Online Nutritionist

This page outlines the relationship between nutritional therapy, functional medicine and naturopathy, explains what nutritional therapy is and what you can expect in a consultation with an online nutritionist making use of these approaches. You can also find out about my services and prices.

The difference between functional medicine and naturopathy

The principles of naturopathy and functional medicine are essentially the same

Naturopaths and functional medicine practitioners are both guided by what are essentially the same set of principles (though worded differently).

• Both look to investigate the root causes of symptoms and to affect change at the level of the root causes.
• Both hold that treating symptoms alone whilst leaving the root causes in place will lead to further eruption of the same or different symptoms at some later date.
• Both recognise the uniqueness of the individual, and understand the importance of taking time to understand each individual rather than falling back on generalised algorithms.

These similarities should come as no surprise because functional medicine was started largely by naturopaths. Ultimately the roots and principles of functional medicine may owe much to the ancient predecessors of naturopathy.

The application of naturopathy and functional medicine are essentially the same

Both disciplines make use of the latest scientific understanding of biochemical and physiological mechanisms to investigate the root cause (or root causes) of your symptoms in order to deliver the most effective, evidence-based dietary and lifestyle interventions to optimise your health, whether working in-person or online.

History, region, reputation and accrediting bodies

Naturopathy and functional medicine each have their own history, their own accrediting bodies and their own regions of the world where they are better known and respected.

For example if you are in Australia and need professional support to make dietary and lifestyle changes to improve your health, you will probably be looking for a naturopath.

I have taken part in professional forums with Australian naturopaths and have completed Australian online training courses and I have been impressed by the level of discussion and scientific rigour. A good naturopathic practitioner in Australia will offer you the same level of service as a good functional medicine practitioner or nutritional therapist in the UK or in the USA.

In some parts of the world naturopathy is more associated with quackery and is banned in three states in the USA, which might explain why there was a need to pioneer functional medicine in the USA.

Naturopathic roots

Naturopaths would generally recognise that the roots of their discipline go back as far as Hippocrates.

It is my belief that naturopathic principles may even be rooted in ancient Chinese traditions.

I regard it as a strength of naturopathy that it recognises and values the ‘giants whose shoulders we stand on’, whilst embracing the ethical use of cutting-edge scientific research.

I consider the principles of functional medicine to originate in naturopathy.

Medications

In the UK naturopaths and functional medicine practitioners are not licensed to prescribe medications.

In some regions of the world naturopathic doctors and functional medicine doctors can prescribe medications. In the UK a functional medicine doctor will have had a medical training and a functional medicine training.

Please note that I am not medically trained and do not provide medical support that your primary care physician or a functional medicine doctor can. My training and passion is in the power of nutrition and lifestyle to affect lasting health changes.

Other modalities

A naturopath may also work with modalities other than nutrition and lifestyle, such as acupuncture, iridology, homeopathy and herbal medicine.

What is nutritional therapy?

Nutritional therapy is the application of individualised dietary and lifestyle changes to benefit health and wellbeing and to optimise mental and physical performance.

Sounds familiar?

Nutritional therapy utilises naturopathy and functional medicine principles

Nutritional therapy incorporates naturopathic and functional medicine principles, but does not usually include additional modalities such as acupuncture and herbal medicine as naturopathy does.

The roots of nutritional therapy

It is hard to discern the exact roots of nutritional therapy as there are so many strands, so many pioneers, but it seems to have arisen from the meeting of naturopathy with biochemistry and physiology. Psychiatrists experimenting with micronutrient supplementation for mental illness have also played a role.

When functional medicine was founded it naturally fitted into the nutritional therapy paradigm that had been developed in the preceding decades.

Nutritional therapy accrediting body

Nutritional therapy is more popular in the UK and has its own professional bodies but there is at least one professional association for nutritional therapists who practice according to naturopathic principles.

Why nutritional therapy matters

At medical school students are reputed to swear the Hippocratic Oath and it was back in the 4th of 5th century BC that Hippocrates stated “Let food be thy medicine”. Yet the traditional practice of using food as medicine has now been denigrated to ‘alternative’ or ‘complementary’ medicine. What we eat has been shown in countless studies to affect our chances of getting cancer (6, 7) and every aspect of our health from the functioning of our digestive (8), immune (9), cardiovascular (10), endocrine (11) and nervous systems (12) right down to the underlying intracellular biochemistry and the energy production in tiny organelles called mitochondria that keeps us alive (13).

