Meet Jess - Eatwise Nutrition’s Registered Nutritionist
Hey! I'm Jess. Registered Nutritionist, Mum and passionate about the role of nutrition and lifestyle in preventative health care.
Originally a Bay of Plenty girl, I grew up in Tauranga but moved around with work and travel and now live by the beach in Papamoa with my husband and 2 children. It was inevitable that I would end up pursuing a career in the health industry. My family owned Tauranga Health Studio in the late 1960s, the first gym in Tauranga and having my own health challenges made it a natural path for me.
After completing studies at University in Human Nutrition and Fitness I have worked as a Registered Nutritionist (Nutrition Society of NZ) in clinic and specialise in nutrition to support gut issues (IBS & IBD), weight loss, hormone health and common health concerns around energy, sleep and stress . Nutrition advice is a minefield, I use a holistic evidence-based approach that cuts through the confusion to help you thrive.
My approach to health is to strip it right back to the basic foundations. Health advice is often over-complicated, people are willing to spend thousands on supplements and testing before getting the basics in order. The cost of chronic disease is estimated to reach $47 trillion worldwide by 2030 and so much of this burden could be prevented with nutrition and lifestyle. I feel very strongly that until nutrition is taken more seriously in our healthcare system we are fighting a losing battle.
On a less serious note a few random facts about me:
I used to swim competitively, my national qualifying event was 100m Backstroke, we trained 9 times a week for 1.5hr in the pool averaging 10-14km a day. Thats a lot of time staring at the back line ha!
I’ve had Ulcerative Colitis (Inflammatory Bowel Disease) for over 20 years, the silver lining is it lead me into my work as a nutritionist and now I support a lot of people with gastrointestinal health issues. I am fortunate to manage it naturally for the most part, but there have been some challenging times along the way.
Loves a whiskey and slow cooked brisket.
I played piano for 9 years, trying to get back into it again now. Love it!
Some of my best memories are my surf trips to Nicaragua and Indonesia. These trips have been traded for caravan holidays in NZ with the family which I wouldn’t change at all.
I used to make cheese and crochet as a hobbie.
I worked on a sailing boat in the Mediterranean, we sailed 8 days at sea from Palma to Turkey that was pretty cool.
Caravan adventure with the family.
Nicaragua, 2017