Theibsdietitian Reviews 70

I had a great experience working with Kirsten to help with my IBS. The difference in me from when I started to now is amazing and I know what to avoid when I need to so I don't have a flare up when I'm not expecting it.
Kirsten was great with understanding my busy lifestyle and not being able to always be in control of what I'm eating / having to eat on the go. This didn't stop me getting the results I never thought I would.

Working with Kirsten had an incredibly positive impact in my life. She guided me into making healthy food choices and establishing healthy habits that had a strong impact on my lifestyle and overall health. I noticed significant improvements in my physical health, improved energy levels and better sleep. Additionally, working with Kirsten had a strong positive impact on my mental health.

It took me getting COVID for the second time in a year to actually slow down and write this review. It also shows how well Kirsten’s multi-factorial approach works. Let me tell you why.

I am a perennially stressed and anxious person working in high-tech. So I guess you can imagine how out of sync my routine and my body are. I got diagnosed with cancer about a couple of years ago and then had to go through radiation, which kick-started my IBS. It sort of resolved itself for a few months after the first flare and I refused to believe that it could in fact be IBS.

The second time round the flare was worse and brought me to my knees. I went to a gastroenterologist who tried different medication combinations to get it under control and suggested that I consult a dietitian. As one does, I conducted my research and came across Kirsten’s Instagram handle. What I liked about her was that whatever advice she gave out was grounded firmly in science. So I started working with her and during the course of my 1:1 consultation with her, Kirsten provided me with a lot of tools on how to manage my IBS and how to get back to my pre-cancer life (well-almost, because once IBS is there, it’s there). Glad to say that now I know what my triggers are exactly - stress and lactose. And now I can eat out without too much worry about how my gut is going to behave.

Kirsten showed how it’s not only food or stress that can impact your gut. But it’s a multitude of factors. So you need to look at each of them and find the right balance, along with finding synergies within your gut-brain axis. I am sorry Kirsten that it took me some time to get to writing this, but I am glad that got the time to jot this review down.

This programme is a necessity if you are struggling with your IBS. With the support from Kirsten and other sufferers, I was able to complete the Low-FODMAP diet confidently and safely. However, what it made me realise was that my lifestyle was having such a big impact on my gut/brain connection. Yes, I still have bad days however it is no way near as much as I did and I am now able to be in control of my symptoms. I can’t thank Kirsten and this programme enough!

Just want to say a huge thankyou to Kirsten. I have watched my daughter being unable to live a full life for a few years now. We have accessed every resource we thought was available to us without success. It is down to Kirsten that she feels part of the world again and she can now enjoy being a young adult without the extreme pain that she experienced daily. My daughter has a sense of hope back in her life! Thanks Kirsten

I engaged the services of Kirsten Jackson when I was extremely ill with various gut symptoms which affected my life.
Her knowledge and skills literally saved my life. She has excellent knowledge about all different aspects relating to gut disease and the information if followed will change your life. I would strongly recommend her services and she is worth every penny you pay. I would strongly recommend her services which are given in a very caring and professional manner. I will never be able to thank her enough.

Kirsten is so good at what she does, since doing her program I’ve had a significant improvement in my bloating.
She’s given me some great advise and tips on how to control my flare ups in the future, thank you again Kirsten!

Kirsten service and advice has been great in helping me understand my gut and preferences and what I should and should not be doing. It provides reassurance and gives practical solutions. Kirsten ensures you stay on track through email comms and monthly meetings and hold you to account to ensure you get the best service for money which I found very beneficial. She is also skilled at finding other solutions if you struggle to stick to task and gives you a clear indication at the end of the process regarding how you need to continue from a life management viewpoint. Very skilled Practioner and would highly recommend.

Kirsten. We spoke in November when I was quite unwell and not getting much support from the NHS. I was not able to take up the full support you could offer but the advice you gave was a massive game changer I followed what you said and slowly but surely I started to recover. I am now in remission. Feeling well and have started to train at the gym and back running although slower and not as far for now. I had lost 13 kg when we spoke and as of now I have put 11.5 kg back on. I wanted to say thank you and if it was not for my friends arranging the call and your support I’m not sure I would be where I am today. Thank you from me my family and friends.

I have been suffering from IBS-C since I was a child and it has affected every aspect of my life - leaving me miserable. I came across Kirsten on instagram and signed up to the VIP programme with her colleague Kirsty and it has changed my life! I have noticed a huge difference in my IBS that I never thought was possible and have gained so much insight into how to manage my symptoms - leaving me with invaluable tools that I can use for the rest of my life. The level of expertise and knowledge Kirsty has is admirable and the personalisation of this is very hard to come by. Working with the food treatment clinic has improved my quality of life a great deal and I 100% recommend working with them if you suffer from IBS - it is worth every penny!

I just want to say a HUGE thank you Kirsten who runs the Take Control programme.