The release of more than 86,000 synthetic and compounds into the environment (14), of which only a fraction have been tested for safety (15) and others proven to be toxic (1, 2, 3, 4), the depletion of topsoil that came with intensive farming practices, reduced sun exposure and the stress of modern life now necessitate, in many cases, the use of supplements to maintain optimal health and vitality (16,17,18,19) and to support detoxification, as well as healthy food choices, the right amount of the right kinds of exercise, adequate rest, fulfilling relationships, purpose and meaning in life and the time to find joy and pleasure away from the workplace as well as within the workplace.

Although meaningful top-down change is unlikely in the UK in the near future, there is at least growing recognition of the central role of nutrition in health and disease, with the online journal Open Heart publishing an editorial in August 2015 proposing dietary change to be a more effective treatment than medical interventions for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome (20).

In 2024 The House of Lords Food, Diet and Obesity Committee published the report Recipe for health: a plan to fix our broken food system acknowledging that “our food system is broken” and citing evidence that after tobacco use poor diet “now makes the biggest contribution to years of life lost”. The report focuses on the public health emergency driven by obesity-related disease. Although it may take many years and a committed government to implement the report’s recommendations, it is encouraging that at least the role of diet and in particular of ultra-processed foods is being recognised at these levels.

Online nutritionist – More information

Stay on this page for online nutritionist services and prices, and what to expect in a consultation.

For more information on functional medicine, its principles and why it is needed, a list of conditions that can be helped by nutrition, supplements and lifestyle changes, who I do and do not work with and for information on the structure and timing of consultations, as well as further information please see Nutritional Therapy in London.

For some of the key areas that can be supported with online nutrition, naturopathy and functional medicine, as well as a short introductory video describing Tom’s approach to nutritional therapy see the home page.

Find out more about the online nutritionist

My personal struggle with poor health rekindled my interest in science, awakened in me a passionate interest in optimising health with dietary and lifestyle changes and led to my work as an online nutritionist.

I continue to learn from my clinical practice and home study and I regularly attend both in-person and online functional medicine, naturopathy and nutritional therapy training events.

Find out more about me, my qualifications and some of the many trainings I have completed as part of my continuing professional development in nutritional therapy, functional medicine, naturopathy, nutrigenetics and related areas.

What to expect in the online nutrition clinic

The tools of the online nutritionist

Nutritional therapists make evidence-based recommendations based on the use of functional lab testing and further information about you, such as your symptoms, your sleep patterns, your levels of stress, your medical history, the medical history of your closest relatives, your dietary and lifestyle patterns, known toxic exposures, genetic makeup and more.

This information is gathered in several ways:

• in a detailed online health questionnaire you will be asked to fill in before your initial consultation
• in a diet diary you will usually be asked to fill in before each consultation
• orally in each consultation, which will include how you responded to the recommendations from previous consultations
• from the results of any genetic and functional lab tests

Nutrigenetics testing

Nutrigenetics is the study of how your genetic profile affects your response to diet and to specific nutrients. It too has been embraced by nutritional therapy, which appears to be always ready to embrace the latest scientific understanding to find the root causes of illness and the most effective dietary and lifestyle approaches for each individual.

Consultation report

After each nutritional therapy consultation you will receive a written report which can include:

• A commentary section that may include the following:
  • potential causes of your symptoms and why they may be having an impact
  • notes on your progress and any challenges you have met
• Any lab tests recommended, with some instructions (more complete instructions come with the lab test kits
• Any recommended home diagnostics or experiments
• Dietary recommendations
• Lifestyle recommendations
• Recommended supplements

All of the important points discussed in the consultation will be covered in your report, so that you can focus on the consultation without having to make any notes.

Nutrigenetics report

The report you will receive after a nutrigenetics consultation is organised differently. It outlines your genetic variants, how they may potentially impact your health and what you can do to benefit from this knowledge, which usually involves dietary and lifestyle interventions or supplements, and sometimes monitoring your health with regular lab testing.

Time allocation

I have already described the importance of understanding root causes of disease processes. My interpretation of this naturopathic principle is that we need to spend time investigating potential causes and how they interrelate.

Rather than offer you 30 or 40 minute follow-up consultations so that I can complete many consultations in each clinic day, I limit the number of clients I see and do not offer consultations shorter than 80 minutes.

I also allocate time to read through your notes or your questionnaire and your diet diary and to interpret any test results before your consultation.

After your consultation when I am writing your report I may do some further research if you have any unusual symptoms or test results that push the boundaries of my knowledge.

This time enables me to work deeply with you and to investigate (for example) how test results relate to your previous test results as well as to your symptoms and your responses to dietary and lifestyle changes and supplements. This can often make the difference between success and failure, especially if your presenting symptoms are more complex.

