Ace-Gut-Health

Eve Kalinik Talks Food, Gut Health And Wellbeing

Once a key player in the fashion PR world, Eve Kalinik has since turned to nutrition and now spends her days helping clients get their health back on track

After spending more than a decade working in the fashion industry, Eve Kalinik made the decision to follow her love of nutrition six years ago when a bout of health problems and an unsustainable career made her reconsider her lifestyle on many levels. She completed a course at the College of Naturopathic Medicine and now creates nutrition plans for clients who are determined to eat well and take their health into their own hands. Eve considers eating well and making discerning choices with our food one of the most empowering things we can do for our health and is keen to raise awareness of how an authentic lifelong positive attitude towards food can help rebalance us physically and emotionally. Her first book, Be Good To Your Gut, is out on September 7th 2017…

I grew up in a foodie household so from a very young age I understood what ‘real’ food meant. My mum always cooked things from scratch and my father still has an impressive garden full of produce that I tend to raid when I’m back there! However, my passion for food wasn’t realised until I decided to make a second career of it and now I can’t think of doing anything else. I started out by consulting with wellbeing brands using my previous PR and branding skills while slowly building my practise. It wasn’t an overnight process but I wanted to build up gradually and with integrity and I’m so happy to be in the position I’m in right now.

The best thing about my job for me is giving people ownership of their health back. It’s so wonderful to have a busy clinic with inspiring clients and I love working with really innovative people and products from a consultancy perspective. Right now I’m looking forward to the launch of my first book, Be Good To Your Gut, which is out in September and focuses on my specialised area of nutrition – the gut. In an industry that is very crowded on many levels I think it’s important to understand who you are and to play to those strengths. The gut and its multitude of microbes is something that I find truly fascinating.

I would describe my attitude towards food as all inclusive. When we get too much into the elimination stuff and start to restrict heavily it really isn’t good. Pretty much most foods have a good and a bad side to them so to label them as one or the other or get into a vilifying attitude isn’t helpful. You may also be missing out on some really nutritious foods if you get too hardcore with your diet. For me, it’s about being a little more discerning with your diet rather than haphazardly eliminating whole groups and I tend to advise thinking a little bit beyond that. This could mean, for example, spending that little bit extra on organic grass-fed or free-range meat and eggs, opting for sourdough over regular (and even gluten-free) bread and taking in cultured unpasteurised dairy products such as kefir, rather than supermarket milk. These all provide a wealth of nutrition.

Self-diagnosed food intolerances that may or may not be present are very common among my clients. The people that visit me may have tried cutting out lots of foods and food groups with little reprieve and I believe my job is to understand their story and body and work with that. Ironically it may not even be food that is creating a lot of their symptoms but imbalances in the gut on a much deeper level – it’s my role to uncover that and help bring the gut and the body back into homeostasis. We are all unique and nutrition has to work in synergy with your body.

If you want to alter your diet, I’d suggest that you start by making small changes. They’re the ones that are going to stick long term and that, rather than quick fixes, should be the aim. An example of a small change that can make a difference is having breakfast at home within an hour of waking – this helps set up steady energy throughout the day and manage stress hormones. Even something as simple as switching off your phone when you are eating and actually chewing food thoroughly can help. You’ll be surprised at how much of an impact this has on symptoms such as bloating, reflux and satiety levels.