About Me And This Website

Hi, I'm Julie!

Welcome to Sunshine & Strength. ☀️

It's still very much a work in progress, and I'm sure it will evolve over time, but I'm super excited you're here!

I started this blog because I genuinely love writing about the habits that shape our health and how we feel. When I think about what I really enjoy doing, this is it, writing, learning and creating useful resources with you in mind, and sharing the extraordinary power in the ordinary things we do every single day.

This website is for "young" mid-lifers :) who want to stop constantly starting over and make healthy living work in real life so they feel healthier, stronger and freer to do all the things they want to do with their one precious life.

I have experience helping adults with ADHD and neurodiversity, and I love helping people who struggle to make healthy living stick and seeing what happens when we figure out what works for the individual and it finally clicks.

A hundred different things can stand between knowing what to do, figuring out what works for you, and actually making it happen, from your environment, your habits, your energy, your emotions, how you're wired, to everything else going on in real life.

This is the exciting, most powerful part! How you make it work today, in your actual life, the practical stuff, the habits, the emotions, the meaning behind it, and what keeps you going when life inevitably gets in the way.

I must have started over a thousand different times before I realised that I didn't need more willpower. I needed to understand how I was wired and find a way of doing things that actually worked for me.

Not another quick fix, restriction or latest wellness trend, but the no-nonsense stuff that builds real health, strength, and freedom. And no having to start over again and again.

I still have days when things really don’t go to plan, and I don’t always find it easy. Like anyone, I have periods when I struggle to stop eating all the “things”; I have a massive sweet tooth, can watch far too much Netflix and stay up later than I should.

Usually, when another area of my life is out of balance.

I’ve spent more than 20 years working in healthcare, including 12 years in the NHS across critical and acute care, and more than a decade studying and working in nutrition and lifestyle medicine.

I’ve also worked in type 2 diabetes management and prevention, and have supported hundreds of people to make changes to their health and lifestyle. I’m a qualified fitness instructor and breathwork instructor, with additional training in sleep health and CBT for insomnia.

I regularly attend courses, webinars and seminars, and keep up to date with the ever-changing field of lifestyle medicine, so the advice and support I provide is informed by current evidence, but also with an eye on what actually works in real life.

I believe looking after yourself sometimes requires a little rebellion, and refusing to simply go along with what’s become normal, or even what you are being told, especially when it comes to our health and how we feel.

My philosophy when it comes to your health

Understand yourself. Understand your health. Decide what works for you.

Your health is yours to understand, explore and take ownership of.

I believe we have far more influence over our health than many of us realise, or are often made to believe, and I hope Sunshine & Strength gives you the confidence to believe that too. ☀️

If Sunshine & Strength helps even a few people feel healthier, stronger and more alive, and I can make a small difference in my own corner of the world, then it'll have done exactly what I hoped.

If you're interested in my qualifications.

BSc (Hons) Critical Care - East Anglia University
4-year Undergraduate Diploma in Nutritional Therapy -  Institute for Optimum Nutrition
PostGraduate Diploma in Physical Activity for Health & Clinical Nutrition - Sheffield Hallam University
PostGraduate Diploma in Nutritional & Lifestyle Medicine - Worcester University

Level 3 Fitness Instruction

Breathwork instructor training

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia and Sleep coaching

Many, many CPDs, short courses, webinars and seminars.

A fair few adult years (I'm 48) trying to practise what I preach.... 😉