Who we are
Carolyn St John Loder
Founder and Director
Carolyn developed the first zest4life programme alongside Wendy and
Patrick and continued to run successful group and 1:1 programmes in Surrey until 2009. Carolyn now focuses on training, coaching and developing other practitioners.
"“My background is in Coaching and I ran a Vocational Training College for many years. I met Wendy on a psychotherapy training course at a time when I was looking to move my career in a new direction, one that would also fit around my family. I had 3 children in fairly close succession and was left overweight, tired and feeling anything but ‘zest4life’. Despite repeated visits to the doctors reporting numerous symptoms, tests came back as ‘normal’. How could feeling so tired, irritable and unable to concentrate be normal? That started my personal journey to take
control of my own health and wellbeing. Following Patrick’s advice and
methodology I regained my health and vitality, returned to my pre-pregnancy weight and restored my confidence and overall wellbeing. Knowing what was possible for me, I felt a sense of determination that I wanted to work in a field where I could inspire and coach others to do the same. At around the same time, Patrick was launching his Low GL diet book and the ethos and approach was completely consistent with what we were trying to achieve. We approached him with a view to combining our specialist areas - Coaching and Psychology, with his 25 years of
being an inspirational leader in health and nutrition - and the zest4life process was born. My role in the company now is to provide training, marketing and coaching support, and develop new markering initiatives."
Ann Garry
Director
Ann is an experienced zest4life Nutritional Therapist based in Marlow.
In addition to running programmes, she is now part of the zest4life central team providing training and coaching to new Practitioners as well as writing and developing new programmes.
“Nutrition is my second career and now I am not only passionate about what I do but I am making a very direct impact on people's lives. I joined zest4life because I wanted to find a way to reach more people and to build a more financially successful practice. I felt frustrated that I couldn't get
my message out to more people AND it was difficult to make a proper living. I began thinking about developing a programme and even developed a list of topics to be included. At the same time I became aware of zest4life and attended their first training day in London. I was very
impressed by their professionalism and care and realised that they had spent the best part of 4 years developing and testing a comprehensive health education / coaching programme. So if it had taken three people
four years, how long was it going to take me? I completed the Practitioner training in September 2009 and by November I was running 2 pilot programmes with 20 people each. The results went beyond my
expectations and the feedback so positive. I very quickly realised that whilst many people came along for weight loss initially, this rapidly changed to encompass improved energy levels, better sleep, strengthened immune system, stable moods and hormones etc. Since then I have continued to run programmes and co- developed a programme called 'Fast-track Back to Health' - specifically for those with risk factors for diabetes and heart disease, and trialed with a GP practice. It is all very
exciting as we continue to innovate and grow. I am now very well known in my local area, have more clients than I can really cope with and have a thriving business - all in the space of a year."
Wendy Nagle
Founder and Director
Wendy co-founded zest4life with Carolyn and Patrick in 2005, developing and running programmes and events in Berkshire and Surrey.
“I have had an interest in weight loss all my adult life and was constantly on one diet or another in the attempt to lose or maintain my weight, resulting in my weight and wellbeing fluctuating constantly. My career
was in a fast paced, stressful management consultancy role: developing training and business coaching interventions, managing large change programmes and business development. I was the typical ‘stressed
out executive’, never having enough energy, feeling exhausted and living off caffeine. I had trained as a Psychologist originally and decided to move
back to this area to be able to support individuals as this is what really inspires me. We developed zest4life to create a credible, healthy approach to weight loss – combining psychology, coaching, support and nutrition. Learning about good nutrition and applying it to my own life was an
amazing breakthrough for me personally. By balancing my blood sugar, choosing the right foods and eating regularly I finally broke free of the roller coaster ups and downs that I experienced every day and the constant unhappiness about my weight. I am at my perfect weight and have been here since 2005 and it’s easy to maintain. I wish I had this knowledge 20 years ago to save me years of struggling! And, more importantly, my health has improved dramatically: my skin is better, my stress levels are more manageable, I have fewer headaches, I have fewer colds, I have steady energy levels, and I no longer have times of the day when I just want to put my head down and sleep. So, our mission is to share this simple information and support others to experience these benefits. My roles within zest4life include: managing the business, finance, authoring content and the training and development of practitioners".
Anne Owens
Area Director - Ireland
Anne Owens sees 1:1 clients and runs group programmes in Dublin;
she is now an Area Manager supporting and coaching practitioners in the
Republic of Ireland.
“I trained as a Nutritional Therapist at the Irish Institute of Nutrition & Health and graduated in 2007. I set up in private practice in Dublin and
started to build my Nutritional Therapy business, but this was a slow process. However, I found that the people who came to me for weight
loss were really doing very well. This was because I had always struggled with my own weight and so I understood what they were going through and I was able to indentify with them, and help them. But more importantly than this I had the right eating plan for them, which was the low GL eating plan. This is what I was trained to use when I was in college. Then in 2009 I heard about zest4life and that Patrick Holford wanted to introduce the zest4life programmes to Ireland. This was a great opportunity for me because I love helping people regain their health and wellbeing and lose weight. And here it was, the whole programme packaged under Patrick’s name, it was a no-brainer for me!! I went to London to do the extra training that was required to become a zest4life practitioner and came back and launched the first pilot programme in Dublin. It was a great success. My clients got brilliant results and were very
impressed with the quality of the booklets and presentations they were given. I have been running successful zest4life programmes in Dublin since then and my client base is growing all the time. The quality of the zest4life training is excellent, the marketing materials and presentations are fantastic. But most important of all is the support, encouragement and back-up that each practitioner gets from the zest4life team."