For about 3 years I was suffering with bloating, wind, stomach pains and diarrhea so I went to see the doctor who gave me various tests and I was diagnosed with IBS. She printed off an information sheet from Google and off I went. A year later I was none the wiser and still suffering. I tried lots of things to try and sort out my gut problems. The first thing I did was to take a bioresonance device test where you have to hold a metal handle for 1 minute and then you get a print off of those foods which you may be sensitive to. I had a long list but it didn't really help. The next thing I did was try to cut out gluten and dairy. This seemed to help with the bloating but I was still getting other symptoms. I had heard about the low fodmap diet so researched that on the internet but again, I was so confused. There are so many websites on Pinterest that claim to show you how to do the low fodmap diet but they all say different things and contradict each other. Some say you can have avocado, others say you can't.

I saw the Take Control programme advertised and looked into it. I waited a few months before I plucked up the courage to join. I have to admit, I was sceptical that it would work, but I was wrong.

The Take Control programme has been an absolute life changer for me. I now know exactly what it is that I can and can't eat. The low fodmap diet is so confusing but Kirsten trained me exactly how to do it correctly. The Facebook group has also been really helpful as I realised that I was not the only person who was suffering and had 'silly questions'. Everyone on there has been really kind and helpful and taught me so much.

Thanks to the Take Control programme I am now no longer suffering from stomach pains. It still happens sometimes but nowhere near as frequently as it was and I can usually work out what has caused it. I have not had diarrhea for months. I no longer go around looking like I'm pregnant or worry about my loud tummy noises when I share an office with my colleagues.

Being vegetarian it has been tough. The low fodmap diet was really hard being veggie and there were times when I wanted to give up. I even cried a couple of times. It was so hard. But thanks to the Take Control programme I found out that a lot of the veggie foods I was eating such as beans and pulses were actually what was causing the problem! I had also switched to soya milk which I found out was another cause of my difficulties.

Kirsten, I want to thank you so much for everything you have done for me. I am still learning about how much I can tolerate for certain foods and if I do decide to eat something that doesn't agree with me then at least I know the pains may come and I'm prepared for that. I totally recommend the Take Control programme to anyone who is suffering from IBS. It is well worth the money, time and effort. I really cannot thank Kirsten enough for helping me. I really do mean it when I say this programme has changed my life.

A million thanks,

I have suffered with IBS for at least 25 years and felt that I had tried everything and anything! I had been medically diagnosed with IBS-D and given the usual Imodium and antidepressants. I didn’t want to accept that this was it so I tried endless diets, doctors, tests etc to try to find what would work for me but I just couldn’t find the answer. I even visited the Mayo Clinic (Rochester) and The IBS Treatment Center (Seattle) still with very little progress.
I just didn't understand how other people found their way to control/manage/live with their IBS symptoms when I had been seriously struggling for decades.
Earlier on this year after a horrific bout of C Diff I was literally at the end of my tether! I missed out on family meals, days out and had even mentioned not being able to go on a family holiday as I was in such a mess.
Then during my usual trawl of the internet I found Kirsten the.ibsdietitian on Instagram. It was literally a revelation reading her posts as I could totally relate to them - as I found out later, Kirsten also has IBS so she really understood the daily issues!
I was very sceptical at first as I had been in this 'hopeful' place many many times before but the new diets never worked out and provided little or no relief.

I was so down and my quality of life was nil. My family massively encouraged me to give it a go so I got in touch with Kirsten and joined her VIP Programme. We had our first consultation and I got started. I always stick to my new diets religiously and give them a proper go. I was on the low Fodmap restricted phase for about 5 weeks and unbelievably my tummy settled down - I was even constipated some days which is heaven to me!
I am now on the Reintroduction phase and it is a slower process trialing to see what you react to and in what quantity. But I feel so much more in control and have even managed the family holiday that we booked and I dreaded - turned out I had a fabulous time!

I am still working with Kirsten on the Reintroduction phase but my life is soooo much better! I am feeling better in myself (yoga, pilates and meditation) and slowly I'm starting to trust my tummy.

A lot of Kirsten's reviews were from sufferers of IBS - C so I was initially worried that the diet wouldn't work for IBS - D. But she assured me that it would and I am now living proof!

So please please give it a go, it's not easy but it's way easier than living with IBS for the rest of your life!

After putting off seeking help from a dietitian for many years, I finally chose to work with Kirsten at the beginning of the year. Her 1:1 VIP programme provided me with life changing support, including a diagnosis different to one I had originally received which I would never have found otherwise.

Kirsten is knowledgeable, systematic and supportive. I initially felt anxious about working with someone, thinking that a dietitian would judge me or my food choices, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Kirsten's approach does not just focus on dietary changes but lifestyle changes too and is completely individualised.

Thanks to this, for the first time in as long as I remember, I now have true symptom relief that is ongoing. I also have a better understanding of my body and the way it reacts to different foods, meaning that I can leave the house without the risk of a flare up.

