Location: United Kingdom
Profession: Health Care Worker
About
I trained as a registered nurse and midwife in the 1980's working in a variety of different clinical environments. Following one career path in occupational health nursing I moved into clinical research in the 1990's. I worked initially as a clinical research nurse and then moved into the field of clinical quality assurance. In 2012 I made the decision to become self employed as a clinical research professional and now work independently on assignments with various pharmaceutical organisations on small one off assignments and longer in house projects.
I have been interested in nutrition for some years now and have explored requalifying in some area of nutrition, in addition I have taken a deep interest in the food and drink I consume and that which I will prepare and eat with friends and family from soil health through to the finished product.
I intend this year to follow my own small journey of exploring food visiting how some of the food I eat is produced including foraging walks, a visit to a salt factory, bread making, cheese making and hopefully olive picking in either Italy or Greece.
My favourite way to eat bread is fresh (or toasted from frozen) with olive oil and or cheese.
I initially intend to bake for friends and family.
My Work
I am located in Uxbridge West London.
I am currently at the start of my bread and food journey but want to be proficient in making bread using ingredients where I know and understand the provenance of the products, how different techniques affect the finished product and once competent to explore how my skills can be used within a wider setting.
Passionate about Baking as Lifestyle Medicine
Baking is currently a personal interest as I believe foods like medications can be considered as medicinal or harmful as we are now seeing with the wider consumption of ultra processed foods. However if I do delve into the world of nutrition I feel this will be one of the core building blocks to understanding the practical sides of bread production and its contribution to good nutrition.
My Community
My community is a typical London community where unfortunately, there is little neighbourly social interaction.
There are however, schemes (slowly) opening up such as basic cookery classes within a local community hall aiming to serve as both educational and social events for local residents, there is also a group of allotment growers who kindly donate excess fruit and veg to the neighbours (I am one of the lucky recipients).
Uxbridge like many other UK town centres, is served by too many food outlets and large chain cafes serving ultra processed food and drinks, there is one (very good) fruit and vegetable stall in Uxbridge but no other fresh or independent suppliers.
Baking as Lifestyle Medicine would be transformative to people's health as it encompasses a holistic approach to the production of bread including how the ingredients are grown and produced through to the actual mechanism of making the bread to the final product which is often the basis or mainstay of many people's meals.
How I use BALM Protocol
Initially to improve my baking ability, to explore making different bread types and to study further to expand my knowledge; to add to my current interest/knowledge in the wider field of nutrition.