SB Nutrition

SB Nutrition Helping busy women improve their health and feel better from the inside out
- no fads, just simple, science-backed support.

Gut Health, Women's Health and Nutrition for Kids
| MSc Human Nutrition | 1:1 Coaching I can help with individual consultations, as well as seminars and cooking demonstrations for groups and employee wellness programmes. I also provide nutrition consultancy services for businesses.

If you’re struggling with uncomfortable, embarrassing bloating, the answer is simple: just do a detox.Or that’s what man...
16/06/2026

If you’re struggling with uncomfortable, embarrassing bloating, the answer is simple: just do a detox.

Or that’s what many wellness influencers would have you believe, anyway.

The thing is though, it’s not actually that simple. A lot of things can contribute to bloating, and it’s often not just one of these, but a combination.

So yes - bloating could be a sign of an intolerance or a reaction to food. But there are other factors like stress, lack of sleep, physical activity, and mental health that can also play a role.

Too little and too much physical activity can contribute to gut symptoms.

And mental health is really important. The gut-brain axis is a two-way communication system between your gut and brain. So what you eat can influence your mood and mental health, but things like stress and anxiety don’t just affect your mood, they can also impact your gut function and give symptoms like bloating.

So blindly cutting out a lot of foods might not be the most effective approach. A restrictive diet is difficult to stick to long-term, and if you’re cutting out a lot of nutritious foods, it’s going to have the opposite effect on your gut, and your overall health.

One thing you can try is to record what you eat, how you’re feeling, and your symptoms. This will help you pick up any patterns, so you can find out what your actual triggers are.

I’ve put together a free gut health guide that includes a Food, Mood and Symptom Tracker. You can download your copy at the “Resources” link in my bio, or send me a DM and I’ll send you the direct link 👇🏼

In my 20s I suffered from painful bloating, so bad that after many meals I often had to lie down, or walked around doubl...
09/06/2026

In my 20s I suffered from painful bloating, so bad that after many meals I often had to lie down, or walked around doubled over.

I didn’t bother checking it out, I just thought it was normal and that everyone else felt like this after eating. Or sometimes I thought that maybe I was just a bit of a glutton and had eaten too much, and I just needed to eat less (I can probably thank diet culture for that one!).
I had no idea that my diet and lifestyle - which were both pretty unhealthy at the time - were the problem.

It wasn’t until my early 30s that I started to become more interested in health and nutrition, eventually I made a career change and started my bachelor’s degree in nutrition. I was still experiencing gut symptoms, and finally decided to see my doctor. Knowing that I was studying nutrition, he ordered a lot of tests - not unnecessarily, but also as a bit of a learning experience for me. I found out I was low in a few important nutrients, but also that I had primary (genetic) lactose intolerance.

The most important part of the appointment for me though was when my doctor gave me a piece of paper where he’d written down the word “microbiota”. He told me to go home and look it up, because this was important, and something I needed to know about if I was studying nutrition.

This changed everything for me. This is where my gut health journey began, when I finally started to understand my own symptoms. It’s taken time to figure out all my triggers, and I now understand it’s not just about lactose - many other factors like stress and sleep are also involved.

Most importantly though, it helped me understand my own body. And my professional passion for gut health followed naturally from there.

In my 20s I suffered from painful bloating, so bad that after many meals I often had to lie down, or walk around doubled...
09/06/2026

In my 20s I suffered from painful bloating, so bad that after many meals I often had to lie down, or walk around doubled over.

I didn’t bother checking it out, I just thought it was normal and that everyone else felt like this after eating. Or sometimes I thought that maybe I was just a bit of a glutton and had eaten too much, and I just needed to eat less (I can probably thank diet culture for that one!).
I had no idea that my diet and lifestyle - which were both pretty unhealthy at the time - were the problem.

It wasn’t until my early 30s that I started to become more interested in health and nutrition, eventually I made a career change and started my bachelor’s degree in nutrition. I was still experiencing gut symptoms, and finally decided to see my doctor. Knowing that I was studying nutrition, he ordered a lot of tests - not unnecessarily, but also as a bit of a learning experience for me.
I found out I was low in a few important nutrients, but also that I had primary (genetic) lactose intolerance.

The most important part of the appointment for me though was when my doctor gave me a piece of paper where he’d written down the word “microbiota”. He told me to go home and look it up, because this was important, and something I needed to know about if I was studying nutrition.

This changed everything for me. This is where my gut health journey began, when I finally started to understand my own symptoms. It’s taken time to figure out all my triggers, and I now understand it’s not just about lactose - many other factors like stress and sleep are also involved.

Most importantly though, it helped me understand my own body. And my professional passion for gut health followed naturally from there.

When it comes to resolving issues like bloating, it can seem like nutrition advice goes one of two ways. You’re either t...
05/06/2026

When it comes to resolving issues like bloating, it can seem like nutrition advice goes one of two ways.

You’re either told to cut out complete food groups, eat “clean”, or try some sort of restrictive diet - or at the other end of the scale, you’ll often see very conservative approaches to avoid going outside the standard box of what is “approved”.

The thing is, I’m pretty boring, and live in the middle somewhere: I believe firstly, that there’s not one approach that works for everyone - so it’s not as black and white as the current information out there might make you think.

I don’t believe we should be being extreme at either end. There’s often no need to cut out all sorts of foods or entire food groups, and when it comes to gut health in particular, many of the foods that are commonly recommended you cut out are actually beneficial for the gut. So in some cases, you might actually be doing harm than good by cutting these completely.

