blogger spotlight: nicsnutritionWelcome to another installation for 'Blogger Spotlight'! Today I am VERY excited to bring a wonderful and lovely lady who not only blogs but is a UK Specialist Registered Dietician! She is also a fellow northern girl which obviously makes her even more awesome! :) Nichola is one of the first ever people I started following on social media so watching her go from strength to strength and follow her journey has been pretty darn cool! Anyway, I will keep you no longer, let's hear from Nichola herself... 
Blog
www.nicsnutrition.com Social Handles Twitter | @nicsnutrition Facebook | @nicsnutrition Instagram | @nicsnutrition YouTube | Nic's Nutrition Hi! My name is Nichola Ludlam-Raine, but you can call me Nic. I’m a UK Specialist Registered Dietitian and health blogger :) I promote all foods to be eaten in moderation as a part of a healthy balanced diet and believe that variety is the spice of life. In my opinion there is no such thing as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ foods, just good and bad diets; diets here referring to EVERYTHING that you eat in an entire day, week, month and year! I promote healthy lifestyles as a way of life, rather than fad/short-term diets and live by the 80:20 rule, where as long as you are eating mainly (80%) healthy nutrient dense foods, it’s ok to indulge for some (20%!) of them time. Life is about enjoyment and balance and for me my 20% is alcohol (I love a G&T!) & chocolate; although I buy dark chocolate most of the time if my husband buys Galaxy then I simply cannot resist! Regarding my qualifications, I graduated with a First Class Honours degree in BSc Sport & Exercise Science from Loughborough University in 2007, and I then specialised in nutrition by gaining a Post Graduate Diploma in Dietetics (Merit) from Leeds Metropolitan University to become a Registered Dietitian in 2009. Since qualifying, I have achieved my MSc in Health Science (Merit) and I am a certified diabetes educator. I feature regularly on BBC Breakfast T.V, and have more recently appeared on ITV’s Tonight Show as well as Channel 4 as well. How long have you been blogging and what kind of content can we find on your blog? I have a passion for promoting easy to understand nutrition and diet tips and started blogging in 2012 as a way of promoting healthy eating messages in a readable and accessible manner. My aim is to motivate and inspire others to lead a healthier and subsequently happier life, one step at a time through my nutrition and fitness related blog posts as well as healthy recipes.My blog is a reflection of who I am personally and professionally and I will only blog about products and services that I truly love. “Nic’s Nutrition” is my hobby and passion, and although it takes up a considerable amount of my ‘free time’ outside my day work as an NHS, freelance and private dietitian, I love it and I truly appreciate every single comment that is left – it keeps me going! 
What made you choose to start a blog and why did you choose the subject/s you blog about?
I qualified as a dietitian in 2009, and my first taste of blogging was actually reading beauty and fashion blogs in my free time. I loved the fact that you could get honest advice from people who were equally as passionate, and after looking for nutrition blogs I quickly realised that there was a lack of trust-worthy advice out there, and I couldn’t find any UK dieticians who were blogging or vlogging. In 2012 I finally decided to ‘take the plunge’ and start blogging as I basically wanted to share REAL nutrition advice that works. I’m not about fad diets and I’m not about nutritional claims that have no evidence to back them up. The aim of my blog ‘Nic’s Nutrition’ is to inspire others to lead a healthier and ultimately happy life, one step at a time through providing nutrition and fitness tips, healthy recipes and product reviews. My blog is my hobby and passion and I’m really proud of it :). The best thing about blogging is seeing my healthy recipes being made by other people and hearing about how their lives have changed. The other week I received an amazing email from someone who had lost 5 stone in the last year and she was saying thank you for all of the honest and credible advice. It’s feedback such as this that keeps me blogging!! Where do you find inspiration from for your blog? I find inspiration from new papers/journals that are published in the world of nutrition, as well as the public health campaigns that I am often asked to comment upon in the media. Tell me about your proudest blog achievement. My proudest moment was when I was voted Best Individual Health Blog in the 2015 UK Blog Awards (hurray!!). I was also voted Blogger of the Year for the Health & Fitness Category in the Blogger’s Lounge Blog Awards 2014 and my blog was short-listed for the Cosmo Blog Awards 2013, 2014 and 2015 (Best Food Blog Category) out of over 43,000 entries. 
What has been your biggest blog disaster? The biggest challenge for me is a lack of technical knowledge. A friend helped me to redesign my website in 2013 and I’ve had to take multiple trips to the Apple store to understand how to film and edit my YouTube videos! In 2016 I decided to switch my blog to another template and subsequently lost a lot of my recipes in the process! Time is always a big discussion point between bloggers, how do you manage your time? I blog on an evening or weekend, or when I'm travelling to London on the train. I'm based in Leeds so this means 2 hours of content creating time! I also love the app Planoly to plan my Instagram feed. Lastly, where do you see your blog in 5 years time? I hope that my blog reflects where I am in my life; I hope to have started a family (I got married last year!) and would love to blog more about eating during pregnancy and feeding a baby/toddler and family! 
HUGE thank you to Nichola for taking part in my March Blogger Spotlight! It's been fabulous having her not only as a health blogger, but also as her Specialist Registered Dietician self. Don't forget to check her out on social media and also go and visit her fabulous blog for all things health, nutrition, recipe and fitness! All photos provided by Nichola- taken by Fields Photography London :) |
about me
THE GIRL BEHIND FITNESS FORSTERMy name is Amie and I am the face behind Fitness Forster.
I am a freelance recipe developer, content creator and qualified personal trainer. I developed this website to share my passion for healthy recipes, fitness and travel. FITNESS FORSTER ON INSTAGRAMFITNESS FORSTER ON SOCIAL MEDIAEXCLUSIVE CONTENT TO YOUR INBOXPERSONAL TRAINING AND ONLINE COACHINGFor all online coaching and 1-1 or group personal training please visit my PT website HERE
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