Nutrition Guru, Sarah Farren, tells us how she changing perceptions on nutrition, fertility, conception and preconception

Hi Guys!

Firstly I would like to say thanks to Jayne for having me here, it feels a great honour to be involved with such an amazing group of women. I will be honest I feel a little bit of a fraud as I am rather new to motherhood and business, but maybe an early perspective of this juggling act may be informative for us all! This is also my first blog – eek and I am rather excited!

Not only am I a mother to my gorgeous Theo (18 months), but I am a registered dietitian and have been working in the NHS for several years. While on maternity leave, like a lot of mothers, I was constantly thinking about the future and how it was going to work going back to work and finances etc. I had always wanted to go back to work and financially needed to but finding the right balance is always difficult. Several dietetic colleagues I know have private practices/businesses, some as a side to their NHS job, others as their sole employment.

With the encouragement of one of these friends who set up a business while on maternity leave with their first child, as well as a fantastic motherhood community, run by a very inspirational lady (can anyone guess?!?), asked me why couldn’t I? At first I was sceptical but as my friend Lucy hit the nail on the head, why can’t we charge for our services/skills/knowledge? We arent taking advantage of people, we are providing a service, that if they require they can utilise! I think often the types of people that work in the NHS, do to help vulnerable people, but not all the people who could benefit or require our skills are referred to us or our services aren’t funded for them unfortunately.

So I thought let’s do this! I can provide a service to help support my local community, which is why I really wanted to focus on fertility, preconception, pregnancy etc as since having my little one I have been surrounded and spent a lot of time around some amazing women and have been inspired by this community, but felt this area was particularly lacking in this type of support (and they agreed!).

So Esca Nutrition and Dietetics was born earlier this year! You might laugh at how I came up with the name, as I was utilising a 3am breastfeeding session and thinking about my business, it came to me. Latin is still used and influences our language and so I thought why not. Esca is Latin for ‘a dish prepared for the table’ – I really liked this and felt it was a homely feel to food, taking me away
from the clinical side of dietetics in the NHS.

So what do I do?
I am passionate about food, health and optimising people’s nutrition. Not only do I do one to one consultations, visiting people in their own home and providing them with personalised advice, considering all aspects of their life and health to try and improve their nutrition, particularly if they have a health condition that can be supported or improved with particular dietary needs. I also provide group sessions including a pregnancy nutrition group for potential and mum’s to be.

I also share information, tips and anecdotes about food, health and nutrition on my Facebook and Instagram pages, often featuring my little one (which I have to say get the most Iikes and engagement!) and my husband. I’m hoping to get people interested and excited about their food!

Plus there is so much contradictory information out there and so often it isn’t evidence based. I like to try and give bite sized, relevant, practical, evidenced based information to help people optimise their nutrition and health.

I will be honest starting this with a young baby, as well as just starting back at work, has been challenging (I know I am not the only one struggling with the balance) and at times I wonder why I am trying this, then when I get invited to speak live or collaborate or write a piece for these amazing local businesses I get all excited. Even if I help just one or two people to improve their life
then great!

Follow and check out Sarah’s pages below; she seriously is a font of all nutrition knowledge!

Website: https://www.escanutrition.co.uk/
Instagram: @escanutrition
Facebook account: https://www.facebook.com/Esca-Nutrition-Dietetics-2002665866675618/