Amelia Freer: 'At 41, I'd given up believing I'd ever be a mother'

When I ask bestselling nutritionist Amelia Freer why she decided to write a third book, she replies: ‘My doctor told me that, at 41, my chances of having a baby were incredibly low. So I wanted to pour my energy into something to take my mind off the pain.’

The resulting book, Nourish & Glow: The 10 Day Plan, is her best yet. But in even better news, Amelia discovered that she was pregnant just after writing it, she exclusively reveals to Stella. ‘It’s quite a miracle,’ she says. ‘I’d given up believing I’d ever be a mother.’ 

With two previous bestselling books and an army of A-list clients to her name, Amelia seemed to have it all as the UK's leading nutritional therapist, but behind the scenes she was suffering multiple miscarriages.

Amelia, whose partner is the businessman and Dragons’ Den star Nick Jenkins, is now just over 20 weeks pregnant and their baby is due this September. ‘I’m not a secretive person and I’d always planned to talk about what has been happening, but I never knew how,’ says Amelia.

‘Miscarriage is so much more common than I ever realised and I’m not afraid to share that part of me, especially if it offers some comfort to other women who are going through the same thing.’

Amelia says a particular low point in her struggle to conceive was hitting 40. ‘When we began trying at 38, I knew it was fairly late to be starting a family but I still thought I’d have time for two children. Instead, I had one miscarriage after another for the next few years. When I turned 40 it was really terrifying. I was promoting and writing about health but I felt like my body couldn’t do the one thing it was meant to do. But I’ve learned you can’t control your body, no matter how healthy you are. 

‘This was out of my control and it became a real trauma in my life. I was bringing out these books and people were projecting this happy, healthy image on me,’ adds Amelia, who has more than 112,000 followers on Instagram, ‘but privately I was going through utter heartache. I was pregnant on the covers of my first two books [Eat. Nourish. Glow and Cook. Nourish. Glow] but then miscarried. I even miscarried on live TV in Canada while promoting one of the books, but I just carried on.’

After her first (failed) round of IVF last year, Amelia’s doctor told her the chances of her having her own child were extremely slim. It was just as she was finishing her third book that she received the shock news she was pregnant. ‘It was completely natural and a complete and utter surprise.' 

While Amelia will never be drawn on her celebrity clients, who include Victoria Beckham, Sam Smith, Boy George and James Corden, they’re much more forthcoming about her.

Victoria recently told an interviewer: ‘I’ve started seeing Amelia Freer. I’ve learned so much about food: you’ve got to eat the right things, eat the right healthy fats. I usually get up about 6am, do a bit of a workout, get the kids up, get them changed, give them breakfast, get them to school, then do a bit more working out before I go into the office. And to do all of that, I’ve got to fuel my body correctly.’

Meanwhile, singer Sam Smith publicly credited her with helping him slim down, posting the following tribute on Instagram: ‘Amelia Freer has completely transformed my relationship with food. It’s not even about weight loss, it’s about feeling happy in yourself. Thank you for making me feel so happy inside and out.'  

‘My books are about so much more than weight loss,’ agrees Amelia. ‘There’s more to good health and eating right than fitting into a certain dress, and I think there’s been a real shift away from that. Women don’t want  to go on extreme diets, they  just want to feel healthy, well and energised.’

Amelia’s first book introduced readers to her 10 principles of healthy eating, prompting a huge request for recipes – leading to her second book. ‘The feedback I then received was that people understand that healthy eating is important, they want to give it a go, but they struggle to stay on track,’ says Amelia. ‘Many people tell me they have a good/bad, on-a-diet/off-a-diet mentality. They’re doing well and then they fall off the wagon and berate themselves, which becomes exhausting.’

So she came up with the 10-day plan, which she describes as ‘hand-holding’. ‘The other books have given readers the freedom to dip in and out at will. But this plan tells you how to shop, eat and live for 10 days – and as it’s only for 10 days, pretty much anybody can do it.’

It includes  a detailed shopping  list and delicious, wholesome recipes including nut granola, a turmeric and mango spiced chia pot, and wild salmon parcels with an Asian-style salad.

‘I had testers try the plan and they all said it was doable. By the end of the 10 days they were sleeping better and feeling better, their mood improved, and their hunger and sugar cravings decreased.’

The book tackles the most common healthy-eating pitfalls (boredom, stress, lack of time, and so on), and includes tips on mindful eating and how to recognise and avoid emotional eating triggers. ‘I really wanted to cover this because people often know how to eat well, but then real life gets in the way,’ says Amelia. ‘People are busy, they work in offices full of cakes and tea runs and they turn to snacks when they get bored or tired. I wanted to help address this.’

Amelia advises ‘choosing your habits’. ‘So rather than deciding you’re going to exercise more, make a plan to walk 10,000 steps a day or walk some of the way to work. I hear lots of excuses from clients about why they don’t eat well, but the fact is we prioritise the things that are important to us. I love gardening and I always find time to prune my roses. I cook from scratch because I love cooking. But I never have time for the gym because I don’t love it.’

Amelia also compares our willpower around food to a muscle – ‘we have to flex it every day to make it stronger’ – and in the book she explains how. ‘We think willpower is a finite resource that runs out towards the end of every day, but it doesn’t.’

Amelia says her own way of eating has changed in pregnancy: ‘The way we eat is a continual journey and eating in pregnancy is a whole new journey for me. It has challenged my habits and food tastes, and I want foods I don’t normally eat. But I’m listening to my body and nourishing my baby. Something I hammer home in the book is there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to eating – it’s entirely individual, but it helps if you can get the foundations right. 

‘The way women eat is often judged, but I never beat myself up over how I eat and I tell clients not to either. The only thing I’ve found upsetting is my lack of enjoyment of food in pregnancy – for a foodie like me that’s horrible! But truly, I’ve been blessed and I couldn’t be more excited.’ 

Amelia's nut granola Recipes from Amelia's kitchen

‘Nourish & Glow: The 10 Day Plan’ by Amelia Freer (£16.99, Penguin) is out now

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