help that is so needed and yet lacking. But also I want to be able to offer financially accessible help to every walk of life. I am not wealthy, and I know how crippling it feels to live with something life altering, without support, not knowing where to turn.
It should not matter where you have come from or where you are going, if like me you are a single parent relatively on the bread line or if you are a multimillionaire, I want to help you. Because you have the right to break free from your lifelong conditioning. The conditioning bestowed upon us by the pharmaceutical companies, modern medicine, supermarkets and fast-food companies, corrupt government policies and backwards health food/fitness industries.
You may be wondering what sets me apart from others in my field, well maybe that’s for you to decide, but what I will say is I am for YOU in every way, as above I want to break the stigma that a knowledge based nutritional plan is only for the wealthy ( I genuinely believe I offer one of the most nutrient dense snacks on the market for the lowest price) I also want to get totally real with you! Yes, science absolutely has its place, however (unlike me) I am well aware that most of the world does not find it fun to read medical papers and study the inner workings of our delicate and individual framework! You want to be simply told what to do for your body right?
I’m about making things, simple, down to earth and clear, and most importantly fully accessible! Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying breaking addictions is easy, but it can certainly be a lot easier with the right information and guidance and without needing your own degree in anatomy and physiology to understand me! I believe, that with help, every single person, at any age, has the power to dramatically improve their health.
But let’s get a few things straight, do I want to count calories and macros with you? ABSOLUTELY NOT! Do I want you to be bound by a regime or structure in order to be able to “reward yourself” again a big fat NO!
I want you to eat a proper human diet, that includes quality animal products, packed with flavour and nourishment.
I completed a diploma in Understanding Nutrition early on in my journey with New Skills Academy. This year I am completing my Practitioner Diploma in Nutritional Healing with the Nutritional Healing Foundation.
So , this leads me to say that truly the best part of my education has been that of my own studies and intense reading, along with the wonderful individuals I have had the pleasure of meeting so far, those who have the same faith in functional medicine and natural healing. Importantly too of course is my own health journey, it has been full of experience and enlightenment, my suffering, however small, will serve to help those I have the pleasure of working with.
I have worked with individuals suffering with a range of auto- immune conditions, poor gut health, hormone imbalances food sensitivities etc. Most, if not all of them have also been unhappy with their weight, sleep, energy levels and so on. I have no surprise (not because of arrogance but because I know what works) but I am extremely pleased to say that I have had immensely positive feedback from each and every one, some have even completely reversed their conditions, this makes my heart sing! Remember weight gain is a symptom, one that can be fixed.
I hope you now feel like you know me better. It is right that you have access to all of the above information in order to decide if I am right for you! This isn’t a first date, no, but it’s certainly just as important!
Please contact me for a down to earth chat and let me get to know you.
It Is now my mission, my passion, my life, to get YOU feeling YOUR BEST!