Karen Harker

I have been working with Karen for 3 months now and I am delighted with the results. I contacted her because of frequent bowel movements caused by radiation damage due to cancer treatment. Over those 3 months my quality of life has improved and I’ve tried many different types of low/zero sugar food that are much better for my body, whilst being really tasty. However, because Karen believes in the 80/20 rule, I’m allowed the odd glass of wine and chocolate at weekends! Karen has taken the time to understand my personal situation with home, work and hobbies and has made plenty of recommendations to improve my diet, sleep and wellbeing. She’s sent me links to medical documentaries, ideas for recipes (accepting that I’m no cook!) and nutrients and really gone the extra mile to help me. I know that I’ll never be 100% again, but my bowel movements are much lower, meaning that I can leave home more and lead a better life. Karen is a lovely lady to work with and I look forward to our easy going meetings, which I’m continuing for a further 6 months.

I have found the ‘Step Back on Track’ programme very helpful & have learnt so much from Karen. Before starting the 8-week programme, I had got to the stage in my life, where I was totally confused about the foods I should eat & the foods I should avoid. I found Karen so knowledgeable & helpful she taught me a lot, especially learning about how damaging sugar is and the high amounts of it in our food and ultra-processed food (UPFs). This was a real shock to me. The ‘Step Back on Track’ programme has really changed my attitude towards food & I am starting to enjoy experimenting with my meals again & enjoying cooking. I have started to have a healthy attitude towards food again. I also lost weight and feel so much better in myself too. I would highly recommend Karen, no more diet clubs for me!!

I first approached Karen after experiencing severe gut problems over 5 months resulting from disturbance caused by prescription painkillers. I had lost a stone in weight & was finding it difficult to eat anything that agreed with me & to put on weight. I thought that a nutritionist could perhaps point me in the right direction to move on, improve my damaged digestive system & to boost my diet with gut healing nutrients. Karen carefully took my whole life history & after consideration of the food diaries that I had kept for a few weeks, recommended food supplements to help repair my gut & some low FODMAP recipes which are all delicious & have been beneficial. She also suggested food swaps to replace the cravings from my very sweet tooth! Karen is a great listener & non-judgemental. I enjoyed meeting with her either in person or on Zoom; real quality “Me” time where I felt safe to talk about any concerns I was having & how I was feeling. Other parts of the programme including relevant YouTube videos & information on various vitamins & supplements & the rôles they played in the body were very helpful. At the end of the programme I am feeling more confident around which foods to eat & have slowly begun to reintroduce more foods & to gain weight. I would happily recommend Karen to a friend. She has a great deal of knowledge & life experience to tap into when recommending therapies to assist in one’s goals. She is very friendly & approachable & I consider our time together to have been most rewarding.