Need To Know…Going with your gut by Olivia Falcon

As a beauty editor, I have to confess that while I can reel off details of skin whispering facialists and body sculpting personal trainers that I’m often at a loss to recommend a truly life changing nutritionist. Until now that is. A few weeks ago I found myself in the Notting Hill consult room of Eve Kalinik, with post holiday bloat and a mouth full of ulcers. Eve came highly recommended by a high-flying friend and on first impression I instantly liked her.

Warm, friendly and straight talking she’s got a direct, no-nonsense, scientific approach; she doesn’t believe in keeping patients on her books for months. “You need one initial appointment and a follow up, then you should be heading down the right track to wellness, on your own two feet,” she says.eve-kalinik1Eve’s individualistic approach not only treats symptoms such as bloating, tiredness, weight gain even infertility but she takes a deep dive into your secret history using the latest scientific functional screening tests to get to the route of what’s really driving your symptoms. Stool and saliva tests to look at your digestive enzymes for imbalances of bacteria in your gut, hair and mineral analysis and urine clearance profiles to screen the body for heavy metal imbalances, plus hormone and blood tests are all par for the course.

The reset often begins – as was my case – with a with a month-long elimination diet to reduce inflammation in the body. This means no cow’s milk, yoghurt, cheese, refined grains and sugar, so the gut (which Eve believes is the crucial to a healthy functioning body), finally has a chance to rebalance.

 

img_6847This is then followed on with a sustainable healthy eating plan, which Eve prescribes on a individual basis using her own therapeutic recipes, such as broccoli and artichoke soup, chia and coconut flour pancakes, sweet potato and Halumi salad. These recipes are such a hit with clients that she’s published them in a new book Eat Well– How To Have a Healthier and Happier Gut (Available to pre order on Amazon) and on sale next summer.

From my first meeting with Eve, I also come away armed with some original healthy eating tips. “Steer well clear of those “free from” aisles in the supermarket, “ Eve warns, “ as when manufacturers take something out of a food product like gluten, they have to add lots of things such as emulsifiers and additives into compensate. Gluten means ‘glue’ in Latin so other components are added to bind the product.” For a bread lover like me, Eve recommends Sourdough as an occasional treat once I’m through my elimination diet as it contains loads of healthy probiotics and she will also put the right type of diary – unpasteurized cheese is good has all the pro-biotics – back on the menu.

Life is busy and sadly a lot of us feel so manic we don’t have time to sit down and listen to our bodies but if as we head into winter you’re feeling sluggish, overtired and not quite right, I say listen to your gut and book in now.


Almost Essential