Childhood & Teenage Nutrition
Childhood and adolescence are periods of rapid growth and development. During these pivotal years, developing healthy eating behaviours and patterns is just as vital as meeting nutritional needs. This helps to support both life-long health and a life-long positive relationship with all foods.
Clare’s goal is to help children and teenagers enjoy their food whilst empowering them and their parents with the confidence to maintain this healthy relationship throughout their development.
Childhood Nutrition
Clare works with children experiencing a range of nutritional issues including deficiency, allergy, faltering growth and fussy eating.
Fussy eating is very common childhood nutrition concern; it is a part of development as a way of exploring environment and asserting independence. However, it can become concerning if children are not consuming the right balance of nutrients or are experiencing issues with growth and development.
Clare supports parents who are feeling anxious regarding their child’s eating habits, and helps to diffuse stress around meal times. She promotes a whole family approach to eating well and aims for the children she works with to develop diverse food preferences, positive eating behaviours and a balanced diet that promotes their health in the long term. Clare offers cooking and tasting sessions for children and their families to help implement the practical advice given.
Teenage Nutrition
During teenage years complex relationships with food can occur due to increased independence and social pressures; this can result in challenges with eating. Research has also demonstrated that many teenagers and children are calcium and iron deficient, which can add to health concerns.
Clare works with her clients and provides nutritional advice to young adults individually, or where necessary with their parents/families. She always works with compassion, creating balanced, tailored diets for adolescents helping meet their individual dietary requirements.
Clare has previously worked with teenagers at the edible schoolyard project at Martin Luther King Middle School in Berkeley, CA supporting teenagers learning to cook. Through a combination of clinical support and practical cooking lessons, she works to support teenagers to understand body diversity, dispel online nutrition myths, and create healthy lifelong relationships with food.
