[3 minute read]
Nutritionist, Helen James, runs HJ Nutrition/ Helen James Healthy Happy to help those with mind, body and energy well-being.
“If anyone’s looked at nutritional advice on the internet one day they tell you one thing and the next day they tell you something else, so I was determined to find out the truth.”
Helen James on how she became interested in nutrition.
This entails, nutrition [body], talking therapy [mind] and balance of energy in the body through holistic treatment as Helen is a certified Reiki practitioner [energy].
I wanted to talk to Helen about how important diet is to well-being and the holistic side of her work with (the increasingly popular) Reiki therapy.
What initially attracted you to working in nutrition?
“Cooking”. For Helen a passion for food, experimenting and fusing different cultures was an enjoyable past-time.
It wasn’t until she noticed her family and friends experience health problems [such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes] when the connection was made that what you eat truly matters to your health, “both physical and mental”.
How important is the connection between food and mood?
“I started noticing sugar was really affecting me” .
“Nutritional advice ten to twenty years ago was, eat small meals and eat frequently to keep your blood sugar up. But now we don’t want to keep the blood sugar up we want to keep the blood sugar balanced.”
Helen notes, when we don’t keep a good balance we begin to feel tired and ‘hangry‘ which is more likely to encourage negative thinking patterns than if we were well nourished with more protein based meals.
What is the first step to a healthier diet?
Helen says her first piece of guidance to people who visit her clinic is “cut out refined sugar out and reduce your coffee”. This will reset blood sugar and energy levels as they’re no longer being tampered with, quitting the “sugar roller-coaster”.
For many of us this is a dramatic step that we’re reluctant to take, Helen herself admits “I was addicted to sugar” before she cut it out six years ago.
But food isn’t the only way to balance the body’s energy…
Reiki is a holistic treatment that, alike sound baths and light therapy, is gaining popularity for it’s improvement to well-being…
What happens during a session of Reiki healing?
Reiki practitioners have been attuned to a universal energy which they then with their hands direct over their patients chakra centres. This is to realign them and to allow universal energy flow through the body.
Helen explains that many practitioners often feel “their hands get tingly or hot” during practice and that patients report feeling “heat or a chill or they can see colours or visions” or just deeply relaxed. Some cases also see improvements in aches and pains.
How do holistic treatments work?
Holistic treatments are being used as complimenting therapy “in hospices and in cancer care, on babies, because it’s non invasive it can be used on anybody”.
“The power of the mind is also something we don’t understand” the placebo effect has been used and been proved effective in medical trials for years. “In the scientific world it’s understood that the power of the mind has effect”.
You can find Helen James on Facebook, Instagram and by searching HJnutrition.
[photograph is not personally owned, provided by Helen James. Letter images for Q+A have been originally created using the Canva app]
The Kindfulness Project 