About

Tessa Merten

Registered Health Coach & Nutritional Therapist

DipNT, mBANT

Tessa is the founder of A Pinch of Life, where she works as a Health Coach and Nutritional Therapist. After working in the food industry for nine years, she truly began experiencing how the human body reacted to food and was fascinated at how much control we actually have. This led to Tessa studying at the Institute of Optimum Nutrition (ION) in London. For the next few years, Tessa devoted her time to studying, researching, and practicing all things that contributed to a better life. Her mission became finding out how to live life, instead of only existing.

Tessa is now fully insured, a member of the British Association for Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine (BANT) and South African Society of Integrative Medicine (SASIM).

Tessa’s approach will empower you to embrace a healthy way of living through the food you enjoy and the life you lead. Her manner is warm, compassionate, friendly, down-to-earth and non-judgemental. And she feels truly honoured to help make a difference to her clients’ well-being.

Tessa passionately believes a bespoke nutritional programme can profoundly benefit an individual’s health, whether they want to improve his or her mental health, gut, mood, energy, anxiety, weight, sleep, hormone balance, fertility or skin. She finds it especially rewarding helping women with hormonal health, gut health and stress-related health issues. Tessa has done additional training in infertility, prenatal care and maternal health strategies with Kharrazian Institute.

Life is busy, challenging and stressful. We all feel stressed about work, finances, what is on our to do lists or what we need to achieve in our lives. We feel guilty and stressed that we have not spent enough time with our families, children, friends or partners. We do not have the opportunity to eat a proper meal, to exercise, let alone meditate or spend time on yourself.

Working on charter vessels that did back-to-back seasons and being a sole chef, Tessa was exposed to a high stress environment for most of the year. Looking at the other women in the industry, she realised there were health issues all around.

What was happening? As females we were supposed to be in our prime. Yet, they were exhausted. They had irregular periods; they were depressed; their hair was falling out; had terrible acne, breaking nails, unexplained weight gain, intense cravings, bloating, gas, constipation, cysts, no drive, breast pain, muscle pain, slow recovery, insomnia, sleeping issues and thyroid issues. However, there was one common variable, they were all stressed. They all had different issues, but their bodies were begging for a break and a little support.

Clearly, there is a direct link between our health and our work environments. So, after being a yacht chef herself, she came to understand the demands and increasing pressures of the industry and modern life. And, because she has experienced (and recovered from) some particularly challenging health issues herself, she has a unique insight, empathy and experience with helping clients. She knows first-hand how the right food and nutrition support can make a real difference to your health and wellbeing.

In my late 20s after a life changing hiking trip to Kilimanjaro, my body went into shut down. I went back to work as usual. The following months followed stomach issues, I could not explain. Having a sensitive stomach all my life, I thought nothing of it. I’d only figure this all out three years later, when I had reached rock bottom.

The next two years involved, fluctuating hormones ruled by stress and a microbiome thrown into a frenzy. I would long to give my body any TLC, nutrition and help it could get as soon as work slowed down. I was finally diagnosed with candida and a parasite caught in Tanzania. The stress exacerbated my symptoms to a point where I had no option other than to focus on my health.

I decided to start listening to my body and make small changes to my diet and lifestyle but most importantly, I became aware of the power of food on my health.

My diet and my relationship with food has now been completely overhauled, and I feel the healthiest I have ever been. I’m not strict and I still enjoy a celebratory fine dining lunch or occasional pizza on a Friday night, however I know how to distinguish the pleasure from the facts in my choices.

I love helping others, enabling people to achieve their health goals and becoming the best version of themselves. My online clinic, helps me achieve my mission to support women's health with nutrition despite the pressures of life.

I look forward to hopefully helping you too!