Harriet Walker: from wellness to wholeness

Posted on 9 July, 2014

For as long as she can remember, local dietician Harriet Walker was brought up around a healthy lifestyle. With a mother who was innately nutrition minded, a trait handed down by her grandmother, Harriet’s earliest memories were of a beautiful, big backyard with fruit trees, chooks and a slightly overgrown veggie patch.

In her teenage years, and like most girls her age, Harriet shirked her mothers’ advice and would make Fruit Loops her breakfast of choice and join the school canteen line for pink donuts and red liquorice.

It wasn’t until she moved from her teens into her early twenties that she re-discovered the foundations on which she was brought up on. Harriet began to be mindful of the direct link between what she put in her mouth and not only how she looked, but how she felt and performed in the various sports and training she took part in.

With an impressive amount of knowledge and sheer passion under her belt, Harriet has since completed a Bachelor in Human Nutrition, Masters in Nutrition and Dietetics, Certificate III and IV in Personal Training, is a Level I ISAK accredited anthropometrist (the comparative study of sizes and proportions of the human body) and a board member of the Physical Activity Foundation, Canberra.

Having had a severely autistic brother pass away, and the recent and very sudden tragic death of her father to stomach cancer, Harriet has developed a personal interest in gut (heralded as the second brain) health, undertaking formal studies at the Australian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine. She is also fascinated in literature surrounding diet and behavior and remains very interested in autism specific specialties, wanting to pair this with her work as a dietician and move with the research to improve the lives of families living with autism.

True to her inspirational penchant for keeping busy and a holistic and functional approach to nutrition and health, mere months ago, Harriet and business partner Myfanwy Galloway, dreamt up the Wellness to Wholeness Summit. To be held here in Canberra this August, the inaugural whole day event aims to give participants a taste test of ways they can improve their health and wellbeing and bring more balance to their lives.

Wellness fosters emotional health and wellbeing while encouraging healthy nutritional habits and this first-of-its-kind event has some pretty exciting leading experts in store:

Dr Damian Kristof – Naturopath & Chiropractor, the Wellness Guys
Janella Purcell – Celebrity Chef & Naturopath
Harriet Walker – Dietician & Health Writer
Amanda Morley – Yoga Instructor, Yoga Central
Dave Nixon – Movement Coach, Functional Fitness Australia
Susie Hoitink – Owner of Clear Complexions Clinic
Lauren Heys – Life Coach, Moxxi Group

the essentials

What: Wellness to Wholeness Summit
When: 10am to 4pm, Saturday 16 August
Where: Belconnen Arts Centre, 118 Emu Bank, Belconnen
How much: $127 (Earlybird – sales end 18 July) to $147
Tickets: www.eventbrite.com.au/e/wellness-to-wholeness-summit
Web: www.harrietwalker.com.au