On the other hand, it’s also important not to be overly cautious and dismissive of something that might actually help in some cases, just because it’s not “by the book” or not yet in the official guidelines. Guidelines can take a while to be updated when new research comes out anyway.

Every person I work with is different, that’s why my approach is too. If something has been shown to help in a specific situation, and isn’t going to cause harm, then it can sometimes be worth trying.

When I was 24, my main priorities were partying and travelling - and I was really good at both of those!When you see som...
03/06/2026

When I was 24, my main priorities were partying and travelling - and I was really good at both of those!

When you see someone like myself who works in nutrition, you might assume I’ve always lived a perfect, healthy life - but that’s not always the case. I would love to say that I’ve always had a focus on health and nutrition. But the truth is, 24-year-old me didn’t really care much about these.

Like many young women though, I did at times get caught up in following what women’s magazines told me was “healthy” - which in reality was diet culture, and not actually very healthy at all.

These days my life is very different, and had someone told me then what my life would look like now, I would never have believed them. I’m really pleased that my habits have changed though, because I probably wouldn’t be in a very good place if I’d continued on the path I was on back then.

My point is that it’s never too late to start making changes, especially when it comes to health!

31/05/2026

When life gives you lemons... 🍋

Most of this week I´ve been either looking after sick little ones, or being sick myself.

So since I haven´t had time to work on what I’d actually planned for the week, here are a few tips from me on what to eat and drink when you’re not feeling the best.

The theme for World Digestive Health Day this year is chronic diarrhoea, so it feels just a little bit ironic that most ...
30/05/2026

The theme for World Digestive Health Day this year is chronic diarrhoea, so it feels just a little bit ironic that most of our family has been down with a stomach bug this week 😅
Pretty much all of us will experience acute diarrhoea from time to time, due to a stomach bug or something we’ve eaten that didn’t quite agree with us. But if you experience diarrhoea over a longer period of time, this is a sign that something’s not right, and should definitely be checked out with your doctor.

Some common causes of chronic diarrhoea include:
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Inflammatory Bowel Disease (Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis)
• Food allergies, intolerances, or coeliac disease
• Gut infections

If you’ve been putting off that GP visit, then consider this your friendly reminder 😉

A delicious treat that your gut bugs will also love 💜I had a lot of great feedback about the recipes I included in Resto...
15/05/2026

A delicious treat that your gut bugs will also love 💜

I had a lot of great feedback about the recipes I included in Restore-Balance-Thrive, and the main “negative” feedback was that participants wanted even more of the same 😆
This one in particular seemed to be a favourite, and has also become one of my go-tos - so I thought I’d share it here, so you can whip some up for the weekend.

Swipe 👉🏼 for the recipe
Enjoy!

If you’re curious about the full program (and want some more gut-loving recipes!), you can find out more here: https://www.sb-nutrition.com/restore-balance-thrive

One of the biggest things I learned from our pilot round of Restore-Balance-Thrive: to not underestimate STARTING SMALL....
11/05/2026

One of the biggest things I learned from our pilot round of Restore-Balance-Thrive: to not underestimate STARTING SMALL.

When you’re dealing with uncomfortable symptoms or wanting to improve your health, it can be tempting to throw everything you’ve got at it and go for a complete overhaul.

But what actually helps and adds up to big results in the end is small, realistic habits, plus the right support.

When participants understood WHY a particular habit mattered, had the right tools to help them implement their new habit, and felt supported - this helped them build confidence in themselves, and in their ability to continue their new habits once they’d completed the program.

Enrolments for our next cohort of Restore-Balance-Thrive are now open. We begin on 18 May.

If you’ve been considering taking the next step in your gut health journey, I’d love to support you. You can find out more and join us here: https://www.sb-nutrition.com/restore-balance-thrive

Research has found that both calorie restriction and changes in eating patterns (such as timing of meals and fasting) ca...
29/01/2026

Research has found that both calorie restriction and changes in eating patterns (such as timing of meals and fasting) can influence gut microbiota composition and production of beneficial substances. Although much of the evidence comes from animal studies, there’s also similar results from some human studies.

These microbiota changes were associated with positive metabolic changes in certain groups (such as individuals with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes):
◦Improved insulin sensitivity
◦Improvements in blood lipids (HDL, triglycerides, LDL, total cholesterol)
◦Improved blood pressure

There were also positive effects on cardiovascular health, cancer-related outcomes, neurological conditions (such as MS), gut conditions, and a possible slowing of age-related dysbiosis.

⚠️ There are also some cases where dietary restriction may have a negative effect on the gut and microbiota.
Outcomes will depend on the types of foods that are restricted (this will influence the types of microbes present in the microbiota), the degree of restriction (for example, if you’re cutting out entire food groups - especially those rich in fibre), and if you have underlying health conditions.

For example, low-fibre diets are associated with reductions in beneficial bacteria, and high-fat diets are associated with reduced microbial diversity.
Another important finding: some studies found that alternate-day fasting can worsen ulcerative colitis symptoms, while other types of fasting had a positive effect on symptoms.

So, while some dietary changes may produce beneficial effects, overly restrictive diets and strict fasting regimens could have a detrimental effect on the gut and microbiota, particularly if you have a condition linked to gut microbiota dysbiosis.

To support overall gut health and promote diversity and abundance of beneficial bacteria it’s important that your diet includes adequate amounts of fibre-rich foods (particularly those rich in prebiotic fibre).

If you’re interested in supporting your gut health by increasing your intake of fibre-rich plant foods, you can download free plant point tracker from my website (link in bio 👆🏼).

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