Jennalea McInnes
Clinical Nutritionist
Yoga Teacher
Jennalea is a Clinical Nutritionist, Yoga Teacher and mama of 2. With a focus on women’s health, Jennalea works with women through all stages of life, supporting them to meet their health goals.
In her early twenties, Jennalea experienced chronic gut issues, acne, pelvic pain, poor energy levels and unbeknownst to her she also had PCOS. Jennalea saw a Nutritionist to help with her gut health and had a life changing experience. That was the catalyst for enrolling into University to study her Bachelor of Health Science, majoring in Nutritional Medicine.
Since graduating in 2017, Jennalea has focused her work in the areas of gut health issues such as SIBO, IBS, Crohns, Ulcerative Colitis and dysbiosis. Jennalea helps women achieve their health goals in the areas of preconception health, pregnancy, postpartum depletion, PCOS, metabolic dysfunction, menstrual cycles (+ perimenopause and menopause) as well as PMS/PMDD.
Jennalea believes that many of our health concerns and symptoms can be tied back to gut health function and dysfunction. Her clinical work is is focused on gut health, liver function, kidney function and metabolic function to achieve optimal health.
Health plans prepared by Jennalea are comprehensive, educational, informative and empowering. The plans are tailored to her clients' individual needs. Often Jennalea will request blood work to ensure her clients are not only achieving their goals, but correcting nutritional deficiencies and ensuring nothing is missed in putting the puzzle pieces together.
When Jennalea is not working in clinical practice she is teaching Yoga. Jennalea has been a yoga teacher for the past 10 years and believes yoga is for everyBody and everyone. Using the breath as a tool throughout the physical practice for mindfulness, spaciousness and better health. Jennalea teaches Vinyasa, Yin, Slow and Prenatal.
Clinical Nutrition
A nutritionist, qualified by a degree or diploma, makes a holistic assessment of their clients’ current health status and supports them to optimise their health. Your nutritionist will consider presenting signs and symptoms, any diagnosis, health history, diet, relationship with food, habits, hobbies, lifestyle choices, culture, profession, stressors, sleep hygiene, energy levels as well as all of the individuals bodily systems to ensure they’re being treated as a person and not a disease/disorder.
It is not a nutritionists’ job to “diagnose” a disease or disorder, but instead to understand the driving force for the presenting issue. Treating these underlying causes with dietary changes, therapeutic interventions such as supplementation, providing lifestyle advice for sleep, energy, movement, mindfulness, stress relief and making recommendations to learn, grow and be inspired.
Plans made by a nutritionist are comprehensive and personalised. They include information on not only what to do to optimise your health but why, to help you feel empowered in your lifestyle changes and encouraged.
A clinical nutritionist will have the education and understanding to critically examine your pathology results. They will work on dietary changes to correct nutrient deficiencies as well as considering your pathology results to make any dietary changes they consider necessary for optimal health. The information and advice they provide is evidence-based.
Nutrition for preconception and fertility
The most critical times for nutrition are 3 months before conception and at 8-12 weeks gestation.
Once you have decided you want a baby - NOW is the perfect time to get your nutrition in order. We cannot predict the exact cycle we will fall pregnant, hence getting started on optimising egg quality, sperm quality and improving ovulation is impactful now.
1. First things first: Understand your body's needs
Optimise your nutritional status and correct any nutritional deficiencies (such as vitamin D, iron stores, folate, vitamin B12, zinc, choline, vitamin A and more).
2. Reign it in: Making sacrifices
Consider changes to your diet such as alcohol intake, food choices, caffeine and any potential toxins, as well as endocrine disruptors. A new embryo is vulnerable to toxins and these things cannot be fixed overnight.
Potential lifestyle changes such as cigarette smoke, vaping, drugs, social hours/late nights should also be considered.
3. Caring for pre-existing conditions
Some conditions can impact your fertility, which is important to consider as a part of your preconception care. Conditions including Coeliacs Disease, Type 2 Diabetes, Hypertension, Epilepsy, Asthma, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Bipolar, Depression and various infections can impact your fertility directly or through their treatment protocols.
4. Body composition:
There are many factors to consider when we are talking about weight. Medications, nutrition, lifestyle, movement, medical conditions, neurological illnesses, drugs, alcohol, stressors and chronic disease are some considerations.
Ultimately your body composition does have an effect on your fertility. Research suggests both low BMI's and high BMI's (body mass index) can impair ovulation and thus fertility. Obesity during conception has also been linked to higher chances of developing preeclampsia and gestational diabetes.
Nutrition in this case is to help with any pre-existing condition impacting your body composition and helping you achieve your conception goals through lifestyle and dietary changes.
5. Time to get to know your body a little more intimately
It is important to understand when you are ovulating and your fertile windows. We consider different methods to gather this information and will also look at your pathology.
6. Breathe in, breathe out
Manage stressors, take time to rest and regulate your stress response. You can support this process by optimising your stress response with supportive nutrients for neurotransmitter production.
7. Love your guts
Your microbiome is going to be your baby's microbiome. It has a large role in neurotransmitter production as well as helping you recycle (and eliminate) hormones.
Getting your nutrition sorted before you plan to conceive can have a huge impact on;
having a pregnancy to term
baby's birthweight
reducing the risk of preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, thyroid issues such as goitre, pregnancy hypertension
lowering risk of miscarriage
lowering risk of stillbirth
avoiding excess weight gain during pregnancy, which can impact the above
Having nutritional support throughout your preconception phase will help you better understand how to prepare for conceiving; what nutrients your body requires, how to improve your egg quality, how to improve implantation and which foods to use more of in your diet to support ovulation.
Nutrition for Gut Health
Good nutrition is the cornerstone of optimal gut function. The gut and brain are connected, so by ensuring you have a well balanced diet that supports your gut function, you can help to support your mood and mental health.
95% of your microbiome is in your large intestine, so the foods you eat are either feeding the good guys in your guts or the bad guys. How we eat supports our microbiome which affects our guts function, mental state, emotional health and more.
Nutrition and Pelvic Pain
Nutrition can be utlised as a tool to help treat pelvic pain. When working with pelvic pain from a nutritional perspective the following are considered;
Reducing constipation; chronic or acute, recurring or postpartum
Improving and reducing haemorrhoids
Reducing inflammation, including investigating inflammatory markers in pathology.
Modulating prostaglandin production to ensure there is no excess production (this hormone-like molecule causes contractions during menstruation thus cramping, and for some this is painful).
Modulating the pain response in the body by optimising neurotransmitter production with supportive nutrients.
Improving recovery and repair of connective tissue.
Nutrition constipation and kids
There are several nutritional factors to consider when children are struggling with constipation. These include;
Ensuring your child is getting adequate fibre, hydration and the right nutrients to support a daily bowel movement.
Helping you understand which foods are best for your "poo - go - to's" so you feel confident to get your baby's bowels moving optimally.
If the issue is chronic constipation, Jennalea can also support you by analysing stool sample results, pathology results and work alongside the Osteopathy team to ensure physical movements are supporting bowel movements.