Despite continuing to have restrictions in my diet, I no longer feel restricted because of the significant impact on my quality of life. Although investing in the VIP programme was costly, the ongoing value of working with Kirsten is worth every single penny. No amount of money spent in any other way could have given me the same symptom relief and new found confidence in myself and my body. Thank you Kirsten.

I can’t thank Kirsten and the group enough for all the support the last year. There has been many obstacles and they have supported me to overcome them. Thank you so much, I will be forever grateful. Xx

Kirsten was able to put my mind at rest about misinformation I had previously been given by other healthcare professionals. We started from scratch and tried everything realising my problem was as straightforward as we hoped. Kirsten was able to suggest that I requested some specific tests because all other angles had been covered. As a result, one of the tests came back positive and after years of being told they didn’t know what the problem was, I finally have a diagnosis that I can now look to fix! This is solely down to Kirsten’s professional advice and I thank her for that - without speaking to Kirsten i would be in a much worse place than what I am now. Was very handy to pick up some tips from her about everyday wellbeing as well. Lovely person and easy to talk to, very professional.

Below is the last email I sent to Kirsten. I thought I was hopeless when I first started, and here I am.

“Hi Kirsten!

I just bought a form fitting wedding dress.

Last year around this time, if someone told me that I’d do this, I’d laugh at their face. Although I’m very slim, my bloating levels had always been completely unpredictable and such an important day couldn’t be left to pure chance.

However, I worked with you this year. Which is the best thing I did in 2020 without any doubt. I know that if I do things right during the week leading to the wedding, I’ll be in complete control of my symptoms. Having that trust in my body is priceless.

So thank you.”

I joined the Take Control programme when I was halfway through the FODMAP process and struggling to keep on track. I thought I was quite knowledgeable about IBS but I was not getting symptom relief and I was feeling demoralised.

I’ve completed 3 months of the programme and am now moving on in a much better place, physically AND mentally- as anyone with IBS will understand, it’s a frustrating and stressful condition.

I can't overstate what a difference it has made to my life, it's helped me complete the FODMAP process but also to understand that this is not the be-all-and-end-all approach to dealing with IBS. In fact I had a pretty unhealthy attitude to food before as I saw it as the sole cause of my IBS symptoms. I now know there’s a more holistic approach including stress management, movement and sleep etc. I’ve also enjoyed foods which I previously avoided.

Overall I’d say that I now have clarity and confidence in managing IBS symptoms, which is all I could have asked for. I’d highly recommend trying the group programme, it’s a particularly good option if cannot afford to see a dietitian or cannot access one via your health service.

It was a great pleasure to work with Kirsten. I'm truly beyond grateful that I came across her Instagram! I was depressed and really desperate to resolve my issues when I started the treatment, and I couldn't imagine that I would be not using any tablets for my IBS C anymore after the 3 month program..

Its truly life changing to finally be able to enjoy eating and nourishing my body, as well as to enjoy a lunch/dinner with family and friends without being nervous about it. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

After around 8 years suffering from my IBS, with it getting much worse during lockdown, along with other complications, I felt I was at breaking point and reached out to Kirsten and settled a VIP 1:1 package. I was a little bit worried about the expense at first, but felt that if it worked, it would be worth it. I think I was more worried that I could spend lots of money and still have no answers.

Well, I'm so glad I took the plunge. I have learned so much more about my specific issues than I could by using Google, and worked with Kirsten on a methodical and systematic approach to identifying my triggers and how to avoid them. I still have a way to go and have a route planned out with Kirsten, but I am so much better now than when I started, so that in itself is worth it.

Kirsten is so friendly and approachable, and more than that is extremely knowledgeable about her field which comes across in conversations with her, so she instantly puts you at ease and gives you confidence that the answers are out there. Everyone is an individual, and their issues are all different, but Kirsten's approach is tailored to you which is the beauty of the 1:1 package.

I know lots of people out there are suffering and trying random diets without support and struggling along in pain as I was, I would recommend you start working directly with a registered dietician like Kirsten to get the answers you are so desperate for.

I signed up for the Take Control programme three months ago and it has been the best thing I have done to help understand and manage my IBS. I have been constipated pretty much all my life (I'm 56 so that's an awful long time) and was diagnosed with IBS in my early twenties. One of the frustrating things for me was not understanding why my symptoms were sometimes OK, then at other times awful and debilitating. Visits to my GP just resulted in a diagnosis of 'it's just your IBS' and a prescription for fybogel. The Take Control programme has helped me understand why my gut behaves in the way it does and make changes to my lifestyle and diet to reduce symptoms and manage flare ups better. Understanding IBS is like fitting together lots of pieces of a jigsaw and it is with Kirsten's guidance that I've been able to discover what works for me. There's so much confusing information out there and the Take Control programme gives you confidence to try different things and so you can find the solution that it right for you. Kirsten's approach is based on science but her manner is supportive and understanding. If you're one of the many people suffering the curse that is IBS I would say to you that this isn't something you have to put up with. While your IBS can't be cured it can most certainly be managed. I would urge anyone enduing the curse that is IBS to sign up to the Take Control programme.