All of this time is covered in the price of your consultation and lab tests (which are only interpreted for you in a consultation and in your consultation report).

Support in between consultations – coaching calls and support calls

If you need further support as you are meeting unforeseen challenges in implementing my recommendations, you can book a support call or a coaching call.

A support call can be helpful to fine-tune practical details to help you follow the recommendations successfully, rather than to give completely new advice. I include some time to read through your most recent consultation report before your support phone call but since I am not giving completely new advice I do not update my notes after these phone calls. This allows the time allocated to a phone call to be sufficiently short that I can usually book you in at short notice, usually within a few days or a week.

A coaching call is focused on the emotional or psychological challenges you may meet in implementing dietary and lifestyle changes into your daily life. It can also be booked at short notice.

Person-centred approach

Functional medicine, naturopathy and nutritional therapy all emphasise the uniqueness of the individual.

As my client I welcome your input and do my best to respond to your unique health needs. We work together according to your goals, preferences and limitations. If your limitations are likely to hold back progress to your goals I will seek to find a way through or around the obstacle with you.

Who I do not work with and services I do not offer

I do not work with

• cancer
• anorexia nervosa, bulimia or any other eating disorders
• chronic kidney disease
• people who are unwilling to implement dietary & lifestyle changes
• people who are working with other practitioners who also recommend dietary changes, supplements or herbs

I do not offer

• meal plans
• e-mail support in between consultations – see my e-mail policy and guidelines

The above fees do not include any laboratory testing.

Please note that although I may sometimes offer some basic recipe ideas and point you towards books or websites with further recipes I do not offer meal plans, as these need to be tailored to individual tastes and budget and would be very time consuming. If you need a few ideas you can ask me and we can set aside some time during the consultation to find a few simple meals that would work for you.

I also offer nutrigenomics consultations online to interpret your genetic testing results.

Nutrigenomics online- £350 (not including laboratory fees)

2-hour consultation for advice that is personalised according to your genetics. A nutrigenomics consultation usually follows nutritional therapy so that I can relate your genetics to how they are actualising in your current state of health and with your current diet and lifestyle. Nutritional therapy is generally more useful than nutrigenomics analysis for most people and is certainly the more useful focus in the early stages of working with me . Click here for laboratory fees for genetic testing.

Free 20-minute telephone appointment

Book a free no-obligation 20-minute telephone appointment using the box to the right to find out more about how I can help you before booking an initial consultation. Please note that for legal reasons I cannot give dietary or lifestyle advice in this short conversation. Before considering working with me it is essential that you read my e-mail policy and guidelines.

The benefits of working with an online nutritionist

Opting for nutritional therapy online via Zoom, Skype or over the phone can be a convenient way to engage with both the therapist and the programme; providing you with all the benefits of my in-person nutritional therapy services from the comfort of your own home. 

For many, choosing my online consultation services can feel more accessible and approachable, particularly for anyone living in a rural or isolated location, or living with limited mobility or a chronic illness where travel may prove a barrier to participation. 

What’s more, free from the limitations & pressures that come with travelling to a specific location by a specific time  – particularly on your busiest days – online nutritional therapy services provide you with flexibility and freedom from restrictions, enabling you to better fit consultations around your schedule.

Working with an online nutritionist based in the UK gives you easier access to functional lab testing from UK labs and to my expertise in UK supplements. 

Online nutritionist UK & international – Further information

For the cost of functional testing please consult with me.

Consultations after 6pm may sometimes be possible but are charged at 1.5 times the normal rate.

Fees are normally paid by bank transfer two weeks in advance of the consultation. If paying by cheque add a £30 administration fee. Any bank transfer charges must be paid by you.

The above prices reflect the time in between consultations on researching the most effective and safe way to support your health according to your individual circumstances, interpreting any laboratory testing and the time and money spent on continuing professional development at the cutting edge of a field that is rapidly growing.

Prices are subject to change. You can ask me in the free telephone consultation about expected price changes and expected dates of price changes. 

I am a member of the British Association of Applied Nutrition & Nutritional Therapy (BANT) and The Institute Of Functional Medicine, a registered practitioner with the Complimentary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) and an associate member of The Royal Society Of Medicine.

I am also a certified DNALife^TM nutrigenetics practitioner.

Please note: As an online nutritionist my interest and training is in dietary and lifestyle medicine. I do not offer medical advice nor is my work a substitute for medical care. Please refer to a functional medicine doctor or to your primary care physician for medical treatment. In the interests of your safety you will be required to agree to my Terms and Conditions.