We catch up with Nutrition Consultant Olga Preston, about how what we eat, impacts how we behave.
We are not talking about getting tetchy in the morning, – although that may be the case. This is serious stuff. We are at the sharp end of solving and reducing symptoms of, serious mental health issues, by understanding, analysing, and even rejecting, the food that we have queued for at the supermarket just a few days before.
And it’s not that Olga does not have experience of these issues. As a former nutrition specialist with the Brain Bio Centre in Putney London – and now branching out on her own, with her own portfolio of patients, Olga is convincing as she talks to me by phone.
“You know that sugar makes you anxious?” She says.
I didn’t know that. Neither did I know that my favourite pasta carbonara is also less than ideal.
“You need some chicken and steamed vegetables”.
I demurred asking her about my glass of Chardonnay in the evening. But what is clear is that, once you get beneath the recipe and menu level of conversation, there is an increasing awareness by all of us at a community level, that by just changing a few things in our diet, we can reduce the mental issues that also seem to be on the increase. And these are the issues that conventional medicine, with its dumbing down side effects, seems powerless to handle.
Apparently, NHS GPs do not normally refer patients who they feel have mental issues, – to a Nutritional Therapist Nutritional Therapist, despite the latter qualifications.
Olga’s patients are referred by private clinics. She specialises in children issues, particularly autism and ADHD, with a small reserve area for adults with depression and psychosis. She will shortly have a separate facility at the ION Clinic in Richmond. We talk about other influences, the use of Music to stimulate people with brain issues, etc, and what she says is that people are now comfortable and accepting that there are different therapeutic tools, to do different jobs.
Olga is an an accomplished Seminar speaker – and I don’t want to delay her any longer. I think about grabbing a large sandwich at the train station, but apparently too much bread is not great for me either.
Olga can be contacted directly at; olgaprestonnutrition@gmail.com
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