About Me

Hi. I’m Stephen Ward from Fairfield Nutrition.

Stephen Ward (MSc Personalised Nutrition)

At 35, I found myself feeling tired all the time, increasingly feeling depressed and anxious, and slowly putting on weight. I wasn’t sure what was going on but when I eventually went to see my GP and had some testing done, I was told that I had Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, an auto-immune disease. I was shocked as I felt I was a healthy person!!!

I quizzed my GP about why I had developed the condition, and what I could do to avoid taking the replacement hormone for the rest of my life. I was told it was ‘just one of those things’ and little could be done but take the pills and continue on with my life exactly as before.

Now, I’m the kind of person who likes to understand the reasons behind things, and so I wasn’t satisfied with these answers. At the same time, I had grown up with a faith in conventional medicine and I presumed it would be able to help me here. I felt confused, isolated, and somewhat let down. I wanted to know what I could do… And so I started my own research on the internet into why people develop auto-immune conditions.

I spent the next few weeks excitedly devouring what I found… Page after page was showing me that my previous diet and lifestyle likely played a part in the development of my auto-immune disease. I learned how gluten, in particular, is best avoided by people with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. I transformed my diet there and then, eating real food and cutting out gluten and sugar. I quickly felt the benefits and enjoyed how the Paleo style diet made me feel.

I realised that what I put into my body had a huge effect on my health, energy, and wellbeing. I also took up running, reduced my exposure to everyday chemicals, and generally started taking care of what I put into my body. By doing so, I was able to reduce my thyroid antibodies to a normal level and lost around 10kg in weight, and felt better than ever before.

I loved geeking out on the research so much, and was so inspired by the Functional Medicine approach, that I decided to study Personalised Nutrition. Functional Medicine presents a radically different view of disease that addresses the root causes, rather than just the symptoms. It helps to provide a framework to answer many of the questions as to why chronic diseases develop.

I am now thrilled to be able to share this knowledge and experience with my clients. I am excited when they feel the difference, nutrition and lifestyle can make to their own lives. I believe that with simple, and non-invasive, changes we can all improve our health. I also offer NLP health coaching to help people who are finding making change difficult.

To help you get to know me better, I’ve also put together this list of what we stand for and stand against, so that you can get to know our values and see if we are a good match for you.