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When you think back to my younger years and my relationship with food and health, it was really normal. I didn’t grow up in a dieting household. My mum never commented on weight or bodies, and food was just food.
But that changed when I entered the modelling industry. It felt like a wild west of “health” information. Suddenly, things that were totally normal to me were demonised. I slipped into an eating disorder and started pulling away from the parts of life I loved: eating with my family, going out for meals, and being present.
I’d always been sporty. I ran competitively, cross country. Movement used to be about passion and performance. But it shifted into the idea that my body was a maths equation. “Health” became restriction and unhappiness, which is the opposite of what health should be. I was lucky to have an amazing CBT therapist, and that period really shaped everything that came next.
Meeting that therapist was a defining moment in my life, and it set me on the path to becoming a leading voice in nutrition. I was academically quite science-minded. I did the IB, higher-level chemistry and biology, and I’d always been fascinated by the human body. But I realised I didn’t actually understand the science behind what everyone in that industry was claiming. I wanted to know what’s real, what’s noise, and what genuinely helps someone feel better.
So I left modelling, went to university, and studied nutrition. It came from a very personal place. I wanted to build a version of “health” that creates more happiness and freedom, not less.
My approach to health, wellness, and nutrition now, and what I share with my followers day in, day out, is that health should be approachable and accessible, not elite or pressured. We all eat, so we’re all exposed to nutrition every day.
I’m very pro-evidence, but I’m also realistic. We don’t all need to eat the same, move the same, or look the same. For me, the goal is to open the field up, not gatekeep it, so people can build a version of health that works in real life.
I always come back to the fact that we don’t eat nutrients, we eat food. So the advice has to translate to something you can actually put on a plate. I love the geeky science side, but I’m careful with messaging because nutrition research is complicated. Humans are not lab rats, and there are so many variables.
And I think we underestimate personal feedback. No one lives in your body but you. If you tune into how you feel, energy, digestion, mood, and sleep, you often already know what’s serving you and what isn’t. Evidence gives us direction, and your lived experience helps you apply it.
I’m lucky to have learnt a lot about what it means to be truly well over the course of my career – which is why I’ve shared the five wellness lessons I wish I’d known sooner, below. Keep scrolling for more – and remember, healthy living should feel so good.
5 Wellness Lessons I Wish I Could Tell My Younger Self
1. Health is what makes you feel your best
…Not what makes you feel smaller. It’s not a template or copy and paste – it’s personal.
I’ll admit that this is the lesson that took me the longest to learn – but ultimately, health is defined by how you feel. There’s no one-size-fits-all. You can eat “perfectly” on paper and still be stressed and unhappy. The goal is feeling strong, energised, calm, and able to live your life.
2. Your body isn’t a maths equation
If “health” is making you anxious, isolated, or miserable, it isn’t health.
Labels – like calling foods “good” or “bad” – play into this, creating fear and obsession, and rarely leading to long-term health. Your food choices can support your goals and your life, and health shouldn’t feel like a punishment or a constant test of willpower.
This is what most people get wrong about healthy living – approaching it with an “all or nothing” mindset. People think it’s only “healthy” if it’s perfect. Then life happens, they feel like they’ve failed, and so they give up.
But know this: balance is underrated, and sustainability is everything. If you want something practical, I focus on habits I can do forever. I move daily, I build meals around protein and fibre, and I eat plenty of plants. I also love a simple “rule of 3” on the plate. Aim for three different plant foods across a meal or day. It’s a small shift that adds up.
3. Stepping back can be key
If you could watch yourself stressing about your body through a TV screen, what would you say? I’d say: please don’t waste your life on this.
This is the life lesson that’s been the most impactful for me. When you catch yourself spiralling about food or your body, imagine watching it from the outside, like you’re shouting at the character in a horror film: don’t go in there.
It’s a reminder that your life is happening now, and you deserve to enjoy it.
4. Learning to cook will change your life
Confidence in the kitchen changes everything, because nutrition becomes something you do, not something you fear.
It’s one of the most underrated wellness skills, in my opinion. When you can cook a few simple meals confidently, you stop feeling at the mercy of trends, plans, and rules.
Food becomes supportive, flexible, and second nature.
5. Health can be exciting
Eating well and moving more isn’t a life sentence. It can be genuinely enjoyable. Your body responds to it in a way that feels good, and that’s motivating.
I wish more people knew this and appreciated that healthy living can be truly amazing. Nutrition isn’t something to fear – it’s something to get excited about. When you eat in a way that supports you and move regularly, you feel it: better energy, better mood, better resilience.
It becomes self-reinforcing in the best way.
Bottom line?
If I could leave people with one thing, it’s this: health should add to your life, not take away from it. If the way you’re trying to be “healthy” is making you more stressed, more restricted, or more obsessed, it’s worth reassessing.
The best wellness routine is the one that makes you feel more like yourself.
Shop Em The Nutritionist go-to’s now:
So Good: Food you want to eat, designed by a nutritionist
Em’s first cookbook, So Good, flew off shelves, a firm favourite for those occasions where you want to make a meal you’ll enjoy but also… don’t know where to start. She’s a master of simple but clever dishes that you’d never think of yourself and will now make on repeat.
Em’s own brand probiotic has seen rave reviews, promising to boost your health gut bacteria with clever dual release technology.
Live To Eat: Emily English
Keen to make feel-good, nutrient-dense, and easy-to-follow food from home? Em has a global fanbase for a reason. Her most recent cookbook, Live To Eat, is packed full of breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack ideas that you’ll want to make on repeat.
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