My story:
I started having severe bloating as a teen, after a gut infection I got in Asia. My gut issues quickly became debilitating, followed by extreme fatigue, hormonal imbalances and poor sleep when I moved to uni (ironically to medical school!). I saw one doctor after the other, only to become worse and worse. I was put on all sort of medications. I was often dismissed as “you are great, it’s all in your head”!
I relied on self-help books and visited all kinds of alternative and complimentary medicine practitioners. What made me feel more like myself for the first time was working one-to-one with a Nutritional Therapist. Getting in Nutritional Therapy school and later Functional Medicine, was a no-brainer.
During my studies, my health was only getting better. Now I can enjoy my life to the fullest. I am able to dream, without limitations. I am on a mission to make sure you don’t go through the same challenges that I went through. I’ve been trained to listen, look for the root causes, see the body as whole and educate my patients. These are the skills & approach I wish I had come across much earlier in my life!
Olianna as a Practitioner:
Olianna Gourli studied Biomedical Sciences (BSc Honours) in University College London, with a focus in Anatomy and Physiology. The complexity of the human body and its numerous metabolic pathways intrigued her into researching more the individual needs, unique constitution and metabolic/ biochemical distinctiveness of the individual and how they can affect prevention and treatment.
While working as a researcher and biomedical scientist in the haematology department of diagnostic health care centres, she noted the importance of prevention in health and disease. Following these years in the conventional medical setting and the health challenges of her own, she reflected upon the need of integrative therapy provision in the medical sector. She strongly believes that the key to good health lies in a preventative and holistic multimodal approach which takes into account the body as a whole, views each individual as absolutely unique, addresses the root of illness rather than just its symptoms, and in which nutrition plays an essential role.
In an effort to combine orthodox and alternative medicine, she went on to study Nutrition and Naturopathic Medicine. She graduated from a three-year course in Holistic Energetic Nutrition and Traditional Greek Medicine in NHS, Athens, as well as a three-year course in Nutritional Therapy and Naturopathy from College of Naturopathic Medicine in London, a world leader in the field of Nutritional and other Complementary therapies. She has taken post-graduate courses in Metabolic Typing, Metabolomics, Fertility, Cancer, Neuroplasticity, Nutritional Medicine, Functional Testing, Kinesiology and Nutrigenomics (the scientific study of the interaction of nutrition and genes, with regard to prevention or treatment). The combination of the two, formerly conflicting fields, gives her a rounded, holistic education, which provides the patients with first-class health care. She has a certificate of Functional Medicine from Institute of Functional Medicine (Washington, D.C., USA, 2018). She is currently doing her doctoral degree in Natural Medicine (PhD).
As a Functional Medicine Practitioner and Nutritional Therapist she helps people with all sort of chronic complaints and illnesses to change their diet and lifestyle so that they can optimise their health. Given her background in scientific research and systematic reviews, she is an advocate of evidence-based medicine and will only use recommendations for which there is sound scientific evidence.
She is a qualified Nutritional Therapist and Naturopath, fully registered with the British Association of Applied Nutrition and Nutritional Therapy (BANT) and with the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC), the UK voluntary regulator for complementary therapies. She has also been an Assistant Clinical Supervisor at the College of Naturopathic Medicine in London.
As part of her holistic philosophy and the belief that good health is much more than taking care of the body, she has trained to be a Reiki and Neuro-Linguistic Programming Practitioner (NLP), in an effort to address emotional, mental and spiritual health as well.
Olianna also writes for Natural Medicine Press and is a translator of Nutritional Medicine books.
As part of her Continuing Professional Development, she has attended a plethora of educational conferences and seminars to keep abreast of the latest evidence in conventional and natural medicine. She is also a certified first-aider.
Olianna sees clients all over the world online.
